MICHAEL BELMORE & MARY ANNE BARKHOUSE | DREAMING EARTH & SKY
May 20 – June 25, 2004
Artists’ Talk & Opening Reception, Thursday May 20, 7 pm
The Klondike Institute of Art and Culture (KIAC) and the Odd Gallery are pleased to welcome Mary Anne Barkhouse & Michael Belmore to Dawson City for a residency in conjunction with a two-person exhibition opening May 20 at the Odd Gallery.
During their residency, the artists will be completing new works for Dreaming Earth & Sky an exhibition of new sculptural and installation works, which examine both current and historical issues around land use, conservation, displacement and loss as civilization continues to expand deep into the wilderness. Through works in metal, stone and wood the artists interweave environmental concerns with contemporary First Nations social/historical discourse.
Michael Belmore, Biography:
Michael Belmore was born in 1971 north of Thunder Bay and graduated with an A.O.C.A. in Sculpture/Installation from the Ontario College of Art in Toronto, Ontario in 1994. Belmore is of Ojibway heritage and currently lives in the Haliburton Highlands in Ontario. Previous exhibitions have included First Nations Art at the Woodland Cultural Centre, Brantford, Ontario (1992), Naked State at the Power Plant Comtemporary Art Gallery at Harbourfront, Toronto, Ontario(1994), Staking Land Claims at the Walter Phillips Gallery, Banff, Alberta (1997), lichen at the Toronto Sculpture Garden (1998), Ravens Wait at the Indian Art Centre in Hull, Quebec(1999) and Vantage Point at the Sacred Circle Art Gallery, Seattle, Washington (2002). As well Belmore has shown with several artist-run-centres and collectives across Canada and created site-specific public art installations for Thunder Bay Art Gallery and the City of Peterborough. A member of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts, Belmore’s work is represented in the permanent collections of the Indian Art Centre in Hull, the McMichael Canadian Art Collection in Kleinberg, Thunder Bay Art Gallery, Agnes Etherington Art Gallery in Kingston, and in numerous private collections.
Mary Anne Barkhouse, Biography:
Mary Anne Barkhouse was born in 1961 in Vancouver, BC. She belongs to the ‘Namgis band, Kwagiutl First Nation. She graduated with Honours from the Ontario College of Art in Toronto and has exhibited widely across Canada. Barkhouse works in various media such as sculpture, photography and jewellery. Her work examines environmental concerns and indigenous culture through the use of animal imagery – wolves, ravens, moose and beaver are juxtaposed against a diversity of background situations. A member of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts, Barkhouse’s work can be found in the collections of the Art Bank of the Canada Council for the Arts, UBC Museum of Anthropology, Banff Centre for the Arts and the Dept. of Indian and Northern Affairs. In addition she has public art installations at Thunder Bay Art Gallery, McMichael Canadian Art Collection and the Millennium Walkway in Peterborough, Ontario.