Dean Drever’s stoic, snow-covered bears in front of the now-retired Udell Gallery on 124 Street could stand as a memorial for the gallery spaces lost last year in Edmonton. But things are generally looking up.
At Bearclaw Gallery, Jackie Bugera says “2016 was my best year,” and other local gallery owners she’s spoken to are optimistic despite the economic downturn.
Between the public, private, artist-run and commercial galleries, the shows we’ll see in 2017 are invigorating. Here are just some of the highlights:
Bark Boat by Antti Laitinen as part of Survival Guide at the AGA from Jan. 28 to May 7.
Art Gallery of Alberta — 2 Winston Churchill Square
I’ve been looking forward to Survival Guide for ages. The group show, which opens this weekend, lives up to its name, including input from local woods wizard Mors Kochanski, whose wilderness survival guide Bushcraft is seriously known around the planet. Feb. 11’s Art Rental & Sales Spotlight in AGA’s Manning Hall is a great idea, spotlighting their amazing collection normally found down in the basement. Clocks for Seeing: Photography, Time and Motion (Feb. 18) looks like a solid art history show, bringing Eadweard Muybridge’s hovering horses back to town. On March 11, Blaine Campbell’s Cyclorama looks at development with panoramic, large-scale photos. The Looking Glass, opening the same day, presents sculpture in many forms by artists from renowned sculptor Joe Fafard to Diego Rivera to cut-and-paste Andy Warhol. A team-up between the AGA and the Banff Centre, the latest Biennial opens May 27.
Bearclaw Gallery — 10403 124 St.
So far Jackie Bugera has booked a show with Jason Carter in March, Jane Ash Poitras in May and is working out the details for shows with the amazing Linus Woods and, she’s hoping, Alex Janvier, whose TSA TSA ke k’e mosaic tile mural was the most inspirational addition to Edmonton’s public art scene last year. She’s carrying his catalogue from his Modern Indigenous Master show, running at the National Gallery of Canada through April 17 in Ottawa. One of the great things about Bearclaw — you can start buying art there at the $5 level.
Bleeding Heart Art Space — 9132 118 Ave.
Over at Bleeding Heart, Edmonton’s spiritually minded gallery, painter Hilary Mussell’s Wild Folk runs Feb. 4 – March 11. Text & Image, a group show of interplay between those two elements opens March 25. Outdoor installation Maskihkîy Âcimowin / Medicine Stories will celebrate the power of stories in healing and reconciliation. That’s May 28 – June 21. And Jennifer Berkenbosch has a show of her recent two-dimensional mixed-media works, opening Sept. 9.
Centre d’arts visuels de l’Alberta — 9103 95 Ave.
Painters Allysha Larson and Emilie St-Hillaire have a show up Feb. 24, the same night as the local members show. May 26 it’s Calgary photo-based artist Jean-Rene Leblanc. On Aug. 18, Ontario curator Salome Viguier will showcase six French artists from out east. Sept 29, as part of Alberta Culture Days, there will be photography of French faces: les visages de la francophone Albertaine.
dc3 Art Projects — 10567 111 St.
The ever-inspiring dc3 is presenting a solo show, Crafting Ruin, by reality-bending sculptor Jude Griebel, starting March 10. The Industry Show is next, on May 5, with a group exhibition looking at human esthetics from fashion to surgery, while on Sept. 8 Travis McEwen returns to the city with his gorgeous portraits which dance freely around gender. Sculptural printmaker Mitch Mitchell has a second solo show at dc3 on Nov. 10.
FAB Gallery — 1-1 Fine Arts Building, 89 Avenue and 112 Street
Adrian Emberley’s colourful paintings and the Alcuin book design award winners are up through Feb. 11, then master printmakers Angela Snider and Mirian Rudolph have shows opening Feb 21. The Bachelor of Design graduate show is March 30, followed by the Bachelor of Fine Arts student show April 18.
Front Gallery — 12323 104 Ave.
Front is hosting InFocus photo fest, which opens Feb. 9, then dreamy landscape painter Lesley Finlayson has an opening March 16. April 13 will be a group show, including work from the now closed Udell Gallery. Jeff Sylvester’s terrific suburban paintings have a May 11 show, then Ireland-born Paddy Lamb will show off his striking abstracts starting June 18. Fall will likely have new Member of the Order of Canada Liz Ingram’s first Front Gallery solo show.
Harcourt House — 3rd floor, 10215 112 St.
Nature sculptors Emily Jan and Timmy MacDonald each have shows opening Jan. 26, then it’s painters Mandy Espezel and Paul Boultbee with openings April 20. June 15 is the 28th annual members’ show. Aug. 10 sees Margie Keik and Wei Li in the space. Then it’s Jen Mesch’s artist-in-residence show, along with the haunting prints of Daniel Evans, Oct. 5. The year wraps with photographer Jonas St. Michael and text artist Bonnie Patton with a show opening Dec. 7.
Nina Haggerty Centre for the Arts — 9225 118 Ave.
Kevin Kunce’s graphic show is worth checking out right now, and the gallery’s Paul Freeman says there will be a March 21 show featuring Crystal Dillon and Krista Hamilton. They’re also working on another show with Justin Berger, Sept. 21, whose detailed paintings — which he calls “my soldiers” — are mindblowing.
Peter Robertson Gallery — 12323 104 Ave.
A lot of good stuff here. Giuseppe Albi’s colourful paintings are up starting Feb. 9. Isla Burns, whose canoe-shaped Caravel is north of City Hall, is showing work starting April 6. Surreal landscape artist Gavin Lynch has a solo show May 4. And starting May 25, new work by portrait painter Tim Okamura will be up on the walls in the bright gallery.
Scott Gallery — 10411 124 St.
The dates are being finalized, but it looks like Andrea Kastner will have a show in April, Brad Necyk and Gloria Mok later in spring and there are plans for a Campbell Wallace and Tim Rechner show in the fall.
Laura Grier’s Bele Yah will be up at SNAP March 16.
SNAP Gallery — 10123 121 St.
SNAP promises beautiful printmaking throughout the year. Feb. 2 it’s Guillermo Trejo and Marie Winters; March 16 is Jason Urban and Jordan Blackburn; March 16 Erick Walker and Laura Grier; June 22 Beth Howe & Clive McCarthy and Emmanuel Osahor; and Aug. 10 Morgan Wedderspoon and Leanne Olson. And on Sept. 21, don’t miss The Story So Far, an exciting exhibition of artists’ book curated by Sara Norquay. The annual members’ show, always a great time, is Nov. 18.
fgriwkowsky@edmontonjournal.com
@fisheyefoto