The Moose Jaw Museum & Art Gallery (MJMAG) is opening two new exhibitions in the Norma Lang Art Gallery on Friday, Feb. 3, along with a new lobby exhibit and oodles of new art classes in all kinds of mediums.
Norma Lang gallery exhibitions
They didn’t know we were seeds, by Saskatoon-based portrait artist Carol Wylie, presents a series of portraits of survivors of genocide. Wylie’s exhibition grew from an experience at the Saskatoon Holocaust Memorial in 2016. She met Holocaust survivors who speak with Indian Residential School survivors to help them heal.
The portraits call to mind the similarities between the two genocides, while also noting that direct comparison does no one any favours and does not further the welfare of survivors. Nevertheless, the deliberate destruction of a culture and people regarded by those in power as inferior — or even harmful — tends to share characteristics such as the separation of families, dehumanization, and othering.
On Saturday, Feb. 4 at 1 p.m., the MJMAG will host an in-person and virtual conversation series event with Wylie and two survivors of the Holocaust and of Residential Schools — Kayla Hock and Eugene Arcand.
One Thing Leads to Another, by Jonathan Forrest, also comes to the Norma Lang Gallery on Feb. 3. One Thing Leads to Another is a survey exhibition of Forrest’s contribution to modernist abstraction in Saskatchewan and Canada.
The exhibition will feature selections of Forrest’s paintings from 1985 to the present on paper and canvas and will include holdings from the MJMAG Permanent Collection.
The In Conversation series interview with Forrest will take place on Saturday, April 1 at 1 p.m. both online and in-person. Exhibition curators Kim Houghtaling and Jennifer McRorie will join Forrest to discuss his art practice and Saskatchewan art history.
Visit www.mjmag.ca/current for more information. The livestreams of the artist In Conversation events will be at youtube.com/@mjmag.
Lobby Exhibition
The MJMAG’s latest lobby exhibition is called Plains of Abstraction: Works on Paper, curated by MJMAG director Jennifer McRorie.
McRorie designed Plains of Abstraction with works from the Permanent Collection to compliment Forrest’s One Thing Leads to Another. Modernist abstract painting has a long history in Saskatchewan and Plains of Abstraction will lend an extra layer of depth to the understanding and appreciation visitors stand to gain.
Park Art and current art classes
Park Art takes place every year on Canada Day, July 1. It is the MJMAG’s most important annual fundraiser and features an incredible selection of artisanal goods from across the province — and often even farther.
Vendor applications for one of Saskatchewan’s largest arts and crafts festivals open soon, with an application deadline of June 2.
Art education at the MJMAG is heating up, with innovative local artist Erin Zimmerman, Ukrainian artist Alina Zimohliad, and Indigenous bead artist Jazenta Saultier offering new classes in addition to recognized local instructors Christy Schweiger, Ward Schell, Mark Gilliland, Bhupindar Singh, and Beth Crabb.
Classes sell out quickly, so visit mjmag.ca/artclasses soon to see what’s on offer and reserve your spot.
