The Moose Jaw Museum & Art Gallery (MJMAG) has collected together an exhibit focusing on prairie-influenced folk art, from both traditional and contemporary artists, as their summer show.
A Prairie Vernacular highlights artists from Saskatchewan, Alberta, and Manitoba, and contrasts contemporary artists' work alongside the folk artists, or vernacular artists, who inspired them.
Jennifer McRorie, director and curator at the MJMAG, curated the collection alongside Joanne Marion from the Esplanade Art Gallery in Medicine Hat. They began with first deciding what folk art entails, exactly, and then looking at how folk artists have influenced their later contemporaries.
“[We’re] sort of looking at the history of that, as well, and looking at real relationships that existed between artists and even perceived relationships, where you see sort of aesthetic connections or conceptual connections between work,” said McRorie.
The exhibit includes work from many familiar names — like Joe Fafard, Lawrence Peterson, Graeme Patterson, Amalie Atkins, Victor Cicansky, Allen Sapp, and so on — and ranges across all different kind of mediums: paintings, prints, sculptures, toy-working, even videos.
“There's a lot of eye candy and a lot of pieces that I think will intrigue people,” said McRorie.
To truly highlight the connections the exhibit is built upon, many pieces are grouped together purposefully to build upon a narrative; a sculpture that inspired a painting, for example, will be displayed next to each other.
The variety of themes that folk art includes means that there will be a colorful collection of artwork on display, all of which is grouped together by theme. Many pieces deal with memory, politics, religion, life on the prairies; style types like prairie gothic, surrealism, and even funk art will be displayed together.
A Prairie Vernacular will be holding its opening night on May 31, at 7:30 p.m., and will be on display until Aug. 31.
Also opening on May 31 is the True Colors exhibit, a collection of work from artists in the local LGBTQ+ community. The MJMAG has partnered with Moose Jaw Pride to put together the exhibit, which will be set up in the temporary exhibit space, as a featured event for Pride Week. True Colors will be on display until July 1.
For the sixth summer, the gallery will be once again have its Global Warning display in the lobby, beginning May 30 and ending Aug. 25. The concept of the display is an environmental statement: local community members, elementary and high school students collect garbage and then recycle the materials into artwork.
The Moose Jaw Museum & Art Gallery’s website has more information about the exhibits, along with a schedule of their programs.
