2 CRATES / 1 ARTIST / 17 ARTWORKS / 60 RUNNING FEET
(5 to 6 Small encaustic paintings in each frame)

Curated by Todd Schaber of The Prairie Art Gallery

100 little paintings and their names tell a story from three Alberta places. Drawn from the details of the place and season, there’s bound to be at least one painting that speaks to anyone looking at the show.

Nicole Bauberger sets up on site to paint in encaustic, a form of painting with beeswax. She then paints 100 small encaustic paintings of dresses in about 10 days, each inspired by some small thing she notices about being in that particular time and place. She welcomes stories and suggestions from the general public as she paints, so that she can try to capture the worries, dreams, flavours and materials of that particular human landscape. This show is selected from her three Albertan 100 Dresses projects: Grande Prairie, in November of 2008; Calgary, in March of 2009; and St. Albert, in October of 2009.

100 Dresses for Alberta. Artist: Nicole Bauberger. “Grande Prairie-exhaust Dress Drifting Away”

3 CRATES / 1 ARTIST / 25 DRAWINGS / 60 RUNNING FEET

Curated by Todd Schaber of The Prairie Art Gallery

Shortly before he died, Plenty Coups, the last great Chief of the Crow Nation, told his story — up to a certain point. “When the buffalo went away the hearts of my people fell to the ground,” he said, “and they could not lift them up again. After this nothing happened.”1

Adrian Stimson, “Bison #1”

Ernest Thompson Seton, naturalist, just after the turn of the century determined to estimate the number of bison in North America pre-contact; he undertook a rigorous process of mathematics, logic and comparisons to domestic animals living on the plains. “Seton figured there were 75million buffalo in North America before the white man arrived”2

This group of 25 drawings are both realistic representations and imagined petroglyph styled stories of the great bison saga of North America. The realistic representations come from photos of bison that Adrian has taken over the years, the petroglyph styled drawings come from his research into historical petroglyphs that have been reimagined, or the creation of contemporary mythologies.

This series of drawings seeks to demonstrate both the discipline of drawing and the layered meanings in drawn stories. The historical slaughter of the bison was a part of the decimation of First Nations in the Americas, a deliberate and brutal attempt to destroy not only the bison but also the people who relied on the bison for sustenance. Yet both have survived and live to relate their ongoing story.

Adrian’s desire in creating this series is to honour the memory of the bison and its resilience. To study and promote its return to the territories it once dominated. The history of the bison is analogous to his Blackfoot being, and for Adrian, in our time, the bison remain a source of inspiration, imagination and life.

1 Radical Hope: Ethics in the Face of Cultural Devastation, Jonathan Lear internet – http://www.powells.com/biblio/0-9780674023291-0

2 Dary, David A. The Buffalo Book, Swallow Press Ohio University Press 1989 pg.29

Curated by Todd Schaber of The Prairie Art Gallery

Eric Cameron: A Conceptual Approach. Artist Eric Cameron, “Gregory’s Licorice”

Dare to imagine! Try to conceive of a kind of art that is an exercise in controlled unpredictability. Such is the work of Eric Cameron. His Thick Paintings are produced by laboriously applying coat after coat of gesso to objects that become transformed beyond recognition in the process. As he continues to add more coats, the Thick Paintings continue to be transformed in ways that continue to take him by surprise. Any semblance of resolution is fleeting and impermanent.  It is doubtful if the work can ever truly be said to be “finished”, though inevitably the artist’s work on it will, one day, come to an end.

Cameron’s earlier Process Paintings were produced by applying paint through grids of Sellotape, (an English equivalent to Scotch Tape). Regular checkerboards might be anticipated, but the tape could never be made to run precisely straight, so all the irregularities creep in, creating a more dynamic visual structure. These works reveal some kinship with both Minimalism and Op Art, which were prevalent at the time they were made. Between Process Painting and Thick Paintings, Cameron made some simple videotapes that manipulate the video process in a variety of ways.

Eric Cameron was born and educated in England but has lived most of his life in Canada. Currently, he is a professor of art at the University of Calgary. He has published extensively and his work has been exhibited widely both nationally and internationally.

This Exhibit provides a glimpse into the art Eric Cameron has produced in the course of a long and intriguing career. It includes six of his smaller Thick Paintings, two Process Paintings and a short videotape.

Sport and art are both forms of expression that can be shared between cultures and can link different countries together, such as the Olympics and the Arctic Winter Games. Sports inspire passion, discipline, perseverance, skill and talent, as does art.

The selection of work chosen represent a variety of artistic style and media from drawing to painting, printmaking and photography to sculpture. The selection of sports also varies in form and skill from football to volleyball, skiing to skating, hockey to golf, as well as the track and field sports. To complete the range of sport genres and to complement the Arctic Winter Games an interactive mural was commissioned by local mural painter Tim Heimdal. Tim focused on the Inuit game ‘The Blanket Toss’ in which he captured the northern setting, the culture, and the sense of community as each member takes turns participating in the sport. The mood is delightful and playful which captures the essence of what sports and art should bring to us all.

This exhibition will become one of the Alberta Foundation for the Arts’ Travelling Exhibitions program in the fall of 2010.

Curated by Todd Schaber and Missy Finlay with the Prairie Art Gallery

Many of us wish to understand what exists mere inches below the earth’s surface. This exhibit asks the question: ‘What lies beneath?’ by exploring various artists’ representations of the substrata. From underground mines to root structures, What Lies Beneath investigates the wonder positioned just below our feet. This exhibition is bound to ignite further passion to maintain and care for the earth, both above and beneath its surface.

"Tea Leaf Series #6" by Les Pinter from the exhibition What Lies Beneath

Curated by Todd Schaber with the Prairie Art Gallery and Catherine Hamel with the University of Calgary

Without End has two areas of exploration. The first area examines the tools of architectural representation. The second area studies its subject, embodied politics through the experience of marginalized groups and their creative appropriation of space. The final works proposed will remain in flux for as long as possible, revealing their process and by doing so, the artists hope to express
how critical it is to study the evolution and development of an idea or question. In this project, drawing is a tool that has both allowed a diverse group to explore
social issues, and then share that knowledge with a wider audience. This exhibit occupies large canvas spaces, upon which all of the contributing artists have worked in collaboration, developing ideas and questions as a collective.

Without End is the communal work of Calgary artists/architectural graduate students: Kristofer Kelly, Ryan Paliproda, Carmen Hull, Jordan Allen, Kate Anderson, and Katie Pearce. Included will be six large canvases with the largest being 5 feet high by 10 feet wide and three small canvases. Each canvas will be started by the artists and finished by the groups in the receiving venues, allowing the viewers to interactively appropriate space within the exhibit. The canvases will travel unframed and ready to hang like quilts at each venue.

"Economy" from the exhibition Without End

Curated by Todd Schaber and Missy Finlay with the Prairie Art Gallery

Each night, as we close ourselves off to the rest of the world, we are released from the constraints we have constructed within polite societal bounds. In our dreams, we are free to reflect on any topic without fear of being
misunderstood or judged. In this whimsical exhibit, Ken HouseGo explores inherent wisdom revealed in his dreams. Each piece in “Dreams Do Not Come With Titles” shows evidence of HouseGo’s joy for creating while topics
of belonging, anchorage and peace are explored.

Ken HouseGo incorporates sculptural elements in each of his pieces in this exhibit that highlight his playful approach to the subject matter. Each of these sculptural additions further emphasize significant themes and bring
unity to the exhibition.

"Beacon" by Ken HouseGo

Curated by Todd Schaber with the Prairie Art Gallery

Artist Robert Guest and Doctor Keith Darcel are deeply connected to the natural history written all over the Canadian Rockies. Both of these men are avid outdoorsmen and have created a program that has been enticing potential climbers and hikers to experience something they have fallen passionately in love with: encountering nature. The program, entitled Passport to the Peaks, is currently in its eighth year with the number of participants steadily increasing. On each summit is a Cairn Box (emblazoned with Guest’s stylized images) with an embossing Summit Stamp mounted inside, particular to that mountain. This stamp serves as testimony to the participant having achieved the summit and as a souvenir to remind participants of their triumph. Much more importantly, however, this appears to be a journey of self-discovery, in which one may find new personal capabilities that can be implemented in other aspects of their life.

The exhibition, “High Art: Passport to the Peaks” serves as a documentary of the Passport to the Peaks program, which has become a part of Alberta’s history, and in part serves as a tribute to the commitment to community spirit and overall excellence exhibited by Mr. Guest and Dr. Darcel.   Robert Guest, who is renowned for his stylized panorama paintings, has captured each of the 21 vistas incorporated in the passport program. These paintings, along with photographic images of participants climbing the peaks will be included in the exhibit.  “High Art: Passport to the Peaks” cements the relationship between fine art,sport and personal achievement.

"Grande Mountain" by Robert Guest