{"id":31020,"date":"2015-11-07T14:08:36","date_gmt":"2015-11-07T19:08:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artoronto.ca\/?p=31020"},"modified":"2016-02-16T14:11:43","modified_gmt":"2016-02-16T19:11:43","slug":"bmo-1st-art-exhibition-at-jmb","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/v2.artoronto.ca\/?p=31020","title":{"rendered":"BMO 1st Art! Exhibition at JMB"},"content":{"rendered":"

BMO 1st Art! Exhibition<\/em> displays the works of art done by emerging artists in each province in Canada. Despite all the artists coming from different places, with the exclusion of Alberta that includes both a provincial and a national winner, they all manage to connect through their themes such as identity and displacement. The competition began with 160 candidates and was eventually narrowed down to the 13 pieces shown at the Justina M. Barnicke Gallery on the University of Toronto campus.<\/p>\n

The National winner Tamara Himmelspach\u2019s \u201cBack into the Earth: Creation and Interpretation of Meaning\u201d is a multi-media performance work commemorated by photographs and the display of her jingle dress. It is no doubt why the piece was chosen nationally as it truly explores what it means to be an Aboriginal Woman in 2015, a subject at the height of it\u2019s importance as Canada enters a new Liberal era.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Tamara Himmelspach (Alberta College of Art & Design), Back Into the Earth: Creation and the Interpretation of Meaning. Jingle dress, beaded purse and moccasins: cotton and polyester, unfired clay, deerhide, beads; 11 inkjet prints. Overall installation 72 x 72 in<\/p>\n

Some artists like Alberta\u2019s Svea Ferguson and Nova Scotia\u2019s Connie Lynn Higg turn to textiles in their works with vastly different results. Higg\u2019s \u201c(r)evolve\u201d is a gentle consideration of abstract thought, while Ferguson\u2019s \u201cFuture Classic\u201d created of weaved linoleum blends a classical sculpture of a bird with an everyday material usually used to cover floors. Lindsey Wilson from Ontario also uses textile materials: wool and silk yarn; though she adds ceramics creating a sculpture, titled \u201cMurmur I\u201d, in order to explore the connection of body and material in her highly personal piece.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Svea Ferguson (Alberta College of Art & Design), Future Classic, Linoleum flooring, 38 x 28 x 5 in<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Lindsey Wilson (Queen\u2019s University), Murmur I, Stoneware, wool, silk yarn, 24 x 7 x 3 in<\/p>\n

British Columbia winner, Richard Heikkil\u00e4-Sawan brilliantly questions identity through the use of a buffalo hide and dye in \u201cFreedom Flag\u201d. Similarly, Yucen Zhou (Manitoba) pleasantly knocks the viewer off kilter in \u201cThe City Underwater (Montreal)\u201d. Zhou turns the world upside down; what first appears as the sky is depicted under a ladder that leads to a ship\u2019s deck. Newfoundland & Labrador\u2019s Alex Nole pinpointed in the enlightening \u201cOnly Begetter\u201d series that Shakespeare\u2019s sonnets went through a Christianizing procedure by changing from pronouns that addressed them to a male lover to a female.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Yucen Zhou (University of Manitoba), The City Underwater (Montreal), Oil on linen, 60 x 48 in<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Richard Heikkil\u00e4-Sawan (Emily Carr University of Art & Design), Freedom Flag, Buffalo hide, dye, 79 x 54 x 2.5 in<\/p>\n

There is also the theme of travel consistently coming back. Jasmine Keillor (New Brunswick) explores nostalgia in a blend of sculpture and drawing in \u201cTravellers\u201d. Saskatchewan\u2019s Shelby Lechman and Yukon\u2019s Jon I\u00f1aki Etxeberria Vanneste travel back in time. Vanneste uses digitally manipulated original photographs to look into the distortion of history in \u201cMoving Target Artifacts\u201d while Lechman\u2019s \u201cExodus\u201d, in the classical format of oil painting, pays homage to the history of the Hungarian Uprising in an effort to warn future generations of what a loss of humanity can cause.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Shelby Lechman (University of Saskatchewan), Exodus, Oil on canvas, 60 x 72 in<\/p>\n

Nunavut\u2019s Ramona Barkhouse uses the process of making her beautiful necklace \u201cFlight of the Peacock\u201d as an allegory for life and pride in one\u2019s work. P.E.I\u2019s winner Jude Scheppele in her arresting and disturbing digital illustration, \u201cDysmorphia\u201d, criticizes societies desire to label people. On the other hand\u00a0Erin Skelton (Quebec) \u00a0in her sculpture \u201cAll Our Mother\u2019s Wishes\u201d shows the need for physical belonging we all carry within ourselves, the strong bond between mother and child.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Erin Skelton (Concordia University), All Our Mother\u2019s Wishes, Steel, porcelain, pigmented encaustic, cotton cord, silicone, wood crate, 9 x 18 x 7.5 in<\/p>\n

Each piece displayed at BMO 1st\u00a0Art! Exhibition<\/em> is utterly unique, yet they all find ways to connect with each other. It is clear why each of the pieces were chosen as they all seek to ask questions about their history, their future, and the meaning of life.<\/p>\n

Rhiann Moore
\nImages are courtesy of BMO 1st\u00a0Art! Exhibition<\/p>\n

*Exhibition information:\u00a0October 22 – December 18, 2015,\u00a0Justina M. Barnicke Gallery,\u00a0Hart House at the University of Toronto, 7 Hart House Circle.\u00a0Gallery hours: Tue \u2013 Sat 12 – 5, Wed 12 \u2013 8 p.m.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rhiann Moore<\/strong><\/p>\n

It is clear why each of the pieces were chosen as they all seek to ask questions about their history, their future, and the meaning of life. <\/p>\n

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