“I chose to become an artist to try to pursue a life of true questioning and subversion and an alternative position to what I saw as a common drive towards capitalist values of growth and progression and I want to just to continually have access to watching and observing and questioning that.” – Shary Boyle
Read the article and hear the podcast HERE.
On March 27, 2019, as part of the celebration of our new ceramics exhibit, “The Persistence of Mingei: Influence through Four Generations of Ceramic Artists,” we hosted a special gathering with women artists featured in the exhibition. Rebecca Sive moderated this informal conversation, focused on each artist’s ceramic practice, their relationship to the Mingei influence, and the role gender has played in their practice and larger context. Panelists included Margaret Bohls, Linda Christianson, Maren Kloppman, Jan McKeachie-Johnston, Linda Sikora, Sandy Simon, and Rhonda Willers.
Read the whole article HERE.
If you’ve got nothing better to do then you can watch me work and talk a bit about clay. (starts at 11:35 in the timeline.) Click on the image to get to the video.
MAKING IT IN SASKATCHEWAN provides a close personal look at how artists create vibrant, meaningful work throughout this province.
Twelve artists and creatives are featured in the six-episode series. Whether actors, singer-songwriters, writers, photographers, visual artists or designers, all are dedicated to Making It — creating original work, making a go of it in Saskatchewan, and reaching the pinnacle of success in their chosen pursuit.
Huge thanks to Robin Schlaht for his amazing work in this series and for putting up with me!
“Art+Feminism, a group that conducts edit-a-thons, claimed last year that since 2011 they have conducted more than 500 events during which 7,000 volunteers have helped edit more than 11,000 articles on Wikipedia.”
Read the full article HERE.
Exhibition organized and circulated by the MacKenzie Art Gallery. This project has been made possible in part by the Government of Canada.
L’exposition est organisée et diffusée par le Musée d’art MacKenzie. Ce projet a été rendu possible en partie grâce au gouvernement du Canada.
Opening Reception on June 7
Panel Discussion on June 8
Victor Cicansky: The Gardener’s Universe
The artistic universe of Regina artist Victor Cicansky is firmly rooted in his garden. For over fifty years, ideas for sculptures in ceramics and bronze have grown out of his intimate relationship with the plants and trees of his back yard. His approach embraces both the immigrant knowledge of his Romanian-Canadian family and more contemporary concerns around urban ecology and environmental sustainability. Rooted in local realities, his work speaks to the wider world of the joys and trials of supporting life in an urban prairie space.
This retrospective exhibition brings together over 100 ceramic and bronze works that present a richly layered picture of Cicansky’s career. Drawn from 39 public and private collections in Canada and the United States, the selections embody the energy of Cicansky’s varied production. Challenging craft expectations of pottery and furniture, Cicansky engages the language of making to celebrate “hand smarts,” as his blacksmith father called them. From the iconoclastic experimentation of his student days in California, to the recognition of his prairie immigrant roots, to his celebration of shovel to plate gardening — Cicansky has unearthed a politics of place using humour, play, and provocation.
The work of Victor Cicansky asserts that history and locality are vital sources for healthy creative expression, just as gardens are essential for the health of our bodies and the planet. This exhibition celebrates a “garden universe” — as Regina writer Trevor Herriot calls it — and marks Cicansky’s lasting contributions to Canadian art and craft history.
Timothy Long, Head Curator, MacKenzie Art Gallery
Julia Krueger, Curator and Craft Historian, Calgary
www.mackenzieartgallery.ca/engage/exhibitions/victor-cicansky-the-gardener-s-universe
