current exhibition at the AGR

Current Exhibition

View from the Edge of the World

Catherine Joa, Gladys Wozny Siemens, Golboo Amani, Mike Keepness, SpekWork Studio and Vera Saltzman & Sue Bland

August 18 - October 22, 2023

Public Reception Thursday, October 5, 6 PM

painting of a rocky cliff at the side of a tarmac highway, the should of the road is coated with dirty slush and the words "Don't forget to smile. - Jackfish" are spraypainted on the rock.

A white square of plaster is crisscrossed with tiny ridges, the inverted shape of cracks in dried mud. Bits of dirt and grass cling to the plaster sculpture.

Elements for a board game are spread out on a white table top. In the middle is the hexagonal gameboard for Settlers of Catan, surrounded by original and artist created game play cards.

A spotted red circle is positioned in a grey sky above the line of a gravel road narrowing as it disappears into the horizons. Flat fields covered in snow are on either side of the road, an excavator and partially-destroyed remnants of a row of shelterbelts can be seen on the side of the gravel road.

A large, brownish pieces of canvas, printed with black silhouettes of buffalo and tattered along the edges is hung on a wire fence. Behind the canvas is a row of large farm vehicles for harvesting crops.

(click gallery thumbnails to view full image and detailed caption information)

images: Don't Forget to Smile YA JACKFISH, Catherine Joa. (Photo: Catherine Joa); Desiccation II, Gladys Wozny Siemens. (Photo: G Wozny Siemens); Unsettling Settlers: Intervention, Golboo Amani. (Photo by Manolo Lugo); Buffalo Canvas, Sue Bland. (Photo: Vera Saltzman); Sad Moon Rising (detail of installation Where will the frogs sing?), Vera Saltzman and Sue Bland. (Photo by Vera Saltzman); GAN of Living Skies, SpekWork Studio. (Video by SpekWork Studio).

View from the Edge of the World engages with and subverts Capitalist models of representing and thinking about land. Landscape painting traditions depend upon severing relationships with the land to turn it into a commodity to be consumed and harnessed as a symbol to unify a population.

Offering more than conventionally pretty images, artists in this exhibition work in media ranging from plaster casts to plein air painting and create situations that include a faux kitchen gathering place, a board game that counters narratives of conquest with collaboration, and a solar-powered machine that generates fake sunsets.

Our prairie landscape is not flat and featureless, dropping into nothingness at the horizon; it is full of lives, stories, unnoticed beauty and miraculous transformation. The presence of roads, graffiti, industrial farming, spiritual practices, settlement processes, technology and climate change are integral to these depictions of the land. We need new images of this place to discover its overlooked worth and craft a more profound harmony with it.

Official Exhibition Sponsor:

Official Reception Sponsor:

THANK YOU

Catherine Joa, Vera Saltzman and Sue Bland, Gladys Wozny Siemens and SpekWork Studio recognize the generous support of SK-Arts who supported the production and dissemination of their work for this exhibition.

We acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts.

The Canada Council for the Arts is Canada’s public arts funder, with a mandate to foster and promote the study and enjoyment of, and the production of works in, the arts. The Council champions and invests in artistic excellence through a broad range of grants, services, prizes and payments to professional Canadian artists and arts organizations. Its work ensures that excellent, vibrant and diverse art and literature engages Canadians, enriches their communities and reaches markets around the world. The Council also raises public awareness and appreciation of the arts through its communications, research and arts promotion activities. It is responsible for the Canadian Commission for UNESCO, which promotes the values and programs of UNESCO in Canada to contribute to a more peaceful, equitable and sustainable future. The Canada Council Art Bank operates art rental programs and helps further public engagement with contemporary arts.

Self-guided Tour Pamphlet

View from the Edge of the World self-guided tour.pdf

Exhibition Audio Tour

View from the Edge of the World audio tourArt Gallery of Regina

00:00 / 26:11

Thank you to SaskTel for sponsoring audio tours of our exhibitions

Exhibition Audio Tour Transcript

Audio tour transcript

Media Coverage

Wozny Siemens, Gladys & Moore, Sandee. "'View From the Edge of the World' at the Art Gallery of Regina." Saskatchewan Weekend. Shauna Powers. CBC Radio. August 19, 2023.

https://www.cbc.ca/listen/live-radio/1-205-saskatchewan-weekend/clip/16004339-view-from-edge-world-art-gallery-regina?share=true&fbclid=IwAR0oq5XPi6Kzs_lRo1INsdv2oV89nmMVaXVwZJ5Z4aFacne4bcdwHKKkFH4

"Shorts: Five Cross-Country Shows: We take you to Hamilton, Iqaluit, Regina, Toronto and Courtenay, B.C." Galleries West, August 24, 2023, https://www.gallerieswest.ca/magazine/stories/shorts-five-cross-country-shows/

Press Release

View from the Edge of the World press release with images.pdf

The Art Gallery of Regina gratefully acknowledges its core funders and community sponors.