#yegcanvas

#YEGCanvas is a luminous spot in our long #yegwinters. The transitory exhibition places exciting and diverse art images on billboards throughout the city and along the Capital & Metro LRT Lines. From now until April, we’ll share the artists’ biographies and thoughts on their artworks. Reflecting the wide diversity of art on display, the artists’ words appear unedited in all their whimsical, academic, reflective, funny, or poignant glory.

Today’s artist is Allison Tunis

Title: Pretty Please Medium: Hand Embroidery on Dyed Aida Cloth Year: 2016 Description: Pretty Please is a piece that explores themes of Body Positivity, and grapples with concepts of accepting body modifications and size diversity (especially for women) in our society. 

Biography Allison Tunis holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the University of Alberta, and a graduate diploma in Art Therapy from the Vancouver Art Therapy Institute. She works mainly in cross-stitch embroidery, but also has worked in mixed media involving acrylic painting and gel transfers, as well as self-publishing a body positive colouring book entitled Body Love: A Fat Activism Colouring Book, which can be found on Amazon in many countries. 

Tunis is currently the Artist-in-Residence for Youth Empowerment and Support Services (YESS), a project supported by the Edmonton Arts Council. At YESS, Tunis works with high-risk youth in the Edmonton area to create art in a therapeutic and activist context, as well as creating her own body of work focusing on body diversity, feminism, and reducing weight-based and mental illness stigma. She has participated in the local art scene through group exhibitions such as #YEGBest_Artists, curated by the Alberta Society of Artists, in July 2017, the consumerism focused and body-conscious "The Big Idea - A Visual Exploration of Contemporary Culture and Obesity" in 2012, and has had numerous digital and print articles written about her work over the last ten years.

Artist Statement

Allison Tunis' embroidery and mixed media pieces focus on our obsession with body image, traditional Western social aesthetics, and the conscious and unconscious desire to be considered desirable. These works develop a discourse around cultural conditioning and societal implications of restrictive standards of beauty.

Tunis’ works feature portraits of persons who shun outdated and constricting notions of what it means to be a “beautiful woman”, and who celebrate their differences and diversity in ways that can be considered disobedient, either actively or passively. The need to feel beautiful and desired is universal, but the standards for how to achieve that are so restrictive that it leaves little chance for many to accomplish this feat.

#YEGCanvas is a luminous spot in our long #yegwinters. The transitory exhibition places exciting and diverse art images on billboards throughout the city and along the Capital & Metro LRT Lines. From now until April, we’ll share the artists’ biographies and thoughts on their artworks. Reflecting the wide diversity of art on display, the artists’ words appear unedited in all their  whimsical, academic, reflective, funny, or poignant glory.

Today’s artist is Catherine Dubois

Title: Manmer Crossing the Alps Medium: Acrylic Paint  & India Ink on Bristol Year: 2016

Description: Manmer Crossing the Alps, can be found in the Stadium LRT Station until December 31. The artwork is a parody of Jacques-Louis David’s Napoleon Crossing the Alps. This artwork is a commentary on the snobbery associated with ‘fine arts’ being more legitimate than cartoon/more stylized work.

‘Manmer’ is a reoccurring character created by Dubois. He’s described as a ‘reverse mermaid. 50% person. 50% fish. 100% stress’. You can follow his art adventures here - http://duboiscatherine.tumblr.com/manmer

About Catherine When she realized her dream of becoming a frog would not be achieved, Catherine turned her attention to the graphic arts and has not looked back. She graduated from Pixel Blue College in 2015 with a diploma in 2D Animation and Illustration. After being awarded a scholarship at the Gotta Minute Film Festival, she returned to school to complete a diploma in Digital Illustration and Sequential Arts at the Edmonton Digital Arts College in 2017.

Catherine has created works in a large number of mediums, from commercial animations to selling paintings at the Whyte Ave Art Walk. She works as a freelance animator and illustrator, and is currently the Artist-in-Residence at Happy Harbor Comics. 

The majority of Catherine’s work is satirical in nature, either poking fun or simply for the fun of it.

L: Al D. Girvan, 1966 R: Dwayne Martineau, 2012

It all began with a “spaghetti tree”. When Edmonton city planners commissioned The Migrants for the 1957 incarnation of City Hall, they sparked a lively six-decade conversation.

The bronze sculpture, which remains as one of 64 artworks at City Hall, formed the kernel of a collection that now contains 239 artworks by 302 artists. Of that, nearly 70% of the artists are local (or were at the time of selection). Our collection spans a myriad of mediums rendered in ancient techniques like mosaic as well as cutting-edge 21st century technology.

The City of Edmonton implemented C458c -  Percent to Encourage and Provide Art in Public Areas Policy – aka “Percent for Art” – 25 years ago, in order to ensure the new City Hall would contain artworks by, for, and about Edmontonians. The Migrants – temporarily slated for “retirement” – was re-installed on the west side of the building following an outcry from citizens saying they would miss the iconic artwork. Since then, the City of Edmonton Public Art Collection has grown exponentially. City projects – including LRT, recreation centres, police and fire stations, parks, streetscapes, renovations, bridges, libraries, sports facilities, transit centres (to name a few) – are catalysts for new artistic visions that continue to animate our conversations.

In 2017, the Edmonton Arts Council Public Art team installed six new artworks and are managing more than 20 new and ongoing projects. The Conservation team repaired, cleaned, and maintained dozens of artworks including restoration of the Norman Yates mural. The EAC was honoured to receive recognition from Americans for the Arts (Public Art Network Year in Review – Amiskwâcîw Wâskâyhkan Ihtâwin, Destiny Swiderski); Creative City Network of Canada (Public Art Award of Excellence – Tsa Tsa Ke K’e [Iron Foot Place], Alex Janvier) and the Edmonton Urban Design Awards (Award of Excellence, Urban Fragments - Amiskwâcîw Wâskâyhkan Ihtâwin, Destiny Swiderski; Award of Merit, Urban Fragments – Tsa Tsa Ke K’e [Iron Foot Place], Alex Janvier; Award of Merit, Community Projects - #YEGCanvas in partnership with Pattison Outdoor Advertising, various artists).

2018 promises to be just as busy!

Read on for profiles of the new art; join us in the new year for previews of Calder Library, ᐄᓃᐤ (ÎNÎW) River Lot 11∞, Tawatinâ Bridge and more.

Sometimes, Always, Even – April Dean (Paul Kane Park) This artwork connects park users to time and place as they enjoy the granite water feature in this downtown park. The words continuously flow around the water feature in a formally minimalist font, allowing an intimate experience of discovery across the white granite surface.

Thing 1 & Thing 2 – Lisa Turner & Paul Bernhardt (West Edmonton Mall Transit Centre) Mysterious pink and green objects glow from the walls of the WEM Transit Centre – investigating the relationship between advertising, product design, and the objects we desire. The artists were inspired by the art’s location, adjacent to one of the world’s largest malls, and drew on theories of psychology and consumer product silhouettes to create these low relief panels.

Turbulent – Jill Anholt (100 Street Funicular, Downtown) These turquoise metal ribbons are inspired by the swirling forms, and twisting, turning shapes that appear along the edges of water currents in the North Saskatchewan River. They are integrated onto the concrete benches at the funicular site and offer a playful opportunity for pedestrians to pause, sit, lounge, and have a face to face conversation with a friend or experience a chance meeting with a stranger.

Heart of the Valley – Black Artifex (Whitemud Equine Learning Centre) This intricate, pyrographed mural is inspired by the history of the equine centre site and setting in the river valley. The designs and motifs incorporated throughout are inspired by “western aesthetics” such as leather tooling, wood craft, and branding. The artwork is burned directly into the cedar siding adjacent to the main entrance, inviting viewers to touch and explore.

Esprit – Pierre Poussin (Alex Decoteau Park, Downtown) This red abstract sculpture celebrates the spirit of Alex Decoteau, Canada’s first Indigenous police officer; World War I veteran; Olympian, and first inductee to Edmonton’s Sports Hall of Fame. Composed of metal ribbons that intersect in fluidity, the sculpture evokes the silhouette of a man mid-sprint.

Resonant Progression – Royden Mills (Terwillegar Off-Leash Area) This artwork by Edmonton sculptor Royden Mills, consists of three sculptures placed in conceptually linked sites in Terwillegar Park. The sculptural components link the viewer now with a sense of history and the sounds of nature, as well as inviting contemplation and play. Each sculpture - Potential, Resonant Point, and Beyond Listening, contains an acoustic element that animates the site.

Borden Art Park Temporary Sculpture Loan Exhibition – Sandra Bromley, Kasie Campbell, Agnieszka Koziarz, Susan Owen Kagan This year, the sculptures featured within Borden Park changed. The new exhibition, featuring 11 artworks, represents more than 30 years of artmaking by women artists in Edmonton. The Temporary Sculpture Loan Program is part of the Edmonton Arts Council’s Transitory Art programming.

April 20th marks Chinese Language day and Edmonton is fortunate to have a vibrant and artistic Chinese community.  

Shawn Tse is an Edmonton based artist, educator and community advocate. He was a part of this year’s #YEGCanvas campaign with his work “88 Maple Fooks”. Fook/福 is the Chinese character for fortune and is popularly used around the home to bring good luck. “88 Maple Fooks” is one in a series of 88 Fooks Digital Blessings that he created to address the challenges he faces navigating his identity as a Chinese-Canadian. A household symbol since Shawn was a child, the Fook evokes feelings of hope and the expectations of success thanks to the ‘privileges’ of being born and raised in Canada. Being a second generation Chinese-Canadian, Shawn is driven to learn more about and advocate for racialized communities underrepresented in arts and heritage work. Through much of his practice, he grapples with defining his responsibilities for a disappearing Chinatown that he never really considered home.

88 Maple Fooks by Shawn Tse as part of #YEGCanvas.  

Shawn is also the Director/Producer of a local video series, “Seconds, Please!” which celebrates Edmonton’s diverse food culture. The series is an homage to the many families that he grew up with and who invited him into their homes. “We all know that the best stories are those shared around the table while enjoying wonderful food – it is an experience that is similar across all cultures. People can identify with that as part of their childhood, hearing stories about the home country over dinner or their parents’ and grandparents’ childhoods.”

Shawn Tse (centre) learning how to make the traditional Filipino dish, kare-kare in an episode of Seconds, Please! Photo by Shawn Tse. 

For Shawn, if the series were to continue, choosing the next cultural community to explore would be extremely daunting. “Every individual from every community has such a different experience; it would be impossible to choose just one,” says Shawn. “Have you been to the Edmonton Heritage Festival? Good luck trying to eat at only one pavilion. Edmonton is so diverse!”