Drawing the Canada-Wide Science Fair

Monday, May 13, 9am – 12pm
Thursday, May 16, 9am – 12pm
Friday, May 17, 9am – 12pm
U of L Centre for Sport and Wellness
Reception: May 16, 4 – 6 pm, Andy’s Place Terrace (AH100), U of L

Drawing the Canada-Wide Science Fair is a collective of fifteen artists who have come together to interpret and play with the spectacle of a national science fair through visual language. By drawing on-site during the Canada-Wide Science Fair, the artists will create and immediately broadcast drawings of selected projects on display. The idea is to expand the notion of drawing around science themes to include the potentials of visual priority, cross-disciplinary work, collaborative drawing, multi-perspectival drawing, non-precious drawing, interactions with people, live tweeting, 5-second-delay blogging, and other unexpected possibilities. #drawingscience #cwsf2013 #ulethimpact

For more information on the project and the participating artists visit Search & Research.

For more information on the science fair visit Canada-Wide Science Fair.

Participating Artists:

Leila Armstrong
Cindy Baker – (U of L MFA Art Candidate)
Christine Clark – (U of L MFA New Media Candidate)
Kelaine Devine
Leanne Elias – (U of L New Media Instructor)
Mandy Espezel – (U of L MFA Art 2012)
Denton Fredrickson – (U of L, Art Instructor, BFA Multidisciplinary 2001)
David Hoffos – (U of L BFA 1994)
Emily Luce
Glen MacKinnon – (U of L Art instructor)
Petra Mala Miller
Mary-Anne McTrowe – (U of L Art Technician, BFA 1998)
Megan Mormon
Shanell Papp – (U of L BFA 2006)
Rod Sayers
Corinne Thiessen Hepher – (BFA 2009, MFA candidate)

Images of Drawings by Local Lethbridge Artists from Monday, May 13, 2013:

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Images of Drawings by Visitors from Lethbridge Area Schools from Monday, May 13, 2013:

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The Cardiff/Miller House

Thursday, May 16, 9am – 6pm
Friday, May 17, 9am – 12pm
Andy’s Place Terrace
Reception: May 16, 4 – 6 pm, Andy’s Place Terrace (AH100), U of L

Artists: Emily Luce with Major Collaborators Rodney Sayers and Alan Maten

Featuring the work of:
Taylor Ackerman, Leila Armstrong, Cindy Baker, Victoria Baster, Karen Campbell, Christine Clark, Adrian Cooke, Dana Cooley, Jennifer Crane, Dagmar Dahle, Annelaure Djaballah, Chai Duncan, Jane Edmundson, Leanne Elias, Mandy Espezel, Denton Fredrickson, Don Gill, Marianne Gerlinger, Fred Greene, David Hoffos, Patricia Horrocks, Andrew Jensen, Emily Luce, Jared Klok, Glen MacKinnon, Petra Mala Miller, Billy McCarroll, Mary-Anne McTrowe, Greg Moody, Christopher Moore, Monica Nobert, Chad Patterson, Taras Polatiako, Beth Porter, Arianna Richardson, Catherine Ross, John Savill, Rodney Sayers, Jeff Spalding, Melinda Spooner, Corinne Thiessen Hepher

Domesticity in the Art World, Sustainable Architecture (and Living), Community/Collaborative Aspects, and the Pleasure of Tiny

The Cardiff/Miller House is a miniaturized but inhabitable replica on wheels of an infamous art house in Lethbridge Alberta. Exploring notions of domesticity in the art world, the line between the art life and art history, and sustainability and the tiny house movement, the house is a transitive portrait containing tiny work by over 40 artists who have ties to the house.

Artist Statement:
I live in a suite in a house owned by the artists Janet Cardiff and George Burres-Miller in Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada. At one time, they lived here, as have a slew of other Canadian artists who invited people in, made their work, and were a part of the arts community over the years. Throughout the house one can find a collection of ‘artist repairs,’ slightly left of center solutions to problems. The storage spaces are goldmines, collections of discarded art projects, furniture finds from the thrift store (mostly broken, alot orange,) and usable, random art supplies. The house has started to establish somewhat of a mythic quality for itself. Locals are curious about who is living in the suites; everyone has an opinion about how it should be repaired. It’s a place that’s right on the brink of a certain history—someday it could become a significant art site. Then again, it could be sold and renovated by someone who wants to take advantage of its large footprint and strategic location.

I am interested in this tipping point. Through the construction of a miniature portrait of the Cardiff-Miller house, I aim to explore the qualities of this building in the present moment, and its domestic presence in Canadian art history.

The work presented is an 8 x 16′ replica on a trailer of the Cardiff/Miller House. Inside, the house is furnished with tiny works by over 40 artists with ties to the house, in addition to a sleeping loft, a tiny kitchen area, and a waterless bathroom. Both interior and exterior architectural details refer to the original house, creating a miniature, interactive portrait of the complex life of an art house.

The Cardiff-Miller House is the first stage in a multi-part project to develop tiny but inhabitable replicas of significant art houses across Canada. Future houses in the series include the Agnes Martin Family Homestead, located in Macklin, Saskatchewan, the Emily Carr House in Victoria, BC, and the Maud Lewis House in Halifax/Digby, Nova Scotia.

With Assistance From:
Jeld-Wen Windows and Doors, Storage Town, Savill Group Architects, Duane’s Drywall, The Nikkei Cultural Society of Lethbridge, Davis GMC Buick, The Alberta Foundation for the Arts, The Canada Council for the Arts
 

Nicholas de Grandmaison: Recent Acquisitions

May 2 – June 27, 2013
Main Gallery
Reception: May 2, 6 – 8 pm
Extended viewing hours: Saturdays 10 am – 5 pm

Information concerning the de Grandmaison Oral History Project.

Curator: Josephine Mills

Drawn from the 67 artworks donated by BMO Financial Group, this exhibition features 28 pastel portraits that provide a range of the Aboriginal subjects represented in the gift. The works demonstrate de Grandmaison’s deep respect for the people whom he painted and his exceptional skill at capturing the individual character of his sitters. The exhibition will include a resource area focused on a newly launched oral history project. The U of L Art Gallery and the University Archives are partnering to gather stories on the artist and on the subjects of his paintings. These oral histories will be added to the existing research holdings of archival material on the artist and will help provide context for future audiences attending exhibitions of his works. Information on the oral history project will be provided and people can contact the research team if they wish to participate.

Check the U of L Art Gallery’s website — ulag.ca – for details on a planned informal series of presentations “Conversations about Nicholas de Grandmaison”. These will occur on select Thursday evenings throughout the exhibition. As well, the gallery has extended hours for the run of the exhibition and is open every Saturday along with being open until 8:30 pm on Thursdays in addition to the regular 9 am – 4:30 weekday hours.

Saving the World from Boredom

April 12 – May 31, 2013
Helen Christou Gallery

Curator: Bianca Elke, Museum Studies Intern
Works from the Galt Museum & Archives, Faculty of Fine Arts Theatre and Dramatic Arts Costume Collection and the U of L Art Collection

In conjunction with Historic Lethbridge Festival
May 3 – 10, 2013

During the 1960s, an inspiring and visible counterculture was born. Referring to themselves as hippies, this movement triggered dramatic cultural changes due to the rejection of conventional social norms from the 1940s and ‘50s as well as opposition to powerful institutions. The youth wanted to become more involved in decision making and were determined to speak up about social issues, such as supporting the civil rights movement and objecting to the war in Vietnam. This was an era when new forms of political activism appeared that included “love-ins” and other peaceful protests as well as harsh responses from government and police.

Along with taking a stand on political issues, people were exploring unconventional personal appearance, music, art, drugs and sexual liberation. New forms of music and festivals like Woodstock played a key role in spreading the counter cultural ideas and spirit. Communal living and other alternatives to Capitalist social structures were explored. Artists were moving away from traditional high art forms, such as painting and sculpture, and began producing a profusion of prints and other types of multiples. Influenced by the changes in society, artists drew their inspiration from Life magazine and other aspects of popular culture and embraced unexpected materials, performances and chance. The work shown in this exhibition contain elements of Pop Art, Fluxus, Postmodern and Abstract Expressionist art, movements that were all going on simultaneously during the 1960s.

Bianca Elke
Museum Studies Intern

(click on images to enlarge)

Bianca Elke

As a second year student, my main attention during the museum studies internship with the U of L Art Gallery will be directed towards curating my own exhibition in the Helen Christou gallery. This experience will provide the opportunity to select works from the U of L art collection as well as the Galt museum. I know that with curating my own exhibition and being allowed to select artwork for the gallery, I am given a lot of responsibility. Many students as well as professors are going to see what I have chosen to display and my evaluation will be based on these projects. I am excited to start this journey and work together with the Art Gallery staff. I aim to bring art closer to people who are not as involved through their classes or private interests in art, as well as trying to use the database to my advantage and to find hidden gems of art that have not been shown before.

Having grown up in Germany, I am also interested in learning about the day-to-day activities of a Canadian art gallery. I will be working with the collection, helping prepare work for travel to other galleries and participating in conservation projects. Besides assisting the Gallery with “hands on” operations, the Gallery also hosts functions that are designed to involve the community on many levels, in which I am also excited to be involved.

Andrea Kremenik
As a fourth year Art History/ Museums Studies major and a Management minor I have not only been interested in learning about art itself, but also the business of art institutions. For that reason I hope to gain insight into how the University of Lethbridge art gallery, as a collecting gallery within an academic setting, differs from that of a civic gallery. I hope to understand this by comparing the knowledge gained from this Museum Studies internship to that of my previous internship at the Southern Alberta Art Gallery. The Museum Studies internship will allow me to learn many skills, such as basic curatorial responsibilities by entrusting me to navigate the U of L art database and find works from the University’s acclaimed collection. For instance, I will have the opportunity to choose Inuit objects for display and will curate a small exhibit on John Clark plus write a feature on him for SAM magazine. Having these opportunities in comparison to my internship at the Southern Alberta Art Gallery, where I was able to gain insight into a non- collecting contemporary art gallery, will give me a well-rounded experience. These two opportunities will allow me to draw on theoretical knowledge within a hands-on environment which will give me an advantage when applying for potential jobs in the future.

Alysha Smith
The Art History and Museum Studies internship is giving me the opportunity to research, draft, compose and conduct programs for the GALT Museum and Archives. I will be creating these programs based on the exhibit themes at the museum which will include science, wind and religion. I also have the opportunity to get hands on experience by running some of these programs with children and adults.
As a future teacher I hope to gain more experience in lesson planning and teaching from creating these programs. Academically I hope to gain better research skills and applied knowledge on the above topics. I also hope to learn more about how museums utilize their resources and their community outreach efforts.

David Smith
Based on the positive experiences I have had in my five previously completed internships, I was eager to sign up for another! I can see how these opportunities have allowed me develop practical skills which have been reinforced by hands-on work. This semester I am building on the curatorial skills that I’ve been able to gain in my previous internships.

An area of personal interest that has arisen from my academic research is the subject of Canadian identity in art. Two curatorial projects have emerged from my investigation on the subject and are the basis for my current internship. The first, titled Glorious and Free, is an exhibition in the Helen Christou Gallery using works from the University of Lethbridge Art Gallery’s permanent collection. The second is a multi-venue exhibition taking place in the summer of 2013 featuring Lethbridge artist Arianna Richardson. Both of these projects allow me to build on the skills afforded to me through previous internships.

It is beneficial for me to get as much experience as possible before graduation so that I will be empowered to contribute meaningfully to the contemporary art discourse through my curatorial practice. I am very grateful to the University of Lethbridge Art Gallery for the opportunity to do so.

Lauren Glenn
Art History was not something that I had every envisioned myself majoring in when I first began my university degree, let alone enrolling in museum studies as well. However after my first year of general studies and having randomly chosen art history classes, I very quickly fell in love and knew this was the career I want to pursue. I am delighted to have the opportunity this semester to be working at the Galt Museum in the collections department, with Kevin Maclean. There is an immense amount of history here in Southern Alberta and the Galt discovers this knowledge through acquisitions from the community. In working with Kevin, I will be able to understand and learn the great detail and skill that is required when dealing with artefacts; this includes the handling, storage, photographing and preservation of these items. In addition I will have the opportunity to be taught documentation and research methods that are done for objects to further understand their history and how they relate to this part of the province.

Along with learning new information and skills, there are other goals that I want to achieve during my internship at the Galt. There are many ways I could further my education and I hope this work experience will help me to pin point where I would like to go after my undergraduate degree is complete. I look forward to investigating career opportunities that are available and how the information I have learned in my studies can be applied in the work field. To extend my knowledge, I want to learn how museums operate when it comes to acquisitions and dealing with donors as well as storage and preservation of artifacts. Having the community involved in the museum is an essential part of the Galt’s mission and I will be able to interact with its members through gathering information about donated objects. I have recently had the opportunity to sit in on an interview of a donor from the early 1990s when he was asked to come in and be interviewed more in-depth about the piece he donated. This was an eye opening experience for me and allowed me to understand how important gathering and documenting information about these artifacts can be and I wish to participate in more of these events. Most importantly I wish to understand the techniques to help preserve the vast history that is being housed in the Galt and to help acquire more information to further appreciate the pieces they hold.

Rachael Gough
Museums and galleries are critical in the maintenance and growth of the arts community. The future of museums and the arts as a whole rests in the hands of our up and coming generations. Young people possess a strong desire to learn and feel a constant thirst for knowledge. If we as a community wish to keep the arts alive and thriving, we must foster a love for the arts in the minds of young people. I believe a great way to get the upcoming generations interested in art is through public programming. As a third year studio major looking to get accepted into education, I have chosen a focus on public programming. Assisting with teaching classes at the Bowman Community Arts Center and helping with Culture Vulture Saturdays will give me insight into art education. My ultimate goal is to teach children and I believe art will always have a place in schools and in life. Therefore I believe gaining experience within the public programming spectrum will allow me to teach art effectively and instill it into the young children who will one day run the world in which we live. To further my education I have been learning several skills that will help me in both assisting with public programming, but also throughout my career, such as clay firing and clay recycling. I will also be assisting with the location change of the Bowman Community Arts Center in spring 2013. As well as a gaining a new, larger building, it will mean more classes, more options, and even more art experiences for children and the community as a whole.

The Anatomy and Etiquette of Social Change

March 18 – 22, 2013
Part of the Complex Social Change Series
Curator: Josephine Mills

A public engagement project with art/design duo DodoLab featured on the University of Lethbridge Art Gallery’s “Project Wall” outside the Main Gallery.

DodoLab: The Anatomy and Etiquette of Social Change

DodoLab is developing The Anatomy and Etiquette of Social Change creative research program with a focussed investigation of the University of Lethbridge with the goal of extending their investigation to additional institutions and communities as part of Complex Social Change (ULAG). The program begins by applying the framework (based on the story of the extinct dodo bird) of adaptation to an island environment to different situations. Dodos were adapted to their unique environment in a number of ways, including increased size, loss of the ability to fly and laying their eggs on the ground (all related to an abundance of easily accessible food and a predator free environment). Such adaptations proved fatal when significant introduced changes occurred within their environment.

The Anatomy and Etiquette of Social Change program will be launched at the University of Lethbridge in the spring of 2013 with the sharing of the dodo narrative. Told as a graphic/comic tale, this narrative will be presented on campus in various forms including an installation on the gallery’s new interactive wall, on line and in print. It will be the basis for a series of field research inquiries with students, staff and faculty, both in classes and informally around campus. Dodolab wants people to consider the risks their community or institution may face due to select adaptation strategies, moments of laying one’s eggs on the ground. Social and operational structures, planning and development methods, traditions and rituals, organizational arrangements and cultural attitudes, are some examples of adaptations. Over the coming months, the dodo narrative will evolve and be added to based on the feedback and so a unique dodo narrative will emerge that is specific to the University of Lethbridge. The goal is to document areas of concern within the institution and to highlight opportunities for considered change.

The Anatomy and Etiquette of Social Change is the second major project by DodoLab developed with the University of Lethbridge Art Gallery. It follows their Important Things To Know About Eating and Drinking (In Lethbridge) in 2011 and builds on their ongoing creative research work with institutions and communities across Canada and Internationally.

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DodoLab is an evolving collaborative program lead by artists Lisa Hirmer and Andrew Hunter engaged with provocative, experimental and creative approaches to research and community actions. Their work is critically playful and highly public, emphasizing open participation and exchange. The state of the natural world, adaptive challenges to communities and institutions, the built environment and cities in transition are their primary areas of interest. They employ creative interventions, surprise encounters, innovative publishing and design, and genuine collaborations to enhance and encourage public conversations, dialogue and knowledge sharing within and across cultures, generations, disciplines (and sometimes species). They are partially supported in their work by the Musagetes Foundation with whom they share a commitment to art as social catalyst. Their work is further supported by commissioned collaborations with individuals and organizations in Canada and Internationally (including universities, municipalities, social service organizations and the arts).

DodoLab uses the archetypal extinct species in its name/logo as a reminder that we need to consider the risks of isolated and narrowly defined adaptive strategies (the Dodo could not survive outside of its predator free island environment). Are we “Dead as a Dodo” or potentially “Going the way of the Dodo” if we do not learn to adapt, change and work together? The dodo reminds us that a lack of resiliency and a solo existence is a precarious strategy for survival. For generations, the Dodo has also been understood to have been a slow, lazy, glutinous bird with limited intelligence. It is now believed that this large flightless bird may have actually been reasonably intelligent and active and that the unflattering characteristics usually associated with the bird may have been the result of encounters with overfed, captive species – basically, specimens living in an artificial, human designed environment of overabundance. This is a reminder that sometimes the stories we tell become barriers to understanding and resolving the issues we face.

The Anatomy and Etiquette of Social Change: The Results

Have thoughts on this? Share them at: www.complexsocailchange.ca/anatomy_and_etiquette.

More info at dodolab.ca and Facebook and Twitter

Annual Curated Student Exhibition 2013

March 8 – April 18, 2013
Main Gallery
Reception: March 8, 8 – 10 pm

Guest Curator: Richard William Hill
Selected artwork from Senior and Advanced Studio Students

The Annual Curated Student Exhibition provides an exceptional opportunity for the professional development of Art Studio majors as they near completion of their degree. The exhibition gives students a realistic experience with the process of submitting their work and receiving feedback from an established curator. The exhibition is only open to Senior and Advanced Studio students in order to focus attention on those with the goal of becoming professional artists. In applying for this exhibition, the students follow the same process and standards for documenting, describing and proposing their art work as they will when applying to public art galleries, artist run-centres, or for government grants. Staff from the Art Gallery provide advice on preparing the proposals and share insights into what curators look for when deciding to book a studio visit and choose art work for an exhibition.

An established curator from outside of Lethbridge is invited to create the exhibition. The curator views the proposals and selects a short-list of students for follow-up meetings during a visit to Lethbridge. From these studio visits, the curator makes the final selection and works with the Art Gallery staff to lay-out and install the exhibition.

The Annual Curated Student Exhibition provides a showcase of excellent work by Art Studio majors in that year and gives the students a valuable achievement to list on their résumés. As well, the students who are not selected receive feedback on their proposals and can learn how to improve as they prepare to begin their careers.

Visit the Faculty of Fine Arts.

Artists (click image to enlarge)

Neysa Hale
Separation, Clay, liner, fishing line, 2013

Kara Henry
a living document, Mixed media installation, 2013
I must make the call, and they must end it., Blue pen on paper, 2012

Derrick Hoekstra
My self portrait Of anybody, Routered drawing on plywood, 2013

Jamie McKeague
Polyps, Drift wood, bullet shell, human hair, bumble bee, nylon, cotton, red potatoes, thread, lace, walnut shell, 2013

Claire Reid
Self Expression, Self Portrait, 89 shirts, 54 pants, 40 skirts, 22 dresses, 41 leggings/tights, 30 sweaters/blazers, some socks, ties, scarves and things, and 250 pins, 2013

Kasia Sosnowski
Shaped By Ghosts, Mixed media installation, 2013
Void, Acrylic on canvas, 2012
Broken Hymns, Video, 1:30, 2013

Lisa Spinelli
Journals Unveiled, Digital prints, 2013

Meghan Verkerk
Organic Growth, Paper towel and pen, 2013
Mixed Torso, Plaster, cloth, sawdust, felt, dirt, 2013

Kala Walton
My Embrace is My Teacher, Documented performance, 2012

Curatorial Statement

Formed & Formless

From one point of view the history of art can be read as one of a series of projects for bringing the sensible world into order and giving it form. Out of the unity of undifferentiated sense data distinctions are made, and categories created, named and organized. From this process language emerges, the symbolic order is established and ideal shapes and forms are identified and privileged. We become able to talk about and manage our world. At the same time the forms we institute also manage us, dictating—at least in part—our relationship to the sensorium.

Yet as art historians in the 1990s pointed out, this history of form and meaning-making has been haunted by the question of formlessness. This includes both those elements of materiality and experience that exist prior to the individualization of form and those that are necessarily excluded as particular forms are defined. This may include, for example, all the shapes that elude idealization: the ones that are not quite circles, or not quite rectangles. The millions of colour variations that go unnamed. All the mounds, clumps, blobs and messy strands. All the things that are disintegrating or decomposing, that are coming into or losing form. The things that lack names and fit no categories.

As a precondition of form, the formless exists as potential. And although the formless resists and exceeds language, you will see that for students at the University of Lethbridge, it remains wide-open to dynamic artistic exploration.

- Richard William Hill, Guest Curator

About the Artists

Neysa Hale
In my artwork I focus on social issues and human conditions. To explore such issues I use videos, photographs, installations, textiles, and sculpture work. My most current works focus on death and social understanding by creating environments with visual and audio stimulations.
My most recent work, Separation, focuses on death to invite inner reflection. What is our mark in the world, in the lives of people surrounding us? Death is something that is
common and yet powerful where it marks the beginning of something unknown for some, a spiritual journey for others, or a beginning of rebirth. It is the moment of separation from the physical into the unknown.
As I pound, press, stretch and mould each figure I surround myself with those I lost, and others I never knew, sustaining them through memory and reflection. Who were they and what was their story? Each clay figure is fragile and vulnerable. As clay comes from the earth, so we return. We are held together by a sheer covering, an identity. Individual and yet unified, together presenting a history.
My second work is a video installation titled Op-Lish. In this work I investigate social communication by using sounds and body language in order to create a new language that invites interpretation. I hope to encourage the thought of language and its effects on us when we encounter different languages or speech patterns. The differences can create misunderstandings or labels that are damaging and hurtful. With the three personalities represented on the globes, we see the same person and yet three different personalities.
As such, the work seeks to celebrate unity and uniqueness with a creative approach.

Kara Henry
It’s difficult to separate what I do as an artist from who I am as a person. As a result, work I produce carries with its idiosyncrasies left by the trace of my hand. I would argue that people make connections with a work, not because of the trace of the personal, but rather something ambiguously familiar that they relate back to themselves. How many ways then can a work be read or experienced? Does the artists intent translate across to the viewer and their interpretations? Who creates the meaning or narrative in an artwork? What does the formation of the meaning we take say about who we are? Perhaps we both receive information from a work and project our own information onto it. We don’t just read a work of art, but ourselves. How does the dynamic between the viewer and the artist in putting information into and taking information from something, influence both making and reading ambiguously personal work?

Derrick Hoekstra
So many times when I talk to peers, or other colleagues I hear the fallowing words. I wish I could do that. Which is exactly why I refuse to work with one particular discipline over another. A larger artistic lexicon increases my chances of articulating my thoughts, and feelings. I fearlessly leap into new mediums and projects thrilled with the prospect of the unknown. My process is a just as much intuitive as it is contemplative; A work will come from my heart but be refined by my mind as it comes to maturity. My inspiration comes from my family, my children in particular, other artists around me as well as every day occurrences that go by unnoticed. My current work comes from my interest in line and relationships.

Jamie McKeague
I began and continue my process, with a love for shape, form and unrelenting interest in the intersection of pictorial looking (and thinking) and the physical relations to space. I have always been fascinated by microbiology, cells and bacteria, which are reoccurring influences in my practice. The senses are very important in my works, both in the creation process and also in the final product. I appreciate forms that do not conform to the standard of beauty our society holds, such as blisters, clusters, growths and imperfections.
Ambiguity, formlessness and shape are all attributes I take great care in when considering my works.

Claire Reid
I am a fine art studio major this is my 5th and final year of my degree.
I am a multidisciplinary artist my work includes installation, photography and sculpture.
In my work I focus on themes of visual culture, identity and social constructions /paradigms.
I am concerned with the way in which people change or hide themselves in order to fit into society, find love, a job or even feel safe. Social constructs are reinforced by the media in which continually depicts unrealistic concepts of identity and reinforce concepts of normality. Current events influence my work; I am inspired by the social cultural, political and media environment.

Kasia Sosnowski
My current work explores relationships between the viewer, object and language within an installation format. I work in a wide range of media, allowing the materials to speak and guide me. I create environments for my objects to live in and create narratives and conversations within. I make forms that are ambiguous and indistinct allowing the viewer to make subjective associations. I use watercolour, paint, pencil, felt, found objects, and photography to communicate.

When I make work, I only feel I do not think. I like to throw myself into the present, and make work that comes from a space inside my body. I live in a land of materiality and immediacy. This is my favorite place, where everything can be touched and felt out. Impulse is the place I live in, it is where I reside, and it is where my work resides.

To create I must be empty, I must be a vessel for these forms. Read my soul, my guts, my teeth: this is where they come from, from the language of my body. My body is a language.

We forget to look, to breathe, we remind ourselves not to lose our bodies. I hope that the objects I make, the moments I construct give pause to the viewer and take them to a quiet place of contemplation: allowing them to engage with their body and explore their mind. I am interested in the separation between the realm of memory and the realm of experience by integrating language’s inability to visualize reality.

I am compelled to create. It provides an escape for me. I want to return to a place that I trust and find comfort in, make objects and forms there, then pull myself out of that space and present my creations to the world. I am interested in creating quiet moments, moments of pause that gently rest upon language’s spine. Creating a space of refuge, a safe restorative space.

Lisa Spinelli
My work is about process: the process of making art, the process of discovery, and the process of unveiling one’s identity. In the past I have often worked with various forms of self-portraiture, including watered down portraits in acrylic paint meant to portray an emotion as opposed to a “realistic” representation. The following direction of my work was to paint in pure abstraction, also using watered down acrylic paint. This time I used large stretched canvases and placed them on the floor for an effect of large, pooling puddles, combined with dripped lines, which I created by tilting the canvases. In these pure abstract paintings, I was aiming to reveal a subconscious self-portrait that was more about intuitive mark making than portraying anything from physical reality.

Currently, I am exploring a new approach to the self-portrait and individualities in general: the object of the journal and/or diary. I view the journal as a physically simple but elegant object that is more complex beneath its surface. My aim is to examine in depth the significance of a journal as an object, as well as the meaning and history of the act of journaling itself. In this process I am currently using scanners as cameras to document journals, and I am looking into exploring video and installation as well.

Meghan Verkerk
Everywhere we look there are an abundance of gadgets and products surrounding us, from the clothing we wear to the cell phones in our hands. Whenever we open our eyes, there is a product. We cannot hide from mass production – but how does this affect us emotionally and how does it affect our artwork? In my work, I try to experiment with the idea of mass production within the fashion industry, by using plastic manikins.
Recently, I have been teaching art and fashion studies at various high schools, as my practicum towards my Bachelor of Education degree. Teaching has left little time for creating my own art; however, upon returning to the U of L in January, I have been exploring and creating new fashion inspirations, which has led me to start making white plastered figures.
My artwork investigates the interaction of the basic elements of art, in particular, colour and shape. I have been drawn to the simplicity of manikins and how they are ready-made objects that are considered disposable. I want to understand how mass produced fashion is represented, how it impacts people and what influence it has in our modern society.
I am currently interested in the interaction between sculpture and fashion and in trying to find a balance between them. My fascination with mass production has lead me to think about juxtaposition- of making something simple yet different, causing the viewer to have a second glance at my artwork. I am working on a series of plaster casts of baby shirt forms which are a little odd. I enjoy the repetition of the simple forms and the relationship they have with each other.

Kala Walton

I sat on the edge of her small single bed; the bedding was a light green with a large pink floral pattern, a pattern not easily suited to her character, though she had a soft side. I selected my words carefully, despising the feeling of being weak, refusing to cry, even with someone who had seen me at my most vulnerable. I slowly spoke each word, visualizing them in my mind before they escaped my lips. I waited. The blow of honesty didn’t come. I felt her arms reaching for me, her body gently pulling me into hers and I felt the warmth of her soak through me like a dry sponge, expanding as I allowed myself to be immersed in her scent. I did let myself cry then, my whole body sighed with relief, this needed touch, this longing to be held, to be held in such a tender way soothed me to my core. The embrace of another had granted me an understanding of myself. This simple but beautiful gesture of embrace fanned a small spark deep inside me that grew into a small flame of hope.

My art practice encompasses sculpture, installation and video. My current project focuses on human intimacy, the embrace, and the personal experience of coming to self.
The idea of the other in the caress is central to my artistic exploration. Temple Grandin is an American doctor of animal science and a consultant to the livestock industry whose understanding of the importance of being embraced has driven her success in the livestock industry. She has constructed her own hugging machine that allows her to feel the comfort of an embrace without being enveloped by another. Grandin has allowed her life experiences to inform her work. Diagnosed with autism at a young age Grandin has written many books about her experiences as an autistic woman including, Temple Grandin: How the Girl Who Loved Cows Embraced Autism and Changed the World. Her understanding of self has allowed her to succeed, not despite but because of her autism.
I’m going through a period of intense self-discovery, which has led to an evolution in my artistic practice from an attempt to understand identity through childhood memory into a focus on the present. In my current work I’ve chosen to closely align my exploration of identity with my artistic practice, allowing personal discoveries to inform my work as they arise, thus creating a dynamic and shifting artistic terrain. Understanding my sexuality is an essential element of this process of discovery; the impact of the embodied self being enveloped by the body of another is an experience that has brought further understanding of my own identity.
My most recent art work involves the pairing of the bodies of women lying in positions of repose and embrace, and draping their bodies with wet plaster gauze. The resultant sculptural traces reference time, commemorate and are quietly attentive to intimate exchange. The embrace is represented as a beautiful interaction between two people that can hold many different layers of intention. The intention of the embrace can be admiration, celebration, greeting, formality, kinship, friendship, passion, love, loneliness, despair, fear, support, and condolence. I am most interested in the caress of the lover, and my work focuses specifically on the intimate exchange of lesbian lovers.

Glorious and Free

March 1 – April 5, 2013
Helen Christou Gallery

Curator: David Smith, Museum Studies Intern
Works from the U of L Art Collection

Objects for this exhibition were selected on the basis of their distinctly Canadian visual aesthetics. Each work of Canadiana evokes a sense of place within the viewer. National identity is complicated and problematic to define as it is constructed from multiple sources including language, history, music, food, media and symbols. Relations between France, Britain, the United States and the Aborigional Peoples are ones that have historically formed and continue to shape current Canadian culture. As an intricate and delicate device it would take a thick instruction manual to comprehend in all its complexity.

Representing Canadian national identity through imagery is a difficult task because of the nation’s intermittently contentious history. The pieces of iconography included in this exhibition are highly charged works infused with politics and ideology. In some cases, decades have passed between the creation of the work and the present exhibition, but the works remain powerful images nonetheless.

An exploration of Canadiana in art would not be complete without a consideration of the landscape. The rugged terrain has been a significant factor influencing Canadian identity. Harsh winters threaten survival and act as a collective obstacle which has brought Canadians together while the dramatic landscape from coast to coast is something on which we continue to capitalize through the tourism industry.

It may be difficult to define what Canadian identity is, but it is not difficult to explain the way we market our identity to tourists. One need only look at a standard Canadian gift shop to see the wildlife shirts, bottles of maple syrup, plastic totem poles and postcards of Mounties to understand that the lighthearted approach to representing Canadian culture is a position that is occupied with great pride.

- David Smith
Museum Studies Intern

Tracing the Elusive Past of the Chinarians

January 10 – February 22, 2013
Helen Christou Gallery
Reception: January 10, 4 – 6pm

Curator: Josephine Mills

Works from the Collection of Lana Gabor
Courtesy of Museum of Chinarian Art & Artifact (MOCAA)

Current research focuses on synthesizing available evidence of different kinds, to try to find the answer to one of the oldest and most exciting questions of all time: Where do Chinarians come from? The roots of Chinarian culture may be traced to the little-known, but documented, history of the Huns (Xiongnu): a tribe of nomads that emerged from ancient Tongwancheng and whose descendents are said to be Hungarians and Turks.

In 1993, the discovery of relics inside the caves of Tongwancheng (Fig. 1, Fig. 2, Fig. 3) led to much speculation about the origin of the Chinarians, as it was the only documented settlement ever found. Previously, the elusive Chinarians were identified as primarily nomadic. The reason for the abandonment of Tongwancheng has been theorized by several scholars but with little conclusive evidence.
 

 
This revolutionary discovery inspired Gabor Elizalde’s film Tracing Chinaria, an epic historical drama set against the spectacular backdrop of the Steppes. The movie tells the tale of the mythic figure Ki Nai as she makes her way through the Steppes after being left by her husband. The plotline twists around the Chinarians’ mysterious desertion of the Tongwancheng caves. Elizalde is rumored to have spent one year wandering the vast Steppes to gain knowledge for Tracing Chinaria.
 

Many of the props used in Tracing Chinaria are reproductions of the relics found in the caves of Tongwancheng. On display is an array of photographic film stills, movie props and memorabilia from Elizalde’s film, from the private collection of his distant niece Lana Gabor, courtesy of the Museum of Chinarian Art and Artifacts (MOCAA). Accompanying this exhibition is an original Chinarian dance (musical composition by Ivan Tucakov, choreography and performance by MOCAA’s Lana Gabor), presented for the first time at the opening reception.

Museum of Chinarian Art & Artifacts (MOCAA)

I am delighted to have the opportunity to partner with the Museum of Chinarian Art and Artifacts (MOCAA) and present this exciting exhibition about the relatively unknown Chinarian culture.  It has been a pleasure working with Lana Gabor on developing the first presentation about the Chinarians in Lethbridge. I am sure few have heard of this culture and will have many questions. Hopefully this exhibition will help support further research and develop a broadening of knowledge about these people.  For those seeking more information, MOCAA is the primary site for information, although there could well be hitherto misidentified artifacts in other museum collections.  I am sure that Lana Gabor and the experts at MOCAA will welcome any questions and further discussion.

Josephine Mills
Director/Curator, U of L Art Gallery

The Uncanny Valley

January 10 – February 28, 2013
Main Gallery
Reception: January 10, 4 – 6 pm

Curator: Jane Edmundson
Works from the U of L Art Collection

In his 1906 essay “On the Psychology of the Uncanny”, German psychiatrist Ernst Jentsch describes the experience of the uncanny as “a lack of orientation”, where something happens that causes one to feel unease and alienation.  This essence of discomfort is often brought about during the interaction between a living human body and lifeless objects which mimic the animate; in Jentsch’s day such incorporeal doubles included waxwork figures, realistic dolls and automatons. In the century since its first description, the opportunities for encountering the uncanny have multiplied exponentially, through the proliferation of mannequins in our limitless shopping malls, the development of artificially intelligent machines and highly efficient humanoid robots, the design and manufacture of anatomically correct “companionship” RealDolls, and customizable, personalized avatars in virtual reality games. Freud posited that the emotional disquietude that is felt upon interactions with these not-quite-human actors stems from our uncertainty at whether or not they indeed may be alive; this questioning dread was expertly tapped by George A. Romero in 1968’s gruesome satire, Night of the Living Dead, and continues in today’s mass zombie culture obsession. The humanoid imitations of life provoke increasing trepidation as they loom most closely to complete realism; the more convincing the fake and the greater familiarity and recognition of ourselves found in it, the more ghastly its void ofhumanness becomes. The extreme drop in emotional comfort level upon the confrontation of lifeless objects that very closely mimic the animate was dubbed the “uncanny valley” by Japanese roboticist Masahiro Mori in 1970 (see Fig. 1).

How is the uneasiness of the uncanny engaged in the interaction between the viewer and hyperrealistic artworks that depict the human form? The works selected for The Uncanny Valley display representations of humanness (or spaces remarkable for being devoid of humanity, in the case of Richard Estes’ painstakingly rendered, eerily empty cityscapes) that unsettle the viewer with their realism, which serves to heighten their dreamlike (or nightmarish) quality. These human bodies, flattened on canvas and paper, are frozen, hollow, and dead; the act of their creation by the artist’s hand also surmising their deficiency as mere imitations of life. Ivan Eyre and David Inshaw’s figures exist in abstracted, surreal realms that are at once familiar and alien, while Elsbeth Coop’s Prosthesis depicts a tense marriage of flesh and machine. Christopher Pratt, Barbara Pratt, and Jeremy Smith obscure the faces of their human subjects, and Jack Chambers’ Diego, as we are told, is sleeping rather than dead, but the inability to connect to the faces in these works nonetheless unnerves. Finally, David Barnett and Phil Richards employ the suspended forms of children,  which have been used to great visceral effect in horror films about reanimation and ghostly apparitions, due in part to youth’s ability to remind the viewer of the ravages of time and their own mortality. The artists’ choice to render their human subjects in extremely realistic compositions draws us into these environments while concurrently inspiring apprehension and trepidation, as though we expect the depicted forms to suddenly move, grasping at the corporeal life they are denied by their illusory humanity.

- Jane Edmundson
Assistant Curator/Preparator