The Eastside Culture Crawl in Vancouver runs this year from Nov. 17 to Nov. 20. The popular open studio event organized by the Eastside Arts Society started more than 25 years ago. It focuses on the area bound by Columbia Street, 2nd Avenue, Victoria Drive and the Waterfront, and includes painters, jewellers, sculptors, furniture makers, weavers, potters, printmakers, photographers and glassblowers – ranging from emerging artists to those who are known internationally. Check out the artists here.
A 10-storey light teepee created by Saskatoon artist Cheryl L'Hirondelle will rise above Nathan Phillips Square in Toronto until Oct. 10. Created for Nuit Blanche on Oct. 1, it featured Indigenous poets, dancers, musicians and other artists. In Cree, L'Hirondelle's ancestral language, the project is called iskocēs: okihcitāw-iskwēw-kamik ohci, which she translates as sparks/embers for the leading-woman-lodge. The piece is meant to honour women "who lead the way, care for us … and keep the home fire burning," she tells CBC Arts.
Two major exhibitions featuring 50 artists from across Canada are being held at the Canadian Clay and Glass Gallery in Waterloo, Ont. Voices features 40 artists who examine issues related to equity, diversity, and inclusion. An accompanying catalogue features essays by 14 writers. Emergence celebrates the finalists of the RBC Award for Glass and the Winfred Shantz Award for Ceramics, including winners Jared Last and Matthew O’Reilly, respectively. Both shows are on view until January. For information, visit www.theclayandglass.ca.
The Alberta Foundation of the Arts is celebrating its 50th anniversary with one-time micro-grants to artists of up to $2,500. The application intake began on Oct. 1. New applicants need to register with the online application system at least five business days before the Dec. 1 deadline by emailing registrationafa@gov.ab.ca. The foundation is also creating stories and videos about its art collection, begun in 1972 with an annual budget of $50,000. The collection now encompasses more than 9,000 works by some 1,700 Alberta artists.
In Calgary, cSPACE Projects is partnering with the city and community groups to bring cultural programming to the former Eau Clair Lumber Company building for the next two years. The cSPACE Eau Claire Neighbourhood Hub will be a cultural anchor for the arts and under-served community groups without space to gather. The wood-frame building, constructed around 1903, had been a restaurant. It has been moved to the northwest corner of 3rd Street and 2nd Avenue SW while Eau Claire Plaza undergoes redevelopment. For information, go here.
Newzones, a commercial gallery in Calgary, is celebrating 30 years of business with a group exhibition, 11,104 Days: From Artists to Zenith, which opens Nov. 24. Over the years, the gallery has held more than 300 shows. "From the beginning, Newzones’ mandate has been to introduce and promote its Canadian artists not only in Calgary and Canada, but on the international art stage," the gallery said in a statement. The show includes artists represented by the gallery as well as work by blue-chip artists such as Charles Arnoldi, Ross Bleckner, Jack Bush, Dan Christensen, Alex Katz, William Perehudoff and Julian Schnabel. It also includes works from the private collections of founders and directors Helen and Tamar Zenith.
Star Crop Eared Wolf, a Niitsiitapi multidisciplinary artist and member of the Kainai Nation, has been chosen as this year's Ksahkomiitapiiks resident artist at Contemporary Calgary. Crop Eared Wolf graduated from the University of Lethbridge with a bachelor's degree in fine arts, and explores themes related to land and culture. She will be mentored by Adrian Stimson, a member of the Siksika (Blackfoot) Nation, an interdisciplinary artist who exhibits internationally. The residency was created in consultation with an advisory committee of Indigenous community members.
The Art Gallery of Alberta has launched a microsite that explores the life and work of Canadian landscape architect Cornelia Hahn Oberlander, who died in 2021. The site includes includes documentation of the exhibition Cornelia Hahn Oberlander: Genius Loci, shown at the Edmonton gallery in 2021. The show, produced in partnership with the West Vancouver Art Museum, began as a conversation between two curators interested in her work and the human connection to place. For more information, go here.
