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DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20130904
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20131020
DTSTAMP:20250801T182855Z
CREATED:20250801T182855Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250801T182855Z
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SUMMARY:Falling Angels
DESCRIPTION:About the Exhibition \nIn Light or In Darkness – exhibition essay by Lizzie Carr \nPrintmaking is an ever evolving artistic medium with techniques differentiating from one geographic region to the next. Print collaborates with the traditional and the modern\, using basic techniques with experimental and contemporary trends. Its technical diversity has broadened the concept and definition of print in the 21st century\, and artists working within this medium continue to push the boundaries and foster new possibilities for the art of printmaking. \nGuy Langevin is a remarkable artist who has made a distinct impression on printmaking in Canada. Through his skills in drawing\, lithography\, and mezzotint\, Langevin has become one of the most acclaimed Canadian print artists He has participated in more than 300 group exhibitions including 80 international biennials and juried exhibitions\, and has had more than 60 solo exhibitions in Canada\, U.S.A\, France\, Belgium\, Portugal\, China and Germany. \nLangevins’ solo exhibition\, Falling Angels\, at the Alberta Printmakers’ Society’s Artist Proof Gallery\, is a continuation of a former series. The exhibition consists of figurative mez­ zotint prints and digital prints. Using the human form as his subject\, Langevin’s mezzotints present a struggle between light and shadow\, between abstraction and realism. Moving on from his earlier works which display a dark background with light projecting from the human figure\, this series pres­ ents a clear background causing the figure to become less identifiable\, and thus wraps the human figure in it’s own darkness. \n‘Based on the duality between fugitiveness of light and moment*’\, Langevins’ work navigates between exactitude and blurry images to exaggerate this duality. The human figures portrayed\, twist and become disfigured\, modified by his ephemeral light\, which in turn rests itself upon a metaphor of man’s consciousness of his own death. The belief of the eternity of one’s spirit or soul\, or the attempt to make an existence appear longer in the memories of others\, becomes representative in the ambiguous movement of the human figures. \nAlthough in unascertainable positions\, the figures are falling. Yet no recognizable place\, no ground\, no safety net\, nothing that identifies reality besides the body placed on the paper\, is apparent. It is here\, in this realization\, that the viewer can decide and interpret where the figure is falling; in light\, or in darkness. There is a subtle yet constant aura of death\, which is only announced through the perceptible play of light and time in these prints. The human bodies moving throughout the space of the work become a material\, not a model. The body\, ‘is the image\, creates the image; it is not only a part of it.*’ By forming the human body without concrete identification\, the viewer is allowed to create their own pronouncement of the represented figure\, and develop his/ her own relation to the work. \nAbout the Artist\nGuy Langevin is an award-winning print artist based in Trois­ Rivieres\, Quebec. Originally from Chicoutimi\, Langevin moved. to Trois Rivieras to study art at the University of Quebec in the 1970s. He is an extremely accomplished artist who has been presented with many awards which include the Trois-Rivieres sans Frontieres Award in 2010\, the Guanlan International Print Prize\, Guanlan\, China in 2009\, and the Grand Prize of Bharat Bhavan Art Print Biennial\, Bhopal\, India in 2006. His work resides in multiple collections including the Musee du Quebec\, the lnstuto per la culture e I’ arte\, Catania\, Italia\, the City of Clamecy\, France\, and Teoartis Gallery\, Evora\, Portugal.
URL:https://albertaprintmakers.com/event/falling-angels/
CATEGORIES:Exhibition Past,Past
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://albertaprintmakers.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/05_Guy_L.jpeg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20130612
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20130728
DTSTAMP:20250801T182325Z
CREATED:20250801T181952Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250801T182325Z
UID:10000271-1370995200-1374969599@albertaprintmakers.com
SUMMARY:A Knight Move ou Petites Histoires Racontées Par Moi
DESCRIPTION:About the Exhibition \nProliferations of the Senses  – exhibition essay by Melinda Topilko \n“A line\, a tone\, is not really important because it records what you have seen\, but because of what it will lead you on to see”  – John Berger\, On Drawing. \nUsing ‘writing and drawing in space’ Pascaline Knight has created A Knight move ou Petites Histoires Racontees Par Moi; an installation composed of a variety of pieces that utilize not only traditional printmaking techniques\, but also collage\, embroidery\, sculptural elements and text. The title of the work references the game of chess\, one of strategy and anticipation of another’s motives; the transformative action of butterfly from larval (or child) stage to adulthood; and the deeply personal subject matter of the underlying theme of the exhibition – death by suicide. \nReferencing the daily and mundane details of life – often through a child-like lens – allows an access point to the work\, and a glimpse into the invisible behind the visible that inspires Knight’s practice. This fragile reality\, both intimate and shared\, is communicated through a non linear narrative about death and grief created by the images\, position of the objects and the use of text within the installation. \nThe centrepiece of the installation is the book A Knight Move ou I’Émergence de la Chrysalide. The silkscreened work is a combination of images and texts – in both French and English – taken from Knight’s personal journals\, themselves a daily exploration of ideas through drawing and writing\, and are presented alongside. \nThe wall works are a collection of smaller pieces that can be read individually and as a whole. Installed in a tight group\, some with threads leading between and over each other\, these pieces demonstrate Knight’s sensitivity for line and attention to detail. The images used and created are at once familiar and foreign\, resulting in both clarity and ambiguity of meaning that allows the ‘mind to fill in the gaps\, and make up its own storyline.’  \nExtending the dialogue\, Knight has created cement sculptures engraved with the letters R – E – G – R – E – T\, surrounded by small envelopes. Inviting viewers to write down a regret about a person lost\, and then place it within one of the envelopes to leave behind\, speaks to the universality and terrible uniqueness found in grief. \nAcknowledging the impossibility of knowing an individual’s inner emotions and thoughts\, Knight not only allows for\, but cultivates and anticipates\, the viewer’s unique and personal interpretation of the objects present both singularly and as a whole. Within the framework of Death\, Knight creates a space both physical and conceptual that plays with the tension created by our denial of the inevitable. In this way\, she is also speaking to the universality and unifying possibilities of the processes of grief and loss\, and how ‘our senses are perforations that allow experiences to leak between us’. \nThe artist would like to thank the Canada Arts Council and the Quebec Arts Council as well as IPOLC for their support in the realisation of this installation. \nAbout the Artist\nBorn in 1969\, Pascaline Knight lives and works in Montreal. She received her Bachelor of Fine Arts from Concordia University. She was selected by David Uss for an exhibition in Galerie VAV at Concordia in 1996. She studied and practiced abroad at the University of Philadelphia in Rome\, Italy\, a four month study in India\, a residency at the Printers Guild of Leith in Edinburgh\, Scotland and at the Lama Foundation in Taos\, New Mexico. Upon return to Montreal in 2001\, she developed silkscreen interventions with which she performed while directly printing phrases\, questions (what makes the irreversiblet). These interventions take diverse forms\, including the exhibition Aux Bons Plaisirs Fugace/ Sans Nom at Dare-Dare in Montreal.  \nKnight received grants from CALQ and CAC to write and publish the book A Knight Move. In 2011 she collaborated with Guillaume Brisson-Darveau with whom she has completed several residencies across Canada. Together they continue to explore the possibilities of silkscreening\, sculpture and performance\, which ore brought together through installations. \nShe is currently pursuing an artistic practice that comprises of performance\, drawing\, writing and collage.
URL:https://albertaprintmakers.com/event/a-knight-move-ou-petites-histoires-racontees-par-moi/
CATEGORIES:Exhibition Past,Past
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://albertaprintmakers.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/04_Knight.jpeg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20130417
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20130602
DTSTAMP:20250801T181046Z
CREATED:20250801T181046Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250801T181046Z
UID:10000270-1366156800-1370131199@albertaprintmakers.com
SUMMARY:Modus
DESCRIPTION:About the Exhibition\nPál Csaba – exhibition essay by Concetta Zurzolo  \nHungary has a rich history of art that lives alongside its’ vibrant contemporary art scene. It is often called the “Paris of the East” and is known for its stunning architecture. What a wonderful place to emerge as an artist\, an environment that all at once embraces the new while the old is still preserved and visible; a place where art is nurtured and has a welI-rooted presence. \nPál Csaba is a Hungarian artist based in the bustling capital city of Budapest. Csaba makes work using a variety of techniques and a wide range of subject matter. He says that the subject is often determined by the technique whether it’s printmaking\, paintings\, installation or digital prints. Inspiration for his most recent work is derived from the continuous conflict between our external world and our innermost dreams and desires. The viewer can clearly see this conflict when looking at the works. The harsh lines seem to embody this struggle. The question that Pál wants the viewer to answer is\, “what is real and what is our inner response to this reality?” \n“The human soul is full of unconscious desires and emotions and these often run counter to the desires of the external world. The opposition between what we feel and what we see causes conflict between our unconscious and conscious minds\, so that finally the desire to expel these incompatible forces overwhelms us. I want to express these unconscious elements (of the human psyche) in my work” -Pál Csaba \nPál’s images are not intended to represent nature\, but rather the focus is on the creative process\, its stratification and the construction of the absolute and the possibility to impress upon these images a sense of time. Each piece is titled with dates\, and the significance of these dates is meant to serve as a record of (human) experience.
URL:https://albertaprintmakers.com/event/modus/
CATEGORIES:Exhibition Past,Past
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://albertaprintmakers.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/03_Pal_Csaba.jpeg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20130227
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20130407
DTSTAMP:20250801T180204Z
CREATED:20250801T180204Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250801T180204Z
UID:10000269-1361923200-1365292799@albertaprintmakers.com
SUMMARY:Paul Mitchell
DESCRIPTION:About the Exhibition\nSo Close Yet So Far: Paul Mitchell’s Transmedia Yearning – exhibition essay by Mario Trono  \nWhen philosopher Slavoj Zizek looks for meaning in a horror film\, he suggests we should ignore whatever specifically causes the horror. Only then can we see the real content—the real horror—of the film’s story.This critical maneuver yields interesting results: Psycho becomes a film about women’s lives in a woman-hating society\, Alien a piece about exploited workers under capitalism\, and The Cabin in the Woods a treatise on humanism dying under consumerism. \nIt’s an interesting test for art of any type. \nSo. What happens if one disregards the ostensible or most obviously apparent contents of Paul Mitchell’s prints—the fragments of faces and bodies\, the letters limned by a line of ink\, the cartoon fang\, the facade of a house\, the tangle of trees and fencing? \nAnswer: Evidence of the intaglio printmaking process itself having taken place\, the scoring of surfaces and the subsequent insertion of ink into the resultant cavities\, a materially intimate act. And it is that act—the forceful and intentional manipulation of media to get one thing into another—that reflects the broader theme of this exhibition\, which is the restless\, transmedia urge to explode out of form\, content\, representation\, and materiality to forcibly (desperately? humanly?) connect with the Viewer-Other to ask\, “ls this Darkness in you too?” \nThe other formal elements of this exhibition\, beyond the prints\, inscribe and express a hunger to enter into a state of co­-consciousness with Beholders of the work\, as if a benevolent demon yearned to redeem possession and elevate it to sublimity\, but\, unable to bridge space and time\, had to turn to art and was trying everything! The exhibition’s various forms of expression attempt collectively to vault the Void ‘twixt self and other.The abstraction of the prints and their associative transmogrification of the mundane muck of urban dwelling attempts to draw you into the mystery of an Other’s psyche. Text whispers here\, and there\, evoking typographic language and the auditory register in ghostly fashion\, and since Word always implies Reader\, it is another call to you\,Viewer-Other\, from the hungry demon beyond the representation\, beyond the paper that stretches from ceiling to floor\, ensuring you maybe see Him\, maybe glimpse a shadow beyond surfaces\, as light from windows and spots plays its games\, the light of world paradoxically suggesting the dark of disconnection. \nThis transmedia\, itinerant\, and restless yearning for You finds further expression in the conceptual enactment provided by Amanda Schoofs\, an enactment that underscores the show’s theme of graphical-textual dissemination as a form of yearning for connection. Her costume is “composed” of the exhibition’s versions of this theme\, and since it materially spills onto the floor that the gallery-walking Other treads\, it reveals itself as another bid to traverse the gap between representation and represented\, and thus\, between viewed and viewer.That the costume remains as a relic of that effort is another echo that a Self was here\, moving in\, through\, and around the art\, a Self calling to you through materiality made significant. Be not fooled by Schoofs’ mock\, staged reading from The Plinth-Propped Book That Purports to Mean. (How could such meaning be stable when the “reading” is improvised?) Her performance is finally indeterminate in meaning because latent content is not the point.The overall exhibition is not about the yearning for connection\, for the inauguration of the co­-consciousness that art desperately hopes can come into being. It is a debris field of signification that provides evidence of an attempt to make it happen. \nCan it ever happen? Were it to\, art would disappear\, for there would be no need anymore to express oneself to other—Other would finally be Self. Today\, here\, now? We are at least able to embrace the consolation of Mitchell’s art\, art that at least lets you know that the Other is thinking of you.
URL:https://albertaprintmakers.com/event/paul-mitchell/
CATEGORIES:Exhibition Past,Past
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://albertaprintmakers.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/02_Paul_Mitchell.jpeg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20130109
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20130217
DTSTAMP:20250820T221800Z
CREATED:20250820T221800Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250820T221800Z
UID:10000268-1357689600-1361059199@albertaprintmakers.com
SUMMARY:The Invention Moves in
DESCRIPTION:About the Exhibition\nThe Invention Moves in – exhibition essay by Tracy Wormsbecker  \n“An invention starts as a curiosity\, extra to what seems necessary. We may regard it at first from a mental distance of amusement or amazement\, as something bizarre or exotic. Then\, if successful\, the invention moves in\, bringing pandemonium. Like a rearrangement of our furniture\, it treacherously alters familiar terrain. It disrupts habits\, roughs up values\, and generally remould us- drastically\, like the automobile; subtly like the microchip – into different people in a different kind of world.” – Peter Schjeldahl\, “The Instant Age\,” in Legacy of Light\, ed. Constance Sullivan.  \nAlthough it was written to introduce a book celebrating the Polaroid instant photograph as “the climax of the invention cycle” and “one of photography’s most extraordinary advances\,” this passage\, which is perhaps more relevant in today’s digital terrain\, echoes through Michelle Brownridge’s current exhibition. Since the advent of digital technology\, the rate of technological advancement and its pervasive role in contemporary life seems to be accelerating dramatically. Amidst the quickening cycle of new replacing the old. The Invention Moves In invites us to take pause. Through her thoughtful selection of media and subject matter\, Brownridge artfully underscores the outdated within a contemporary context and invites us to re-examine our understanding of the obsolete and its perceived value in the modern world.  \nIn her process\, Brownridge uses both an iPhone and original Polaroid instant film to capture the images shown throughout this exhibit. While the result is similar\, a more conspicuous comparison is achieved through contrasting modern and antiquated printing techniques by layering each digitally enlarged image and printed photograph with stone lithography. Although we may initially be drawn to the digitally printed photographic images\, it is the lithographed patterns sourced from security envelopes\, which cover each scene that lends a distinct and authentic aesthetic quality to each piece. Demonstrating the influential presence that modern digital technology has in print media\, Brownridge compels us to engage with the traditional method and successfully illustrates that while it may be considered obsolete in comparison\, it continues to share this presence.  \nHer carefully chosen imagery likewise incites an alluring engagement with the obsolete. By depicting scenes and objects that are readily identified as outdated and technologically archaic by modern standards\, Brownridge entices us with nostalgic sentiment for a previous time and place. But when can we confidently locate these images in time? It may be reasonable to assume that they were photographed several years\, even decades ago\, yet digital processes including iphone photography reveal that they actually exist in a current time and place. Brownridge aims to elicit this confusion and by doing so\, suggest biased perceptions of contemporary life that are skewed towards the latest invention\, which\, as the opening quote states\, “alters familiar terrain” into what we come to interpret as a “different kind of world.” The modern and outdated tend to be seen as mutually exclusive – the former belonging to the contemporary; the latter belonging to the past – and not residing in the same contemporary context. As Brownridge illustrates however\, they do indeed coexist.  \nAs the old continues to give way to what is newer and often viewed as more exciting\, the world and our perceptions of it are indeed rearranged and remoulded. What was once new quickly becomes outdated and subsequently seems to carry an inherent quality of loss. Disregarded as obsolete\, the outdated may therefore not be considered relevant in a contemporary context. Through this exhibition\, Brownridge reminds us that the outdated coexists with the contemporary and retains a certain siginific=gancer and appeal; as invention continues to move in\, the obsolete and its influence persist.  \nAbout the Artist\nMichelle Brownridge studied print media at the University of Regina. She has participated in print exchanges across North America including Miami\, Chicago\, Buffalo and Seattle\, and has exhibited in a number of group shows in Canada. Her work is also represented in permanent collections at the University of Regina\,as well as the PrintZero Studios Collection in Seattle. This is her first exhibition in Calgary. 
URL:https://albertaprintmakers.com/event/the-invention-moves-in/
CATEGORIES:Exhibition Past,Past
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://albertaprintmakers.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/01_Michelle_B.jpeg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20121017
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20121125
DTSTAMP:20250801T160444Z
CREATED:20250801T160444Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250801T160444Z
UID:10000261-1350432000-1353801599@albertaprintmakers.com
SUMMARY:Accidental Poetry
DESCRIPTION:About the Exhibition \nAccidental Poetry – exhibition essay by Loren Spector \nAccidental Poetry presents a selection of ultraviolet screen prints by Briar Craig. Craig’s prints invite consideration of the varied and sundry fragmented visual experiences that signify moving through one’s day in a society teeming with visual debris\, and invite us to question if and how we consciously or unconsciously make connections that give meaning to the messages.  \nBriar Craig is a printmaker\, a screen printer in particular. He has said that\, “one of the reasons [he is] an ardent printmaking advocate is for its ability to amalgamate and synthesize diverse imagery\, materials\, and approaches to art-making.” The evolution of Craig’s work across the last twenty-some years conceals entirely where the techniques and materials of printmaking inform his work\, and where the content of his imagery necessitates choosing printmaking for its materialization. But the synthesis within Craig’s work is incomplete – in the best possible way. \nA duality bordering on contradiction lurks about the edges of a Briar Craig exhibition\, Accidental Poetry being no exception. His pieces raise questions\, and only half-heartedly suggest clues towards answers. They ask us to examine the relationship and the separation/space between form and content\, between media and message\, between art and gallery space\, between the personal and the public\, and between viewer and art. \nIt is typical\, when approaching “printmaking” in a gallery setting\, to move in close to the work\, nose-to-glass as it were\, in order to better read the fine marks\, layers and intricacies of the piece. While Craig’s prints are certainly intricate\, the extensive layers of translucent colour\, tactile surface qualities and myriad nuances and subtleties generated by the photographic process uncharacteristically lead the viewer to step back – to take in a broader view of the work and perhaps to seek a context that distance might provide. \nThese are narrative images that read very successfully as abstract work – an esthetic that will happily usurp the minor impetus of theory within\, should the viewer allow that to happen. \nAh\, but what of those unanswered questions? One can lose oneself in the attraction of the ink for only so long\, before returning to the beguiling nature of the narrative/poem presented. Yet a theorized reading of the images does not determine a foregone conclusion of meaning therein. Craig marries Dada and absurdist thought with a Pop Art sensibility. Can an object at once have meaning provided by the context of its reception\, and also be so commonplace as to lose all significance except as a symbol of how well we know it? (i.e. is an image of a National Geographic magazine cover a place­ holder for associations with the wild\, untamed corners of the Earth\, or an ironic reference to boxes stored in musty garages?) \nCraig writes\, “Whether we are walking down a street\, listening to a radio\, surfing television channels\, or reading a newspaper each of us will be individually drawn to specific things for specific and personal reasons... My frequent use of hand written texts and of weathered objects is an attempt to appeal to the viewer on the most basic and ‘human’ of levels. The texts and objects I use are often the ‘clues’ we leave behind that reveal who we are and the kinds of things that occupy our lives.” \nIn the works shown at the Artist Proof Gallery\, Craig employs a principle of chance to bring found words together in what he calls accidental poetry. Words that might not typically be connected are juxtaposed for their provocative and evocative potential\, to invite interpretation. But Craig’s evident choice of just exactly what words will be juxtaposed is an aware and artful mischief that challenges viewers to interpret the clues he leaves behind in his text/object-pairings to deduce an intended meaning\, all the while instinctively aware of our own individual meaning-making practices.
URL:https://albertaprintmakers.com/event/accidental-poetry/
CATEGORIES:Exhibition Past,Past
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://albertaprintmakers.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/12_BriarCraig.jpeg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20120905
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20121014
DTSTAMP:20250801T175625Z
CREATED:20250801T155738Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250801T175625Z
UID:10000260-1346803200-1350172799@albertaprintmakers.com
SUMMARY:Reclamation: Etchings and Lithographs
DESCRIPTION:About the Exhibition\nCurtis Bartone: Reclamation – exhibition essay by Tracy Wormsbecker \nIn Reclamation\, accomplished American artist Curtis Bartone presents us with a collection of recent works consisting of 18 masterfully executed etchings and lithographs. The works comprise narratives that offer astute and often tense juxtapositions of nature’s flora and fauna with manufactured human artifice. While some works uncover a sense of beauty in this apparent disharmony\, a tense and foreboding sense of loss underscores his work\, highlighting that wilderness has changed from being a real pristine place to a kind of distorted fiction.Through the works presented in Reclamation\, Bartone encourages us to consider difficult questions about our apparent biased and arbitrary classifications of nature that drive our efforts to exert control over it in an attempt to fit the natural world into a human-centered paradigm. \n Formal influences from Italian Renaissance painting\, seventeenth century Dutch still life and nineteenth century scientific illustration are evident throughout Bartone’s decadent and detailed works that simultaneously comprise a contemporary aesthetic. Rich in this visual aesthetic\, Bartone plays with scale and value\, exquisitely rendering his main subjects\, which are often chosen for our aversion to them\, to paradoxically draw us to each work and to entice a deep engagement with their layered meaning. \n In contrast to Bartone’s natural protagonists\, a human presence is implied by destructive manufactured artifices that lurk in the background of the scenes. In a way\, Bartone is setting a stage for us to view these scenes from outside our human-centered perspective and there is no doubt that the subjects of each work\, their placement within each scene\, and their specific pairings are intended to be provocative. \n For example\, works such as Strike and Nocturne that juxtapose plants and animals\, which we instinctively fear\, against backgrounds depicting golf courses and factories\, which in reality pose far likelier threats\,openly hint at our anthropocentric and somewhat arbitrary prejudices. In the large diptych Ora Et Labora\, we may reflect that our actions to control plants and animals are likewise arbitrary and context-dependent.This particular work presents a seemingly clear distinction between “bad\,” pesky weeds and animals on the left that humans typically try to restrict\, and “good\,” beneficial plants and animals on the right that humans typically welcome and encourage. Considering that our perspectives are prone to bias however\, closer examination reveals that each assigned value of good and bad can shift depending on the context. For example\, while we exterminate pesky rats in homes\, they are incredibly valuable and therefore bred for research\, and while roses are considered desirable\, commercially producing such plants often includes harmful pesticides and herbicides. \n Given the tense and noxious subject matter presented\, it seems difficult to imagine regaining a natural harmony and restoring the truly natural places that these works seem to mourn. However\, as the title of this show implies\, Bartone is suggesting optimism rooted in his belief that “there is a drive to reclaim what we have lost places that are mysterious\, unknown\,and pristine.” \n Is there hope of reclaiming the harmonious and real wilderness that we have lost to our attempts to control the natural world? Curtis Bartone certainly invites us to take time engaging with such questions presented in this collection of exquisite prints. \nAbout the Artist\nCurtis Bartone is represented by Printworks Gallery in Chicago\, Illinois.The recipient of several grants\, residencies\, and awards\, his work has been widely exhibited across the United States and internationally\, and is included in multiple permanent collections including the Telfair Museum of Art\, Savannah\, Georgia; Columbia College\, Chicago\, Illinois; and Block Museum of Art\,Evanston\, Illinois.
URL:https://albertaprintmakers.com/event/reclamation-etchings-and-lithographs/
CATEGORIES:Exhibition Past,Past
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://albertaprintmakers.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/11_Curtis_Bartone.jpeg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20120613
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20120729
DTSTAMP:20250801T154742Z
CREATED:20250731T223746Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250801T154742Z
UID:10000259-1339545600-1343519999@albertaprintmakers.com
SUMMARY:Exempla
DESCRIPTION:About the Exhibition\nExempla – exhibition essay by Nicole Boyce \nCombining artistic tradition with contemporary mythos\, Wendy Tokaryk’s Exempla examines spirituality in a morally ambiguous age.Inspired by Albrecht Durer’s moral allegories\, the collection uses color and movement to evoke a tranquil\, meditative mood\, coaxing the viewer into moral contemplation.Though graceful and understated\, the collection shares with Durer’s work a rich symbolism; through gentle iterations and soft\, natural tones\, Exempla leads the viewer through a process of spiritual discovery. \nIn the collection’s multi-print pieces\, the viewer sees the same theme repeated in several forms.The shapes are organic\, reminiscent of sunbursts\, plant cells\, organs rendered in gentle strokes.The colors are soft yet ripe; warm\, yolky yellows\, blush pinks and hushed\, minty greens create a spring-like palette\, suggesting an awakening or rebirth – something on the cusp of discovery. \nContrasting softness with vibrancy\, Tokaryk drags the viewer’s eye across the work\, making us aware of our processes of seeing and interpreting. In doing so\, she constructs a gentle provocation\, suggesting a question but not imposing an answer. The work is thought-provoking but unobtrusive;we feel not alienated but absorbed\, invited to join in the contemplative process. \nEven at their boldest – a vacuous blue sphere\, a color palette becoming darker and more constrained – Tokaryk’s pieces are tempered by soft edges and a quiet\, almost dream-like pace. Never melodramatic\, merely vivid and evocative\, they swell along their natural course\, coaxing the viewer through a personal journey. \nThe total effect is introspective and ethereal. Balanced and subtle\, the prints glow with an almost sublime light.Indeed\, the artist envisioned the prints as halos\, symbolic references to meditation\, illumination and enlightenment.While some areas are vivid and sharp\, others remain vague and tenuous\, suggesting notions pondered but not yet excavated. \nIn this way\, Exempla leads its viewers through a philosophical exploration\, asking us to examine our morality in the context of social ideals.The collection’s name has dual meaning: ‘exempla\,’ in the plural\, means pattern.The singular form – exemplum – means anecdote or sermon. Indeed\, these pieces are both patterns and anecdotes. In their movements and repetitions\, we feel an idea threaded\, looped\, frayed and amended – a notion under quiet but diligent inspection.  \nAs with all meditations\, Exempla is as much about process as enlightenment. The images give the sense of ripening and shifting within their own identities – although contained by borders\, they are not restricted from growth and discovery. The colours seem to distill and become aware of themselves before drifting back into a haze. There is a sense of moral ambiguity here – the search for truth portrayed as constant flux. \nAsking not just “are you good?” but ” what is goodness?”. Exempla is confident yet esoteric. The collection provides a catalyst for reflection\, marrying traditional engraving techniques with modern metaphysical questions. In doing so\, Tokaryk creates art both fresh and retrospective\, shedding new light on humanity’s search for meaning. \nAbout the Artist \nAn acclaimed print and paper artist\, Wendy Tokaryk has exhibited across Canada and Japan. With collections at the University of Calgary and The Glenbow Museum\, she is a significant presence in Alberta’s printmaking landscape.
URL:https://albertaprintmakers.com/event/exempla/
CATEGORIES:Exhibition Past,Past
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20120425
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20120603
DTSTAMP:20250801T160642Z
CREATED:20250731T222935Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250801T160642Z
UID:10000258-1335312000-1338681599@albertaprintmakers.com
SUMMARY:Transmutation of Being
DESCRIPTION:About the Exhibition\nMariana Moranduzzo-Static Processist – exhibition essay by Mario Trono \nMany artists allege a philosophical status for the meanings of their works. It‘s easy to do in artist statements\, and you can’t blame artists for trying. After all\,good work that is also compellingly theorized by its creator remains the ne plus ultra of the more stellar exhibitions. Since contemporary modes of art criticism long ago eschewed affect in favour of ontology\, and since the reports ofTheory’s demise are not so much greatly exaggerated as they are a kind of desperate\, wishful thinking\, we will continue to see some artists’ statements clogged by abstruse language and abortive argument\, tacked onto work that bears few traces of the claims made for it. \nYou will see precisely the opposite of this state of affairs in a show by visiting Portuguese artist Mariana Moranduzzo entitled Transmutation of Being. She offers an artist’s statement that I hope most viewers read after seeing (as I did) her etchings\, woodcuts\, and drawings on paper. The statement\, read after\, will most likely evince thinking congruent with your own. \nPresented many times in the work itself is the unmistakable contour of an object most figuratively akin to rock\, that most blunt symbol of materiality (and\, to the old existentialists\, of the burdens of consciousness). In a few of her counterpoint works\, the shape figures less prominently in what feel like desultory responses to those other clearer shapes\, a response that seems a type of thought. If architecture is frozen music\, then the abstractions of art are static thought. It feels to me like Moranduzzo‘s images\, collectively\, are thinking.  \nAnd they got me thinking. The rock-like object appears to float at times\, something that only suggests an experiential unlikelihood if one forgets physics. The earth itself is a weightless rock in space. But it has mass.The more mass (concentrated or otherwise) a body in space possesses\, the more gravity it has\, and as physics now tells us\, time itself will slow down near large celestial bodies. Rocks in space exist not in but are the very essence of the universe’s being.  \nBut as we all know\, paper covers rock; I wasn’t looking at rocks when I beheld these images but at paper. And so are/will you inside the exhibition space\, and that fact brings human perception into the equation that Einstein worked so hard to create in order to explain existence in space. Art\, more than other human creations\, needs to account for its own being\, especially complex art that ever sits-because of its complexity-at a cultural remove. The savviest art accounts for itself by drawing your being into a consideration of its being. This occurred to me as I beheld Moranduzzo’s “Earth Memory”wherein the rock-like object reminds one of a human skull. Gazing out of one’s skull is\, by its very nature\, a contemplative act\,and the contemplator is always deeply implicated in the contemplated. To perceive a rock or a piece of art when both you and what you look at exist together-in space and time inside never ending processes that govern existence-well\, that is itself a process. \nMoranduzzo’s work seems to suggest this\, or at the very least gets it. It’s like her images limn the contours and outlines of process ​​philosophy which holds that something we might call the Real is best understood not in terms of things but of processes. When you gaze at art\, you are in process with it\, inside the larger fold of gallery space and gallery hours\, inside the still larger phenomena of universal space and time. \nIn this sense\, Moranduzzo’s work is the real deal. Ironically\, she is a process-ist expressing herself in what is only ostensibly a static medium. Nothing is static. Not even the typographically set sequences of her and any other artist’s statement. After you’ve read my words\, and hers\, both she and I-and then you too-will move towards new and different meanings attributed to this art and what will soon become our earlier thoughts. In an unending process of meaning attribution. All our minds are one and the same as those rock-like objects-that is\, we are evidence of a coalescing in space and time of some… thing.
URL:https://albertaprintmakers.com/event/transmutation-of-being/
CATEGORIES:Exhibition Past,Past
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://albertaprintmakers.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/09_MarianaM.jpeg
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20120229
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20120415
DTSTAMP:20250731T222137Z
CREATED:20250731T222137Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250731T222137Z
UID:10000257-1330473600-1334447999@albertaprintmakers.com
SUMMARY:Hybrid Figures
DESCRIPTION:About the Exhibition\nYuji Hiratsuka: Hybrid Figures – exhibition essay by Carrie Phillips-Kieser \n“Living only for the moment\, turning our full attention to the pleasures of the moon\, sun\, the cherry blossoms and the maple leaves\, singing songs\, drinking wine\, and diverting ourselves just in floating caring not a whit for the pauperism staring us in the face\, refusing to be disheartened like a gourd floating along with the floating world” – Asai Ryoi\, Tales of the Floating World. \nThis passage refers to the floating world of Ukiyo-e prints during the Edo era of the 17th century in Japan\, but it could just as easily be referring to the celebration of life depicted in Yuji Hiratsuka’s current exhibition. His etchings are of figures caught in full bloom of bleeding rose-reds\, indigo\, and rich lacquer black\, they are filled with intricate patterns and designs\, playful textures and layers; they awaken our senses and call our attention to heightened emotional tensions through their dramatic articulated gestures. The over articulated gestures of the figures are like actors arranged in synchronized poses of dance\, or moments frozen in contemplation and pleasure. \nUndeniably echoing the Barque exaggerations of past Japanese prints depicting actors from the Kabuki theatre\, particularly those of the artist Sharaku (fl. 1794-5) whose wood block prints depict contemporary actors in character conveying a sense of drama by distortion. Hiratsuka’s figures seem to announce or celebrate particular performances\, or portray emotions of the heart and body but with a contemporary update and twist. His actors are also spicy and taunt with tensions of desire and temptations. Set within luscious metaphorical landscapes\, forbidden ripe fruit is offered\, presented and indulged upon\, venus fly traps and pitcher plants mirror in the participation of the carnivorous consumption and one can not help but to feel caught up in the indulgence and even perhaps excesses of life. They fill tightly cropped spaces\, adding to the   heightened intensity of their depictions of human conditions. \nThere is also a bridging that happens in his prints; a bridge between the east and the west where traditions of the eastern past do not over shadow them being firmly rooted in Hiratsuka’s western reflections and surroundings. Hiratsuka’s use of contemporary western dress: the vests\, short flirting skirts and clinging dresses articulate current fashions of today and speak of a global merging of cultures. \nOverall the metaphors of deeper meaning\, there is a sense of humour and lightheartedness that abounds. These are happy times\, playful times\, and life is good\, even if it is seeped in extravagance\, and they beacon for us to take a moment to immerse ourselves in life’s plenty\, while we can. \nAbout the Artist\nAward-winning Yuji Hiratsuka is a professor of art at Oregon State University. He is widely exhibited through out the world and is in multiple collections\, including The British Museum in London and Tokyo Central Museum in Japan. This is his first exhibition in Calgary\, Alberta.
URL:https://albertaprintmakers.com/event/hybrid-figures/
CATEGORIES:Exhibition Past,Past
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://albertaprintmakers.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/08_YujiHiratsuka.jpeg
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20120111
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20120219
DTSTAMP:20250731T221604Z
CREATED:20250731T220507Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250731T221604Z
UID:10000256-1326240000-1329609599@albertaprintmakers.com
SUMMARY:Between Vessels
DESCRIPTION:About the Exhibition\nJill Ho-You – exhibition essay by Jaron James Whittingham \n“The physical body retains traces of memory at the tissue\, cellular and molecular levels. My work draws insights from these visceral observations and attempts to express how our identities are linked to the often mysterious complexity of our bodies.” \nAs each cell of the individual is unique in its fleeting way\, each of Ho-You’s drawings conveys a unique and undeniable mystery. From the vague renderings of organs and microscopic fauna\, to the striking Rorschach blots\, the work alludes to a deeper meaning. Much like a scar that can neither confirm\, nor deny violence\, Ho-You’s work relies on the viewer to fill in the gaps. The conundrum of the physical memory is that it is both concrete and fluid\, and this is captured in the work through a dynamic range of mark making and media. \nAt times both abstract and technical\, Ho-You’s body of work asks a straight forward\, yet unanswerable question: “In what ways are personal memory\, emotion and cognition expressed through the physicality of the body?” \nThough science can dissect your body and infer elements of your life and behavior based on a near infinite number of factors\, a human being’s thoughts\, emotions and memories require computational power and storage space that eclipses the modern supercomputer. We can examine the heart and lungs and determine a life of cigarette smoking\, but we may never know why this young person picked up such a destructive habit. Was the habit inherited from a family member\, or was the habit picked up to impress a member of the opposite sex? \nThe physicality of the body is expressed in many ways\, and Ho-You has captured her own physicality in her work. Does the delicate mark making reflect a fragile soul? Does the stark use of negative space reflect a longing for companionship\, or perhaps a desire for solitude? Do the monochrome prints reflect an artist that is experimenting with the minimal\, or rejecting the complexity of a full palette of colour? \nJill Ho-You’s work deals with the duality of the physical and cerebral. This duality is mirrored directly by art it’s self\, both in the tactile tradition of art making and it’s ever evolving interpretation. Without interpretation\, art becomes scenery\, just as without memory or emotion\, the human body becomes furniture. Without physicality\, art is an idea\, and without the body\, the human being is a memory. \nThrough these questions\, Jill Ho-You has been able to take subtle works of two dimensional art\, and turn them in to a fully dimensional body of work. Simple and aesthetically pleasing in casual view\, and increasingly complex with further inspection.  \nAExploring transcendent themes of psychology and physicality of the body and mind\, Jill Ho-You presents her most recent body of works “Viscid” and “Empire”. Currently working on a MFA in print making from the University of Alberta\, the dynamic mixed media artist brings her work to the Alberta Printmakers Gallery. \nHo-You has shown her work worldwide\, and returns to Calgary for her first solo show for the Alberta Printmakers Society.  \n  \nAbout the Artist\nExploring transcendent themes of psychology and physicality of the body and mind\, Jill Ho-You presents her most recent body of works “Viscid” and “Empire”. Currently working on a MFA in print making from the University of Alberta\, the dynamic mixed media artist brings her work to the Alberta Printmakers Gallery. Ho-You has shown her work worldwide\, and returns to Calgary for her first solo show for the Alberta Printmakers Society.  \n 
URL:https://albertaprintmakers.com/event/between-vessels/
CATEGORIES:Exhibition Past,Past
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20111019
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20111112
DTSTAMP:20250801T165149Z
CREATED:20250801T165149Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250801T165149Z
UID:10000267-1318982400-1321055999@albertaprintmakers.com
SUMMARY:I am the one\, Orgasmatron
DESCRIPTION:About the Exhibition\nJacinthe Loranger: I am the one\, Orgasmatron – exhibition essay by Stacey Watson \nJacinthe Loranger’s work may be psychedelic but it is also firmly grounded in the labours of putting together a silkscreen print. Her artistic practice has taken her down the rabbit- hole; viewers can follow her trail through investigations into installation\, performance\, photography and collage. However\, there is always the print. Popping up again and again\, there they are: finely crafted serigraphs. \nEvery piece Jacinthe completes is like the crescendo. There are no dull moments; collisions abound. Hers is a floating world of absurd cartoons groping grotesque props to a soundtrack of heavy metal. But for all this manic energy\, she writes with balanced clarity about her work. She says\, ” In opposition to the banality of everyday life\, my work offers a luminous\, unhinged alternative world in which every excess is a blissful celebration” (artist statement Loranger 2011). Based in Montreal\, Jacinthe has travelled to present her work in many locations and incarnations. This time in Calgary she will exhibit / am the one\, Orgasmatron at the Artist Proof Gallery. In this work the viewer will experience the blissful celebration going terribly awry when violence breaks out on a mythic quest. \nI am the one\, Orgasmatron presents a series of action-packed collages. Each one is like a landscape from an eighties computer game\, complete with a challenge\, ominous signs and odd characters. The title refers to a song by Motorhead\, one that lyrically rebels against organized religion and politics. Jacinthe’s work plays not so much upon the themes of protest but upon the culture of heavy metal\, the goth good times of basement-bedroom posters\, head-banging concerts and ripped t-shirts. There is the obligatory skull and candle\, the Ouija board\, the knight and sword; it’s all a pretty fun party. The action is definitely playful\, which is a natural extension from Jacinthe’s previous work role-playing in performance with props and prints. \nThe scenes are built up using multiple layers of printed shapes driven into formation by hand-cut collage work. The resulting flatness of the colours and choppy-ness of the forms appeals to the naivety of the pieces. It is all at the service of underlying sense of humour; these are hilarious works. The figures and shapes almost ask to be played with\, like on a felt-board in an elementary school\, they are ready to be moved around; the hand over the Ouija board\, the swinging mace. \nHowever\, Jacinthe is not fumbling around. These are skillful demonstrations of silkscreen. Hot colours are laid down with nonchalance and patterns are scattered with ease and decisiveness. It is really Jacinthe’s mastery over silkscreen as a process that creates the framework supporting all of her work. There is confidence underlying the experimentation and skillfulness directing the play. Therefore the viewer never gets lost while following on the heels of this artist through all her wild wanderings.
URL:https://albertaprintmakers.com/event/i-am-the-one-orgasmatron/
CATEGORIES:Exhibition Past,Past
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://albertaprintmakers.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/01_Jacinthe.jpeg
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20110907
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20111016
DTSTAMP:20250801T164518Z
CREATED:20250801T164518Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250801T164518Z
UID:10000266-1315353600-1318723199@albertaprintmakers.com
SUMMARY:Origin Returning
DESCRIPTION:About the Exhibition\nReflective Movement in Kyla Fischer’s Origin Returning – exhibition essay by Sarah Nordean \nLiquid drips and swirls\, and repetitive\, organic shapes and lines suggest nature and landscapes in movement in Kyla Fischer’s exhibit Origin Returning. Viewers may find themselves oscillating between viewing the works as non-objective explorations of media and technique\, and also as poignant\, otherworldly landscapes. An upward thrust of a mountain\, an icy peak of snow\, a turbulent swirl of water\, or an ominous churning cloud emerge from the pools and splatters of Fischer’s abstract prints. \nFischer’s process is a comfortable tension between chaos and order\, marrying painterly dripping and splattering with more structured printing techniques. The compositions have been carefully considered\, and each print is comprised of a collage of 4 – 8 photo etching or photolithography plates. Paper is used as a medium in itself as Fischer prints on both sides of thin Japanese parchment to create a distinct veiled effect. \nIt is a tidal push/pull between these dichotomies–between chaos and order\, the non-objective and the objective\, and between detailed marks and conceptually expansive space­–that makes Fischer’s work so engaging. Her prints are comfortable being many things at once\, and invite prolonged contemplation from viewers. \nIn Origin\, repeating black drips and splotches appear to move outward from the centre of the image. A pale blue oblong shape seems to be the source of the emanating movement\, and the overall effect is of something bursting\, captured in space. The print is comprised of two identical adjacent images\, with one flipped\, creating a kind of reflection. Indeed a motif of reflection and oscillating movement runs throughout the exhibition\, visually as well as conceptually\, beginning with the title of the show\, Origin Returning\, and underscored by what Fischer indicates is the inspiration for her work–an 11th century\, reversible verse Chinese poem. \nSustaining the notion of reflection\, Fischer‘s ambiguous landscapes lend themselves to be open to viewers’ contemplations and interpretations. Psychoanalyst and theorist Jeanne Randolph uses the term amenable to describe this openness of artwork\, stating that a work’s ambiguous elements allow leeway for the viewer’s impulse to play with the illusion that has been created. Fischer’s work\, like a palindrome\, moves in two directions – towards the viewer and then back again as the viewer contemplates. \nA rhythm is generated in Fisher’s exhibition through repeated imagery and palindromic motion. From the movement of nature and landscape within the images\, to the reflective interactions viewers have with the work\, the exhibition pulsates with a subtle but constant peaceful energy.
URL:https://albertaprintmakers.com/event/origin-returning/
CATEGORIES:Exhibition Past,Past
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://albertaprintmakers.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/02_KylaF.jpeg
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20110615
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20110731
DTSTAMP:20250801T163521Z
CREATED:20250801T163521Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250801T163521Z
UID:10000265-1308096000-1312070399@albertaprintmakers.com
SUMMARY:Variations on a Theme
DESCRIPTION:About the Exhibition\nLisette Thibeault – exhibition essay by Eveline Kolijn \nThe tapestries of swirling organic shapes created by Quebec artist Lisette Thibeault exhaust a vast range of possibilities that contemporary printmaking has to offer. Lisette is attracted to small and hidden organisms from miniature environments. She was inspired by botany for her most recent series of works\, which are on display at the Artist Proof Gallery. \nIn the collections from the Herbarium of Quebec\, she found a particular interesting specimen of lichen. She deconstructed this lichen through capturing a singular\, material strand from the specimen into an ephemeral\, digital image. Subsequently\, she proceeded to rebuild it in Photoshop into multiple different configurations. Guided by the principle of multiples in printmaking\, she cleverly mimicked the fractal structures found in nature where self-similarity\, split into multiple smaller copies of itself\, creates the most intricate patterns. To further explore and saturate possible mutations of her image\, Lisette uses both the positive and negative image of the object and creates mirror-compositions. The ephemeral gets transformed back into the material through the process of photo-etching on Plexiglas plates. Through the use of Chine-colle\, the artist added another layer of multiples by tiling and reflecting the same image several times in one print. \nFormal mathematical symmetries and organic shapes seem to compete with each other for attention. Are these living ​​organisms\, catalogued in a natural history compendium\, or scientific\, schematic\, representations? A symmetrical\, coiled\, skein of strands conveys the impression of fleshy veins knotted together. This impression is further aroused through the use of red and blue colors reminiscent of medical charts representing the schematic flow of blood through veins and arteries. Other compositions are more playful and delicate. Repeated wheel-like structures with the fronds of the lichen sticking out like spokes are barely touching each other like lacy gears\, suggesting the transfer of motion. A slower and stately movement is expressed in a pair of positive and negative prints where the lichen-strands are coiled in what seems to be a disjointed Mobius strip. It is remarkable how the artist has created this biomorphic universe out of a single strand. She engages the imagination of the viewer to recombine and continue the patterns\, stimulating a fantasy of poetic mutation.    \nAbout the Artist\nLisette Thibeault received an honorary mention for this body work at the 6111 International Contemporary Printmaking Biennial of Three Rivers\, 2009. The catalogue quotes that “Her masterly work is composed of twisting lines that create a form evoking nerve fibres and human tissues. She creates small format works of great strength.”  She is currently finishing her MFA degree at the Laval University in Quebec.
URL:https://albertaprintmakers.com/event/variations-on-a-theme/
CATEGORIES:Exhibition Past,Past
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://albertaprintmakers.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/03_Lisette.jpeg
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20110420
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20110605
DTSTAMP:20250801T162849Z
CREATED:20250801T162849Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250801T162849Z
UID:10000264-1303257600-1307231999@albertaprintmakers.com
SUMMARY:Séripop
DESCRIPTION:Séripop – exhibition essay by Lisa Turner \nSéripop is the name under which Yannick Desranleau and Chloe Lum create screen-printed posters\, album covers\, books\, prints\, and most recently print installations. This Montreal duo has made a name for itself based primarily on their bold colours\, experimental\, graphic approach\, and pop aesthetic. \nInitially the two produced numerous screen-printed posters for their band AIDS Wolf\, and others; postering them around the cities they perform in. Over time the works were torn down\, collected\, obscured and covered by other promotions\, and the posters’ pristine appearance was transformed or destroyed by the elements. These days Séripop rarely produces posters in this vein\, and has since focused their creative energy on reinterpreting the poster and this experience. \nLa Battue\, an installation made for the gallery space draws on this history as Seripop employs screen-printed posters to cover the floor and walls of the gallery space. Prints are layered on top of each other as one would experience on the city streets – though this layering is perhaps not evident initially. A grinning face that consumes the majority of the floor space\, stares up at the viewer\, while a row of pyramids creates what looks like a crown\, hovering above it’s head on the wall. An anthropomorphic figure with the thought bubble “J’en ai rien à” meaning “I don’t give a” inhabits the wall space. \nBy presenting the urban inside the gallery\, Seripop aims to draw attention to the street poster as a topographical marker\, while commenting on the poster’s ephemeral state. As visitors attend the exhibition (and walk over the posters) the layers of prints are gradually revealed through the physical deterioration caused by this “foot traffic”. The work\, produced with standard industry poster paper\, can only withstand so much wear and tear; thus the piece is in constant state of flux as gallery-goers participate in an ongoing revision of the artwork. A camera provides daily documentation of this transformation\, culminating in the final “resolution” of the piece at exhibitions’ end. This result\, is suggested in the works’ title La Battue\, a term that is often used to describe the search for a missing person in the woods\, or a large manhunt. However the end result of the search is always uncertain\, much like the final state of the piece. \nSeen in this context\, the work may be viewed as a reinterpretation of the poster: subverting its traditional communicative function\, to act as a metaphor for change\, time\, accumulation\, and deterioration\, amongst other things. The work also draws attention to the commodity nature of works of art\, as Seripop challenges the traditional reverential presentation of “the object” within the gallery space. The poster\, taken from its everyday setting has been placed on display in the institution\, however it may ultimately suffer the same fate that it does out in the world. This metaphor raises interesting questions: Does the gallery serve to elevate the print from common advertising to fine art – breaking down the barrier between art and life – or does the institutionalization of this art form represent another kind of weather? In either case\, the resulting visual experience is rewarding\, and we as the viewers are richer for having engaged with the show.
URL:https://albertaprintmakers.com/event/seripop/
CATEGORIES:Exhibition Past,Past
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://albertaprintmakers.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/04_Seripop.jpeg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20110302
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20110410
DTSTAMP:20250801T162311Z
CREATED:20250801T162230Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250801T162311Z
UID:10000263-1299024000-1302393599@albertaprintmakers.com
SUMMARY:hole/whole
DESCRIPTION:About the Exhibition\nhole/whole – exhibition essay by Carrie Phillips-Kieser  \nThe Pearls that long have slept\, These were tears by Naiads wept.\nSir Walter Scott in The Bridal of Triermain\, 1813 \n Learn from yon orient shell to love thy foe\,\nAnd store with pearls the wound that brings thee woe.\nPersian Poet\, Hafiz\, 1320 \nThrough the loaded iconography of the pearl\, Calgary based artist Kim Huynh’s series of lithographic prints\, hole/whole\, speaks of the interconnectivity of our personal desires of accumulation and its affects on the destruction of our environment\, within a collective culture of capitalism and globalization. \nThe pearl has a long history of being associated as an object of desire\, a symbol of luxury and opulence. This gem of the sea\, according to Pliny in the 1st century\, ranked first in value among all precious things and in fact Servilia\, the mother of Brutus wore ” the spoils of nations in an ear changed to the treasure of a shell”. In the Chinese tradition the image of the pearl symbolizes riches and pure intentions. Huynh effectively illustrates the true meaning of the word “luxury”; the lasciviousness\, the sinful\, self-indulgence\, through its image. The sheer number of pearls\, draping\, piling\, gathered\, is evocative of our own indulgence and of our desire to collect commodities at the expense of the beauty in rarity. At the same time\, the pearl/oyster\, a natural product of our oceans\, is a representation of the sea. Depicted in such numbers\, the pearl\, here\, also stands as an example of the reaping\, the depletion and ultimate destruction of its delicate balance. \nAs we follow through Huynh’s images\, the personal begins to erode from view with the slow eradication of the figure. \nThe established perceptions become less than whole. The pearl slowly becomes replaced with mechanically punched circular holes\, like ourselves as our personal actions dissolve and become blurred into the collective. The seduction of the pearl is still evident through the cut away and continues to allude to the seduction of capitalism. As cultures\, globally\, are falling victim to its seduction and “comfortable” lifestyle\, past ways of life are being dissolved. Punched holes – a visual connection to a mechanized and industrial world\, removes our personal responsibility and projects that responsibility onto the culture of capitalism itself. The removal of ourselves (the figure)\, perhaps\, pushes us further into unachievable change or responsibility. With the removal of imagery completely and the replacement of symbols of pieces from the ancient warfare game\, Xiangqi or Chinese Chess\, the work becomes didactic. These last pieces leave us to question our current state of affairs and presents us with the questions-ls it now time to take our turn in the role that has just been presented to us? \nIf the chaste and subdued beauty of the pearl can also stand as a symbol of a tear\, hole/whole cries out a message. Kim Huynh’s piece is a powerful and instructive piece that can indeed provide us with “moments of individual and collective reflection” if only we listen.
URL:https://albertaprintmakers.com/event/hole-whole/
CATEGORIES:Exhibition Past,Past
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://albertaprintmakers.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/05_KimHuynh.jpeg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Edmonton:20110112T080000
DTEND;TZID=America/Edmonton:20110219T170000
DTSTAMP:20250801T175713Z
CREATED:20250801T161250Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250801T175713Z
UID:10000262-1294819200-1298134800@albertaprintmakers.com
SUMMARY:Retreating Agassiz
DESCRIPTION:About the Exhibition \nRetreating Agassiz – exhibition essay by Romy Straathof \nIn searching for what underlies the visible\, Jeanette Johns’ series of prints Retreating Agassiz\, reveal how the unknown and unseen can give context and meaning to ones sense and experience of place. Taking the widest macro-view in both a physical framework and through the concept of time\, Johns traverses millennia\, and discovers ways to insert something of herself into a collective history of place that she asserts belongs to “all of us.” It is a collective history of a time that would not be named or marked until the recent past; nonetheless\, it is an inherited history whose relics and traces remain to impact the lives of those who take care to notice. \nThe (six) prints of Retreating Agassiz communicate through the languages of mapping\, asking to be read\, however\, it is soon realized that the information presented is at the same time recognizable through map-like symbols and obscure\, – there are no reference points. Each print is what Johns refers to as a ‘snapshot’ of time (although in this case each ‘snapshot’ encompasses time periods of 300 to 1200 years) that show the presumed movement of ancient glacial Lake Agassiz\, during its 4\,500-year existence. \nEmerging as meltwater from a monumental sheet of ice that was in some places nearly 4 km thick\, the lake at its peak\, was the largest glacial lake in North America and covered all of Manitoba\, as well as several neighbouring provinces and states. The provincial landscape in which the artist grew up\, had emerged from a series of glacial advances\, retreats and subsequent drainage of the lake. Each glacial period partially erased the wounds and formations of the previous; each of the prints in the series Retreating Agassiz attempts to separate the layers of this palimpsest. \nThe languages of printmaking allow the artist to work in layers; photo-etching\, screenprinting\, hand-drawn marks\, and application of gold leaf\, reflecting layers of geophysical process\, layers of time\, and layers of understanding. In looking for patterns that connect place\, time\, purpose and identity\, Johns’ maps become pattern\, geographical elements become forms\, and the shadows of what no longer exists is rendered in goldleaf\, as if to mark their presence as recorded\, preserved\, eternal and precious. It was not until 1879\, that Lake Agassiz was named and accepted in scientific circles as having formerly existed. But\, to the artist and fellow inhabitants of the province\, the traces of Lake Agassiz are familiar\, and the story  of the lake is a legend embedded in their inherited past. The vast movement of the lake is revealed strikingly through the six views\, animated and glistening. \nThrough observation and connecting\, Johns closes a gap between what is seen and what exists in traces and myth. By inserting the ancient lake into her work\, she decodes the familiar landscape\, and becomes documentarist of the vast history\, bringing to those of us who observe her work\, an understanding of our place and identity in this history of place. In revealing the foundations of place the artist inserts something of herself into the records of the past\, and brings the past to our present. In finding Lake Agassiz\, Johns finds context in place.
URL:https://albertaprintmakers.com/event/retreating-agassiz/
CATEGORIES:Exhibition Past,Past
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DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20081023
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20081124
DTSTAMP:20250822T203605Z
CREATED:20250822T203605Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250822T203605Z
UID:10000358-1224720000-1227484799@albertaprintmakers.com
SUMMARY:Echo
DESCRIPTION:About the Exhibition\nThis exhibition is part of an exchange between the Alberta Printmakers Society and Graphic Studio in Alkmaar\, the Netherlands.  \nExhibition Essay Written by Eveline Kolijn \nDuring medieval times in Europe\, landlords from the Low Countries started to grant privileges to settlements to stimulate the establishment of cities. These privileges were called city-rights. They fostered economic growth and led to increased political autonomy of the city. In 2004\, the City of Alkmaar in the Netherlands celebrated the fact that they received their city-rights 750 years ago. Grafisch Atelier Allmaar\, a printmaking collective\, participated in the anniversary festivities by producing a portfolio of twenty original fine- art prints\, printed in an edition of forty. \nTheir involvement began in 2003 when twenty local print media artists were invited by the Municipal Museum of Alkmaar (Stedelijk Museum Alkmaar) to make prints based on their collection. The museum’s collection reflects the history of customs\, thoughts and events throughout the city’s existence. For their inspiration\, artists selected monumental paintings by local and famous Dutch Masters\, antique tiles\, seals\, decorated gablestones\, children’s toys\, old pictures\, maquette\, pottery and old-fashioned laboratory equipment. The resulting prints reference these objects and images; they are a reflection from the past. Echo is the title of the portfolio. They were exhibited next to their chosen source in the anniversary-exhibition of the museum. Jhim Lamoree\, editor from the national newspaper Het Parool\, wrote in the forward of the exhibition catalogue\, “that the twenty diverse prints\, which have been made in response to the different objects of the museum collection\, are an echo of those objects\, which in their turn become an echo of modern printmaking. This demonstrates that a museum is not a static institution\, but can be an incubator of contemporary art.” \nThe echoes of this print portfolio have reverberated beyond the Netherlands. A year ago\, Alberta Printmakers Society approached the Grafisch Atelier Alkmaar with a proposal to organize a print-exchange. The Alkmaar printmakers agreed enthusiastically and they open the exchange with the exhibition of their anniversary portfolio\, Echo\, in Calgary. They have kindly donated this portfolio\, which now becomes part of the Alberta Printmakers Society’s archive. A juried selection of prints from Alberta Printmakers Society’s members will will be exhibited in Alkmaar in January 2009. \n  \nParticipating Alkmaar Artists: Dave Akkerman\, Jos van Amsterdam\, Pauline Bakker\, Patrick Bergsma\, Corrie Breed\, Jan Deckwitz\, Joyce Ennik\, Mels de Gooyer\, Gerben Hermanus\, Marijalic\, Madeleine Leddy\, Mans Lenards\, Mario Passamani\, Hanneke Saaltink\, Ivon Spee\, Erik Tierolf\, Tineke Tukker\, Marja Vleugel\, Cora Vries and Jaap Zomer. \n 
URL:https://albertaprintmakers.com/event/echo/
CATEGORIES:Exhibition Past,Past
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20080104
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20080205
DTSTAMP:20250822T204732Z
CREATED:20250822T204732Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250822T204732Z
UID:10000359-1199404800-1202169599@albertaprintmakers.com
SUMMARY:Permeable
DESCRIPTION:About the Exhibition\nExhibition curated\, and Essay written\, by Kim Huynh \nIn the focus of today’s Capitalism\, where daily routines depend on time and place\, our Consumer driven environment can be quickly changed by the impact of a social political event. As some present situations\, economists are watching the USA election\, Pakistani opposition leader Benazir Bhutto ‘s assassination has disrupted the Middle East’s oil market\, while in our own backyard\, British Columbia is working out its municipal balance for the 2010 Olympic in hope for an improvement on the economy through tourism. As time and place constantly shift and events often concur with a social- political movement\, our quality of life is blurred by the needs of communities and corporations\, and no longer a focus of individualism. One of the pressures upon Canadian society is to “move along”\, “blend in” or “be a part of a larger whole”. This slogan is also drummed into our emotional and intellectual selves. Who are we\, and how do we relate to our loved ones at the end of the day? \nIn Jill Ho-You ‘s print- media\, she cleverly situates a parallel paradigm where the duality of Violence vs. Civility is played out in contemporary life. Beautiful and delicate etchings of a colony of insects are developed through stages on rice paper; then\, cut-out and carefully pinned onto the body of a supporting paper revealing various layers of the relief work. Parts of the paper have been beat up\, ripped open and pounded into the body by a forceful act\, which allow the contents of the stained newspaper to be identified. The juxtaposition of two acts questions its relationship by a same hand: a hand of caring and nurturing\, and the same hand of anger and deconstruction. How do these human qualities co-exist in the same person\, and how do they co- coincide in human interaction today\, which remains a mystery of our continuing human development. \nAnother concern of human development in this exhibition is the series of Self-Portraiture by Melanie Wilmink. Intricate layers of drawings lay on top of one another with poetic mark-makings and abstractive provocation. A process that allows intuition of plays\, work and re-work to occur within the same chance. The printmaking procedure of working with chemicals and pigments is set\, but all conditions are shifted and free of interplay to challenge the locale of the self and the parameters of the self. In the process of developing identity\, how far can we expand from the centre before we recognize it is too far from “the core”? Or\, is any point in the process a collection of self and identity? Given the fact that the locale of the self rests on an ever -changing time and place\, the process of understanding one’s identity is also not fixed. One could say that over time\, one recognizes the pattern of behavior of self and the consistency of its patterns give clues to the understanding of an identity. \nOn the contrary\, Alana Tyson ‘s focus is from outside in. The artist pursues the essence of Beauty by looking at the external social-cultural values played on an individual. The classic binary of external and internal Beauty is sometimes inter- changed due to conflicting messages in the society. The issue of Beauty has held a controversial place in the history of the West over the last two centuries\, and has become ever more complicated in Consumerism today. Tyson provides examples of how virtues of a woman were viewed and conditioned in the West through 1 constructions of Gothic architectural designs\, and etchings of women in various rituals over various times. Careful manipulation of material\, symbolism and the ancient technique of printmaking to speak about the classic issues of the past and that continue to exist today. Intricate design of dark silver boxes (like metal) and architectural arches appear handsome and serious; however\, a closer look at these containers reveals a light foamy plastic facade. The realization of the material shreds new light on the inner value and adds another layer of reading to the work. Juxtaposed with the use of the dark silver containers\, inside\, Tyson provides a contrasting material of red silk\, images of altars and various Biblical figures as examples of virtues that a woman is supposed to hold in history. \nMarigold Santos provides four pieces of print media\, which address a divergence of Private vs. Public\, Role Play at home\, and its projection into the external world. Elegant drawings consist of a young girl in animal likeness and of three -dimensional stuffed animals personify human form. In place of a child as a protagonist\, Santos’ beautiful manipulation of animal and human’s inter-change/play provides a narrative in between a fairy tale and a critique of contemporary literature. Viewers are drawn into the simple naïve suggestive element in pastel colors and are encouraged to make sense of them; however\, there is no storyline. Each panel is like an adjective; the artist is carefully operating on the syntax of meaning without giving out the story. This playfulness constructed between author and readers demonstrates another essence in child’s play. Santos posits the concern of role-play between a young girl and two cats at home\, and how they transcribe into future roles\, and how far or near the relationship between animal and human? …All of which are possible readings to these works. \nAlthough each work from these four artists provides a different issue in human values in an unstable environment\, one certainty is that none of these concerns will rest on a fixed point in the journey of human development\, since each quality of human value attaches to social-cultural symbolic significance. As members of a society\, we can’t help but hold on to each duality of human characteristics in a unique division to provide security and comfort. Each shifting point in this human development transgresses through time and place\, and the concerns in these art works reflect unsettled distinctions between order and chaos by presenting material and value continuity between these states of human transgression. \n  \nArtists: Jill Ho-You\, Marigold Santos\, Alana Tyson\, Melanie Wilmink
URL:https://albertaprintmakers.com/event/permeable/
CATEGORIES:Exhibition Past,Past
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