Events from April 23, 2025

• Atim Maskikhiy - Grand Theatre

  Presented By: Indian Head Theatre and Community Arts Inc.
  
  

  

  Atim Maskikhiy (‘Dog Medicine’ in Cree) presents works of seventeen artists local to the La Ronge tri-community area in Northern Saskatchewan. The multimedia pieces represent the artists’ interpretations of the dog-human relationship as expressed through preliminary findings of a community-driven research project conducted in the community. This unique marriage of art and science allows knowledge translation to a broader audience than typical of peer-reviewed research. Highlighting the need for improved access to animal health and welfare services in northern, remote and Indigenous communities everywhere, this gallery represents a call to action for systemic change at the human-dog interface. Through their works, the artists confirm that dog-human bonds are highly valued and often critical to human life and well-being in the north, and current approaches to ‘fixing’ dog problems in communities without regular access to care ignore important contributors at the root of the issue.
  This exhibition is curated by Dr. Jordan Woodsworth, Director, Northern Engagement and Community Outreach, Western College of Veterinary Medicine. The artists featured in this exhibition are: Andrea Cowan, Caron Dubnick, Donna Langhorne, Hilary Johnstone, John Halkett, Larissa Muirhead, Miriam Koerner, Molly Ratt, Myles Charles, Nancy Lafleur, Terri Franks, Sammi Kopeck, Abigail Clarke, Annalisa Heppner, Jade Roberts, Jasmine Grondin, and Wendy Cleveland.
• Labours of Love, Under Lamplight - Community pARTners Gallery

  Presented By: Yorkton Arts Council
  
  

  

  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.
• Omentum - Biggar Museum and Gallery

  Presented By: Biggar & District Arts Council
  
  

  

  Omentum is a series of 10 paintings that touch on several of the major experiences faced by Indigenous people in this country within recent memory. These paintings, influenced by the works of both Norval Morrisseau and also Pablo Picasso, speak to some of the major struggles and triumphs that are part of our everyday life as Indigenous people, such as the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Cultural Appropriation, the legacy of Residential Schools, the Rise and Honour of the Two-Spirited in the LGBTQ, the Return of Traditional Indigenous Tattooing, the Rise in Systemic Racism Online, and, of course, the Murder of Colten Boushie.
  John Brady McDonald is a Nehiyawak-Métis writer, artist, historian, musician, playwright, actor and activist born and raised in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan. He is from the Muskeg Lake Cree Nation and the Mistawasis Nehiyawak. The great-great-great grandson of Chief Mistawasis of the Plains Cree, as well as the grandson of famed Métis leader Jim Brady, John’s writings and artwork have been displayed in various publications, private and permanent collections and galleries around the world, including the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa.
• Arianna Richardson: Surface All The Way Through - Council Chambers, Leader Town Office

  Presented By: Leader & District Arts Council
  
  

  

  Surface All The Way Through is an exhibition of textile and text-based signs assembled from discarded plastic using hobby-craft techniques. It is an exploration of superficiality, distraction, reflection, containment, emotional blockages, consumerism, accumulation, and waste.
  The objects in this show are fabricated entirely of plastic: a material that I am endlessly attracted to for its shape-shifting mimicry and limitless supply of exciting surface qualities. As a toxic, uncontainable, and grossly over-produced material, it is also repulsive and surrounds me with dread and despair. It is between opposites that I have created these objects: working to both deflect and deal with my own conflicting attitudes in a time of vast uncertainty, inexpressible emotions, and constant horror.
  All materials in the show were rescued from their fate as discarded objects, collected either from my own personal consumption habits (packaging waste) or from the thrift store (craft supplies, projects, decorations).
• Madeleine Greenway: Propagation - Grand Coteau Heritage and Cultural Centre

  Presented By: Shaunavon Arts Council
  
  

  

  Propagation explores the connections between plants, food, land, and people. Madeleine Greenway deftly combines drawing and printmaking to create lush portraits and still lives; each work treated with the same attention to detail manifesting as a character study for plants, family, and food. Madeleine states: "This series expresses gratitude to the matriarchal knowledge that has enabled me to provide for my family, as well as connect to plants, food, land, and people. While my inner dialogue is full of anxiety and sadness, the garden, the kitchen, and the studio give me reprieve from these thoughts. Most of the women in my family experience chronic mental or physical illness. But they were not joyless, or weak. Images of them in the garden show strong, happy, and proud women. This is the part of my family history I want to celebrate... The aim is this: to generate longing for a more intimate relationship with food, to invite the audience to the garden as a source of joy and respite, and to share a simple message of gratitude and the difference that care can make."
• Phyllis Poitras-Jarrett: Spirit of Nature - Looking Beyond Yourself - Last Mountain Lake Cultural Centre

  Presented By: Last Mountain Lake Cultural Centre
  
  

  

  The exhibition The Spirit of Nature - Looking Beyond Yourself features fifteen paintings of different animals and insects. Each creature’s silhouette is filled with intricate Métis floral beadwork patterning. Swirling around the forms of the fauna is a diaphanous grey fog, a representation of the spirit world. Phyllis says "Each animal painting is adorned with a unique, colourful, symmetrical Métis floral beadwork design... Each bead, flower and animal are a part of something greater. Within each painting, the grey background and white flowers represent the greater universe. Hidden in each painting is a glass spirit bead. This bead, in traditional Métis beadwork, was an off colour or misplaced bead. The spirit bead symbolizes humility and it reminds us, humans are not perfect. Therefore, we need to learn to be mindful that each day is an opportunity to make improvements in ourselves for the betterment of "All of Our Relations"."