Two new exhibits are coming to the Okotoks Art Gallery from March 7th to April 25th. An opening reception will be held Saturday, March 7th from 1:00 to 3:00pm. This is a free event.
Conversations with Nature by Janet Dwyer
Small Gallery
Janet Dwyer is inspired by the infinite variety and exact structures found in the natural world. Organic materials such as plants, feathers, bones, ice and live insects find their way into her compositions, becoming part of a story or metaphor for human emotions and interactions. Using these natural forms, Dwyer creates new relationships, realities, associations and surreal hybrid combinations.
She uses a flatbed scanner as an imaging tool – objects are placed directly on the scanner glass; while nature unfolds, wilts, interacts, and melts, the flatbed scanner’s myopic lens and light source passes by, converting what it sees to digital information. Live insects move, resulting in a coloured digital track, an artifact of their movements and shapes. That is the gift, the unpredictable part left to chance and timing, an effect that is unique to scanner imaging.
In-finite: Reflections on Ellesmere Island by Dennis Budgen
Large Gallery
At approximately 81 degrees North, 4530 kilometres north of the Canada-US border, there is a land that only a very few people have ever seen. Through immense tectonic movement, this rugged landscape has been buckled and pushed into some of the world’s most spectacular scenes. The sparse vegetation and wildlife of the area speaks to the harshness of the climate. Patches of tundra contain dwarf willows, purple mountain saxifrage, arctic cotton, woolly lousewarts, and mountain avens. The wildlife is also scarce and widespread but muskoxen and arctic hares are seen on a regular basis.
Dennis Budgen’s artwork is based on his experiences and research of the Canadian Arctic. His documentary work began in Baffin Island and has continued at Great Bear Lake and Ellesmere Island where he was an artist in residence and accompanied scientists with the Geological Survey of Canada. The large charcoal drawings are based on his experiences of Ellesmere Island. He’s trying to capture the incessant wind, the bleakness of winter and the vastness of the humbling environment.
You can call the Okotoks Art Gallery for more details at 403-933-3204. The Gallery is located in The Station at 53 North Railway St. The hours are Tuesday to Saturday, 10am to 5pm.