Winter at Arts Commons
Escape the cold and bask in this season’s exhibitions
- Location: Arts Commons 205 8th Ave. SE
- Price: Free
It might be snowy and cold out but that just means it’s a great time to grab a cup of coffee from Ca’Puccini and go on a tour of the various visual and media arts on display at Arts Commons.
From stellar soundscapes to engrossing studio pieces, a visit should be on your to do list! And with the season broken up by the holidays, there’s a number of different exhibits opening throughout the season so mark your calendars.
A Time and Place, Revisited
Until January 4, 2017
+15 Soundscape, Arts Commons
When walking through the +15 at Arts Commons, always make sure you lend a ear to the sounds. This fall hear a cyclical story of song and soundscapes inspired by—and made exclusively from—the Canadian Arctic. Created by Vancouver-based electronic music produce, DJ Michael Red, this sound installation also features JUNO Award-winning Inuit throat singer Tanya Tagaq.
artscommons.ca
MTL Nord
Until January 28, 2017
The New Gallery’s +15 Window
In 2008 Freddy Villanueva was shot and killed by police officer Jean-Loup Lapointe at the Henri-Bourassa Arena in Montreal Nord. Followed by riots, the killing prompted the birth of the Montreal Nord Affaire social movement. Artist, social activist, and researcher Victor Arroyo examines site specificity as a complex reflection of the unstable relationship between location and identity in urban landscapes.
thenewgallery.org
The Premier League
December 1, 2016 – January 31, 2017
Stride’s +15 Window
Brittany Nickerson uses her photographic-based practice to disassemble and dissect her personal family archive, one that could be seen as a testament to masculine achievement in post-World War II. The work disrupts these images from their original context, intervening to make a new narrative with a contemporary female perspective.
stride.ab.ca
The Photographic Blue
December 5, 2016 – February 27, 2017
Window Galleries, Arts Commons (beside Max Bell Theatre)
Jaime Erin Johnson, Emma Powell, and Juilee Pryor are each internationally recognized as artists in cyanotype photography. See their work as part of Seities Studio’s showcase that brings together different views about female identity together and the aesthetics of traditional photography.
artscommons.ca
Gallery of Alberta Media Arts
December 5, 2016 – February 27, 2017
On the Arts Commons three video monitors
Three Albertan artists approach truth and animation in wildly different ways on the video monitors that pepper the Arts Commons. This season the Gallery of Alberta Media Arts showcases showcases Greg Marshall’s DRONE, Jean-René Leblanc and Andy Dinh’s SMOKE, and Rachel Evan’s Subnivean Snuff.
artscommons.ca
passing through/stay
December 5, 2016 – February 27, 2017
The Ledge Gallery at Arts Commons (+15 level overlooking Centre Court)
Using vinyl and linoleum flooring as the art material, Svea Ferguson responds to both synthetic and natural elements as she works in The Ledge Gallery. Using recognizable construction materials, Ferguson cuts and manipulates to create something else, an unknown. See her process unfold with studio hours posted weekly.
artscommons.ca
The Story of Plants
December 5, 2016 – February 27, 2017
Lightbox Studio, Arts Commons (beside Martha Cohen Theatre)
See Calgary artist Alyssa Ellis use Grant Allen’s 1885 pocket book The Story of Plants, as she works to explore humanity’s relationship and reliance on plants.
artscommons.ca
The Traveler
December 8, 2016 – January 31, 2017
Untitled Art Society +15 Window
Marzieh Mosavarzadeh’s piece explores language and the sense of belonging and memory it brings. As a female Iranian artist who moved to Calgary, her work looks at language as a place of return and a source of change.
uascalgary.org
Studio Brat
December 8, 2016 – January 31, 2017
TRUCK Contemporary Art in Calgary’s +15 Window
A durational installation series by Calgary-based artist Tommi Watts, this piece leverages the +15 Window as a temporary studio space and projects a constant state of flux.
truck.ca
River Alms
January 4 – April 29, 2017
+15 Soundscape, Arts Commons
The second piece of this season’s +15 Soundscape can be heard starting in January and is part of Arts Commons’ curated program showcasing three new soundscapes created by aboriginal identified artists. An experimental pop soundscape inspired by both the living and spirit world of Blackfoot culture and Siksika Nation, Chandra Melting Tallow’s work is emotionally charged and haunting.
artscommons.ca
+15 Window Galleries Closing Reception
January 26, 2017, 6:00 – 7:00pm
+15, Arts Commons
Celebrate each of the exhibits hosted in the +15 at this closing reception. Artists will be on hand to speak about their work and everyone is invited to head to the Palomino (109 7th Ave. SW) for drinks afterwards (save 15% off your bill by showing a card from one of the exhibitions). Admission is free and all are welcome.
A Few Similar Things
February 6 — March 24, 2017
The New Gallery, Untitled Art Society, Stride Gallery, and TRUCK Contemporary Art’s +15 Windows
Curated by Natasha Chaykowski and Alison Cooley, A Few Similar Things comprises four pairings of similar works, made autonomously by different artists. See them stretch across four different artist run centre +15 windows allowing each installation to be a coupling that in some way—aesthetically, conceptually, formally—are alike.
thenewgallery.org, uascalgary.org, stride.ab.ca, and truck.ca
Happenings 7: Textile Intrigue
February 27, 2017, 6:00 – 9:00pm
Arts Commons, Mezzanine Level of Centre Court (above Ca’Puccini)
Can you believe there have been seven Happenings already? We certainly can’t! This fun, and free, art party is always a good time allowing you to self-curate your own evening with interactive art activities. This season’s theme is tactility and intrigue.
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