Curriculum Vitae
Vanessa Paschakarnis is a German born, Canadian mid-career artist with studios in East LaHave, Nova Scotia and Pietrasanta, Italy. Vanessa often maintains that her inspiration comes from the coastline of her home of choice in Canada, but she developed a professional studio in a place where she feels that there are no limits to making sculpture in a professional environment. She exhibits her work, object -based sculpture in stone and bronze, among other media and large-scale drawings in Canada, the USA and Europe.
Vanessa came with a Masters degree in sculpture from Kunstakademie Berlin-Weissensee to NSCAD University in order to accomplish another Masters in Fine Art. Here she started teaching and continued in Cortona, Italy and for three years on a tenure track position at SMU in Dallas, TX, USA as Professor for Sculpture.
She left teaching to pursue her career as exhibiting artist with works in private and public collections and highlights of showing her work at the Winnipeg Art Gallery, the National Gallery of Canada, St. James Park in London, UK, Blickachsen 7 in Bad Homburg, Germany, the Frederik Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park in Michigan, USA, as well as galleries like Marlborough, NY, Samuel Lallouz in Montreal, Alison Smith in Toronto, Studio 21 in Halifax and artist run spaces in Germany, Austria and Italy to name just a few.
Her artworks provoke reaction through material and scale, involving the viewer in a conversation with articulated objects as “the other”, altering and expanding body consciousness to include the outside world in the present moment.
Education
2006 Canadian Citizenship
1998 - 99 MFA/ Fine and Media Arts, Nova Scotia College of Art & Design NSCAD, Halifax, NS, Canada
1997 Immigration to Canada
1997 MFA (Sculpture) - Diplom Freie Kunst/Bildhauerei, Kunsthochschule Berlin-Weissensee KHB,
Berlin,Germany; Thesis: John Greer, ART-UP ON-LIFE (monograph)
1996 Study and Realization in a Stoneyard in Weine, Germany
1995 - 96 Nova Scotia College of Art & Design NSCAD, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
1993 - 97 Academy of Fine Art in Berlin: Kunsthochschule Berlin-Weissensee KHB, Germany
1992 - 93 Academy of Fine Art in Stuttgart: Akademie für bildende Künste Stuttgart, GermanyNe
1991 - 92 Academy of Fine Art in Düsseldorf: Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, Germanyue
1990 - 91 Private Art College in Berlin: Freie Kunstschule Berlin FKSB, Germany
Teaching
2004 - 2007 Assistant Professor of Sculpture, Meadows School of the Arts, SMU, Dallas, TX, USA
2002 Summer Faculty (Sculpture) in Cortona, Italy for the University of Georgia, Athens, USA
(Full Year Study Abroad Program)
2002 Full-time sessional faculty, Sculpture Department, NSCAD University
2001 Full-time sessional faculty, Coordinator Sculpture Department (Sabbatical Replacement),
NSCAD University
1999 – 2001 Adjunct Faculty / NSCAD University
1999 Summer Workshops at TSF, The Sculpture Forum/ LaHave, Nova Scotia, Canada
1998 Teaching Assistance, NSCAD University
Project management for Intercontinental Sculpture Inc. (Co-Owner) 2014-2024
2022 Feather and Awaken, Private Collection and Cunard Project, Halifax, NS Canada;
2019-2020 The Calling; Queen’s Marque, Halifax, NS Canada;
2020 Sirens Echo; private collection Virginia, USA;
2017 The Rule of Law is a Reflection of Us All; McMurtry Gardens of Justice, Toronto Ontario;
2016-2017 Standing Together / Solidaires; John Greer and MacKay-Lyons Sweetapple Architects Limited, Ottawa ON Canada; unveiled in May 2017 by Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada;
2011-2012 Design and implementation of a private Sculpture Park on Lake Geneva, Switzerland;
Professional Involvement
2019-2023 Development of studio building with apartment to facilitate production time in Italy.
2020 publication of online magazine In Touch Intercontinental Sculpture
2018 Purchase of professional studio building in Pietrasanta, LU, Italy
2014 (- 2024) Founding of the company Intercontinental Sculpture Inc. together with artist John Greer
in order to realize public art and large-scale commissions.
2006 - Planning stages: Founding of TSFi - The Sculpture Forum international, East LaHave, NS Canada
2005 Organization of the Atlantic Stone Carving Symposium in Inverness, NS, Canada;
a national stone carving symposium that took place from August 28 - September 10, 2005
Partners were among others the Inverness County Council for the Arts,Inverness, NS, Canada
and MacLeod Resources, marble quarry, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. Participation as one of the 8
artists and realization of a large scale sculpture: “The Cape Breton Shield”
2002 - from the year 2002 regular (annual / biennual) extended creation and production sojourns over several months in Italy. Working with stone yards and foundries in and around Pietrasanta, LU, Italy.
1999 - Professional Studio base in Nova Scotia, Canada, from 1999.
Solo Exhibitions (selection)
2017 Crossover (2 person exhibition), Kulanshi Art Center, Kazakhstan - postponed
2016 Silent Converstation / Stille Unterhaltung, Kunstfabrik Groß-Siegharts, Austria; (Two person exhibition)
2015 Aspiration behind thick walls / hinter dicken Mauern, Kunstverein ArtDriburg, Bad Driburg, Germany; (Two person exhibition)
2011 Tight Rein, Studio 21, Halifax, NS Canada
2010 Beasts and Burdens / Bêtes et Fardeaux, Galerie Samuel Lallouz, Montreal, PQ Canada
2009 Domesticated Beasts, Alison Smith Gallery, Toronto, ON Canada
2007 Vanessa Paschakarnis, Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park, Grand Rapids, Michigan USA
2006 Vanessa Paschakarnis - Shadows for Bells, Studio 21, Halifax NS, Canada
2006 ForeShadowing, Forum Gallery, Brookhaven College School of the Arts, Dallas, TX USA
2004 Vanessa Paschakarnis Studio 21, Halifax NS, Canada
2001 Vanessa Paschakarnis Studio 21, Halifax NS, Canada
2000 Sculpture and Drawing, Gallery Connexion, Fredericton, NB, Canada
2000 Ten Black Forms, Acadia University Art Gallery, Wolfville, NS, Canada (Brochure w. essay by Cliff Eyland)
1999 Sculpture, Anna Leonowens Gallery, Halifax, NS Canada (Brochure)
1998 “shields“, Anna Leonowens Gallery, Halifax, NS, Canada
1997 Installation in a water basin, KHB Berlin-Weissensee, Berlin, Germany
1996 new works, Anna Leonowens Gallery,Halifax, NS Canada
Group Exhibitions (selection)
2024 Drawings by Sculptors, December 13, 2023 - April 14th, 2024; curated by Ray Cronin and organized by the Beaverbrook Art Gallery, NB Canada
2023 The Black Shield at the WAG / Winnipeg Art Gallery, MB, Canada
2021 Shield for a Human at the National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, ON
2020 on form 20 (online); Asthall Manor, Burford, Oxfordshire, UK
2019 Renaturing Nature, Hignell Gallery, London, UK
2018 Imago Mundi, Onsite Gallery, Toronto, ON Canada
2018 on form 18, Asthall Manor, Burford, Oxfordshire, UK
2017 Imago Mundi, Out of the Bush Garden, Palazzo Loredan, Istituto Veneto di Scienze, Lettere e Arti; Venice, Italy; 29.8.-29.10. 2017, Italy,
Palazzo Loredan, Istituto Veneto di Scienze, Lettere e Arti;
2014-15
Shine a Light/ Surgir de l’ombre: Canadian Biennial 2014, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa ON
2014-15 New Editions and Montotypes, FLATBED, Austin, TX USA
2012 Nomen est Omen, Paul Wiedmer’s Garten, Wangen a.d. Aare, Switzerland
2011-12 Sculpture Today: New Forces, New Forms; Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park, Grand Rapids, MI USA
2011 LaSerpara, Civitella D’Agliano, Italy; “Cavallo”, 2011 (long term loan)
2010 Sobey Art Award Atlantic Region Long List Exhibition, Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, Halifax, Canada
2009 Fall 2009 Group Show, Alison Smith Gallery, Toronto, ON Canada
2009 Vanessa Paschakarnis at Blickachsen 7, Sculpture Biennale, Bad Homburg, Germany
2008 Summer Group Show, Marlborough Chelsea, New York, NY USA
2007-08 Pictured, image & object in canadian sculpture, Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, Halifax, NS Canada
2007 The Sculpture Garden at ArtsPlace, Annapolis Royal, NS Canada
2006 Recent, Faculty exhibition, Pollock Gallery, Meadows School of the Arts, Dallas, TX, USA
2006 New, Newer, Newest; Pollock Gallery, Meadows School of the Arts, Dallas TX, USA
2005-06 The Atlantic Stone Carving Symposium, Inverness, NS Canada, (Traveling)
2005 ARTport, Art Gallery of Nova Scotia at Pier 22, Halifax Port Authority Seawall Project
2005 Drawing as Alterity, Forum Gallery, Brookhaven College, Dallas, TX, USA
2003 Atlantic Canadian Artists, Beaverbrook Art Gallery, Fredericton, NB, Canada
2003 20/21 Vision, Studio 21, Halifax, NS, Canada
2003 ISC@GFS, the 2003 ISC Member Exhibition, International Jury, Hamilton, NJ, USA
2003 Opening of the Inverness County Centre for the Arts, Inverness, NS, Canada
2003 Cortona Summer Program 2002, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, USA
2002 Mostra UGA summer 2002, Cortona, AR, Italy
2002 Mostra: Scultura, Pittura e Grafica, Manciano-Castiglion Fiorentino, AR, Italy
2000 Westward HO: A Guided Tour, Halifax, NS, Canada curated by Oscar Ho, Exhibitions Director; Hong Kong Arts Center
as part of HX: Halifax Exhib. of International Contemporary Art
2000 “The Very Thing“, Dalhousie University Art Gallery, Halifax, NS Canada curated by Susan Gibson-Garvey and Robin Metcalfe;
(Catalogue with essays by the curators)
1999 Graduation Class Fall 1999, Anna Leonowens Gallery, Halifax, NS, Canada
1999 MFA Group Exhibition, Anna Leonowens Gallery, Halifax, NS, Canada
1997 Nabertherm exhibition, Bremen, Germany
1996 New Works, Vanessa Paschakarnis, Anna Leonowens Gallery, Halifax, NS Canada
1996 “ 13 AI 3+26.9851 “, Cumberland Co. Museum, Amherst, NS, Canada
1995 “Exhibition at the Khyber Art Center”, Halifax, NS, Canada
1995 “A Drawing Exchange”, Zavitz Gallery, Guelph, ON, Canada
1995 “Ausstellung im Oekowerk”, Berlin, Germany
1994 “Kunstrasen”, Flora Westfalica, Rheda Wiedenbrueck, Germany
(Sculpture Symposium in a public garden connected to an exhibition)
Acquisitions & Collections (selection)
2023 Black Shield, WAG Qaumajuq; Winnipeg Art Gallery, Winnipeg, MB, Canada
2021“Moth” Microsoft Art collection, Washington, USA;
2018 Reaching 2018, private collection England;
2018 Horse, 2018, private collection London, UK;
2018 Shield for a Human (2006) National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa ON Canada;
2013 Shadows for Humans (2003) National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, ON
2011 Winged Being (2002) private collection, Switzerland;
2011 Horned Being (Toro), Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, Halifax, NS Canada;
2005 The White Shield, Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, Halifax, NS Canada;
2003 Three Masks, Basek Holdings Inc., Calgary, Alberta, Canada;
2002 The Red Shield, The Music Room, Scotia Festival of Music, Halifax NS, Canada,
2002, Spirit Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, Government of Canada
Bibliography (selection)
Vanessa Paschakarnis: Feel with your eyes, Materially Speaking Podcast, January, 2023 with Sarah Monk;
Poems of Naxos Island, 2022 by Vanessa Paschakarnis;
Winter 20/21, first issue of in touch Intercontinental Sculpture, online magazine;
House and Garden, UK Edition, May 2020 Stone and Roses, by Rob Biam Shaw;
T&C Summer 2020, Art within Borders by Charlotte Brook;
Renaturing Nature, 2019 Catalogue for the exhibition at Hignell Gallery, London UK and St. James Square, London UK; ISBN
Town and Country, Isabell Carr, 24.06.2019; Dramatic Sculptures go on Show in ST. James Sq.;
IDEELART, 6 Sculptures Inspired by Nature You Can See This Summer; May 6th, 2019; Philip Barcio;
Wall Street International, Renaturing Nature, Hignell Gallery, London, UK; June 1st, 2019;
Sculpting a Future as the Mitfords legacy lives on, The Sunday Telegraph, June 10th, 2018;
on form 18, The Sunday Times, London, UK Spread of Capricornos, July 2018
On form 18, catalogue for the bi-annual sculpture exhibition at Asthall Manor, xxx xxx , England;
Vanessa Paschakarnis, Atlantic Canadian Women Artists, by Cheryl Bell, Billie, Art Magazine, Beaverbrook Art Gallery, Fredericton, NB, Canada;
Out of the Bush Garden – Imago Mundi, curated by Francesca Valente,
Contemporary Artists from Central-Eatstern Canada; Luciano Benetton Collection;
NÖN, National Austrian Newspaper; Woche 36, 2016,: Botschafter kam zur Vernissage;
Westfalenblatt, Paderborn, Germany, Freitag, September 16th, 2015: Riesenschnaken in der Burg;
National Gallery of Canada Magazine, Video: Shine a Light: Canadian Biennial 2014, Vanessa Paschakarnis;
National Gallery of Canada Magazine, Video: Shine a Light: Canadian Biennial 2014, Interview
The True North Strong and Fresh by Sarah Milroy, The Globe and Mail, October 18th, 2014/ Visual Arts;
Shine a Light / Surgir de l’ombre CDN Biennieal 2014, National Gallery of Canada, ABC Art Books Canada,
CBC News, 6pm Ottawa, ON Shine a Light: Canadian Biennial 2014 / interviews/introduction
Vanessa Paschakarnis: Physical Encounters, Text by Andria Minicucci, Catalogue, November 2011;
The Unbearable Lightness of Being, Patrick Iberi in conversation with VP, Maple Tree Literary Supplement, Issue#9, May-Aug 2011, http://mtls.ca/issue9/art/vanessa-paschakarnis
Blickachsen 7, by Joseph Antenucci Becherer, Edition Scheffel, Bad Homburg 2010;
Der Förderpreis ging an Vanessa Paschakarnis; Bad Homburger Woche 10. 09. 2009;
Der Stein und der Standpunkt Taunuszeitung 10.September 2009;
“Präsenz auch auf Distanz hin”; FAZ 10.September 2009;
Marmorstücke wie urzeitliche Tiere, Frankfurter Rundschau, 8. September 2009;
Vanessa Paschakarnis, Shadows of Domestication, Catalogue, text by Dennis Gill, August 2009;
Sculpture Magazine, Vanessa Paschakarnis, Toronto; July/August 2009 Vol.28 No. 6, Page 79, Review by Dennis Gill;
Pictured, image & object in Canadian sculpture, Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, March 2008; Portrait of an Artist: Vanessa Paschakarnis, SMU Research Magazine, Spring 2007, by Susan White;
It’s more than a matter of colour, Spotlight, by Elissa Barnard, The Chronicle Herald, February 1, 2007;
You can ring sculptor’s bells, Paschakarnis’ bronze bells at Studio 21, by Elissa Barnard, The Chronicle Herald, 24.9.2006;
Vanessa Paschakarnis, Self and Other: Sites of Encounter, by David Newman, March 2006;
Visual Art News, Carved in Stone by Irena Schoen, Volume 27, Number 3, Winter 2006;
Stone Symposium: Watching Cape Breton Marble Turn to Art, by Frank MacDonald, The Inverness Oran, NS 02.11.2005;
The Chronicle Herald, by Elissa Barnard, Saturday, July 3rd, 2004;
Grounds for Sculpture, Summer 2003 Exhibition, Hamilton, NJ (Catalogue);
Artsatlantic Spring 2002 No.71, Tom Hammick & Vanessa Paschakarnis, Studio 21 by Elizabeth Eve;
Sculpture Magazine, December 2000, review: Vanessa Pascha-karnis, Fredericton, NB, Canada (page 65 f); The Very Thing, by Heather Snyder, Artsatlantic #67, Volume17, No.3, 2000; Vanessa Paschakarnis, Sculpture and Drawing, Gallery Connexion, Fredericton, NB, 2000 Westward Ho: A Guided Tour, Contemporary Art Projects Society (CAPS), Halifax, NS, 2000; Sculptures fill space in gallery and viewer’s mind by R. Cronin, The daily gleaner, Fredericton, NB, April, 15th, 2000 Vanessa Paschakarnis: Ten Black Forms, by J. Leidl, Artsatlantic #66, Volume 17, No.2, 2000; Let’s get physical, by S. Workman, The Sunday Herald, Halifax, NS February 20th, 2000; Sculpture’s the thing, by S. Workman, The Sunday Herald, Halifax, NS January 16th, 2000; The Very Thing, Dalhousie Art Gallery, Halifax, NS 2000 (Catalogue); Ten Black Forms, Acadia University Art Gallery, Wolfville, NS 2000 (Brochure)
Awards
2011 Progress Women of Excellence Award, Canadian Progress Club, Halifax, NS
2009 Bad Homburg-Schloss Rotary Club Best Young Artist Award, Blickachsen 7, Germany
2013, 2010, 2008, 2006 Creation Grant, Nova Scotia Tourism, Culture and Heritage
2011, 2010, 2009 Cultural Industry Growth Grant, Nova Scotia Tourism, Culture and Heritage
2010, 2007 Semi-Finalist for the Sobey’s Art Award (Atlantic Region)
2006, 2005 University Research and Development Grant, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, TX
2003 Professional Development Grant, Nova Scotia Tourism and Culture
Panels/ Artist Talks/ Lectures
2014 Meet the Artist at the National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, ON as part of the Canadian Biennial 2014
2014 Artist Talk at the University of Ottawa, Visual Arts Department, Ottawa, ON Canada
2010 ‘Dialogic” Session with Dr. Cornett, Montreal, PQ, Canada
2008 Lecture at Concordia University, Montreal, QC Canada
2007 Symposium Presentation Sculpture Forum 2007: Sculpture-Variations
sponsored by Annapolis Region Community Arts Council, NS Canada
2007 Visiting artist presentation at Center for Creative Studies, Detroit, MI USA
2005 Artist Talk and various presentations at the Atlantic Stone Carving Symposium,
Inverness, Cape Breton, NS Canada, including appearance on CTV morning news
2004 Artist Talk at Meadows School of the Arts, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, TX, USA
2003 Artist Talk at Herron School of Art Indiana University/Purdue University, Indianapolis, IN, USA
2001 Artist Talk at Lamar Dodd School of Art, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, USA
2000 Artist Talk at Gallery Connexion, Fredericton, NB, Canada
2000 Lecture “Some Thing in Sculpture” at Meadows School of the Arts, SMU University, Dallas, TX, USA
2000 Artist Talk at Meadows School of the Arts, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, TX, USA
2000 Artist Talk at Acadia University Art Gallery, Wolfville, NS, Canada
2000 Roundtable “The Very Thing” at Dalhousie University Art Gallery; Halifax, NS, Canada
1999 Artist Talk at TSF, The Sculpture Forum; LaHave, NS, Canada
1999 Participation as guest speaker at a Drawing Panel; Nova Scotia College of Art & Design, Halifax, NS, CA
