Major fall exhibition at Remai Modern features three artists connected to the Prairies
Saskatoon, Canada — Opening August 31, Remai Modern presents III: HeavyShield, Knowles, Cameron-Weir. The exhibition features work by three Prairie-born artists of different generations: Faye HeavyShield, Dorothy Knowles and Elaine Cameron-Weir. Working in diverse media, including large-scale installation, painting and sculpture, they offer powerful reflections on the natural world and human experience.
“It is important for Remai Modern to produce exhibitions that reflect our place in the world. We aim to champion artists connected to the Prairies and highlight their impact on the national and global art community,” said Gregory Burke, Remai Modern’s Executive Director & CEO. “III does this in a number of ways: supporting the production of new work, re-contextualizing an established artist, and showcasing an exciting emerging voice.”
“It is also a significant moment to acknowledge the legacy of Dorothy Knowles. Knowles was shown in the inaugural year of programming at the Mendel Art Gallery in 1964, and has been a critical figure in the development of Saskatchewan’s artistic community. It is only fitting that Remai Modern’s inaugural year of programming include a substantial presentation of her work.”
III offers viewers a chance to see lesser-known works by the veteran Saskatoon painter, who has prolifically depicted the Prairie environment for more than 70 years. In this time, Knowles’s style has evolved through continual experimentation with media, composition and technique. This exhibition focuses on work made between the 1960s and 1990s, showcasing many never-before exhibited pieces that move through degrees of abstraction and focus on density, memory and moments of transition.
Faye HeavyShield—a member of the Kainai First Nation who has shown in significant exhibitions across Canada and the US—will debut wave (2018), a new work created for III. HeavyShield uses formal reduction and the repetition of images, objects and sounds to create large-scale installations. Continuing her exploration of the spiral form, and utilizing imagery of grasses photographed on her home territory, wave creates a radial topography, shifting the spatial order of the gallery.
III represents the first in-depth presentation of emerging artist Elaine Cameron-Weir in Canada. Originally from Red Deer, Alberta, and now based in New York, Cameron-Weir is gaining recognition on an international scale, but has never been shown on the Prairies. Her sculptures combine industrial and organic materials, including metal, neon, leather, silk, seashells, sand, and scented plant resins. The results appear like relics from the future or visions from a dream: vibrant, strange and often unsettling.
“The artists in III each have a powerful, clear vision. They are all leading figures in their generations and communities,” said the show’s curator Rose Bouthillier, Remai Modern’s Curator (Exhibitions). “This exhibition is a chance to discover compelling connections between very different practices. HeavyShield, Knowles and Cameron-Weir explore multiple dimensions of human experience, with a strong emphasis on perception and the senses. Their works are spirited and alive, speaking to endurance, continuation and change.”
III: HeavyShield, Knowles, Cameron-Weir opens August 31, 2018 and runs until January 20, 2019 in the museum’s Marquee Gallery.
About Dorothy Knowles
Dorothy Knowles (b. 1927, Unity, SK) is one of Canada’s most prolific and accomplished painters. She has been recognized with the Order of Merit of Saskatchewan (1987), the Order of Canada (2004), and a Senate Commemorative Award (2018).
Knowles earned a Bachelor of Art from the University of Saskatchewan in 1948, and studied art at Goldsmiths, University of London, in 1951. From 2008-2010, her solo exhibition Landmarks travelled between Moose Jaw Museum & Art Gallery, Mendel Art Gallery, Saskatoon and McMichael Canadian Art Collection, Kleinburg, ON, among other venues. Other solo exhibitions of her work have been presented at MacKenzie Art Gallery, Regina (2001), Edmonton Art Gallery (1972; 1982), and Winnipeg Art Gallery (1969). She has been included in numerous significant group exhibitions, including: Season to Season, Coast to Coast: a celebration of the Canadian landscape (2016), Art Gallery of Alberta, Edmonton; Clement Greenberg—A Critic’s Collection (2001), Portland Art Museum, WA; Achieving the Modern: Canadian Abstract Painting and Design in the 50’s (1992), Winnipeg Art Gallery; 14 Canadians—A Critic’s Choice (1976), Hirshhorn Museum & Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C. Knowles’s work is held in many collections including at Remai Modern; National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa; MacKenzie Art Gallery, Regina; Art Gallery of Alberta, Edmonton; Glenbow Museum, Calgary; Vancouver Art Gallery; Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto; Musée d’art contemporain, Montréal; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Portland Art Museum, WA.
About Faye HeavyShield
Faye HeavyShield (b. 1953) is a member of the Kainai First Nation and a fluent Blackfoot speaker. She studied at the Alberta College of Art and Design in Calgary. HeavyShield’s work has been exhibited widely in North America, with solo exhibitions including: Calling Stones (Conversations) (2017), Art Gallery of Alberta, Edmonton; body of land (2002), Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art, Indianapolis, IN; Aapaskaiyaawa (They are Dancing) (2002), MacKenzie Art Gallery, Regina; Into the Garden of Angels (1994), The Power Plant, Toronto. She has also been featured in group exhibitions including: Close Encounters: The Next 500 Years (2011), Plug In Institute of Contemporary Art, Winnipeg; Nations in Urban Landscape (1997), Contemporary Art Gallery, Vancouver; Land, Spirit, Power (1992), National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa. HeavyShield’s work is held in the collections of: National Gallery of Canada; McMichael Canadian Art Collection, Kleinburg, ON; Alberta Foundation for the Arts, Edmonton; Glenbow Museum, Calgary; MacKenzie Art Gallery; Heard Museum, Phoenix, AZ.
About Elaine Cameron-Weir
Elaine Cameron-Weir (b. 1985, Red Deer, AB) lives and works in New York. She holds a BFA from Alberta College of Art and Design, and an MFA from New York University. Solo exhibitions of her work include: exhibit from a dripping personal collection (2018), Dortmunder Kunstverein, Germany; Outlooks: Elaine Cameron-Weir (2018), Storm King Art Center, Mountainville, NY; viscera has questions about itself (2017), New Museum, New York; wave form walks the earth (2017), Hannah Hoffman Gallery, Los Angeles; Erotix (2016), Andrea Rosen Gallery, New York. She has been featured in numerous group exhibitions, including Le Grand Balcon, La Biennal de Montréal (2017), and Objects of Desire (2014), Philadelphia Museum of Art. Her work is held in the collections of The Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, and The Philadelphia Museum of Art.
About Remai Modern
Remai Modern is a new museum of modern and contemporary art in Saskatoon. It aims to be a vibrant, imaginative and prescient museum committed to affirming the powerful role that art and artists play in questioning, interpreting and defining the modern era. Remai Modern is home to the world’s foremost collection of Picasso linocut prints, and aspires to be a leading centre for contemporary Indigenous art programming.
For additional information contact:
Stephanie McKay, Communications Manager
306.975.2242
smckay@remaimodern.org
remaimodern.org
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Remai Modern is situated on Treaty 6 Territory and the Traditional Homeland of the Métis.
We pay our respects to First Nations and Métis ancestors and reaffirm our relationship with one another.