New exhibitions at Confederation Centre Art Gallery speak to climate change, Atlantic Canadian identity

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– Fall Gallery opening to be held on October 21 –

October 17, 2023 – Five new exhibitions speaking to climate change, Canadian history, and Atlantic Canadian identity are on view this fall at Confederation Centre Art Gallery (CCAG). The public is invited to view the exhibitions at the Fall Gallery Opening on Saturday, October 21 at 7 p.m. Guests have the opportunity to meet some of the artists and curators from the exhibitions, enjoy light refreshments and a cash bar, and take in a performance from Island musician Logan Richard, (presented by First Up with RBCxMusic).

“These vibrant exhibitions focus on our relationship to the land by reflecting the artists’ experiences of the landscape, its transformation by human use, and various responses to our current climate emergency,” says CCAG director Kevin Rice. “The exhibitions feature diverse approaches to art making by artists from across the county, with a particular focus on Atlantic Canadians.”

Island artists are front and centre in Destruction Recrafted: Hurricane Fiona Up Close and Personal. Organized by the PEI Crafts Council, the exhibition offers a platform for Islanders to reflect on shared experiences in the wake of Hurricane Fiona. Inspired by the carnage in Island forests and on the shores, 17 local artisans interpreted their own experiences, the effects of the hurricane, or the beauty that they found in the aftermath. In many cases, they were able to incorporate actual debris from the storm into their work.

One of Prince Edward Island’s most celebrated living painters is honoured in the exhibition Daphne Butler Irving: A Painter’s Journey. Her career has spanned over 50 years and includes fluid and inventive watercolour landscapes, a period of abstraction, and then a more figurative approach in the 1980s focused on depictions of religious narratives.

“Daphne Butler Irving remains admired and treasured, especially by her fellow artists, who recognize the integrity and quality of her work,” says CCAG curator Pan Wendt.

Atlantic Canadian artists are also highlighted in the currents that carry us. Channelled through the artwork of eight emerging artists with origins or long-standing relationships to the Atlantic provinces, the exhibition presents a contemporary and interdisciplinary take on storytelling. Supported by RBC Foundation, the currents that carry us features works by Island artists Jordan Beaulieu, Somnia Lucent, Emily Shaw, and more. An ArtTalk with local artists will be held on Saturday, October 21 at 3 p.m.

“This exhibition pursues storytelling that isn’t rooted in written or spoken word,” says exhibition curator Roxanne Fernandes. “Ultimately, these stories converge around what the provinces share: the water that flows around this land and what it takes away, leaves us with, and teaches us.”

Selected from CCAG’s permanent collection, Making History presents artistic interpretations of historical events, demonstrating the participation of Canadian artists in the creation of compelling and vivid images of the past. Whether contending with the myth-laden legacy of Louis Riel, the tragic drama of the great wars of the 20th century, or the October Crisis of 1970, artists shape and complicate our understanding of Canadian history. Curated by Pan Wendt, artists include Rémi Belliveau, Arthur Lismer and Pegi Nicol, and more.

CCAG will also host an immersive multimedia installation, Common Collective: 40-Tonne Viewfinder. Constructed within an abandoned grain bin, it examines how a specific patch of rural land is shaped and reshaped at various scales by human agricultural practices. Environmental sounds and projected visuals transport the viewer back to the farmland the silo inhabited for over 50 years. Curated by Pan Wendt, the exhibition features works by Jeremey Cox, Nick Kuepfer, Luke Mistruzzi, and Mark Preston.

The Fall Gallery Opening is free to attend, and no registration is required. For information on all events and exhibitions at Confederation Centre Art Gallery, visit confederationcentre.com.

Photo: Daphne Butler Irving, Incorporeal Landscape, c. 1976, oil on canvas. Purchased, 1976, (CAG 76.18).