New AWE exhibits explore body issues, living matter, bridge art

From a wall of guts to bacterial blooms to a building facade, you’ll find plenty to appreciate in three dramatic new exhibitions that opened at Art Windsor-Essex this month.

Measuring 15 feet wide and 10.5 feet tall, Pageant of the Vulnerable turns fabric and recycled materials into bodily structures that visitors are allowed get close to and touch.

“It’s really incredible — and sort of gross,” said Jennifer Matotek, executive director of AWE. “(Hois) has made it super flesh-like. Some parts of it are softer, some parts of it are harder… It makes you very aware of your own body.”

Hois has described the piece as part of her therapeutic process dealing with issues such as body dysmorphia and an eating disorder.

Accompanying the organ wall is a setting called Heart House, which creepily recreates the living room of Hois’ childhood home — complete with a television.

The exhibit is viewable until May 28.

BioCurious

Plenty of artworks at AWE have been described as lively — but how about pieces that are actually living?

This exhibition gathers the works of 18 Canadian women artists with a unifying theme of exploring organic matters and life processes. Some of those explorations have resulted in putting actual ecosystems in the gallery.

For example, artist Lisa Hirmer’s contribution is a geodesic dome that houses living, oxygen-producing plants.

Artist Nicole Clouston put dirt samples into plexiglass containers and fed them bacteria — making blooms that will alter in colour over time.

Similarly, artist Maria Simmons collected materials from around the gallery itself and contained them with visibly reactive chemicals.

“Over the course of the exhibition — which is up to Oct. 1 — some of these pieces will grow and change,” Matotek noted.

Matotek said artist Jennifer Willett, whose work is a part of the exhibition, has deep experience with biological media in art and helped AWE with a safe containment plan for the show.

Cut-outs, Offcuts and Cast-offs

This exhibition by artist Sara Graham offers insight into the large-scale work she was commissioned to create for a building facade that’s part of the future Gordie Howe International Bridge.

Taking a multi-disciplinary approach, Graham drew from architecture, historical mapping, urban planning, and her own travels around the city to come up with her designs.

A scaled-down foam version of the building facade can be viewed in the exhibition, which is supported by the Windsor-Detroit Bridge Authority.

“The display is very much connected with the bridge project,” Matotek explained. “(Graham) has recreated her studio wall, which shows a lot of the inspiration, research, and process behind the design for the facade.”

The exhibit is viewable until May 28.

Art Windsor-Essex (401 Riverside Dr. West) is open Tuesday to Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Sundays from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is $10 for the general public, free for AWE members and children under 6. Visit artwindsoressex.ca for more information.