Imago
Narda Ray

Main Space Exhibition

10.16.2024 - 11.08.2024

Opening reception October 18 6PM

In entomological terms, 'Imago' refers to an insect's fully developed adult stage. This title speaks to the transformation away from my family's values, emerging into my adult principles. As a parent, I naturally expose my child to my biases, meaning transformation will also occur with my child as part of his growth. Using the destructive process of papermaking, the Christian bible is transformed from a legible text to a variety of new creations. This process and the choice of materials challenge the overly simplistic binary value system: good or bad, heaven or hell, growth or decay.

My formative years were spent immersed in the indoctrination of the church and the Christian bible which helped form societal ideas of patriarchy through gender roles, dictating to me - a girl in the church - expectations of how I should present and use my body. My art is not only a critique of childhood indoctrination but it is also a memorial of what is lost through re-orientating away from these beliefs - a loss of identity and alienation from a community. Like my spiritual reorientation, the bibles I use in my art have experienced a transformation.

Thanks to Cullen Doyle who performed and contributed to the audio track in 'Production'. Thanks also to Angie Barclay, Jenny Nickel, Katie B., Leigh Ayres Schüler, Morghan Tollefsrud, Manpreet Parmar, Pam Vickerson, and Steven Doyle for their contributions to 'To Lynn Whom I Love, By Randy'.

Website: nardaray.com

Elevating the Paper Object

Collaborative project curated by Jonathan Creese

3.4.2024 - 3.22.2024

MNG LRT Space

Through the medium of an 8 ½” x 11” sheet of handmade paper, art students, university faculty, and staff at the institution were confronted with the result of one artist’s process and challenged to enact a manipulation upon it. Conventional labour and material relationships were encouraged to be upended, resulting in a myriad of approaches to the understanding of the paper object. The work as a whole embraces fluidity, not only in terms of the physical material as it traversed manipulation through the hands of various possessors, but also in relation to its contextualisation. The resulting objects transcend the threshold of a material of potential -that is utilitarian and ambiguous- to one of fixed function and purpose as an art object: this further assisted by the positioning of the object within the exhibition space. -Jonathan Creese

Rage Quilts

Jessica Rimes and May Jones

2.23.2024 - 3.19.2024

Reception 3.15.2024 @6PM

MNG Main Space

Quilting is a versatile craft that is historically rooted in self-expression, protest, and memorialization. Traditionally, quilting is thought to be a feminine practice and has been made in the home. Quilting requires relatively inexpensive materials and no formal training which keeps the practice accessible to community members and individuals of all backgrounds. Because of these traits, quilts are an ideal vehicle to support our individual messages of feminism and chronic illness advocacy. We often say that our quilts are “made with rage”. This supports both of our concepts because we believe that anger is a catalyst for advocacy and change.

MNG Main Space

1.04.2024 - 2.09.2024

This is what I hear

by Juli Song

Reception 2.09 @ 7PM

This is what I hear is an installation piece that investigates the sharing of lived experience as political knowledge that is owned and expressed by people who experience it (1). Throughout the exhibition are fabric strips that are racist comments made to the artist in her lifetime. The show aims to give these internalized experiences a physical form, the fabric strips become evidence, no longer can they be refuted and dismissed. The doll, in place of the artist, challenges these statements, returning the gaze of the fabric strips and facing away from the dismissive ones with an unsettling defiant stare.

1. Potts, K., & Brown, L. (2005). Becoming an Anti-Oppressive Researcher. In L. Brown & S. Strega (Eds.), Research as Resistance: Critical, Indigenous and Anti-oppressive Approaches (pp. 255–286). Canadian Scholars’ Press.`

The call for MNG jury members opens December 4, 2023!

Meet and discuss art with your peers, eat snacks, and have input on what will be shown in the gallery spaces this winter semester!

Please note: jury members are required to commit time to reviewing all MNG submissions, taking notes on submissions, and meeting with the MNG Coordinator and other jurors to discuss each application.

Deadline for applications is January 8, 2024 at 11:59pm.

Find out more and apply at: https://www.marionnicollgallery.ca/submissions

Call for Submissions

Submissions for the Winter exhibition season are now open! Calling all AUArts students of any year or major and recent alumni [within last three years]. Show your work in either our Main Space or LRT Window Space here at AUArts! 〰️

Learn more: https://www.marionnicollgallery.ca/submissions

Email mng@auarts.ca if you have any questions or need assistance with the application process.

Emergence
by Brace Grandjambe, Leo Derzaph, and Kendra Sleeman.

11.10.2023 - 12/08/2023

Opening Reception November 10th at 7pm

01 - Exhibition Statement

Emergence is a showcase of multiple skills and ways of engaging with the world. We seek to bring understanding to the areas we focus on in our works and to bring questions that resonate deeply with our practices to the forefront. Our experiences inform how we create work and navigate the world around us. We invite you to engage with the questions asked and see what kind of conversation can emerge.

02 - Artist Statement

Brace Grandjambe
I am an Indigenous woman from Fort Mckay, a reserve in Northern Alberta. Being a post-conceptual artist, I use colors that speak to me, or what I associate the concept with. Identity, Indigeneity, and mental health are important to me. By discussing longstanding issues involving Indigenous people, I am allowing others to hear my voice, and encourage them to use their voice. Community has also been a focus in my recent ideas/work, and I enjoy creating art with the youth within my community. Generational trauma, MMIW, and racism continue to be issues to this day, and I discuss and work through my experiences of being a Native woman and living in a large city. I work with materials that reflect myself and what I am trying to convey. It is important to use materials specific to my culture and lifestyle so I can start Indigenizing the world around me. Floral patterned fabrics, ribbons, moose hide, and seed beads are some examples of materials that are often used when creating art in my culture. I am starting to work with materials that are tactile, as it is important that the viewer can touch the piece of art. By engaging with the piece through touch, one can appreciate the work in a new way, along with seeing the artwork in front of them. Organic shapes are important to me and are often found in my art when I create environments and natural objects. The curvy, flowy lines are reminiscent of wind and water, natural elements that are important in Indigenous culture. I have been more aware of myself as an Indigenous artist since moving to a large city, and the experimentation of various materials and processes is a large contribution for the deciding factor of finding my place as an Indigenous artist in the art world.

Leo Derzaph

My practice is based on personal experience, and the expression of pain one is meant to keep hidden. I make work from the perspective of a transmasculine artist facing transphobia daily, and the response my mental health has to these events. My work deals with dysphoria, dissociation, and how they can respond to each other. It is visceral to view, uncomfortable to engage with, and painful to create. My work is born from discomfort. It should invoke as much.

Kendra Sleeman
Kendra is a forth year ceramic student at the Alberta University of the Arts. Ceramics allowed Kendra to discover how to view art in a three-dimensional aspect, while combining two-dimensional features, like, illustrations onto the surface design of these forms. Ceramics provides a challenge, keeping Kendra on her toes, not to hold onto every piece, as it could break at any stage of the creating process. Kendra is currently exploring German folk art and the form of steins. Delving into the history of both and combing them, bringing her own message and story into the pieces.

Call for Submissions

Submissions for the Fall exhibition season are now open! Calling all AUArts students of any year or major and recent alumni [within last three years]. Show your work in either our Main Space or LRT Window Space here at AUArts! 〰️

Learn more: https://www.marionnicollgallery.ca/submissions

Email mng@auarts.ca if you have any questions or need assistance with the application process.

Now Hiring: MNG Coordinator

The Marion Nicoll Gallery (MNG) Coordinator is responsible for overseeing the day-to-day operations of the gallery, and for ensuring that programming is communicated and adequately promoted to the community.

• Learn more at https://www.auarts-sa.ca/classifieds/jan2023/marion-nicoll-gallery-coordinator

• Closing Date of Opportunity: 1/23/2023

Call for Submissions

Submissions for the Winter 2023 exhibition season are now open! Calling all AUArts students of any year or major and recent alumni [within last three years]. Show your work in either our Main Space or LRT Window Space here at AUArts! 〰️

Learn more: https://www.marionnicollgallery.ca/submissions

Apply at https://form.jotform.com/223347181548257

Deadline EXTENDED TO January 16th 2023

Email mng@auarts.ca if you have any questions or need assistance with the application process.

Call for Submissions

Apply through our online form. Deadline to apply is September 26th.

Calling all students and recent alumni (within last three years). Submit your work to show in either our main space or LRT window here at AUArts! Open to all years and all majors.

Call for Jurors

Apply through our online form. Deadline to apply is September 26th.

We are currently accepting applications for the Fall 2022 season. This is an excellent opportunity to exercise critical discourse, critique work outside of class with a group of students from various departments and also looks great on a CV!

For more information please visit https://www.marionnicollgallery.ca/exposure2021