Small Creatures, Big Impact
Small Creatures, Big Impact brings together the work of artists Juanita Aucamp and Laura Davies in a celebration of the overlooked beauty, complexity, and importance of the insect world. Through painting and sculpture, the artists invite viewers to look closer at the tiny creatures that surround us and reconsider the roles they play within our ecosystems.
Juanita Aucamp’s stylized acrylic paintings transform bees, flies, and other insects into bold, contemporary portraits that combine anatomical accuracy with vibrant colour and simplified forms. Her work encourages curiosity and appreciation for species that are often dismissed or misunderstood. Laura Davies’ intricately crafted embroidered sculptures recreate insects and arachnids at an enlarged scale, highlighting their remarkable structures through wire, fabric, beadwork, and detailed stitching informed by scientific observation.
Together, the artists reveal the hidden beauty of the bug world, encouraging closer attention, greater understanding, and a renewed appreciation for these essential creatures.
Juanita Aucamp, 3D Bee, acrylic on wood, 24” x 24”, 2024
nanâtohkokwâsow / they sew patchwork blankets
Bidakiigiwewog / They put needles into fabric
Co-curated by Jennifer Smith and Tarin Dehod
Featuring Wally Dion, Sarah Houle, Little Sisters (Breanna and Niki Little), Holly Aubichon, KC Adams, Kishey A.
Quilts preserve our family stories, are physical representations of collaborative making, learned techniques, and tangible representations of the labour of ancestral hands. So often the common narrative centres quilting as a settler tradition, but we know that sewing patchwork blankets was transformed into its own practice by many Indigenous cultures.
nanâtohkokwâsowak | Bidakiigiwewog brings together Anishinaabe, Cree, Métis, and Saulteux prairie artists using quilting as an exploration of relationship building, understanding familial relationships, building new friendships, and the impact of gifting.
Quilting is an action, one of bringing something together, each stitch holds more than the fabric it binds together.
Holly Aubichon, My Medicine Belt, Belt made of grandma Marian Ogrodnick’s quilt, commercial and brain-tanned moose hide, antique and modern seed beads, sequins, melton, artificial sinew, and velveteen, 2025
Horse Culture
Horse Culture celebrates the enduring connection between horses, people, and the Saskatchewan landscape through the distinct artistic perspectives of Leah Marie Dorion, Debbie McCrea, and Geoff Phillips.
Geoff Phillips captures the excitement, athleticism, and tradition of the rodeo arena, portraying the grit, determination, and split-second action that define the sport. Leah Marie Dorion explores the profound relationship between the Métis people and the horse (Mistatim in Cree), drawing on stories of kinship, cultural identity, and the historic role of horses in Métis life, mobility, and community. Debbie McCrea's papier-mâché horse sculptures invite viewers to slow down and appreciate the quiet beauty of everyday life. Her work celebrates the enduring bond between horses, people, and the land, encouraging moments of reflection and a deeper appreciation for the relationships and landscapes that surround us.
Together, these artists offer complementary perspectives on horse culture, revealing its many expressions across Saskatchewan. Through moments of competition, cultural memory, and everyday life, the exhibition invites visitors to consider how horses continue to shape identity, tradition, and a shared sense of place across the Prairies.
Geoff Phillips, Medicine Hat Stampede, oil on board, 12” x 12”, 2024
Propagations
Just as a plant naturally unfurls, so does the artwork of Aralia Maxwell intuitively evolve. Using cake-decorating tools, the artist methodically applies small rosettes of acrylic paint to wooden surfaces. In this way she cultivates artwork that grows gradually over weeks, months, and sometimes years.
Maxwell’s unique artistic practice takes lessons from her childhood on a multigenerational farm near Waseca, Saskatchewan. Here, life unfolded with the natural rhythm of seasons, farm labour, and community. In fields and gardens, grains and vegetables were grown to feed bellies; indoors, lush houseplants nourished the spirit. Through the methodical and patient daily labour of farm work and homemaking, lives flourished. The daily hands-on practice of gardening taught a young artist to observe and appreciate life’s slow evolutions.
Altogether, the exhibition celebrates hidden rhythms of growth and labour, inviting reflection on the interconnected patterns linking nature, home, and care.
Just as a plant naturally unfurls, so does the artwork of Aralia Maxwell intuitively evolve. Using cake-decorating tools, the artist methodically applies small rosettes of acrylic paint to wooden surfaces. In this way she cultivates artwork that grows gradually over weeks, months, and sometimes years.
Maxwell’s unique artistic practice takes lessons from her childhood on a multigenerational farm near Waseca, Saskatchewan. Here, life unfolded with the natural rhythm of seasons, farm labour, and community. In fields and gardens, grains and vegetables were grown to feed bellies; indoors, lush houseplants nourished the spirit. Through the methodical and patient daily labour of farm work and homemaking, lives flourished. The daily hands-on practice of gardening taught a young artist to observe and appreciate life’s slow evolutions.
Altogether, the exhibition celebrates hidden rhythms of growth and labour, inviting reflection on the interconnected patterns linking nature, home, and care.
Aralia Maxwell, Flourish (Analogous Satisfaction – Green Hues - #1 – 2024/10/25), Acrylic on wood, 11.5” x 11.5” x 8.5”, 2020-2025
