FALL 2022
WAG-Qaumajuq
Art Gallery.
myWAG • September 2022 myWAG WAG-Qaumajuq. © 2022 Winnipeg
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The Winnipeg Art Gallery and Qaumajuq are located on the territory of the Nehiyawak, Anishinaabeg, Dakota, Lakota, Nakota, Anishininiwak and Dene Nations. WAGQaumajuq is located on the national homeland of the Red River Metis.
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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
to the Arctic. Hours of operation subject to current health regulations.
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To Play in the Face of Certain Defeat photo: David Lipnowski
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cover: Robert Houle. O-ween du muh waun (We Were Told) (detail), 2017. Oil on canvas, triptych, 213.4 x 365.8 cm. Collection of the Confederation Centre Art Gallery. Commissioned with the A.G. and Eliza Jane Ramsden Endowment Fund, 2017. © Robert Houle. 1 Director’s Message 2 WAG-Qaumajuq News 4 WAG-Qaumajuq Identity Evolution 6 Become a Member! 8 Robert Houle: Red is Beautiful 12 Headlines: The Art of the News Cycle 14 Transmissions 16 Fall Programs & Events 18 Upcoming & WAG@The Park 20 ShopWAG
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collection, Muñoz Gomez brings their insightful approach to this stunning exploration of embodied knowledge, a very human way of Alsoknowing.onview, the permanent collection occupies several galleries, and soon to be added to this ongoing display is an exhibition featuring the work of William Kurelek, which I’ve had the privilege of curating. This exhibition will offer Gallery visitors a focused look at Kurelek’s unique style and subject matter in the context of Canadian and European art history.
We have something for everyone this fall at WAG-Qaumajuq. As always, I encourage you to get involved at the Gallery. This place is yours, and we wouldn’t be here without members and supporters like you. Visit for a coffee or lunch, meet up with friends, shop for gifts, relax in the galleries – and explore the marvelous exhibitions on WAG-Qaumajuqdisplay.comes to life when you’re here!
The changing seasons are a great time to reflect — to consider what is now behind us and to look forward to what’s ahead. Here at WAG-Qaumajuq, we’re looking forward to a full Fall schedule, with exhibitions, programs and events that reflect on our history, examine our present, and imagine a possible future.
1my WAG
I am thrilled that the Gallery will present Robert Houle: Red is Beautiful, organized by the Art Gallery of Ontario. Houle is one of our country’s most influential artists, a leading figure in the development of contemporary Indigenous art. His work blends abstraction, modernism and conceptualism with Indigenous aesthetics and histories, to powerful effect. Red is Beautiful is essential viewing for all Canadians, and I felt a responsibility to bring this exhibition to Winnipeg audiences. I encourage you to take the opportunity to explore Houle’s work, inspired, in part, by his time growing up in
On the Mezzanine Level, Transmissions allows art to communicate knowledge that words struggle to define. The exhibition is curated by Mariana Muñoz Gomez, Curator in Residence at WAG-Qaumajuq. By blending contemporary artwork with works from the WAG-Qaumajuq
of the 150th anniversary of the Winnipeg Free Press, WAG-Qaumajuq has curated a special exhibition. Headlines: The Art of the News Cycle explores news media in the 21st Century and how we consume it. Discover what contemporary artists are examining around news media while commemorating this remarkable anniversary of one of the only remaining independent newspapers in North America.
In this issue of myWAG, we are also pleased to present you with a look at our new brand identity through an interview with Inuit Graphic Designer Mark Bennett. With the opening of Qaumajuq, the Gallery consulted with Bennett to evolve the brand in small ways that give Qaumajuq the equal presence it deserves. The result is a new typography, inspired by the shape and connection of the two buildings, and coloured with an ombré inspired by the aurora borealis.
Dr. Stephen Borys, Director & CEO
photo: David Lipnowksi
InManitoba.celebration
@stephenborys@stephenborys_wag
DIRECTOR’S MESSAGE
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ToFutures.celebrate
the one-year anniversary of the opening of the new Inuit art centre, the Gallery invited the community to experience WAG-Qaumajuq with three days of free admission! Visitors were able to relive the two-part virtual opening of Qaumajuq and took part in special programming commemorating this historic milestone. Did you know? The entire first floor of WAG-Qaumajuq is always FREE to visit.
We are saddened to share news of the passing of Fred Ford, previous WAGQaumajuq Board Member and volunteer, and the President and Chair of the Manitoba Inuit Association.
Fred was generous with his time and skills, including building iglus for Arctic Chill Out events and sharing traditional tools and games for educational purposes.
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In August, WAG-Qaumajuq hosted two rooftop concerts. Grippin Sage featured DJ Boogey the Beat and an all-Indigenous line-up of guest DJs. The Lytics took over the rooftop sculpture garden for a second concert, hosted in partnership with The Good Will Social Club.
We offer our deepest condolences to his family and friends; he will be greatly missed by the community.
In multidisciplinarywithconjunctionthebiannual Inuit Studies Conference 2022: Auviqsaqtut, WAGQaumajuq opened a new exhibition exploring the practice and meanings of traditional Inuit tattoos. On view until October 23, MeaningsEmbodiedHIVONIGHIJOTAA:KAKINIIT/InuitPractices&
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was co-curated by Jocelyn Piirainen and Zoe Ohokannoak, and was produced in partnership with Inuit
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After overcoming a long pandemic delay, Kwaata-nihtaawakihk: A Hard Birth opened to celebration and ceremony. The evening, like the exhibition, was a continuation of Métis culture, including prayer, fiddle performances, speeches by curators Cathy Mattes and Sherry Farrell Racette, and an Awakening of the Artwork, which prepared the spirit of the art to be part of the exhibition. Kwaatanihtaawakihk commemorates the 150th anniversary of the founding of the Province of Manitoba in 2020 and provides a journey through history from a Métis perspective by pairing artwork with archival materials.
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The Gallery held a special exhibition reception for Cliff Eyland: Library of Babel – A Retrospective that was a fitting celebration of the art of Cliff Eyland. The major retrospective included over a thousand works by this pillar of the Winnipeg arts scene, a feat made possible by the commitment of guest curator Robert Epp, Eyland’s colleague and friend.
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WAG-Qaumajuq celebrated the opening of Transmissions, an exhibition conceptualized and put together by Curator in Residence Mariana Muñoz Gomez. The exhibition explores embodied knowledge, a physical understanding rooted in feelings and practices that inform our daily lives. Visit Transmissions on the Mezzanine Gallery before the show closes on November 20th.
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With thousands of bright and beautiful flowers, Art in Bloom made its triumphant return this spring to the Winnipeg Art Gallery and, for the first time, Qaumajuq. Professional and non-professional florists interpreted an incredible selection of artworks in beautiful floral arrangements. After a long winter, an amazing 4,200 visitors to the Gallery were able to enjoy this much-needed breath of spring!
WAG-QAUMAJUQNEWS
NEWS
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Hi Mark! Could you introduce yourself to our followers?
What made you pursue a career in graphic design?
4 QAUMAJUQ
My name is Mark Bennett and I’m a graphic designer. I’m based out of Tkaronto (Toronto), where I’ve lived for the last ten years, but I’m originally from western Newfoundland. I’m mixed — Inuk, white and Hispanic — and I’m a registered Nunatsiavut beneficiary. I found myself in Winnipeg for the 2022 Inuit Studies Conference with a cohort of other Inuit and Indigenous folks.
As the WAG has evolved with the opening of Qaumajuq, the Gallery’s visual identity is also evolving to better reflect the important position that Qaumajuq holds alongside the WAG. Over the past year, the WAG-Qaumajuq Engagement team has worked closely with our design partners to advance the brand in a way that properly reflects the artwork featured within the Gallery walls. The new brand identity is the result of a collaboration between longstanding WAG design associate Doowah Design Inc., who did a thorough exploration of the Gallery’s brand history, and Inuit Graphic Designer Mark Bennett , who brought his incredible design talent and community perspective to the project. We sat down with Mark to discuss some of the design inspiration behind the evolved brand identity. Below is an excerpt from this conversation. To read the full interview, visit wag.ca/evolution
Growing up in a small town was isolating for me, and I always felt out of place. I took refuge in music and snowboarding — making mix tapes, into DIY art, punk and influenced by videos and graphics from taped off skate/snowboard videos from friends of friends. Basically, I leaned into these things and when it came time for me to choose what to do after high school, graphic design was an obvious choice for me since it’s a field that funnels all my interests together.
WAG-QAUMAJUQ IDENTITY EVOLUTION
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What aspects of your background and upbringing have shaped your design philosophies and principles?
other Inuks, and when I got into architecture school, I started to think about a few questions about the work I wanted to make. What is true to me and worth talking about? What would add to the world in a way that’s not solely about consumption and nice-looking things? And I started to think about my own exploration with identity and where I was with it. I wanted to bring some of my own questions, challenges, and ideas to the design work I was exploring in architecture school. It was almost a “live feed” of these questions translated into design. This carried over into my graphic design practice and it’s a fluid exploration, always changing.
Music is one of my biggest influences. But also, conversations with friends, family, colleagues — community. I’ve been reading more design discourse and critical thinking. Another project I’ve had the opportunity to see from working on in smaller roles (graphic design, photography) is what’s happening on Fogo Island, Newfoundland. What Zita Cobb and everyone there is doing is probably the most foundational influence for me when thinking about designed object. How they’ve created the project from the ground up and having narrative as the seed for every object and design they’ve created changed my perception in cultural value on what I think of with Newfoundland, and everything else I work on — essentially, everyone has an interesting story to tell and I encourage everyone to find what drives anything you design in your process to give substance. I went to design school, but it was a two year technical school. It was all of these experiences outside of school that became a conceptual influence, including the friends in the art and music scene in St. John’s, Newfoundland (where I lived for ~9 years before moving to Toronto).
For the longest time I was always looking outward and away from my hometown for inspiration. A big part of that was because I grew up disconnected from my Inuk culture — it’s complicated, like many other Indigenous folks. As a family, we visited Labrador over the years, but essentially, it didn’t play a big part of my development in graphic design. Part of that came from having no Indigenous role models in my community, another part shame and of a colonizied mindset, and I just didn’t have the resources or people around me to connect with. It wasn’t until later, when my siblings started to connect more of the dots, and when I lived in Toronto and met
Outside of graphic design, what are you currently interested in that also influences your design?
It all started with conversations with the WAG and Doowah Design Inc., who have a great working relationship with the WAG. The more conversations we had and the research I did by working on adjacent projects like the INUA Publication design and art direction/design of the special issue of Inuit Art Quarterly magazine, all helped shape what I learned. The more I got into experimentation based off the work done by Doowah Design, the more I realized there was an opportunity to create a custom typeface. There was encouragement from the Gallery to do what feels right and I decided to take cues from the architect and the ideas behind the building. I played with that idea and translated it to the typeface. More importantly though, I referred back to questions about process I’ve been interested in. What is Inuit graphic design? I wanted to create a typeface that doesn’t reject modernism — as much as I’ve toyed with the idea — but one that takes it in a new direction, and fits in the middle between a certain treatment. It’s more of an embrace of ideology — how do we make it our own for cultural autonomy, but also make it look contemporary, timeless, and still have character?
Could you describe the new brand identity and the background behind the design — the story behind it?
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What about Qaumajuq — the building or art or programming — inspired or influenced you in this process?
There“Qaumajuq”.isatypeface
used in the original building design from the 1970s that gave a reference point. The variable shapes in the descenders of the letters are a little different — things like that. Another influence is in INUA and Kayla Bruce’s programming around that artwork with the kids who come in and talk about the Eskimo tag system. This idea of allowing kids to think about perception, what their culture means to them — this was one of my favourite pieces of programming and it had me thinking about Inuit culture, perception, and autonomy. Lastly, hearing Aluki Kotierk speak about the Inuktitut language at the 2022 Inuit Studies Conference. She essentially asked us all to do what we can to keep the language alive. This reinforced my recommendation to keep the full word Qaumajuq in the visual identity to ensure we educate the public with familiarity, but also to reinforce the concept of reversing cultural erasure. Thankfully everyone involved at WAG supports and understands this.
choosing a typeface that fit the idea of Indigeneity, it flipped and went to how do we take the concept of Indigeneity and have it become a new foundation for the WAG to work from. If there’s anything I want other Indigenous designers to take away from this, it’s realizing that creating your own process gives you a certain amount of freedom to define your own rules and outcomes. By approaching design in a way that realizes
cultural sovereignty first, it really does give you the power to embrace decolonization in a way that’s autonomous. Thankfully the WAG and everyone I’ve worked with on this project have been very positive, encouraging, and great collaborators, allowing me to create the process I need.
How did the design develop, from the idea to the
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The shapes are an obvious connection for me, but there are moments between the buildings — how they never touch, how they are completely different in design but still complement each other — that allowed me to carry those ideas into the play between the text “WAG” and
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Indigenous Peoples can access free annual membership or daily admission. This policy advances the WAG’s ongoing work to respond to the TRC Calls to Action. Join as a Friend today, or as a paying member to further support WAG-Qaumajuq.
Gruben. Waiting for the Shaman, 2017. Bones from polar bear paws and resin. 55.9 x 55.9 x 2.5 cm. photo: @121.justice
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— Christie Macdonald and Phil St. John, WAG-Qaumajuq donors & WAG Studio supporters
MADEWAGCOMINGCHILDREN’SEXHIBITIONPERMANENTOFARTTOTHESTUDIOPOSSIBLEBYDONORS!
This spring, WAG-Qaumajuq Learning & Programs Coordinator for the WAG Studio, Cara Mason, wrote to you with a special request — to help create a year-round community exhibition space for young artists at WAGTheQaumajuq.response
has been overwhelming, with donors sharing their own stories about learning at the WAG Studio or visiting their own children’s work at Through the Eyes of a Child, the annual exhibition celebrating children’s art made at WAG-
Every month, 550 young artists take classes at WAGQaumajuq — and soon, their work will be on view for you to see. With new exhibitions every week, youth will be able to be both artists and curators of their own work, learning alongside artist-instructors and WAG-Qaumajuq staff to install the exhibition.
you, we are able to make this space a reality. Thank you — to everyone who gave gifts to make this dream come Constructiontrue.
Christie Macdonald, Phil St. John, and family
BecauseQaumajuq.of
Gifts of any size go a long way towards ensuring the WAG Studio is stocked with supplies and can offer hands-on art instruction by practicing artists. If you’d like to make a gift — to the Studio or anywhere else at WAG-Qaumajuq — you can contact Marie-Anne at 204.789.1343 or gifts@wag.ca, or visit us online at wag.ca/donate. Thank you for helping others to discover the joy that Studio classes bring youth in our community every day.
“Art classes have been a fixture of our family for many years. Our yearly trip to Through the Eyes of a Child has always been a highlight – there is just something magical about coming around the corner into the exhibition space. We gave to Through the Eyes of a Child so that every child can see that the WAG is somewhere they belong.”
Through the Eyes of a Child will be opening this year, in its new home outside of the WAG Studio on the Penthouse level. While we have reached our fundraising goal for the space, the work isn’t done yet!
Cara Mason. photo: David Lipnowski
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on the permanent Through the Eyes of a Child gallery is underway. Displays that will showcase digital artworks have already been installed, and in the coming weeks, they will be joined by magnetic panels for drawings and paintings, and display cases for sculptural works.
8 EXHIBITIONS
he impact and intensity of Robert Houle’s artwork can’t be conveyed on the page or through a screen. Robert Houle: Red is Beautiful brings together the work of the Saulteaux artist from Sandy Bay First Nation into a single, stunning exhibition. “Robert is one of Canada’s leading artists at this moment. Not only is he a great painter and designer, he has produced a body of work that has defined his own niche in the art world,” says Dr. Stephen Borys, Director and CEO of TheWAG-Qaumajuq.exhibition,which is organized by the Art Gallery of Ontario and curated by Wanda Nanibush, is a major retrospective featuring over 90 large installations, paintings, and drawings spanning 50 years of Houle’s work, and includes works from WAG-Qaumajuq’s permanent collection. For Borys, hosting Red is Beautiful at the WAG is, in some ways, a story coming full circle. “I love the fact that Robert, early on in his career, spent time here at the WAG; he worked in the studios and produced new works during his residency,” says Borys. Houle has a long history of involvement with the Gallery. From February to April 1989, Houle was the artist-in-residence at the WAG, producing a body of work entitled Muhnedobe uhyahyuk [Where the gods are present] (Matthew, Philip, Bartholomew, Thomas), and later the WAG organized two solo shows at the Gallery: his first solo show Robert Houle: Indians from A to Z, 1990, and, almost
Galleries 7, 8, & 9
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On view 8 ‘22 >> Mar 27
Organized by the Art Gallery of Ontario
Curated by Wanda Nanibush, Curator of Indigenous Art at the Art Gallery of Ontario
ROBERT HOULE: RED IS BEAUTIFUL
With Red is Beautiful coming to the Gallery spaces, Borys is also thinking about the role that the Gallery can play in reconciliation, and the history of the WAG’s relationship to Indigenous artists.
Robert Houle. Kanata, 1992. Acrylic and conte crayon on canvas, 228.7 x 732 cm overall. National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, purchased 1994.
Robert Houle photo: Stephen Borys
“The biggest shift here is allowing Robert’s voice and Wanda’s voice — critical First Nations voices — to come out first in a project like this,” says Borys. “That was not always the case here at the WAG and I feel a personal and professional responsibility to see that that has changed.”
Asmeaning.apainter,
photo: NGC
a decade later, Robert Houle: Sovereignty over Subjectivity, 1999. These exhibitions showcased Houle’s unique perspective and approach to artmaking that blends physical representation and spiritual
9EXHIBITIONS
Houle is a colourist whose work is often abstract and conceptual; he fully engages in the contemporary art scene while honouring his Saulteaux Anishinaabe roots. “I love Robert’s work, I love his paintings,” says Borys. “And from a perspective of style and technique they’re outstanding, but as you go deeper, you become aware of the themes, the symbolism, the iconography, the stories, and the issues that he brings together — including as a First Nations painter — that have cemented his role and place in Canadian art history.”
Robert Houle. Sandy Bay, 1998-1999. Oil, black and white photograph, colour photograph on canvas, and Masonite. 300 x 548.4cm. Collection of the Winnipeg Art Gallery. Acquired with funds from the President’s Appeal 2000 and with the support of the Canada Council for the Arts Acquisition Assistance Program. 2000-87 a-e. photo: Ernest Mayer.
10 EXHIBITIONS
Robert Houle. Parfleches for the Last Supper (l-r: Parfleche #1, Matthew; Parfleche #5, Philip; Parfleche #12, Jesus) (detail), 1983. Acrylic and porcupine quills on paper, thirteen paintings, each 56 x 56 cm. Collection of the Winnipeg Art Gallery. Gift of Mr. Carl T Grant, Artvest Inc. photos: Serge Gumenyuk.
Houle’s work doesn’t shy away from difficult topics — his works focused on Sandy Bay Residential School delve directly into his own experiences as a child at residential school. Other works deal with spirituality, including the confluence of Saulteaux spirituality and the Catholicism that had been forced on him at residential school. “It’s not just a great exhibition — it’s an important learning experience, and it’s a way for us to engage more people in meaningful discussion,” says Borys. “I’m hoping that this show will not just move the WAG forward, but also move our community forward, and help the WAG continue to play a useful role with reconciliation. That would be my goal.”
CALLING Checkwithopenings,students,andinteractiveLearnonlinethanwithBookingHaveTEACHERS...ALLyouheard?avisittoWAG-Qaumajuqyourclassisnoweasierever,thankstoournewtourbookingsystem!aboutthevariouscurriculum-adjacenttours,artmakingworkshops,virtualexperiencesavailableforyourviewthecalendartoseeavailableandbookyourvisitallinoneplacejustafewclicks.itoutat tours. .ca We can’t wait to welcome you!
12 EXHIBITIONS
For Symko, Headlines: The Art of the News Cycle taps into something essential. As news media has an ever-increasing impact on the way that communities talk about the world, the lines between the media, the community, and the individual are becoming blurred.
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30 Galleries 5
In partnership with
While the show is inspired by the 150th anniversary of the Winnipeg Free Press, Riva Symko, Head of Collections & Exhibitions and Curator of Canadian Art at WAG-Qaumajuq, cast a wider net as she began thinking about how to curate a critical exhibition. “Rather than starting with the history of the Free Press, I started with the idea of news itself, news media in the 21st century, right now — and what are artists thinking about in relation to this?” says Symko. “I looked to artists first.”
Headlines will further contextualize the art on display with exhibition design that mimics a newsroom. “I have plans to pipe in 24-hour news stations. I’m hoping that it will feel in some ways like a newsroom, without looking exactly like a news room.”
Myriam Dion.
Smog shrouding the India Gate war memorial in New Delhi, The New York Times, 91x91cm, newspaper (dated of 2018 and 1920), cut with an x-acto knife, Japanese paper collage and gold leaf, 2019, private collection.
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THEHEADLINES:ARTOF THE NEWS CYCLE
“We can’t help but think about these things when we are consuming news media through our personalized social media platforms every day. Consciously or unconsciously, we are now choosing which news we’re going to follow, and which we are going to ignore — the news outlets we choose to consume act as both a mirror in which we see ourselves reflected, as well as a means by which we project our views to the world.”
Opens November &
Curated by Riva Symko, Head of Collections & Exhibitions and Curator of Canadian Art
Within this context, Symko began looking at the WFP and its history and mission. “The more I started reading about the Free Press, the more I saw it as pretty unique, and that alone is worth putting it into the conversation,” says Symko. “It’s one of the only remaining independent papers in circulation in North America, if not THE only remaining.”
Pierre Ayot. Winnipeg Free Press, 1981. Silkscreen on stuffed canvas, 33.1 x 40 x 12.5 cm. Collection of the Winnipeg Art Gallery, G-82-57 to G-82-65.
As it turns out, artists have been thinking about text and journalism for a very long time. The exhibition draws on these critical ideas, which include artworks made from the news and newsprint as well as works that explore headlines and obituaries and, of course, fake news. These hallmarks of news media, some with long histories and others with recent origins, began to inform Symko’s approach.
photo: Ernest Mayer, courtesy of opposite:WAG-Qaumajuq
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Headlines: The Art of the News Cycle runs November 30 2022 – May 22 2023 at WAGQaumajuq. Stay tuned for more information on programming and events visit wag.ca.
he Winnipeg Free Press is, in a word, singular. For 150 years, the Free Press has remained a staunchly independent news source. Now, in celebration of this historic anniversary, WAG-Qaumajuq is hosting Headlines: The Art of the News Cycle, an exhibition exploring the news and how we consume it.
Embodied knowledge deals with the way that the body knows things, as opposed to academic or theoretical knowledge that is stored and generated in the mind. “As I looked at some artwork in the WAG-Qaumajuq collection and thought about artists I wanted to invite, about three or four more specific themes came up,” says Muñoz Gomez. “There was the recognition of knowledge that we already hold within ourselves; knowledge that emerges through encounters and relation; and the transference of embodied knowledge — in the show it’s coming up more specifically as intergenerational transference and transference within community.”
TRANSMISSIONS
Mariana Muñoz Gomez, Curator in Residence at WAG-Qaumajuq, has been thinking deeply about embodied knowledge. Muñoz Gomez’s approach to curation is informed by community, experience, and research. Structuring the beginning of their residency to include an hour of critical reading a day, Muñoz Gomez delved deep into a variety of works as they began to form the theme of the exhibition. “It was a challenge to think about these really exciting themes that I think are really strengthened by community while living through isolation through the pandemic,” says Muñoz Gomez.
photo: David Lipnowski
While embodied knowledge is an instinctive way of knowing for many, the depth of knowledge that is possible through the body may startle those who are first thinking about the concept. When asked how they have experienced embodied knowledge in their own life, Muñoz Gomez points to the process of racialization. While Muñoz Gomez has grown up in Winnipeg, they were born in Mexico, and they remain connected to their family and roots. “In Mexico, I’m just Mexican, nobody really has any opinions or questions about it. And then, coming to Canada, even though it’s supposed to be a multicultural, progressive country, I am racialized in Canada. That’s because white supremacy operates in a certain way here and I’m seen as other,” says Muñoz Gomez. “The knowledge that racialization is a process that depends on context and is something that is in flux — that’s something that I’ve learned through my lived experience.”
Muñoz Gomez has woven these embodied understandings into Transmissions, an exhibition that truly explores the ways we connect to others and ourselves.
On view residency.MarianaforManitobaTheWAG-QaumajuqCuratorMarianaCuratedMezzanineNovemberuntil2022GallerybyMuñozGomez,inResidenceatWAGthankstheArtsCounciltheirsupportofMuñozGomez’s
opposite: Jeneen Frei Njooti. More than medicine should burn for you, 2020. Cotton hoodie (artist’s own), bleach, fringe. Dimensions variable. Collection of Murray and Christine Quinn. photo: Barb Choit.
14 EXHIBITIONS
Gonzalo Reyes Rodríguez. Technoir I, Untitled (Piso de Isaac), Untitled (Madonna) from the series New Photographs, 2021. Colour photograph, edition of 3. Courtesy of the artist.
s you enter Transmissions, the art of the exhibition welcomes you to a different kind of understanding of the world. Through the incredible artworks on display, the exhibition explores a topic difficult to describe in words — embodied knowledge. Transmissions encourages the viewer to not only think about the knowledge of the body, but also to experience it.
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>> October 8
Nakatamaakewin: Bringing art to in the Exchange District. Plus the Gallery be open late — until 12am!
you!
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Included with Gallery admission and FREE for WAG-Qaumajuq members.
>> Saturdays / Sundays, 2pm
Houle @ WAG
Artist Conversation: Robert Houle and Dr. Stephen Borys
WeekendDrop-in Tours
Free Sundays ensures greater community access to the Gallery and features enriching family programming that changes each month. It’s a great opportunity to see the new exhibition Robert Houle: Red is Beautiful. Learn about family-friendly programming at wag.ca/freedays.
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>> October 7
Canada Life FREE Sundays @WAG
>> October 15
Explore the stories behind the art and experiment with artmaking. Programs, tours, and art classes for all age groups with special pricing for WAG-Qaumajuq members. Learn about these events and more at wag.ca/events
Gallery Ball is WAG-Qaumajuq’s signature annual fundraiser and one of Winnipeg’s most celebrated benefit events. This black-tie evening is the one night of the year where guests dine in the galleries surrounded by art. The unique dining experience is enhanced through floral designs inspired by the art on display, amazing food and drinks, a one-of-a-kind auction, live music, and much more. Learn more and purchase tickets at wag.ca/ball.
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Join us for a celebration of the opening of Robert Houle: Red Is Beautiful. Hear from special guest speakers, enjoy music, a cash bar and FREE entry to the galleries to view the new exhibition.
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16 LEARNING & PROGRAMS
for Truth and Reconciliation, WAG-Qaumajuq will be hosting a day of programming in partnership with the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation. Join us for the NCTR 1-hr national broadcast followed by the launch of Lessons in Legitimacy: Colonialism, Capitalism, and the Rise of State Schooling in British Columbia with Dr. Sean Carlton and a public discussion — Doing the work: What Settlers need to know.
FALL PROGRAMS & EVENTS
Exhibition Opening of Robert Houle: Red Is Beautiful
In>>ReconciliationandSeptember30honouroftheNationalDay
Artist Robert Houle joins WAGQaumajuq Director & CEO Dr. Stephen Borys for a discussion in celebration of the opening of Robert Houle: Red Is Beautiful — a survey of the artist’s monumental career with over 100 works from the past 50 years. Entry is FREE.
National Day for Truth
will
Nuit Blanche
Gallery Ball
>> October 9
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Opening TBA
Curated by Dr. Stephen Borys, Director & CEO
Curated by Dr. Stephen Borys, Director & CEO
unique realist painting style was applied to a diversity of subjects, including the Prairie landscape, new immigrants in Canada, life on the farm, spirituality, and mental health. His documentation of the Ukrainian immigrant is particularly poignant given the current military conflict and oppression in Ukraine.
Explore Canadian and European works spanning five centuries; the Gallery’s Permanent Collection features paintings, sculptures, decorative arts, and furniture. See these objects come to life in the galleries!
Ongoing | Galleries 1, 2, 4, and Skylight
17EXHIBITIONS
ALSO ON VIEW
William Kurelek. Zaporozhian Cossacks, 1952.Oil on masonite, 102 x 152 cm Collection of the Winnipeg Art Gallery Gift of Robert G. Kearns, 2003-146 photo: Ernest Mayer, courtesy of WAG-Qaumajuq
At the time of his death, William Kurelek (1927–1977) was one of the most commercially successful artists in Canada. He was also one of the country’s most prolific artists, producing over 2000 paintings and drawings over the course of his brief career. The WAG holds one of the largest public collections of Kurelek’s artwork, and these holdings
were enriched significantly by a generous gift of ten paintings from Margaret Hucal in 2021. Over the last decade, Margaret and her late husband, Robert Hucal, have donated over 500 works by Canadian artists. Presented in this exhibition is a selection of paintings by Kurelek from the recent Hucal gift along with other works from the collection. Kurelek’s
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UPCOMING @ WAG-QAUMAJUQ
By focusing on highlights from many regions and communities, Inuit Sanaugangit will reveal the widely distinctive modes of expression that characterize the art from different regions and time periods. These differences are evidenced in media, subject matter, as well as stylistic and aesthetic approaches.
Curated by Roxane Shaughnessy, Textile Museum of Canada >> Opening Spring 2023
Made for interior décor during a period when artist-designed textiles were popular in North America and Europe, these mid-century designs depict legends, stories, and traditional ways of life. They provide vital points of connection between contemporary Inuit community members and the creativity and resourcefulness of previous generations.
Featuring over 60 textiles, this touring exhibition presents a story of a group of Inuit artists and printmakers who produced textiles in Kinngait (Cape Dorset, Nunavut) in the 1950s and 1960s — a period of social change that disrupted traditional language and relationships to the land.
This exhibition will be a celebration of sanaugangit, “art by Inuit”— a survey of artistic expression from prehistoric periods of creativity (500 BCE to 1200 CE) until the present. Immerse yourself in Inuit art with a staggering selection of over 200 works produced by artists from Siberia, Alaska, Canada, and
Inuit Sanaugangit: Three Centuries of Inuit Art
from the Contemporary Period will share creative highlights from Inuit communities across the Canadian arctic from Nunavut, Nunavik, Nunatsiavut, and the Inuvialuit Settlement Region.
The exhibition is further enriched by an interactive app that shares the voices of contemporary Inuit artists through audio and video interviews. The interviews were conducted by Curator Roxane Shaughnessy in Kinngait, and include images of artwork by Co-op members, video interviews with contemporary Inuit artists, and archival images that give context and insight to this unique project.
Curated by Dr. Darlene Coward Wight, Curator of Inuit Art and Jocelyn Piirainen, Associate Curator of Inuit Art
>> Opening April 2023
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l-r: Unknown artist. Two Women Carrying Meat in Tub, 1892–1901. Ivory, black colouring, red colouring, yellow colouring, string, 5.4 x 7.7 x 1.5 cm. Collection of the Winnipeg Art Gallery; The Cotter Collection. Acquired with funds from an anonymous donor, G-91-6. photo: Ernest Mayer, courtesy of WAG-Qaumajuq; Mary Samuellie Pudlat. Fish and Shadows, (detail), 1950s-1960s. Linen, screen printed. 88 x 118 cm. Collection of the West Baffin Eskimo Cooperative, T2017.20.4.
18 EXHIBITIONS
Printed Tex tiles from Kinngait Studios
This exhibition traverses landscapes from the West Coast to the prairies, highlighting the myriad ways that artists have attempted to convey the experience and emotion of the land. Landscapes shape our concept of where we live — through art, we gain a shared understanding of our world. The landscapes in this exhibition, including works from the WAG’s permanent collection, are aestheticized through the eyes of Walter J. Phillips (1884 1963) and his contemporaries.
When we think of a landscape, often we think of something entirely representative of what the artist sees. In Trees, Lakes, Prairies, Mountains: Western Canadian Landscapes in the Phillips Era, the landscape is understood as stunning and evocative while still pointing towards what has been omitted from the picture.
>> Until October 23, 2022
19EXHIBITIONS
WAG-Qaumajuq is out in the community! Learn more about the special programming and partnerships that make your Gallery more accessible at wag.ca/ community
Over the summer and into the fall, WAG@The Park is showcasing the drawings of Ivan Eyre. Famously known as a painter of landscapes and figures, the sketches in this exhibition offer a behind-the-scenes look at Eyre’s artistic process and the evolution of his ideas from their earliest forms. While these sketches would often be the preliminary explorations preceding a painting, many of Eyre’s sketches are complete works in and of themselves. The exhibition invites the viewer to a deeper intimacy with the process of the artist, evoked through the lines, curves, and gestural marks of sketching. Eyre’s sketches reflect certain recurring motifs in his images, including a series featuring the recognizable wrapped heads and bird beak elements of his paintings that are a form of psychological selfportrait. Scattered throughout the exhibition are quotations from Eyre himself, offering small glimpses into the mindset of an exceptional artist.
WAG @THE PARK
>> Until November 5, 2022
Inside the Pavilion building at Assiniboine Park
While the exhibition features stunning landscapes, it also asks viewers to look a little more closely and notice what isn’t there. Cities, industrialization, and people, particularly Indigenous people, are not often included in a landscape, despite being part of the physicality of the land. The tradition of the landscape genre favours a romanticized vision of the West, the vast land of unspoiled possibility; however, what a landscape excludes can point to the underlying assumptions and beliefs of the artist within the context of their time.
l-r: Cyril H. Barraud. Red River, Winnipeg (detail), 1915. Oil on canvas. Winnipeg Art Gallery, Gift of Robert and Margaret Hucal, 2003-119. photo: Leif Norman; Ivan Eyre. Untitled (detail), 1965. Graphite, drawing ink, charcoal, conté crayon. 24.3 x 31.7 cm. Collection of the Winnipeg Art Gallery, G-66-16.
Trees, Lakes, Prairies, Mountains: Western Canadian Landscapes in the Phillips Era
Emerging from the Lines: The Drawings & Studies of Ivan Eyre
This fall features an exciting line up of new and beloved events from ShopWAG, with something for everyone!
CRAFTED: Show + Sale
Mark your calendars — this year, the Dorset Fine Arts print release is scheduled for October 15, 2022 . ShopWAG will open its doors at 10 am, with all shoppers being first come, first served. In previous years, the line began forming well before opening, so if you are looking to pick up a print for yourself or a loved one, be sure to come early!
Fashion takes over WAG-Qaumajuq with a new event to kick off CRAFTED. Featuring 20+ designers from Manitoba, Nunavut, Northwest Territories, and Nunatsiavut. The runway winds through five exhibition galleries and a champagne reception with hors d’oeuvres will follow. During CRAFTED: Show + Sale, the entire fourth floor will be dedicated to many of the fashion designers featured on the runway. This is an amazing opportunity to have a sneak peek at CRAFTED 2022 and elevate your wardrobe in time for winter!
>> Saturday, October 15
@shopwag
Jonasie Faber Sales Exhibition
shop online at shop.wag.ca for shipping across Canada.
>> Friday–Sunday, November 4–6
ShopWAG is excited to announce a special sales exhibition of the works of Jonasie Faber, an accomplished Inuit carver from Greenland. His works are lively and thoughtful, and his incredible skill is the result of continuous dedication to the medium of sculpture. Beginning October 15th alongside the Dorset Fine Arts print release, this is an exciting opportunity to experience and bring home the work of this singular artist.
>> Wednesday, November 2
Open during regular Gallery hours
CRAFTED Fashion Show
Dorset Fine Arts Print Release
Eagerly awaited every year, the Dorset Fine Arts print release brings the artwork of Kinngait (Cape Dorset), Nunavut to the world. As one of the distributors of prints from Dorset Fine Arts, ShopWAG is gearing up for the annual event, which attracts everyone from new enthusiasts to dedicated art collectors.
The Dorset Fine Arts collection features both established and emerging Inuit artists from Kinngait, and includes artists such as Shuvinai Ashoona, Ningiukulu Teevee, Cee Pootoogook, Ooloosie Saila, and many more.
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Release Date >> Saturday, October 15
FALL SHOPPING EVENTS
CRAFTED: Show + Sale returns with a unique in-person shopping experience for supporters and lovers of fine, handmade goods. This year’s CRAFTED features more artists than ever before, with 90+ artists from Manitoba, Nunavut, Northwest Territories, and Nunatsiavut. All four floors of WAGQaumajuq will be transformed in this one-of-a-kind juried show presented in partnership with Manitoba Craft Council, Northwest Territories Arts, and Nunavut Development Corporation.
Colour Blocked Dresses by Hello Darling
63RD CAPE DORSET ANNUAL PRINT COLLECTION RELEASE >> Saturday, OCT 15, 10am-5pm >> GALLERY SHOP 300 Memorial Blvd
Since the founding in 1959 of its celebrated Kinngait Studios, the West Baffin Eskimo Cooperative has presented this annual release of fine art prints. This collection is a snapshot of today’s most significant Inuit creative expression, and WAG-Qaumajuq is proud to partner with Dorset Fine Arts as an official dealer.
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Return Winnipeg,300WinnipegCanadianundeliverableaddressesto:ArtGallery-QaumajuqMemorialBoulevardMBR3C1V1 JONASIE FABER OPENING >> OCTOBER 15 in-store & online | See page 20 for details SAVE THE DATE >> CRAFTED Show+Sale Nov 4-6 | See page 20 for details Now!Join PAGE 6 @sally.alhadidi
