Visual arts & new media

Are you looking for a fast-paced, engaging environment to bridge your experience in project management, artwork preparation, and team building? 

Supervising a team of 6-10 interns to deliver The Works Art & Design Festival each summer, The Exhibit Production & Technology Lead Supervisor works year-round to implement various exhibits, programs, and special events. Channel your problem-solving skills, multi-tasking abilities, and strong attention to detail as you help usher artists’ visions into reality. 

Read more about the role here at www.theworks.ab.ca/job-opportunities

To apply, email your resume and cover letter outlining your interest in the position to hr@theworks.ab.ca by January 28. 

ᐊᐧᐃᐧᓯᐦᒋᑲᐣ
wawisihcikan - adornment
January 7-25, 2025  | FAB Gallery | Edmonton, Alberta
Reception: Saturday, Jan. 18, 12-3 PM

Curated by MJ Belcourt
Featuring works by Elaine Alexie, Erik Lee, and Carmen Miller

The travelling exhibit entitled “ᐊᐧᐃᐧᓯᐦᒋᑲᐣ wawisihcikan - adornment” takes a look at adornment through an Indigenous perspective. The meaning of adornment according to the dictionary states the use of item(s) that decorate, embellish, enhance, beautify, or enrich. It could be said adornment is the finishing touch that distinguishes the wearer.

Adornment from an Indigenous perspective goes beyond the items’ beauty. It is an artistic expression that conveys many levels of communication. It makes connection to a spiritual foundation, the importance to land and place, and defines inherent culture.

Early adornment provides a sense of knowledge about our ancestors that reflect the natural world in which they lived. The seasonal round of birth and rebirth shape our worldview in a circulatory way as everything is interdependent.

Spirituality has been the foundation for Indigenous peoples’ lives and an ‘intrinsic quality of creative activity.’ These artistic expressions were woven into the fabric of daily life. ‘Artifacts were generally created as items to be used, not as ‘art’. Bags, pouches, along with awl and knife sheaths were functional yet beautifully decorated’.

Through European contact and trade metal goods, cloth and glass beads were incorporated into the repertoire of the maker. Even as the use of trade materials increased, traditional styles of embellishment remained with the use of these traditional materials still being utilized to this present day, maintaining connection to ancestors and cultural traditions. ‘Contemporary artists/artisans are keenly aware of their responsibility as guardians of traditions from which their imagery and inspiration derive.’

‘More than beautiful ornamentation, adornment is a visual language expressing the joy of creativity, pride in attention to craftsmanship, and the desire to share with others. Above all, it honors oneself as well as one’s people by doing a thing well.’ (Sherr Dubin, Lois. North American Indian Jewelry and Adornment: From Prehistory to the Present)

This exhibition is organized by the Art Gallery of Alberta for the Alberta Foundation for the Arts Travelling Exhibition Program. TREX is funded by the Alberta Foundation for the Arts.

The Gallery is currently open to submissions from early-career artists for a four-part exhibition titled Currents and Visions (working title) occurring across 2026 that commemorates 50 years of the Gallery. 

Four early-career artists will be selected to engage in one of four two-person exhibitions across 2026, paired alongside one of four established artists who have previously exhibited at the Gallery. Each pairing will engage in a peer mentorship model of exhibition creation. 

This call is open to southern Alberta artists located in Treaty 7 Territory or those with a strong connection to Sikóóhkotok/Lethbridge and Treaty 7 Territory. 

For more information, including how to submit, please read the call for submissions at saag.ca/mission-opportunities. Deadline for submissions is Feb. 9, 2025.

Call for Entry: Opportunities for Alberta-Based Craft Artists for the G7 Summit
Submissions are due Sunday, January 19, 2025, at 11:59 pm MST.

The Alberta Craft Council (ACC) is excited to announce a collaboration with the Summits Management Office (SMO) at Global Affairs Canada. Through this partnership, ACC will connect SMO with Alberta artists to create official gifts for the G7 Summit, scheduled to take place in June 2025 in the Kananaskis region.

Canada assumed the presidency of the G7 on January 1, 2025, and is taking advantage of this unique opportunity to promote the magnificent Kananaskis region. The SMO is responsible for organizing the Canada G7 Summit. In addition to showcasing the region's history and attractions, the SMO wants to highlight its cultural richness and artisans.

The SMO has called on the expertise of the ACC to create a directory of local artists for various opportunities. The ACC, acting as a bridge between the SMO and artisans in and around the greater Kananaskis region invites members and non-members of the ACC to apply for inclusion in the directory.

Learn more: www.albertacraft.ab.ca/call-for-entry-g7-summit

A/P is pleased to present NOTICE ME! by HOT 4 THE MOMENT, as our first exhibition in 2025.

NOTICE ME! will run from January 24 - March 14, 2025.

Join us for the Opening Reception and Artist Talk on January 24 from 7-9pm.
The artists will begin their artist talk at 7pm, followed by the reception until 9pm.

About the exhibition:

HOT 4 THE MOMENT uses printmaking, performance, textiles, sculpture and video as tools to explore labour, gender, and friendship. Their work uses humor as a vessel for change and pop-culture as a language to explore difficult topics, and to break down expectations of “women under the patriarchy”. This often looks at gendered labour and representation in the media. NOTICE ME! is a playful examination of gendered cultural and social labour norms. This body of work uses imagery of work sites and construction signage to consider what is traditionally valued as paid labour vs. what goes mostly unrecognized and underpaid moving through the world as both artists and women.

With their first body of work as HOT 4 THE MOMENT, Georgia Dawkin and Drew Pardy use playfulness, humour, softness and collaboration as an act of resilience and protest against systems of oppression within professional spaces as THE FIX-ITS. Together, they dissect these themes through dispersing labour and decentering oneself in practice.

Artist Bios:

Georgia Dawkin and Drew Pardy are the two halves of the friendship heart necklace that is HOT 4 THE MOMENT . A creative collective, HOT 4 THE MOMENT developed as a way for Georgia Dawkin and Drew Pardy to combine common themes within their work, and to provide a space for play within their art practices. HOT 4 THE MOMENT has exhibited in Eastern Edge Gallery (NL), Neutral Ground Artist Run Centre (SK), designed sets for Lawnya Vawnya Music Festival (NL), and performed at CB Nuit (NL), and the Atlantic Arts Symposium (NB). They were the 2024 Elbow Room Artists in Residence at The Rooms (NL) and the VANL Emerging Artists of the Year in 2024. Both Georgia and Drew are currently based in St. John’s, NL and have received their BFAs from Grenfell Campus, Memorial University.

A/P Main Gallery is located at 4025 4th Street SE
Gallery Hours: Wednesday from 10am - 8pm; Thursday - Saturday from 10am 5pm