FALL 2023
300 Memorial Boulevard Winnipeg, MB, Canada R3C 1V1 Hours of operation subject to change. For current hours visit wag.ca Tues–Sun 11am–5pm, Fri 11am–9pm, Closed Mon Front Desk Art Classes Donations Facility Rentals En français
204.786.6641 204.789.1766 204.789.1345 204.789.1765 204.789.1763
Group Tours For more information and descriptions of tours available visit tours.wag.ca Gallery Shop 204.789.1769 For hours visit wag.ca/shop Tim Gardner: The Full Story Opening. photo: David Lipnowski
Tim Gardner. Roy with Red Cup, 2012. Pastel on paper. Purchased 2014. Accession number 45996. National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Purchased 2014, 45996.
Admission Member FREE • Under 18 FREE • Adult $18 • 65+ $15 • Indigenous Peoples FREE
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Director’s Message
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WAG-Qaumajuq News
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Indigenous Language Sovereignty: Article 13 arrives at WAG-Qaumajuq
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Tarralik Duffy: Gasoline Rainbows
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Tim Gardner: The Full Story
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Dark Ice ᓯᑯ ᕿᕐᓂᖅᓯᓯᒪᔪᖅ
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Upcoming Exhibitions
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Programs & Events
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ShopWAG
Membership See our membership levels at wag.ca/member. For more information, call 204.789.1764 Parking Parkade across from the Gallery, meters on surrounding streets. Wheelchair accessible. The Winnipeg Art Gallery and Qaumajuq are located on the territory of the Nehiyawak, Anishinaabeg, Dakota, Lakota, Nakota, Anishininiwak and Dene Nations. WAG-Qaumajuq is located on the national homeland of the Red River Métis. Please share, reuse or recycle your copy of myWAG after reading it!
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WAG@The Park The Pavilion Art Galleries in Assiniboine Park See a rotating series of exhibitions curated by WAG-Qaumajuq, featuring art from the APC collection. Entry is FREE. Don’t miss the curated collection of Inuit carvings featured in the ZOO’s Gateway to the Arctic. Hours of operation: assiniboinepark.ca/park.
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myWAG • October 2023 myWAG is published by WAG-Qaumajuq. © 2023 Winnipeg Art Gallery.
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DIRECTOR’S MESSAGE Fall is here and as the air gets crisp, we welcome you in to WAG-Qaumajuq, where new exhibitions and partnerships are allowing us all to share, learn, and connect at the Gallery. This summer we signed a new Memorandum of Understanding with the Manitoba Inuit Association that will see increased support and community building opportunities for Inuit in Manitoba. We’re looking forward to working together with the Association to launch new initiatives and share knowledge that will benefit everyone in our community. We’re already planning tours in Inuktitut, community gatherings, and mentorship programs that will expand the opportunities we’re able to offer to both Inuit artists and the Inuit community in Manitoba. On National Indigenous Peoples Day, we launched a new self-guided tour in the Gallery and online, which can be accessed through QR codes situated throughout the galleries. The Indigenous Language Sovereignty: Article 13 project is just one of the ways we have committed to supporting the revitalization of Indigenous languages in the arts, learn more about the project on page 4. Earlier this fall, we were thrilled to celebrate the opening of Gasoline Rainbows, a solo show by the 2021 Kenojuak Ashevak Memorial Award winner, Tarralik Duffy. This exhibition is a stunning display of contemporary Inuit culture and experience through a pop art lens. At the same event, the Inuit Art Foundation announced the 2023 award winner, Ningiukulu Teevee who will have a solo show at WAG-Qaumajuq in 2025. This season I had the pleasure of curating Tim Gardner: The Full Story, Gardner’s first retrospective exhibition
and largest showing of his work to date. In the show, you’ll find many artworks documenting everyday, seemingly banal scenes but with his own twist; Tim uses watercolour to capture these seemingly ordinary moments in such a realistic way – he has completely mastered the medium of watercolour and I hope you’ll enjoy this exhibition! We’re also excited to bring in Dark Ice, a travelling exhibition from the Ottawa Art Gallery. This is going to be a powerful show that highlights the impacts of climate change, especially in Northern communities. Featuring the art and research of artists Leslie Reid and Robert Kautuk, this exhibition shares their perspectives and experiences of climate change through photography, painting, and videos that leaves the viewer feeling both informed and inspired. More on this show on page 10.
Dr. Stephen Borys, Director & CEO
@stephenborys
@stephenborys_wag
above: Tim Gardner exhibition installation. photo: David Lipnowski.
Looking ahead to 2024, we’re excited for these upcoming shows: Riopelle: Crossroads in Time celebrates the centennial of Jean Paul Riopelle’s birth with a special retrospective exhibition organized by the National Gallery of Canada. Towards Home is an Indigenous-led exhibition and publication project that explores how communities across the Circumpolar Arctic are creating self-determined spaces, examining issues of sovereignty and celebrating practices of designing and building on the land, in partnership with the Canadian Centre for Architecture – lots to look forward to! We’ve had a busy summer full of inspiring projects and we’re excited to share what we’ve been working on with you. I hope to see you in the galleries, at our café, in our shop, or participating in our many events and programs!
myWAG
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A NEW MOU WITH THE MIA
photo: Andy Warhol. Reigning Queens (detail)
WAG-Qaumajuq and the Manitoba Inuit Association (MIA) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that will see expanded opportunities and support for the Inuit community in Manitoba. The two organizations share an interest in supporting the emotional, mental, and spiritual well-being of the Inuit community through education, networking, improved employment and training, and revitalizing Indigenous languages. Initial initiatives will include tours in Inuktitut, community gatherings, mentorship, and the creation of a working group to review descriptions of Inuit artwork in the WAGQaumjauq Permanent Collection. The MIA Inuit Student Mentorship Program will have free use of the WAG-Qaumajuq spaces, and WAG-Qaumajuq will dedicate staff to give private tours to the student group and collaborate on program ideas.
INUIT SANAUGANGIT OPENING CELEBRATION The public celebrated with us at a special opening ceremony for Inuit Sanaugangit: Art Across Time. The event was opened with a Qulliq lighting by elder Martha Peet, featured throat singing from Goota Ashoona and Jocelyn Piirainen, and remarks from both Dr. Stephen Borys, WAG-Qaumajuq Director & CEO, and exhibition curators Dr. Darlene Coward Wight and Jocelyn Piirainen. For the remainder of the evening, guests enjoyed a cash bar and music by The Kaptain in the exhibition space. We loved having the community out to celebrate Sanaugangit – art by Inuit. Inuit Sanaugangit: Art Across Time runs until January 7, 2024.
ENDOWMENT FUND FOR INDIGENOUS ART The Gallery announced a new endowment fund for art acquisitions to support more diverse representation in the permanent collection, beginning with contemporary Indigenous art. To help build the endowment, the Gallery worked with Cowley Abbott Auctioneers in the sale of four deaccessioned colour screen prints of Queen Elizabeth II from Andy Warhol’s Reigning Queens series. These artworks were selected by the WAG-Qaumajuq curatorial team and the directorate, in collaboration with the Works of Art Committee and WAG-Qaumajuq Board of Governors, following an extensive evaluation of the Gallery’s permanent collection. Funds raised for the endowment will support the Gallery’s interest in continuing to build a more diverse and equitable collection, particularly in the areas of contemporary Indigenous and Canadian art.
photo: Kendra Hope Photography
photo: David Lipnowski
WAG-QAUMAJUQ NEWS
75 YEARS Congratulations to the Associates of the Winnipeg Art Gallery for 75 years! Established in 1948, this special group of WAG-Qaumajuq members has been steadfast in their support of the Gallery through volunteerism, fundraising, and outreach into the community. They have provided support for children’s art programs, major exhibitions, the purchase of art, and most recently, Qaumajuq. Interested in joining them? As a WAG-Qaumajuq member, you are welcome to join the Associates and open yourself up to new and exciting opportunities at the Gallery including educational events, insider experiences, travel tours, and unique volunteer and social opportunities. wag.ca/associates
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DR. STEPHEN BORYS TO RECEIVE ARTS LEADERSHIP AWARD photo: Tom Ivers
Director & CEO Dr. Stephen Borys has been recognized by Business / Arts as an exceptional leader who has made a significant contribution to the arts in Canada. Dr. Borys will be awarded the 2023 Peter Herrndorf Arts Leadership Award in recognition of his work bringing the Qaumajuq building project from inception to reality. Under his leadership, WAG-Qaumajuq has significantly elevated its role and profile in Canada with particular attention to Indigenous art and artmaking. The awards ceremony took place on October 16, 2023, at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto. photo: Leif Norman
2023 KAMA AWARD WINNER ANNOUNCEMENT
GRACE NICKEL INSIGHTS In partnership with the Manitoba Craft Council, WAG-Qaumajuq presented a talk from artist Grace Nickel, about her exhibition Inter Artes et Naturam (Between Art and Nature). The 2023 Governor General Award Winner shared insights about her practice with visitors to the Gallery, who had the opportunity to explore the show before it closed on August 28.
Graphic artist and author Ningiukulu Teevee has won the 2023 Kenojuak Ashevak Memorial Award (KAMA), a biennial prize celebrating established mid-career Inuit artists. Teevee was named winner of the $20,000 award at a special ceremony hosted at WAG-Qaumajuq on September 22. The event included the opening celebration of Gasoline Rainbows, the solo exhibition from the 2021 KAMA winner, Tarralik Duffy. The ceremony featured opening remarks from the Inuit Art Foundation, WAG-Qaumajuq, and RBC Emerging Artists and performances by local artists. The winner announcement was made by 2021 KAMA winner Tarralik Duffy. Based in Kinngait (Cape Dorset), NU, Ningiukulu Teevee is a graphic artist and author from Kinngait (Cape Dorset), NU, who is best known for her bright, modern reimagining of traditional stories featuring playful depictions of arctic animals and people. Her work is included in many collections around the world, including 47 artworks in the WAG-Qaumajuq collection, 18 of which are on loan from the Government of Nunavut, and has been included in over 40 group exhibitions and ten solo shows. Through both her visual art and writing, Teevee shares her unique perspective on historical and contemporary Inuit culture, employing a deft ability to translate traditional stories into dynamic compositions. Learn more at wag.ca/KAMA WAG -QAUMAJUQ NEWS
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INDIGENOUS LANGUAGE SOVEREIGNTY: ARTICLE 13 ARRIVES AT WAG-QAUMAJUQ We thank the Elders, Language Keepers and Language Learners involved in this project: LANGUAGE KEEPERS Byron Beardy Holly Carpenter Elder Dr. Mary Courchene Elder Verna Demontigny Johnny Kasudluak Diane Powderhorn Eric Robinson Marge Roscelli Dr. Niiganwewidam Sinclair Theresie Tungilik Krista Ulujuk Zawadski Katie Winters LANGUAGE LEARNERS Dr. Heather Igloliorte Julia Lafreniere Taqralik Partridge Jocelyn Piirainen
You may have noticed Indigenous names on the walls in various spaces throughout the Gallery during recent visits. We’re pleased to share that not only do Indigenous languages now have Project Manager a permanent place Casey Koyczan throughout the Gallery, but visitors can also learn more about these names directly from the Language Keepers and Elders who gifted them in a virtual tour accessible in the Gallery or at home at wag.ca/virtual. The tour portion of the project was facilitated by Dene interdisciplinary artist Casey Koyzcan, who conducted interviews with the Elders and Language Keepers, captured videos and photographs of the spaces to bring this virtual tour to fruition. Launched on National Indigenous People’s Day, the tour shares stories about the spaces and names from the Elders and Language Keepers who bestowed them, and shares connections between architectural elements and Indigenous languages. Visitors in the Gallery can access these tour points through QR codes and people from around the world will be able to virtually walk-through WAG-
Qaumajuq and learn about the names and spaces as they make their way through the tour. The goal of this project is to celebrate Indigenous languages, have them be heard, learned, and used in our day-to-day lives. The included languages are Inuktitut, Inuttitut, Inuvialuktun, Anishnaabemowin, Nêhiyawêwin, Anishininimowin, Dakota, Dene, and Michif which are local to the land the Gallery sites on. It is important to us that Indigenous languages are present in the Gallery to make everyone feel welcome and at home here and for the Indigenous artworks in our care and collections to hear their native and ancestral languages being spoken. People from all over the world are now able to virtually walk through our doors and learn about Indigenous languages directly from the community. This project responds to and is named after Article 13 in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People which states “Indigenous people have the right to revitalize, use, develop and transmit to future generations their histories, languages, oral traditions, philosophies, writing systems and literatures, and to designate and retain their own names for communities, places and persons;” and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission Calls to Action, Number 14i, which states “Aboriginal languages are a fundamental and valued element of Canadian culture and society, and there is an urgency to preserve them.”
“Indigenous people have the right to revitalize, use, develop and transmit to future generations their histories, languages, oral traditions, philosophies, writing systems and literatures.”
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WAG-QAUM A JUQ NEW S
Language Learner Taqralik Partridge
Language Keeper Johnny Kasudluak
Language Keeper Holly Carpenter
Language Learner Dr. Heather Igloliorte
Language Keeper Margaret Roscelli
Language Keeper Eric Robinson
Language Keeper Byron Beardy with JP Harper
Language Keeper Elder Dr. Mary Courchene
Language Keeper Theresie Tungilik
Language Keeper Katie Winters
Language Learner Julia Lafreniere
Language Keeper Dr. Niiganwewidam Sinclair
Language Keeper Elder Verna Demontigny
Project Manager Casey Koyczan
Language Keeper Diane Powderhorn
Language Learner Jocelyn Piirainen
WAG -QAUMAJUQ NEWS
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TARRALIK DUFFY: GASOLINE RAINBOWS
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arralik Duffy is the first winner of the Kenojuak Ashevak Memorial Award (KAMA) to have a solo exhibition at WAG-Qaumajuq, thanks to a new partnership with RBC Emerging Artists. After seeing the exhibition, you’ll see why this brilliant artist won the prestigious 2021 award. Duffy embodies Inuit excellence and offers a different perspective on Inuit culture, disrupting our ideas of what Inuit art is. She prioritizes the Inuktitut language and syllabics in her work, which offers a sense of home for Duffy. Even if Nunavut isn’t our home, we feel what home might be like through Duffy’s eyes. Co-curated by Assistant Curator of Indigenous and Contemporary Art, Marie-Anne Redhead and Head of Collections and Exhibitions, Riva Symko, this exhibition has an exciting energy that blends Inuit culture and pop art together to create a breathtaking display of modern northern life. Gasoline Rainbows arose from Duffy’s interest in items fueled and inspired by gasoline – think Ski-Doo’s, Coleman Grills, Jerry Cans – and how they are used to deliver fuel to us in the form of food. The exhibition is a commentary on modern Inuk life, how Inuit have been removed from their traditional modes of subsistence and forced into non-Inuit ways of being, but how they also embrace these challenges and adapt. Duffy notes she was interested in how planes and ships deliver canned foods and other life necessities to northern communities and how fuel for our life is delivered by fueled transportation.
On View Sep 22, 2023 – Mar 10 2024
Giizhig Gallery
Curators Marie-Anne Redhead, Assistant Curator of Indigenous and contemporary Art, and Riva Symko, Head of Collections & Exhibitions and Curator of Canadian Art
The colourful exhibition features 17 artworks, with most of the pieces on display for the first time, having been created during her artist residency here at the Gallery over the summer. During her four week stay in Winnipeg, Duffy worked in our studios hand-sewing leather Jerry Cans and creating drawings and wallpaper prints for the space. Duffy says that working in the Gallery provided inspiration and structure to her artistic process. Like most artists, she is highly critical of her artwork, which results in several versions of each piece, offering a variety of pieces to choose from. While this is a solo exhibition, you’ll also see ties to family, community, and kinship. Duffy’s son, Bo, age 8, contributed drawings to the show and from the Government of Nunavut collection, work by her mother, Leonie Duffy, is on display too. As part of the award, one of Duffy’s pieces will be acquired by the Gallery. The chosen artwork will join our growing collection of fun, contemporary Inuit artworks that move beyond traditional themes and materials. An exhibition catalogue is also in the works and will be available with the Fall/ Winter issue of Inuit Art Quarterly featuring words from Taqralik Partridge, Marie-Anne Redhead, and Riva Symko. Gasonline Rainbows is on view now until March 10.
opposite: Tarralik Duffy. Tea Time, 2023. Digital drawing. Courtesy of the Artist. Tarralik Duffy. Jerry Cans, 2023. Soft sculpture. Courtesy of the Artist.
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PRESENTED BY
MICHAEL NESBITT SUPPORTED BY
The Appleton Initiative at WAG-Qaumajuq, supported by the Appleton Charitable Foundation AND BY THE FOLLOWING COLLECTORS CIRCLE MEMBERS
Hazel & Stephen Borys Bryan Klein Law Corporation Daniel Bubis & Jennifer Blumenthal Margaret Hucal
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TIM GARDNER: THE FULL STORY On View Oct 7, 2023 – Apr 7, 2024
Galleries 7, 8, 9
Curator Dr. Stephen Borys Director & CEO
Tim Gardner. L.A. Morning (detail), 2018. Watercolour on paper. Collection of Peter Kolla.
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ow on view at WAG-Qaumajuq, Tim Gardner: The Full Story spans the 30-year career of a celebrated artist with roots in Winnipeg. Curated by Dr. Stephen Borys, this show is Gardner’s first retrospective and largest exhibition to date with over 100 artworks on display. Borys was initially drawn to Gardner’s commitment to subject matter and medium. The artist frequently documents his family and friends in photorealism, giving us snapshots of his intimate life, as if we were observing a family photo album. Tim Gardner got his professional start here in Winnipeg, attending Fort Richmond Collegiate and the School of Art at the University of Manitoba before moving to New York City to pursue his MFA.
Learn more about the exhibition and the artist through this special conversation between Tim Gardner and Stephen Borys. SB: What is your first artmaking memory? TG: The first time I remember drawing was first grade, venturing out with a drawing competition for school, and I drew a hockey goalie. I ended up coming in second place in the competition, which was in a school from kindergarten to grade 6. And that’s when I realized I had some potential and skill with drawing and was really encouraged. SB: Were your parents interested in art? TG: My Dad painted landscapes of the Rockies before I was born. I have a few of these works in my living room actually. His paintings were often of famous mountain scenes in the Rockies. They were oil paintings on those hard canvas boards, from the late sixties, done before he had a family. He also took art lessons when he was a kid; I think from Janet Middleton who was a student of Walter Phillips. SB: You have mentioned the influence of your high school art teacher; and it seems you moved quite comfortably into the high school fine arts program when you relocated to Winnipeg.
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TG: Yes, my high school art teacher was Allan Geske at Fort Richmond Collegiate, and he was pretty supportive of me. He would give me free time at lunch to use the art room, and that’s how I spent many lunch hours, drawing or working on my art projects from art class. And when it was time to apply to universities, he helped me to develop a portfolio for the university applications. So, all the work I’d been doing that year, he helped me put together for the big portfolio. SB: When you got accepted in the School of Art at the University of Manitoba, did you have any idea then who you might be working with there? TG: The person that I was expecting to work with was Ivan Eyre. He was the main drawing instructor, but then when I arrived, he had unfortunately just retired so I ended up working with Steve Gouthro which was great, I learned all the foundational drawing and design basics from Steve. SB: Once you were settled in New York City, you mentioned having access to all the contemporary art shows. I imagine this also meant all of the museums and galleries. I’ve gone through a number of interviews and essays on your time in New York, and many artists are referenced. To name a few: Zurbaran, Velasquez, Caspar David Friedrich, Edouard Manet, John Singer Sargent, Gerhard Richter, Eric Fischl, Attila Richard Lukács. How many of these artists were present in your thoughts when you started grad school. Did your time at Columbia expose you to a lot more? TG: Most of the ones you mentioned, well certainly the dead artists, I was aware of from my undergrad studies, from books. But when I moved to New York what changed was that I was really exposed to contemporary art. I mean, you could go see a John Curran exhibition or Eric Fischl. All the historical artists were now accessible in person at The Frick or The Met. SB: You graduated from Columbia with your MFA in 1999. You were in a few Columbia student shows, and then you were given your first solo show at 303 Gallery in New York in 2000. And even before your solo show you were in a group show at 303. What an amazing timeline. How did it all happen? TG: We had some group shows in the MFA program in the school of art and then a big MFA show on campus at the end of the second year. At the same time, I had gotten connected with 303 Gallery, through Collier Schorr.
SB: I like what you’ve said about being in the right place at the right time, “When I went to Columbia, figurative painting was really popular, work on paper was becoming popular, and the whole art world was obsessed with youth.” In a way, all the things you’re focused on and working through all come together in New York. TG: Yes, for sure. It was kind of a perfect storm with all those elements coming together and falling into place. The idea of using a secondary medium, watercolour, as a primary medium, was sort of novel then too, and I guess people were a little surprised by it and took a liking to it. SB: And then you’ve also shared “You can mess up a whole painting with one mistake but that’s what I like about it, that element of risk.” Is there a spontaneity to that kind of work? TG: Yes, that’s one of the things I enjoy about watercolour more than oils. The difference in the technique that I find is that oil is much more about, almost like drafting, where you’re building up your scene or your subject matter a little at a time. Then with watercolour there’s something about the interaction of the water and the pigment, where you have to figure out what’s going to happen in advance or, you know, just let the watercolour do its thing. So that’s the hard part of learning watercolour – letting the medium do what it’s going to do. SB: Several writers have talked about your “mastery of the medium” in terms of watercolour, and the fact that your obsessive use of it can actually be intimidating. But then there’s a statement – and one word – that has stayed with me: unease. Maybe it’s not the glue but it’s definitely the one thing that attracts me to your work. I don’t know these people you are painting, but there’s a strange familiarity, even a comfort. And the result of looking – it’s rewarding, it’s pleasurable, and it’s, at times, comforting. Another phrase I like describing your work: “charged with elegance and humour”. TG: Yes, that’s something that John Kessler said to me, I think at one of my first crits at Columbia. He kind of looked me up and down, and said: “Tim, try not to take yourself so seriously”. Maybe it was about my figurative paintings. It was good advice. But definitely an element of humour sometimes is important to my work, undermining my sense of seriousness.
Learn more about Tim Gardner and The Full Story in the upcoming exhibition catalogue. Available soon from ShopWAG. Tim Gardner: The Full Story is on view now until April 7.
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Tim Gardner. Nick with Mt. Athabasca, 2009. Watercolour on paper. Private Collection.
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DARK ICE ᓯᑯ ᕿᕐᓂᖅᓯᓯᒪᔪᖅ
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ne of the first words that comes to mind when seeing the artwork in the upcoming exhibition, Dark Ice, is drama. There is a play between light and dark, we see the vastness of the land surrounding small clusters of homes, buildings, and people, and we watch as the quickly melting ice threatens the Inuit way of life.
Opens November 16 Nov 16, 2023 – May 26 2024
Along with the built-in drama, there is a sense of urgency that captures your attention. Featuring the work of Leslie Reid and Robert Kautuk, two perspectives emerge — a southern, urban perspective and a northern, Inuit perspective. Both artists have a keen interest in maps and have been documenting the northern landscape for years. Their photographs, videos, paintings, and mixed media works highlight the important role ice plays in the North and captures the current state of this vulnerable landscape. “Ice is a fundamental source of learning, memories, knowledge, and wisdom and includes interpreting the colour to determine the thickness of ice and the depth of the water,” says Robert Kautuk. That knowledge is threatened by changes in the landscape, leaving many in a state of uncertainty and in need to adapt to these challenges.
Galleries 5 & 6
Curator Rebecca Basciano, Curator, Ottawa Art Gallery
Dark Ice travels to Winnipeg from the Ottawa Art Gallery and is curated by Rebecca Basciano. One of the reasons Darlene Coward Wight, WAG-Qaumajuq Curator of Inuit Art, was eager to bring the show to the Gallery was the pairing of the Southern and Northern artists who offer different perspectives on a complex environmental problem. Wight is hopeful that the exhibition will inspire dialogue among visitors. “Art creates opportunities for cross-cultural exchange; this exhibition is a way of fostering knowledge, to bring people together, to understand, and to act.” While climate change is a global issue, the Arctic is warming at least three times faster than the rest of the world, which makes knowledge sharing and community building that much more important. This exhibition serves as a documentation of the Arctic and a call to action to learn more, to act, and to employ better management of our environment. Dark Ice is symbolic of what we can do when we come together; when North and South collaborate, we can develop a dialogue that maps the Arctic and offers a promising path forward in the face of global warming.
above: Leslie Reid; Robert Kautuk photo: Alex Taylor
Leslie Reid. Through Time, Through Space 2, 2020. Photograph, light boxes, 68.58 x 68.58 cm; 68.58 x 96.52 cm. Courtesy of the Artist. opposite: Robert Kautuk. Ice Break (instead of Iceberg), (detail), 2020. Photograph (drone image), light box, 149.25 x 111.76 cm. Courtesy of the Artist.
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UPCOMING @ WAG-QAUMAJUQ
ᐊᖏᕐᕋᒧᑦ | Ruovttu Guvlui | Towards Home Curated by Joar Nango, Taqralik Partridge, Jocelyn Piirainen, Rafico Ruiz >> Apr 2024 – Mar 2025 | Qilak Gallery
Riopelle: Crossroads in Time >> May 31 – Sep 29, 2024 | Galleries 7, 8, 9 Organized by the National Gallery of Canada
To celebrate the centennial of Jean Paul Riopelle’s birth, WAGQaumajuq will present a special retrospective of the artist that examines the 20th-century artistic trailblazer through a 21stcentury lens. Organized by the National Gallery of Canada and curated by Guest Curator Sylvie Lacerte, Riopelle: Crossroads in Time draws on the artist’s oeuvre across various mediums and challenges some of the pervasive assumptions about his life and work. Offering a unique take on this famed Canadian artist, the exhibition includes artworks from collections across Canada, including the permanent collection of WAG-Qaumajuq. Visitors will discover the full force of Riopelle’s influence through the inclusion of selected works by artists – both his contemporaries and some working today – who represent a broad range of cultural and aesthetic perspectives. The illustrated catalogue will be available for purchase at Shop WAG in-person and online at shop.wag.ca. Learn more at wag.ca/upcoming. l-r: Jean-Paul Riopelle. Vallée, 1949–1950, (detail). Oil on canvas, 200.7 x 150.5 cm. Collection of the Winnipeg Art Gallery; Acquired with funds from the Volunteer Committee to the Winnipeg Art Gallery, G-78-74; Nicole Luke. Land and Experience, 2021. Photomontage © Nicole Luke
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Towards Home is an Indigenous-led exhibition and publication project that explores how Inuit, Sámi, and other communities across the Circumpolar Arctic are creating self-determined spaces. Co-curated by Inuit, Sámi, and settler curators Joar Nango, Taqralik Partridge, Jocelyn Piirainen, and Rafico Ruiz, Towards Home examines issues of sovereignty and celebrates practices of designing and building on the land. Caring for and living on the land is a way of being in the North. ᐊᖏᕐᕋᒧᑦ (angirramut) in Inuktitut or ruovttu guvlui in Sámi means “towards home.” To move towards home is to reflect on where Inuit and Sámi people find home, on what their connections to their land means, and on what those relationships could look like into the future. Spacemaking and placemaking have the potential to create meaningful and long-lasting connections between Indigenous architects and designers across homelands in the North and South. The co-curators acknowledge that the work of deepening architecture’s engagement with Indigenous designers and their communities needs to above all centre the knowledge and experiences of being at home on the land. Visitors will discover a series of open and forward-looking questions, which explore what it means for Indigenous peoples to design with and be at home on the land: What could home become across Inuit Nunangat, Sápmi, and the North more generally when defined by Indigenous architects and designers? Where do homelands begin?
FALL WINTER PROGRAMS & EVENTS Explore the stories behind the art and experiment with artmaking. Programs, tours, and art classes are available for all age groups with special pricing for WAG-Qaumajuq members. Learn about these events and more at wag.ca/events.
Black Film Collective Film Screenings
The Decolonizing Lens
Sounds of Manitoba
Join us for FREE screenings of films by Black artists, curated by the Black Film Collective. Everyone is welcome. See upcoming screenings at wag.ca/events.
The Decolonizing Lens is a film and discussion series that features the work and words of Indigenous artists from Winnipeg and beyond. The Decolonizing Lens creates a space to celebrate the work of Indigenous filmmakers in Canada and the incorporation of Indigenous actors, directors, producers, and narratives in film. This series is presented virtually and in-person at WAG-Qaumajuq through a partnership with National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation (NCTR) and the Women’s and Gender Studies program at the University of Manitoba. All screenings are free and open to everyone. See upcoming screenings at wag.ca/events.
Join us for music and art at WAGQaumajuq with Sounds of Manitoba, featuring informal performances by Manitoba musicians in our gallery spaces. Bring your friends to enjoy the art, cash bar, and live music by local artists! The Sounds of Manitoba program has been generously sponsored by Leon A Brown Ltd, in honour of Ruth Anne Shnier. Special thanks to our promotional partner, Manitoba Music. See schedule updates at wag.ca/music.
Canada Life FREE Sundays @WAG >> Nov 12 and the second Sunday of every month Get FREE access to the Gallery and special programming thanks to a partnership with Canada Life. See upcoming dates and learn about familyfriendly programming at wag.ca/freedays.
Drop-in Gallery Tours >> Select afternoons at 12 & 2pm Learn more about the exhibitions currently on display. A guide will take you through the galleries and discuss themes behind the art. These tours are included with Gallery admission and FREE for WAG-Qaumajuq members. Learn more at wag.ca/tours!
Channel your creative energy and socialize with other art students as you build and develop skills in pottery, painting, life drawing, and other media. Winter registration opens Nov 28 with classes starting Jan 8. And mark your calendars, spring registration will open Feb 27, with classes starting April 13. Register at wag.ca/studio
The Live Mixtape The Live Mixtape is a program that brings together established and emerging prairie poets, R & B and hip-hop artists. Through collaboration, conversation and performances, the artists will reflect on the development of a vibrant music culture that explores the specificities and complexities of place, inherited histories of the region and various prairie experiences. Nestor Wynrush curates a collective of artists both locally and from across the prairies to collaborate virtually and inperson to create a set of tracks to be performed live. These groups work off a specific topic, usually around the exhibition in the art space, working in or a concept that is relevant to our communities. Beats and vocals from The Live Mixtape will echo through the Permanent Collection in galleries 1, 2 and 4, complementing and contrasting the installation.
>> Nov 17, Dec 1
Celebrate Black Professionals in Music >> Nov 24, 7-9pm Manitoba Music and WAG-Qaumajuq are celebrating Black music makers with a series of free concerts and mixers in the iconic gallery space. The partnership was launched in February with a packed Black History Month event, laying the foundation for the ongoing communitybuilding events through the BPM program. wag.ca/events.
World’s Best Ads >> Dec 9 – Jan 6 The Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity is the world’s biggest celebration of creativity in communications. The world’s best ads are selected from over 40,000 entries from close to 100 countries. Join us at WAG-Qaumajuq for screenings of these international entries. Get tickets online at wag.ca/cannes.
LEAR NING & PROG R AMS
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GIFTING GUIDE
Spectrum 11 Watercolour Palette from Beam Paints $60
2024 Inuit Art Calendar from Dorset Fine Arts $19.95
Tea Cosy by Mary T. Okheena $128
Seal Carving by Josie Iqaluq $80
Beaded Smoked Moose Hide Heart Pins by Mikala McLeod $29.50
New York Quilt Puzzle by Maura Ambrose $33
Spirited: Cocktails from Around the World by Adrienne Stillman $59.95
11" Botanical Tapers from Moon Dips $38
Inuit Sanaugangit Exhibition Catalogue $65
Shop in person during regular Gallery hours. Plus Mondays in December (Dec 4, 11, 18) 11am-5pm. Shop online at shop.wag.ca for shipping across Canada.
Forever in Blue Jeans Mini Vases from Maria Ida Designs $50
Arctic Char Earrings from The Littlest Inuksuk Inc. $50
Floral on Yellow Ornament by Norval Morrisseau $27.50
Large Log Book by Debra Frances $175
Icing Mug by Julianna Zwierciadlowska-Rhymer $45
Thirty Faces Enamel Pin by Marion Tuu'luq $8
Niswi Linen Napkins from Indigo Arrows $68
Spruce and Padauk Candy Dish by Keith Oliver $180
Inverted Ovoid Mirror Earrings by Warren Steven Scott $60
ROBERT ARCHAMBEAU IN MEMORIAM: A RETROSPECTIVE SALES SERIES Robert Archambeau had been working and teaching with clay for over sixty years and was celebrated for his legacy of studio excellence, academic prowess, and profound mentorship. Now, in honour of his legacy, a limited release of his personal collection is being made available for purchase exclusively through ShopWAG. Starting with his famous teapots, a series of releases will be shared throughout the winter.
wag.ca/archambeau
photo: Ernest Mayer
Launching Nov 30, 2023