Glenn Gear
Artist-in-Residence

 
 
 

Glenn Gear: Artist-in-Residence

February 4, 2020 – September 2021
Concordia University, Montreal
University of Winnipeg, Winnipeg

Glenn Gear is a filmmaker and multi-disciplinary artist currently based in Montreal, Quebec, originally from Newfoundland. Much of his work explores alternative forms of storytelling through research-based creation and personal/tactile knowledge rooted in his Inuit heritage connected to Nunatsiavut. Primarily focused on animation and moving images, he also uses archives, photographs, drawings, traditional crafts, and objects in his practice. He is passionate about low-budget and experimental animation techniques and shares these through mentoring opportunities that have become an integral part of his practice. His work delves into the relationships between people, animals, and land, rethinking the spaces in which history, hope and Inuit knowledge may thrive.

Gear was the Inuit Futures in Arts Leadership 2020-2021 Artist-in-Residence, jointly held between Concordia University and the University of Winnipeg, and hosted in collaboration with the aabijijiwan New Media Lab. During this residency, Gear has presented at Montréal En Lumière’s Nuit Blanche and Concordia University’s First Voices Week, where he led a Sealskin Brooch-making Workshop and participated on the panel “On Screen: Inuit Film and Video.” He also led a number of digital workshop stop motion animation, beginning with Inuit Futures’ De-ICE-olation Online Artist Workshop series, as well as “Introduction to Animation and Paper Puppets” and “Advanced Techniques with Collage Animation” with aabijijiwan New Media Lab, and finally “Animating the Archive: Stop-Motion Animation & Object-based Collage,” a collaboration between Inuit Futures and the Indigenous Screen Office. Gear created Iluani/Silami (it's full of stars) for Qaumajuq’s inaugural exhibition INUA, which opened in spring 2021, as well as the accompanying audioguide commentary for Nagvaaqtavut | What We Found: The INUA Audio Guide.

He has also worked on projects with the National Film Board of Canada, and collaborated with other artists on installations, murals, online works, and live video/audio projections. His films have screened in festivals throughout Canada and around the world, including ImagineNATIVE Film +Media Arts Festival, Canada; Skabmagovat – Indigenous Peoples’ Film Festival, Finland; He Wiki Kiriata Māori – Māori Film Week, New Zealand.