Western Canada’s art magazine since 2002
28 May 2024 Vol 9 No 11 ISSN 2561-3316 © 2024
Shelley Boettcher
From the Editor
This past week, I headed to Edmonton, Alta. for a quick visit. We stopped in to the Art Gallery of Alberta to see the Tom Thomson exhibition, North Star, which was magnificent but, alas, closed on Sunday.
But it's also worth a trip to the AGA to see Records and Remembrance, an exhibition of recent acquisitions including works from Natalka Husar, Skeena Reece, Mary Scott, Shirley Wiitasalo, Mary Shannon Will and others. Curated by Catherine Crowston and Danielle Siemens, it is on view until July 7.
Then let's head to Southern Alberta, to the Leighton Art Centre, which has had some really interesting stuff going on recently. This past week, first-time Galleries West contributor Benjamin Heisler interviewed Calgary artist-musician-poet Malcolm Mooney, whose work is featured in the exhibition Kewanee Street, Malcolm Mooney & Doyle Lane, on now at the Leighton through June 2.
There's another Leighton Art Centre story this week, too. Veteran Canadian journalist but first-time Galleries West contributor Russell Bowers had a conversation with Jennifer Salahub, professor emerita of Art and Craft Histories at Alberta University of the Arts (AUArts), about her discovery of a long-lost brooch that Nicoll made in the 1950s. Read more in the story Finding Marion Nicoll's Brooch.
And Katherine Ylitalo reviews the new book, Bertram Brooker: When We Awake! by Michael Parke-Taylor. “His text offers context and fascinating references alongside images of the art that show texture and details clearly,” Ylitalo notes.
If you’ve seen the movies Iron Man, The Hangover, or White Oleander, or the TV series House, you may have seen the artwork of Tanja Rector. Now through June 14, her latest exhibition, New Horizons, is on view at Paul Kuhn Gallery in Calgary.
Abstract painter Fiona Ackerman’s new exhibition, Paper Trail, is on view at Gallery Jones in Vancouver through June 1. And Anique Jordan draws inspiration from Indigenous worldviews, queerness, Afro-Caribbean spiritual practices and her own physical body for Underbelly, on view now until June 15 at Patel Brown in Toronto.
Jeff Thomas examines contemporary representations of Indigenous identity while at the same time considering the absence of images made by Indigenous people. His latest exhibition, I Refuse to be Invisible, is on view now at Kenderdine Art Gallery at the University of Saskatchewan through Sept. 27.
And yes, here's another reminder that if you shop on Amazon, please consider supporting us. We have an association with Amazon that lets you support independent arts journalism in Canada by buying books directly through our site. If you purchase a book by clicking on the Amazon link in a review, Galleries West may receive a small commission.
Are you travelling this summer to visit an art exhibition in another town or city? Drop me a note and share; I am always looking for inspiration. And as always, thanks for reading.
CONTRIBUTORS THIS ISSUE: Russell Bowers, Benjamin Heisler, Katherine Ylitalo
We acknowledge the support of the Government of Alberta Media Fund, the Government of Canada Periodical Fund and the Canada Council for the Arts.
