Vanessa B. Rieger

Vanessa B. Rieger has been our County Arts Lab Artist in Residence for the month of June! Vanessa is a County-based multidisciplinary artist, creating in a diverse range of mediums from woodworking and mural painting to audiovisual installation and theatre arts.

A theme that runs through much of Vanessa’s work is the melding of digital and analog inputs to create unique, elaborate, and immersive video installations for galleries, festivals, and more.

If you’ve attended local events like the Firelight Lantern Festival or strolled by the County Arts Lab on your way to the latest edition of Art in the County, you might have already caught a glimpse of Vanessa’s creations.

Thanks to the County Arts Residency, Vanessa has been able to access the space and high-speed internet required to push the boundaries of her current video art practice. She transformed the lab into a fully equipped video projection studio, and experimented with a variety of new softwares and techniques. Using a dual projection screen she constructed, which creates a beautiful, interactive double exposure effect, Vanessa is also collaborating with local musician Kat Burns, experimenting with creating live visuals for performances and online streams.

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As we wind down this year’s Artist Residency and our first round of County Arts Lab programming, turning the space over to artists through our summer Activate Arts Rental Program, we would like to once again express our heartfelt appreciation for two cherished 2021 business sponsors for helping us realize our dream of activating this new hub for creativity in the heart of Picton!

Sage Design and Construction is a treasured supporter of County Arts and local arts initiatives, supporting Art in the County for many years and, in the lead-up to the County Arts Lab launch, investing in our vision at a challenging yet exciting and transformative moment in our 35-year history.

We were also thrilled to welcome new sponsor Otter Energy Inc., a leading installer of solar panels for farms, businesses, and homes in Ontario. Otter is our next door neighbour in the Picton Armoury building, making their support of our efforts to bring the arts and our community into the building even more meaningful!

We’ve been so fortunate to have Peter and Celia Sage, Tyler from Otter Energy, and their teams along with our amazingly supportive and accommodating Picton Armoury landlords, Terry and Steven, in our corner during this exciting growth phase. THANK YOU!