Until Aug. 18, the Chapel Gallery in North Battleford is hosting a show of some of the best and innovative works of craft art to be produced in western Canada. However, those planning to take the exhibition in should know the gallery is a popular place for weddings during the summer.
The City of North Battleford's curator and manager of galleries, Leah Garven, says every weekend in August the Chapel Gallery will be closed Saturday and Sunday for private functions. Because the show is a three-dimensional one, the pieces have to be removed prior to the private event and then put back into place afterwards. Garven suggests a call to the gallery at 306-445-1747 before stopping by as there may be private events on weekdays as well.
The current exhibition, Entitled Prairie Excellence, was put together by the Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Alberta Craft Councils in a unique and ground-breaking joint project.
In its description of the show, the exhibition website says, "An exhibition like Prairie Excellence, 10 or 20 years ago, would have included more recognizable, more domestic, more functional objects. Although individual pieces in this exhibition can be worn or used, generally the work is more conceptual in its intent.While various traditions of craftsmanship are still apparent, many pieces push well beyond the conventions, shifting toward more experimental uses of materials and techniques, and even forms. Technical and conceptual excellence vie for attention."
About one third of the craft artists included in Prairie Excellence live in small-town or rural locations, including Leon Lacoursiere, who was born and raised in Delmas. After farming, he became a goldsmith's apprentice in 1980, and then turned to cabinet making and wood turning. Lacoursiere's work is in permanent collections of galleries such as the Royal Ontario Museum, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Minneapolis Institute of Art, the Long Beach Museum of Art, the Contemporary Museum of Art in Hawaii, the Yale University Art Gallery and the Chapel Gallery in North Battleford. His work was part of the East Meets West (Japan and North America) tour in 1999, and he was the winner of the Premier's Prize in Dimensions 2002.
Prairie Excellence highlights three selections as best in their respective provinces.
Vessel Deconstruction 4 by Zane Wilcox of Regina was awarded the Best in Province Prize for Saskatchewan for its unique balance of simplicity and complexity. Conceptually, it references the history of modernist sculpture, tromp l'oeil painting and functional earthware. Wilcox is currently working towards an MFA at the University of Regina and has been working as a full-time ceramic artist since 2002. He has exhibited widely, winning awards including Saskatchewan's Premier's Prize for craft in 2009. Outside of the studio, he has been active in roles such as juror, visiting artist, workshop presenter and teacher.
Mariko McCrae's pair of pompous quasi-18th century "golf" shoes, entitled Willow Tops Golf Shoes, was named Best in Alberta in the Prairie Excellence show. Having taught at Alberta College of Art and Design, McCrae has recently chosen to return to the studio to resume a full-time practice. Mariko's hand built works pay homage to the world of historical ceramics, creating works that demonstrate "a strange hybridization of culture, a warped sense of time travel and, as always, challenging notions of taste."
Made of cast glass, forged steel and metal, Tibor Bodi's Voice of America 1956 references a pivotal Cold War event that brought the artist and his family to Canada as refugees from Hungary. It has been named Best in Manitoba in the Prairie Excellence show. The Winnipeg artist's work focuses on aspects of 'transformation.' He is drawn to materials and techniques that transform from their common state into something unexpected. Bodi also enjoys the challenge of combining materials and forms that are very different from each other yet create a cohesive whole.
There are 35 artists represented in the show, of which 12 are from Saskatchewan. The exhibition was chosen from among the works of 160 artists.
The photography exhibition currently in the Window Gallery, Exploring North Battleford at 100, will be moving into the main gallery area when Prairie Excellence concludes.
