February Exhibitions
Warm your heart with visual art in February
Fill up your February with any number of art exhibitions taking place in Calgary this month. Our February visual arts roundup will guide you through what’s opening and what you may have missed!
P̓a̱sa’p
January 26 – March 2, 2024
Norberg Hall (333b 36 Ave. SE)
Free to explore
The term p̓a̱sa’p means the action of giving a potlatch to another, and is the guiding principle behind the collaboration by Norberg Hall and curator LaTiesha Fazakas of Fazakas Gallery. Participating artists come from Tlingit, Haida and Kwakwaka’wakw territories where potlatching is an integral part of social, spiritual, economic, and political life.
norberghall.com
Even With Sharp Teeth You Can’t Bite Water
January 26 – March 15, 2024
Alberta Printmakers (4025 4 St. SE)
Free to explore
The print works presented as part of this solo exhibition by Nura Ali use abstraction and fragmentation as entry points to meditate on the spatialization of diasporic consciousness and the utility of remaining within spaces of opacity, unknowability and in-betweenness.
albertaprintmakers.com
Forgotten
January 30 – March 2, 2024 | Artist Talk February 10, 1 – 3pm
Framed on Fifth (1207 5 Ave. NW)
Free to explore
Forgotten is a journey through the heart of Western Canada and U.S. locations with photographer Dan Gordon. Infrared film, with its ethereal and surreal qualities, adds an otherworldly dimension to many of the images. Shadows become dreams, and there is a grainy quality, where the quiet starkness of these views are brought to life with an almost mythical quality.
framedonfifth.com
Exposure Festival
February 1 – 25, 2024
Various venues
Free to explore
Exposure 2024 shares a wide range of narratives, subjects and explorations of the photographic medium, drawing attention to Calgary and Alberta as the site of an active, growing, creative community in the field of photography. Check out an exciting and diverse group of solo exhibitions and curatorial themes that audiences can engage with!
exposurephotofestival.com
Kyrgyz Textiles: Introducing the John L. Sommer Collection
February 1 – March 28, 2024
Nickle Galleries (2500 University Dr. NW)
Free to explore
Showcasing important examples of felt textiles and carpets, this exhibition introduces a series of reed screens — textiles that are deeply rooted in Kyrgyz nomadic traditions — embellishing their screens, wrapping each reed with precise patterns that are revealed only after being woven together.
nickle.ucalgary.ca
Glory, Blood and Power: Money and War through the Ages
February 1 – March 28, 2024 | Curator Talk February 8, 2024
Nickle Galleries (2500 University Dr. NW)
Free to explore
The Glory, Blood and Power: Money and War through the Ages exhibition examines the interplay between money, power and the capacity to wage war, starting in the ancient era through to the present. Items on display include German notgeld 1921-23, German coins with swastika during the WWII, Jewish concentration camp paper bills, POW notes, paper money after the French Revolution, Roman-Jewish war coins from the First to Second Century and more.
nickle.ucalgary.ca
Harry Mitsuo Kiyooka — Artist. Educator. Activist.
February 1 – April 27, 2024
Nickle Galleries (2500 University Dr. NW)
Free to explore
Painter, printmaker, instructor and community builder, Harry Mitsuo Kiyooka straddled the last hundred years in a way that few other artists have. Born in Calgary in 1928, a place he would call home for 94 years, Kiyooka served as an important link between an earlier generation of Alberta artists. Don’t miss this exhibition centred around Kiyooka, curated by Mary-Beth Laviolette!
nickle.ucalgary.ca
Black History Month at TMM
February 1 – 29, 2024
The Military Museums (4520 Crowchild Tr. SW)
With admission
This exhibition showcases the valuable role and sacrifices made by Black Canadian Soldiers from The First World War to the present day through the presentation of story boards that highlight the military history of these courageous men and women, along with relevant artifacts and documents. Additionally, the display features artwork created by local Calgarians as a tribute to Black Canadian Military History.
themilitarymuseums.ca
Spotlight: Laura Olive
February 3 – March 20, 2024
Alberta Craft Gallery & Shop, cSPACE Marda Loop (1721 29 Ave. SW)
Free to explore
Join the Alberta Craft Calgary Gallery in celebrating their newest Spotlight exhibition by Laura Olive. Genderf*cked takes a playful approach to pulling apart the systems we’ve been conditioned to see the world through, Laura Olive questions the very definition of gender through a series of wearable art.
albertacraft.ab.ca
Haptic Rituals
February 3 – March 16, 2024
Alberta Craft Gallery + Shop, cSPACE Marda Loop (1721 29 Ave. SW)
Free to explore
Lael Chmelyk is a Calgary-based artist and graduate of the Ceramics Department at AUArts. In her exhibition Haptic Rituals she explores ideas of “otherhood” through quilting and functional ceramics, invites the viewer to question the status quo and investigate the role their physiologies play in their own story.
albertacraft.ab.ca
ArtRecruits Exhibition
February 8 – 23, 2024 | Artist Reception February 8, 2024, 5 – 7pm
Studio C (Prospect), cSPACE Marda Loop (235, 1721 29 Ave. SW)
Free to explore
ArtRecruits is an art-based workplace skill building program that teaches employment skills in the art studio rather than a classroom. Head over during the exhibition check out the fruits of their labour. At the the reception, you can learn about the program, hear from the artists, and purchase some beautiful artwork.
studiocprospect.ca
Megan Dyck: Apertures
February 10 – March 2, 2024 | Artist Talk February 10, 2024, 1 – 4pm
Newzones Gallery (730 11 Ave. SW)
Free to explore
Calgary-based visual artist and academic Megan Dyck’s figurative imagery investigates the ubiquity of photography and aesthetic qualities of glitch that occur in digital and analog communication as metaphors for psychological isolation, loneliness and desire.
newzones.com
Toni Onley: Plein-Air
February 24 – March 13, 2024 | Artist Reception February 24, 2024, 2 – 5pm
Wallace Galleries (500 5 Ave. SW)
Free to explore
This exhibition celebrates a selection of works by Toni Onley from around the world. He often painted watercolours from the pontoon of his plane; always seeing the beauty in landscape and challenged by the watercolour medium.
wallacegalleries.com
Last Chance + Ongoing Exhibitions
Voices
Until February 24, 2024
EMMEDIA (2005 10 Ave. SW)
With admission
Voices is an immersive exhibition that explores the complexities of migration, drawing parallels between immigrant journeys and the vast migrations of humpback whales. This metaphor highlights both the distances traversed and the resilience and adaptability of both immigrants and these majestic marine giants.
lauraanzola.com
Printed Textiles from Kinngait Studios
Until March 3, 2024
Glenbow at the Edison (150 9 Ave. SW)
Free to explore
Printed Textiles from Kinngait Studios presents the little-known story of a group of artists and printmakers who produced a collection of graphic textiles in Kinngait (formerly Cape Dorset), Nunavut in the 1950s and ’60s — a period of social change that disrupted traditional language and relationships to the land.
glenbow.org
From Skyworld to Cyberspace
Until March 9 2024
Illingworth Kerr Gallery, Alberta University of the Arts (1407 14 Ave. NW)
Free to explore
Artist Skawennati gathers a number of works which, together, trace a line from our place of origin somewhere in the heavens to the virtual realm. From Skyworld to Cyberspace is a result of Skawennati’s investigation of cultural construction, contemporary Indigenous self-representation and our relationships with the digital world.
auarts.ca
Three Dimensions
Until March 17, 2024
Contemporary Calgary (701 11 St. SW)
With admission
Three Dimensions is an exhibition showcasing the multidisciplinary art practice of Jennifer Marman & Daniel Borins. The show features three installations which combine painting, sculpture, kinetics, interactivity, virtual reality and video.
contemporarycalgary.com
Heaven On Earth
Until March 23, 2024
The Bows (2001b 10 Ave. SW)
Free to explore
For Vasquez-Lazo’s debut solo exhibition, Heaven on Earth, the artist asks Can you remember the last thing that you cherished? That you held so close it hurt? Made you feel like a happy child? Heaven on Earth explores ideas of what is left behind in our sacred possessions.
thebows.org
Resistance & Respiration
Until April 14, 2024
Contemporary Calgary (701 11 St. SW)
With admission
How is breathing an athletic act, a dyad of push-pull, a feat of endurance, a political horizon? This exhibition aims to imagine breathing, and breathlessness, as a productive cause for giddiness, a sensation for whirling and a tendency for staggering.
contemporarycalgary.com
Lucia Hierro: Corotos y Ajuares
Until April 28 2024
Esker Foundation (4th floor, 1011 9 Ave. SE)
Free to explore
Corotos y Ajuares brings together a series of soft sculptures and a site-specific mural that focus on everyday items like disposable takeout containers, a paper menu, and a pair of aprons, reflecting Hierro’s experiences as an artist within the Dominican diaspora in Manhattan and the Bronx.
eskerfoundation.com
Juan Ortiz-Apuy: Tropicana
Until April 28 2024
Esker Foundation (4th floor, 1011 9 Ave. SE)
Free to explore
This exhibition by Juan Ortiz-Apuy is specially designed for kids and teenagers aged 6 – 14. It casts a critical eye on modern consumer society and advertising aimed at children, which often features animals, colours, sounds and shapes.
eskerfoundation.com
Leonard Suryajaya: Parting Gift for Quarantine Blues
Until April 28 2024
Esker Foundation (4th floor, 1011 9 Ave. SE)
Free to explore
Parting Gift for Quarantine Blues is a site-specific installation that cumulatively reflects on Suryajaya’s past, present and future relations. The installation weaves together images from his two most recent bodies of work.
eskerfoundation.com
Rhonda Weppler and Trevor Mahovsky: Edelweiss
Until April 28 2024
Esker Foundation (4th floor, 1011 9 Ave. SE)
Free to explore
Edelweiss is an immersive and evolving exhibition that invites audiences into a dream-like reflection on memory, home and the passage of time. This installation continues the artists’ investigation of mimicry, alternative economies, communities and relationships that can form around familiar objects, and the flow of these objects through our lives.
eskerfoundation.com
Music & Wellness
Ongoing
Studio Bell, home of the National Music Centre (850 4 St. SE)
With admission
National Music Centre’s permanent Music & Wellness exhibition taps into the power of music on mental and physical health through a series of powerful video interviews that create an immersive sense of personal conversation.
studiobell.ca
Have a visual arts event that’s not listed? Email us at events@calgaryartsdevelopment.com or fill out this form.
