Archive for the ‘Artists’ 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.
Joan Bailey - Image from ArtistsinCanada
Alberta artist Joan Bailey boasts an almost entirely self-directed art education, and as a result she has skillfully created a very diverse collection of art using paint, wax, and metal. Because of the variety in her art her online portfolio is much more interesting to peruse than many of the artists I investigated for this edition of Art Exposure. Bailey claims to thrive on exploring the patterns and mysteries of life through the use of stark contrast in her art, which was very apparent as I explored the works on her website.
The reason I chose to feature Joan this week is because of the variety in her work. Although I am by no means knowledgeable about art, I have noticed that many artists tend to specialize in one form of art (even if they do explore a variety of mediums as well). She doesn’t appear to focus on any one form of creation more than any other, which pretty much made her perfect for Art Exposure, in my opinion.
Joan has an email provided on her website for those who are curious about pricing or other aspects of her work.
Sandhills Cow Still Life On display at the Prickly Pear Gallery - Medicine Hat, AB
Gena LaCoste is a local Medicine Hat artist with a lot of “pull” around town in the art community. I personally see her work in many places in town and also see her participating in pretty much every art event happening in the city, and sometimes even some trade shows/markets. She definitely is one of the biggest names in Medicine Hat, especially for her stylistically vivid and colorful large format watercolor paintings. She tends to deal with subjects ranging from horses, floral themes, to other prairie life depictions – what she knows and has lived.
Her website is full of her artwork with three separate galleries packed with tons of her paintings over the years, listing the names, the price (if they are for sale), and even where they currently are showcased. The site also contains a sizable biography on Gena, here’s a snippet:
Gena LaCoste paints what she loves. Gena has loved the grasslands from her first breath. She learned about the land and its unique ecosystems from her family, and this love has equipped her to paint the authentic lifestyles of prairie families. Now, Gena paints what she loves. “I was painting and drawing by the time I was three years of age,” Gena recalls. “My early memories include the river at the cow camps, and the sounds of water sliding past. Dust, heat rising, the arid smells of sage brush, and the tones of light begged to be painted.” Riding on her own horse to the cow camp with her father, for instance, etched images in her heart that she tries to record through colours and water. “I remember trying to find a way to draw a horse so that it looked like the ones in front of me.”
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 »
Photo by Robert Berdan
Although Robert Berdan worked as a Cell Biologist at the Universities of Alberta and Calgary for twelve years, then managed the Calgary Science Centre for five years, he has also been well-known photographer for thirty years and owns a web design company in Calgary. Cell biology seems a strange career path for such an creative person, but the variety in his work life most likely made his photography and design much better.
Berdan’s photos have been published in science journals, book covers, and IMPACT magazine, and have even been a part of a traveling exhibit with the Science Centre. Robert prefers to print his own photos using an inkjet printer that produces the astounding detail he is known for. The primary focus of Berdan’s photos is nature, and all animals that appear in his photos are wild, rather than captive or rehabilitated. I like that detail the most, I think. Every time I see footage of “wild” animals I think of a video I once saw of David Attenborough stumbling through a forest searching for a species of bird, that is so rarely seen… in an Australian zoo (so disappointing). Needless to say, it is quite impressive that Robert is committed to taking pictures of animals in their natural habitats. All of Berdan’s photos have been taken in either Southern Alberta or Georgian Bay, Ontario. Presumably the quality of the picture I posted here was not compromised by being viewed on a monitor as the only modifications done on them are those that would be done in a dark room (burning, dodging, dust spot removal, and colour enhancement through the use of masks).
In addition to his photography, Robert owns a small design company called Science and Art Media in Calgary. Apparently, Robert was the first person in Calgary to offer internet training in Calgary. so much for the stereotype of older adults being inept at learning internet skills. I am going to leave the commentary on the quality of the designs up to the two designers that run this site since I’m sure they will pounce on it as soon as they read this.
For those of you who are wondering about the Attenborough reference I have included the video to which I am referring, it is very cool even if it is in a zoo.
Painting by Dean Smale
In this issue of Art Exposure I will be talking about Dean Smale – a Medicine Hat based musician, artist, and teacher for the Visual Communications course at the Medicine Hat College.
Dean is undoubtedly an amazing painter. His paintings are highly realistic, going so far as to depict the flow of blood under the papery skin of an elderly subject in some cases. They say that you cannot paint every leaf on a tree, but Dean only takes that statement as a challenge. Many of the subjects of his paintings are rendered in the nude, or are elderly, but in many cases both. His painting style involves building up textures, light, and shadows by using many layers of paint: undoubtedly a lengthy process.
In Dean’s paintings only by peering deep into his work can all the connections be made. For instance, in the portrait to the side, the woman’s earrings are hourglasses that have run out; a symbol of her age.
His illustrations are often amusing, but if you lack a modern or youthful sense of humour, they will just seem very perverse. Similar to his paintings close observation of Dean’s illustrations is required to see what is going on, since body parts can be so easily disguised.
His exhibits can often be seen in Medicine Hat, but are frequently in cities such as Edmonton and Calgary. Dean’s work has even be seen in American galleries.
As a teacher, Dean encourages his students to produce good work at any cost. In one instance he went so far as to tell me that I should quit my job and rob a bank, all in an effort to spend more time creating art. I am pretty sure he was joking… or was he?
In addition to visual arts, Dean is also an accomplished guitarist. It is not unusual to see him perform at Visual Communications art shows. I have heard his style of playing described as “Way the f- out there! I don’t even know what to call it!”
Check out the galleries after the jump:
The Chicken Angel, oil on panel, 2009, 122 x 122 cm
Already mentioned a lot on this site is this week’s art exposure topic: Maureen Newton.
Maureen Newton, owner of Inspire Studio & Gallery, was born and raised in Medicine Hat. If you have seen her talk at all, usually at one of her receptions, she usually tells bits and pieces of growing up and how art took a part in her life very early on and stuck there all throughout her life. She started her art education watching her father, who was also an artist. She spent many hours watching him drawing and painting.
Although she is quite focused on oil painting as seen by her latest reception, “This is for the Birds” which ran at the Esplanade during Alberta Art Days she actually originally received a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Lethbridge in 1986 majoring in printmaking as well as painting. Her artwork has been displayed locally at the Cultural Centre Gallery and nationally in Vancouver, Kingston, and Toronto. You can also spot some of her work in the Medicine Hat College Vera Bracken Library.
Inspire Studio & Gallery acts as a place to showcase her work as well as many other local artist’s works. It also doubles as her work space where she paints and creates her art.
The Esplanade Arts and Heritage Centre is pleased to announce that the artists’ proposals for the Alberta Foundation for the Arts competition for the commission of a public work of art are on display until January 28th.
On Alberta Arts Day, September 6th, 2008, the Honourable Lindsay Blackett, Minister of Culture and Community Spirit, announced a partnership between the Alberta Foundation for the Arts (AFA) and the Esplanade Arts and Heritage Centre to commission a work of art in Medicine Hat. The partnership was accepted on behalf of the City of Medicine Hat by Mayor Norm Boucher.
The AFA collection committee has approved a three-year grant totaling $150,000 in support of this commission. The work of art will be part of the Alberta Foundation for the Arts collection but will be located as a long-term installation in front of the north face of the Esplanade Arts and Heritage Centre. The commissioned artwork will be for the enjoyment of the downtown community, the Medicine Hat public and visitors alike.
Five well-established, professional artists from across Alberta were selected, in consultation with the Alberta Foundation for the Arts staff, to submit proposals for this commission. THE JUMP – Read the rest of this entry »
James Marshall in action
Unless you are a complete shut-in, everyone in Medicine Hat should be familiar with the elaborate brick murals that are scattered across the city. From the downtown Dairy Queen to Herald School to City Hall, James Marshall’s impressive artwork has been thrilling the eyes since the early 1980s.
Marshall was born and raised in the Hat, and his family has lived here since the 1800s. With a love of art that developed during childhood with the help of his father and school art teachers, Marshall became one of the most prominent artistic forces Southern Alberta has to offer. But before he began sculpting brick, James was most well known for his pen and ink drawings of Albertan historical sites. After starting Grassroots Studios with his wife, Lorine, the couple were commissioned to create pottery, small sculpture, and historical drawings. Thanks to the Saamis Rotary Club Marshall had the chance to create his first brick mural, “Saamis the Legend”. After being commissioned for a mural in Ontario, Marshall was recognized in an architectural magazine allowing his career to skyrocket: the rest is history.
The physical exertion of creating murals has forced Marshall to slow down, but he continues to be involved in the community by raising awareness of the historical wealth of this area. His efforts to save the numerous historical sites Medicine Hat has to offer will ensure that his impact on this community will last as long as the murals he has created.
Photo from The Designer Toy Store
Although I wasn’t initially familiar with the name “Frank Kozik”, the mustachioed rabbits, er labbits, that have been appearing around town did seem familiar. Around a year ago I was introduced to Kozik’s work through some of the design sites that I visit on a daily basis, but forgot about the showcase of his work, which included his labbits. Thanks to a Medicine Hat Media commentator we now know that the rabbits that were appearing around town were not your average rabbits, they were labbits by Frank Kozik.
Frank Kozik is not a Canadian, and possibly has never even been to the Hat, let alone Alberta. So I’m kind of breaking the mold a little bit here by doing a non-Alberta/Medicine Hat related Art Exposure edition. But a fan of his work lives in this city, and out of whatever motivation spray paints his iconic labbits around town. Why? Boredom? The thrill? Either way, I like it because it is a form of expression different from the typical gang-graffiti that loses itself in its esoteric representation – the labbits, on the other hand, represent something visual and iconic. But let me backtrack a little bit: I am not condoning graffiti in any way, shape, or form. All that I am saying is that I see more merit in this type of graffiti than the standard swear word/gang signature. It is still vandalism and will still get removed, there’s no way around that.
Click here to check our previous “Rabbits with Moustaches” post
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