by Carole Epp | Aug 26, 2011 | Uncategorized
September 24, 2011 – January 2, 2012
Mackenzie Art Gallery – Regina Saskatchewan
http://www.mackenzieartgallery.ca/Exhibitions/Upcoming_Exhibitions/302/
September 23: Exhibition Opening
Join artist Jack Sures in celebration of this retrospective exhibition. Enjoy food, drinks and a live music performance by Ben and Nadine Sures. Feeling creative? Add your one-of-a-kind clay tile to our public art wall. 7:30pm, Free, Cash BarThis exhibition is the first retrospective of one of Canada’s most significant ceramists—a multi-faceted figure whose exuberant and sensuous work traverses the categories of craft, fine art and public monument. In addition to offering a comprehensive look at his work from the early 1960s to the present, this retrospective will address his important role and influence as an educator and mentor.
Over the past fifty years, Jack Sures has contributed significantly to the advancement of ceramic art in Canada, including his implementation of the printmaking and ceramics programs at the University of Regina in 1965, where from 1969 to 1971 he served as chairman for the Department of Visual Arts.
Sures trained as a painter and printmaker, honed his ceramics skills initially in London, England at Chelsea Pottery and studied the works of ceramic artists in the museums and galleries of Europe and the Middle East. In 1962, he returned to Canada and set up his own pottery studio in Winnipeg, eventually moving to Regina, where he continues to live and work today.
In 1969, Sures initiated the exhibition California Ceramics: Shaw, Frimkess, Gilhooly, Melchert at the MacKenzie Art Gallery, which introduced Regina to the California Funk movement. He is part of the group of maverick ceramists including Victor Cicansky, Joe Fafard, David Gilhooly and Marilyn Levine, who in the 1960s liberated ceramics from its traditional, functional role and instead utilized it as a sculptural material. The “Regina Clay” group, as they came to be known, rallied against anything that could be considered dogmatism within the constricts of visual arts and ceramics. However, Sures never rejected the fundamentals inherent in vessel-making continuing to incorporate them as part of his craft.September 24: One Day Symposium
Tactile Desires: The Work of Jack Sures
Join artists and academics for a glimpse into the practice and legacy of Jack Sures. Listen in on a conversation with the artist, Head Curator at the MacKenzie,Timothy Long and Director/Curator of the Tom Thompson Art Gallery, Virginia Eichhorn. Including discussion with Matthew Kangas, Sandra Alfoldy, Alan Elder, Julia Krueger, Susan Surette, Ruth Chambers, Mel Bolen and Sin-ying Ho and a film screening of The Murals of Jack Sures by Linda Corbett. 1:00-5:00pm, Free www.eyeris.ca/pages/JackSures – This 5 minute web trailer from the full length Jack Sures documentary features the intro sequence and a portion of the Canadian Museum of Civilization mural sequence.
The MacKenzie Art Gallery and Tom Thomson Art Gallery are pleased to be working together to premier this important exhibition, as well as a publication, video presentation, and related programming in Regina before touring it to galleries across Canada. Organized by the MacKenzie Art Gallery and the Tom Thomson Art Gallery. This project has been made possible in part through a contribution from the Museums Assistance Program, Department of Canadian Heritage.
Image: Jack Sures, The Answer, stoneware tiles. Collection of Jack Sures and Cara Gay Driscoll. Photo by Don Hall.
by Carole Epp | Aug 25, 2011 | Uncategorized
Part of an ongoing investigation of city and culture, this new body of work explores the streets, ruelles, and countryside of Quebec – a literal diary of time and place and document of the artists experience. All work had been produced at Gaia studios over the past few weeks, and features collaborative pieces with Catherine Auriol, recent recipient of the Prix France-Quebec.
Opening Thursday August 25, 5pm
Find out more about the gallery and the exhibition here.
Find out more about Laura here.
by Carole Epp | Aug 22, 2011 | Uncategorized
I had the absolute pleasure of meeting Kevin at the Matter of Clay III opening earlier in the month and was completely taken by the beauty and subtlety of his work as well as his kind and genuine nature.
View more of his work at the Stoneware Gallery website here.
by Carole Epp | Aug 9, 2011 | Uncategorized
August 13-14
Robin DuPont is a contemporary ceramic artist working out of his home based studio in the Slocan Valley. Specializing in atmospheric fired pottery, Robin primarily uses wood as the fuel source to fire his work, and in doing so creates beautiful and functional art through purposing byproducts of the local forest industry. Robin makes a variety of forms including teapots, bowls, mugs, dinnerware sets, vases, jars and bottles, for domestic use in the home, kitchen, garden and decorative setting. Each piece of pottery is hand-crafted from stoneware or porcelain and is dishwasher and oven safe.
LOCATION:
4562 Hwy 6,
Winlaw, BC VOG 2JO
Directions: 20km North of the junction on hwy 6-7 km south of Winlaw.
For more details visit http://cbculturetour.com/artists_2011/artist-45.htm
by Carole Epp | Aug 8, 2011 | Uncategorized
Narwhal Art Projects is pleased to present Pretty, Strange, an exhibition of works by Julie Moon from August 11th to September 4th, 2011. Inspired by the tactility and anthropomorphic qualities of clay, Moon’s undulating, organic sculptures pay reference to the human form through their limb-like protuberances and rolling, fleshy surfaces. These indelicate figures contrast sharply with the dainty ornamentation with which they are applied: from their pastel palette to their intricate overlays, each piece deliberately juxtaposes effete flourishes with corpulent silhouettes. The result is an imbalance between elegance and awkwardness, forcing the viewer to confront their own preconceptions of beauty, femininity and alterity. Consisting exclusively of ceramic media, Pretty, Strange incorporates wall-mounted sculpture as well as freestanding forms. The addition of surface applications and glazes, fabric, frill and lace trim informs the unique identity of each piece: in Ballerina, a pointe slipper adorns the toes of an otherwise bloated and distended leg-like appendage, while Shoe farcically applies a delicate pattern to a bulbous-looking foot. The effect is reminiscent of the frivolous figurines of a china cabinet, albeit without the grace, delicacy and literal representation of such traditional ephemera. Pretty, Strange is the culmination of Moon’s thesis work at the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University as well as her current residency at the Center for Ceramics in Berlin. Moon has previously shown both locally and internationally, most notably through her solo exhibition Pretty Pleas at the Fosdick Nelson Gallery in New York State (2010). 
Opening reception:
Thurs August 11th
7-10pm
Artist will be in attendance.
Runs Aug 11 -Sept 4, 2011
For information, artwork availability or press preview:
[email protected]http://www.narwhalartprojects.com/events-exhibitions/julie-moon/
