Join us for an afternoon talk with Canadian artist Jerry Ropson.
Through an exploration of rural life, material reuse, and site-specificity, Ropson’s artistic practice transforms personal narratives into shared allegories, layering objects and spaces with ritual and resonance. In this talk, Ropson unpacks the tension between vulnerability and preservation, revealing how chance, intuition, and storytelling shape his installations and creative process.
Ropson is a 2025 faculty member for Early Career Banff Artist in Residence (BAiR)—a transformative five-week residency that provides mentorship, critical feedback, and studio time to visual artists and curators in the early stages of their careers.
This event is part of the Visual Arts Open Lecture Series, which presents talks by leading Canadian and international artists, curators, and academics.
Visual Arts is supported by the Gail and Stephen A. Jarislowsky Outstanding Artist Program.
Related People
Jerry Ropson
Jerry Ropson is an artist, writer, and arts organizer, raised in Pollards Point, a resettled Ktaqmkuk (Newfoundland) outport community. In acknowledging the settler and indigenous history of his community, he combines image, object, text, and narrative, to focus an artistic practice around site-specific installation and performative storytelling. Ropson is deeply interested in the politics of rural demise, ritualistic practices, and the language of fanaticism. He makes class-conscious work seeking non-traditional sites and outcomes.
Ropson holds a BFA (2001) from Memorial University: Grenfell Campus, and an MFA (2009) in Studio Arts: Fibres and Material Practices, from Concordia University. Ropson was listed for the Sobey Art Award in 2016 and 2018. He has been awarded grants from The Canada Council for the Arts, The New Brunswick Art Board, The Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec, and The Newfoundland and Labrador Arts Council. He has participated in artist residencies at The Banff Centre, The Vermont Studio Center, The Atlantic Centre for the Arts, St. Michael’s Printshop, Fogo Island Arts, NSCAD University, and Union House Arts.
Jerry divides his time between communities in rural Ktaqmkuk, and Siknikt-Mi'kma'ki (Tantramar, New Brunswick), where he leads studio courses at Mount Allison University.