Scott Everingham

MFA program in Studio Art

Painting from the inside

The large canvases in Scott Everingham’s MFA studio show other worlds where human figures are obliquely concealed while others emerge from their surreal environments. Several of the works suggest a petrified metamorphic moment as the figure resembles both object and human. “I love the vertical shape – it feels very human” he says of his recurring themes, “most are post-apocalyptic situations where the figures interact with their environment in an unsettling way.” Dedicated to developing creativity through pure imagination, Scott adds “by making these invented worlds, I can do whatever I want in them, and that’s what I love about painting.” Unlike painters who strive for precise or stylized renderings of familiar life, Scott does not attempt to represent reality – in fact his oil paintings are born entirely from intuition and impulse. “Many of these works speak about the act of painting itself and the expression of the artist” he explains, “and in the end, they speak about truth.”

Already an experienced and trained painter, Scott has moved well beyond foundational studies in fine art and is at the point where he’s establishing his unique style and approach. Along with having earned his BFA at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design (NSCAD University), he has worked in a Toronto art gallery and spent two years in Asia where he painted and taught both English and art. “I was itching to see something else – I didn’t want to settle into an art career quite yet. And it wasn’t all painting in Taiwan, it was about language, culture and food – everything” he says of his experience. Certainly broadening global and cultural horizons is an inherent part of developing aesthetic imagination.

And that’s why Scott chose to do his MFA at Waterloo: to take advantage of the program’s Shantz Summer Internship, which facilitates and finances MFA students to travel anywhere in the world to spend six weeks as intern with an established artist. There are several aspects of the profession that most contemporary artists require to thrive in their field, and these are strongly encouraged and facilitated by the MFA program. Scott embodies them as, first, a serious and passionate painter who is continuously evolving his form; also, as a teacher of art (“I’ve always loved teaching too”); and as a professional establishing his career in the art business. And while it’s tough to pin-point specific influences of the MFA program on his work so far, Scott observes that his explorations and deconstruction of the figure “have developed into more narrative images, with more focus on how we read them” since being in the program. Along with graduate courses taken and undergraduate courses taught, Scott has found real benefit in the critiques he receives from his supervisors. Professor Doug Kirton, for instance, “is able to see the potential in an artist -- he’s honest about failure and as well as success.” And as Scott states, “a graduate student in the visual arts also learns how and what to absorb from a professor's response, and how to use any comment to their advantage.” And while the MFA is a studio-based program, Scott and his fellow grad students balance coursework and research on art and cultural theory with their own developing practice. The students have weekly seminars based around discussion of selected texts on visual culture, analysing historical or current trends and always relating them to what is happening in today’s world.

These program elements of practice and theory are beautifully complemented by the Shantz Internship – which is simply “number one for this program”, Scott enthuses. To organize his internship he first submitted a list of about 15 international artists’ names to his supervisors, who then made initial contacts on his behalf. During May and June Scott worked with Los Angeles artist Nathan Redwood – “I went to an LA that I never expected -- it was awesome.” The intern role can be anything that involves working with, assisting or supporting the professional artist. Scott tells about his experience: “I was essentially trying to help develop his career by doing research into residencies, applying for grants – first doing behind-the-scenes work. And eventually I did work on his paintings – it was really nice to have his confidence in me as a painter… it was hands-on and we were pulling 12-hour studio days. It was a great time, I’d go back in a second.”

With two more terms to complete his MFA degree, Scott is already preparing for the next steps, including focussing attention on pieces for a solo exhibition in Ottawa this November. And between his studio work and teaching a second-year painting course, he continues to build contacts and relationships with a few locations in Toronto’s art scene. “As most artists understand eventually,” Scott acknowledges, “it's difficult for someone to survive with a lucrative career in painting - especially in Canada. If there is enough drive and determination, it can be done - but the work must speak for itself.”

August 2008
Wendy Philpott

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