Western Canada's art magazine since 2002
9 March 2021 Vol 6 No 05 ISSN 2561-3316 © 2021
From the Editor
Portia Priegert
This issue marks a year since the COVID-19 pandemic first gripped Western Canada. It has been a turbulent time for everyone, but artists, in particular, have faced challenges to what to what is often a precarious life, even at the best of times.
Personally, I've been struck by how the pandemic has magnified whatever issues were already present for us. If you were lonely before the pandemic, you're doubly so now. If there were tensions in your family, they've likely been exacerbated by stress and extended time at home. And if you were struggling financially, you may be feeling the pinch even more sharply, despite government assistance programs. What's the saying? We're all in the same storm, but our boats are different? This phenomenon has played out on a societal level too, as pandemic stressors point with unerring clarity to systemic injustices, whether it's breakdowns in health outcomes for seniors in long-term care or the racialization of low-paid frontline work, which has contributed to higher rates of COVID-19 in multicultural communities.
Mindful of these realities, Galleries West is launching in this issue a five-part series that explores how artists are responding to the pandemic. What has changed for them? How has their creative work helped them cope with uncertainty? And how are they reflecting the broader challenges of a world facing unprecedented turmoil?
The first instalment, Five Alberta Artists Ponder the Pandemic, is written by Edmonton artist and writer Agnieszka Matejko, who proposed the project earlier this year. With Alberta's public galleries closed due to public health rules and exhibition openings a distant memory, she was feeling disconnected and wondered what artists were working on in their studios.
It wasn't an easy project to tackle. Agnieszka reached out to galleries and art schools across the province to find five remarkable stories. In the process, she discovered many artists in Alberta are focused on intimate personal projects aimed at family and friends, rather than exhibitions.
In Edmonton, she talked to Chris Carson, who posted collages of his fake vacation on Facebook, and emerging artist Braxton Garneau, who has been painting small portraits of family members based on screenshots of his FaceTime calls.
Meanwhile, in Camrose, Keith Harder has been painting wintry airport scenes – a place few of us now frequent. Calgary-based Ann Mansolino created two artist books early in the pandemic during a residency near the site of a historic landslide in Frank, Alta. And two Red Deer artists, Erin Boake and Marnie Blair, teamed up to bake bread and make art.
I liked Agnieszka's idea so much that I broadened the project to include other Western Canadian provinces. Our next issue will feature Winnipeg writer Lindsay Inglis on five Manitoba artists. John Thomson and Michael Peterson, will follow in subsequent issues, with five artists from British Columbia and Saskatchewan, respectively. Finally, Yellowknife-based writer Sara Swan will write about five artists from the three northern territories.
This is an ambitious project. It's been fascinating to watch it coming together, given the different pandemic experiences in each province and the various ways 25 artists from diverse backgrounds reflect regional inflections through a personal lens. Some projects relate directly to the pandemic – photographs of medical gloves and paintings about conspiracy theories, for instance – while others are more metaphorical, evoking themes like reconnecting with nature or coping with anxiety.
Throughout these five issues, we'll also continue to provide coverage of exhibitions across Western Canada, as well as news items to keep you informed about new developments and opportunities in the arts.
In this issue, we review two Vancouver-area shows. One, at the Richmond Art Gallery, features work by Brendan Fernandes, a Canadian who is making a name for himself south of the border. The other is a retrospective by longtime Vancouver artist Gary Lee-Nova at the Burnaby Art Gallery.
In Calgary, we write about Brian Flynn, who evokes the troubled history of Northern Ireland in a fascinating series of paintings, and, in Winnipeg, we look at a video by Jon Sasaki that takes on new resonances amidst the pandemic.
Our final story introduces Hélène Blanchet's folk art quilts, currently touring rural Manitoba. Veteran arts journalist Paul Gessell wrote a great opening for that piece: "Folk art is a little like pornography. It’s hard to define. But you know it when you see it."
Looking ahead, we expect to share stories about exquisite floral ceramics by Saskatchewan artist Ruth Chambers at the Art Gallery of Regina, and dramatic work by Sun Xun, a leading Chinese artist who blends history, myth and fantasy in a solo show at the Vancouver Art Gallery.
Until next time,
CONTRIBUTORS THIS ISSUE: Paul Gessell, Lindsay Inglis, Yani Kong, Agnieszka Matejko, John Thomson
We acknowledge the support of the Government of Alberta Media Fund, the Government of Canada Special Measures for Journalism Fund and the Canada Council for the Arts.
