ESTEVAN — Two new exhibits are on display at the Estevan Art Gallery and Museum.
Brick by Brick: Absence & Presence by Heidi McKenzie, featured in Gallery 1, and Atim Maskikhiy, curated by Jordan Woodsworth, toured by the Organization of Saskatchewan Arts Councils (OSAC) in Gallery 2, opened on June 21 and will be on display until Aug. 23.
In her artist statement about the exhibit, McKenzie says "I was inspired by my father's telling of his experience in the 1950s in Hamilton, Ontario, while touring the former I-XL Brick & Tile factory in Medicine Hat during my residency in 2019 at the Shaw Centre for International Ceramics (part of Medalta in the Historic Clay District).
"My father, Joseph McKenzie (1930-2016), was born and raised in Trinidad, under British colonial rule. My father was a very dark-skinned man of Indian descent. He came to Canada in 1953 to study at McMaster University. Canada pre-1968, exercised a whites-only immigration policy.
"My father and his brother were two of five persons of colour on campus. During the summer, he and his brother worked in the furnaces at Stelco in Hamilton. They were brick masons, assigned to the hottest temperature job. They worked alongside workers of African descent.
"What struck me, and continues to haunt me, is the fact that the white foremen openly assumed that the darker your skin, the more heat you could withstand. This inquiry propelled the questions I explore in Brick by Brick: Absence vs Presence," McKenzie concluded.
Atim Maskikhiy, 'dog medicine' in Cree, presents works of 17 artists local to the La Ronge tri-community area in northern Saskatchewan.
The multimedia pieces represent the artists' interpretations of the dog-human relationship as expressed through preliminary findings of a community-driven research project conducted in the community. This unique marriage of art and science allows knowledge translation to a broader audience than what is typical of peer-reviewed research.
Highlighting the need for improved access to animal health and welfare services in northern, remote and Indigenous communities everywhere, this gallery represents a call to action for systemic change at the human-dog interface. Through their works, the artists confirm that dog-human bonds are highly valued and often critical to human life and well-being in the north, and current approaches to 'fixing' dog problems in communities without regular access to care ignore important contributors at the root of the issue.
This exhibition is curated by Dr. Jordan Woodsworth, director, Northern engagement and community outreach with Western College of Veterinary Medicine. The artists featured in this exhibition are Andrea Cowan, Caron Dubnick, Donna Langhorne, Hilary Johnstone, John Halkett, Larissa Muirhead, Miriam Koerner, Molly Ratt, Myles Charles, Nancy Lafleur, Terri Franks, Sammi Kopeck, Abigail Clarke, Annalisa Heppner, Jade Roberts, Jasmine Grondin and Wendy Cleveland.
The North West Mounted Police Museum, located next to the EAGM, is now open for the summer as well.
The EAGM hours of operation are Monday to Friday, 10 a.m.-6 p.m.
