Shaping Calgary

Eight influential sculptors bridge modernism and contemporary art.

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While solo exhibitions are important, it’s often group shows that define artistic movements, influences and communities. One such show, Shaping Calgary, offers a constellation of intriguing sculptures made by eight influential Calgary artists with ties to the Alberta College of Art and Design, now the Alberta University of the Arts. The exhibition, on view at the Herringer Kiss Gallery in Calgary until Oct. 16, offers a glimpse into Calgary’s visual arts scene via artists who have left a legacy not only for the university but also within the broader arts community. 

The institution, founded in 1926, was a major contributor to Canadian visual culture in the 20th century. Modern art played an early role in establishing a foundation for artistic expression in the province, and the exhibition highlights the bridge between modernism and contemporary practices. The works, which span decades – from the 1980s to the pandemic – offer compelling contrasts between natural and human-made objects and materials with historical connections to industrialization. 

Rita McKeough’s installation, Darkness is as deep as deep as the darkness is, provides video documentation of the installation as it appeared last year in the Walter Phillips Gallery at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity. Earthy, emotional and dark, the work offers a tour through a subterranean world that deepens our connection to nature while reminding us of harms caused by urban and industrial encroachment.

Katie Ohe, meanwhile, uses industrial materials such as chrome, steel and aluminum to create her sculptures. However, the machismo often associated with modernist metal sculpture is turned on its head by objects that are curvaceous, layered and simultaneously decorative, allegorical and personal. Ten wall-mounted sculptures, described as “prayer offerings,” are intimate objects with bowl-like bases. 

Ohe’s student, Alex Caldwell also embraces curves in his sculpture, Horizontal Nebula, but with a minimalist aesthetic influenced by Pop art. Covered in metallic purple paint, the work’s glass-like surface evokes optimism and the illusion of weightlessness.

In contrast to these industrial-inspired works are pieces made by Walter May and Blake Senini, who both manipulate wood in intriguing ways. May, for example, uses charring and bentwood to mimic steel forms, while Senini’s sculptures appear carved, but are actually meticulously constructed sculptures that use nails and layered plywood covered in veneer. Abstract in form, they evoke architectural ornamentation.

Laura Vickerson’s work, which is often architectural, focuses on relationships between the body and discarded detritus like paper, fabric and chairs or things from nature. Her wall-mounted piece, Room for One, is an assemblage that brings together embroidery, an ornate chair, a tree branch and a tiny wasp’s nest. Domesticity, both in nature and industrialized culture, is contemplated here, pointing to women’s complex relationships with both.

Found objects are used in sculptures created by Gord Ferguson, professor emeritus at the Alberta University of the Arts, and Ron Kanashiro, a 1977 graduate. While Ferguson borrows from modernist aesthetics, he uses humour and appropriated objects to critique or reconsider consumerism, corporate culture and hierarchies in contemporary culture. In Parasite, we are confronted by two plastic garbage cans that are fused together at the bottom to form a phallus-like shape invaded by a cluster of metal accountant’s boxes. Issues related to patriarchy, corporate greed and human waste are contemplated here.

In stark contrast, Kanashiro’s work integrates handcrafted processes with personal items like keys, photographs and smalls bowls wrapped in white tissue paper. His meticulously crafted totemic figure is modern, sensual and otherworldly, and reflects his Japanese heritage.

While the artists highlighted in Shaping Calgary are distinct and diverse, they are linked through concerns related to modernism as well as their institutional connections and relationships as peers in the city’s arts community. ■  

Shaping Calgary at the Herringer Kiss Gallery in Calgary from Sept. 11 to Oct. 16, 2021. Artists include Alex Caldwell, Gord Ferguson, Ron Kanashiro, Rita McKeough, Walter May, Katie Ohe, Blake Senini and Laura Vickerson. 

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