Bio

Victoria Hutt is a visual artist, writer and designer in Florenceville-Bristol, NB. A NSCAD design graduate, Victoria has 15 years experience in arts administration, not-for-profit management and community development. Mental Health & Farm Safety Program Coordinator of Agriculture NB, Victoria has held management positions with the Canadian Crafts Federation/Fédération Canadienne des Métiers d'Art, as Executive Director of The Andrew & Laura McCain Art Gallery and manager of the NSCAD Student Art Store. Victoria is chair of the artsnb Board of Directors and leads local food security initiatives.

Residency Project

I have a strong connection between art, nature and wellness so I love to bring this into my art classes. My strength is in teaching observational drawing - working with students to slow down and to really observe what they are trying to draw, often incorporating elements of mindfulness practice. I often start a project by taking students outdoors with sketchbooks, to look at nature close-up as their subject and learn fundamental drawing techniques. When we get back to the classroom, we could delve deeper into the subjects that the students connect with, by collecting reference material on their topic to start on their main artwork; to create with a mix of graphite, charcoal, and/or paint. I have had students practice photography basics and use this for their own reference photos as well, which was popular! These individual artworks could inform their part of a larger collaborative piece. I have done this in the past with each student drawing and/or painting their own bird, which fit together on a background tree and I would like to take it in the direction of larger ecosystems and on the theme of life cycles, with the end product a larger mural, of a pond or a field, etc. I have also led a group of students to paint log stools for an outdoor classroom. I’m open to working with the teacher to develop a program that suits their classroom and interests!

Teaching Experience

I currently lead a 4H ‘Barn Quilt’ project, exploring quilting tradition and design to paint large outdoor artworks. In 2019, I participated in an Artist-in-Residency with two grade two classes, exploring drawing and painting from nature observation. From 2012-2020 I directed drama programs at our local elementary and middle schools, working with student groups in prop creation. While ED of the Andrew & Laura McCain Art Gallery from 2010-2016 I greatly enjoyed developing and leading rural art education youth programming - building a series of programs offered in local rural communities and in each of our seven local elementary and middle schools including Art Afternoons, Afterschool Art Clubs, In-Class Visits, Summer Camps, an Annual Student Showcase exhibit at the gallery, and working with teachers in person to aid them with art curriculum components they expressed as finding challenging.