Communities

The Burden of Street brings together paintings that depict contradictory compositions to provide distinct visual experiences while exploring the complexities of our surrounding built environment. The element of the wall plays a significant role in this body of work as public sites for dwellers to engage with the political and social fabric of society. These paintings aim to explore the dichotomy of walls as both tools of control and platforms for resistance. They delve into how authorities use these walls to impose their ideologies and values upon the people, while also emphasizing the agency of dissidents who transform these spaces into channels of protest and expression. A diverse range of artistic techniques and mediums, including collage, painting, drawing, and graffiti, are used to create satirical and ironic situations that reference the deep dualities, disparities, and hypocrisies inherent in ruling systems. Iranian born visual artist, Mohadese Movahed focuses on painting in her studio practice. She graduated with a Bachelor of painting degree from the University of Science and Culture (USC) in Tehran and an MFA from the University of Regina, SK, Canada in 2020. Currently based in Vancouver, Movahed has exhibited her work nationally, internationally and is a recipient of Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation.

A Selection of Specimens is a solo exhibition be artist Kristin Teetaert. This exhibition features drawings, felt sculptures, and painted tiles. Kristin states: "The specimens came to life in 2012 in the form of a charcoal gestural sketch. The idea of sculpting them in wool followed. Wool allowed me to use bright colours and to create sculptures that were malleable. A tactile person, I wanted to play with my sculptures. This idea of being able to play with and manipulate the sculptures inspired the tiles; they are all able to interconnect with each other on all four sides. An important aspect of them was the ability to create different paths between the specimens by physically moving the tiles, or as a viewer, by following the shapes as they weave through the installation. I often alternate between two and three dimensions as I work. They are surprisingly autobiographical. I have always had a fascination with botany and nature, and a love of the unique shapes found in the natural and microscopic world. This, combined with my love of colour, has resulted in this series of playful sculptures and drawings that explore the ideas of interconnection, growth, spontaneity, and evolution."

Labours of Love, Under Lamplight is an exhibition featuring art from Indigenous artists in Saskatchewan, showcasing a diverse array of experiences and interpretations of Indigenous Art. The exhibition celebrates the various practices in Indigenous art, ranging from contemporary aesthetics and materials to those rooted in familial traditions. In today's fast-paced world, the dedication and labour of love invested in art can be easily overlooked. The concept of "Labour of love" in art emphasises the extensive labour involved in the creation process, often infused with familial stories, teachings, and practices passed down through generations. These expressions of love for the practice and culture are condensed into the final artworks, representing hours of devotion and labour. We invite viewers to turn the lamplight on, consider the time and knowledge behind each piece as the artists skilfully worked with familiar and lesser-known materials, revived from their cultural heritage or passed down through mentorship within the art community. For many Indigenous artists, their love for their culture serves as a significant motivation in their artistic journey, enriching the contemporary art scene with an inherent connection to their roots. This exhibition is curated by Holly Aubichon from recent acquisitions to the SK Arts Permanent collection and features the following artists: Stacey Fayant, Marcy Friesen, Sally Milne, Brandon Roy, Cherelle Williams, Audra Blais-Boulianne, Maureen Ledoux, Russel Iron, Elaine McArthur, and Jordy Ironstar.

This body of work highlights the diversity, beauty, importance and plight of northern Saskatchewan muskegs, land that is being threatened with strip mining. Peat mining involves draining the water out of the muskeg then mulch the cover vegetation (sundews, pitcher plants, Labrador tea, black spruce, birch, willows, alders, cranberries, bunchberries, cloudberries, bog laurel, leatherleaf, and dozens of species of mosses). Muskegs/peatlands are very old landscapes, it takes 10 years for one centimeter of peat to form. It is important to Vanessa’s culture, and to the survival of traditions and knowledge to keep wild areas intact and undisturbed by resource extraction. Many people are unfamiliar with these areas, and this is Vanessa’s way of bringing the muskeg to the public. Vanessa is a Canadian artist of Woodlands Cree and Norwegian ancestry. She is a member of the Lac La Ronge Indian Band and her community is nemepith sipihk (Sucker River). She holds her Bachelor of Arts with distinction from the University of Saskatchewan. Vanessa is interested in utilizing memory, tradition and themes of nature in her work. Land conservation and land sovereignty are at the heart of her work, with her painting and beadwork focusing on the richness of the land, and in turn, the threats to the land.