The Home Show
March 22 to June 2, 2013
What does access to a museum collection mean? How do personal taste and experience inform a selection process? What does it mean to curate?
The Home Show is part of a series of investigations into the Mendel’s permanent collection that advance the collection as a site of shared encounters and as a way of making meaning. This exhibition takes a collaborative approach, where different points of view and diverse sensibilities inform the selection of works on display. Staff members at the Gallery have been invited to step beyond their usual tasks and delve into activities that are typically the purview of the curator.
I Know You By Heart: Portrait Miniatures
March 22 to June 2, 2013
I Know You By Heart is an intimate exhibition of 35 portrait miniatures from the late 18th to the early 20th centuries. The works are from the collection of Library and Archives Canada, which holds more than 100 portrait miniatures. The portraits are primarily of Canadian subjects, including well-known figures from history, and lesser-known individuals. The works are mainly in watercolour and gouache, and most are painted on ivory.
General Lord William Howe, Mohawk Chief Major John Norton (Teyoninhokarawen), and Demasduit, one of the last Beothuks of Newfoundland, are amongst those whose portraits are featured in the exhibition. Canadian artist Horatio Walker (1858 – 1938) is represented in the show, along with the American artist James Peale, the British artist Lady Henrietta Martha Hamilton, and many other respected artists, along with several whose identities remain unknown.
Jason Baerg: Returning
March 22 to June 2, 2013
Public Performance: Friday, April 26 at 7 p.m with artists Jason Baerg, Jean-Sébastien Gauthier, and Adrian Stimson
This dynamic, multi-media exhibition features two recent works created by Jason Baerg, a Métis artist based in Toronto. The work in this exhibition includes a series of circular paintings from the Relations series, which draw on Baerg’s early training in abstraction combined with computer-generated elements. Also included is a new installation of figurative-abstract paintings, entitled Nomadic Bounce. Both works are presented alongside videos comprised of photo- and computer-based imagery, thus continuing Baerg’s commitment to new and traditional modes of art production and engagement.
Relations was developed out of a residency investigating the many prophecies that concern 2012—Mayan, Hopi, Mohawk, Tibetan. The resulting 13 circular works, or tondos, speak to notions of the passage of time and suggest a reconsideration of Indigenous frameworks of knowledge. Relations explores these cosmic themes through sculptural paintings, which embrace our relationship to each other, the Earth, the sun and beyond.
School Art
March 22 to May 26, 2013
Student Artist Talks: Sunday, May 12 at 2 p.m. with student artists
The Mendel Art Gallery is pleased to present the ever-popular School Art exhibition, an annual offering for more than 40 years. Celebrating the excellence of artmaking and creativity among the city’s young people, the exhibition delights audiences and demonstrates that art is for people of all ages and walks of life. School Art showcases paintings, drawings, photographs, sculptures, and other works of art by more than 200 students in Saskatoon’s elementary and secondary schools. The gallery is proud to work closely with Saskatoon’s educators and to continue its commitment to art at the primary and secondary levels.
The work is selected by a jury composed of representatives from Saskatoon Public Schools, Greater Saskatoon Catholic Schools, and the gallery. This jury chooses at least two works from each school. Three works are selected from schools with more than 350 students. In addition, a limited number of works are included on a merit basis
Bart Gazzola and Barbara Reimer: Green Man Portraits
March 22 to June 2, 2013
In 2010, Barbara Reimer received a Saskatchewan Arts Board grant to begin the Finding a Green Photo project. She travelled to Nicaragua to photograph landscapes, sites, and garbage. Reimer, developing images using a coffee-based solution, continues to examine the relationship of process versus content in photography.
Barbara Reimer is a practising artist, and a technician in the Department of Art and Art History, University of Saskatchewan. Her photos have appeared locally and abroad in exhibitions emphasizing waste, sustainability, and process.
Bart Gazzola, the AKA Gallery Coordinator, has written for Planet S, FUSE, and Canadian Art. He produces and hosts “The A Word” on CFCR 90.5 FM.
