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Please see the Cultural Studies Handbook for information regarding the program.

When: April 22nd, Earth Day – May 6th, 2012 (Opening Reception April 22, 4-6 pm)
Where: Wall Space Gallery, Westboro Village 358 Richmond Road 613-729-0003
Curated by Cynthia Mykytyshyn, Cultural Studies MA student

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Ottawa, Ontario. March 20, 2012. Wall Space Gallery is geared up to produce an exceptional and diverse exhibition of art by artists who’ve been asked to respond to the age-old dilemma: what is the relationship between humanity and nature? Scholar and environmental theorist William Cronon writes:

“This, then, is the central paradox: wilderness embodies a dualistic vision in which the human is entirely outside the natural. If we allow ourselves to believe that nature, to be true, must also be wild, then our very presence in nature represents its fall. The place where we are is the place where nature is not…We thereby leave ourselves little hope of discovering what an ethical, sustainable, honorable human place in nature might actually look like.”

Taking Cronon’s assertion as a starting point, “Where the Wild Things…Aren’t?”, an upcoming group exhibition opening Earth Day 2012 (April 22) at Wall Space Gallery, Ottawa, explores the human relationship to the thing we call ‘nature’. Curator Cynthia Mykytyshyn aims to foster an atmosphere of intimate reflection and thoughtful dialogue; viewers may be prompted to ask questions of themselves and to confront assumptions of a relationship often taken for granted. The goal is not to condemn nor to prescribe solutions; instead, we encourage individuals to engage imaginatively with the theme of the human-nature connection, and to question common attitudes and habits.

The show will feature works by artists with diverse backgrounds and practices, yet all share a keen interest in exploring themes of environment in their respective bodies of work. Featured artists include: Ottawa-area natives Stefan Thompson, Barbara Cuerden and Carmella Karijo Rother, along with Gareth Bate, Karen Abel, Jessica Marion Barr, Tony Taylor, Ingrid Koivukangas, and Jane Fulton Alt. Using a range of media from photography to chicken bones to coloured felt, these artists demonstrate their creativity and their concern, responding attentively to the contemporary fear of the ‘global environmental crisis’. While we often hear about the political and the economical aspects of our encounters with the environment, it is important to also consider other ways that we encounter ‘nature’, as these leave us open to continually ask questions and find wonder. Special guest speaker, author, poet and curator John K. Grande will deliver a talk April 26th, 2012 at 7pm, centred around his latest endeavors, experiences and his perspectives on the show, followed by a Q&A period. Grande has contributed extensively to the Canadian and international arts communities over the past 25 years. Specializing in art and ecology he has produced such seminal publications as Balance: Art and Nature (Black Rose Books, 1994), Art Nature Dialogues (SUNY Press, New York 2003), Dialogues in Diversity; Art from Marginal to Mainstream (Pari, Italy 2007) and Homage to Jean-Paul Riopelle (Prospect Press /Gaspereau Press, 2011), to name a few. Grande has published countless catalogue essays on artists and exhibited and read his poetry internationally. John Grande will be curating a show of Earth Art at the Van Dusen Gardens in Vancouver, B.C. in the summer of 2012. For more information, visit John’s website www.grandescritique.com

About the Artists:

Stefan Thompson - While studying environmental science at Carleton University, Thompson realized that the paint he was using was "toxic". In 2007 he phased out his conventional art supplies for more eco-friendly and homemade alternatives. As he claims, “it's an ongoing experiment.” While he currently resides in Cortes Island, BC, Thompson’s animal-forms have become a recognizable mainstay of the Ottawa art scene.

Carmella Karijo Rother - Carmella Karijo Rother lives and works in Gatineau Park, Chelsea, Quebec, a setting she considers vital to her art and daily life. Carmella has a Bachelor of Science in Biology from the University of Saskatchewan and a Masters in Environmental Studies from York University. Largely self-taught as an artist, her early career in nature interpretation influences the perspectives she brings to her art. Carmella's new body of work features her felt sculptures: organic, textural pieces that invite tactility. Working with natural, undyed wool and raw fleece draws her closer to the land as the source of her material, as well as to processes that are decidedly low-tech.

Barbara Cuerden – Barbara Cuerden has lived and worked in Ottawa, for the past 25 years. She has received numerous grants and awards for her artworks. Barbara recently completed her Masters in Education at the University of Ottawa focusing on place-based pedagogy. Barbara is “fascinated by words and language within the mute language of the living world which silently receives and judges us.”

Gareth Bate - Gareth is an artist living in Toronto. The core theme of his work is essentially the big philosophical question "What is the meaning of life?" His different bodies of work do not strive to anwser that question, but rather to ask it in different ways. He is interested in our relationships with nature, our scale and place in the universe, and a search for personal meaning. His practice is diverse and includes painting, installation, photography, video, performance and set design, demonstrating his strong interest in experimenting with materials.

Karen Abel - Karen Abel is a Toronto artist and naturalist. Drawing from a background in conservation, she creates place-based public art and site-sensitive installation works that consider, engage and accommodate 21st century urban ecology and biodiversity. Creating an environmentally accountable practice has been Karen’s ongoing challenge. Over the past ten years of studio production, she has become increasingly unsettled by the cycle of copious consumption and excessive waste that traditionally characterizes sculpture and installation art practice. Karen continually works to cultivate a sustainable methodology grounded in salvaged and reclaimed materials.

Jessica Marion Barr - Jessica Marion Barr is an artist and educator who is in her second year as a Ph.D. student in Cultural Studies at Queen's University. Her work focuses on forging links between visual art, elegy, ecology, ethics, and sustainability. Recent exhibitions include In Power: Out of Control at Union Gallery, With This Land at The Artel and The Rough Edge of Beauty at Modern Fuel Artist-Run Centre in Kingston.

Tony Taylor – Tony Taylor completed a BFA in 2004 at the Ontario College of Art and Design, Toronto, majoring in drawing and painting. In 2008 he completed an MA at Wimbledon College of Art in the United Kingdom. Tony’s work and ideas about art were heavily influenced by his travel experiences in Europe. There, he found citizens take a more radical approach to political intervention and political voice through their work. Tony returned to Toronto where he continues to exhibit and refine his artistic practice, responding critically to what he experiences through the filtered lens of today’s mainstream news media.

Ingrid Koivukangas – “My work is classified as environmental art and encompasses many mediums including site specific ephemeral and permanent works, interventions, installation, sculpture, video, sound, writing, web, photography, painting, print making and drawing. I work in response to sites in the natural world. I am interested in issues of identity, especially indigenous cultures, including my own, place, the environment, technology and globalization – questioning how our identities are shaped by the land while also exploring how technology can be integrated into that understanding. Much of my work is an attempt to provide the viewer with a starting point to begin contemplating their own landscape and possibly their part in its preservation.”

Jane Fulton Alt – Fine art photographer, Jane Fulton Alt, is internationally recognized for her powerful images. Regarding Crude Awakening, a series responding to the devastation of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, Jane says, “Living on the shores of Lake Michigan, I am acutely aware of the disastrous toll the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico has taken on all forms of life, especially as our beaches opened to the 2010 swimming season. This environmental, social and economic catastrophe highlights a much larger problem that has inflicted untold suffering as we exploit the earth’s resources worldwide. We are all responsible for leading lives that create demand for unsustainable energy. We are also all responsible for the solution and we must work together to protect the balance of life.”

About the Gallery:

Wall Space Gallery, Westboro, opened its doors in August of 2008 and has been exhibiting exceptional fine art and contemporary craft. Wall Space Gallery represents over 60 artists from across Canada, the U.S. and Peru. This second location, located in the Westboro area of Ottawa, is a 2,100-square-foot showcase of Fine Contemporary Craft, hosting feature artist exhibitions, paintings, alongside our ongoing outstanding collection. This research exhibition is supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.

For more information, please contact: Cynthia Mykytyshyn Gallery Associate and Curator info@wallspacegallery.ca or Patricia Barr Gallery Director Wall Space Gallery 358 Richmond Road 613-729-0003 | patricia@wallspacegallery.ca Follow us on Twitter @WallSpaceOttawa

Gary Kibbins - Cultural Studies Faculty

April 14-May 19, 2012
Opening April 14, 2012
Artist's Talk: May 5, 2012, 2pm

Trinity Square Video and the 25th Images Festival are excited to present a process-based installation by renowned Kingston-based artist Gary Kibbins. Puzzled, By Certain Things is created as part of TSV yearly Artist-in-Residence program, which aims to advance video's expanding sphere of experimentation. Beginning with the festival in early April, this year's edition of the program will see Kibbins activate the TSV Gallery with a video-based work that will change over the course of its exhibition. Drawing on Kibbins' significant contribution the Canadian video art, the exhibition is organized in two parts: Puzzled, By Certain Things and the presentation of two of the artist's revered videos (Cop Out, featured in the first iteration of the Images festival and A Short History of Water, part of the TSV Purchase Collection, 1979-1999). In each work Kibbins uses humour, language games, and explorations of rhetoric and philosophy to exploit video's capacity to break down linguistic and visual distinction. Kibbins new work will further develop on his fascination with shifting structure and meaning in language through sight, sound, and the introduction of spatial form. Gary Kibbins is a media artist and writer currently teaching at Queen's University. His latest single-channel work is The Unlucky Sailor: 9 Unread Chapters of Finnegans Wake (2011). A collection of his essays and scripts titled Grammar & Not-Grammar (2006) is available from YYZ Books.