Western Canada’s art magazine since 2002
26 November 2024 Vol 9 No 24 ISSN 2561-3316 © 2024
Shelley Boettcher
From the Editor
I'd like to think that had I known Torben Kristiansen in real life, we maybe would have hung out occasionally. I don't think I could have afforded to buy art from the guy, but I'd have collected his stories while pouring icy cold shots of akvavit for him. Christopher Varley reminisces about him and his life in a guest column entitled This Market Maker Swung For the Fences.
In Edmonton this month, Agnieszka Matejko visited Marlena Wyman's new exhibition, But There Were Also Flowers, on view at Bugera Matheson Gallery now through Dec. 7. The show “breathes life back into the words of long-forgotten women,” Matejko writes.
Lissa Robinson, in Calgary, headed to Nickle Galleries for mâmawohkamâtowak: Judy Anderson and Katherine Boye, on view until December 14. It's “a conversation between two flatland artists who draw on the rich legacy of beading and other crafts such as woodworking, rug hooking, and stitching to explore Indigenous identity, relationality, and decolonial strategies through their creative practices,” says Robinson.
If you find yourself in Winnipeg this month, don't miss Dominique Rey's new show MOTHERGROUND. It is “ambitious, experimental...and works on an epic scale,” writes Alison Gillmor, and it is on through Mar. 31, 2025 at WAG-Qaumajuq in Winnipeg.
Also in Winnipeg, the newest exhibition by Bîstyek, Inside Out, is now at Katie + Gunner Gallery. Ormeya Zagros, who paints under the name Bîstyek, moved to Winnipeg after fleeing Syria and living in a refugee camp in Lebanon. Now he's creating powerful portraits of people he has met along his journey.
And in Banff, the Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies is featuring the work of the late great German painter Carl Rungius. The exhibition, Capturing the Wild, is on now through Jan. 19, 2025.
As always we have lots of news this issue, too. Remember the Emily Carr painting that was bought for $50 after being found in a barn? It has sold at auction — for considerably more than $50.
The Vancouver Art Gallery has received $1.6 million in donations, and Canada House Gallery in Banff has celebrated its 50th anniversary. Fifty years — these days, perhaps more than ever, that sort of anniversary is worth celebrating.
By the way, as a subscriber, you will have received a personal letter from publisher Tom Tait last week referring to his succession and inviting expressions of interest to take over the magazine. He mentioned his health but don’t be alarmed. It’s simply recognition of the realities that come with age. He’s still firmly in the publisher’s chair.
Got news? Something you'd like to share with us? Drop us a note any time.
CONTRIBUTORS THIS ISSUE: Agnieszka Matejko, Alison Gillmor, Lissa Robinson, Christopher Varley
We acknowledge the support of the Government of Alberta Media Fund, the Government of Canada Periodical Fund and the Canada Council for the Arts.
