Opening Receptions
Monday, March 5: Transportation in the Twin Cities (A Visual Impression)
7pm opening reception
Central Library, 85 Queen Street North, Kitchener
Acrylic and oil painter Robert Isler Wanka brings his impressionistic style to the LRT construction of the present and the public transit of the past. Also check out the special exhibit by Alan Kirker in the lower level, Heaven on Earth, a video installation featuring Waterloo Region landscapes. [kpl.org]
Friday, March 9: Transformed through Touch
7pm opening reception
Queen’s Square Gallery, 1 North Square, Cambridge
A collaborative project between the deaf/blind community and artists Gareth Lichty, Gary Kirkham, and Meghan Sims, this installation upends the the art gallery norm of “Look! Don’t Touch!” [ideaexchange.org]
Thursday, March 15: Fourth Year Undergraduate Exhibition
5-8pm opening
University of Waterloo Art Gallery, 263 Phillip St, Waterloo
UWaterloo’s graduating fine art students show off their work in Gallery One and Two. [uwag.uwaterloo.ca]
Saturday, March 24: KWSA
2-4pm opening reception
Homer Watson House & Gallery, 1754 Old Mill Road, Kitchener
The gallery’s spring exhibition is the Kitchener Waterloo Society of Artists show, featuring painter Mira Wasilewska, known for her warm acrylic and watercolour landscapes and floral still lifes. [homerwatson.on.ca]
Local Visual Art News
The Kitchener-Waterloo Art Gallery announced the acquisition of a sculpture (left*) by high-profile artist Shary Boyle, thanks to funding from the York Wilson Endowment Award. Acquiring the “delicate terracotta maiden with a cartoonish witch’s features” was “an important step in KWAG’s commitment to amplify feminist voices throughout our collection,” according to Crystal Mowry, the gallery’s senior curator. The gallery also added a number of works to its permanent collection. (kwag.ca)
A free 12-week Intro to Humanities course is accepting applications until March 15, and is open to low-income residents of Waterloo Region (including Cambridge and the townships). The Renison University College program aims to give people who face barriers to education the opportunity to participate in a university level course. It is tuition-free, provides all materials, and provides bus fare to its downtown and University of Waterloo locations. (theworkingcentre.org)
The Clay and Glass Gallery is holding its annual fundraising gala on Saturday, March 24 at 7:30 pm. Tickets are $125. (theclayandglass.com)
In early February, prolific abstract artist Jim Tubb passed away at 69, after fighting a lung condition for 40 years. Tubb has been exhibiting since the early 2000s, and Slate Art Gallery Guide said in 2012 that Tubb’s work based on music “captures the light, colour, texture and atmospheric effect of the music… His idea is to show art that discards symbolism for abstraction.” The artist used acrylics so that he could avoid the risks associated with oil paints and solvents, and he donated many of his paintings to charity fundraisers, also giving many away to the neighbours of his Duke Street studio in Kitchener. (The Record)
I respectfully acknowledge that we are located on the traditional territory of the Attawandaron (Neutral Confederacy), Anishnaabeg, and Haudenosauonee peoples.
*Image Credit: Shary Boyle, Looney Tunes, 2016. Porcelain and terra cotta. Kitchener-Waterloo Art Gallery Collection. Purchased with the support of the York Wilson Endowment Award, administered by the Canada Council for the Arts, 2017. © Shary Boyle. Photo: John Jones.
Edit (2018/03/03): Updated to include KPL exhibit on Monday, March 5 at Central Library.