Five Saskatoon gallery exhibitions to see this April

Here are five art exhibitions to experience this month:

PAVED Arts is celebrating two big anniversaries with the 20/50 Double Anniversary exhibition. The current gallery was amalgamated March 31, 2003 and its predecessor, The Photographers Gallery, opened March 12, 1973. The exhibition runs in the gallery space until April 21.

A curated selection features works by seven artists who have significantly contributed to the artist-run centre over its history — Steve Bates, Terry Billings, Lisa Birke, Linda Duvall, Ellen Moffat, Sandra Semchuk and Adrian Stimson.

“The artists involved touch upon each decade of this 50-year history, contributions that have helped to build a national reputation that PAVED Arts enjoys as a haven for media arts in Saskatoon. The 20/50 Double Anniversary exhibition celebrates this history and renews PAVED Arts’ commitment to foster new generations of emerging artists in Saskatoon, empowering local artists to tell their own stories,” said project curator David LaReviere.

PAVED Arts is located at 424 20th St. W. Information is available at pavedarts.ca.

Featuring recently acquired works by five contemporary Canadian artists, Love Ethic runs at Kenderdine Art Gallery through April 28.

Works by Joi Arcand, Amalie Atkins, Catherine Blackburn, Ruth Cuthand and Curtis Santiago focus on personal and collective narratives of cultural identity, memory, love and loss.

“A term coined by cultural theorist Bell Hooks, Love Ethic considers the artworks in relation to one another, as each artist explores concepts of cultural identity, futurisms, love and loss. The exhibition has resonated with audiences in that it offers ideas around hopefulness, expansion, and coexistence — counter-narratives to our often polarized, divisive times,” curator Leah Taylor said.

Kenderdine Art Gallery is located in the U of S Peter MacKinnon Building, 107 Administration Pl. Information is available at artsandscience.usask.ca/galleries.

UKRAINIAN MUSEUM OF CANADA

Bringing the reality of the war in Ukraine to Saskatoon, Doors: Through the Horror of War by Toronto-based Ukrainian artist Ruslan Kurt is on display at the Ukrainian Museum of Canada until April 29.

The installation features war-damaged doors from hospitals, theatres, cafés, schools and homes in the cities of Kyiv, Kharkiv and Sumy, Ukraine. Providing a tangible experience of the damage caused by the Russian invasion, the doors also serve as a metaphor for the unique, individual stories of war each Ukrainian has to tell.

“It’s quite an emotional experience to be in the presence of these doors. It’s a kind of bearing witness, I think … The scale of devastation in Ukraine is overwhelming,” said executive director and CEO Jen Budney.

The Ukrainian Museum of Canada is located at 910 Spadina Cres. E. Information is available at umcnational.ca.

THE GALLERY/ART PLACEMENT INC.

Kaleidoscope Minds, a solo exhibition of coloured pencil drawings by Saskatoon-based artist Yuka Yamaguchi, runs at The Gallery/Art Placement Inc. through May 11.

“I draw what I find attractive at the time. As I draw, I start to see more images in my head: from nature, people around me, and random everyday objects. They are like many dots floating in my head, combining in different ways depending on my point of view, changing shapes in my mind like a kaleidoscope,” Yamaguchi said.

The Gallery/Art Placement Inc. is located at 238 Third Ave. S. Hours are Tuesday to Saturday, 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., but the gallery is closed Friday and Saturday this week. Information is available at artplacement.com.

Self-taught Saskatoon-based textile artist Hanna Yokozawa Farquharson’s solo exhibition Gaia Symphony runs at the Saskatchewan Craft Council Gallery through May 27.

Embracing the beauty in imperfection and her connection to the natural world, Farquharson recontextualizes vintage Japanese kimonos and kimono sashes, or obis. The exhibition invites the viewer to consider our impact and presence on earth.

“As a young woman, Hanna attended kimono classes and recalls how beautifully her mother’s hands moved when folding and caring for her own kimonos. The works in this exhibition use antique kimonos including her mother’s and her great auntie’s kimonos, carefully taken apart and reconstructed,” Farguharson said in her artist statement.

The SCC Gallery is located at 813 Broadway Ave. Information is available at saskcraftcouncil.org.

jbennett@postmedia.com

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