Interrogating data and mass media as points of origin, Tuepah’s work considers the conceptual and embodied experience of information in relation to contemporary issues and events. Relying predominantly on yarn, paint, found, and readymade objects, her work operates in 3 dimensional space with networks and ‘data-bytes’ of material standing in for systems, modes of measurement, or visceral realities. Materiality and abstraction shift the viewers experience between the intellect and embodiment, while the layered use of titles and recognizable objects allow the work to co-exist with a language or provenance that is specific and nameable.
Debbie Westergaard Tuepah received a BFA from Emily Carr University of Art + Design in 2011, where she was awarded the Chancellor’s Award for Excellence. Exhibitions of her work include The Reach Gallery Museum, Vancouver Art Gallery’s Family Fuse, Surrey Art Gallery, Bellevue Washington's Sculpture Biennial, Ontario’s DNA Artspace, and Access Gallery as a finalist for the 2016 CASV Emerging Artist Award. Tuepah has been shortlisted for a number of awards and public art competitions and was profiled in “Studio Magazine’s Under the Radar” The Network, Tuepah’s ongoing public participation project created with collaborator Carlyn Yandle, has been included in a number of venues with hundreds of people contributing the sculpture’s growth. The Network was profiled in Leanne Prain’s book, “Strange Material: Storytelling Through Textiles”. Debbie served as VP on the ECU Alumni Board, is a founding member of the curatorial collective AgentC Projects, and is a member of CAM, a group working with BC Artscape and the City of Surrey to develop a board-directed contemporary art gallery and arts centre in South Surrey. |