University of Manitoba Student Art History Conference will take place on May 15th, 2026. 9am-5pm, ARTLab 364

9:00-10:00am — Introductions and Keynote by Oliver Botar

10:15-11:45am — Panel 1: Feminist Intersections in Winnipeg (1970s–2000s)

Panel led by Serena Keshavjee

Panelists: Baden Gaeke-Franz, Vanessa Ruiz Tangerini, Dylan Stokes, CJ Kacsmar

Fifty years after the 1975 declaration of the first International Women’s Day, academics are reconsidering Second Wave feminism, moving away from earlier Marxist critiques that dismissed the emergent movement as “essentialist,” towards understanding how the second wave activism was fundamental to later third-wave or intersectional feminisms in terms of queer allyship, ecological connections, and decolonial practices.

This era was a remarkably rich period of experimentation in Winnipeg, marked by the rise of Professional Native Indian Artists Inc., the artist-run centre Plug In, and the mentorship program MAWA (Mentoring Artists for Women’s Art). Inspired by liberation movements, local artists embraced new subjects and media that reflected these profound cultural shifts.

Drawing on oral histories and primary source research, University of Winnipeg art history students will present focused papers on Colleen Cutschall, Sheila Spence, Grace Nickel, and Sharon Alward, who identify as feminist. By examining their art across painting, photography, ceramics, and performance, we see how political activism was integrated into creative practice, making their art a site of resistance and innovation that expanded the boundaries of feminist art practices.

11:45am-12:30pm – Lunch provided by School of Art

12:45-1:45pm — Panel 2

Presence, chaired by Dr. David Foster

Panelists: Della Beattie, Cole Osiowy, Veronica Galetcaia

This panel brings together a series of papers that employ a humanistic approach to art that account for the presence of people within and around works of art. The panel begins with a paper by Cole Osiowy discussing Julien Hébert, connecting Modernist philosophy to his design practice. Della Beattie will follow with her paper introducing the first stage of her research on institutional volunteer programs in Canada, relaying her systematic analysis of 52 art museums. The final paper of the panel will be presented by Veronica Galetcaia, examining the influence of Pieter Brueghel the Elder on the work of William Kurelek.

2:00-3:15pm — Panel 3

Perspectives, chaired by Dr. Oliver Botar

Panelists: UV Chawla, Lauren McNaughton, Madison Beale

The Perspectives panel will explore how Queer perspectives and subjectivities shape history, artistic practice and the built environment. The panel begins with a paper exploring works of art that depict Queer identities in Hinduism delivered by UV Chawla. Lauren McNaughton will then explore the life and work of Gordon Webber, a Canadian student at the Bauhaus that went on to teach at McGill university. Lastly, Madison Beale will introduce her research in progress funded through the Undergraduate Research Award that explores the Queer potential of Marcien Lemay and Étienne Gaboury’s Louis Riel sculpture from 1970.

3:30-4:45pm — Panel 4

Projections, chaired by Dr. Suzanne McLeod

Panelists: Emma Zdebiak, Daniel Bagang, Rowena Johnson

The final panel of the day concludes with three papers concerned with architecture and the making, unmaking and futures of three buildings, and how they are central to understanding both the respective cultures that built them and how they wished to be seen. Emma Zdebiak excavates the history of the Winnipeg Public Safety building through an art historical lens. Daniel Begang uses the Miago Church to advocate for the recognition of site specific Indigenous Filipino influence on Spanish ecclesiastical structures, with a focus on seismic resistance. Lastly, Rowena Johnson will explore how the construction and subsequent reconstructions of Brussels’ Town Hall was intended to benefit future generations, and how its monumentality and long-lasting qualities reinforce this aspiration.