UVic alum new Audain Professor

Local Kanien’kehaka (Mohawk) multimedia artist Jackson 2Bears Leween has been named the recipient of the 2013–14 Audain Professorship in Contemporary Art Practice of the Pacific Northwest for the Department of Visual Arts. Having recently completed his PhD here at UVic, Leween is the first UVic alumnus to take on the prestigious year-long position, which was most recently held by acclaimed Tlingit/Aleut artist Nicholas Galanin. Meanwhile, previous Audain professor and Governor General’s Award-winning performance artist Rebecca Belmore will be returning to campus in early 2014 to dance the initiation of the world’s biggest button blanket, which will be created this fall in collaboration with History in Art professor Carolyn Butler-Palmer, local Tahltan artist Peter Morin and UVic students.