Exhibition Info
HOME, WHERE THE NORTH IS
The quiet of the forest in the winter is one of the most beautiful things I have ever experienced. No one is around for miles, and you can’t see any animals, but you know they are there from the tracks they have left. These experiences of the forest changed my life forever. The North has a magical spirit that seeps into everyone who lives there, and that spirit stays forever. The fifteen artists in the exhibition have created pieces that describe the enchanting northern landscape and how it captivates the people who live there.
I come from the deep freeze of the prairies, where your car never warms up during a January winter and the land is blanketed with quiet; we hibernate and try to stay warm. In the spring we emerge from this reclusiveness to enjoy a short summer and fall. But I experienced a very different lifestyle when I lived and worked in both the Northwest Territories and northern Saskatchewan, near the Athabasca river. The communities in these regions are active in their natural environment year round. Even in temperatures of minus thirty degrees Celsius, people still check their rabbit snares and walk their dogs.
This lifestyle inspired the idea of an exhibition to convey this spirit. From the iceberg painting by Isabel Hamilton to the endearing oil painting Eskimo Scene by Kablona and Northern Lights by Irene Pearcy, the pieces in this exhibition describe the diversity and strength of the connection the people of the North have with their environment. The works are unpretentious, as if the artists wished to capture private moments in time. And although personal, they convey a universal message – we are all influenced and inspired by the concept of home and our sense of belonging, our “sense of place.”
The nineteen pieces in this exhibition are from the Alberta Foundation for the Arts permanent collection in Edmonton, Alberta.
Home, Where the North Is was curated by Xanthe Isbister, Manager/Curator, Esplanade Arts & Heritage Centre, Region 4 of the Travelling Exhibition Program (TREX).
