About the exhibition

In the summer of 2022, Nat Cann participated in a residency with the Calgary Allied Arts Foundation’s (CAAF) to find what fuels the sprawling city of Calgary, Alberta, a bustling place of quiet modernity within western Canada and the traditional territories of the Blackfoot Confederacy (Siksika, Kainai, Piikani), the Tsuut’ina, the Îyâxe Nakoda Nations, the Métis Nation. This was to be a new body of work entirely separate from current material, something livelier than the current lonesomeness of the Atlantic. Not that Nat was seeking a relationship to the east coast as the city is far too big to pinpoint anything that particular. What blossomed, perhaps in vain, was a similarity to previous projects wherein towering pillars of residence, commerce and capitalised prospect were found to be upheld by the local establishments and a startling amount of coffee. Using the very same products used to fashion these buildings both in construction and décor, Fuel is an inspection of glass pillars built atop localized establishments and the people, things, and actors who dwell between such venues. 

Fuel was made possible by the Calgary Allied Arts Foundation’s (CAAF) national residency program, as well as ArtsNB’s assistance funding.

About the artist

Nat Cann (he/him) is an Atlantic Canadian based printmaker whose work hones upon the haunting of lands—relentless industries keeping afloat Canadian notions of colonialist heritage, intentions which often find themselves misguided and victim to degradation by nature, time, economics, and shifts in our understanding. Nat’s residencies and exhibitions have taken him from coast to coast where he’s gratefully acted as a mentor, instructor, and technical assistant to numerous students and professionals unversed in printmaking. His recent print projects have been intertwined with a variety of publications, exhibitions, and research grants, and his efforts in these endeavors has been consistently supported by ArtsNB’s funding programs and the Canada Council for the Arts. Nat obtained his BFA from Mount Allison University (2012) and now resides in Moncton, New Brunswick, an Acadian colonial city which sits on the unceded territory of the Wolastoqiyik (Maliseet) and Mi’kmaq Peoples.