Events from November 29, 2021

• Donna Langhorne: Common Truths
  
  - Presenter: Leader & District Arts Council
  - Location: Council Chambers, Leader Town Office
  

  
  "Common Truths continues my work of examining how challenges facing Indigenous people today can be identified and addressed artistically with reference to traditional teachings and concepts. Since 2015 I have been specializing in the use of the Woodlands style innovated by renowned Anishinaabe painter Norval Morrisseau. This was at the encouragement of recognized elders and practitioners in the Woodlands movement. As a member of Fishing Lake First Nation in Saskatchewan [Plains Ojibway], my ancestral roots are Anishinaabe. I have been drawn to this movement and my voice is wholly authentic and endorsed by this community of artists. This has served as a calling for me, and has proven to be immensely fulfilling artistically.
  
  Because the lived experiences of Indigenous Peoples under colonial dominance represent a set of Common Truths, this project looks to another shared manifestation within Indigenous cultures to confront them: the organization of social structure and roles as represented by the clan system and the totems. For purposes of this project I use the corresponding Anishinaabe/Ojibway term doodem. [The works and titles] outline the connections I am making between the five classes within Anishinaabe clan structure [using four representative doodem per class] in order to confront 20 common truths impacting Indigenous people. References drawn from the TRC, the media, and/or the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People, are included for each of the 20 Common Truths."
  -Donna Langhorne
• Frank & Victor Cicansky: Keep on Going
  
  - Presenter: Estevan Art Gallery & Museum
  - Location: Estevan Art Gallery & Museum
  

  
  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.
• Geoff Phillips: Plantscapes of the Prairies
  
  - Presenter: Nipawin Art Club
  - Location: Central Park Library/Arts Centre
  

  
  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.