MAIN GALLERY 2024
TRACE - Bonnie Conly October 10 - November 10th , 2024
Due to the Provincial Elections there is viewing interruption between October 22-28
My art translates my connection and observations as I move between rural and urban environments. Both natural and constructed elements that define these spaces influence my work. I find that places of quiet engagement and solace are becoming increasingly rare. Thus , they have become sacred to me and have conceptually inspired a need to celebrate them in my art. I believe there is an affective bond between person and place that creates a history, a concious and unconscious engagement where location prompts emotion, experience, and memories. I beilieve this tie to be so strong that history remains even when a place physically changes. It is this element of "trace" that compels my work, merging reality with personal, symbolic, and metaphoric layers.
The exhibition Trace is comprised of drawings and sculptures depicting prairie architecture built to settle Western Canada during the early 20th Century immigration boom, and now mostly in ruins. This work started with a quest to find the locations of 10 historical Saskatchewan water towers that resembled lighthouses, and then expanded to include other architectural structures that are iconic to the Canadian Prairies.
From the sidelines, I witnessed a transition in prairie agricultural practuces and the growth of 'Mega Farms'. Gone are the predictable nine-mile intervals between once sustainable communities. Rural communities are fading like mirages on the horizon.
Economic and cultural shifts have contributed to loss of place and a distinct way of life. Grain elevaors, churches, barns, granaries, and homesteads are collapsing. Wetlands and agressive vegetation are pulling structures to the earth. In-land grain terminals and bin-yards are the new landmarks. The chant 'go big or go home' echoes as I travel familiar roadways searching for the remnants of foundations, soil depressions, historical, and geographical indicators.
I think about abandoned structures as vessels and temporal markers layered with emotions and memories - revealing dreamworlds - conjuring their original physical presence. "The dreamworld of abandoned space is one that is empy of people yet remains crowded by their left-over resonance," and, "Here, the dreamworld is a place of disjunture, of life and death entangled and askew and where the everyday present becomes haunted by the marginal past" (Armstrong, 2010)1
Curiosity compels me to explore abandoned spaces and imagination holds me there. Ephemeral traces linger: a memory, an idea, a knowingness. The experience is nostalgic and somewhat tragic. These abandoned architectural spaces are fragments of lived lives and carry messages about oppression and triumph: hope and despair; melancholy, yearning and loss.
Portraits of Self - ARC - Creative Studios
Portraits of Self: "Portrait" can be many things. Most commonly, a "portrait" is defined as a piece of visual artwork representing a person, usually the face, head and shoulders. "Portrait" is also used more broadly to encompass representation or impression of someone, through any creative discipline. Some of our portraits of self may be literal representations of our physical selves, some are conceptual. In either case, our artwork provides a varied and intimate look at self beyond the physical form.
As artists, the ambition of our pieces in this exhibition is to represent our artistic practices and our ways of processing the world through whatever subject matter we see fit. For many of us, being creative is an integral part of our sense of self. Being artists determines not just our hobbies, careers, the work we make, but how we perceive and interact with the world. These portraits offer a look into our similarities, as much as our differences as artists and humans.
One of the core values of ARC is community collaboration. I invite all of those who view the show to spend time thinking like artists and reflect on not just the artwork, but your own sense of self. What really resonates with you? Why? What might your portrait of self-look like?
- Aleksi Ann, ARC Member
Exhibiting Members: Aleksi Ann, Juanita Aucamp, Kamila Badura, Sherron Burns, Bob Carnahan, Leila Dufresne, Heather Hochbaum, Chris Hodge, Brenda Lamb, Barb O'Neal, Rita St. Amant, Rosemarie Stadnyl, Mariann Taubensee, Celeste Tootoosis, Rochelle Weenie, Savannah Weenie-Pierre.
Reading the Prairie - Beverley Brenna
Created in the footsteps of artist Millicent Bardwell, a family friend I observed working in this locale when I was a child, these paintings express apoetic quality of the land that is sometimes lost to viewers. I've spent the better part of two years looking carefully at landscapes in the Battlefords region, and exploring areas north and south of Saskatoon, resulting in a body of paintings that encapsulate both the observation and responsivity to surrounding shapes and colours.
I was writing about the prairie long before I established my practice as a visual artist, and although the two creative fields are significantly connected, I didn't formally make this link until conceptualizing this show. The more I thought about reading the land, the more persistently my previously written poetry called out - until I began to consider the places where image and text converged, and thought about how the poetry might provide audiences with another way to read these paintings and the subjects they represent. The poems selected for the banners included here will hopefully offer viewers the opportunity to independently seek and make connections between art forms.
Vicissitude - Monique Martin and Alexandra Hedberg
Vicissitude
noun
plural noun: vicissitudes
a change of circumstance or fortune, typically one that is unwelcome or unpleasant.
Artist Statement
Transformation occurs through deep time when life hangs like a question mark, fragile and always changing. A moment in time can impact this planet, but it can also take years and decades to notice the change. Transformation is a process within human existence and within the ecosystems on the earth that allows us to live in the continuous present as we know we will not be the same person or planet tomorrow that we were today. The arithmetic of life can be looked at as continuous subtraction or as continuous transformation. When parts of our life and the earth run thin like the transparent chrysalis of a butterfly there is room for transformation ,change, growth and movement.
We thought the environment was frozen in time. It is now a slow emergency. Nature measures time in epochs, eras, eons; it is not based on human construct or days of years. Humans trespass without notice on nature's time scale, but have altered deep time. Our trespassing renders a lasting impact, stripping mother earth, leaving her vulnerable and weak. We were complacent thinking we had the answers and believing that tomorrow is always promised. Did we even really try? The eternal seconds of our nascent attempts to address climate change may be too later. The regrets will be carried by the future generations comparing what we could have done with what actually occured.
Time is eternal and everything is gradually covered by the earth.
"Storied Skies"
BOBBI CLACKSON-WALKER
May 25 - July 9th, 2024
STORIED SKIES - BOBBi CLACKSON-WALKER
The act of looking at a vast expanse of sky over a broad and endless horizontal plane is a quintessential activity of life on the prairies. Since childhood, cloud formations in the broad expanse of sky have fueled my imagination and grounded me with a sense of place. Cloud formations can appear as slow-moving animations or be reminiscent of a personally held memory or experience. They are our memories and musings served up to us on a distant panoramic screen of atmosphere. My lifetime on the prairies has provided me with a rich and visual library of cloudscapes which I called upon in creating the "Storied Skies" exhibition.
Each artwork in the exhibition was created from a salt crystal monoprint that has been hand coloured with watercolour, coloured pencil, indelible ink, and encaustic wax. The process of creating a salt crystal monoprint is multifaceted. It involves growing a salt bloom on paper from a diluted solution of mineral salt. The mineral salt bloom is then dehydrated on the paper and a chemical solution is applied, creating an etched surface or a monoprint of the negative space around the salt bloom pattern. No two salt crystal monoprints are alike, and once the salt crystals have etched the paper, they dissolve and cannot be replicated.
Much of my art practice is motivated by discovery, that is, creating with an attitude of 'what happens when' and looking deeply at the results for clues of how to progress further. The patterns of salt crystal formations captured in the monoprinting process are entirely abstract. To me, that abstracted patterning is reminiscent of appterning I see elsewhere in nature. The "Storied Skies" abstracted monoprints provided me an opportunity to express what I saw as cloudscapes anchored by a broken plain, a landscape so quintessential to the prairies. In truth, the artworks were created as much by examining the salt crystal abstracted patterning, and interpreting my memories in that patterning, as by the processes I employed in rendering them. - Bobbi Clackson-Walker
Facing It
BONNIE GILMOUR and CHARLEY FARRERO
May 18 - July 16th, 2024
FACING IT
Bonnie Gilmour and Charley Farrero
Together we make, and shape in clay, at our studio day to day. It's what we do , in life and art, Charley and Bonnie are never apart. The winds have blown these artists far. Across the globe, from star to star. Our art's in Chile, Mexico, and France. There are no rules...give clay a chance!
We watch, observe, and learn our world. We form it in clay, then it's unfurled. A case you know, you've seen before, but just can't place, as behind the door. The tableaux-vivant, the story to tell, so much inside, it do look well.
These sculptures speak and evoke emotion, some with content as deep as our ocean. Events of war, and love and home. Food fights of fancy moan. Things we think, then push away, in our hopes for a brighter day.
We are FACING IT; our human condition
With our sculptures.... a ceramic rendition.
Chaos and (Dis) Order - Heather Hochbaum
March 9 - April 21, 2024
Reception Thursday March 21, 2024
6:00pm - 8:30pm - Artist Talk at 7:00pm
Covid Crazy 1 - Cotton Fabric - 2020 - Heather Hochbaum
Chaos and (Dis) Order
Heather Hochbaum
This show includes 20 artworks and two installations which are mostly quilts and quilted works, along with some mixed media pieces. The best thing one can say about the past few years is that it has been unsettling. Climate change, buried history, wars, unstable politics, and governments, and of course, Covid has created a sense of disorder and a longing for past times.
I have used traditional quilting patterns for most of these worksl "log cabins", "crazy quilts", and "flying geese" to name a few. However, I have used non-traditional settings and colour schemes that give an impression of the frenzy and disorder that I felt during the lockdown to the present. Althought they are bright and colourful, each piece has a darker back story.
I would like to acknowledge the inspiration of Sheila Hicks and C. June Barnes, some of my favourite fiber artists, for the pieces "Sticks and Stones", and "Every Block Has a Story".
Heather Hochbaum - " I am a fiber artist situated in the parkland area of Saskatchewan and I live along the banks of the North Saskatchewan River. I do both traditional quilting and fiber art. My grandmother taught me how to sew, knit, and crochet at a very young age and I have continued this throughout my life. As a self-taught quilter, I don't always follow the rules. I use non-traditional materials, stitching and settings to create "quilts" that can be atypical and novel. I am fascinated with colour, the relationships between colours and how those relationships evoke moods, emotions, and feelings. Colour and texture are strong feature of my work. Recently, I have started to experiement with thread drawing and 3-dimensional pieces.
I have a BA in psychology from Athabasca University and a USCAD Certificate in art and design from the U of S. I have exhibited in several group shows in Saskatchewan including the Saskatchewan Craft Council's "Dimensions 2021-2022" exhibition where I was the recipient of the "Excellence in Quilting" Award. My solo exhibition, "Lady Sings the Blues" showcased in 2015 at The Chapel Gallery in North Battleford and I had another solo exhibition at the Kerrobert Courthouse Gallery in 2017. My quilts are owned by collectors across Canada, the United States, and England. I am a member of the Rivers Edge Quilt Guild and ARC - Creative Studioes, both in North Battleford, Sask. I remain active in the arts locally and throughout the province and I have participated in teh OSAC - Organizations of Saskatchewan Arts Council - Adjudicated Exhibition hosted by Biggar Museum and Art Gallery where my work was a finalist.
Landscape Figures
Chris Hodge
My practice since retirement started with landscape painting, which then turned to abstraction as I absorbed the rich yet understated Saskatchewan scenery. When I became interested in figure work, I found that these experiences and original influences affected my approach.
I prefer an expressionistic style, with bright colours, layers, and diverse linework. As I became more involved with this theme, I found that the shapes began to simplify and abstract, where I began to use only parts of the complete figure.
This is essentially the working method of a landscape artist as they use only those natural elements which relate directly to their piece. Together with the expressionistic method, this has established a way of painting the figure, which I thought represented 'Landscape Figues'.
My final work can be viewed either as a figure or a type of landscape, depending on the preference of the observer. Through this method I have retained my love of both abstract painting and landscapes in this new direction and hopefully I have presented something new and interesting for patrons to view. Chris Hodge 2024.
The following Artists are exhibiting work in the 2023 Gallery Members Exhibition:
Rita St. Amant Reg Beardsworth Lorraine Beardsworth
Pam Beaver Gordon Bland Sherron Burns
Evelyn Campbell Paul Constable Faye Erickson
Charley Farrero Evelyn Gardiner Brianne Hager
Nell Haichert Heather Hochbaum Chris Hodge
Lenora Hordos Cindy Hoppe Grace Gerein
Bonnie Gilmour Birgit Lessing Bonny Macnab
Lorraine Voegeli Kevin Quinlan Marilyn Richardson
Joanne Rivers-Wing Rosemarie Stadnyk Linda Hauk
Royal Rogue: POV
Grant McConnell
September 23 - November 12, 2023
Rogue Royal: POV - Grant McConnell
Art historian, Svetlana Alpers, describes the painting, Las Meninas, by Spanish Baroque painter, Diego Velazquez, as "one of the greatest representations of pictorial representation in all of Western painting". Painted in 1656, Velazquez portrait of the royal Spanish Court, Las Meninas, for centuries now has perplexed viewers and art historians alike, inviting numerous theories and interpretations of this magnificient work. Considered his utmost masterpiece, Las Meninas, with its complex and enigmatic composition, raises questions about pictorial representation and illusion. Velazquez is regarded as one of the most influential artists within Western art history. His explorations of pictorial space and his artistic approaches and principles have been acknowledged as contribution to the evolution of painting in the modern age. Following the Baroque Era, many significant artists throughout art history have paid homage to Velazquez, recognizing his impact on the canon of Western painting. Edouard Manet, whose work was profoundly influenced by Velazquez, described him as "the painter of painters". It is not surprising that this monumental painting and historically - significant artist has captured the imagination of Saskatchewan artist, Grant McConnell, and is the souce of inspiration for this body of work presented in the exhibition, Rogue Royal: POV, featuring paintings and mixed media drawings.
McConnell in his own homage, borrows and alters the players in Las Meninas, not only situating them in settings of his own devise and reimagining new narratives for these royal personages within Canadian folkloric and historical contexts, but transposes them from seventeenth century Baroque sensibilities and places them within the conventions of contemporary painting. McConnell positions Canada, in all of its crude beauty, as a new ground for these royal figures, gone rogue, with a new purpose in the colonies, while his characteristic painting support of raw, fir panel becomes the surface for the narratives to play out on. Layers of paint drip and scumble across the rough wood surfaces of his paintings, creating a woven effect of figure and ground that results in a complex tapestry of imagery, oscillating between figuration and pure abstraction. The drawings in the exhibition are fresh in the rawness, not only allowing the viewer a glimpse into the artist's creative and conceptual process but, in their varied approaches, reference the historical painting lineage that McConnell draws inspiration from, from Velazquez to Piet Mondrian, Francis Bacon, Pablo Picasso, Jasper Johns, and Agnes Martin. McConnell, too, can be described as a painter's painter. The visceral quality of his surfaces interrups the pictorial figuration and illusion, making the materiality of his medium and support always present and part of the engagement in his work.
Throught his painting practice, McConnell has engaged in investigations of subject matter that relates to history, addressing Canadian historical narratives and Western art history in his depictions of still lives, urban and rural landscapes, animal life, and portraiture, as a means of examining memory, representation and notions of nationalism and collective identity. Here McConnell references the great works of Velazquez within new contexts to place contenporary painting in dialogue with its past, while examining representations of Canadian identity and history through fictitious narratives. Former curator of the Mendel Art Gallery, Dan Ring, has suggested that an underlying concern in McConnell's work is to "collapse orders of representation that we use to construct discourses about ourselves, nature and history", in order to create a space where we might examine and questions of triumphal or established narratives. It seems fitting, then for McConnell to feel nautral inclinations towards the 'rogue-ness' of Velazquez, who himself sought to upset established hierarchies of representation in the Baroque Era.
Samskara
Diana Chabros
August 12th - September 17th, 2023
Samskara - Diana Chabros
"The land is made up of the bones of my ancestors..."1
Bones mean a lot to me: my own and those of the land. I broke my spine as a child, so both literally and metaphorically speaking, I know the body is one's first home and I understand what it measn to lose it. This knowledge forms the skeleton of my artistic path, and compels me toward ideas which connect me to the land. The land is also our home and ultimately the receptacle for our remails. I have come to the realization that I will only remain true to my practice by staying true to the land.
I remain fascinated with the visual ele,ents of southwest Saskatchewan and explore energy in its physica, psychic and spiritual forms as a means to understand my interdependent relationship with the land.
Known to biologists, artists, photographers, tourism operators, ranchers and other locals as 'grasslands', and to First Peoples as 'maka tatanka' or 'buffalo-land', the southwest and its natural inhabitants are celebrated for their beauty and resiliency to survive under extremeely harsh weather conditions. Compromised, however, by accelerated human intervention, the lives of these inhabitants, (many of them considered species at risk are compromised to the point that even the soil has become a 'species at risk'.
In my painting practice I use realism to portray actual landmarks along with their non-human inhabitants combined with fictionalized visual narrative. I walk the land with camera, conducting traditional protocol as I go. My artistic process is informed by reviews of historical documents, poetic literature, oral history, my own meditation and dream work, and a specialized dialogue process borrowed from intuitive process painting which allows me to build a working relationships with each painting. Through this process I witness, honour, learn from and care for the land and its resident beings. Through this method of research I discover the transformational currency of these various forms of energy.
The term 'transformational currency' refers to the archetypal cycles of life and death, and the stories that arise. My ongoing studies with First Nation knowledge keepers, including my life partner, as well as the practices of Yoga and Tibetan Buddhist philosophy move me beyond my colonial understanding of the natural world, and is refelcted in my work. For me, these processes, worldviews and my experience of the land transform my subject matter from simple 'landscape' to an exploratory fusion of land, self, and other. My artistic practice is evolving into one of reciprocity and humility.
Inspired by contemporary visual artist Marsha Kennedy, photographers Edward Burtynsky and James Page, and Metis interdisciplinary artists Madonna Hamel, Joseph Naytowhow, and Moe Clark, the act of painting for me yields a visual health record or 'temperature gauge' of the land and its inhabitants. Painting is how I stay in touch with my subject matter while I am away from 'the field'.
Passages
Paula Cooley and Louisa Ferguson
July 7th - August 6th, 2023
Nocturne Ember and Ash
Clay and Glass by Paula Cooley and Louisa Ferguson
Passages - Paula Cooley and Louisa Ferguson "
Our mixed media exhibition, Passages, grew out of a CARFAC Mentorship we did together in 2015-16. As part of our mentorship, we combined our respective mediums of clay and glass to create several collaborative pieces. The resulting ceramic and glass sculptures whetted our desire to continue to create and exhibit together, providing the impetus of the new work exhibited here with Passages.
We used the iconic boat form as a starting point for both our collaborative and individual works in Passages. The boat form allowed us to explore various interests, be it the formal qualities of light, shadow and negative space or metaphorical journeys through life and time. In some of our pieces the boat is easily recognized while in others the form has been abstracted and evolved into a new and different vessel.
Our process as artists is complementary. We both view the creative practice as dialogue between the artist and the emerging work. We work intuitively, reacting to ideas and forms and then modifying our work accordingly. For Passages, ideas and forms evolved as we handed off segments of sculptures to each other to respond to and build upon. The collaborative process can be difficult. There is always the push and pull of individual purpose, personal artistic vision and subjective meaning, but we both found that there was always an invigorating energy propelling us forward to see what work would ultimately emerge. As and experience, the creation of Passages was a constructive interchange between two artists exploring form, a symbol, and narrative.
The sculptures incorporate a variety of media such as glass, ceramic, metal, and wood. Approximately a third of the sculptures are collaborative, a thrid are works by Cooley, and a third are works by Ferguson
SYMBIOSIS
Ted Uchacz - Oriol Dancer - Ray Keighley - Ellery Russell
Windows Gallery
June 10th - August 16th 2023
"Symbiosis: any relationship or interaction between two dissimilar organisms." National Geographic Society
Symbiosis is a collaborative art project between four like-minded artists who saw a cohesion between each other's spirit, art practice, and intention to honour the natural world. This 2023 Exhibition is the fiirst result of their work together and is the kick start to a a larger project and body of work called "Portal of Understanding".
This exhibition is the first exercise in their collaboration, which is an important aspect of their exploration. Miraculously, in the 11th hour, the world aligned, and their first collaborative sculpture came together, and it fit like a perfect piece of the puzzle, and the "Tree of Life" was manifested into the cornerstone of their project. "Tree of Life" is grounded by the turtle wood carving by Ray Keighley, supported by the tree trunk made of paper/natural fibre by Oriol Dancer, and crowned by the square, yet globe-like metal sculpture made by Ted Uchacz, and Ellery Russell's needle-felted mushrooms and lichen capped off the sculptural work. Diverse beings and creatures surround the sculpture and subsist on this "Tree of Life" that reminds us of how small we really are in this world and the narrow balance that we teeter on. We shall see more of this work in 2025, with a culmination of the work to showcase at The Chapel Gallery in the Main Salon in 2025.
Allegories - Meditations on Religion and Society
Gordon Frederick Bland
May 20 - June 25, 2023
A Meditation Allegory: A Story, poem, picture, etc in which the meaning or message is represented symbolically. (The Concise Oxford Dictionalry, 1995)
Artist's Statement
In this series of acrylic paintings, I explore the allegorical potential or geometric forms, using intense colour and varied texture, playing with balance and imbalance to suggest meaning.
The ancient Greek phiolsopher Plato argued that the world that we experience is illusory and impermanent, yet reflects eternal and unchanging Truths, which he called "Forms" or IDeas ( eidos). For Plato, the world we perceive "participates" in these Truths, even though their expression may be vaired or even hidden.
Religion and myth, science and philosophy, literature and art have all sought to tell stories of our past, present and future. What we accept as Truth about ourselves relies on our interpretations of such stories. To what extent would the "Truths" portraying in an abstract, or highly symbolic, painting be interpreted similarly by different viewers? Would viewere accept such abstractions as a recognizable allegorical reference? How would the viewere's own beliefs inform an interpretation of the painting? These are thequestions that the series "Allegories" seeks to pose and, perhaps answer.
For want of a better term, I am referring to the illustrative style I have used in this series of paintings as narrative abstraction.
An essential aspect of the series is the interpretaion that the viewer brings. I want to explore the by having response sheets available to viewer where their thoughts and/or emotional reaction can be recorded and submitted to the gallery and artist, so that the dialogue is not entirely one way (artist to viewer), but two-way. Ultimatelty, these response will be included as part of the show.
Gordon Bland
Woolgathering
Marjory Fisher
March 18 - April 23, 2023
Main Gallery
Silk Scarves - goauche on paper - Marjory Fisher Summer Table - goauche on paper - Marjory Fisher
The voices of my teachers and aprents still echo in my head, "Marjory, stop daydreaming." I never did stop, and I don't believe I could if I wanted to. My installation of work is entitled "woolgathering"" which is a medieval word that describes indulging in aimless thought - daydreaming. It originally described the state of mind of a child or resourceful person that collects tufts of wool on fences and hedges left by passing sheep who is lost in reverie.
Visiting the muse, getting in the flow, or simply daydreaming. That is where the ideas are and one of my best sources of fun. Which is why most of this collection of work was painted at 3:00AM when I am undistracted by the world.
This collection of works is a peek into my imagination revealing what amuses me and captures my attention. My love of sculptural animals, with big personalitites is obvious as is my tendency and weakness to romanticize Viking Sheep. This exhibition is off on a tangent from a more serious focus series of painting that I have been working on. So, 'woolgathering' is a sequence of fanciful subjects that supports lighthearted energy that gets us ready for spring and into the party mood.
Yeas ago, I remember a prominent artist quoting his artist friend by saying, "showing your art is like showing people your underwear drawer." I think there is an element of truth to that. As an artist who paints in an insular environment, only showing a few people some of my work to then display it all at once, takes a surge of courage.
I choose gouache as a favored medium. Goauche is bright and bolder color, but the edges can be softened with traditional watercolor. The biggest difference with goauche and watercolor is with watercolor you plan the white of the page before start the painting but with goauche you can paint light colors over dark. Most of my paintings are done in goauche and/or mixed with watercolor. Goauche is also watercolor, and ancient opaque watercolor.
Since there are no new colors in the world, we can only get excited about new collections of color. Holbein goauche has recently put together collections of "The Color of Japan". Something to make any artist excited.
Marjory Fisher, 2023
WATERWORKS
Chris Hodge - Joanne Rivers Wing
April 1 - May 28th, 2023
Windows Gallery
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