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News & Events |
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Mindy Yan Miller |
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| In collaboration with MAWA (Mentoring Artists for Women’s Art), AGSM hosted a presentation by Montreal based artist Mindy Yan Miller on Saturday July 10, 2004 at 2:00 PM. Sometimes honorific and sometimes blasphemous, the work of Mindy Yan Miller often invokes analytic relationships between craft and mechanical production, labour and consumption, and ownership and representation. The presence (or absence) of the body is evident in much of her work, often symbolized through the use of found objects that hint at the memory of former owners. Mindy Yan Miller studied surface design and art at Parson’s School of Design (N.Y.C.) and the Nova Scotia School of Art & Design (Halifax). Exhibited in North America and Europe since the mid 1980s, Mindy Yan Miller’s work has recently been featured at the Southern Alberta Art Gallery (Lethbridge), Galerie La Centrale (Montreal), Mercer Union (Toronto), Musée Marcil (Saint-Lambert, Québec) and Artforum (Berlin, Germany). An active member of galerie articule (Montreal), her curatorial activities include Pied-a-terre (1993), Ruth Liberman & Allan Switzer (1994), and Hôpital (2001). Presently Mindy Yan Miller teaches in Fibres at Concordia University and is the mother of a beautiful and willful little boy. Mindy Yan Miller is presently a Mentor In Residence with MAWA (Mentoring Artists For Women’s Art). This intensive program is designed to meet the needs of mid-career and senior artists, through studio visits, weekly meetings, and various other forms of professional development. For more information, please contact Cathy Mattes at (204) 727-1036. |
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Art-It-Fact II
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There exists a troubled history for First Peoples in relation to the historical museum, which tends to present their culture under Plexiglas, away from its social relevance and apart from current everyday life. . The process of excavation, preservation, and exhibition has been based upon problematic ideas, for example the beliefs that Aboriginal cultures were once a dying race. Within museum displays, there is so much that is absent, raising questions such as: who created the “artifacts” on display, why, and what do they mean now? What aren’t museums telling us, and what don’t they know or recognize? Lionel Peyachew takes on the role of archeologist with his art making by looking to a time when art was inseparable from daily life. However, as many archeologists have failed to do, he recognizes the continuation today of artistic practices. Peyachew uses natural found objects that his ancestors may have used in making their functional art. Found objects like soil, wood and rocks, which are believed to hold spiritual significance, are used. Yet, in an effort to erase the title of artifact in his work, he makes what might be considered traditionally functional, such as bows and arrows, non-functional. It is here that Peyachew crosses a spectrum, challenging viewer’s perceptions of what is deemed appropriate for an art gallery or that of a museum. The tension he creates between the functional and non-functional mirrors the museum/art gallery debate on the question of when is it art and when is it artifact. The AGSM is very pleased to present this exhibition, which will tour to 5 regional communities in Southwestern Manitoba. A catalogue will be available for purchase at the opening reception. Lionel Peyachew graduated with an MFA specializing in sculpture from the University of Calgary in 2000. His work has been shown in several exhibitions, including a two-person exhibition at the Indian Art Centre in Hull, Quebec, and a solo exhibition at Urban Shaman Gallery in Winnipeg. He has taught as a sessional instructor at the University of Calgary, and presently teaches art at the elementary school level, while continuing his artistic practice. |