In conjunction with the exhibitions Art and Cold Cash and Dancing Through Time II: Traditional Art Forms in a Contemporary World, the MacLarenArtCentre will present a panel discussion on Thursday, January 24, 7 to 9 pm, with the exhibition contributors, including OCAD alumnus Keesic Douglas. The panel, part of our Caf' Culture series, takes place in the MacLaren Rotary Education Centre. Admission is free.
Art and Cold Cash is a collective of artists from the Arctic and Southern Ontario whose work addresses art production and capitalist exchange. The Dancing Through Time/ Zhiibaayaa Niimidwin committee provides opportunities to celebrate the Aboriginal heritage of the Great Lakes Region through multi-disciplinary arts presentations. Representatives from each exhibition will engage in an open dialogue around the making, selling and presenting of artwork by Aboriginal and Inuit artists using the MacLaren exhibitions as a platform for discussion. Specifically, panelists will speak to the following: Is it useful to distinguish the cultural artifact from the art object? When organizing exhibitions, does the segregation of artists by cultural group lend greater voice? When is integration more effective? Is the collaborative process a preferred format for the presentation of Inuit and Aboriginal art or is it a transitional stage?
Panelists: Sheila Butler, artist and faculty in Visual Arts at the University of Western Ontario; Jack Butler, artist and founding member of Sanavik Inuit Cooperative, Baker Lake, Nunavut; Patrick Mahon, artist and Chair of Visual Arts at the University of Western Ontario; Ruby Arngna'naaq, Inuk artist from Baker Lake, founding member of Sanavik Inuit Cooperative; Dr. Cynthia Wesley-Esquimaux, Chair of the Dancing Through Time committee and Assistant Professor, University of Toronto, Department of Aboriginal Studies and the Faculty of Social Work; and ShoShona Kish, Guest Curator and Member of the Dancing Through Time committee, and who, with Raven Kanatakta, forms DiggingRoots, an award winning Aboriginal musical group. Moderator: Sandra Fraser, Curator, Exhibitions and Collection, MacLarenArtCentre.
Art and Cold Cash
Curator: Sarah Beveridge
On view in the Janice Laking Gallery, Gallery 3 and Lake Simcoe Regional Airport to February 24, 2008
Art and Cold Cash expands definitions of Inuit artwork and imagery. Southern Ontario artists Sheila Butler, Jack Butler and Patrick Mahon have collectively joined with Inuit artists William Noah, Ruby Arngna' naaq and Myra Kukiiyaut from Baker Lake, Nunavut to address art and commodity. The exhibition is a multi-layered creative investigation that connects contemporary art discourses surrounding money in a series of artistic activities and experiments employing drawing, sculpture, sound and video.
Dancing Through Time II: Traditional Art Forms in a Contemporary World
Curator: ShoShona Kish
On view in the Carnegie Room and Armstrong Hall to February 17, 2008
Dancing Through Time II: Traditional Art Forms in a Contemporary World reflects on the evolution of traditional art forms and cultural identity in contemporary practice, and creates an awareness of the scope of work by aboriginal artists and artisans in the Great Lakes Region. The artwork, executed in a wide variety of media, incorporates images, materials and stories that draw on cultural relationships to both historical and contemporary issues and concerns. Presented by the Zhiibaayaa-niimidwin Committee in partnership with the MacLarenArtCentre.