ESTEVAN — The Estevan Art Gallery and Museum (EAGM) is celebrating its 45th anniversary this year, and to mark the big date, they are showcasing a selection of works by famed entrepreneur and artist Andrew King.
Andrew King: The Travelling Circus exhibition is on display in Gallery 1 from June 9 through Aug. 25. The public is invited to stop by and enjoy the works of the man who made a significant contribution to Canadian print history.
"The EAGM opened its doors in 1978, so it's our 45th anniversary and to help commemorate that, we have an Andrew King collection showcase," said Karly Garnier, the EAGM’s education, outreach and programming co-ordinator. "Andrew King makes up the bulk of our permanent collection and he has that special tie to Estevan.
"He was owner of the Mercury, he worked here and his King Show Print business was here for a time. So, we just wanted to take the opportunity to showcase his work. We thought it was appropriate for our 45th anniversary."
Garnier noted that they've really combed through the collection and found some unique political and other advertising prints that are a little bit separate from more well-known circus printing. The exhibition displays a selection of those and other prints as well as some corresponding woodblocks that show the process of how printing would have been done with the three colors.
"We were able to dig out some never-seen-before prints and did a little collage of those," Garnier said. "It's just always nice to highlight someone who's such a big part of our permanent collection and the history and Estevan. He was such a pioneer in printmaking and even though we've shown the works before, it's always nice to see it again, see it in a different light and just get to revisit it."
The EAGM has the largest collection of King's works, including hundreds of his blocks, many original prints as well as second-edition prints, most of which were donated by the Derksen family.
Born in Winnipeg on Oct. 23, 1885, King started in the newspaper business by apprenticing at The Souris Plaindealer in Souris, Man., according to the exhibition information booklet. His pursuit of weekly newspapers would lead him to purchase the Rouleau Enterprise in 1909. While in Rouleau, King launched into the lucrative world of show prints in the early 1910s, opening Enterprise Show Printing out of the newspaper's offices.
King relocated to Estevan in 1944 after the sale of the Enterprise businesses and the subsequent purchase of the Estevan Mercury. The show-print business continued under the new name of King Show Print, until King's retirement and the sale of Estevan businesses to a British company.
King was married for 58 years to Mable, they had five children together. King died in Wilber, Neb., in November 1981 at the age of 96.
King has been hailed as "a major figure in Western Canadian and North American printing history," as D. Lochhead put it in the preface to King's Pen, Paper & Printing Ink, 1970. He's remembered for his striking three-colour circus show prints from the first half of the 20th century.
While Gallery 1 is dedicated to King's collection, Gallery 2 will turn into a summer maker space. The public is invited to classes and workshops that will be happening throughout the summer, where they can come and experiment with different printmaking techniques, in homage to King.
"We are going to be offering extra workshops and classes for people of all ages. And a lot of that will be focused around the art of printmaking," Garnier said. "We're doing a variety of things. Ruth Langwieser, one of our staff members, was in here … doing ceramic wheel throwing, and she also did clay printing workshops. She's going to be doing paper-making workshops, where people can come in and make their own paper and then work in the process of printing on that … So, our small gallery space will be almost like a little studio that will host pop-up workshops and classes."
The North West Mounted Police Museum, located right by the EAGM, is open to the public throughout the summer as well. Thanks to Sarah Dacuycuy joining the EAGM as their summer student, they are able to also open on Saturdays.
Summer hours of operation are Monday-Friday from 9 a.m.-6 p.m., and Saturdasy from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. with lunch break over the noon hour.
Keep an eye on the EAGM Facebook or program page at eagm.ca for more information on their upcoming workshops, and also for the current hours of operation.
