Exhibitions

HeavyShield presents a new installation, to be shown for the first time at Remai Modern. Continuing her exploration of the spiral form, and utilizing imagery of grasses photographed on her home territory, the work creates a radial topography, shifting the spatial order of the gallery. Knowles is represented through a selection of paintings from the 1960s–1990s, moving through degrees of abstraction and focusing on density, memory and moments of transition. Cameron-Weir’s sculptural works—all shown for the first time in Canada—utilize organic and industrial components including neon, aromatic resins, sand, parachute silk and metal armatures. Their structures, shields and weights evoke traces of the body.

Through continuation, transformation and ephemerality, the artists in III express distinct relations to time—its expansion and collapse. Their works contain the reach of millennia and the fleeting spark of an instant. HeavyShield, Knowles and Cameron-Weir also draw attention to the body: how we stand and move, see and perceive, feel and adapt. They call for close viewing and physical awareness, while acknowledging the forces (both interior and exterior) that lie beyond our understanding or control.

Artist

Faye HeavyShield (b. 1953) is a member of the Kainai First Nation and a fluent Blackfoot speaker. She studied at the Alberta College of Art and Design in Calgary. Her work uses formal reduction and the repetition of images, items and sounds to create large-scale and immersive environments, often drawing on her community, history and language. HeavyShield’s work has been exhibited widely in North America, with solo exhibition including: Calling Stones (Conversations) (2017), Art Gallery of Alberta, Edmonton; body of land (2002), Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art, Indianapolis, IN; Aapaskaiyaawa (They are Dancing) (2002), MacKenzie Art Gallery, Regina; Into the Garden of Angels (1994), The Power Plant, Toronto. She has also been featured in group exhibitions including: Close Encounters: The Next 500 Years (2011), Plug In Institute of Contemporary Art, Winnipeg; Nations in Urban Landscape (1997), Contemporary Art Gallery, Vancouver; Land, Spirit, Power (1992), National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa. HeavyShield’s work is held in the collections of: National Gallery of Canada; McMichael Canadian Art Collection, Kleinburg, ON; Alberta Foundation for the Arts, Edmonton; Glenbow Museum, Calgary; MacKenzie Art Gallery; Heard Museum, Phoenix, AZ.

Dorothy Knowles (b. 1927, Unity, SK) is one of Canada’s most prolific and accomplished painters. Known for her luminous works in oil, acrylic, watercolour, charcoal and pastel, she has been dedicated to capturing the Prairie environment for over 60 years. Knowles earned a Bachelor of Art from the University of Saskatchewan in 1948, and studied art at Goldsmiths, University of London, in 1951. From 2008-2010, her solo exhibition Landmarks travelled between Moose Jaw Museum & Art Gallery, Mendel Art Gallery, Saskatoon and McMichael Canadian Art Collection, Kleinburg, ON, among other venues. Other solo exhibitions of her work have been presented at MacKenzie Art Gallery, Regina (2001), Edmonton Art Gallery (1972; 1982), and Winnipeg Art Gallery (1969). She has been included in numerous group exhibitions, including: Season to Season, Coast to Coast: a celebration of the Canadian landscape (2016), Art Gallery of Alberta, Edmonton; Clement Greenberg—A Critic’s Collection (2001), Portland Art Museum, WA; Achieving the Modern: Canadian Abstract Painting and Design in the 50’s (1992), Winnipeg Art Gallery; 14 Canadians—A Critic’s Choice (1976), Hirshhorn Museum & Sculpture Garden. Knowles’s work is held in many collections, including: Remai Modern; National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa; MacKenzie Art Gallery, Regina; Art Gallery of Alberta, Edmonton; Glenbow Museum, Calgary; Vancouver Art Gallery; Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto; Musée d’art contemporain, Montréal; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Portland Art Museum, WA. She has been recognized with the Order of Merit of Saskatchewan (1987), the Order of Canada (2004), and a Senate Commemorative Award (2018).

Elaine Cameron-Weir (b. 1985, Red Deer, AB) lives and works in New York. Her sculptural works combine organic and industrial materials, at once faded and futuristic, emphasizing the psychological effects and allegorical potential of matter and form. She holds a BFA from Alberta College of Art and Design, and an MFA from New York University. Solo exhibitions of her work include: exhibit from a dripping personal collection (2018), Dortmunder Kunstverein, Germany; Outlooks: Elaine Cameron-Weir (2018), Storm King Art Center, Mountainville, NY; viscera has questions about itself (2017), New Museum, New York; wave form walks the earth (2017), Hannah Hoffman Gallery, Los Angeles; Erotix (2016), Andrea Rosen Gallery, New York. She has been featured in numerous group exhibitions, including Le Grand Balcon, La Biennal de Montréal (2017), and Objects of Desire (2014), Philadelphia Museum of Art. Her work is held in the collections of The Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, and The Philadelphia Museum of Art.

Curatorial Team

Curated by Rose Bouthillier, Curator (Exhibitions)