Exhibitions and Events
Marlene MacCallum: Prints
The fifth in our series of front alcove exhibitions features printmaker Marlene MacCallum's small, precise drypoints and mezzotints of interiors. By contrasting deep shadows with luminous areas, MacCallum conveys a poetic preoccupation with surface, illusion, transience and isolation.
Joseph Svoboda
This sampling of the extraordinary range and inventiveness of this renowned Czech scenographer covers nearly 50 years of theatrical designs in the form of models, slides and photographs. From designs employing constructivist aesthetics, through experiments with new technologies, pure light, aerosols, mirrors and kinetic projection screens. Svoboda's art has inspired generations of scenographers in Europe and the Americas. This exhibition has been organized by the Dalhousie Art Gallery in collaboration with scenographer Peter Perina and the Dalhousie Theatre Department.
William Blake and His Contemporaries
This fascinating, well-documented exhibition of British eighteenth-century prints and drawings has been selected from the Permanent Collection of the National Gallery of Canada. The artists draw on such diverse sources as Homer, the Bible, Dante, Chaucer, Shakespeare and Shelley for their images and themes, which highlight the Romanticist-Classicist dichotomy of the period.
Woolford and the Earl of Dalhousie in Nova Scotia
Between 1816 and 1820, George Ramsay, ninth Earl of Dalhousie held the position of Lieutenant-Governor of Nova Scotia. During that time, he travelled around the province by boat, horseback, sleigh and on foot, often accompanied by his talented draughtsman, John E. Woolford. This exhibition includes a bound volume of 52 sketches of Nova Scotia completed by Woolford in 1818 plus seven ink washes and watercolours. All of this material was part of a large donation to Dalhousie University by William Inglis Morse.
Sylvie Stevenson: The Milarepa Cycle, Part 5: Source. Bat
The fourth in our periodic series of front alcove shows, designed to respond more immediately to work by local artists, this installation by Sylvie Stevenson draws on the teachings of the great 14th century Tibetan yogi, Milarepa, with regard to clothing, convention and spirituality.
Snakes and Ladders: Recent Paintings by Harlan Johnson, Alex Livingston and Leslie Sasaki
Vigorous brushwork, saturated colour and biomorphic imagery characterize this exhibition of 28 figurative paintings by Harlan Johnson, Alex Livingston and Leslie Saski, all of whom have strong connections to this region. Their individual approaches to the problem of reinvesting painting with "content" derive partly from personal biography and partly from literature, both fiction and non-fiction, relating to culture, myth and natural history. All three artists employ allegorical, metaphoric and emblematic devices and an eclectic range of images.
No Laughing Matter
Among the 13 internationally-known artists in this unusual and challenging exhibition are Hans Haake, Cindy Sherman, Gran Fury, Krzystof Wodiczko, Tom Otterness, Carrie Mae Weems and Guerilla Girls, all of whom employ humour and irony in order to get their point across. Asking “To whom is this funny? And Why?” the artists cover such issues such as racism, sexism, imperialism, corporate responsibility, the AIDS crisis, poverty and the environment. This important collection of activist art from the last decade includes sculpture, photography, paintings, prints, and mixed media installations.
Ansel Adams: Three Portfolios
This exquisite selection of prints from the permanent collection of the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts includes 32 photographs by the legendary American photographer Ansel Adams (1902-1984). The Portfolios cover a period from 1948 to 1974, and demonstrate the clarity of Adams’ technique in landscapes, plant studies, portraits (including a classic 1938 portrait of Alfred Stieglitz) and buildings. Organized and circulated by the Extension Service of the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, with the support from the Museum Assistance Program of Communications Canada.
Rephotographing the Land
Marlene Creates, Patricia Deadman, Lorraine Gilbert, Ernie Kroeger, Sylvie Readman and Sandra Semchuk approach the idea of landscape photography from six very different perspectives.
