Can you believe this weather we’re having? It certainly makes you feel like spring is here and here to stay, but I, for one, am not so sure. Part of me can’t help but feel like it’s a trick and a snowy, cold April is on the way. But, you know one thing that is certain? Calgary’s amazing arts scene. Even if our weather isn’t the most reliable, you can always count on top-notch exhibits, shows and performances. And they’re all here in this week’s Round Up.
Head into the Cabinets of Curiosity
Created by Edmonton artist Lyndal Osborne, Cabinets of Curiosity brings strange oddities, curious artifacts and natural vs man made juxtapositions to the Glenbow Museum. And the best part, it’s an interactive and hands on kind of place.
Photo by Amy Jo Espetveidt, Quadrophonic Image
In the Glenbow Museum lurk all sorts of unusual trinkets and collections, many of which are hidden in their vast storerooms, behind the scenes. Items of great historical value. One of a kind pieces hundreds of years old. Paintings and photos. Books and dolls. Even a rigged gambling wheel from the days of prohibition.
They’re stored away most of the time and when shown, protected from touch for good reason.
But their newest exhibit contains all sorts of treasures, many of which you are welcome to touch. That is, if you dare.
Created by Edmonton artist Lyndal Osborne, Cabinets of Curiosity is filled with strange oddities, curious artifacts and bizarre juxtapositions that just scream to the viewer Touch me.
“This is an exhibition for children,” she explains as a large school group makes its way up the winding Glenbow staircase. In fact, during our visit half a dozen groups walked by, buzzing with excited chatter, many stealing a glance at the exhibition setting up and still in progress, pointing and wanting to explore.
“This cabinet of curiosity is based on the old German model from the 17th century – the Wunderkammer. When they originally made these cabinets, they were usually the idol rich and they collected things. Cabinets like these became more than just a look at the natural world,” she continues. “They added all sorts of things to them, odd things – curious, oddities, weird objects that they may have collected overseas – and they juxtaposed them together. So these cabinets, from the 17th century, often ended up being a room with many, many objects starting to hang from the ceiling all the way down to the floor.”
Just a small sampling of what can be seen in the Cabinets of Curiosity. There are so much fascinating pieces you’ll have to make multiple trips just to take it all in.
Photo courtesy of Glenbow Museum
Just like Lyndal’s cabinet, that takes over its own little corner in the Glenbow until January next year. Full of bits and baubles, items that were created next to those naturally occurring. There’s a sense of the macabre in the exhibit but also whimsy and from Lyndal’s twinkling eyes as she explains her work it’s easy to see why.
“They were always curious and fascinating and I’ve always loved them,” she says with a warm smile. “Because I’ve worked with natural materials all my professional life as a medium for creating artwork, I thought that this might be a chance to do sort of the same thing but just have a lot of fun… I’m 74 years old now and I was born in Australia. I lived very close to a beach, within a kilometre, so my childhood was spent collecting. I’ve kept all those collections and I go back to Australia frequently and I continue to collect.”
Drawn toward the water’s edge, not always the ocean but lakes, rivers and streams, she has always found interesting bits and baubles.
“The sort of things I collect started out being natural things that might be washed up in the tides, “ she explains. “As time has gone by a lot of detritus gets washed up – industrial discards. One year, I think it was in the year 2000, I did a residency in Gros Mourne National Park and I found shot gun shells, disposed of crab and lobster bags that had the fisherman’s number on them, broken lobster traps, netting that was washed up on the beach. So I started being more interested in collecting some of that detritus. It seemed to me that’s now playing a large part in the health of our rivers and oceans.”
And a quick glance at her creations makes the viewer hungry for more. The room is truly a feast for the eyes.
“I put some really odd things in it,” she says. “The celling is covered in used fisherman’s nets from Newfoundland that a friend of mine collected from the beach and inside the nets I’m hanging some huge balls that have been made from wild flowers I grow in my own garden. I collected them, bound them up and died them. And then, sort of the central piece of the ceiling, is going to be a cow skeleton that I discovered on a farm near Lethbridge two summers ago. I had the ants eat most of the meat off and then had it washed and cleaned. We have a coyote attacked cow right in the centre of the ceiling.”
Other oddities include lots of specimens found naturally in the oceans and the prairies juxtaposed with hybrids and creations from Lyndal – an angel, disks of whale bones, pickling jars filled will dolls and more. It really is a tribute to those original cabinets filled with exotic curiosities, macabre items and the natural wonders of the world.
And people can visit the exhibit over and over again, finding new curiosities each time.
“First time you go in, your maybe attracted more to the glitzy things. But when you look a little more closely, you’ll notice there’s a spider sitting inside this things eyeball, or coming out of the ant’s nest is a frog. But you don’t always see those things on the first visit,” explains Lyndal. “There’s going to be some activities as well, for kids, sort of brain teasers to help them identify the animals.”
The exhibit is to be explored. Touchable items sit low enough that everyone can feel them and mystery boxes contain unknown wonders.
Cabinets of Curiosity runs until January 17, 2016 at the Glenbow Museum.
Gear Up For Spring at Market Collective
I really hope you all remembered to spring forward with your clocks this weekend, but there’s another sign of spring on the horizon – Market Collective.
This weekend head to the Chinese Cultural Centre (197 1st Street SW) for a wonderful lineup of artisans, food vendors, workshops and, of course, music.
In addition to your favourite veteran MC artists, 24 new artists and 4 new food vendors will be on hand including Chika Ando Illustration (quirky and cute), Nathan Millar Illustration and Comics (his and Erin Millar’s Where She Walks comic is beyond beautiful), Maple and Oak Designs (with their new Spring/Summer collection) and Needle & Pine (who make beautiful wood shelves everyone needs for their displays). Head here for the full line up.
And then, mark your calendars for their May show – with an entirely different lineup of artists – May 1 to 3 at the Chinese Cultural Centre.
Admission is $5 for the entire weekend and kids get in free.
Elephant Artist Relief is Here to Help
Thanks to an over pouring amount of aid after the June 2013 flood, a new line of support is available to help YYC artists.
Elephant Artist Relief recently announced the Rebound Fund is available to Calgary-based individual artists in any discipline who are facing extraordinary health, social or financial crises.
Building on the Alberta Arts Flood Rebuild, this ongoing legacy fund was created after immediate needs in the community were met. Now, EAR envisions a healthy arts community ensuring a continued and rich cultural landscape for us all – and uses the motto Helping Artist BE Artists in Calgary to guide their work.
Funds will be available while they last with application guidelines and forms available on the EAR website.
Get on the Artist Roster
One of my favourite projects from the City of Calgary Public Art Program is their Utility Box Program.
Not only do these pieces discourage pointless tagging, they’re bright and welcoming additions to our communities. They make for wonderful discoveries of art on boring pieces of infrastructure and I am always enthralled when I come across one on my journeys.
Now they’re looking to expand their artist roster and you can be a part of it.
They are currently seeking qualified artists with experience in community-based art to submit their application. This is a request for qualifications only and no artwork proposals are required at this stage.
If selected, they will be added to a list where communities requesting utility box artwork can choose from and, if selected, will lead a community engagement activity before designing and installing artwork that is both site-specific and responsive to the community input gathered.
The Utility Box Program started in 2010 as a pilot project initiated by The City of Calgary Roads out of a need to implement a graffiti abatement measure. Now the widely popular program is permanent and local artists throughout Calgary have created over 100 utility box public artworks.
Deadline for submission is Monday, April 6 at 4 pm. Details here.
Arts Out and About
And, you know what? That’s not all. There’s still more for you to do and see this week in Calgary.
Like head to Newzones for two new shows opening this Saturday.
Jeff Nachtigall’s Wild Man 9 and Wild Man 5 are part of his solo show Wild Men, running in conjunction with Oh, Canada: Contemporary Art from North North America, March 14 to May 2 at Newzones
Image courtesy of Newzones
It’s all about the solo exhibit with two taking over Newzones (730 11th Avenue SW) – Jonathan Forrest’s Open Source and Jeff Nachtigall’s Wild Men.
In Open Source, Jonathan investigates the transformation of an abstract painting from an illustration of a concept into a robust experiential object. Using layers and building up transparent gels and glazes, his paintings reveal themselves when viewed from different angles.
And for Wild Men, abstraction and hard edge painting meet pop art and expressionism. Jeff’s work showcases tropes of Modernism, by playfully incorporating them into clip art, cartoons, still life and landscapes.
An opening reception will be held this Saturday, March 14 from 1pm to 4pm with both artists in attendance. Open Source and Wild Men run March 14 to May 2 at Newzones. Details here.
At Contemporary Calgary, Only A Free Individual Can Create A Free Society is a new film installation by German artist Grace Schwindt.
Revisiting discussions she witnessed as a child surrounded by individuals in Frankfurt, German, and the dialogue running through the film is from an interview that Schwindt conducted with a leftwing activist. Influenced by the 1960s and 1970s political landscape, shaped by the Frankfurt School, the Outer Parliamentary Opposition and the Baader Meinhof Gang, Grace’s interviews often serve as a starting point for fictionalized dialogues delivered by performers.
Only A Free Individual Can Create A Free Society runs March 12 to April 19 at C (117 8th Avenue SW) with screenings throughout the day during gallery hours. An opening reception is being held this Thursday, March 12, from 8pm to 10pm with an artist talk slated for 7pm. Full details can be found here.
Michael Schreiner’s top hats and tuxedos tangoed art deco can be seen in his solo show opening at the Christine Klassen Gallery this Saturday, March 14.
Image courtesy of Christine Klassen Gallery
Another visual arts duo is opening at the Christine Klassen Gallery this week
They’re present a colourful display of abstract painting to welcome spring and have two shows opening this Saturday, March 14.
Paints and Poets by local Michael Schreiner showcases his bold geometric abstractions exploring the boundary of the canvas. Inspired by the concise language of poetry, he sees each brush stroke akin to a word or line and uses paint to express syntax, meter and imagery.
And recent University of Calgary MFA grad William Downey brings together a wealth of experience, travel and yogic practice to create rich organic abstraction. His show, Microcosms and Macrocosms, is guided by spontaneous imagination while using Sahaja meditation. The result are colourful canvases celebrate that life and evoke both celestial and corporeal bodies.
Microcosms and Macrocosms and Paints and Poets run March 14 to April 18 with an opening reception this Saturday, March 14 from 1pm to 4pm with Artist Talks scheduled for 2pm. Details here.
Starting this month CKG also partnering with infuse catered events to present BOCCE NIGHTS, an evening of indoor bowling, Italiano style.
This monthly event features a pop-up Bocce court at CKG for casual team play, classic Italian aperitivo and antipasti by infuse catering and, of course, art.
All levels are welcome, no previous experience required. Tickets are $20 and details can be found here.
In the world of theatre, Famous Puppet Death Scenes is being remounted at Theatre Junction GRAND and should be on your list if you haven’t seen this show before.
First performed in 2006 as part of Theatre Junction’s inaugural 2006/07 season, Famous Puppet Death Scenes has gone on to be the landmark piece of one of Calgary’s favourite theatre companies – Old Trout Puppet Workshop. It has toured all over the world and is now returning to the Calgary stage as part of this week’s International Festival of Animated Objects.
Through a collection of death scenes culled from a fictional canon of famous puppet shows throughout history, the wickedly funny and oddly beautiful show is a meditation on our final destiny.
There are even a few new scenes added, so even if you’ve seen it before, you just can’t miss it.
Read all about IFAO here and check out Famous Puppet Death Scenes March 13 to 28 at Theatre Junction GRAND (608 1st Street SW).
Over at Ground Zero Theatre and Hit & Myth, they’re following up their success with 2010’s Reasons to Be Pretty with Reasons to Be Happy – Neil LaBute’s companion piece to the critically-acclaimed Pretty.
Three years after Steph and Greg’s breakup, they’re wondering if they can make a fresh go of it. But she’s married to someone else and he’s just embarked on a relationship with Steph’s best friend.
This funny, surprising and poignant new play is all about the choices and sacrifices we are willing to make in the pursuit of happiness.
Reasons to Be Happy runs March 12 to March 21 in the Studio at Vertigo Theatre (Base of the Calgary Tower) with a pay-what-you-can preview this Thursday, March 12.
And last, but certainly not least, is Calgary Cinematheque’s Contemporary World Cinema series and their showing of Joy of Man’s Desiring.
This Canadian exploration of the energies and rituals of various workplaces asks what is the value of the time we spend multiplying and repeating the same motions that ultimately lead to a rest?
The film runs Thursday, March 12 at 7pm at The Plaza Theatre and full details can be found here.
Do you have something awesome coming up and want to be part of the Calgary Arts Round Up? Drop me a line at amy @ calgaryisawesome.com!