Art students gain hands-on experience through Gushul Residency

Tucked into the striking landscape of the Crowsnest Pass, the Gushul Studio and Cottage in Blairmore, Alberta is more than just a retreat—it’s a launchpad for creative exploration.

An iconic part of ULethbridge since 1988, this historic space has welcomed over 200 artists, writers and scholars from around the world, offering them time, space and solitude to create. Originally the home and studio of renowned Canadian photographer Thomas Gushul and his wife Lena, the site was restored in the 1980s and is now a designated historic resource. The Gushul Studio and Cottage continues to inspire not just the global arts community, but ULethbridge students too.

Each year, two Fine Arts students are selected for a month-long Gushul Residency, where they develop their practice in an immersive environment, supported by mentorship from faculty in the Art department.

For 2025, students Kiara Pike and Julia Hartigan spent the month of May working on their respective projects and expanding their artistry under the mentorship of Professor Mary Kavanagh.

Julia Hartigan

Bachelor of Fine Arts - Art (Art Studio)

Julia says she was shocked and thrilled to learn she had won the Gushul Residency, having heard good things from previous recipients. Already familiar with the Croswnest Pass, Julia knew it would be an incredible place to make art.  

"I spent time observing the surrounding area, taking photos of the environments and the structures of the Crowsnest Pass, and using them as references to complete a number of drawings and paintings. I began my project at the Gushul intending to focus on the way the natural elements in the environment interacted with human made structures in the area, and vice versa."

"While I did consider that in my work at the Gushul, I also found interest in the impact of history on the location. Talking to the people there, it was clear that the preservation of the numerous historical structures was of great importance to them, which was interesting to see alongside the vast construction of new buildings in the area. This was also in context of the surrounding nature. Old remains of mines and their equipment were being overtaken by trees and grass, only to be taken over by newer human industry. This tension between growth, decay, preservation and construction really caught my interest.

Julia says the residency provided her with invaluable space, time and funding to work on her own projects and practice her technical skills.

"I appreciated how this residency gave me the opportunity to experience an art practice outside of the immediate context of the University. Without any assignments or deadlines to juggle, it was much easier to narrow my focus to one project at a time, as well as focus on projects that related specifically to my interests. It allowed me to manage my own schedule and generate my own ideas in a controlled environment, giving me an idea of how an art practice might look outside of the University." 

"The Gushul studio is a gorgeous historical building, as well as a fantastic space to work," Julia adds. "The open space of the studio and the natural light of the windows provide a beautiful and functional artist studio, and the people in the surrounding community were knowledgeable and enthusiastic."

Kiara Pike

Bachelor of Fine Arts - Art (Art Studio)

When Kiara found out she had received the award, she felt overjoyed, honoured and excited. During their time at the Gushul Residency, Kiara was able to work through confronting an area of their life they had been avoidant in addressing.

"I am the type of person to become reserved upon the onset of any anxiety or grievance, and after the sudden passing of my Grandmother in 2019, I set into a pattern of avoidance and interior struggle, one that was and is difficult to process," Kiara says.

"The Gushul Residency offered me time to meditate on memories and grief, taking time for direct reflection and confrontation of my emotions with love. I completed a series of paintings that display a timeline of events dealing with themes of presence, loss, reservation and remains. The paintings relate to a bronze sculpture I created of a green darner dragonfly, a familial and symbolic representation of my Grandma. I continue this abstraction by connecting specific memories to object associations, drawing inspiration from real life experiences and expressing them through painting."

"The first painting I made, Pinecone Fights is of a pinecone I found on the ground. Pinecone Fights commemorates an activity my siblings and I would play with my Grandma; throwing pinecones at each other. This activity was always exciting and amusing, surprising my Grandma with pinecone sneak attacks, laughing at her ridiculous reactions and finding the perfect pinecones. By using a pinecone, isolated to only one, it reflects on this moment of finding and appreciating the mundane and sublime beauty of a pinecone."

"My second painting, Jesus on the Dashboard, is my memory of one of the rosaries my Grandma had hanging off of her vehicle’s rear view mirror. She wasn’t particularly religious in my memory, but kept this rosary for spiritual reasons and protection. Jesus on the Dashboard represents loss, symbolized by the rosary. I lost this specific rosary, and the loss of my Grandma connected to my loss of one of her most important material artifacts. Three days before leaving for the Gushul, after three years of the rosary being lost, I found it by complete chance."

"The third painting I created is titled Finding Dimes. Tying both into the finding of pinecones and spiritual memories, Finding Dimes reflects on how familially significant coming across a dime is. My Grandma would always say that finding a dime is a great spiritual sign, meaning an angel is watching over you. Since her passing, that angel has been my Grandma."

"The fourth painting is currently in progress and untitled, representing a current tense. Because what can be considered as ‘the current’ is ever changing and reflecting on the past, I think that this painting will be something I ruminate on for a long time, especially now considering my time during the Gushul Residency. The painting is of the decorative ends of silverware, a box of cutlery my Grandma left behind as an heirloom for me. The silverware acts as a mirror in a way, though not exact, changing depending on the angle, and distorting. This ability that silverware has, especially when multifaceted with decoration, takes on the multiple and ever changing interpretations and resonances following the loss of a loved one. Because of this, it has been a difficult image to tackle and consider, concluding its unfinished quality, considering the additive nature of the future."

For Kiara, the Gushul residency gave her a new glimpse into the art world, expanding her understanding of what it means to be a practicing artist.

"By having the Gushul as my first residency experience, I get to see what it is like to travel and stay at a location, fueling inspiration from the surroundings and communities, while also being close enough to home. Having access to a large art studio has been a beneficial experience, knowing that the space can accommodate larger scale artmaking. This level of freedom allowed me to stretch the scale of my art practice to be larger than I would normally be comfortable with."

"As a student, having a residency experience is a great addition to my CV. This has also been a great experience in practicing art in a non-institutional, yet still supportive space, and has been a great glimpse into how other residencies might function in other locations. This award has only done beneficial things to my art practice, rediscovering my skill in painting and personal themes in my artwork."

Now that Kiara has finished their residency, they will go back to focusing on printmaking and sculpture techniques, adding that the Gushul Studio experience was a successful exploration into a medium they haven't used in a long time.