Work of the Week

This week’s Work of the Week is The Accident by Rita McKeough.

This artwork was part of the recent Travelling Exhibition Program (TREX) exhibition Mittenism and the Quest for Empathy. You can see all the artworks in this exhibition at alberta.emuseum.com/exhibitions/560/mittenism-and-the-quest-for-empathy.

This exhibition features etchings and lithography prints by renowned interdisciplinary artist Rita McKeough. Over the last 30 years, McKeough has been a major contributor to Canada’s strong reputation in audio, media installation and performance based visual art. Early on in her career, McKeough translated her ideas through etching and lithography techniques, creating several series of works that use inanimate objects to explore the complex emotion of empathy. Is this ball ok?, The Canadian Cookie Association and Manifesto of Mittenism initially appear childlike but through time reveal a conceptually complex narrative balanced with a quirky and sometimes dark absurdity.
 

The exhibition Mittenism and the Quest for Empathy was curated by Xanthe Isbister and organized by the Esplanade Arts & Heritage Centre.

About the Artist: Rita McKeough

Rita McKeough was born in Antigonish, Nova Scotia, studied printmaking and sculpture at the University of Calgary and received her BFA in 1975. She returned to the East Coast to attend the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design (NSCAD) in Halifax and was awarded her MFA in 1979. Throughout her career she has instructed at numerous universities and art colleges across Canada, including NASCAD, the University of Calgary, the University of Manitoba and the Banff Centre, and since 2007 she has instructed full time at the Alberta College of Art and Design (ACAD). She has become an influential role model and mentor who inspires colleagues and encourages younger artists.

Want to see more artworks by McKeough? On now, until December 12, is the exhibition Rita McKeough | darkness is as deep as the darkness is at the Walter Phillips Gallery at the Banff Centre.

In honour of Métis Week (November 15-21), this week’s Work of the Week is Making Faces by Métis artist Heather Shillinglaw.
 

About the Artist: Heather Shillinglaw

Heather Shillinglaw graduated in 1996 from the Alberta College of Art and Design (now the Alberta University of the Arts).

Her mixed-media work explores the bridging of cultures as she has experienced it as a Métis woman and as a traveler to other territories and countries. She is intrigued by the "similarities and differences" between cultures, something that her own heritage allows her to access more readily. In 1993, Heather partnered with National Film Board and Women of the Métis Nation using a film Daughter of the Country Series to create new works.

She is represented in numerous public, private and corporate collections and is an active member of several Métis organizations including Women of the Métis Nation. She has exhibited extensively around Alberta over the past ten years.

This week's Work of the Week is Dark Horse by Calgary-based artist Yvonne Mullock. 
 

This artwork came into the AFA's collection in 2018 through the Art Acquisition by Application program. 
 

You can see this artwork in person at the Jarvis Hall Gallery where its currently on view until January 16, 2021 in the exhibition up front w/ Yvonne Mullock.

According the Jarvis Hall Gallery website: 

DARK HORSE is a multifaceted body of work that uses iconic symbols synonymous with cowboy culture – the stetson hat and horse as tropes to explore Calgary’s long and entwined history of ranching and the city’s historic annual Stampede event. Using print, video and sculpture DARK HORSE explores an innovative horse-centric printmaking method and invites viewers to delve into cowboy identity and Western mythologies that hover over the history, collective memory and folklore traditions in Calgary.

The Jarvis Hall Galley is located at 333B 36th Avenue SE in Calgary and is open by appointment only. Details online at: jarvishallgallery.com.

About the Artist: Yvonne Mullock

Yvonne Mullock is a graduate from Glasgow School of Art and is currently based in Calgary, Canada.

Her multidisciplinary art practice explores materiality and the processes embodied in the act of making. Incorporating collage, sculpture, ceramics, video and textiles, her work explores ideas of authorship, craft and labour for both gallery and site-specific installations.

This week's Work of the Week is Piano Lesson by Vivian Herman. 

One of the more famous compositions for the piano is Piano Sonata No. 14 in C-sharp minor, better known as Moonlight Sonata, by Ludwig van Beethoven. It was composed in 1801.
 

Beethoven is one of the world's most celebrated classical composers, and 2020 marks his 250th birthday! He was born in December 1770, but the exact date is not known. However, he was batized on December 17, 1770, and the custom of the time was to have infants baptized within 24-hours of their birth.

This week's Work of the Week is "Distant Mountain" by Annemarie Schmid Esler. 

Today is International Mountain Day! Designated in 2003 by the United Nations, International Mountain Day calls attention to the importance of mountains to life around the world. For example, did you know that mountains are home to 15% of the world's population and host about half of the world's biodiversity hotspots? They also provide freshwater for everyday life to half of humanity! Mountains are truly amazing, and Albertans are incredibly lucky to have one of the most beautiful mountain ranges in the world right in our province - the Rocky Mountains!
 

About the Artist: Annemarie Schmid Esler

The daughter of German immigrants, Annemarie Schmid Esler was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba.

She had an interest in art from an early age, attending Saturday classes at the Winnipeg Art School, but studied sociology at university. She received her Bachelor of Arts from the University of Manitoba in 1959, and travelled in Europe for a year before enrolling at the University of Munich for additional courses in sociology. Returning to Canada in 1961, she worked for a year as a social worker and in 1962 enrolled at the Winnipeg College of Art in the ceramics program. In 1968, she completed a degree in ceramic sculpture at the Alberta College of Art (now the Alberta University of the Arts).

Her work expressed a highly developed knowledge of ceramic technique, and she utilized a variety of tools, including pencils, airbrushes, stencils, decals and photo-transfer to create her often humorous and ironic ceramic sculptures. She was interested in the opposing approaches of Modernist and Post-Modernist art, and also had a strong preoccupation with American blues music which, with its focus on themes of isolation and concern about the social condition, she saw as presenting an affinity with her own art.

Annemarie Schmid Esler's work was exhibited widely throughout Canada, the US, and Europe. A highly-regarded instructor and lecturer, she received several major grants and awards, and her sculptures are included in over two dozen public collections.
 

This week's Work of the Week is Opening Night by Petr Honcu.
 

On this day 128 years ago, one of the most famous ballets in the world had its opening night in St. Petersburg, Russia! Now a holiday tradition in many countries, including Canada, The Nutcracker made its debut on December 18, 1892. It was choreographed by Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov with a score by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky.

In Canada, the National Ballet of Canada has been performing The Nutcracker for nearly 70 years! Learn more about the history of the National Ballet of Canada performing The Nutcracker. 

Closer to home, the Alberta Ballet has made The Nutcracker a holiday tradition in our province for the past several years now. While you won't be able to see the Alberta Ballet's annual performance of The Nutcracker this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, you can still enjoy this short film featuring Alberta Ballet Dancer Jennifer Gibson as The Sugar Plum Fairy.

Video courtesy of Alberta Ballet..

This week’s Work of the Week is Fifty-51 by Edmonton artist Alayne Spafford.
 

Alayne Spafford is an abstract artist whose work attempts to reconcile her natural tendency to organize and polish, with her strong desire to reject those principals in favour of chaos and disorder. Her paintings begin with a spontaneous and unstructured first layer of collage, drips, and spray paint. In the second layer, Spafford adds more depth and mark-making, then tries to find the shapes within. Her process mirrors her internal struggle to find balance between the opposing but complementary aspects of life.

This artwork came into the AFA’s collection via the Art Acquisition by Application (AAA) program last year and is now on loan, through the AFA’s Extended Loan program, to the new, award-winning YW Hub facility in Calgary.

About the Artist: Alayne Spafford

Alayne Spafford received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in printmaking and drawing from the University of Saskatchewan. After studying textiles at Concordia University and the Centre des Metiers d’Art en Construction Textile (CMACT) in Montreal, she worked for many years in the costume department of Cirque de Soleil, dying, printing, and hand-painting costumes.

Spafford was awarded a Pouch Cove residency in Newfoundland in 2019 and has exhibited throughout Western Canada and the USA including Moberg Gallery in Des Moines, Iowa, Sopa Fine Arts in Kelowna, Zinc Contemporary Arts in Seattle, and the Front Gallery in Edmonton. Her work is in the collection of the University of Saskatchewan, the University of Alberta, and the PCL Corporation. Spafford resides in Edmonton, and concentrates on painting full time.

This week’s Work of the Week is January by John K. Esler.

Did you know: The month of January is named after the ancient Roman god Janus? Janus was the god of beginnings and transitions. He also had two faces – one looking forward into the future and one looking back towards the past.

About the Artist: John K. Esler (1933 – 2001)

John K. Esler was born in 1933 in Pilot Mound, Manitoba and attended the School of Art at the University of Manitoba, graduating in 1960. He continued studies there, receiving a Bachelor of Education degree in 1962, and in 1964, after a period of travel in Europe, took a teaching position at the Alberta College of Art and Design in Calgary (now the Alberta University of the Arts). He joined the faculty of the University of Calgary in 1968 where he taught intaglio printmaking, staying there until his retirement in the 1980s.
 

Esler was well-known in the Calgary arts community, and did much to raise the profile of printmaking in the province. He played a major role in the expansion of the printmaking department at the Alberta College of Art and Design and at the University of Calgary and in partnership with artist Ken Webb, established Trojan Press to provide a facility for local printmakers to develop their skills. Esler's works were exhibited widely throughout Canada and abroad and he is represented in many public and private collections. His awards included the C.W. Jefferys' Award from the Canadian Society of Graphic Arts and the G.A. Reid Memorial Award from the Canadian Painter-Etchers and Engravers.

John Esler had an irreverent, somewhat Dadaist sensibility which he expressed in his art and in his teaching methods. He encouraged his students to experiment, to make art with a mind open to unexpected possibilities. A series of artworks that offered a typical example of his approach were called Relics of the Twentieth Century and involved the use of cast-off garbage and refuse that he ran through the press to create relief prints. Objects that became fodder for the creative process for this series ranged from a squashed lunch box to the flattened chassis of a television set.

This week’s Work of the Week is Ancestor by Indigenous artist Florence Shone.

About the Artist: Florence Shone

Florence Shone is a mother of two and self-taught artist who uses acrylic and canvas as her medium.
 

She is originally from the Piikani Nation in southern Alberta, but has resided in Edmonton most of her life. She has a degree in Native Studies from University of Alberta in Edmonton. 

Shone says that she has always been an artist. She began drawing at an early age, but it was only when she was almost finished university that she took an art class and learned that painting allows her to visually express and release her emotions onto canvas. Subjects include Blackfoot people from archival photographs, portraiture, landscape work and other intuitively created pieces.

She regularly participates in local exhibitions in Alberta and has had work on display at the Royal Alberta Museum.

This summer, we are excited that three short films from our art collection will be showcased as part of our AFA travelling exhibitiong (TREX) program in Southeast Alberta - Medicine Hat.

Plan your visit:
 

View it for free in-person: TREX Southeast art gallery: 2, 516 3rd Street SE, Medicine Hat, Alberta

But wait, it gets better ... the films will be projected on the outside of the building for the month of August where it's visible from the sidewalk. Note the gallery will be closed for internal operations the month of August so this provides an alternative for the public to access art on the exterior of the building.

Media Arts:

The Little Deputy

Trevor Anderson, The Little Deputy, 2015, video, 0:8:51 minutes, Collection of the Alberta Foundation for the Arts

• Trevor tries to have a photo taken with his father.
• World Premiere: Sundance Film Festival
• Trevor Anderson is a writer, director, actor and former video store clerk whose short films were presented at a variety of international festivals. 

Dark Horse

Yvonne Mullock, Dark Horse, 2016, video, 16:28 minutes, Collection of the Alberta Foundation for the Arts

• Dark Horse uses symbols synonymous with cowboy culture; the Stetson hat and horse, as tropes to explore Calgary’s long and entwined history of ranching and the city’s historic annual Stampede event. Using print, video and sculpture Dark Horse explores an innovative horse-centric printmaking method and invites viewers to delve into cowboy identity and Western mythologies that hover over the history and collective memory of folklore traditions in Calgary.
• Yvonne Mullock received an AFA International Studio & Curatorial Program (ISCP) Residency in New York Funding in 2017. Her artwork was selected in numerous exhibitions in Alberta and world-wide. 

Wake Up!

​Jessie Ray Short, Wake Up!, 2015, experimental film, 5:57 minutes, Collection of the Alberta Foundation for the Arts

• Wake Up! highlights the legacy of eighteenth-century Métis political leader Louis Riel and raises questions about colonialism.
• Jessie Ray Short is a filmmaker, multidisciplinary artist and independent curator. Her work touches on Métis history and visual culture.

Click the arrow icons ( < or > ) above to scroll through images.

Image descriptions:

• image one: a black and white image of an older man is sitting and is wearing a cowboy hat, and vested suit. Beside him is a young boy wearing a cowboy hat, vest, jeans and his side pocket holds a gun in a gun belt.
  
   
• image two: A brown hair person is hidden behind a brown horse. A blonde woman wearing a white artist apron and long sleeved black shirt, where she is holding a mono-print of a cowboy hat in front of the horse
  
   
• image three: A young man with curly brown medium length hair and moustache. He is wearing a white shirt and brown vested suit.