Events from June 01, 2021

• Barbara Goretzky: Diggers - Biggar Museum and Gallery

  Presented By: Biggar & District Arts Council
  
  

  

  Diggers showcases humankind’s obsession with altering our habitat for ease of mobility, pleasure, and comfort. Goretzky has a fascination with the heavy-duty equipment that was used in the transformation of Wascana Lake in Regina. The sheer size of the equipment and the magnitude of the project was impressive to the artist; the removal of 1.3 million cubic metres of mud, at a cost of $18 million, was an interesting concept. As a species, we have created machinery specially designed for executing construction tasks like earth moving operations. Although, we are transforming the earth for our own particular tastes, nature is ever present. Nature shows itself as a small plant pushing its way between the cracks in a sidewalk or a jack rabbit bolting across an asphalt parking lot. Nature is ever present and waiting to burst forth and reclaim the world. We walk a thin line with our obsession of transformation and conservation of the natural world which surrounds us. Goretzky hopes that the viewer leaves with a sense of their actions and how we end up reshaping the world.
• Edie Marshall: Moving Landscapes - Indian Head Theatre and Community Arts Inc.

  Presented By: Indian Head Theatre and Community Arts Inc.
  
  

  

  Edie Marshall is an established Saskatchewan landscape painter of sensitivity and skill. Over her career she has explored different ways to interpret landscape, movement, and the passage of time. It is immediately apparent in her paintings that Marshall is not a tourist on the prairies, but someone who has a long term, intimate relationship to this place. Her particular talent lies in her ability to evoke multi-sensory experiences for the viewer, allowing them to be fully immersed in the landscapes of our prairie home. -Madeleine Greenway
• Family Ties - Shurniak Art Gallery

  Presented By: Assiniboia & District Arts Council
  
  

  

  Belinda Harrow, Jennifer McRorie, Elizabeth Munro, Wendy Winter
  Toured through OSAC’s Arts on the Move program, curated by Zoë Schneider.
  Family Ties explores familial bonds through the medium of embroidery. Halifax based artist Elizabeth Munro creates embroidered and surface manipulated non-objective ‘portraits’ of her parents that include audio elements to convey impressions of her parents from childhood; providing a nuanced concept of a portrait filtered through the subjective experience of one person’s memory. Regina based artist Belinda Harrow reproduces photographs of her maternal grandmother at different ages into embroideries. Floating within the outlines of the human figure are colourful depictions of animals. The outlines of the humans are black thread on a cream felt background while the animals are vibrantly hued. Moose Jaw based artist Jennifer McRorie reimagines her daughters’ drawings in ‘whitework’; a type of embroidery where the colour of embroidery threads are the same colour as the fabric on which they are embroidered. McRorie states that "I was compelled to make this series of work as I wanted to honour my daughter, who was born with a genetic disorder, to recognize her voice, abilities and creativity. I love her drawings, her wonderful expression of line and so by embroidering her drawings, I’m acknowledging that even though she is marked by her genetics or biology, she will make her own mark, hence the title of the series." Wendy Winter is a Regina based artist that uses embroidery on vintage and upcycled fabrics to interpret her daily life and personal philosophy. The artists in this exhibition use embroidery in different ways to consider the complexities of the bonds with our families.
• Frank & Victor Cicansky: Keep on Going - Sherven-Smith Art Gallery

  Presented By: Melfort Arts Council
  
  

  

  Curated and organized by the Moose Jaw Museum & Art Gallery with funding assistance from the City of Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan Arts Board, SaskCulture, Saskatchewan Lotteries, and the Canada Council for the Arts. This exhibition is toured through OSAC’s Arts on the Move program.
  This exhibition features the paintings, sculptures and craft objects of folk artist, Frank Cicansky, in dialogue with the ceramics and sculptural work of his son, internationally renowned artist, Victor Cicansky. The presentation of these artists’ works together offers an opportunity to consider the shared values, creative drives and narratives of memory, place and origin that inform both of their artistic practices. Together these works reflect a sincere and compelling response to place, offering immigrant narratives of first and second generation settler Canadians in southern Saskatchewan, while also exploring the influential connections between our province’s folk art and funk art genres.
• Hanna Yokozawa Farquharson: Calling - Moose Jaw Museum & Art Gallery

  Presented By: Moose Jaw Museum & Art Gallery
  
  

  

  The exhibition, 'Calling', features the beautifully crafted and thoughtfully meditative fibre works of Saskatchewan artist, Hanna Yokozawa Farquharson. Originating from Japan, where she worked in digital architecture and landscaping design with a focus on stonework, the artist's works draw upon the aesthetic and design principles of her cultural and professional background, while responding to the natural landscapes and experiences of her new home as a newcomer to Saskatchewan.
  This exhibition is curated and organized by the Moose Jaw Museum & Art Gallery, and toured through OSAC's Arts on the Move program.
• Jessica Richter and Waltraude Stehwien: Scissor Cuts/ Scherenschnitte - Watrous Art & Cultural Centre

  Presented By: Watrous and Area Arts Council
  
  

  

  A special partnership with the Saskatchewan German Council. Toured through OSAC’s Arts on the Move program.
  Scherenschnitte (scissor cuts) is an art form where silhouettes are cut from one piece of special black paper with scissors or knives with no ‘hangers’- unattached pieces. Scissor cutting has a long history in German folk art; immigrants brought Scherenschnitte to North America in the 17th Century. Reflecting the Canadian artists in Scissor Cuts/ Scherenschnitte, this collection of works ranges from traditional German Scherenschnitte represented by Waltraude Stehwien, a German immigrant, to papercut evolved into sculpture by Jess Richter- second generation born in Canada.
  Employing creativity to express a landscape, scene and image with cut paper requires precision in drawing as well as dexterity of cutting. Stehwien prefers scissors as they 'bite' the paper; designing her pieces by drawing out her complete design, reworking it on the back of the traditional black paper before making any cuts. While Stehwien enjoys the challenging restrictions of traditional Scherenschnitte, Richter explores all that paper can do. Richter, preferring the Exacto knife, works more organically, creating pieces for her sculptures as she goes. Neither artist likes using computers in their art. In Stehwien’s opinion "Computers are remote. Art is sensual." Richter reluctantly learned computer drafting for her MFA degree from the UofR but prefers the ‘tactileness’ of pencil (or knife) to paper.
• Sylvia Ziemann: Accidental Utopia - Last Mountain Lake Cultural Centre

  Presented By: Last Mountain Lake Cultural Centre
  
  

  

  Curated by Lauren Fournier and toured thorugh OSAC's Arts on the Move program.
  Sylvia Ziemann: Accidental Utopia is a monographic exhibition of new paintings by Treaty 4/Regina-based artist Sylvia Ziemann. In the world of Accidental Utopia, Ziemann paints a menagerie of fantastical characters- figures that are playful combinations of human, animal, insect, and plant- welcoming us into an imaginative realm. In this world, everything and everyone has its place. The artist affirms a philosophy of simplicity that is restorative, particularly in a contemporary context of pervasive social media and the often troubling news on tv. Ziemann has long explored the tension between dystopia and utopia in her art, and with Accidental Utopia she paints the unexpected moments of utopia that emerge when folks come together in the wake of a disaster. Physical, emotional, and intellectual labour are at the heart of Accidental Utopia, where creatures come together across difference to build community. In Ziemann’s Rabbits, for example, an orange rabbit and a white rabbit each hold an end of a lumberjack saw: wearing professorial-looking eye glasses, the rabbits embody both the working-class labourer and the bookish intellectual, revealing the two to not only be compatible but, in this world, coexistent. Working with oil and acrylic on wood, canvas, and board, Ziemann has made twenty-three paintings, bringing visions of community, collective world-making, and inner reflection to rural and urban communities around the province.
• Geoff Phillips: Plantscapes of the Prairies - Grand Coteau Heritage and Cultural Centre

  Presented By: Shaunavon Arts Council
  
  

  

  Phillips created Plantscapes of the Prairies to challenge people to look closer at their environment, to see it in new ways, to challenge himself to learn about the different species found in our South Western Saskatchewan landscape, and to illustrate a new world of plant life underfoot. Many people rarely envision the species we walk on as having any artistic merit, interest, or importance. There are myriads of colour, form, and interconnection there for the observant in the Grasslands National Park, Cypress Hills Centre Block, Cypress Hills West Block, and the Frenchman River Valley that inspired Phillips’ work. The parks seemed very important in keeping rare species of plants and preserving the natural grasslands and forest ecosystems. Without these parks there would not be any natural land to explore as an artist, but the real cost is on the ecosystems and animals they sustain.
  Phillips’ process includes driving to locations in South Western Saskatchewan, mountain biking with rolled canvas in his knapsack, finding a section of land, unrolling the primed canvas on the ground, paint-sketching the scene/plants, and rolling it back up to stretch and paint in oils later in his studio. He takes many close-up photographs of the various elements and plants found within the scene. Some photos are chosen for reference and printing. These photos along with the paint sketch and the artists memory/experience of the land inform the painting process. Without that one-on-one with the land the painting has no life.
• I do not have my words - Moose Jaw Cultural Centre

  Presented By: Moose Jaw Cultural Centre
  
  

  

  Curated and organized by the Moose Jaw Museum & Art Gallery with funding assistance from the City of Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan Arts Board, SaskCulture, Saskatchewan Lotteries, and the Canada Council for the Arts. The exhibition, I do not have my words, features printmaking, photography, sculpture and beaded, mixed media works by Indigenous, Saskatchewan artists, Joi Arcand, Catherine Blackburn and Audrey Dreaver. Each artist’s body of works explore language loss and considers how language is connected to one’s cultural identity.
  Joi Arcand explores the interruption of intergenerational language-learning, as a result of the residential school system and other colonial attempts to remove Indigenous culture, through the revitalization of the Cree language. Emphasizing the discontinuation of the language within Arcand’s own family by rendering it hyper-visible in location and material, the work further questions how the public presence of language is connected to acknowledging Indigenous peoples. Catherine Blackburn’s art practice is informed by her Dene and European ancestry, considering Canada's colonial past through her personal relationships and life experiences. The pieces in, I do not have my words, use media, traditional materials, like beading, and artistic processes that connect to the various themes and histories Blackburn explores in the work, including the Dene language. Audrey Dreaver’s prints document her research into her family’s history of Cree language loss and consider how this loss has impacted her cultural identity as a Cree woman. In this exploration, Dreaver poses questions: How did my family come to lose our language? Is your language who you are? Does my inability to speak my language mean that I am less Cree? The artist invites viewers to engage in her exploration and consider if language loss affects identity by breaking continuity with one’s past and culture.
• Madhu Kumar: The Stories of Immigrant Women - Godfrey Dean Art Gallery

  Presented By: Yorkton Arts Council
  
  

  

  When anyone moves to a new country there are challenges. This is especially true for women. My life is not the same in Canada as it was back home in India. I had to overcome many challenges, such as living in a very different environment and culture, being away from family and friends, and so on. In 2001, soon after I arrived in Toronto, I met another new Canadian who was struggling to raise her nine-year old daughter by herself. I empathized with her because I knew how difficult it was to raise children even when you have the support of a partner. I offered to take care of her daughter after school until she returned at night after working long hours at her job. I felt her pain as a single mother being far from her family and friends. I wanted to do what I could to help.
  This relationship inspired me. I wanted to capture the experiences of newcomer women on canvas. I started by contacting women through the Immigrant Women Centre in Regina. I went to their homes and with my camera, recorded their joys and problems. Most of the feelings I heard were of loneliness, emptiness, and sadness.
  The women I have painted are bright, and hardworking. They were going through rough times as they tried to settle into their new lives. Through my paintings, I want to show what it feels like to be alone, frustrated, sad, empty, confused, lost amidst strangers and new friends. The paintings help promote dialogue about being new to Canada. I want to offer a glimpse into the life of an immigrant woman during this challenging time. Some show despair; others are more hopeful; while some are more settled.
  Storytelling is not only the core of my work, but is also universally important. Human beings need to be seen and heard. Art is a vehicle through which I am empowering these women.
  - From the Artist Statement of Madhu Kumar
• Vera Saltzman: O Human Child - Art Gallery of Outlook

  Presented By: Outlook & District Arts Council
  
  

  

  Curated by Donald Stein. Toured though OSAC’s Arts on the Move program. O Human Child features 18 black and white portraits of Saskatchewan children photographed in their own environments: in small towns and rural communities, on ranches, First Nations Territory, and farms.
  The title of O Human Child is a line borrowed from the W.B. Yeats poem The Stolen Child, which is about the fairy tales we tell children to protect and shelter them from the tragedies of the world.
  The impetus for this series of photographs came from a desire to better understand the place where I currently find myself, rural Saskatchewan. I turned to the writings of W.O. Mitchell in hopes that his words would help me gain a sense of the Saskatchewan identity.
  In Who Has Seen the Wind Mitchell depicts life as a child in rural Saskatchewan in the 1930s. Through stories of everyday events of a young boy trying to make sense of life, death, and God, he addresses universal themes in his iconic Canadian prairie voice.
  My goal in creating O Human Child is to take a contemporary look at children growing up in rural Saskatchewan and consider how the tensions and complexities of childhood today both contrast and mirror those of Mitchell’s time.