A new exhibition, Art = Work, opens at Owens Art Gallery on Friday. The title of this exhibition, Art = Work is taken from a protest slogan that former Owens curator and Mount Allison graduate Mary McDonald created in 2013 to protest funding cuts to the arts in Newfoundland and Labrador.
Emily Falvey, Director and Curator at the Owens, explained the choice of the title.
“When Mary passed away in 2017 a foundation was created that sold t-shirts that say Art = Work on them. And we gave the exhibition this title because we wanted to pay homage to an important graduate but also because we felt it really encapsulated the things that we wanted to talk about in the exhibition.”
The exhibition was curated by Emily Falvey, Lucy McDonald, curator of Education and Community Outreach, Rachel Thornton, curator of Digital Engagement, and Jane Tisdale, the fine arts conservator.
“The show is entirely made up of graduates, former students, current and former faculty at Mount Allison,” Falvey says. “And the themes of the exhibition are really looking at the relationship between art and craft that exists in Sackville and how that intersects with rural life in New Brunswick. I think it’s one of two provinces in Canada where the majority of artists are working in craft. And I think that speaks to the large number of artists who live in rural communities.”
Visitors to the gallery will see a variety of media present in the exhibition including a site specific installation, jewelry, painting, pinhole photography, bronze sculpture, ceramics and weaving.
There will also be a video in Owen’s picture window for this exhibition, which will be presented in the evenings to be viewed from outside the gallery. With over 40 artists in the show, Art = Work fills the entire main floor of the gallery with a small exhibit in the stairwell next to the Blair Bruce painting, which includes a recently acquired copy of that painting done by a student of the ladies’ college.
The Art = Work exhibition will be showing at the Owens Art Gallery from October 25th – December 14th with an opening reception on Friday, October 24th at 7 pm. All are welcome.
For more information on this or other upcoming exhibits at the Owens, visit them online at owensartgallery.com
