Nickle Galleries

BREAKING TRADITION: LANDSCAPE (IM)POSSIBILITIES
Group Exhibition

Exhibition dates: January 31 - April 6
Opening Reception: January 31, 5-8pm

Curated by Jasmine Hynes, in collaboration with Museum and Heritage Studies from photography in the Collection of Nickle Galleries

Traditionally, in Canada, when we think of landscape we think of the great north; vast and barren, wild and unspoiled. The paintings of A.Y Jackson, Lawren Harris, and other members of the Group of Seven come to the forefront of my mind, and they represent an idealized Canadian landscape. The Group of Seven succeeded in capturing Canada’s unpredictable seasonality. Their vision was however clouded by wilder-centric attitudes, and they thus failed to include inhabitants, signs of modernity, and the relations between human and land.

How do we capture in a single frame that which surrounds us at all times, that which wholly consumes us? Landscape is difficult to capture for it cannot be seen entirely. Landscape is “both our subject and thing within which we exist,” it is the setting for life. Land cannot escape the social, political, and economic systems that circulate throughout it, nor can land ignore the people which inhabit it. In this respect, it is impossible to see anything as not landscape. The very definition of landscape must account for everything. Art historian W.J.T. Mitchell contends that “landscape is not a genre of art but a medium.” We humans appropriate landscapes of all sorts (natural, pictorial, symbolic, mythic, imagined, built) as a means to artistic, social, economic, and political ends. As much as we shape landscapes for our own benefit, they too act on and shape us, “as if agents in their own right.” We depend on landscape, both natural and otherwise, for sustenance and survival.
The photographic works in this exhibition challenge traditional understandings, perceptions, and interpretations of landscape. They capture that which the Group of Seven did not: the systems that operate on the land, showcasing subjective understandings and interpretations of the landscape and all that it encompasses. Here, a new perspective is gained.

Mireille Perron: The Anatomy of a Glass Menagerie | AltaGlass
Mireille Perron

Exhibition dates: January 31 - April 6
Opening Reception: January 31, 5-8pm

Organized by Nickle Galleries, curated by Christine Sowiak, with catalogue essay by Julia Kruger. Mireille Perron acknowledges her collaboration with Medalta, Historical Society of Medicine Hat and District, Corning Museum of Glass, and all the known and anonymous AltaGlass makers.

 Mireille Perron’s practice and research projects (typically under the auspices of the Laboratory of Feminist Pataphysics, founded by Perron) are conceived at the crossroads of scientific, sensual/sensorial material, social, personal and collective imaginaries. The Anatomy of a Glass Menagerie | AltaGlass continues these explorations with a focus on specific glass histories, as well as her concern with how humanity – driven by a wide range of motives – has brought so many animals into our intimidate acquaintance, both domestic and agrarian. Perron simultaneously explore histories of glass art from the collections of both the Corning Museum of Glass and Medalta, and the use of photomechanical means of scientific illustration by producing cyanotype images, in the footsteps of Anna Atkins (1799 – 1871).

The Anatomy of a Glass Menagerie | AltaGlass exists within a category of exhibitions created by artists through their work with existing collections. Historically, artists have drawn inspiration from museums and their diverse collections – archaeological, ethnographic, material and popular culture, medical, botanical and zoological – as a base for research and finished works. More recently, renewed models of collaborations have opened up a wealth of new meanings for and interpretations of objects beyond their traditional museological presentation. Through The Anatomy of a Glass Menagerie | AltaGlass, Perron contributes to a reactivation of meanings and examinations for AltaGlass by presenting 113 selected objects from the collection alongside cyanotypes.

Gallery hours:
Mon - Fri: 10am – 5 pm
Thurs: 10am - 8 pm
Sat: 11am – 4pm

www.nickle.ucalgary.ca

Taylor Family Digital Library University of Calgary
2500 University Drive NW 
Calgary, AB T2N 1N4 
Canada