June 29, 2009

Labrador artist Billy Gauthier is featured on the cover and a beautiful 6-page portfolio photo feature in the new Summer issue of Inuit Art Quarterly (IAQ) magazine.

Favourite subject: human faces. "They're what you notice first about any person. People often forget names, but they don't forget faces," Gauthier says. "Whenever I talk to someone face-to-face, I visualize myself carving, going over the contours, the different lines of the face, under the eyes, just mentally doing the sculpture."

Billy Gauthier's first solo exhibition will be October 2010.

June 26, 2009

Summer at the gallery is a special time because of all the neighbourhood events. This weekend visit the gallery and enjoy the Gastown Jazz Festival!

Gastown Jazz, is a free two-day New Orleans-style street festival is back! Historic Gastown becomes an open-air party with multiple acts spread over two days. Featuring Canadian and International artists, Gastown Jazz has become a traditional destination for jazz fans and is synonymous with the opening weekend of the Festival.

June 23, 2009

Happy Matariki (Maori New Year) to everyone!

Matariki is the Plaiades constellation whose helical rising signals the beginning of the New Year for the Maori. Matariki symbolizes a mother and her six daughters. When Matariki shines bright then it will be a fruitful year. Matariki links the Pacific as many Pacific cultures use her to start the new year.

Matariki (2007) by Fred Graham

June 22, 2009

Teri Rofkar was awarded a National Endowment of the Arts (NEA) Heritage Fellowship in May 2009.

As a Tlingit spruce-root basket weaver, Teri Rofkar holds firmly to the ancestry of her culture's basketry tradition as the materialization of a relationship between Tlingit people and the spirits of the plants and animals from which they harvest the materials used in their weavings. Teri's baskets utilize Alaska's indigenous resources such as spruce root, maidenhair fern, cedar, and grass to produce the traditional twining and plaiting weaving techniques of the Tlingit tribe.

The fellowship is considered the highest award for traditional folk arts and crafts in the United States. Recipients are considered "living cultural treasures."

June 18, 2009

The Spirit Wrestler Gallery is co-presenting with Harbourfront Centre (Toronto) a Michael Massie solo exhibition as part of their Planet IndigenUs summer festival.

Shaping Stories (June 27 - September 13) is a solo exhibition featuring works by Michael D. Massie (Kippens, NL). Massie's work is a reflection of his mixed Inuit, Métis and Scottish heritage. In it, he investigates both traditional and contemporary themes. He has achieved renown for his innovative teapots that combine themes and symbols from his native Inuit culture with European traditions. Massie has been twice short-listed for the coveted Prix Saidye Bronfman and has an extensive international reputation. His work has been shown in North America and Europe, including the National Gallery of Canada.

For more information, please visit the Harbourfront Centre website.