Park galleries welcome WAG exhibitions

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This article was published 21/12/2019 (2440 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

If you need a break from the snow and the cold, the Pavilion at Assiniboine Park has plenty of heat — and art — to warm you up.

WAG@ThePark, created in partnership with the Winnipeg Art Gallery and the Assiniboine Park Conservancy, features new exhibits by emerging guest curators that will be on display starting today, including works by Walter J. Phillips, Ivan Eyre and even pieces created by children participating in WAG Studio classes.

The Natural Element: Art Nouveau & Walter J. Phillips, curated by WAG collections co-ordinator Nicole Fletcher, runs until Sept. 20, 2020 in the John P. Crabb Gallery. Phillips, who was born in England, immigrated to Canada in 1913 before settling in Winnipeg and began documenting the landscape in an Art Nouveau-inspired style.

“What I find interesting about Phillips’ work is the inspiration he drew from major international art movements, such as Art Nouveau, in a country which never embraced the movement the way its European counterparts did,” Fletcher says. “He blended these influences to create his own unique style, through which he gained national success.”

Audrey Bews curates Eyre in Comparison: Personal Experience and the Universal Subject, which is on display from until Oct. 11, 2020 in the Ivan Eyre Gallery. The exhibit juxtaposes Eyre’s inherently political work with work by female artists including Christiane Pflug, Sheila Butler, Esther Warkov, Kittie Bruneau, Natalka Husar and more.

“Ivan Eyre’s innovative approach to the human form allows for a very interesting comparison with female Canadian artists’ critical depictions,” Bews says. “The juxtaposition invites viewers to make their own conclusions on whether themes such as femininity, beauty, sexuality, the female body, space, violence, and freedom can be represented objectively.”

Opening later this winter, Through the Eyes of a Child will be on display from Feb. 8 to April 13 in the Community Gallery and will feature art created by children enrolled in WAG Studio classes. The theme of the exhibition will be the environment and will include drawings, paintings, mixed-media collage and pottery.

The exhibits are open daily from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., and admission is free.

frances.koncan@winnipegfreepress.com

Twitter: @franceskoncan