Nicole Kelly Westman was the Education & Learning Programmer at 221A from 2020-2022. Westman practices as a visual artist of Métis and Icelandic descent that recognizes with indebted gratitude the artists that have come before her and strenuously forged space, the curators that place care at the fore of their labour, the communities that foster confidence in her practice, and the institutions and organizations that implement policies prefacing relations of trust. As an artist, she enjoys practices of listening, watching, hosting, poeticizing, foraging, and sharing. Westman earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Emily Carr University (2012) and garnered invaluable experience through the practicum program in the Visual Arts department of the Banff Centre (2013-14). As a cultural worker, Westman was previously the Assistant Director (2014) and then Gallery Director (2015-18) of Stride Art Gallery, the Vice-President of the Board of M:ST Performative Art Festival (2014-18), and a Board Member at Untitled Art Society (2014-15), all Calgary/Mohkínstsis . Westman’s writing has been published as part of her own curatorial work, through the curatorial work of others with the essays rolling hills of prairie grasses as exquisite as rainforest and I am sorry I didn’t Call – A poem for a now – vacant site, as well as the periodicals C Magazine, Inuit Art Quarterly, Instudio Magazine, and Luma Quarterly.
