Archive for the ‘Art Events’ Category
Two Thought-Provoking Exhibitions by Medicine Hat Artists Open Saturday at the Esplanade Art Gallery
The Esplanade Art Gallery is pleased to announce the opening of two new exhibitions on display until Apr. 11.
Laara Cassells: e·strange
What does the generation dubbed ‘the intentionally disengaged’ have to do with the long-established tradition of the equestrian (a.k.a. horse) portrait? Artist Laara Cassells is surrounded in her daily life by young people and horses, and in this new and insightful body of work, she brings both together to muse on popular culture and its intersection with the values of tradition and the natural world. Curator of art Joanne Marion comments: “Laara Cassells poses intriguing questions with flashes of humour in these elegant double portraits: about the directions in which today’s digital communications are taking us, about the fate of the natural world, about the meaning of our cultural traditions… and she generously leaves the answers up to the viewer.”
Laara Cassells’ practice as an artist spans painting, sculpture, installation and multi-media performances. Her work has been presented in numerous exhibitions and performances around the world, including Canada, the United States, Hungary, Korea, Belgium, Poland, Switzerland and Italy. Cassells divides her time between Medicine Hat, where she is a faculty member of the Visual Communications Program at Medicine Hat College, and Sundre, Alberta.
Dana Shukster: Pre-Flight –Trace
Dana Shukster’s recent explorations of the fleeting aspects of light have led to the creation of a series of large scale, sepia-toned inkjet prints on paper. These mysterious images are derived from projected shadows of magpies in flight, and are accompanied in the gallery by video and direct shadow projections. “Dana Shukster’s process is almost scientific in its rationality, and yet the results are certainly poetic and even eerie. Her works give us pause to wonder at the arbitrary nature of our perception of our transitory world,” says curator of art Joanne Marion.
Dana Shukster is based in Medicine Hat, Alberta and has exhibited her work across Canada and in the United States and Europe. Her work has been supported by grants and awards from the Canada Council for the Arts and the Alberta Foundation for the Arts and is held in numerous public and private collections in Alberta and British Columbia.
e·strange and Pre-Flight –Trace are on display in the Esplanade Art Gallery until Apr. 11, 2010. The opening reception is Thursday, Mar. 4 at 7:30 p.m. in the Gallery Foyer. The artists will be present and will give a brief tour of their work. There is no charge to attend the reception and everyone is welcome.
The Alberta Foundation for the Arts Travelling Exhibition Program, southeast Alberta region, announced today the opening of a new travelling art exhibition at the Medicine Hat Public Library, 414 First Street SE. The Fantastical World of Jeff de Boer will be on display at the library until Feb. 24, 2010.
The Fantastical World of Jeff de Boer is populated by intrepid explorers, armoured warriors, robots, flying machines and mysterious ‘exoforms.’ He has spent a lifetime imagining the hero’s transformative journey through his art. The metal sculptures and schematic drawings presented in this travelling exhibition reflect the sculptor’s keen awareness of tradition and potential of technology to shape the future.
The son of a tinsmith, Jeff de Boer began working with metal at the age of five. He built his first complete set of armour before finishing high school. As a graduate of the Alberta College of Art and Design in 1988, de Boer garnered much early critical attention with his unique armour for cats and mice. There are wonderful and intricate examples of cat, mice and rat armour in this exhibition that humorously explore the relationship between predator and prey, as well as the relationship of opposites in nature. De Boer also reveals his interest in Asian philosophy and culture with a major sculpture from the collection of the Alberta Foundation for the Arts entitled, The Buddha in You.
The conception of de Boer’s highly refined sculptures often begins and develops through schematic drawings. This travelling exhibition presents work drawings related to his major commissions such as the RoboFamily at the Vancouver Science World. THE JUMP – Read the rest of this entry »
The First Year students in the Visual Communication program at The Medicine Hat College are holding an exhibition at the Medalta Squared Gallery to showcase their best work so far in their career as artists.
The show runs from January 21st to February 1st and the opening reception is on Friday, January 29th at 8:00PM.
There will, as usual, be snacks and drinks for guests to partake in. Go have a looksee.
As an addendum to the Midnight Madness Downtown 2009 article recently posted, the Esplanade has a great line-up scheduled for Thursday:
Medicine Hat Tigers Add to the Madness at the Esplanade
The Esplanade Arts & Heritage Centre celebrates Midnight Madness on Thursday, Nov. 26 with a free craft workshop for kids, free admission to the galleries, guided tours, free hot chocolate and popcorn, and an Xbox™ tournament against a Medicine Hat Tiger hockey player. Midnight Madness activities are free and open to the public.
“The Art Gallery and Museum are currently showcasing Hockey Culture at the Esplanade with three exhibitions related to hockey, so it was natural to invite the Medicine Hat Tigers downtown for Midnight Madness to continue the whole hockey theme,” says Joanne Marion, Curator of Art at the Esplanade. THE JUMP – Read the rest of this entry »
'Peacock' graphite on paper 24"x34" by Levi Gogolinski
Like Mother: Like Daughter is an upcoming art reception being hosted at Inspire Studio & Gallery. It’s taking place this Friday, November 20th, 2009 and will start at 7PM. Chances are if you are into the Medicine Hat art scene, you already know where Inspire Studio & Gallery is, but if you don’t it’s located downtown at 659 2nd Street S.E. on the second floor of the building.
The event will feature artwork from Melissa and Levi Gogolinski. Even though the title suggests a likeness between the two, there is quite a contrast between Melissa’s and Levi’s artwork. The event is taking place in conjunction with Framing & Art Centre and Sandfly Gallery & Gifts “Christmas Art Reception”. People are encouraged to walk from location to location and enjoy the art. Entertainment, refreshments, and food will also provided.
Call 403-580-1808 or email info@inspireart.ca for more information.
Nightmare at Medalta Poster
Halloween is creeping up fast and as per usual, the Visual Communications program is gearing up for their spooktacular show.
If you are looking for something to do on Friday, October 30th, then you may want to come on down to the Medalta Squared Gallery to check out some spooky art, which has been created primarily by students in Poul Nielsen’s Drawing III class.
Prizes will be awarded for the best costume, so feel free to dress up like your favourite groovy ghoul, or if you are not feeling that festive, then come down dressed like you normally dress, you just might win on your own.
The show begins around 7:30 PM and will continue on well into the evening. I Hope to see some fantastic costumes!
The official flyer can be downloaded here (3.5 MB).
Fall 2009 Classes
Art classes for kids are beggining this week(end) at the Inspire Studio & Gallery and there are still spots available. The following programs are available on Saturdays:
- Art Inspirations for 4-6 year olds – 1PM-2PM
- Drawing and Painting Dragons and Mythical Creatures for 7-12 year olds – 10AM-11:30AM
Both classes are being taught by Stephanie Della-Longa, an accomplished local artist, and graduate of the Medicine Hat College’s Visual Communications program. On Fridays, there will also be another class entitled Art for Teens for 13+ year olds with Candice Arnold from 6PM-7:30PM. The classes last for 8 weeks and the prices include all supplies.
For more information, visit the Inspire Studio & Gallery classes page or contact Maureen Newton, the owner and coordinator of Inspire, at 403-580-1808. While you are at it, you can also join the Inspire Studio & Gallery Facebook group (there’s lots of information about the classes there).
Alberta Arts Days Poster
Alberta Arts Days is the celebration of art in many forms all across Alberta. From September 18th – 20th there are over 500 events in 100 different communities. Medicine Hat has been chosen to be a focal point for many of the events in Southern Alberta.
Don’t forget, the reception for Maureen Newton’s “This is for the Birds” art show is Thursday September 17th (today) at 7:00pm. Reception is free of charge! The show started August 22nd and will run up until Sunday, October 11th, 2009 – so if you miss the reception, you still have time. It’s definitely worth checking out and events at the Esplanade on the 19th are FREE.
You can visit www.albertaartsdays.ca for more details, they also have a Facebook group where other places are advertising how each community is celebrating. Even though I’ll be doing some work at the Esplanade for the Artisans Fair, I might just go over to the Tyrrell Museum and check out what’s going on over there this weekend. For a full (huge) listing of events and the details, go to the event listing page for Medicine Hat.
Here’s a listing of some of what is going on: THE JUMP – Read the rest of this entry »
There are a few teepees set up in Kin Park at the intersection of 9th Street and Allowance Avenue in celebration of the upcoming National Aboriginal Day, which is marked by the summer solstice and occurs on Sunday, June 21.
The event promises to be educational to the aboriginal cultures, including First Nations, Metis and Inuit cultures, and they want everyone in the community to participate in the experience by going down and checking out what is going on.
Everything kicks off at Noon on June 21 with the raising of a ceremonial teepee and is followed up by a traditional pow wow dance, singing, games, as well as arts and crafts.
I personally think it would have been more interesting to set up the teepees by the giant teepee off the Trans Canada to both relate to why that big teepee is there, and attract some passerby attention, but oh well.
Check it out!
Contrast is an upcoming photography exhibition brought to you by the Medicine Hat Photography Club. The exhibition will be in the Medalta Squared Gallery which is located inside the Medalta Clay Museum building (713 Medalta Ave SE). The opening reception will take place on Tuesday, May 19th from 7:00PM-9:00PM; however, the photography will be up until June 30th.
Contrast Invite/Poster
All the information I received is from a poster I seen and from the website invite. Judging by the name of the show, there will be a lot of “Contrast” going on in the subject matter of the photography. I will keep this post updated with any new information and images if they arrive.
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