International Women's Day Group Exhibition 2021: #ChooseToChallenge

March 6 - 24, 2021

Open: Tuesday to Friday 10:00 am - 5:30 pm Saturday 11 am - 4 pm Closed: Sundays and statutory holidays.

Private appointments upon request.

Phone 403.262.8050 Toll Free 1.877.962.8050 Fax 403.264.7112 info@wallacegalleries.com www.wallacegalleries.com

Opening Reception: March 6, 2021

Brief Explanation & History

International Women’s Day (IWD) is a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women.

The day also marks a call to action for accelerating gender parity.

Significant activity is witnessed worldwide as groups come together to celebrate women’s achievements or rally for women’s equality.

In celebration of International Women’s Day, we are centering this exhibition on our fabulous roster of women artists, including: Nancy Boyd, Isla Burns, Camrose Ducote, Jennifer Hornyak, Joice M Hall, Dorothy Knowles, Elza Mayhew, Amy Modahl, Hilda Oomen, Linda Nardelli, Robin Smith-Peck, Laurie Steen, and Diana Zasadny Historically women have been overshadowed in the arts by their counter-parts for so many years. It is just until recent years that we see women starting to flourish in the artists. Great artists such as Mary Pratt, Helen Frankenthaler, Georgia O’Keefe, and Emily Carr have paved the way for today’s women in the arts.

This show is to exemplify the strong and innovative art that women artists of today are creating.

Installation image (following page; left to right): Jennifer Hornyak, Head of Boy, oil on linen, 16” x 16” Jennifer Hornyak, Stella, oil on linen, 30” x 24” Jennifer Hornyak, Ingrid, oil on linen, 18” x 18” Jennifer Dickson, RA, Lord Burlington’s Conversazione, photograph 2/5, 13” x 9.5” (left on pillar) Joice M Hall, RCA, Driving South #22, oil on canvas, 6” x 9” (top) Joice M Hall, RCA, Driving South #30, oil on canvas, 6” x 9” (bottom) (right on pillar) Isla Burns, Black Orchid, forged steel, 21”(h) x 17.5”(l) x 10.5”(d) Series of works by Hilda Oomen: Silver Cup, oil on wood panel, 8” x 8” Tasting Garden Mix, oil on wood panel, 10” x 10” Leaf, oil on wood panel, 16” x 16” Pom Pom Marigolds, oil on wood panel, 10” x 10” Red Tops, oil on wood panel, 8” x 10” Isla Burns, Barge #2, forged steel, 14.5”(h) x 25”(l) x 9”(d) Laurie Steen, Poetry of Us: Etude 30.01, oil & charcoal on primed paper, 13.5” x 14.5” Laurie Steen, Poetry of Us: Etude 33.01, oil & charcoal on primed paper, 13.5” x 14.5” Isla Burns, Sea Warrior, forged steel& wood, 60”(h) x 35.5”(l) x 16”(d) (Table: Patrick Meagher, Beaver Table, bronze & glass 1/1, 24” (w) x 48” (l) x 17.5” (h))

Installation image (left to right): Jennifer Dickson, RA, Lord Burlington’s Conversazione, photograph 2/5, 13” x 9.5” Linda Nardelli, Fossil Written, mixed media on board, 48” X 48” Nancy Boyd, Interim, mixed media on board, 36” x 36”

Nancy Boyd

“The two women I’ve been most inspired by are Betty Goodwin and Dorothy Caldwell. Goodwin’s drawings of alienated figures are wildly free, luminous and achingly moving. And Caldwell takes a traditional woman’s medium, stitching, and turns it on its head. Her exquisite mark-making, her use of volatile hot wax and her references to geography and mapping are all elements that I connect with in my own work. An added bonus for me comes from following the many young women I taught over 2 decades as they make places for themselves in the art community, something I find truly inspiring.”

-Boyd

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Nancy Boyd, Cursory, mixed media on board, 30” x 30”

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Nancy Boyd, Interim, mixed media on board, 36” x 36”

Installation image (left to right, top to bottom): Jennifer Hornyak, Head of Boy, oil on linen, 16” x 16” Jennifer Hornyak, Stella, oil on linen, 30” x 24” Jennifer Hornyak, Ingrid, oil on linen, 18” x 18” Nancy Boyd, To the Edge 1, mixed media on paper, 6” x 6” Nancy Boyd, To the Edge 3, mixed media on paper, 6” x 6” Nancy Boyd, To the Edge 2, mixed media on paper, 6” x 6” Nancy Boyd, To the Edge 4, mixed media on paper, 6” x 6” Isla Burns, Black Orchid, forged steel, 21”(h) x 17.5”(l) x 10.5”(d) Robin Smith-Peck, She knew that she would have to listen carefully, ink on washi paper 6/8, 11.75” x 8.25” Robin Smith-Peck, Trying to get to the heart of the matter, she acted, ink on washi paper 6/8, 11.75” x 8.25”

Isla Burns

“I arrived in Edmonton with my family in 1970. We had come from Edinburgh where I had been attending night classes at The Edinburgh College of Art. It had always been my intention to study sculpture and so based on advice I had received in Edinburgh, I enrolled at ACAD. Second year was significant as we had opportunity to attend welding instruction at SAIT. This introduced me to steel, which quickly became my preferred material.

Having just turned 69, it interests me to realize that decisions made so long ago, set me on a life course, that has enriched my outlook, allowed me to meet and occasionally work for many senior artists and has helped me become a professional artist.

Throughout my early sculptural studies and to date, skill development in welding, forging and shaping, either by carving or modelling, or juxtaposing part to part, has been an ongoing and constant pursuit.

The aesthetic goals and discoveries are an integral part and perhaps outcrop from this language of steel and have found their expression in several genre.

Most recently, the Still Life has emerged as my major preoccupation.”

-Burns

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Isla Burns, Sea Warior, forged steel and wood, 60”(h) x 35”(l) x 16”(d) (includes table)

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Isla Burns, Black Orcid, 2012, forged steel, 21”(h) x 17.5”(l) x 10.5”(d)

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Isla Burns, Balland for Etta James, 2012, forged steel, 19” (h) x14”(w) x16”(d)

Photo: Peter Wedgewood

Jennifer Dickson

Trained as a painter and printmaker in the English academic tradition, Jennifer Dickson first picked up a camera to capture her images in 1975. The lack of a formal background in photography has proved a strength, in that being unaware of “the rules” she has broken them with impunity.

At five years old, in a Catholic convent, she was introduced to the 18th century approach to watercolour. She takes great delight in this medium, both for itself, and to introduce colour to the photo-etchings on which her European reputation is based.

As a young painter she had the luxury of painting her watercolours and oils on the spot. Few artists now enjoy such privilege. Therefore the camera enables the hunter-voyeur to bring back to the studio images which can evolve in a more contemplative way.

For Jennifer Dickson the photograph is a point of entry and not an end in itself. In her mixed media paintings the photo blow-up establishes the compositional structure. The gestural handling of light, shade, mood and weather evolves from the freedom of the act of painting in acrylics. A process of burial and retrieval, and a strong sense of ritual leads to the final resolution of the image.

Jennifer Dickson’s etchings are not literal documents. She attempts to capture the spirit of the place, using colour and light to evoke the transient nature of beauty.

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Jennifer Dickson, RA, Lord Burlington’s Conversazione, photograph 2/5, 13” x 9.5”

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Camrose Ducote

“When the isolation of COVID set in in March a group of us artists began to send each other daily drawings of whatever we had at hand in our immediate environments.

Not having done much drawing from life before I began tentatively using a pencil to capture the essence of my favourite cow skull then moving on to a Windex bottle whose form caught my eye as I cleaned.

Working with blind contour, looking at the object not at my drawing as I worked, the lines I created were quirky, honest and fresh if not perfectly correct. The experience felt completely new and my results were unexpected and exciting.

I moved on to some baroque porcelain figurines which were fortunate have escaped being hurled across the room as I tried to capture them in pen and ink. Finally I moved on to a simpler subject, an elegant set of Czechoslovakian made blue and white porcelain cups and saucers I inherited from parents. Working with dip pen and various nibs I fell in love with both the elegant forms of the cups which increasingly lent themselves to abstraction and the immediacy and unforgiving nature of the medium itself.

As the drawings become larger, more complex and farther removed from the actual cups I am excited to see where they will lead.”

-Ducote

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Images (left to right): Camrose Ducote, Untitled (December 12, 2020), pen & ink on paper on board, 16” x 16” Camrose Ducote, Untitled (October 3, 2020), pen & ink on paper on board, 16” x 16”

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Images (left to right): Camrose Ducote, Untitled (October 18, 2020), pen & ink on paper on board, 16” x 16” Camrose Ducote, Untitled (September 23, 2020), pen & ink on paper on board, 16” x 16”

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Installation image (left to right): Laurie Steen, Poetry of Us: Etude 30.01, oil & charcoal on primed paper, 13.5” x 14.5” Laurie Steen, Poetry of Us: Etude 33.01, oil & charcoal on primed paper, 13.5” x 14.5” Camrose Ducote, Untitled 17-17, mixed media on board, 30” x 30”

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Installation image (left to right): Joice M Hall, RCA, Sun Cloud, oil on canvas, 18” x 36” Camrose Ducote, Untitled (October 18, 2020), pen & ink on paper on board, 16” x 16” Camrose Ducote, Untitled (September 23, 2020), pen & ink on paper on board, 16” x 16” Camrose Ducote, Untitled (December 12, 2020), pen & ink on paper on board, 16” x 16” Untitled (October 3, 2020), pen & ink on paper on board, 16” x 16”

Joice M Hall

“My work is very different today from the large Male Nude paintings I did in the 80’s but I am still painting “Celebration Landscapes”. Although more specific to my location now I hope that the work is still timeless. In the particular, I am attempting to find the universal experience in landscape.

I don’t look at art through gender. The quality of the art and how it affects me are the most important criteria. I realize that women don’t have a level playing field in many areas of life but that is changing. I see this in the younger generation. All the time.

In my experience as a woman in the arts, I have had a few encounters with male patriarchy but most of those were in the mid-’70s and into the ‘80s when I was doing the Celebration Landscapes and Male Nudes.

Those experiences did not alter my approach to my painting practice.

Over the years I have continued in the landscape genre and have used my own personal locations to try to evoke a feeling of spirituality and wonder in the viewer.

Exhibitions of women artists are important because they introduce some artists to a larger audience than they would normally have.”

-Hall

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Joice M Hall, RCA, Sun Cloud, 2016, oil on canvas, 18” x 36”

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Joice M Hall, RCA, Beach View, Tanu, 2018, acrylic on canvas, 18” x 54”

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Joice M Hall, RCA, Driving South #22, oil on canvas, 6” x 9”

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Joice M Hall, RCA, Driving South #30, oil on canvas, 6” x 9”

Jennifer Hornyak

“Every year it becomes even more important to recognize the advances made in ensuring women take their rightful place in our modern world and, particularly, in the future landscape. ”

-Hornyak

Installation image (following page; left to right): Jennifer Hornyak, Head of Boy, oil on linen, 16” x 16” Jennifer Hornyak, Stella, oil on linen, 30” x 24” Jennifer Hornyak, Ingrid, oil on linen, 18” x 18” Dorothy Knowles, CM, COM, RCA, A Rainy Day In Harvest Time, 1991, oil on linen, 15” x 40” (far wall) Jennifer Dickson, RA, Lord Burlington’s Conversazione, photograph 2/5, 13” x 9.5” (left on pillar) Joice M Hall, RCA, Driving South #22, oil on canvas, 6” x 9” (top) Joice M Hall, RCA, Driving South #30, oil on canvas, 6” x 9” (bottom) (right on pillar)

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Jennifer Hornyak, Stella, oil on canvas, 30” x 24”

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Image (top to bottom): Jennifer Hornyak, Ingrid, oil on canvas, 18” x 18” Jennifer Hornyak, Head of Boy, oil on canvas, 16” x 16”

Dorothy Knowles

During my formative years as a practising artist I felt I had to work a little harder to get to the same place as a male artist. During the sixties I did hear someone comment that “that housewife can really paint.” However, I had such a desire to paint I didn’t think about gender. I just sort of felt like one of the artists. I never felt really discriminated against though, yes, certain artists were a little thrilled with their own masculinity. Most of the artists I knew were male.

There were some significant female role models to look to, however. A strong influence on my career was the landscape artist Reta Cowley, who was my art teacher and who later became my close friend. Another significant female presence on the Saskatoon art scene was Wynona Mulcaster, who was very active in the community. I was so glad to have the opportunity to know so many significant artists and to be part of such a vibrant art world where women could express their creativity and carve out their own space.

A big supporter of my work was my late husband, Bill Perehudoff, a Colour Field artist who encouraged me and helped me a great deal. Although I was married, I made the choice to use my maiden name as this is what most of the professional female artists in New York were doing.

All artists have had the experience of being excluded from certain galleries and exhibitions, but it didn’t deter me. Resilience is empowering. I was fortunate to meet professors, critics and artists who have been deeply involved in art, excited about painting and open to unique and individual voices.

-Knowles

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Dorothy Knowles, CM, COM, RCA, A Rainy Day In Harvest Time, 1991, oil on linen, 15” x 40”

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Dorothy Knowles, CM, COM, RCA, Clouds Over Prairie, 2009, acrylic on canvas, 48” x 72”

Following page, Installation image (left to right): Dorothy Knowles, CM, COM, RCA, Clouds Over Prairie, 2009, acrylic on canvas, 48” x 72” Elza Mayhew, RCA, Queen, Bronze a/p, 14.5” (h) x 11.75” (w) x 8” (d) Laurie Steen, RA, Drawing 1-21 to 5-21, conte & acrylic wash on primed rag paper, each 9” x 12”

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Elza Mayhew

Elza Mayhew (1916 – 2004) is perhaps one of Canada’s best known sculptors from the modernist period. She was chosen to represent Canada at the 1964 Venice Biennale with Harold Town, at Expo 67 in Montreal and at Expo 86 in Vancouver…. Her independence, her dedication to modern form, and her determination to create despite many challenges, marks Mayhew as one of a number of strong women artists…. A war widow with two children, [she] studied with Jan Zach from 1955 to 1958 and became entirely committed to her sculpture.

Michael Morris, Vision into Reality: Art Gallery of Great Victoria Early Years, 1951 - 1973, 2009.

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Elza Mayhew, Queen, bronze a/p, 14.5”(h) x 11.75”(w) x 8”(d)

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Elza Mayhew, Kin, bronze 2/6, 7”(h) x 11.75”(w) x 3”(d)

Photo: Lincoln Charles

Amy Modahl

“Sometimes I call these drawings instead of paintings because my process begins in a sketchbook with graphite and coloured pencil. Almost daily I draw common spaces and objects in our home, noticing new aspects like colours and line quality changing with the light. I notice how objects seem to move about and join together as if characters in daily domestic stories, creating compositions with heightened contrasts and combine views that I repeat in oil and drawing media. During this time of Covid-19, this project has become more meaningful for me. It’s a way to bring little dramas into my sedentary world.”

-Modahl

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Image (left to right): Amy Modahl, The Entry, Multiple Views, oil & graphite on board, 10.5” x 8.5” Amy Modahl, Clay Jars in the library, graphite & ink on board, 8.5” x 10.5” Amy Modahl, Furniture Gathering Late In The Day, oil & graphite on board, 10.5” x 8.5”

Image (left to right): Jennifer Dickson, RA, Lord Burlington’s Conversazione, photograph 2/5, 13” x 9.5” 62

Amy Modahl, Collection On The Desk, oil, graphite & ink on board, 9.5” x 11.5” Amy Modahl, Furniture Gathering Late In The Day, oil & graphite on board, 10.5” x 8.5” Amy Modahl, Vase Noon & Night, oil, graphite, conte & ink on board, 10.5” x 8.5”

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Amy Modahl, Collection On The Desk, oil, graphite & ink on board, 9.5” x 11.5”

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Amy Modahl, Vase Noon & Night, oil, graphite, conte & ink on board, 10.5” x 8.5”

Photo: Vern Minard Art

Linda Nardelli

“When I think of myself as a female artist, I don’t fit into the gender-biased patriarchal world that we live in. I see myself apart, standing the edge of obsoletion, except for a rich inner propulsion that beckons me to create.

As I look back at my art education, there too I felt unseen. When I attended the Okanagan College/University in 1991, I struggled with how minor a role women played in art history. I felt the pain of being so little represented.

Now, many years later, I’ve grown to not care; to not seek for a sense of belonging or rightness. Instead, I stand in the shadow painting the shadow; I paint the landscape of emotion without apology; I make no excuses – I’m a woman and I paint feelings. I give expression to the unseen elements – the bare threads that shape the tapestry or our lives, our relationship, our society, our bodies and our stories.”

-Nardelli

Installation image (left to right): Isla Burns, Sea Warrior, steel and wood, 60” (h) x 35.5” (w) x 16” (d)

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Linda Nardelli, Fossil Written, mixed media on wood panel, 48” x 48” (diptych) Linda Nardelli, Skeleton Woman, mixed media on wood panel, 48” x 24”

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Linda Nardelli, Fossil Written, mixed media on wood panel, 48” x 48” (diptych)

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Linda Nardelli, Skeleton Woman, mixed media on wood panel, 48” x 24”

Laurie Steen

“There is newness in everything; even places close to home. And there is a fondness and a knowing when revisiting familiar places and a comfort in walking these small lanes. It all feels very personal. I draw places that are familiar, and places that fill me with anticipation to explore or surprise me most unusually with the change in lighting or time of day.

The series of vignettes are intended to be executed quicker than works on mylar. This is made so by the fact that I like working with mediums that don’t necessarily go together; or that don’t allow me to make mistakes.

The conte permanently stains the primer on the paper, yet it allows me to wash it with water easier than even a sized watercolour paper. I love playing with different mediums and am thrilled with the effect of these.

The lines I leave on a drawing have much to do with making a mark at my first point of contact with a place; my first ‘pulling in’ or commitment to a drawing. The construction lines centre me and in essence reveal small truths about my thought processes.”

-Steen

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image (left to right): Laurie Steen, RA, Drawing 1-21, conte & acrylic wash on primed rag paper, each 9” x 12” Laurie Steen, RA, Drawing 2-21, conte & acrylic wash on primed rag paper, each 9” x 12” Laurie Steen, RA, Drawing 3-21, conte & acrylic wash on primed rag paper, each 9” x 12”

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image (left to right): Laurie Steen, RA, Drawing 4-21, conte & acrylic wash on primed rag paper, each 9” x 12” Laurie Steen, RA, Drawing 5-21, conte & acrylic wash on primed rag paper, each 9” x 12” Laurie Steen, RA, Drawing 6-21, conte & acrylic wash on primed rag paper, each 9” x 12”

Hilda Oomen

“Gardening is fundamental to my painting. My art practice has always been supported by my sideline as a gardener but aside from the practical role gardening plays, my work flows directly from the experience of working in gardens and is the main inspiration for painting; they each fuel the other.

I grow masses of flowers in 50 foot beds alongside a patchwork of vegetable plots. It is a wild tangle of colour and movement. Working small came slowly as my focus became exclusively flowers. Intimate portraits of single flowers or little bouquets and arrangements restore order and focus out of the chaos and exuberance of the garden.

I bring home arm loads of flowers and as they slowly droop and wither in the studio, the walls fill up with small painted squares of their presence. All is forgotten when you enter a garden; where you interpret through senses rather than thoughts. It frees a mind and restores the spirit.”

-Oomen

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Image (top to bottom): Hilda Oomen, Silver Cup, oil on wood panel, 8” x 8” Hilda Oomen, Tasting Garden Mix, oil on wood panel, 10” x 10”

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Hilda Oomen, Leaf, oil on wood panel, 16” x 16”

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Image (left to right): Hilda Oomen, Pom Pom Marigolds, oil on wood panel, 10” x 10” Hilda Oomen, Red Tops, oil on wood panel, 8” x 10”

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Robin Smith Peck

“For as long as I can remember I have been enthralled with this visual language. Beginning with the intricate web of etched lines describing the flood in the family bible to following mapped coastlines with my finger, this medium has provided a foundation for my understanding of the world.

The history of printmaking is a history of propositions, postulations, play and prayer. The profound need to ideate these aspects of human experience and share them led printmakers to create a visual vocabulary of image, notation, annotation and commentary, essentially the sign system of this graphic medium.”

-Smith Peck

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Robin Smith Peck, She Heard There Would Be Storms, ink on washi paper, 3/8, 11.75” x 8”

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images (left to Right): Robin Smith Peck, She Knew That She Would Have to Listen Carefully, ink on washi paper, 6/8, 11.75” x 8” Robin Smith Peck, Stories Were Told of What had Been Seen, ink on washi paper, 8/8,. 11.75” x 8”

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images (left to Right):

Robin Smith Peck, Without a Sound, It Let Itself Be Kown, ink on washi paper, 6/8, 11.75” x 8” Robin Smith Peck, Trying to Get to the Heart of the Matter, She Acted, ink on washi paper, 6/8, 11.75” x 8”

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Robin Smith Peck, In Winter the Passage Could be Seen, ink on washi paper, a/p, 11.75” x 8”

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Installation images (left to right): Diana Zasadny, New Growth, acrylic on canvas, 36” X 90” (tripdych) Series of oil works on canvas by Jennfer Hornyak(entrance wall) Four collage works by Nancy Boyd, each 6” x 6” (pillar left) Isla Burns, Black Orchid, steel, 21” (h) x 10.5”(w) x 17”(d) Two acrylic works on canvas by Diana Zasadny, each 12” x 12” (pillar right) Robin Smith Peck, series of works of ink on washi paper 11.75” x 8” (inner wall)

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Diana Zasadny

photo: Angeline Simon

“During my time at the Alberta College of Art and Design, I spent a summer working at Canadian Art Galleries in Calgary through a city work program.

I became acquainted and intrigued by the artwork of Dorothy Knowles, Doris McCarthy and several female painters, seeing their art in a formal, commercial gallery setting. I didn’t know it, but I would be following that path in a few years.

While I was in college I was also introduced to women artists following a conceptual path, conveying ideas and theory in materials and ways that expanded my view of the world. Both streams of art, the skill and knowledge that comes from senior and emerging women artists, continue to energize and motivate me and my artwork. I am grateful for those who worked before creating this path for the artists here today.”

-Zasadny

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Diana Zasadny, New Growth, acrylic on canvas, 36” X 90” (tripdych)

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Diana Zasadny, Forest Music, acrylic on canvas, 30” X 60”

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Images (top to bottom): Diana Zasadny, Foothills Slow Sunrise, acrylic on canvas, 12” X 12” Diana Zasadny, Spting Leaves, Whitemud Creek, acrylic on canvas, 12” X 12”

Installation image (previous page, left to right): Camrose Ducote, Untitled 17-17, mixed media on board, 30” x 30” Diana Zasadny, Forest Music, acrylic on canvas, 30” X 60” Amy Modahl, Collection On The Desk, oil, graphite & ink on board, 9.5” x 11.5” 100

Camrose Ducote, Untitled (October 18, 2020), pen & ink on paper on board, 16” x 16” Camrose Ducote, Untitled (September 23, 2020), pen & ink on paper on board, 16” x 16” Camrose Ducote, Untitled (December 12, 2020), pen & ink on paper on board, 16” x 16” Untitled (October 3, 2020), pen & ink on paper on board, 16” x 16” Linda Nardelli, Fossil Written, mixed media on wood panel, 48” x 48” (diptych)

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