Last year, Ottawa-based artist Meryl McMaster made international waves with her newest body of work, As Immense as the Sky (2019), exhibiting it in Canada, the UK, France, and Australia. Three years in the making, the series of nineteen photographs captures McMaster’s travels to central and southern Saskatchewan, Ontario, and Newfoundland as she retraces the … Continued
The late Ojibwe artist Carl Beam was one of the foremost figures of contemporary art in Canada. Working in a variety of media, he examined the political and social concerns that have shaped Indigenous and Western relations throughout history. In the late 1970s, during the formative years of his career, Beam began making photo-based collage works that combine appropriated and personal imagery and text with gestural painting. Drawing on elements of Pop Art and Abstract Expressionism, Beam’s collage works boldly challenged prevailing definitions of Indigenous art and established him as a major contemporary … Continued
Last month, REITZENSTEIN marked the conclusion of his yearlong residency at the AGH with an astonishing achievement: the completion of his thirty-foot-long tree drawing Maple (2019–20) (fig. 1). Over the past year, the artist, together with Gallery participants, steadily developed the collaborative artwork by writing rows of the word “maple” in dozens of different languages. Given the painstaking labour involved in creating Maple, Gallery visitors were often surprised to learn of its ephemerality. The work’s temporary existence is purposeful, underscoring the performative and process-oriented aspects of REITZENSTEIN’s practice. But for those lamenting that this immensely popular piece no … Continued
Did you know that the Art Gallery of Hamilton houses one of the largest public collections of works by esteemed Canadian artist Tim Whiten? Since the 1970s, the Michigan-born, Toronto-based artist has examined the nature of myth, spirituality, and transcendence in his mixed media, performance, and sculptural works. Over the years the AGH has acquired … Continued
The exhibition Norval Morrisseau here at the Art Gallery of Hamilton explores Morrisseau’s role as a shaman artist whose visions encourage positive environmental and cultural change based on the traditional Anishinaabe values of respect, reciprocity, relationships, and responsibility.