Winter 2018/19 myWAG

WINTER 2018/19

Winnipeg Art Gallery

300 Memorial Boulevard Winnipeg, MB, Canada R3C 1V1

Gallery hours Tues–Sun 11am-5pm, Fri 11am-9pm, Closed Mon Front Desk 204.786.6641 Art Classes 204.789.1766 Development 204.789.1299 Facility Rentals 204.789.1765 Group Tours 204.789.0516 School Tours 204.789.1762 En français 204.789.1763 Gallery Shop 204.789.1769 Tues–Sun 11am-5pm, Fri 11am-9pm

Meet Icon North (left) and Bird Wrap (right), a pair of bronze sculptures by Ivan Eyre, newly installed on the WAG front ramp.

front cover: Installing Salon Style: Reimagining the Collection. photo: Studio D Photography. back cover: Unidentified artist. Iglu, 18741892. Ivory and black colouring.

Collection of the WAG. The Cotter Collection, acquired with funds from an anonymous donor, G-91-52ab. photo: Leif Norman.

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Salon Style: Reimagining The Collection

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The 80s Image

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Morrisseau: Androgyny

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Mary Yuusipik Singaqti: Back River Memories

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Nivinngajuliaat From Baker Lake

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Behind Closed Doors

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Robert Archambeau: A Conversation In Clay

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Membership Renew your membership today • 204.789.1764 Individual $60 • Couple** $85 Family* $95 • Student $30 Senior $50 • Senior Couple $75 For Preferred membership rates, visit wag.ca/membership * Up to 2 adults & 4 children under 18 living in the same household

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WAG Inuit Art Centre

** 2 individuals living in the same household

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Programs, Events & WAG Studio

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Follow us online. Exhibitions, programming dates, and content are subject to change. Visit wag.ca for the most up-to-date information.

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Every second year, the galleries blossom with fresh flowers inspired by the artwork on display. Welcome spring with inventive floral designs interpreting dozens of works from the WAG collection.

Entry is FREE with Gallery admission FREE for WAG members

Parking Bay Parkade across from the Gallery, meters on surrounding streets.

Wheelchair accessible.

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Admission Member/Child (5 & under) FREE Senior/Student $10 • Adult $12 • Family* $28

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For more exhibitions, visit wag.ca/art

myWAG is published by the WAG. © 2018 Winnipeg Art Gallery. Printed in Canada. exhibition articles: Alison Mayes. photography: Leif Norman, Mike Peters Media, unless otherwise noted.

WAG@The Forks 204.789.1349 For hours visit shopwag.ca For holiday hours, see page 15.

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DIRECTOR’S MESSAGE

The end of the year often brings with it reflections on the past year as well as what’s ahead. Looking back on 2018, I am filled with gratitude and wonder as we see the impact of the beauty and power of art. For me it confirms once again that art can make a difference in our community and in people’s lives. So it’s truly a privilege and an honour to be leading the WAG—Canada’s oldest civic art gallery— at this time.

It’s really been an amazing year at the WAG— and it’s hard to even narrow it down to a few shining moments. In the late spring we closed the INSURGENCE/RESURGENCE exhibition, the largest contemporary Indigenous show in the WAG’s history. And before its closing, over 10,000 Manitoba school children visited the exhibition and learned a little more about the power of art. Later this year we announced the Winnipeg Indigenous Biennial, supported by BMO Bank of Montreal, which will be launched in 2020—another first for the WAG, and another chance to do something great and lasting in our city.

Partnerships abound at the WAG with The Forks, Assiniboine Park Conservancy, and the Government of Nunavut, to name just a few.

One of our new partnerships—Art to Inspire— with the Alzheimer Society of Manitoba and the University of Manitoba, has brought the WAG many new friends as we use art to encourage and empower people living with dementia.

Marking what have become annual events at the WAG, this fall we saw thousands of people come through our doors for Nuit Blanche and CRAFTED. But they didn’t just come and go— they stayed, spent time in the galleries, and learned a little more about the power of art.

There were many new faces and experiences on these visits, which reminds me there are so many more people we want to welcome and engage with at the WAG. Whether it’s an exhibition, film screening, gallery tour, pop-up rooftop performance, MakerLab, or lecture— there is something at the WAG for you. And if you can’t find that connection—let us know how we can make it happen. We are here to serve the whole community, and that includes you!

Next door to the WAG, a magnificent structure is rising up—the Inuit Art Centre, the first of its kind in the world—and right here in Winnipeg.

It will open in 2020, coinciding with Manitoba’s 150th anniversary, giving us the opportunity to reach even further with our mission of using art to connect, inspire, and inform.

We have much to celebrate and lots to be thankful for at the WAG, in our city, and across the country. I have a fantastic team at the Gallery—staff, board, and volunteers—working every day to keep the WAG welcoming and relevant. And at this time of the year, we feel especially close to you, our members and supporters, because none of it would be possible without you. My warmest wishes of the season! m y WAG

Dr. Stephen Borys Director & CEO Winnipeg Art Gallery @stephenborys @stephenborys_wag

photo: Studio D Photography

WAG NEWS

The sold-out Gallery Ball in October was an amazing success raising thousands of dollars for the WAG’s Youth Outreach and Education Programs. More photos at galleryball.wag.ca.

A new 48-ft-wide outdoor installation at Portage Ave and Sherbrook St currently features Kenojuak Ashevak’s The Enchanted Owl (1960), thanks to Sussex Realty and other generous community supporters.

In November, the Gallery announced the establishment of the Winnipeg Indigenous Biennial, the first international Indigenous biennial organized by a public art museum in Canada, to launch with the opening of the WAG Inuit Art Centre.

This year’s CRAFTED: Show + Sale was our biggest yet with close to 4,000 guests and a philanthropic cookbook created with Ayoko Design to benefit Winnipeg Harvest.

CRAFTED is presented in partnership with Manitoba Craft Council and the Nunavut Arts and Crafts Association.

Thank You m y WAG

Another collaboration for Wall-to-Wall is the covered pedestrian walkway in front of the WAG Inuit Art Centre construction site, showcasing Mosaic Sea

by Kailey Sheppard in conjunction with Graffiti Art Programming.

A 32ft x 25ft mural on the University of Winnipeg’s Duckworth Centre recreates Daphne Odjig’s Thunderbird Woman (1973) on Ellice Ave, as part of Synonym Art Consultation’s 2018 Wallto-Wall Festival.

This winter watch for Arctic Topiaries on the river, a family of caved forms by Michael Maltzan Architecture—the designer for the WAG Inuit Art Centre—as part of the 10th anniversary of Warming Huts: An Arts + Architecture Competition on Ice at The Forks.

donors — you’re amazing!

Your gifts help change the world through art.

wag.ca/supporters

SALON STYLE: REIMAGINING THE COLLECTION

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magine living at an English country house like Downton Abbey, or an ancient academy like Harry Potter’s Hogwarts. Paintings, accumulated over centuries, would be crammed on the towering walls and stairwells, their ornate frames nearly touching one another.

It’s a way of displaying art that can convey history, continuity, and legacy.

It’s the opposite of today’s gallery norm of isolating works on plain walls. But a thoughtful grouping of many works, juxtaposing landscapes, portraits, still lifes, and more, can invite comparisons and spark renewed appreciation of old favourites like Group of Seven masterworks, says Andrew Kear, WAG Chief Curator and Curator of Canadian Art. The wall-filling approach is known as a “salonstyle hang” in reference to the way artworks were displayed in salon exhibitions in Paris during the 17th to 19th centuries.

With some of the WAG’s galleries currently closed to accommodate the construction of the Inuit Art Centre, Salon Style: Reimagining the Collection showcases more than 150 of the greatest hits of the WAG painting collection in one breathtaking gallery. The artists range from the German Lucas Cranach and the French Eugène-Louis Boudin to Canadians Tom Thomson and Prudence Heward.

Dr. Stephen Borys, Director & CEO of the WAG, and Kear each curated two salon-style spaces, with Borys tackling the period 1500 to 1900 and Kear 1900 to the mid-1970s. Each plotted out the arrangements by moving paintings around on

huge foam rectangles on the floor—a challenge that Kear likens to the video game Tetris.

Borys encourages you to notice influences between European and Canadian works. For instance, the style of an idyllic landscape by the French Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot from 1855 is echoed in a pastoral scene from circa 1900 by the Canadian John Hammond.

Until Sept 2019

Gallery 9

Curated by Dr. Stephen Borys & Andrew Kear

Some works seem to speak to each other. Borys has positioned two of the WAG’s best-loved oil paintings of children, George Agnew Reid’s The Story (1890), depicting boys in a hayloft, and Sir John Everett Millais’ Afternoon Tea (The Gossips) (1889), portraying girls at a tea party, opposite each other on facing walls.

The curators had a friendly competition to see who pulled off the best salon-style hang. Borys hands the victory to Kear for a wall that creates stunning impact by combining nine large-scale paintings from the 1950s, ’60s and ’70s by renowned Canadians such as Jack Bush, Kenneth Lochhead, and Jean-Paul Riopelle.

“I love it,” Borys says. “It’s a completely abstracted wall, which is really cool.”

EXHIBITIONS

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THE 80s IMAGE

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hen you think of 1980s culture, chances are you envision moving images, whether it’s Madonna’s Like A Prayer music video, the movie Wall Street, or the TV series Miami Vice. If, as the song proclaimed, “video killed the radio star,” what effect did the proliferation of MTV videos, round-the-clock cable news networks, and other aspects of 1980s “communication overload” have on painting and still photography?

Until spring 2019

Galleries 7 & 8

Curated by Andrew Kear

General Idea. AIDS (detail), 1988.

Acrylic on canvas, silkscreened wallpaper. Collection of the WAG, acquired with funds from the Eckhardt-Gramatté Foundation, G-92-191.

Andrew Kear, the WAG’s Chief Curator and Curator of Canadian Art, took that as his central question as he delved into the WAG collection to assemble The 80s Image, an exhibition of almost 50 paintings and photo-based works by significant artists, nearly all Canadian.

He chose artists who pushed formal boundaries, responded to media influences, reinterpreted art-world icons, and used the paintbrush or camera to confront political and social issues.

Kear describes the show as “subversive, unexpected, and punchy.”

Mixtape

University of Winnipeg radio station CKUW 95.9 FM has curated an ’80s “mixtape,” enabling you to use the WAG mobile app to hear songs by musicians such as David Bowie, Laurie Anderson, and Skinny Puppy paired with specific works.

A painting by the renowned Peter Doig, on loan to the WAG, is accompanied by the classic rap track White Lines—a request made by the artist himself!

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The 80s Image had a “totally tubular” free opening in September as part of Culture Days Manitoba and Nuit Blanche Winnipeg. Nearly 4,000 visitors took in its big, bold, provocative works.

The show’s feminist voices comment on representations of women and satirize domestic bliss. Indigenous artists pointedly address the legacies of colonization. Many works from the “Decade of Greed” critique consumerism.

“Some of the artists blow up photographs to almost billboard proportions and incorporate text in a way that is in dialogue with advertising,” Kear says.

EXHIBITIONS

The lone video work, Television Spots by Stan Douglas, is a collection of banal, uneventful mininarratives, interspersed with actual commercials for products such as dandruff shampoo. The “spots” unsettle the viewer by selling nothing.

“They wake us up, reminding us that we’re very passive viewers,” Kear says.

At the centre of The 80s Image is the installation AIDS by the collective General Idea. This profoundly activist work plays on Robert Indiana’s 1960s LOVE icon. A pop art-style AIDS logo is repeated, like a virus, in three vibrant paintings and floor-to-ceiling wallpaper.

The work takes on added poignancy in light of the deaths of two of the three General Idea artists, Felix Partz and Jorge Zontal, of AIDS-related causes. Partz was born in Winnipeg and met the third member of the collective, A. A. Bronson, in the 1960s when he was a student at the University of Manitoba. In fact you can find a sculpture by Partz (a.k.a. Ron Gabe), Sunbeams (Marching over the Hill) from 1966, on campus outside of the Marcel A. Desautels Music Building.

MORRISSEAU: ANDROGYNY

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orval Morrisseau was a giant of the Canadian art world. Now one of his most monumental works—in terms of both size and significance—is being shown at the WAG for the first time. Androgyny is a magnificent, wall-filling canvas that the Anishinaabe painter made as a gift to the people of Canada in 1983.

In Morrisseau’s signature style, with heavy black outlines, intense colours and segmented bodies, it depicts all of Earth’s creatures—birds, butterflies, fish, frogs, turtles, muskrats, people— co-existing in harmony, overseen by the central figure of the Thunderbird.

Indigenous art historian Viviane Gray writes that the vibrant work presents “a thriving and bountiful world in which all the diverse elements, including the male and female characteristics that are part of nature, are in perfect balance.”

The massive painting is on loan from the federal government. “We jumped at the opportunity to host it,” says Jaimie Isaac, WAG Curator of Indigenous and Contemporary Art. “It’s layered with traditional meaning. Morrisseau is talking about the balance of the four realms of earth, water, sky, and underworld.

“He made it as an offering to Canada when Pierre Trudeau was prime minister. Now Trudeau’s son is in that same position, and the artwork is very relevant today. Androgyny illustrates a world in balance and its cyclical nature. It addresses issues like gender equality, non-binary gender identity, environmental concerns, climate change, and notions of reconciliation between Indigenous and nonIndigenous peoples.”

Morrisseau was born in 1932 and grew up in northern Ontario. He had kinship ties to First Nations in Manitoba. In Winnipeg in the 1970s, he joined with six other artists to form the influential Professional Native Indian Artists Inc. “This painting’s relevance in Winnipeg is really strong,” Isaac says.

Androgyny was originally installed in a federal government building. In 2006, a year before the artist’s death, the National Gallery of Canada gave it a prominent place in the exhibition Norval Morrisseau: Shaman Artist. Subsequently displayed at Ottawa’s Rideau Hall, Androgyny is now widely considered a masterpiece.

Until fall 2019

Eckhardt Hall

Curated by Jaimie Isaac

left-right: Norval Morrisseau painting Androgyny. photo: Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada’s Indigenous Art Centre; Norval Morrisseau. Androgyny (detail), 1983. Acrylic on canvas elements: 365.7 x 152.4 cm each; overall: 365.7 x 609.6 cm; unframed: 365.7 x 609.6 cm. Collection of Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada. photo: Radovan Radulovic.

As for the painting’s immense proportions, “It was a really grand gesture on Morrisseau’s behalf,” Isaac says. “The many layers of reference and the breadth of knowledge shared in this mural-sized painting are profound.”

Indigenous art historian Carmen Robertson writes that the acclaimed artist presented Androgyny to all Canadians as “a decolonizing gesture of reconciliation.” The WAG’s Isaac agrees.

“Reconciliation is about relationship-making,” she says. “Morrisseau’s offering implied that he was seeking a reciprocal relationship between Indigenous peoples and Canada.”

EXHIBITIONS

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MARY YUUSIPIK SINGAQTI: BACK RIVER MEMORIES

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ary Yuusipik Singaqti belonged to the last generation of Inuit to experience the nomadic way of life that centred on hunting caribou. She was born in 1936 in the remote Back River area, north of Baker Lake (Qamani’tuaq) in what is now Nunavut.

The inland people who followed the caribou had a distinct culture, different from that of coastal Inuit.

Until spring 2019

Gallery 6

Curated by Dr. Darlene Coward Wight

Mary Yuusipik Singaqti and grandson. photo: David Ford; Mary Yuusipik Singaqti. The Young and the Old, 1999-2008.

Coloured pencil, graphite on paper. 28.6 x 38.2 cm. Collection of the WAG, acquired with funds from a dedicated donation from Marnie and Karen Schreiber, 2015-42. photo: Serge Saurette.

By 1964, Yuusipik and her extended family had moved into the hamlet of Baker Lake because of famine on the land. Her mother, Jessie Oonark, earned fame as a graphic and textile artist.

Yuusipik and her siblings also became wellknown artists.

In the exquisitely detailed drawings, which convey a strong sense of community, you will see people working together at tasks such as drying caribou meat. Wight particularly likes one in which a hunter with a bow and arrow waits for caribou to swim across the river.

Dr. Darlene Coward Wight, WAG Curator of Inuit Art, had long been aware of Yuusipik’s wall hangings and carvings. But it wasn’t until a few years ago that the curator heard about the artist’s coloured-pencil drawings, recalling life in the Back River camps. Yuusipik had started making them in the late 1990s, distilling her memories of the 1940s and 1950s.

One moonlit picture is based on Yuusipik’s memory of hungry wolves threatening the camp.

At night, the family had to pour water over their iglu to form an ice shield so the animals couldn’t dig into the dwelling.

“When I saw these drawings, I was absolutely blown away,” Wight says. “They were a total revelation. A unique culture was laid out in the most incredible detail. Yuusipik weaves these small vignettes of various activities together into a composition, often tied together by the river or the landscape.”

In 2014, the curator visited the elderly artist at her home in Baker Lake. She interviewed Yuusipik through an Inuktitut translator, recording her stories.

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EXHIBITIONS

Wight was so impressed by the autobiographical drawings that in 2015, she arranged for the WAG to purchase 26 of them. Then, to her great sadness, Yuusipik passed away in 2017.

Mary Yuusipik Singaqti: Back River Memories is the first solo exhibition of the artist. It features the 26 captivating drawings, as well as four striking wall hangings and four sculptures.

Yuusipik’s motivation was simply to show her life, Wight says. “She told me, ’I want the younger generation to know about me, how we used to live [and] how life was before.’”

NIVINNGAJULIAAT FROM BAKER LAKE

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hen inland Inuit women lived on the tundra, they were highly skilled at making caribou-skin clothing with inset fur decorations.

In the 1960s, those who had been relocated to Baker Lake (Qamani’tuaq) were introduced to making woolen fabric garments as a source of income.

Some of these talented sewers started using the leftover scraps of duffle and felt to make fabric collage pictures, arranging appliqué cut-outs on cloth backgrounds and adding embroidery.

These pieces became known as wall hangings (nivinngajuliaat).

Nivinngajuliaat from Baker Lake brings together 12 stunning, large-scale wall hangings by nine textile artists, including the acclaimed Jessie Oonark (mother of Mary Yuusipik Singaqti), Irene Avaalaaqiaq, and Marion Tuu’luq. Many of the works, dating from the 1970s to the 1990s, are from the Government of Nunavut Fine Art Collection, on long-term loan to the WAG. The works abound with arctic animals, birds, fish, and flowers. Some employ repeated abstract forms, such as the human head. Some powerfully evoke Inuit mythology, with figures in mid-transformation from human to animal.

The artists show a striking command of colour and composition, and extraordinary skill at cutting out forms and adding different kinds of intricate stitching.

Guest curator Krista Ulujuk Zawadski presents outstanding examples of how Baker Lake artists combined southern materials with northern knowledge and vision to develop a unique Inuit art form.

Irene Avaalaaqiaq Tiktaalaaq, Good and Evil, 1992. Duffle, felt, embroidery floss.

Collection of the WAG, G-93-27.

Until spring 2019 • Skylight Gallery

Guest curated by Krista Ulujuk Zawadski

Presented in partnership with

EXHIBITIONS

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BEHIND CLOSED DOORS

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aimie Isaac loves to visit artists in their studios. The WAG Curator of Indigenous and Contemporary Art finds it fascinating to peek at how artists begin with a loosely formed idea, conduct research and experiment as they develop the concept, and finally, through a process that is seldom linear or predictable, emerge with a finished creation.

Until spring 2019

Gallery 5

Isaac’s curatorial concept for the exhibition Behind Closed Doors is to share some of that behind-the-scenes discovery with you.

She has asked ten artists to exhibit several interdisciplinary works each, in ways that reveal some of their creative process.

Curated by Jaimie Isaac

Featured Artists Ian August Irene Bindi Mia Feuer Takashi Iwasaki Shaun Morin and Melanie Rocan Kristin Nelson Matea Radic Dominique Rey Robert Taite

“I want to expose the enchantment of a studio visit,” Isaac says. “A lot of these artists first sketch, then watercolour, then transform the work’s materiality and form through sculpture and installation. In this exhibition, the audience can actually see that transformation and see the process unfolding.”

All the featured artists live in the city or have roots here, many making their WAG debuts. “I really wanted to focus on the amount of amazing work happening in Winnipeg,” Isaac says.

Matea Radic. Cage, 2018.

Film still. Private collection.

The curator has collaborated with the artists in deciding how to best show their “laboratory of process.” The exhibition includes sculpture, collage, painting, drawing, photography, animation, and sound-based work.

The title Behind Closed Doors carries further meaning, Isaac says. She invited Ian August

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EXHIBITIONS

and Irene Bindi to venture inside the WAG’s basement vault of more than 27,000 artworks and “excavate” an object from the collection to influence the creation of a new piece.

August, who is interested in the dialogue between painting and sculpture, often constructs models as part of his painting process. His imagination was seized by two ornate silver sauceboats dating from 1806. They’re magnificent examples of British Regency silver and are significant locally because they belonged to Lord Selkirk, the Scottish colonizer of what is now Manitoba.

Bindi is known for installation, collage, and sound works. She researched several pieces from the vault, including a 1960s bronze sculpture, before choosing to reinterpret a 1985 work by Canadian photographer Vikky Alexander called Between Dreaming & Living #6.

“It’s fascinating for artists to see what’s in the WAG’s holdings, and to look at some of those objects through a re-interpretive and contemporary lens,” says the curator. “I’m interested in finding ways for the public, as well as artists, to interact and engage with the WAG collection.”

ROBERT ARCHAMBEAU: A CONVERSATION IN CLAY

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n 1968, Robert Archambeau arrived in Winnipeg to teach ceramics at the University of Manitoba. The Ohio-born potter became a leading figure in Canadian ceramic art. His wood-fired stoneware bowls, vases, teapots, and other vessels exhibit a quiet, masterful command of form and technique, with textures and glazes influenced by Asian ceramics and by the rural Manitoba landscape.

Until Mar 10, 2019

Mezzanine Gallery

Curated by Dr. Stephen Borys

The professor emeritus at the U of M School of Art, now 85 years old, won the Governor General’s Award in Visual and Media Arts in 2003. He has said about his work, “It is, I hope… a distillation of the magic and mystery that surrounds me… and at its best is serene, rich in detail, detached from the mundane, and timeless.”

Dr. Stephen Borys, WAG Director & CEO, has curated Robert Archambeau: A Conversation in Clay in celebration of the artist’s renowned body of work, 50 years of influence and mentorship at the U of M, and Archambeau’s recent gift of about 30 exquisite vessels to the WAG. The exhibition features the newly donated works, along with about 15 key pieces already in the collection. We asked Borys three questions about the show.

Supported by Michelle Archambeau and Greg Cymbalist Daniel Anderson David H. Kaye David Kaye Gallery Stephen and Hazel Borys

WAG: Why is “conversation” in the exhibition title?

SB: When I first met Robert Archambeau about 10 years ago at his U of M studio, we spent five hours in deep conversation as he showed me pieces and talked about creating them. For this show, I wanted to try to recreate that personal engagement with him and his passion for each piece.

One of the things I love about his work is that many pieces were made to be used. He once gave me a bowl and said my son should use it for Cheerios, which he did.

far left: Robert W. Archambeau.

Covered vessel (detail), 1998.

Stoneware, bronze. 29.8 x 23.2 cm.

Collection of the WAG, gift from the collection of Robert and Meridel Archambeau, 1999-14 ab.

Photo: Ernest Mayer. far right: Robert Archambeau, November 2018.

WAG: What do you want visitors to appreciate?

SB: The way he combines the shape of a vessel with the surface treatment is remarkable. You see all these organic colours and varied textures that he knows how to control in the kiln. Whether it’s a plate or a large vase, each piece represents a huge body of knowledge and technical expertise.

I’ve never met a ceramic artist more interested in other cultures. But those influences, such as from China or Korea, are subtly incorporated in a way that still allows for his own style and vision to lead.

WAG: Why are you presenting the works without labels?

SB: I want the visitor to focus on the object and see it in the context of a larger body of work. With this particular show, I think it’s more powerful to let the vessels lead and inform the visitor.

EXHIBITIONS

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UPCOMING@WAG Here’s a sneak peek of what’s next at the Gallery!

TAKING CARE Apr 13–Aug 18 • Curated by Jaimie Isaac Taking Care is an interdisciplinary group exhibition that focuses on health and wellness, food sovereignty, mental health, alternative medicines, and plant knowledge in North America from divergent contemporary voices. The root meaning of the word “curate” is to care-for, which is extended in this show to the act of caring for health and its intersection with artistic agency.

VISION EXCHANGE Divya Mehra. Afterlife of Colonialism, a reimagining of Power: It’s possible that the Sun has set on your Empire OR Why your voice does not matter: Portrait of an Imbalanced, and yet contemporary diasporic India vis-à-vis Colonial Red, Curry Sauce Yellow, and Paradise Green (detail), 2018. Inflatable attempt at the Taj Mahal, acrylic deep base paint, 15' x 15' x 15'.

May 11–Sept 8 • Organized by the Art Gallery of Alberta and the National Gallery of Canada Vision Exchange: Perspectives from India to Canada brings together the work of 20 contemporary artists from India and artists of Indian heritage living in Canada, the largest exhibition of its kind to be presented in Manitoba. Artists address issues of shifting histories and borders; relationships to the land; as well as the complex themes of migration, immigration, and diaspora.

Drop by the Pavilion at Assiniboine Park Conservancy (APC).

Entry to the galleries is FREE! Winter hours: Daily 9am-4pm.

WJ PHILLIPS AND HIS CONTEMPORARIES Until Mar 31 • Curated by Andrew Kear • John P. Crabb Gallery • The Pavilion, 2nd floor This recently opened exhibition features some of WJ Phillips’ best watercolours and prints, presented alongside a selection by artists with whom he associated, including Charles Comfort, Alison Newton, L.L. FitzGerald, Fritz Brandtner, Lynn Sissons, and Pauline Boutal.

A SENSE OF SCALE: THE ART OF IVAN EYRE, 1970-2000 WAG@ThePark. photo: Studio D Photography.

Until Apr 14 • Curated by Andrew Kear • Ivan Eyre Gallery • The Pavilion, 3rd floor Drawn entirely from the APC collection, which houses the largest collection of Ivan Eyre’s art, A Sense of Scale surveys the celebrated Manitoba artist’s creative production from the 1970s to the turn of the millennium.

Morocco

SOLD OUT!

TRAVELTOURS Oct 22–Nov 8, 2019 • A fundraising project of the Associates of the Winnipeg Art Gallery Join Sherry and Bill Glanville on an exciting trip to Morocco!

Explore this fascinatingly diverse country, from the rugged Atlantic coastline to the peaks of the Atlas Mountains, from sweeping deserts to narrow alleyways of ancient souqs. Experience the holiday of a lifetime, while also supporting the WAG. Thank you to the community for your overwhelming support. To sign-up for the waiting list or to watch for future Travel Tours, visit wag.ca/associates

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EXHIBITIONS

YOU CAN CONNECT PEOPLE THROUGH THE POWER OF ART Each of the 13,000 pieces of Inuit art the WAG holds in trust tells a story: not only the story the artist created, but also the story of their life, culture, and community. When you experience the Centre, you will also create personal stories to share.

The WAG Inuit Art Centre will be a hub for art, action, and interaction where people will experience artists’ stories and share their own. It will build bridges between North and South, between cultures, and between the past and the future. It will amplify the voices of Inuit while engaging and including our whole community.

To date, many Canadian families, businesses, and individual people have contributed to the creation of the WAG Inuit Art Centre. Their gifts, along with $35 million from the government sector, have brought us within $10 million of our $65 million capital campaign goal.

View the new video at inuit.wag.ca

BUT WE STILL NEED YOUR HELP. There are many ways you can play a role in ensuring art will inspire and connect people at the WAG Inuit Art Centre for generations to come.

To make a gift and to learn how you can help connect North and South, and the past and the future, through Inuit art and stories: Call 204.789.1764 or visit wag.ca/donate.

INUIT ART CENTRE

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The official groundbreaking ceremony for the WAG Inuit Art Centre was held on May 25, 2018.

The guest curatorial team for the inaugural exhibition was there to celebrate and plan the opening exhibition (pictured left to right, Kablusiak, Krista Ulujuk Zawadski, Asinnajaq, Dr. Heather Igloliorte).

The WAG Inuit Art Centre will open in 2020, Manitoba’s 150th anniversary. Photo: Pauline Boldt/26 Projects.

A CONVERSATION WITH DR. HEATHER IGLOLIORTE Working with Asinnajaq, Kablusiak, and Krista Ulujuk Zawadski, Dr. Heather Igloliorte leads the guest curatorial team developing the WAG Inuit Art Centre’s inaugural exhibitions. She was among a group of Inuit the WAG brought together in 2012 to brainstorm about what an Inuit Art Centre could be.

WAG: Has the vision for the Inuit Art Centre changed since 2012?

HI: Since 2012, we’ve developed a clear vision around engaging people in new ways of thinking about Inuit and our arts. There are now new technologies that will allow us to preserve oral histories of Inuit artists, offer programs and events to virtually connect people in the North and South, and more.

WAG: The curatorial team met recently with the WAG Indigenous Advisory Circle.

What can you tell us about that?

Exterior rendering of the WAG Inuit Art Centre. Michael Maltzan Architecture.

HI: We had a great meeting with a lot to talk about, including the inaugural exhibition, entitled INUA. The word has two meanings: spirit, or life force, which conveys how the Centre is celebrating Inuit identity; and it is also an acronym for Inuit Nunangat Ungammuaktut Atautikkut, which loosely translates as ’Inuit Moving Forward Together.’ Inuit are, and have always been, a forwardlooking people.

WAG: What challenges have the curators faced while developing the inaugural exhibition?

HI: This is the first time a curatorial team has had representation from all four regions of Inuit Nunangat (the Inuit regions of Canada) and we all feel responsible to our communities. So, we’re mindful of representing each Inuit region and urban Inuit, while bringing together different generations of artists and art in many different media.

It’s also challenging to create an exhibition for a building that’s still under construction! We can draw a floor plan, but some of the artworks haven’t even been created yet. It can be terrifying, but also exciting. I love a good challenge, and we are working with an excellent team, so there’s immense potential.

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INUIT ART CENTRE

WAG: You’ve said the focus of the inaugural exhibition will be on emerging Inuit artists.

Will more traditional artists also be represented?

HI: Definitely. New works will be integrated with pieces from the collection, representing several generations.

Remember, most of what we think of as ’traditional’ Inuit art is only a few decades old, as modern Inuit sculpture and printmaking as we know it largely developed in the mid-20th century. But Inuit have always made art with the materials available to them and there’s a continuous thread of creativity between generations of artists. Emerging artists experimenting in new forms are still grounded in the culture of being creative with whatever materials are available—today, that could be anything!

WAG: What else can we expect to see in the inaugural exhibition?

HI: We anticipate presenting dozens of artists through collection-based works, new works by senior artists, loaned works, and works by early and mid-career artists. About half of the new artworks will be commissioned especially for the exhibition. Besides Canadian Inuit art, there will be works from other circumpolar areas such as Greenland, Alaska, and Siberia; the Inuit world is vast, and our arts proliferate everywhere.

The scope and dynamics of this exhibition will be unlike anything that’s come before. It won’t just be a visual art experience. We anticipate music, performance, tattooing, and other forms of Inuit artistic expression will have prominent places in INUA and throughout the Inuit Art Centre.

WAG: What’s next for the inaugural exhibition guest curators?

HI: We’ll be talking to artists, preparing to offer commissions, and confirming loaned works. We’ll have another look through the WAG’s collections and choose pieces for the show.

Once we’ve settled on the artworks, we’ll finalize a floor plan for displaying them in the Centre’s Inuit Gallery. We’re also considering opportunities for some of the smaller gallery spaces.

WAG: When the Inuit Art Centre opens in 2020, the inaugural exhibition is bound to have a big impact on visitors. What other effects do you see the Centre having?

HI: This year’s Polaris Prize winner, Jeremy Dutcher, said Canada is experiencing an Indigenous

Interior rendering of the WAG Inuit Art Centre Visible Vault. Michael Maltzan Architecture.

renaissance and I really feel that’s true. We’re on the cusp of an artistic revolution and the WAG Inuit Art Centre is going to be a leader in that.

There is no one place in the North where Inuit can see art from all regions of Inuit Nunangat in one place, so the Centre is important for that reason. And it will be incredibly exciting to have permanent Inuit staff in place at the WAG. The Inuit Art Centre’s amazing Visible Vault will inspire artists and visitors alike, drawing people back again and again.

This will be a Centre for all people. It will be a dynamic space for experiencing art and a hub of education, research, programming, and performance. It will be great for everyone.

INUIT ART CENTRE

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ADULT PROGRAMS Delve deeper into the art with special pricing for WAG members. Details and tickets: wag.ca/events.

Feb 6 • Tour: Behind Closed Doors with Jaimie Isaac Feb 20 • Video: Electric Dreams— BBC Documentary—The 1980s Mar 6 • Video: FASTWURM montage of films including Denim Pox, Telepathacat, Wiz-Dum, and Blood Clock Mar 20 • Video: General Idea: Art, Aids and the Fin de siècle

DEC 13, 20-22, 27-29, 7pm Dec 22, 3:30pm Muriel Richardson Auditorium

$15

Friday Night Curator Tours 7pm • Included with Gallery admission; FREE for WAG members; cash bar Feb 22 • Mary Yuusipik Singaqti with Dr. Darlene Coward Wight

Drop-in Weekend Tours

April 26 • Taking Care with Jaimie Isaac

Saturdays & Sundays, 2pm Included with Gallery admission; FREE for WAG members

Mary Yuusipik Singaqti: Dec 15; Jan 5, 13, 26; Feb 2, 10, Mar 2, 17; Apr 7 The 80s Image: Dec 16, 29; Jan 6, 19; Feb 3, 9, 17, 23; Mar 3, 9, 16, 24, 30 Behind Closed Doors: Dec 30; Jan 12, 27; Feb 16; Mar 10, 23; Apr 6, 14

The 80s Image: Live Broadcast Party with CKUW 95.9 FM

Tour Guide’s Choice: Jan 20; Feb 24; Mar 31; Apr 13, 20, 28

Taking Care: Apr 21, 27

Jan 11, 9pm-12am • $5 Friday!

Art for Lunch Alternate Wednesdays, 12:10-1pm • Talks and tours are included with Gallery admission and FREE for WAG members; videos are FREE. For details and up-to-date listing visit wag.ca/learn.

Jan 23 • Tour: Nivinngajuliaat from Baker Lake with Dr. Darlene Coward Wight

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Get up close and personal with the 80s playlist put together by the University of Winnipeg oncampus radio station.

Department at the University of Winnipeg, with generous support from the H. Sanford Riley Fellowship in Canadian History. FREE entry.

Register via email to s.keshavjee@uwinnipeg.ca.

Feb 1, 6:30-9pm • The Life of Beads: Hands-on workshop by master beader, Jennine Krauchi, with a talk on the history of local beading by Dr. Maureen Matthews.

Mar 23, 1-3pm • The Joy of Clay: Workshop led by artist and educator KC Adams.

Mar 31, 1-3pm • Workshop: The Green Thread—Medicine Circles and Planting as Therapy with expert Cheryl Cohan

FEAST: Valentine’s Edition

• $90 per pair (includes care partner) This program is designed to creatively engage people living with dementia, and their care partners, with visual art. Developed in partnership with the Alzheimer Society of Manitoba and the University of Manitoba College of Rehabilitation Sciences.

Pre-registration is required.

Space is limited!

Books & Brushes Select Tuesdays, 11:30am • Included with Gallery admission; FREE for WAG members Conversational tours related to popular reads. Presented in collaboration with McNally Robinson Booksellers. Sign up via to education@wag.ca.

Feb 14 & 16, 6pm • $70; $60 for WAG members

Mar 12 • The Woman Upstairs

by Claire Messud

Perfect for a special Valentine’s date! Enjoy the WAG’s signature dinner and tour program, featuring a three course meal, followed by an exciting tour in the exhibition galleries.

May 21 • Middlesex

by Jeffrey Eugenides

Decolonizing Lens Film Screening Feb 28 & May 16 • Reception at 6pm; screening at 7pm • FREE Screenings and discussions led by Indigenous filmmakers.

Organized in partnership with the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation and the University of Manitoba.

FOR EDUCATORS Teacher Workshops Thursdays, 4:30-6:30pm $20 per session.

Engage in hands-on art activities that you can bring back to your classroom. Email youthprograms@wag.ca for more information and to register.

Jan 17 • Nunavut Wall Hangings Feb 28 • The Art of Mary Yuusipik Singaqti

Wellness@WAG

Art to Inspire

NEW! Art talks and workshops that promote personal and community health and wellness.

Session 1: Mar 7, 21; April 4, 18; May 2, 16

Apr 18 • Healing Art Activities

Session 2: Mar 14, 28; April 11, 25; May 9, 23

Barbara Astman. Untitled (detail), from the Red series, 1980. Ektacolor print on paper mounted on masonite. Collection of the Winnipeg Art Gallery, G-81-39. photo: Ernest Mayer.

The following programs are co-sponsored by the History PROGRAMS & EVENTS

Alternate Thursdays, 2-3:30pm

above:

FAMILY FUN Keep busy all winter long with art programs designed for kids and families. For details, visit wag.ca/family.

Family Sunday: Arctic Chill $20 per family, (2 adults & up to 4 kids under 18); FREE for WAG members Jan 27, 1-4pm • Celebrate Inuit culture with rooftop outdoor fun, soapstone carving, Arctic games, fascinating displays, and more.

Family Fusion Drop-in, 1-3pm • $20 per family (2 adults & up to 4 kids under 18); FREE for WAG members Spend some creative time together making art as a family.

Feb 10 • Valentines: Make some special prints for your loved ones.

Spring Break Mar 26 • Dioramas: Design a custom room from your imagination.

Mar 28 • Soapstone Carving: Experience shaping and polishing

a piece of soapstone into a work of art you’ll cherish.

ART CAMPS

Then create your own collage wall hanging to take home.

Apr 14 • Flower Power: Make tissue paper flowers in celebration of Art in Bloom.

Campers explore the galleries, create art, play games, spend time outdoors on the WAG rooftop, and stage their own mini-exhibition.

Jan 3 • Super Soapstone (ages 9-12): Check out carvings on display and make your own version in our ever-popular soapstone-carving workshop!

NEW! Winter Art Camp

Spring Break Art Camp

Dec 27-Jan 3, 9am-4pm, extended care available • $55/day; $50/day for WAG members

Mar 25-29 (ages 6-12) • Come for one day or the entire week. See website for this year’s themes and to register.

Stroller Tours Included with Gallery admission (kids 5 and under are FREE); FREE for WAG members Stroller-friendly tours that allow you to engage in conversations on art with other adults while being mindful of your little ones.

Feb 21, 11am • Behind Closed Doors

80’s Family Night Mar 22, 6-8pm • $20 per family (2 adults & up to 4 kids under 18); FREE for WAG members Kick off your Spring Break in 80’s style. Dress up in your best 80’s attire and pump it up at our makeover station. Rock out to the tunes of the decade on our dance floor and refuel at the snack bar.

Dec 27 • Perfect Printmaking (ages 6-8): Take inspiration from artworks on display in the Gallery and learn simple printmaking techniques to make your own.

Dec 28 • Power in the Poster (ages 9-12): See The 80s Image exhibition and take part in an activist poster-making workshop.

Jan 2 • Wonderful Wall Hangings (ages 6-8): Explore pieces from the WAG Inuit art collection, including fascinating wall hangings from Baker Lake.

FAMILY MEMBERSHIP For only $95, your entire household can become WAG members. Membership includes FREE Gallery admission as well as entry to Family Fusion, Stroller Tours, and Family Sunday events.

PLUS great discounts on Art Camps, Birthday pARTies, art classes, and more! Visit wag.ca/membership to sign up.

DIY@WAG Learn more and sign up at wag.ca/diy.

PAINT PARTY

MAKERLAB

Thursdays, 7-9:30pm • $45; $40 for WAG members or 2+ tickets (18+); cash bar

Monthly craft nights with local makers and artists. Ages 14 and up. Participants under the age of 18 must be accompanied by a parent or guardian. All supplies and tools are provided.

Music, painting, and fun!

WINTER ART CLASSES Registration is on now for winter art classes! Choose from classes for children, teens, and adults in drawing, painting, pottery, and more.

Check out our new advanced drawing course for kids and photorealistic drawing for adults. Sign up at wag.ca/studio.

Feb 21 • Abstract Colour Block: Learn a little colour theory while painting an eye-catching canvas.

CLAYMAKER: House Tea Lights Jan 6, 11:30am-1:30pm • $55/ ticket; $50/WAG members or 2+ tickets Build a cozy little tea light with ceramic artist Crystal Nykoluk.

TINSMITHING with Red River Tinsmith Feb 13, 6:30-9:30pm • $40/ticket; $45/WAG members or 2+ tickets Fashion the perfect adornments for the fringes of your ceinture fléchée/Métis sash with Fabrice (Fab) Siaux.

LEATHER-BOUND JOURNAL with Debra Frances Mar 13, 7-9:30pm • $95/ticket; $90 /WAG members or 2+ tickets Create your own unique 4” x 5” leather-bound journal with tried and true techniques dating back to the 4th century.

PROGRAMS & EVENTS

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A FEW ENTICING GIFTS IN OUR SHOPS NOW Blown glass ornaments

by Fascapple Glass of Calgary, AB $40

Teapots

by Terry Hildebrand of Winnipeg, MB $100

Soapstone carving kits

by Studiostone Creative $32

Ivory bear ring

by Gideon Qaujuaq of Taloyoak, NU $350

Polar bear packing doll

by Christian Ogruk of Taloyoak, NU $475

Sterling silver and blue opal Emma earrings by CJ Tennant of Winnipeg, MB $64

Baby slippers

by Tanya Enook of Iqaluit, NU $90

Blown glass ornaments

by Fascapple Glass of Calgary, AB $40

Little Bear Dreams

by Paul Schmid $22.95

Petit mug

by Kelli Rey of Winnipeg, MB $30

Blown glass ornaments

by Fascapple Glass of Calgary, AB $40

Sealskin kamik keyring

by Jane Shiwak of Rigolet, NL $28

Ivory bear carvings

by Tarsis Pillakapsi of Igloolik, NU $160 / $240

Stax-O-Cash

by Jordan Van Sewell of Winnipeg, MB $25

Inuuvunga onesie

by Dawn Forrest of Kuujjuaq, QC $30

Stemless Glasses

by Dawn Forrest of Kuujjuak, QC $24

DECEMBER

20% OFF ALL BOOKS

Handmade Holidays

Unique, handmade gifts by Manitoban and Canadian artists.

Standing bear and cub

by Idris Moss-Davies of Qikiqtarjuaq, NU

Complimentary wrapping Winnipeg Art Gallery Gallery Shop • 300 Memorial Blvd Mon, Dec 17 & Tues-Sun, 11am-5pm • Fri, 11am-9pm • Dec 24, 11am-2pm

WAG@The Forks Johnston Terminal • 25 Forks Market Rd Mon-Sat, 10am-9pm • Sun, 10am-6pm • Dec 24, 10am-2pm

@shopwag S H O P WAG

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“It was just freeing, I loved that.”

– Gary Quinton, participant in Art to Inspire, a partnership with the Alzheimer Society of Manitoba and the University of Manitoba

photo:

Donate online at

The Winnipeg Foundation

Transformative experiences happen every day at the WAG. You can help more people in our community be empowered through art.

wag.ca/donate

FAMILY SUNDAY Return undeliverable Canadian addresses to: Winnipeg Art Gallery 300 Memorial Boulevard Winnipeg, MB R3C 1V1

JAN 27 1-4pm • Details page 13