Media Arts in Canada
Visual and media artists in Canada explore different materials, tools, concepts, and themes, including video, photography, installation art, and sculpture. Media arts employ techniques and strategies that focus on experience, sounds, images, narratives, and messages. The use of technology, devices, and techniques allows artists to relate and communicate with the audience. Artists use multimedia, performance techniques, sound, and film as well as circuits and sensors to create art.
Media Arts Education
Colleges and universities in Canada offer degrees with a focus on interactive design and web development, movies and visual effects, game art, professional photography, and 2D and 3D character animation. Students specializing in game arts and design, for example, master different techniques, concepts and tools for the television, game, and movie industries and learn how to create art for console games and mobile games. Lectures focus on interface design, texturing and lighting, character modeling, and more. Universities also offer media arts degrees with a focus on broadcasting for TV, radio, and web, and students can choose from a variety of courses such as Social Media, Writing and Storytelling, Performance, and Operations. Students learn how to create humorous content, master community building skills, and learn more about broadcast regulations and ratings. They are also taught the basics of web design, demo tape creation, and radio drama.
Media Artists in Canada
Media artists such as Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, Micah Lexier, Robert Houle, and Louise Déry are well-known in Canada. Louise Déry also has a PhD in art history and organizes exhibits and other events for domestic artists in other countries as well, including the U.S., Turkey, Spain, and France. She helped other artists realize their own artistic projects, including Raphaëlle de Groot, Shary Boyle, and David Altmejd. Robert Houle is the first curator to specialize in contemporary aboriginal art. He worked at the Canadian Museum of History (the former Canadian Museum of Civilization). A Saulteaux artist, Robert Houle’s work is displayed in the National Gallery of Canada, the Heard Museum, the Art Gallery of Ontario, etc. His focus is mainly on mixed media, installation art, photography, and oil painting. Micah Lexier is based in Toronto and has hosted over 100 exhibits, including photography, installation art, and sculpture. Lexier explores themes such as identity and the different ways in which people identify themselves, i.e. age, signature, etc. He also draws attention to the fact that man is fragile and fragility is a fact of life. Lexier has organized exhibitions in different countries around the world, with his works displayed in the Canadian Museum of Contemporary Photography, the Art Gallery of Ontario, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney, the British Museum, and elsewhere. Rafael Lozano-Hemmer is also a famous Canadian artist who organized multimedia platforms in different cities around the world, including Mexico City, Basel, New York, Santiago, Toronto, and elsewhere. A media artist of Canadian-Mexican origin, Rafael Lozano-Hemmer uses concepts from different spheres, including performance, technological theatre, and others. He is also known for creating relational architecture and employs a number of different techniques and tools such as real time animation, film projections, motion sensors, radio waves, and even robot-controlled sound effects and lighting.
Sandra Meigs, Reva Stone, Rober Racine, and Paul McClure are also Canadian artists worth a mention. Sandra Meigs is a well-known artist and a professor of visual arts who is teaching at the University of Victoria. Based in British Columbia, Meigs’ work centers around philosophical and psychological concepts and ideas. She makes use of unusual materials and combinations to create provocative works of art.
Choosing the Right Career Path – Canadian Student Edition
If you are about to apply for college, you are probably thinking about the right career path for you. This depends on your personal strengths and the type of job you wish to land.
The Highest Paying Jobs in Canada
The list of the highest paying jobs in Canada includes health and community service manager, pubic administration director, utilities manager, and financial manager. The list offers a mix of financial opportunities, high tech positions such as solution architect and database administrator and traditional occupations such as lawyer and pharmacist. If you pursue a degree in computer science, you can become a database administrator. Administrators back up, monitor, organize, and store data to ensure the security and integrity of databases. They evaluate and monitor hardware and computer systems and analyze functional capabilities, programming, and applications. The base salary a database administrator can get is a little over $97,000. Computer hardware engineers are also well-paid, with an average base salary of over $101,000. Hardware engineers are responsible for overseeing manufacturing, updating equipment, and designing hardware. As a computer hardware engineer, you will work with software developers and other specialists to design new equipment. A number of industries employ hardware engineers, among which electromedical and navigational manufacturing, peripheral and computer equipment, and computer systems design. Engineering offers plenty of opportunities for professional development. You can also pursue a career as a security engineer and will be responsible for the safety and security of computer systems. The average base salary is close to $103,000. Supply chain managers are even better paid, with an average base salary of $106,632. They are responsible for purchasing, warehousing, and the manufacturing process and offer advice to enhance the efficiency, quality, and productivity of operations. As a supply chain manager, you will be tasked with tracking products, directing packaging and ordering, monitoring shipment arrivals, and organizing timetables. Managers also recruit staff, monitor performance, and train and supervise staff.
Jobs in High Demand
There are jobs in high demand in Canada, i.e. positions with more than one job per job seeker. The list includes positions such as construction manager, public administration director, pilot, pharmacist, and urban planner. Other positions in high demand include aerospace engineer, police officer, chemical or petroleum engineer, and corporate sales manager. There are also positions with one job per job seeker. Examples include scientific research manager, engineering manager, and financial manager. There are also positions with less than one job, for instance, statistical officer, financial analyst, actuary, and others.
There are also hot industries and fields to look into when thinking about your job prospects. These include psychology, nursing, pharmacy, HR, construction, etc. Skilled tradespeople are traditionally in demand as well. This is good news if you don't want to land an office job. There is a shortage in a number of industries today, including manufacturing, transportation, construction, and services. Die and tool makers, automotive service technicians, plumbers, and carpenters are in high demand. Businesses are also hiring industrial mechanics, aviation technicians, electricians, horticulturalists, and chefs. What is more, by 2040 about 40 percent of new openings will be in the technologies and skilled trades. Other sectors have very low unemployment rates compared to the national average (and good prospects, too). Counseling and physiotherapy are just two examples.
Obviously, choosing the right career path is not only about salary or whether the position is in high demand. It is a mix of different factors – your ambitions and interests, qualifications, skills, and strengths, where you live, and so on.