Emily Carr University of Art + Design (abbreviated as ECU) is a

public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichkei ...

art Art is a diverse range of human activity, and resulting product, that involves creative or imaginative talent expressive of technical proficiency, beauty, emotional power, or conceptual ideas. There is no generally agreed definition of wha ...

university A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...

located in

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

, Canada. The university's campus is located within the

Great Northern Way Campus Great Northern Way Campus Ltd (GNWC) is a private limited company and educational enterprise located in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. It is the offspring of a consortium of four local academic institutions (the University of British Col ...

in Strathcona. The university is a

co-educational Mixed-sex education, also known as mixed-gender education, co-education, or coeducation (abbreviated to co-ed or coed), is a system of education where males and females are educated together. Whereas single-sex education was more common up to t ...

instutiton that operates which operates four academic faculties, the Faculty of Culture + Community, the Ian Gillespie Faculty of Design + Dynamic Media, the Audian Faculty of Art, and the Jake Kerr Faculty of Graduate Studies. The school was established in 1925 as the Vancouver School of Decorative and Applied Arts. During the 20th century, the school was renamed three times, the Vancouver School of Art in 1933, the Emily Carr College of Art and Design in 1978, and the Emily Carr Institute of Art + Design in 1995. The university was able to issue its own degrees by 1994 and began offering its first graduate programs in 2003. In 2008, the institution was designated as a special purpose teaching university under the province's '' University Act''.

History

Emily Carr is one of the oldest post-secondary institutions in British Columbia and the only one dedicated to professional education and learning in the arts, media, and design. Formerly known as the Vancouver School of Art, it was established in 1925 as the Vancouver School of Decorative and Applied Arts. In 1978, ECU was designated a provincial institute before moving to Granville Island in 1980. A second building on Granville Island was opened in 1995. In 1995, ECU was granted authority to offer bachelor's degrees—BFAs and BDes—and honorary degrees: honorary Doctor of Letters (D.Litt.), honorary Doctor of Laws (D.Laws), and honorary Doctor of Technology (D.Technology). In 1997, ECU was granted authority to offer Bachelor of Media Arts degrees (BMA). In 2006, ECI launched a Master of Applied Arts (MAA), and opened the Intersections Digital Studio. In 2007, the Great Northern Way consortium made up of Emily Carr, UBC, SFU and BCIT launched the Master of Digital Media program (MDM) at the Great Northern Way Campus. Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design's

arms Arms or ARMS may refer to: *Arm or arms, the upper limbs of the body Arm, Arms, or ARMS may also refer to: People * Ida A. T. Arms (1856–1931), American missionary-educator, temperance leader Coat of arms or weapons *Armaments or weapons **Fi ...

supporters In heraldry, supporters, sometimes referred to as ''attendants'', are figures or objects usually placed on either side of the Escutcheon (heraldry), shield and depicted holding it up. Early forms of supporters are found in medieval seals. H ...

flag A flag is a piece of fabric (most often rectangular or quadrilateral) with a distinctive design and colours. It is used as a symbol, a signalling device, or for decoration. The term ''flag'' is also used to refer to the graphic design empl ...

, and

badge A badge is a device or accessory, often containing the insignia of an organization, which is presented or displayed to indicate some feat of service, a special accomplishment, a symbol of authority granted by taking an oath (e.g., police and fi ...

were registered with the

Canadian Heraldic Authority The Canadian Heraldic Authority (CHA; french: Autorité héraldique du Canada) is part of the Canadian honours system under the Canadian monarch, whose authority is exercised by the Governor General of Canada. The authority is responsible for th ...

on April 20, 2007. On April 28th, 2008, the Provincial Government announced that it would amend the ''University Act'' at the

Legislative Assembly of British Columbia The Legislative Assembly of British Columbia is the deliberative assembly of the Parliament of British Columbia, in the province of British Columbia, Canada. The Legislative Assembly meets in Victoria, British Columbia, Victoria. Members ar ...

and recognize Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design as a full university, which would be named Emily Carr University of Art and Design. The university began its operation under the new name on September 1, 2008. On September 5, 2017, the university moved from its home on

Granville Island Granville Island is a peninsula and shopping district in the Fairview, Vancouver, Fairview neighbourhood of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. It is located across False Creek from Downtown Vancouver under the south end of the Granville Street ...

to a new campus at 520 East 1st Avenue, near Great Northern Way between Main and Clark streets. The purpose-built building was a former industrial site of

Finning International Finning is a Canadian industrial equipment dealer specializing in Caterpillar Inc., Caterpillar products. It is responsible for selling, renting and providing parts and service for equipment and engines to customers in industries including mini ...

, and is in the Mount Pleasant neighborhood of

East Vancouver East Vancouver (also called "East Van" or "the East Side") is a region within the city of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Geographically, East Vancouver is bordered to the north by Burrard Inlet, to the south by the Fraser River, and to th ...

. In 2019 the University's library became a fine-free institution in order to improve patron behaviour and the experience of students.

Campus

The university's campus is located within a four-storey building completed in

Strathcona, Vancouver Strathcona is the oldest residential neighbourhood of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Officially a part of the East Side, it is bordered by Downtown Vancouver's Chinatown neighbourhood and the False Creek inlet (across Main Street) to th ...

. Designed by

Diamond Schmitt Architects Diamond Schmitt Architects is a Canadian architectural firm founded in 1975. It is headquartered in Toronto, Ontario. The firm was founded by architects Jack Diamond and Donald Schmitt.Robinson, John. "Architecture for the People." ''Toronto ...

and completed by

EllisDon EllisDon is an employee-owned construction services company that was founded and incorporated in 1951 in London, Ontario, Canada, by brothers Don and David Ellis Smith. The company is headquartered in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada. History F ...

in 2017, the building houses informal gather spaces, exhibition spaces and studios; and three lecture theatres, including one 400-seat venue. The exterior facade of the building has white metal panels and glass reminiscent of a blank canvas, as well as a back-painted glass spandrel panels to evoke a sequence of colour and transition of an artistic colour palette. The colour palette was selected by Emily Carr faculty member

Landon Mackenzie Landon Mackenzie (born November 29, 1954) is a Canadian artist based in Vancouver, British Columbia. She is nationally known for her large-format paintings and her contribution as a professor at the Emily Carr University of Art and Design (she i ...

and another colleague. The colours were selected in honour of the painter Emily Carr. Several First Nations design elements were also incorporated into the building's design. The university campus is located within the

, a property that is equally shared with four other postsecondary institutions. The Great Northern Way Campus is an property owned by the Great Northern Way Trust, a company that Emily Carr University, the

British Columbia Institute of Technology The British Columbia Institute of Technology (also referred to as BCIT), is a public polytechnic institute in Burnaby, British Columbia. The technical institute has five campuses located in the Metro Vancouver region, with its main campus in Burn ...

Simon Fraser University Simon Fraser University (SFU) is a public research university in British Columbia, Canada, with three campuses, all in Greater Vancouver: Burnaby (main campus), Surrey, and Vancouver. The main Burnaby campus on Burnaby Mountain, located from ...

, and the

University of British Columbia The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a public university, public research university with campuses near Vancouver and in Kelowna, British Columbia. Established in 1908, it is British Columbia's oldest university. The university ranks a ...

are all equal shareholders in. The larger Great Northern Way Campus also houses facilities used by the other three postsecondary institutions. The

Centre for Digital Media Centre for Digital Media (CDM) is a multidisciplinary graduate institution based in Vancouver, British Columbia. It offers a Master of Digital Media (MDM) program accredited by its four partner institutions, the University of British Columbia, Sim ...

is an institution located on the Great Northern Way Campus that is managed by the four partner universities.

Academics

Emily Carr specializes in

sustainable design Environmentally sustainable design (also called environmentally conscious design, eco-design, etc.) is the philosophy of designing physical objects, the built environment, and services to comply with the principles of ecological sustainability ...

, photography,

new media New media describes communication technologies that enable or enhance interaction between users as well as interaction between users and content. In the middle of the 1990s, the phrase "new media" became widely used as part of a sales pitch for ...

, visual arts, media, interactive media, animation, industrial design, product design, ceramics, sculpture, communication design, illustration and

fine arts In European academic traditions, fine art is developed primarily for aesthetics or creative expression, distinguishing it from decorative art or applied art, which also has to serve some practical function, such as pottery or most metalwork ...

. Degree programs include: * Bachelor of Fine Arts in Cultural and Critical Practices, Illustration,

Photography Photography is the art, application, and practice of creating durable images by recording light, either electronically by means of an image sensor, or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. It is employed ...

, or Visual Arts. Visual arts majors can choose to specialize in painting, ceramics, drawing, print media, or sculpture and extended practices. * Bachelor of Design in Communication Design, Interaction Design or

Industrial Design Industrial design is a process of design applied to physical Product (business), products that are to be manufactured by mass production. It is the creative act of determining and defining a product's form and features, which takes place in advan ...

. * Bachelor of Media Arts in Animation, Film and Screen Arts, or New Media and Sound Arts. * Master of Fine Arts in

Visual Arts The visual arts are art forms such as painting, drawing, printmaking, sculpture, ceramics, photography, video, filmmaking, design, crafts and architecture. Many artistic disciplines such as performing arts, conceptual art, and textile arts al ...

. * Master of

Design A design is a plan or specification for the construction of an object or system or for the implementation of an activity or process or the result of that plan or specification in the form of a prototype, product, or process. The verb ''to design'' ...

with

Interdisciplinary Interdisciplinarity or interdisciplinary studies involves the combination of multiple academic disciplines into one activity (e.g., a research project). It draws knowledge from several other fields like sociology, anthropology, psychology, ec ...

and User Experience (UX) options.

Research

In November 2009, Emily Carr University teamed up with Lucasfilm spinoff, Kerner Studios, to announce the establishment of a stereoscopic 3-D research studio. In 2014, Canada Research Chairs

Garnet Hertz Garnet Hertz (born 1973) is a Canadian artist, designer and academic. Hertz is Canada Research Chair in Design and Media Art and is known for his electronic artworks and for his research in the areas of ''critical making'' and DIY culture. Work ...

and

Amber Frid-Jimenez Amber is fossilized tree resin that has been appreciated for its color and natural beauty since Neolithic times. Much valued from antiquity to the present as a gemstone, amber is made into a variety of decorative objects."Amber" (2004). In M ...

joined Emily Carr, making it the first art and design institution in the country with Canada Research Chairs. In 2015, a third Canada Research Chair joined the university until leaving in 2021.

Arms

Notable people

Alumni

* Kate Ali *

Unity Bainbridge Unity Bainbridge (July 6, 1916 – November 30, 2017) was a Canadian artist and writer of poetry inspired by the indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast and its landscape. Personal life Unity Bainbridge was born in Victoria, British C ...

Arnold Belkin Arnold Belkin (December 9, 1930 – July 3, 1992) was a Canadian- Mexican painter credited for continuing the Mexican muralism tradition at a time when many Mexican painters were shifting away from it. Born and raised in western Canada, he ...

Alexandra Bischoff Alexandra Bischoff (born 1991 in Edmonton, Alberta) is a Canadian artist who works primarily in Performance art, performance, with an emphasis on Human sexuality, sexuality and feminism. She lives and works in Montreal, Montréal, Quebec. Life a ...

Phillip Borsos Phillip Borsos (May 5, 1953 – February 2, 1995) was an Australian-born Canadian film director, producer, and screenwriter.Molly Lamb Bobak Molly Lamb Bobak (née Lamb; February 25, 1920 – March 2, 2014) was a Canadian teacher, writer, printmaker and painter working in oils and watercolours. During World War II, she was the first Canadian woman artist to be sent overseas to docum ...

Emily Kai Bock Emily Kai Bock (born 1983 or 1984) is a Canadian writer and film director. In 2017, her short film '' A Funeral for Lightning'' was included in TIFF's annual Canada's Top Ten list of the top 10 Canadian short films of the year, selected by a pane ...

* Annie Briard * Karin Bubaš * Arabella Campbell *

Neko Case Neko Richelle Case (; born September 8, 1970) is an American singer-songwriter and member of the Canadian indie rock group the New Pornographers. Case has a powerful, untrained contralto voice, which has been described by contemporaries and cri ...

Douglas Coupland Douglas Coupland (born 30 December 1961) is a Canadian novelist, designer, and visual artist. His first novel, the 1991 international bestseller '' Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture'', popularized the terms ''Generation X'' and ''McJ ...

* Stan Douglas *

Kevin Eastwood Kevin Eastwood is a Canadian documentary filmmaker and film and television producer. He is best known for directing the CBC Television documentaries '' Humboldt: The New Season'' and '' After the Sirens'' and the Knowledge Network series '' Em ...

Geoffrey Farmer Geoffrey Farmer (born 1967) is best known for extensive multimedia installations made of cut-out images which form collages. Life Early career Farmer was born on Eagle Island, BC in 1967. His career as an artist was unplanned, but he attended an ...

Ann Marie Fleming Ann Marie Fleming is an independent Canadian filmmaker, writer, and visual artist. She was born in Okinawa, USCAR (nowadays Japan), in 1962 and is of Chinese, Ryukyuan and Australian descent. Her film '' Window Horses'' was released in 2016. ...

Tommy Genesis Genesis Yasmine Mohanraj, known by her stage name Tommy Genesis, is a Canadian rapper. In 2016, ''Dazed'' magazine described her as "the internet's most rebellious underground rap queen". Her music incorporates experimental style and often sexu ...

Angela Grossmann Angela Grossmann (born 1955) is a Canadian artist, known for her oil paintings and mixed media collages. Her works range from simplistic drawings to rendering of the human body by layering torn and manipulated photos of body parts. Early life a ...

* Colleen Heslin * E. J. Hughes * Carole Itter * Donald Jarvis *

Lynn Johnston Lynn Johnston (born May 28, 1947) is a Canadian cartoonist and author, best known for her newspaper comic strip '' For Better or For Worse''. She was the first woman and first Canadian to win the National Cartoonist Society's Reuben Award. Ea ...

* Brian Jungen * Ann Kipling *

Terence Koh Terence Koh (born 1977 in Beijing, China ) is a Canadian artist who has also worked under the alias "asianpunkboy". The artist's work spans a range of media, including drawing, sculpture, video, performance, and the internet. Originally workin ...

Brian Kokoska Brian Kokoska (born November 8, 1988, in Vancouver, British Columbia) is a New York-based artist known for his paintings, sculptures and installations. Education Kokoska received his BFA from Vancouver's Emily Carr University of Art and Design ...

Attila Richard Lukacs Attila Richard Lukács (born 1962) is a Canadian artist. Lukács gained international attention via his ''E-werk'' series—a collection of very large figure paintings that he created in the 1980s and 90s, while living in Berlin. The paintings f ...

Julian Lawrence Julian Lawrence is a Canadian cartoonist, educator and comics scholar. A longtime member of Vancouver's DIY independent art scene, Lawrence is also an arts educator and researcher, with a specialization in using hand drawn comics as a tool to imp ...

* Irene Luxbacher * Jeannie Mah *

Sara Mameni Sara Mameni (born March 29, 1977) is an assistant professor in the Department of Ethnic Studies at University of California, Berkeley. Education Mameni completed a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Visual Arts from Emily Carr University of Art and Design ...

Annie Liu Annie Liu Sum-yau ( zh, 劉心悠; born 1 April 1981) is a Hong Kong-based Taiwanese actress. Background Liu was born in Taiwan but was sent to Vancouver, Canada to study at a young age by her parents. In 2004, Liu was selected to feature in ...

* Dandilion Wind Opaine * Frank Palmer *

Jack Shadbolt Jack Leonard Shadbolt, (February 4, 1909 November 22, 1998) was a Canadian painter. Early life Born in Shoeburyness, England, Shadbolt came to Canada with his parents in April 1911. He was raised in Victoria, British Columbia. He studied at t ...

* Edith L. Sharp *

Jeremy Shaw Jeremy Shaw (born 1977) is a Canadian visual artist based in Berlin, Germany. Shaw's art deals with altered states and the cultural and scientific practices investigating transcendental experience, with recurring themes around belief-systems, dru ...

* Elise Siegel *

Heather Spears Heather Spears (September 29, 1934 - April 15, 2021) was a Canadians, Canadian-born poet, novelist, artist, sculptor, and educator. She resided in Denmark from 1962 until her death in Copenhagen in 2021. She returned to Canada annually to conduct ...

Jeff Chiba Stearns Jeff Chiba Stearns is a Canadian independent animation and documentary filmmaker who works in traditional and computer-based techniques. Biography Chiba Stearns was born in Kelowna, British Columbia, of European and Japanese heritage. He is a ...

* Merike Talve *

Ronald Thom Ronald James Thom, (May 15, 1923 – October 29, 1986) was a Canadian architect. He is well known for two works: Massey College and Trent University's riverside campus. Early years He was born in Penticton, British Columbia, the son of James ...

* Renée Van Halm *

Ola Volo Ola Volo is a Kazakh Canadian artist, best known as a public muralist. Her style blends aspects of Eastern European folk art with a focus on pattern and narrative to depict fantasy scenes. Born in Kazakhstan, she moved to Canada with her family at ...

* Joy Zemel Long

Faculty and emeriti

* Gina Adams * Julie Andreyev *

Marian Penner Bancroft Marian Penner Bancroft (born 1947) is a Canadian artist and photographer based in Vancouver. She is an associate professor at the Emily Carr University of Art and Design, where she has been teaching since 1981. She has previously also taught at ...

Ron Burnett Ron Burnett (born 1947) is an author, professor and the President Emeritus and Research Director for the new Centre for Transdisciplinary Studies at Emily Carr University of Art and Design. Education Burnett was born 24 May 1947 in London, Engl ...

Peg Campbell Peg Campbell is a Canadian filmmaker. She is most noted for her short films '' It's a Party!'', which was a Genie Award nominee for Best Live Action Short Drama at the 8th Genie Awards, and '' In Search of the Last Good Man'', which won the same ...

* Randy Lee Cutler *

Maria Hupfield Maria Hupfield (born 1975) is a Canadian artist, working in Brooklyn, New York. She is an Anishinaabe, specifically an Ojibwe and a member of the Wasauksing First Nation, located in Ontario, Canada. Hupfield works in a variety of media, including ...

(Wasauksing Ojibwe) *

Sandra Semchuk Sandra Semchuk (born 1948) is a Canadian photographic artist. In addition to exhibiting across Canada and internationally, Semchuk taught at Emily Carr University of Art and Design from 1987 to 2018. In 1998, Presentation House, Vancouver, B.C. ...

Gregory Scofield Gregory Scofield (born July 20, 1966 in Maple Ridge, British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geograp ...

(Métis) *

Durwin Talon Durwin Talon (born in London, Ontario) is a comics artist, illustrator, author and professor of illustration. Early life and education Talon developed an interest in art at an early age. He received his bachelor's degree in Fine Arts (BFA) fr ...

* Henry Tsang *

Frederick Varley Frederick Horsman Varley (January 2, 1881 – September 8, 1969) was a member of the Canadian Group of Seven. Career Early life Varley was born in Sheffield, England, in 1881, the son of Lucy (Barstow) and Samuel James Smith Varley the 7th. He ...

* Ian Wallace * Rita Wong

References

External links

* {{Authority control Educational institutions established in 1925 1925 establishments in Canada Universities and colleges in Vancouver Colleges in British Columbia Art schools in Canada