Marsha Kennedy: The Rapture of Flora

This full-color hardcover book includes images of the entire series of 28 paintings, the review by Jack Anderson, as well as Goethe's poem, The Metamorphosis of Plants.
Limited edition of 73.

"The Rapture of Flora celebrates the primordial creative force of the plant world. These wax paintings show microscopic sections of plants from early 20th C. texts and focus primarily, but not exclusively, on the sexual and reproductive organs of the plant. With the unaided eye, these images would hover beyond the eye's visual range. Yet they beckon as we peer into the early manifestations of desire and into what feels like a transcendent reality."

Marsha Kennedy

Saturday, May 22, 4pm

Please join us for the launch of Marsha Kennedy's resplendent art book, The Rapture of Flora.
Marsha Kennedy will be speaking about the inspiration behind the artwork and signing each copy.

Heather Cline:

Heather's new blog: popveduta.blogspot.com

Carole Epp:

Solo exhibition in Quebec City:

From April 16 to May 30, as part of Manif d’art 5, a bi-annual event in visual arts, under this year’s theme “CATASTROPHE? QUELLE CATASTROPHE!”, MATERIA presents “A Collection of Small Miseries”. It is the first solo exhibition in Province of Quebec devoted to the ceramist Carole Epp, originally from Saskatchewan.

For several years now, Epp has created works that carry messages and moral reflections. The artist believes that art can have an impact on public opinion and thereby influence the individual. Fascinated by the concept of the collection, the artist creates works that are both kitsch and stereotypes.

For Epp, the pervasiveness of kitsch objects represents the ideal vehicle for promoting dialogue. Not only does it speak to the portrayal of cultural stereotypes and the simplification of events in the media but it also offers the advantage of being connected to totalitarian politics and propaganda. Through these associations, the artist aims to bring to light the media’s role in the proliferation of information and “knowledge” and the desensitization that results. This parallel is brought out in many of Epp’s figurines, which reflect the nature of war, terrorism, poverty, genetic technology and environmental degradation.

In an aesthetically traditional display, A Collection of Small Miseries presents some 35 recent collectible figurines. Using childhood imagery, the artist prompts the individual to reflect upon the consequences of their actions on the environment. Epp’s exhibition questions our consumer culture, while drawing on the relationship between our consumerist ways and the political, social and environmental events that shape our world.

Visitors are invited both to reflect upon their own role in society and to participate in the collective reflection as put forth by the artist.

Holly Fay:

Congratulations to Holly Fay - nominated for The Mayor's Arts & Business, Outstanding Contribution to the Arts: "Living the Arts" Award.

As a visual artist, educator and mentor, Holly Fay is a valued member of Regina's creative, cultural community.

David Garneau:

GalleriesWest Cover Story:

INSIDE THE COLLECTION: CONTEMPORARY ABORIGINAL ART AT THE MACKENZIE GALLERY:
DAVID GARNEAU, ROBERT HOULE, RUTH CUTHAND, NADIA MYRE, MARY ANNE BARKHOUSE

Also:

The Mendel Art Gallery and the Saskatchewan Arts Board have added more of David Garneau's work to their collections.  The NordAmerikan Native Museum, Switzerland is adding a piece to their collection and he will be curating a show for them next year.

David Garneau, Metis Flag/Flower, oil on canvas, 2005.
PHOTO: Collection of the MacKenzie Art Gallery.

Faculty of Fine Arts well represented at Winter Olympics

Visual Arts faculty member David Garneau was one of the 100 Aboriginal artists from across Canada selected by the Vancouver Organizing Committee to create two works of art. The works were showcased at an event in Vancouver in November with Garneau in attendance. One piece was sold at a fundraising auction, the second is installed at the Whistler site. The second painting will also be auctioned at the end of the Games. Garneau, who was selected as one of the "Metis 10", is featured in a CTV commercial about the project.

Another 100 artists from across Canada were chosen to participate in Screen 2010, a series of online exhibitions. An image of Garneau's painting A Strange Meeting, was curated into the exhibition, Naturally: The Way We See Things Now.

-Excerpt, University of Regina Newsletter

SCREEN 2010

Canadian art. Your screen.

Exhibition No. 11 — February 2, 2010 at Vancouver Olympics
Naturally — The way we see things now
Curated by Donna Wawzonek

Featuring — Kenojuak Ashevak (winner of the Governor General’s Award in Visual and Media Arts in 2008), Erik Edson, Brandon Vickerd, Kristi Malakoff, Annie Pootoogook, Max Streicher and David Garneau

Curatorial Statement

The relationship we have with the world around us has dramatically shifted throughout history and differs from culture to culture. These varied relationships are well illustrated in the history of art and the selection of work in this exhibition considers our contemporary relationships with the natural world. Where some works utilize historical flora and fauna imagery to consider these shifts in relationships or as a means for self-examination while others reflect on animistic beliefs.

Donna Wawzonek – Curator

Donna is an independent curator living in Saskatoon. She has worked at Struts Gallery in Saskville, New Brunswick and the Dunlop Art Gallery in Regina, Saskatchewan. Wawzonek has received provincial and federal grants for independent exhibitions for galleries including Eastern Edge in St. John’s, Newfoundland, St. Mary’s University Gallery, Eyelevel Gallery in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Owens Art Gallery in Sackville, New Brunswick, AKA Gallery in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan and Latitude 53 in Edmonton, Alberta.