Four First Nations artists have come together to take part in two creative residencies in Nova Scotia—one at The Deanery Project in Lower Ship Harbour in 2014, the other on Brier Island in 2015. The basis of this collaborative exchange is centered on reconciling the parallel journeys of the Mi’kmaq People and the whales of the North Atlantic. Through a self-directed framework of dialogue and artmaking, The Path We Share examines shared stories of contact and consequence to arrive at newfound forms of expression and understanding.

Spring in Cambridge presents a selection of drawings and studies by Nova Scotia artist John Devlin. As an artist working from an outsider perspective, Devlin charts the physical, emotional and spiritual world through his work. Born in Halifax, Devlin began his studies in environmental design at Dalhousie University at TUNS faculty of architecture. He went on to study theology at Cambridge University in England in the fall of 1979; however, by spring of 1980 he had his first encounter with mental illness so his studies were cut short and he left a world of architectural antiquity for his hometown to receive specialized care.

Devlin began a creative journey after numerous years in and out of hospitals, discovering that using simple artist tools he could create a different kind of place. So began his construction of a utopian city, inspired by his memories of England, imaginatively re-invented, based on hidden codes, symbols and mathematical ratios, of an imaginary island in Minas Basin, Nova Scotia. This would be his new Cambridge, or Nova Cantabrigiensis.

William Allderdice began painting when he retired as a professor of geography, studying under artists such as Gerald Squires, Tara Bryan, and Kathleen Knowling. Over the past two decades, he has created a prolific body of paintings and drawings that document memories from throughout his life, ranging from his early adventures (and mishaps) as a cowboy to his current life in The Battery neighbourhood of St. John’s.

Galleries 2 & 3
Anna Leonowens Gallery is embarking on a new tradition—kicking off each Fall semester with an exhibition highlighting one of NSCAD’s areas of study. This September, we are showcasing the talents of NSCAD’s renowned Textiles & Fashion Departments. Featuring artworks by both faculty and technicians and spanning two galleries, this is a rare opportunity to see the wide array of methods and mediums practiced by this Department in one exhibition.

An annual holiday exhibition of finely crafted objects that evoke all the good things celebrated during this special time of the year.

COMFORT & JOY is a group exhibition that celebrates all the good things we associate with the holiday season: home, family and friends with the creativity, insight and good humour we have come to expect from our makers.  It can offer a contemporary and accessible interpretation of traditional and non-traditional activities and ideas associated with this season.

Kevin Coates, Splitting Wood for Winter, Wood carving, 2015. Photo credit: Ned Pratt

SakKijâjuk – a Labrador Inuit term meaning, “to be visible” – highlights the little known craft and artworks produced in Nunatsiavut (the Inuit region of Labrador) over half a century of exciting, diverse production. The exhibition features the work of dozens of artists in photography, sculpture, painting, clothing, drawing, printmaking, basketry, film, video, and the textile arts. The exhibition opens at The Rooms Provincial Art Gallery before touring across Canada.

Michelle Baikie, The Hunter, 1998, 35.56 x 25.4cm, digital photograph, Collection of the artist

Curated by Andrew Hunter in concert with artist Lisa Hirmer, this exhibition features a selection of Hirmer’s “Dirt Pile” photographs which capture images of residual piles from construction excavations remaining in the landscape. Human-made but often ‘reclaimed’ by nature as they become overgrown, Hirmer and Hunter propose that these constructions are not anomalies but reflect the reality of the contemporary landscape and the shifting boundaries between ‘nature’ and ‘culture’.

Lisa Hirmer, Dirt Piles, photograph, 2011. Photo credit: Lisa Hirmer

Opening reception: September 28, at 5 PM

It would not be possible for a human to survive exposed to the natural environment; however, we feel a need to engage with it and depend on it for our survival. This imbalance destabilises and frightens us. Through the work of Isabelle Hayeur, Mathieu Léger and D’Arcy Wilson, Im/penetrable nature illustrates our profound state of malaise faced with the great ecological challenge of the Anthropocene Era.

This exhibition is presented in conjunction with the Symposium d’art/nature : Moncton 2016 (September 22 to October 2).

Caption: Isabelle Hayeur, Solastalgia (video still), 2015, HD video, 14:45
URL: http://www.umoncton.ca/umcm-ga/impenetrablenature

Canadian and international artists are invited to invest public space with in situ projects during the event which will be held in the Millennium Ecological Art Park on Université de Moncton’s campus and elsewhere in Moncton. During the symposium, artists, guest speakers, and the public will address and discuss how one negotiates the gap – and conflicts – between nature and culture.

Scenocosme, Pulsations, sound installation, 2013. Photo credit: Centre culturel de rencontre – Parc Jean-Jacques Rousseau – Ermenonville (Fr)

A permanent exhibition space devoted to the work of Alex Colville (1920-2013), one of Canada’s most celebrated artists and one of Mount Allison University’s best known graduates. The Gallery features the installation of the mural Athletes, commissioned by Mount Allison for its new Athletic Centre in 1961. Designed around the theme of the student athlete, the mural was the focal point of the new building; it remained there for over 50 years, until its present installation in the stable and secure environment of Owens Art Gallery. Other artworks by Colville are also on view, including many of the preparatory drawings for Athletes and examples of the artist’s serigraphs.

Alex Colville, Athletes, oil and synthetic resin on board, 1961.

Artists draw from the symbol of the Forget-Me-Not flower personal stories and research to create multimedia works honouring the men and women who played a part in WWI.

The Forget-Me-Not flower has been a sign of remembrance since WWl for Newfoundland and Labrador and 2016 is the 100th anniversary of the battle of Beaumont Hamel and WWl.  This exhibition responds to the Forget-Me-Not’s ability to bring forth a personal sense of shared history.  The exhibition and related programming will use personal and historical information and the symbol of the Forget-Me-Not to create a contemporary memorial.

Frances Ennis, Forget Me Not, Rug Hooking, 2016.

As a descendant of Black Loyalists, Black Refugees, and Jamaican Maroons who came to Canada during the 18th and 19th centuries, Shauntay Grant’s love of language stretches back to her storytelling roots in Nova Scotia’s historic Black communities. This exhibition features a handful of quilts selected by Grant from the heritage holdings of her family, prominently those of her grandmother, the Reverend Alfreda Smith. Grant’s own creative response to the quilts—and equally, the stories they keep—will produce a new ‘poetic patchwork’ developing inside the Gallery over the course of the exhibition.

Grant served as the City of Halifax’s third Poet Laureate from 2009 to 2011. A multidisciplinary artist with professional degrees and training in creative writing, music, and theatre, she publishes, performs, and teaches in several literary genres. Her homegrown artistic practice embraces African Nova Scotian folk traditions as well as contemporary approaches to literature and performance.

Considering that these quilts were stitched together both ornamentally and functionally from scraps of fabric gleaned from garments and textiles to create essential coverings to protect bodies from Nova Scotia’s harsh and wintery climate, Grant explores how the politics of textiles speaks to her ancestry and her contemporary experience of the social and political fabric of Nova Scotia.

Grant currently teaches creative writing at Dalhousie University as a Lecturer in the Department of English, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences.