Brigitte RadeckiThe Black Notebooks , 2004-2005 acrylic on canvas
Proximities: Artists’ Statements and Their Works includes the work of Stephan Kurr, Donald Lawrence, Paula Levine, Kristi Malakoff, Ashok Mathur, Jan Peacock, Brenda Pelkey, Brigitte Radecki, and Sandra Semchuk. The works in the exhibition explore the idea of “the artist’s statement,” those words that often accompany or supplement or approximate an artist’s visual work. North American artists applying for exhibitions are, as part of the process, obliged to explain their visual work by way of a written text (a miniature essay that introduces an actual or proposed exhibition). When included in an exhibition proposal or a slide application package, and sent to a curator, the artist’s statement must provide content, context, technical specifications, establish the artist’s ethos and persuade the reader of the artwork’s value; when hung on a gallery wall, the statement (or “didactic”) becomes both invitation and explanation, and, often indirectly, an element of the installation itself. These public statements provide unique windows into the creative processes of visual artists. Artists’ statements embody a necessary and sometimes politically charged collaboration between artist and curator, artist and audience, image and text. Proximities looks at artists’ statements in terms of their aesthetic, physical, and social relationships to art and artistic practices. Contributing artists were asked to respond to the topic of “artists’ statements”—taking one or more of their own artist’s statements and working with the text(s) in a manner that documents, represents, and annotates the original work, creating a “new work” in the process. Proximities seeks to move artists’ statements from the periphery to the centre of the exhibition space. A catalogue, a curatorial talk, a panel discussion featuring participating artists, and an associated workshop on writing artists’ statements will accompany the Kamloops exhibition.
W.F. Garrett-Petts, Guest Curator
Proximities is curated by Dr. Will Garrett-Petts and Dr. Rachel Nash, Professors in the Department of English and Modern Languages at the Thompson Rivers University. This exhibition continues the longstanding working relationship between the Kamloops Art Gallery and the University.
308 kindergarten to grade 8 students from Beattie School of the Arts exhibit their artwork in 5” x 7” format. This exhibition, a collaboration between the school, the Beattie PAC and the Kamloops Art Gallery, follows the first anniversary of Kamloops’ newest school, which teaches the B.C. curriculum using dance, music, theatre and the visual arts.
This exhibition features children’s artwork with a twist! An artist’s statement, in the form of a story, dialogue, or description, accompanies each work, illuminating the young artists’ thoughts, motivations, and intentions in making the work. Shown simultaneously with an exhibition on the role of artists’ statements in the main galleries, this exhibition demonstrates how the complex process of translation between the art object and the written word applies to the more spontaneous works of child artists.
This exhibition is organized by Alan Brandoli and Helen MacDonald Carlson, Thompson Rivers University faculty members in the departments of Fine Arts and Early Childhood Education, respectively.
Alison Petty
Somatic Spill, 2003
porcelain and glass
Alison Petty is a ceramic artist with ties to Kamloops as an instructor in the Fine Arts department at Thompson Rivers University, and is exhibiting work at Kamloops Art Gallery for the first time in Fluid.
Petty works with porcelain clay, glass, and rubber to explore subjects relating to organic systems of the body and the natural world. These sculptural works are smooth, bulbous and rhythmical in form, reflecting the physical attributes of both humans and micro-organisms. Of the subject matter in her work, Petty states, “Referencing cross-section anatomy, I am interested in how both skin functions to hold the inner body in place, as well as its wondrous malleability to stretch from the internal outward, accommodating extra fat, muscle, and foetus. As it resembles such membrane and internal organs, my work parallels skin, bones, and body fluids that make up our common, yet mysterious interior compositions.”
Over the last fourteen years, Alison Petty has developed a comprehensive approach to clay, making both sculptural and utilitarian works. She has studied in Europe, the United States, and Canada, and has traveled internationally, visiting many communities with strong ceramic traditions, including Europe, Fiji, Cuba, Mexico, Nicaragua, and Brazil. She has exhibited in both Canada and the U.S.
Works in Gallery Under Glass are for sale through The Gallery Store. Learn more about this artist at www.alisonjpetty.com.
Donovan Harrison
Untitled, 2002
digital photographic print
Kamloops photographer Donovan Harrison captures the shimmering vibrancy of the salmon run in a series of digital photographic prints. Harrison says, “In this exhibition I reflect on life, death and rebirth. Using the cyclical return of the Sockeye Salmon to its Adam’s River spawning ground, I tried to capture the intense burst of colour and energy displayed by nature just before it goes dormant. These images are a celebration of life, an acceptance of death, and a promise of new life to come.”
Harrison’s work comprises a wide variety of subject matter from nature, architecture, people and still life to the abstract. He is motivated and challenged by visual and technical problem solving and making good use of the elements and principles of design.
The artist presently devotes his time to music composition, web site design and digital photography. He has exhibited his photographs in a number of juried and non-juried group shows as well as individual exhibitions. Most recently, he showed several images of the Kamloops Art Gallery in The Cube exhibition Building a Vision.
Works in The Cube are for sale through The Gallery Store.
In January 2005, sixth-grade students at A.E. Perry Elementary School embarked on a collaborative quilting project to bring together ideas about the community, self-identity, unity, and voice in an endeavour that encouraged participation and will serve as a legacy in the school for years to come. Students painted self-portraits and portraits of significant people in their lives. These portraits were photo-transferred onto fabric to become quilt patches, which were then sewn together to form the foundation of the quilt. Using traditional quilting practices, students, parents, quilting guild members, teachers and many other community members contributed daily to the completion of the quilt by stitching on personal artifacts and decorative embellishments. During the creation of the piece, stories and traditions were passed on from one quilter to another.
Project facilitator Tricia Sellmer and classroom teachers Maureen Coldicott and Debbie Leonard worked with ArtStarts in Schools, a non-profit organization based in British Columbia’s Lower Mainland, to develop this project under its Catalyst for Change program. This quilt was selected for exhibition at Vancouver’s Roundhouse Community Centre in April 2005.
Marie Nagel
Beach, 1997
acrylic
The Kamloops Art Gallery’s Original Art Auction is back. Bidders and browsers are invited to preview works by generous artists and friends of the Gallery. Artists from the nationally-known to the locally-loved have submitted paintings, drawings, sculptural works and photographic works to add to your collection. This year’s exhibition includes coveted works by Eric Metcalfe, Tricia Sellmer, Ann Kipling, and Daphne Odjig. Local painter Bill Lee’s natural landscapes, a hot commodity at the recent Summer Solstice Art Fest @ Sun Rivers, are included in the auction for the first time, as is a highly sought-after work by Gaye Adams. The range of media and subject matter represented in these works ensures that all visitors, whether viewing the exhibition prior to the October 1st Art Auction Gala or attending the auction itself, will find works that appeal to their unique sensibilities.
In addition to these fantastic works, regional businesses let their commitment to the arts shine by donating valuable services and experiences. A highlight of this year’s offerings is a shimmering Canadian Diamond pendant valued at $1300, generously donated by the Smith Family and Fifth Avenue Jewellers.
Framing services for the 17th Annual Original Art Auction are provided by Access Picture Framing.
Daphne OdjigPow-Wow Dancer, 1978serigraphKamloops Art Gallery Collection
Photo: Victor Hamm
If my work as an artist has somehow helped to open doors between our people and the non-Native community, then I am glad. I am even more deeply pleased if it has helped to encourage the young people that have followed our generation to express their pride in our heritage more openly, more joyfully than I would have ever dared to think possible.
— Daphne Odjig
Daphne Odjig: Four Decades of Prints brings together for the first time over 90 works created by Daphne Odjig during the last forty years. It is an exhibition that celebrates only one significant aspect of her work—printmaking—and provides viewers with the unique opportunity to share in and celebrate aboriginal cultural heritage through the eyes of one of Canada’s most remarkable artists.
Daphne Odjig is recognized nationally with The Order of Canada, the Aboriginal Achievement Award, and four honorary Doctoral degrees. She has represented Canada at World Expo Japan and has exhibited in numerous international exhibitions. Her work is in private and public collections throughout Canada and the world. The Kamloops Art Gallery is proud to have developed the largest collection of print works by Daphne Odjig in Canada.
Daphne Odjig’s career blossomed in the 1960s in Manitoba. In the early 1970s, she was the central figure of the “Second Group of Seven,” which created the Woodland Painters art movement. The Woodland Painters were noted for the outline of the figure and the content of First Nations beliefs. Odjig’s life and career influenced many young people, encouraging them to pursue their dreams.
Odjig’s prints are representative of the artist’s mature work, as she had already gone through many experimental phases by the time she began printmaking in the late 1960’s. To some extent, Odjig’s prints are influenced by her mural work, created on large surfaces with bold, colourful imagery.
Odjig has stated that “Knowledge and cultures evolve and grow. Our goal as I see it, is to open our eyes to see, unplug our ears to hear, to find new ways, share new ideas, open the door to change, and grow and grow and grow.”
Daphne Odjig was born on September 11, 1919 at Wikwemikong First Nation, Manitoulin Island, Ontario. Her mother was a war bride from England and her father was Potawatomi. Daphne now lives in Penticton, B.C., with her husband, Chester Beavon.
A full colour catalogue of the exhibition with foreword by Jann LM Bailey and essay by Morgan Wood is available in soft and hard cover.
Join First Nations artist David Tremblay on Sundays, June through August at 1:00 pm, for a tour of Daphne Odjig: Four Decades of Prints. Learn about the life and work of this influential Canadian artist through her print works. These tours last 30 to 40 minutes and are included with regular gallery admission.
Thompson Rivers University Batchelor of Fine Arts graduating students
An exhibition of selected work by graduating students from the Bachelor of Fine Arts and Diploma in Fine Arts programs at Thompson Rivers University. The students (pictured left) work in a wide variety of media, including photography, painting, sculpture, installation, textiles, and ceramics. KAG Curator Jen Budney selected individual pieces from the students’ graduating exhibition in late April for a rotation of two thematic group shows in the Cube. This is the first opportunity for many of these students to exhibit their work in a public gallery, and provides visitors with an exciting preview of the future artists of our city.
Shiela Dunn
no title
glass
Pritchard-based artist Shiela Dunn has developed her passion for glass over a period of nine years. Her work is a familiar sight in Kamloops, as she was commissioned to create the stained glass windows for St. Andrew’s on the Square, a Seymour Street landmark.
She has moved from the Tiffany Technique of stained glass construction, predominant earlier in her practice, to working with hot glass using a kiln. Her current process allows her to combine colours and manipulate shapes, and she has recently added flame-worked glass beads to her repertoire.
Dunn’s glass work underwent a surprising change when she experienced a repetitive strain injury to her right hand that forced her to use her left. This caused a difference in her creative thought process, and Dunn, an accountant by trade, combined precision with this new creativity in her artistic endeavours.
Dunn says, “Working with glass feeds my soul by allowing me to use my creative abilities to make beautiful things. I thoroughly enjoy the challenge of cutting glass, making it do things in defiance of its normal physical structure.”
Works in the Gallery Under Glass are for sale through The Gallery Store.
An exhibition of works produced by students in the first of the summer art classes. Students explore portraiture by combining drawing with materials that define us as individuals. Their finished life-sized self-portraits combine drawing with collaged personal materials.
Victor Hamm
Kamloops Art Gallery Main Hallway, 2005
Photo courtesy of the artist
An exhibition of architectural photographs submitted for the Beautiful Buildings Photo Contest. There are two age groups: 18 and under and 19 and over. In each age group there are two photo categories: Architectural Kamloops & Region and Architectural Other. The winners are: Allen Ciastko, Nicolette Eadie, Maria Frangiadakis, Victor Hamm, Donovan Harrison, Austin Jennnings, Hannah Jensen, Lonna Nash, Charlotte Rollans, and David Wise. Thank you to prize donors: Forster’s Restaurant, Kamloops Camera House, Kelly O’Bryans, Sahali Ruckers, and Trevor Owen Architects.
Eileen LeierThe Chinese Graveyard: Hudson's Bay Trail, Kamloops, 2004 (detail)chromogenic printPhoto courtesy of the artist
Urban Insights is the culminating exhibition of The Cultural Future of Small Cities project, a multi-year community-based research initiative exploring why and how the arts and heritage flourish in small urban centres. Twelve artists provide diverse perspectives on the look and feel of city life and on related issues, such as urban development and local identity.
Six of the artists are from Kamloops, and their work is an integral component of specific research. Shima Iuchi and Donald Lawrence’s sculptural sound map contains memories of residents throughout the city. Photographer Eileen Leier explores Kamloops’ hidden histories and also coordinated a project with children, using archival images to investigate the past. Laura Hargrave’s drawing and sculptural works are based on walks throughout the city, while a video by Steve Mennie and Jen Dyck focuses on residents of the North Shore.
Several works by artists from elsewhere in Canada and abroad respond to or have an affinity with many of the social and cultural issues explored. Kelowna-based Byron Johnston’s installation conceptually addresses the tensions, limits, and possibilities of the small city. Halifax-based Mike MacDonald’s video Electronic Totem, part of the Gallery’s permanent collection, addresses issues of aboriginal identity. Montreal photographer Michel Campeau documents Kamloops’ industrial aspects, and American landscape architect Anne Whiston Spirn’s photographs taken during her recent visit feature a Kamloops neighbourhood . Montreal-based Eleanor Bond’s mural-size painting is a vision of the post-industrial city, and works by Dutch artist Constant Nieuwenhuys convey the impact of technology on cities.
The exhibition also contains an artifact from each research project with commentary by a researcher or a community partner. These range from expressions by Secwepemc youth about negotiating the worlds of the small city and the reservation to documentation of community services for Kamloops’ culturally diverse population.
The exhibition catalogue contains essays by project co-directors Lon Dubinsky and Will Garrett-Petts and writer/critics Robin Laurence and Lucy R. Lippard.
The Cultural Future of Small Cities project is supported by the Community-University Research Alliance programme of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and by local funders. Partners include Kamloops Art Gallery (lead), Thompson Rivers University, City of Kamloops, Forest Research Extension Partnership, John Howard Society, Kamloops Museum and Archives, Secwepemc Cultural Education Society, Stuart Wood School, and Western Canada Theatre.
Lon Dubinsky, KAG Research Associate and Co-director of The Cultural Future of Small Cities project, gives a talk and tour of the Urban Insights exhibition on Thursday, April 14, 7:00 pm.
In conjunction with the exhibition, the Small Cities Forum takes place May 4 to 7, 2005.
Photo courtesy of Lost Arrow Designs
The Kamloops Art Gallery is pleased to present Heffley Creek artisan Bodie Shandro's one-of-a-kind rustic furnishings in Rustic by Design.
Shandro comes from a long line of craftsmen, most notably his father and grandfather. His passion for woodworking began at an early age when in grade school he hand-built his first guitar, a Martin Rosewood Dreadnought, an instrument that he passionately plays to this day. Although educated in the sciences, Shandro spent the majority of his professional career as the Canadian CEO of one of the world's largest surf brands, Rip Curl. A decade of surf travel and the beauty of Kamloops’ natural surroundings inspire his passion for rustic design and photography. He now revives age-old timbers salvaged throughout British Columbia to create bold, elegant home furnishings following Lost Arrow Designs’ guiding philosophy, “Inspired by mountain living…reborn from its soul.”
Bodie Shandro's work was included in Kamloops Art Gallery’s 16th Annual Art Auction Exhibition and Christmas in the Gallery in 2004.
Leonhard EppJonah and the Whale, 1998clay, acrylic, goldleafCollection of Kamloops Art Gallery
In organizing this solo exhibition of sculptural works by senior British Columbia ceramist Leonhard Epp, the Kamloops Art Gallery acknowledges Epp’s considerable contribution to his profession. This series of sculptures was made over the course of many years, with the most recent work completed in 2004. These darkly humorous works reference contemporary social issues, art history, and religious and cultural traditions. They play against modernist notions of ideal beauty, challenging the boundaries and subverting our expectations of representation.
Realistically, the sculptures depict the consumption of fish by men, but the grotesqueness of the figures refers to the loss of our sensitivity to consumption. The body of works is a representation of over-consumption, evoking thoughts of excess, abuse of power, and environmental destruction.
In his catalogue essay, Bill Richardson notes, “…when ceramist Leonhard Epp stands back and surveys his artfully crafted parade of weirdos, all of them forcing big, big fish down their wee, wee gullets… he shakes his head and says, ‘It’s really kind of gross.’”
Epp uses clay, hydrostone (a highly sensitive, tintable casting material), bronze, acrylic paint, and glaze to construct his detailed works. This broad range of materials allows Epp to sculpt traditional forms as well as unusual, caricature-like works. A number of the works are haunting, unpainted clay figures with hollow eyes in the tradition of Japanese haniwa sculpture, which originally functioned as decoration for the tombs of nobles during the Kofun era (250-600 A.D.). This reference to haniwa appears in figures incorporating both the historically relevant hollow eyes and the modern symbols of contemporary consumerism, such as oversized earphones for a portable CD player.
The most recent work in the exhibition, Parade, is an ambitious installation of figures in single file, fish in mouths. Individually, they are subtle and comical. Installed, they form a parade of oblivious marchers that begs the question: How much are we willing to swallow?
A full-colour publication with essays by Andrew Hunter and Bill Richardson is available.
Leonhard Epp gives a talk and tour of his exhibition on Sunday, February 13 at 1:00 pm.
David SkelhonCrop Square, 2004digital photographic printCollection of the artist
Orchards become ornate textiles and earth moving machines become paintbrushes on elaborate canvases in this visually engaging, ironic series of photographs by Vernon-based photographer David Skelhon. The enigmatic digital photographs in Skelhon’s ongoing series examine points of interface between the British Columbia landscape and human activities of agriculture and industry.
Skelhon flies his own plane, takes the digital photographs using stabilizing equipment, and prints the giclee images on fine art paper. The artist enjoys the element of surprise in works of art created by agricultural and industrial endeavours, which are enhanced by his perspective from the sky.
His final images, produced in colour and monochrome, are both familiar and confounding. Responding to the perplexing nature of some of the images captured during his sky-high photo shoots, Skelhon says, “No digital deception is used¯what you find in the final print is a true reflection of the reality I see.”
David Skelhon presents a talk and tour of his exhibition on Sunday, February 13 at 2:00 pm.
The Kamloops Art Gallery is pleased to partner with the British Columbia Cowboy Heritage Society to celebrate the Kamloops Cowboy Festival. Works of leather, horsehair, and Spanish silver are featured in The Cube, and entries for the B.C. Cowboy Heritage Society Scholarship appear in the Open Gallery.
Crescent Moon to Prairie Rose
Some folks think Cowboy Culture,is an oxy-moron of some sort,They get tangled in conundrumsand tend to sell us short. Horsehair hitching, rawhide braiding,seem like remnants of the past,In a time when old skills are forgotten,And few things are made to last. Crescent Moon and morning star,Etched in silver, hanging there,Sacred symbols of the ancient Moors,on a fine bridle, of hitched horse hair.Wild roses carved in leather,Over a wood and rawhide tree, Strong enough to hold a raging bull,and a work of art to see. From North Africa and Spain,Then across the sea to Mexico,and up the coast of California,came ancient crafts from long ago. Where the sagebrush meets the surf,along the California Shore The culture of the Vaquero bloomed, as it never had before. Rawhide, hair and leather,Was the Canvas, stone and clay,Picassos who worked cattle through the day. Our equipment has evolved a bit,but the skills are much the same,and every piece of cowboy gear,Still bears a Spanish name.
-Mike Puhallo
John Scott Untitled, 1993 acrylic, latex, pastel on paper Collection of Kamloops Art GalleryGift of Laurie Pudas
Tony Scherman Study for Death of Echo, 1994 encaustic on paper Collection of Kamloops Art Gallery
We are constantly engaged in the act of looking, be it our first glance in the mirror in the morning or the thousands of images that are part of our daily lives. Developing visual literacy by expanding our looking skills and becoming active, critical viewers of art can be learned like anything else.
How Do I Look? is an exhibition conceived by the Kamloops Art Gallery’s programme team to introduce the mechanics of looking at art. Based on a framework used in art education, viewers are guided through description, analysis, interpretation, and evaluation of a work of art. Visitors are encouraged, through use of an interactive guide and response cards, to apply this process of looking at art to better appreciate and understand what they are seeing.
The works featured in the exhibition vary in style and media and were selected from the KAG’s permanent collection. The exhibition demonstrates how diverse techniques and subjects can be explored through an approach that sharpens the looking process, encourages consideration of different aspects of a work, and leads to a conclusion about the work that is evidence-based.
Tailor-made for school tours and workshops, this eclectic, visually intriguing exhibition and the accompanying educational material are suited to all ages. Children encountering art at a young age will learn a thoughtful approach, and adults with deeply ingrained likes and dislikes will gain an awareness of which aspects of artwork they consistently favour. The widely-used education process that KAG has adopted provides a path of discovery, equipping viewers to consider art from a place of knowledge.
Works in the KAG’s collection by Gathie Falk, Gu Xiong, Dorothy Knowles, Micah Lexier, Ed Archie NoiseCat, Tony Scherman, John Scott and others will be included in this exhibition of inquiry.
In recognition of Alzheimer's Awareness Month in January, the Alzheimer's Society of B.C. presents The Forget-Me-Not Project in the Open Gallery. This exhibition features focused writings from people with early stages of Alzheimer's, caregivers, and family members, and is complemented visually by Tricia Sellmer's 99 Ways to See a Dying Rose.
On Sunday, January 16, Kamloops Art Gallery hosts a public forum entitled Perspectives on Alzheimer’s. Guest speakers share their experiences with Alzheimer's disease, both personal and professional, and respond to audience questions.
Allyson Clay Untitled III (Self-Portrait), 1995-98 (detail)backlit cibachrome lightbox; letter pressCollection of Kamloops Art GalleryPurchased with financial support of the Canada Council for the Arts Acquisition Assistance ProgramPhotograph: Kim Clarke
Allyson Clay’s Imaginary Standard Distance is a mid-career survey incorporating several bodies of work in a variety of media including painting, video and installation. With Clay’s characteristic precision and elegance, the works investigate the experience of a woman in the city, focussing on prominent issues in contemporary art, such as gender, identity, and surveillance. The effect of architecture on our level of comfort and expectation of privacy is also addressed, inviting the viewer to reflect on the boundaries between public and private space. Several works in the exhibition deal with the experience of watching and being watched, both openly and surreptitiously. Clay also plays with the institution of the gallery itself, exhibiting work to be viewed from the street and in a venue outside the gallery.
Although KAG audiences have encountered works of this Vancouver-based artist in the 2001 exhibition Exploring the Collection: Prevalent Concerns and the recent 16th Annual Original Art Auction Exhibition, this is the first solo exhibition of her work in Kamloops.
This exhibition has toured across Canada to the Walter Phillips Gallery at the Banff Centre, Mount Saint Vincent University Art Gallery in Halifax, and the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria. The Kamloops Art Gallery is pleased to have loaned several works from its permanent collection for this exhibition tour, as their inclusion in this important exhibition highlights the significant and growing collection of the KAG.
Allyson Clay presents a talk and tour of the exhibition Sunday, December 12 at 1:00 pm. A full-colour exhibition catalogue is available. In it, Lisa Robertson offers a literary response to the work, and exhibition curator Karen Henry addresses issues running through the exhibition, illustrating how works relate to one another in the materially diverse but thematically consistent career of this important British Columbia artist.
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