NSCAD University is pleased to introduce three new faculty members who joined our community this summer: Ufuk Ali Gueray, an Assistant Professor in Fine Arts (Painting), Nora Renick Rinehart, an Assistant Professor in Craft (Textiles), and Patryk Stasieczek, a 24-month Limited Term Appointment at the rank of Assistant Professor in Media Arts (Photography).
These appointments, in addition to two cohort hires in 2022 and 2023, bring a total of twelve new full-time faculty to NSCAD in the last three years.
Ufuk Ali Gueray
NSCAD’s new tenure-track Assistant Professor in Fine Arts (Painting), Ufuk Ali Gueray, is an interdisciplinary artist of Turkish background whose painting-centered practice explores the intersections of cultural heritage, identity, and modern technology. Born in Herrenberg, Germany, they have lived in Germany, Canada, and Scotland. Ufuk holds a BFA in Studio Art and French Studies from Concordia University and an MFA in Fine Art from the Glasgow School of Art. Their work spans painting, installation, and digital media, with recent projects delving into the ancient Turkic divination text Irk Bitig, using AI and virtual reality to reimagine traditional narratives within contemporary contexts.
From 2013 to 2018, Ufuk taught painting, drawing, and printmaking at the University of Manitoba School of Art. Their work has been exhibited nationally across Canada and internationally in Germany, Greece, the USA, and the UK, and has been featured in publications such as Border Crossings and the Winnipeg Free Press. They have received numerous grants and awards, including an Honourable Mention in the 2014 RBC Canadian Painting Competition, the Manitoba Arts Council’s Major Arts Grant, and residencies at the Deep Bay Artists’ Residency in Riding Mountain National Park and the International Studio & Curatorial Program in New York. In 2023, Ufuk participated in the Centre for Art Tapes Media Arts Scholarship program in Kjipuktuk/Halifax.
Their work is supported by the Ontario Arts Council, the Winnipeg Arts Council, the Manitoba Arts Council, Arts Nova Scotia, and the Canada Council for the Arts.
Artist’s website: https://ufukgueray.com/
Faculty profile: https://nscad.ca/bio/ufuk-ali-gueray/
Nora Renick Rinehart
Nora Renick Rinehart is an Assistant Professor in Craft, teaching in NSCAD’s Textiles department. Rinehart was originally hired as a limited-term appointment in the Textiles program in 2022, and has moved into this tenure-track position as Assistant Professor.
With a BFA in Fibers from Maryland Institute College of Art and an MFA from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, she has spent over 15 years working in various textiles-related jobs. Nora currently resides in so-called Halifax, the unceded territory of the Mi’kmaq people. In her spare time, she helps run Queer Hockey Nova Scotia – a by-queer-for-queer hockey organization in Kjipuktuk/Halifax – and chases her two rambunctious kittens, Commodore Dewey Rinehart II and Hot Sauce.
Nora’s current research investigates the overlaps between autotheory, phenomenology and queer theory which is, basically, a fancy way of saying “the experience of being professionally gay”. Nora combines studio practice – textile design, quilting, sculpture and fashion – with reading a broad range of academic and not-so-academic sources and writing to produce engaging works that appeal to wide audiences. She also strongly considers her pedagogy to be an integral facet of her research.
Artist’s website: https://nora-renickrinehart.com/
Faculty profile: https://nscad.ca/bio/nora-renick-rinehart/
Patryk Stasieczek
Patryk Stasieczek is stepping into a role as Limited Term Appointment at the rank of Assistant Professor in Media Arts (Photography). They have previously worked as sessional faculty at Emily Carr University, and as part-time faculty and visiting full-time faculty at Concordia University. They have a BFA in Photography from Concordia University and an MFA from Emily Carr University. Their practice frames the act of photography as an embodied interdisciplinary queering of histories, actions, and materials. Chromaphilic in their approach, they investigate affective labour practices tied to experimentation and the fabrication of images. Through the application of light, technology, and spatial intervention their work considers pathways to understand emergent conditions of photography and the physical relationships images convey as experiential knowledge. During their tenure as director and co-curator of Gallery 295, an artist run exhibition project space in Vancouver, they worked in partnership towards the exhibition of traditional and expanded photographic practice. They have showcased their work in collaboration with the Pensacola Museum of Art (USA), Centre Clark (CA), Soil Gallery (USA), Capture Photography Festival (CA), Libby Leshgold Gallery (CA), City of Vancouver (CA), Magenta Foundation (CA), Access Gallery (CA), City of Richmond (CA), Peripheral Review (CA), McIntosh Gallery (CA), MassivArt (CA), and the FOFA Gallery (CA).
Artist’s website: https://stasieczek.net/