ESKER FOUNDATION Fall 2019 Esker Foundation 3/32 WELCOME

WE WELCOME YOU

This fall we present the work of Hudson-based artist Jeffrey Gibson and Toronto-based artist Nep Sidhu. Both articulate complex histories and the contemporary struggle to uphold, dismiss, or renegotiate these narratives through work that is itself dense, culturally specific, and technically magnificent. Both artists favour collaboration as a way to expand practice, open conversation, and create community. Presenting their work together for the first time, Esker endeavours to create space for cross-cultural communication to flourish, and for difficultconve rsations to happen. As an institution we acknowledge it can be far more important to reflect on how we listen rather than reacting to what we hear.

While working on these two exhibitions over the last year it has become increasingly clear that although both artists have a fierce commitment to material exploration, what resonates with me now is an underlying theme of inheritance. I borrow from the exhibition text of Jeffrey Gibson: heT Anthropophagic Effect at the New Museum this past spring: “Inheritance, of course, refers to what is handed down, usually through family, tradition, or even by chance. But it also points to other modes by which people come to own: the disposses- sion or erasure of others, for instance. Yet, whether by generosity or violence, inheritance leaves a trace; individual and collective bodies are marked by, and in turn mark, the objects and ideas they only 1 Jeffrey Gibson: The Jeffrey Gibson, 2019. temporarily possess.”1 Anthropophagic Effect. Courtesy of the artist, Curators: Johanna Burton, Sikkema Jenkins, NYC; Keith Haring, Director and Kavi Gupta, Chicago; Kablusiak continues in the Project Space this fall with their installa- Curator of Education and and Roberts Projects, Public Engagement, and Los Angeles. tion Qiniqtuaq. Taking cues from previous work that introduces the Sara O’Keeffe, Associate Curator, with Kate Wiener, comic ghost sheet into the landscape of the artist’s life, this multi- Curatorial Assistant. New Museum, New York. eyed viewing apparatus compounds the complexities of nostalgia, February 13–June 9, 2019. spectatorship, and diaspora. From October 28, Marjie Crop Eared Wolf continues her ongoing project to learn Blackfoot in the drawing, sound, and video installation, Iitsi’poyi. Using thousands of Blackfoot words transcribed from the Blackfoot Dictionary as well as an audio tape made by her mother, this work addresses cultural legacy and resilience by actively engaging in language preservation.

An exceptional series of engagement opportunities have been developed for this season of exhibitions. For the latest news, pop-up programs, pictures, and behind-the-scenes commentary, check out our website, the Esker app, Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter. COVER IMAGE Still from Black (W)hole, 2019. Naomi Potter Directed by Nep Sidhu and Director/Curator Maikoiyo Alley-Barnes. 28 SEPTEMBER–20 DECEMBER

Jeffrey Gibson Time Carriers

Garments, not clothes. Their intention is not to cover or hide, but to make manifest the riches of the body, its treasure of signifiers. Like actors’ costumes, they are a visual speech, Jeffrey Gibson, Mx. Oops and Xavier, 2018. Digital photograph, dimensions variable. Courtesy the artist, Sikkema Jenkins & Co., a confided secret or a confession of desires and Kavi Gupta, and Roberts Projects. Photo by: Peter Mauney. fears. These fine outfits do not veil. They exalt.

RIGHT They celebrate. They translate feelings into Jeffrey Gibson PEOPLE LIKE US, (detail) 2019. Digitally printed canvas/linen, cotton and jewels. They are the glorious soul of the body. polyester threads, wool batting, cotton. Quilting by Robert Bemis, photograph Not a covering, but a sudden appearance, by Ellen Siebers, Jeffrey Gibson Studio. Courtesy of Kavi Gupta, Chicago; an epiphanic outpouring. A revelation. Sikkema Jenkins & Co., New York, and Roberts Projects, Los Angeles. — Hélène Cixous, Those Are Pearls … From Jeffrey Gibson: The Anthropophagic Effect exhibition text.

MORE ART with the Esker app Esker Foundation 7/32 JEFFREY GIBSON

Time Carriers conjures a vision of many hands providing strategies to describe a contemporary narrative that addresses the past in order to place oneself in a framework of support, a fluid utopia where trust and the present and to begin new potential trajectories movement go hand in hand. It evokes a time frame that for the future.” both unites and collapses present, past, and future into Gibson salvages his practice to continually recover, re-claim, and reconsider the scraps of past work for an undulating and responsive single unit, something that new projects. Drawing from an ever-growing file could best be described as community or family. This idea of designs and photographs of models wearing his work, these images are altered, cropped, and printed is especially appropriate when considering Jeffrey Gibson’s onto fabric. It is a reciprocal process; new work pulls from this inventory of recycled imagery while off- work, as he has always pushed to create kinship among cuts of the newest projects become seeds for future unlikely partners. Collaboration is at the heart of his practice; work. Quilts, by design, are made from the fabric scraps of life. Gibson, like many, recognizes quilts as working and learning with artists and craftspeople as a way legacy projects: portraits of individuals, families, or to resist acculturation, support a strong legacy of making, communities, and keepers of generational know- ledge and histories passed down from one maker and to build and honour community. to another, from one owner to the next. This series of quilts are a collaboration with the quilter Robert Bemis whose machine-based free form drawing style adds a wild pattern of stitches upon Gibson’s energetic textile collages. These quilts are about Gibson’s focus on creating garments in the last inhumanely, or because privilege and power are Gibson’s personal narrative; they give love to topics few years is a logical progression from previous given rules that are different or inequitable. He he thinks are important, and honour communities work, drawing on the bodily-ness of his ongoing states, “Although I feel confident that I know what that have supported him. Like all of Gibson’s work, punching bags series and the cloak-like qualities of is right and wrong, I also know that life is a constant these quilts stitch delicate struggles to rare victories, his wall hangings. Each garment starts from a single negotiation and that negotiating is more and more piece together a future free of colonized and pattern, cut to be oversized on the artist’s body. difficult the more engaged you become.” Although cultural restraints, and connect the most radical, In researching traditional Indigenous makers who the performance of To Name An Other occurs for and colourful fabric of his life to an equally vibrant were creating things for themselves and their just under an hour, its residual echo continues to yet complex past. communities for use, not as art, Gibson observed make space for a diversity of voices to have powerful the incredible power and respect these garments and continued agency in the public sphere; the commanded. He decided he wanted to “dress” his garments activated in the performance remain, and BIOGRAPHY work with his own cultural legacy, and further com- have been forever altered by the abilities, responses, Jeffrey Gibson is an interdisciplinary artist based in Hudson, plicate his definition of the art object by insisting and histories of living bodies and loud voices. NY. His artworks make reference to various aesthetic and his work be wearable. After seeing too many lifeless material histories rooted in Indigenous cultures of the Americas, and in modern and contemporary subcultures. garments in museum display cases, decontextualized The garments and photographs from The Gibson currently has two solo museum exhibitions traveling; from their cultures and the individuals who wore Anthropophagic Effect series were created for LIKE A HAMMER, organized by the Denver Art Museum, and them, it became crucial to Gibson to also activate an exhibition and residency at the New Museum Jeffrey Gibson, 2019. This Is The Day, organized by The Wellin Museum, Clinton. his garment works through performance. in 2019, in which Gibson was invited to produce Courtesy of the artist, Other notable solo exhibitions include The Anthropophagic new work around the theme of inheritance. Gibson Sikkema Jenkins, NYC, Effect (2019), The New Museum, New York; Look How Far Kavi Gupta, Chicago, and We’ve Come! (2017), Haggerty Museum of Art, Milwaukee; Originally commissioned as a performance by the continually looks for opportunities to learn new skills Roberts Projects, Los Angeles. Jeffrey Gibson: Speak to Me (2017), Oklahoma Contemporary National Portrait Gallery, Washington, in 2019, and and handicraft techniques, choosing for this project Arts Center; and A Kind of Confession (2016), Savannah then presented in New York at the New Museum, to focus on Southeastern river cane basket weaving, College of Art and Design Museum. Select group exhibitions this is the first time that To Name An Other will be Algonquian birch bark biting, and porcupine include The Whitney Biennial (2019), Whitney Museum of seen as both a performance and an installation. The quillwork, decorative techniques used by Indigenous American Art, New York; Aftereffect (2019), Museum of 50 garments and accompanying drums are printed makers long before European contact. The title of Contemporary Art, Denver; Suffering from Realness (2019), with a “name” that describes an action or event the series alludes to Oswald de Andrade’s legendary Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, North Adams; Re:Define (2019), Heard Museum, Phoenix; and Art for a that Gibson has found inspiring and courageous 1928 Anthropophagic Manifesto, which argued that New Understanding: Native Voices, 1950s to Now (2018), in defiance of circumstances he views as wrong. Indigenous communities could devour colonizers’ Crystal Bridges, Bentonville. Gibson is a member of Avoiding terms such as “cultural resistance,” culture as a way of rejecting domination and radically the faculty at Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson. “colonialism,” or “patriarchy” for fear they will transforming Western culture to their own ends. become flattened, Gibson prefers to describe the Gibson speaks of the history of Indigenous craft specifics of a circumstance, defining them as either and design as being “used to signify identity, tell right or wrong. Things are wrong when someone stories, describe place, and mark cultural specificity,” is silenced, erased, denied their civil rights, treated explaining, “I engage materials and techniques as 9/32 NEP SIDHU

28 SEPTEMBER–20 DECEMBER Nep Sidhu Divine of Form, Formed in the Divine (Medicine for a Nightmare) Curated by cheyanne turions

Divine of Form, Formed in the Divine (Medicine for a Nightmare) examines how memories persist in the present, especially when related to personal and collective practices of resistance, resilience, and ritual. This mid-career survey is anchored by recent works that reflect upon Sikh histories amongst other collectively formed and formative histories considered through collaborations with Maikoiyo Alley-Barnes and Nicholas Galanin. Across different bodies of work produced over the last decade, Sidhu explores how memorialization practices can transfigure grief and loss, and how they can speak to the power and harmony of the divine.

Nep Sidhu with Nicholas Galanin, SHE in Shadow Form & SHE in Light Form, MORE ART with from No Pigs in Paradise, 2015–2016. Courtesy of the artists. the Esker app Fall 2019 Esker Foundation 11/32 NEP SIDHU

Anchoring the exhibition are works from Sidhu’s everyday intention and the natural world. Galanin and When My Drums Come Knocking They Watch series. Sidhu find this commonality in their distinct histories, These large-scale tapestries variously commemorate which traverse the African, North American, and how percussive rhythms are formed through labour, Asian continents, celebrating the flourishing power function as the architecture of ceremony, structure of their traditions to express new possibilities. communication, and collectively evoke how cultural practices conjure aural and embodied rhythms that Divine of Form, Formed in the Divine (Medicine carry ancestral connections forward in time. for a Nightmare) activates artistic forms towards cultural restoration and charges the spaces of This interest in the transformative potentials of memorialization with new kinds of images, objects, rhythm are further explored in Black (W)hole, a new and language. The works in this exhibition invite short film by Sidhu and Alley-Barnes that engages multiple readings where diverging and overlapping with musician and composer Alice Coltrane’s life- responses can take root. Here, the exercise of long search for an expression of an uninterrupted memory is embedded in the possibility of coming melody. Commissioned by Esker Foundation and together across difference, of listening, of learning, premiering as part of this exhibition, Black (W)hole and of maintaining the possibility of understanding maps a journey from an individualized self to a being reshaped in response. communal oneness.

The exhibition also showcases recent sculptural works including Formed in the Divine, Divine of Form (2019), a 3,000-pound concrete sculpture that invokes practices of community responsibility and activation—such as seva (selfless service) and langar (the tradition of serving of free meals in a communal setting)—that are fundamental to Sikh cultural and spiritual life. In referencing these prac- tices, Sidhu connects ancient social traditions to contemporary actions that continue to sustain Sikh communities, especially through shared experiences of violence and turmoil, such as the genocide that unfolded in India in 1984 around Operation Blue Star, Operation Woodrose, and the anti-Sikh pogroms BIOGRAPHIES that followed. The sculpture evokes the memories of is a Toronto-based inter- cheyanne turions is a Vancouver-based curator and those lives lost and destroyed through recognizing (Nep) Nirbhai Singh Sidhu disciplinary artist. His sculptural practice combines writer. Her work positions exhibitions and criticism as social acts of memorialization that preceded those events language, light-baring materials, and incantation, which gestures by which to respond to artistic practices by linking and continue to be practiced today. are informed by the interplay of script, textile, the poetic aesthetics and politics through discourse. Currently, turions wave of architecture, and an affinity for community. He is is the Curator at SFU Galleries, Burnaby and Vancouver, and Reflecting on earlier works of idhu’S s, and high- a member of the Black Constellation collective, designs the sits on the Board of Directors at 221A, Vancouver. lighting his ongoing interest in adornment, armour, non-commercial clothing line Paradise Sportif, and helps and the divine feminine, the exhibition also gathers to run Sher-E-Punjab Sports Academy in Chakar, Punjab. LEFT ABOVE together a significant selection of og wns from the Maikoiyo Anabi Alley-Barnes is a Seattle-based multimedia artist, curator, filmmaker, writer, and designer. He explores Nep Sidhu in collaboration with Nep Sidhu, Medicine for a Nightmare No Pigs in Paradise series. Produced in dialogue with Maikoiyo Alley-Barnes, The Books (from the series When My Drums the resonance of genetic cultural memory through the Galanin, these garments are more than a surrogate and the Scripts Were Stolen, Our Come Knocking,They Watch), 2019. mundane and the mystical, offering meditative narratives Steel Is Forever, Mool Mantar Courtesy of the artist. Produced for the human body; they are commentaries against that reflect a fascination with, admiration for, and immersion Medicine Hat 7b, 2019. with support from the Toronto Arts ongoing forms of social and structural violence, in the aesthetics, rituals, and continuum of practices that Photo by: Toni Hafkenscheid. Council, Mercer Union and the Esker Foundation Commission Fund. and they are commemorations of strength. With comprise the African Diaspora. He is a founding member Photo by: Toni Hafkenscheid. reference to ancient cultural forms, such as Kufic of the Black Constellation collective. script, wootz steel metallurgy, and Northwest Nicholas Galanin is a Sitka, Alaska-based artist whose work Coast weaving traditions, as well as referencing offers perspectives rooted in a connection to land through an contemporary sport—in particular the Sher-E-Punjab intentionally broad engagement with contemporary culture. Sports Academy and women’s boxing school that He engages past, present, and future through two- and three-dimensional works and time-based media, exposing Sidhu helps his family run—these works exist in a intentionally obscured collective memory and barriers to balance of tradition and modernity, and acknowledge acquisition of knowledge. He is a member of the Winter technologists who employed materials to protect, Count and Black Constellation artist collectives. Nep Sidhu, Divine of Form, Formed in the Divine (Medicine commune with, and activate the connection between for a Nightmare) is produced in part with Mercer Union, Toronto. Support in part for the project is through the Ontario Arts Council. Esker Foundation 13/32 KABLUSIAK

PROJECT ON NOW SPACE

Kablusiak Qiniqtuaq

29 JULY–20 OCTOBER

A flicker of movement behind the eyes.

Qiniqtuaq (searching/looking) summons viewers to peer through a wall of white curtain that has been punctured by dozens of ghostly eye holes. Inside, one catches fragments of a liminal, dream-like space and a mise-en-scène that evokes an uneasy sense of nostalgia and displacement.

Faded and difficult to discern during daylight Biography hours, once night falls, colours saturate and the Kablusiak is an Inuvialuk artist and curator based in bluish flashes of a television screen beckon more Mohkinstsis and holds a BFA in Drawing from the Alberta insistently to passersby. As we press our faces University of the Arts, Calgary. They use art and humour as a coping mechanism to address cultural displacement. against the glass, we witness pieces of a looping The lighthearted nature of their practice extends gestures video collage of 90s-era television programs: of empathy and solidarity; these interests invite a reconsider- The Simpsons, Emeril Live, Seinfeld, community ation of the perceptions of contemporary Indigeneity. shows from Inuit Takunagaksalirijiit Kanatami Kablusiak has recently shown work at Art Mûr as part of the (Inuit Broadcasting Corporation), American Biennale d’art contemporain autochtone (2018) and at the Gladiators—shows watched and enjoyed in Athens School of Fine Arts as part of the Platforms Project childhood. On the floor in front of the screen (2018). They completed the Indigenous Curatorial Research (perhaps even too close to the screen) sits a Practicum at Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity in the piece of oil-stained cardboard and a simple salt summer of 2018. Kablusiak is currently TRUCK Contemporary Art in Calgary’s interim Programming Coordinator and is shaker, suggesting an interruption has occurred. a board member of Stride Gallery (2016–present). Awards include the Alberta Foundation for the Arts Young Artist Prize The trope of the bedsheet ghost makes frequent (2017) and the Primary Colours Emerging Artist Award (2018), appearances in Kablusiak’s work; deployed as a the TD Meloche Monnex Alumni Career Award (2018), device by which they wryly articulate a sense of and shortlisted for the Sobey Art Award (2019). They are their diasporic identity as an urban Inuk. Here, the represented by Jarvis Hall Gallery, Calgary, and public and private collections across so-called Canada have acquired ghost-sheet is reconfigured; unworn and flattened their work. as a curtain, its role is ambiguous. It controls access to what is behind it—a potentially protective barrier, Kablusiak, along with three other Inuit curators, will be creating the inaugural exhibition of the new Inuit Art Centre, or perhaps a supernatural threshold—but it also asks Winnipeg in 2020. us to physically engage with it. By peering through the eyeholes—some of which are cut high, too high for human eyes—we are implicated, and forced to acknowledge an Inuit presence behind the curtain. As we observe the scene before us, are we invited in, or kept on the periphery? Who now is doing the haunting? MORE ART with Installation view of the Esker app Kablusiak’s Qiniqtuaq. 15/32 MARJIE CROP EARED WOLF

PROJECT UPCOMING SPACE

Marjie Crop Eared Wolf Iitsi’poyi

28 OCTOBER–26 JANUARY

Iitsi’poyi documents Marjie Crop Eared Wolf’s ongoing endeavours to learn Blackfoot. The installation combines densely composed large- scale drawings comprised of thousands of Blackfoot words transcribed from the Blackfoot Dictionary1 with a sound and video work featuring Crop Eared Wolf reciting Blackfoot words and phrases from an audio tape made by her mother. Iitsi’poyi layers references to oral and textual ways of learning and knowing, the intergenerational transmission and revitalization of language, and the mobilization of technologies such as apps for language preservation.

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada’s Biography Calls to Action equates Indigenous language rights to Marjie Crop Eared Wolf is a Káínai / Secwépemc multidisciplinary artist. Indigenous human rights.2 Indeed, as Métis writer and Crop Eared Wolf graduated with a public intellectual Chelsea Vowel states, “I believe our Bachelors of Fine Art in 2009 from the University of Lethbridge. She also languages to be so central to who we are as received a Kainai Studies Certificate from Indigenous peoples, that I cannot discuss our present the Red Crow Community College in 2015. Marjie Crop Eared Wolf works with a or our future without reference to languages.”3 As we variety of artistic mediums such as approach the close of 2019, the United Nations’ painting, drawing, print making, International Year of Indigenous Languages, Iitsi’poyi photography, and installation. Her art practice is inspired by her Káínai and reflects on the significance of language to cultural Secwépemc heritage, and is greatly memory and resurgence. influenced by her tribal traditions as well as contemporary western art forms.

1 Donald G. Frantz and Norma Jean Russell, Blackfoot Dictionary of Stems, Roots, and Affixes, 3rd edition (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2017) 2 Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada: Calls to Action, (Winnipeg: Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, 2015), 2. Marjie Crop Eared Wolf, 3 Chelsea Vowell, “The Reports of our Cultural Deaths Iitsi’poyi (detail), 2019. MORE ART with Have Always Been Greatly Exaggerated,” first Courtesy of the artist. the Esker app published in FUSE Magazine, 19 June 2013. Esker Foundation 17/32 PROGRAMS

FAMILY PROGRAMS

PROGRAMS Esker Foundation provides FREE public programming in response to our current exhibitions to encourage participation and increase accessibility to contemporary art.

REGISTER online eskerfoundation.com/program/current/ or call 403 930 2490

We request that you please Tickets are non-transferrable. provide 72 hours notice for All programming requires that cancellations so we can offer an adult accompany children your ticket to the waitlist. under the age of 16.

Registration essential, opens: After attending a family program enjoy WEDNESDAY 11 September, a 10% discount at Bite Grocer & Eatery, 2 October, Gravity Espresso & Wine Bar, Scarpetta 6 November 11AM Italian Eatery, and Sidewalk Citizen Bakery.

Mini Masters Bring the Baby Art Tour Master Class for Families AGES 3–5 & Tummy Time AGES 5–10 THURSDAYS FOR BABIES SUNDAYS 3 October, 7 November, 5 December FRIDAYS 27 October, 17 November, 11–11:45AM 4 October, 1 November, 6 December 15 December Calling Calgary’s newest 12–1PM 1–2PM Contemporaries! Mini Masters is a This program is designed for babies Join us for an afternoon of family workshop series for children aged and their guardians! We start with a fun at the gallery as we delve into 3 to 5 where we explore themes in casual half-hour tour of our current new mediums with art projects our current exhibitions through art exhibitions, followed by a half-hour of and activities that connect to our making, movement and play. From ‘tummy time’ social fun for the little current exhibitions. This is a fun and yoga to dance, painting to print- ones. Tummy time will center around educational program where kids aged making, each month we discover artist Yvonne Mullock’s extraordinary 5-10 have the opportunity to respond new mediums and techniques in all interactive sensory blanket, created creatively to the work featured in art forms. A parent or guardian is especially for babies to explore and the gallery space. Younger siblings required to stay for the duration of enjoy following the exhibition tour. are welcome to join. An adult is the program. All materials will be Come for the tour at 12 or just for required to stay for the duration of provided. Dress for mess! tummy time at 12:30. the workshop, and is encouraged to participate in the class. All materials will be provided. Esker Foundation 19/32 PROGRAMS

EYE: ESKER YOUTH ENGAGEMENT TALKS

Esker Youth Engagement is a new initiative designed to Medicine In The Bark, Artist Talk with Crash Course: Discussions Teeth That Leave A Mark: Marjie Crop Eared Wolf in Contemporary Art connect youth to contemporary art and artists through Panel Discussion with FRIDAY 16 October, 21 November, creative activities. This includes free public programs as Maikoiyo Alley-Barnes, 8 November 12 December, Nicholas Galanin and 6:30–7:30PM 7–8:30PM well as partnerships with community organisations and Nep Sidhu moderated In conjunction with the exhibition of Are you intrigued by performance art, by Negarra A. Kudumu her work in the Project Space, Marjie sound art, or public art? Interested schools that offer alternative education frameworks. Crop Eared Wolf will discuss Iitsi’poyi in architecture and design? Brilliant SATURDAY and her practice as a whole. creative thinkers, local artists, curators 28 September FREE! No registration required. and academics host this monthly 1–2:30PM Registration recommended, Space is limited. seminar series that explores a variety opens 2 October. Join us for a panel discussion as of topics related to current issues in Plant Medicine for Dreaming: Protest Signs, Pins & Tees Introduction to DJing with members of the Black Constellation Sikh Spirit Through Time contemporary art. Come with a friend Make Your Own Essential Oils with Sondra Meszaros DJ BLKFT of Drum Beat collective—Maikoiyo Alley-Barnes, or make a new one while expanding Nicholas Galanin, and Nep Sidhu— THURSDAY and Balms with Sachin Sudra and Jane Trash Productions your knowledge of contemporary art. discuss their work and collaboration 14 November AGES 13–17 AGES 13–17 AGES 1 3–17 in Divine of Form, Formed in the 6–7:30PM FRIDAY FRIDAY FRIDAY Divine (Medicine for a Nightmare). Sikh literature, arts, and political Wednesday 16 October 11 October 22 November 6 December This conversation will be moderated development formed the backbone of Judy and Cruz Anderson 4–6PM 4–6PM 4:30–6:30PM by independent scholar and healer the community - including the Thursday 21 November Negarra A. Kudumu. Learn how to create scented beeswax Join artists Jane Trash and Sondra Learn about the fundamentals reaction to success, and dealing with Adrian Stimson balm or essential oil for your diffuser Meszaros in a hands-on workshop of DJing from Richard Sparvier aka Registration recommended, grief during the troubling times of the Thursday 12 December using local medicinal plants and herbs. inspired by their ongoing communi- DJ BLKFT of Drum Beat Productions, opens 11 September. 18th century. Asian Studies scholar Sarah Alford Ayurvedic practitioner, Sachin Sudra, ty-based creative resistance project and host of CJSW 90.9FM’s award- Sukhdeep Sembi will dive into texts will help participants use their five I’M SO ANGRY I MADE A SIGN. winning Electronic and Hip-Hop Artist Talk with Jeffrey Gibson from the 18th century, drawing out key underlying themes that Registration essential, senses: hearing, sight, smell, touch Participants will be encouraged to music program Bannock ‘n’ Jams. FRIDAY manifested in politics and arts as opens 11 September, 2 October, and taste to make self-care balms and engage with their personal expression Participants will be introduced to 18 October Sikhs began to form kingdoms in 6 November. Attendance limited relaxing essential oil blends. Create represented through the production the hardware that DJs use, and learn 6:30–7:30PM a personalized scent, just for you! No of signs, t-shirts and pins as protest about the basics of mixing, including South Asia. to 20 participants per class. Join us as Jeffrey Gibson discusses his experience necessary. All materials objects to be worn out in the world. tempo, beats per minute (BPM) Registration recommended, will be provided. Join in and let your voice be heard! and beat-matching. No experience work in the exhibition Time Carriers. opens 2 October. ABOVE LEFT & RIGHT: No experience is necessary. All is necessary. All materials and Registration recommended, Youth Group and artist May G N. materials will be provided. equipment will be provided. opens 11 September. Artist Talk with Allison Akookchook Warden. Esker Foundation 21/32 PROGRAMS

WORKSHOPS WORKSHOPS

Star People, Star Trek: Dream Steep, Sip, Speak: Applied Catcher Time Travel with The Beading Workshop with Sparkling Buffalo Catherine Blackburn SATURDAY SUNDAY 26 October 3 November 12–3PM 11AM–2PM In this workshop, The Sparkling Buffalo TUESDAY will share their work in the science 5 November fiction and Indigenous futurities realm, 6–9PM and one of their beading techniques. Perfect for beginners, participants will Blackburn will lead an applied beading workshop inspired by her series create a small beaded sun-catcher and Hive to Honey Jar with Alvéole learn about Cree connections to the Aboriginal Classics, which explores Star People. themes of identity, language, and THURSDAY story. Through a guided exploratory 10 October The Sparkling Buffalo is mother- self-reflection process, participants 6–7PM daughter duo Sarah and Chrystal will uncover powerful symbolism which Experience a complete hands-on Buffalo, multidisciplinary artists from will be transformed into a pattern and Maskwacis, Samson Cree First Nation. artisanal honey extraction with applied to an unconventional medium: Alvéole urban beekeeper Liam Cobbe. They combine semi-precious stones a teabag becomes the vessel. with traditional beadwork, seamlessly Participants will uncap honeycomb integrating designs into Indigenized Recommended for intermediate cells, hand-spin honeycombs in the futuristic realities. beaders. Beginner beaders who would centrifuge extractor, filter the raw like to participate can visit Contour honey, jar and label it all. Everyone will Registration essential, Beading 101 on YouTube for instruc- leave with their very own honey jar! opens 2 October. tions on fundamentals and to practice Registration essential, small projects in advance. Mekinawewin, to give a gift: opens 11 September. Story Exchange and Catherine Blackburn is a multi- Date Night at Esker: Paper-Making with Tamara disciplinary artist and jeweller whose practice speaks to the complexities of The Alchemy of Spices Lee-Anne Cardinal memory, family, history and identity, with Sachin Sudra SATURDAY creating a dialogue between tradi- FRIDAY 2 November tional art forms and contemporary 13 December 1–5PM interpretations. Blackburn was born in 6:30–8PM Mekinawewin, to give a gift is rooted in Patuanak, Saskatchewan of Dene and Join Sachin Sudra, founder of a circular gesture of exchange. It is an European ancestry, and is a member Namaste Cooking, for an exploration invitation into relationship, as a guest of the English River First Nation. of Ayurvedic cuisine. Sudra will offer to Treaty 7, and an introduction into the Registration essential, opens a step-by-step cooking class using deep humility of belonging. Cardinal 2 October. Attendance limited to spices designed to boost the immune offers her third instalment of this 15 participants per workshop. system, decrease inflammation generative project through a process and balance the mind. Ayurveda is made and shaped by many hands. As Hoop Dance with an ancient wisdom and branch of a result of stories told aloud, mixtures Sandra Lamouche wellness that originated in India, and of water and botanical pulp collide uses specific combinations of spices and reconfigure themselves as paper SATURDAY 7 December to help create life balance through sheets where these stories reappear. 1–4PM diet, our individual Dosha composi- Participants will be invited to Join Hoop Dancer Sandra Lamouche tions, interpersonal relationships and contribute creations generated in for a dance demonstration, story- nature. Bring a date or a friend! Enjoy Catherine Blackburn, this workshop to the exhibition of telling performance and workshop the finished meal together and receive Esker Foundation is pleased to present a Aboriginal Classics Mekinawewin, to give a gift, presented Series: Rosehip #2. where she will share the origins and a take-home recipe. Cash bar. For by Otahpiaaki at the Central Library, series of workshops this fall in partnership Rosehip, czech seed history of Indigenous hoop dance. participants aged 18+. beads, sinew, birch- 3rd Floor, from 4-9 November 2019. bark, paper, acrylic Participants will have the opportunity Registration essential, with Otahpiaaki 2019: Indigenous Beauty, gel, and beaver fur. Tamara Lee-Anne Cardinal is a to make their own hoop, learn the opens 6 November. Fashion & Design Week. The following five Courtesy of the artist. multi-media artist and community basics, and collaborate in creating a activist who traces her ancestral roots team Hoop Dance. back to the Saddle Lake Cree Nation workshops will be held at Esker Foundation. Registration essential, and the once-German occupied opens 6 November. An additional seven workshops, inspired by the work of Jeffrey Gibson lands of Ukraine. in Time Carriers, will be held at the Central Library Maker Space and Registration essential, Mount Royal University Maker Space, for more information and to register opens 2 October. for these seven partner workshops go to: otahpiaakifashionweek.com Image courtesy of Sachin Sudra. Esker Foundation 23/32 PROGRAMS

TOURS SCREENING

MORE ART with the Esker app

ESKER APP SELF-GUIDED TOUR Stay connected to our latest exhibitions, programs, and events with the Esker Foundation app. The app provides a digital companion to your gallery experience—including image, text, audio, and video. Download the app for free on your device at either the App Store or Google Play.

We are pleased to introduce our new Esker app Icon which along with our Bookshop at Esker logo is designed by artist and designer GuyGuyGuy. More of his elegant designs can be found in the Bookshop at Esker, including limited-edition pins and patches, available for purchase online at: eskerfoundation.com/shop.

Performance as Protest: Community Medicine: Community Evening: Exhibition tour with Exhibition tour with Language Open House Elizabeth Diggon Shauna Thompson FRIDAY Visual AIDS Day With(out) Art Derrick Woods-Morrow, Much handled things 20 December are always soft, 2019. Commissioned for Visual FRIDAY SUNDAY Film Screening AIDS’ Day With(out) Art 2019. Production still 25 October 24 November 6–8PM by Patric McCoy. 7–8PM 1–2PM Hey friends and neighbours, this is an SUNDAY evening for you! For this iteration of 1 December Join Esker’s assistant curator Elizabeth Join Esker Curator Shauna Thompson 3–4PM Diggon on this conversational tour on this tour through Jeffrey Gibson community evening, we invite you to that considers the significance of and Nep Sidhu’s exhibitions. join the Esker team and volunteer On December 1, 2019, Visual AIDS Shanti Avirgan, Beat Goes On Iman Shervington, I’m Still Me performance and performative Thompson will discuss the potential family for a multi-language open will commemorate the thirtieth Beat Goes On is an all-archival video I’m Still Me highlights Sian, a Black gestures to the work of Jeffrey Gibson of art and performance to strengthen house. Volunteers fluent in a diverse anniversary of Day With(out) Art portrait of Keith Cylar (1958–2004), woman living with HIV in Louisiana, and Nep Sidhu, and the potential for and uplift community healing and range of languages will be available to with seven newly commissioned the co-founder of Housing Works and who works in partnership with the performance to challenge dominant resilience, as well as the political and answer questions about the gallery videos by Shanti Avirgan, Nguyen a central figure in the AIDS Coalition Institute of Women & Ethnic Studies narratives, address difficult histories, spiritual powers of percussion and and our current exhibitions. Stay Tan Hoang, Carl George, Viva Ruiz, To Unleash Power (ACT UP) NY. to address the disproportionate effect tuned for a complete list of languages Iman Shervington, Jack Waters, and of HIV on Black women in the South. and foster community. collaborative action. Carl George, The Lie spoken, and other activities, which Derrick Woods-Morrow. These artists Registration recommended, Registration recommended, The Lie is the latest in an ongoing Jack Waters, (eye, virus) will be announced through our e- will consider the continuing presence opens 11 September. opens 11 September. series of short films drawing on newsletter and social media channels. of HIV/AIDS in the contemporary Through an experimental collage of moment while revisiting resonant found footage and original materials video and pictographs, (eye, virus) No registration required, drop in. Lifelong Learners Powerful Because They’re cultural histories of art and activism from the artist’s archive. Offering explores how conversations around WEDNESDAY Different: Exhibition Tour from the past three decades. “ruminations on ruined nations,” the disclosure, stigma, and harm reduc- film aims to expose the links between tion shift across generations and from 13 November with Naomi Potter In 1989, Visual AIDS organized 2:30–3:15PM war, poverty, AIDS and capitalism, and public to private realms. Collaborately SATURDAY the first Day Without Art, a call to discredit the persistent mythologies produced with Victor F.M. Torres and Seniors and all ages are invited to join 14 December the art world for mourning and action that bind them all. Nikki Sweet. us for a tour and discussion of the 1–2PM in response to the AIDS crisis. Every Nguyen Tan Hoang, After Heaven Derrick Woods-Morrow, Much current exhibitions in a relaxed and In a discussion with Jeffrey Gibson on year since, Visual AIDS has coordi- After Heaven returns to two subjects social environment. Explore new ideas his use of traditional craft techniques, nated and publicized events at handled things are always soft from the artist’s 1995 video on gay and engage creatively with arts and he noted that work “often referred to museums, universities, and arts Derrick Woods-Morrow will document culture. as kitsch, novelty, or decorative can organizations to highlight the Asian sexuality, 7 Steps to Sticky the geography of the public sex culture Heaven, examining how HIV/AIDS has Registration recommended actually have deep inherent content ongoing urgency of the epidemic. of Black Chicago from the 1960s shaped their lives in the 24 years since. opens 11 September. that is representative of conflict and The hour-long video program through the 1980s, in conversation attempts at resolution.” This tour will will premiere on December 1, 2019 Viva Ruiz, Chloe Dzubilo: with photographer and longterm Register on our website or by phone survivor Patric McCoy. at 403 930 2490. explore craft as a strategy used by for the 30th annual Day With(out) Love Warrior Gibson and Sidhu to navigate past Art. Visual AIDS partners with Viva Ruiz invites transgender AIDS and present traumas, offer space museums, galleries, universities, and activist, artist, and beloved friend for resilience or reconciliation, and organizations around the world to Chloe Dzubilo (1960-2011) to speak propose future trajectories of healing. present over 100 free screenings via never before seen Hi-8 footage Registration recommended, on/around December 1. The seven filmed by Chloe’s then-partner opens 11 September. films are: Kelly McGowan. PERFORMANCE

Jeffrey Gibson To Name An Other

Saturday 19 October, 3–4pm Atlantic Avenue Art Block Lobby No registration required, free

In a special performance as part of Jeffrey Gibson’s exhibition Time Carriers at Esker Foundation, fifty performers will be brought together for a drumming event to give names to our current political climate.

The performance is presented in partnership with Springboard Performance, as a part of the 2019 Fluid Festival, and Esker Foundation.

Courtesy of the artist, and The National Portrait Gallery, Washington, DC. Photo by: Franz Mahr. Esker Foundation 27/32 KATIE OHE

UPCOMING EXHIBITION

Katie Ohe 25 JANUARY–3 MAY OPENING: Friday 24 January, 6–10PM

Esker Foundation is pleased to present an in-depth look at Katie Ohe’s sculptural practice and her unparalleled approach to material, form, space, and movement.

This exhibition will bring together sculptural work BIOGRAPHY spanning six decades of Ohe’s remarkable career, Katie Ohe is a renowned Canadian sculptor and one of marking the largest and most comprehensive solo the first artists to make abstract sculpture in Alberta. Born exhibition of her work to date. The exhibition will in 1937 in Peers, Alberta, Katie Ohe studied at the Alberta College of Art (now AUArts), the Montreal School of Art also draw from Ohe’s material archive, revealing a and Design, the Sculpture Centre in New York and glimpse of a process devoted to research, inquiry, Fonderia Fabris in Verona, Italy. and visual or formal problem solving. Ohe’s work has been exhibited across Canada and internationally, in addition to numerous commissioned Ohe is best known for her abstract steel sculptures; works installed throughout Alberta. Her work is also organic forms that evoke the undulatory surface represented in collections including the Canada Council of a pool of water, the crest of a rolling hill or Art Bank, the Alberta Foundation for the Arts, the Shell cumulonimbus cloud, or the cadence of a walking Collection, The University of Calgary, and the Glenbow figure. The surfaces of many of these sculptures Museum. In 1991 Katie Ohe received the ACAD Alumni Award of Excellence Award (formerly the Board of are subsequently chromed or polished, creating a Governors’ Award of Excellence) and in 2001 was the flawlessly smooth exterior that conjures an illusion recipient of an honorary doctorate from the University of of weightlessness and is also irresistible to touch. Calgary in recognition of her influence on art in Alberta. In Indeed, many of Ohe’s works are fully activated only 2019, she became a member of the Alberta Order of by the push of a human hand. She remarks, “I want Excellence and received the Lieutenant Governor of Alberta my sculptures to induce or invoke touch before you Distinguished Artist Award. think that you really shouldn’t.” Katie Ohe is represented by Herringer Kiss Gallery, Calgary.

The otherworldly seamlessness and lightness of Ohe’s sculptures belie the intricacy of their internal machinery. Each kinetic sculpture is internally engineered to facilitate a particular movement pattern. This precision is borne out of Ohe’s intimate understanding of her materials—notably steel, bronze, aluminum, and chrome—and her commit- ment to investigation and experimentation.

Katie Ohe in her studio, August 2019. Courtesy AvidEye Productions. Esker Foundation 29/32 BOOKSHOP AT ESKER

CONNECT BOOKSHOP AT ESKER

Look & Listen at Esker SELECTED TITLES IN FRIDAY THE LIBRARY 11 October, 22 November 6:30–7:30PM PODCASTS Enjoy our current exhibitions Time Carriers and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, “The Danger of a Single Divine of Form, Formed in the Divine (Medicine for Story,” TED, 19:16, published 7 October 2009. a Nightmare) accompanied by musical selections Kamal Arora, "The ‘Widow Colony’ in Dehli: Female Bodies played throughout the gallery, curated by artists as Vessels of Remembrance,” on The Funambulist, podcast, Jeffrey Gibson and Nep Sidhu. 10 May 2014.

Lantern Library BOOKS The Lantern Library is a curated, publicly available Brian Keith Axel, The Nation’s Tortured Body: Violence, reference library that accompanies our current Representation, and the Formation of a Sikh ‘Diaspora’ exhibitions. Exhibiting artists and curators are (Durham: Duke University Press, 2001). invited to suggest book titles that reflect their current or past research interests or that offer Veena Das, Life and Words: Violence and Descent into the insight into their work. It offers opportunities for Ordinary (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2006). further reflection and discovery, with the recognition that there are many different ways to approach an Donald G. Frantz and Norma Jean Russell, The Blackfoot Dictionary of Stems, Roots, and Affixes, 3rd edition artwork or an exhibition. (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2017).

The Little Lantern Library Michael Nijhawan, The Precarious Diasporas of Sikh and Ahmadiyya Generations: Violence, Memory, and Agency If you are visiting Esker with little ones, an (New York: Palgrave, 2016). imaginative selection of children’s books chosen by gallery staff and volunteers is available in the Dean Rader, Engaged Resistance: American Indian Art, Lantern to help you explore some of the themes Literature, and Film from Alcatraz to the NMAI Explore the Bookshop at Esker on your Esker + Art Toronto Esker Foundation is pleased to announce a cultural and ideas in our exhibitions from the comfort of (Austin: University of Texas Press, 2011). next visit, or browse and purchase Esker partnership with Art Toronto. our cozy reading nook. Joyce Pettigrew, The Sikhs of the Punjab: Unheard Voices of titles and more via our new online Opening on 24 October and continuing until 27 October State and Guerilla Violence. (London: Zed Books, 1995). Bookshop at eskerfoundation.com/shop at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, Art Toronto, Canada’s international fair for modern and contemporary Leanne Betasamosake Simpson, As We Have Always Esse + Esker art, celebrates its 20th anniversary season this year. Done: Indigenous Freedom through Radical Resistance Dynamic artwork and programming from a diverse roster (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2017). SATURDAY & SUNDAY of galleries, cultural institutions, and arts publications will 28 & 29 September be presented as the fair enters a new decade. Paul Chaat Smith, Everything You Know About Indians is 1–4PM Wrong (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2009). Please join us in welcoming esse for a pop-up shop Esker at Edition Art Book Fair in the Esker Bookshop, featuring the latest issue of 24 to 27 October MUSIC esse arts + opinions magazine, and a selection of art Metro Toronto Convention Centre publications produced by this award-winning Editiontoronto.com Tanya Tagaq, Retribution, 2016, 7.57, Six Shooter Records. Montréal-based art publisher. Look for Esker Foundation’s booth at the 4th edition Art A Tribe Called Red, Burn Your Village to the Ground Book Fair produced in tandem with Art Toronto dedicated (Neon Nativez remix), 2014, 5.07. to the promotion of art book publishing in all forms and artworks created in editions. Ethnic Heritage Ensemble, Be Known: Ancient/Future/ Music, 2019. Spiritmuse Records.

Shabazz Palaces, Lese Majesty, 2014. Sub Pop.

Alice Coltrane Sextet, Live at the Berkeley Community Theater 1972, 2019. BCT Records. Esker Foundation 31/32 INFORMATION

CALENDAR OF EVENTS INFORMATION FOR YOUR VISIT

SEPTEMBER Wednesday 16 October Tuesday 5 November DECEMBER 7–8:30PM 6–9PM Friday 27 September Crash Course with Steep, Sip, Speak: Applied Sunday 1 December 6–10PM Judy & Cruz Anderson Beading Workshop with 3–4PM Exhibitions opening Catherine Blackburn World AIDS Day With(out) Friday 18 October Art Film Screening 9TH AVENUE SE Saturday 28 September 6:30–7:30PM Thursday 7 November 11–11:45AM 1–2:30PM Artist Talk with Thursday 5 December 11–11:45AM 9 ST SE Medicine in the Bark, Jeffrey Gibson Mini Masters Teeth that Leave a Mark: Mini Masters Panel discussion with Saturday 19 October Friday 8 November Maikoiyo Alley-Barnes, 3–4PM 6:30–7:30PM Friday 6 December Nicholas Galanin and To Name An Other: Artist Talk with 12–1PM Nep Sidhu, moderated Performance by Marjie Crop Eared Wolf Bring the Baby Art Tour by Negarra A. Kudumu Jeffrey Gibson & Tummy Time 9TH AVENUE SE Wednesday 13 November ELBOW RIVER Saturday 28 & Friday 25 October 2:30–3:15PM Friday 6 December Sunday 29 September 7–8PM 4:30–6:30PM 1–4PM Lifelong Learners Performance as Protest: Youth Workshop: Esse + Esker Exhibition Tour with Thursday 14 November Introduction to DJing with Pop-up in the Bookshop Elizabeth Diggon 6–7:30PM DJ BLKFT of Drum Beat Sikh Spirit Through Time: Productions Saturday 26 October Talk with Asian Studies LAND ACKNOWLEDGMENT FREE ADMISSION TOURS OCTOBER 12-3PM Saturday 7 December scholar Sukhdeep Sembi. Esker Foundation is located on Programs are free and open to all. Complimentary tours are available Star People, Star Trek: 1–4PM Thursday 3 October Dream Catcher Time Travel Sunday 17 November the traditional territories of the on request. Please pre-book at 11–11:45AM Hoop Dancing Workshop beading with The Sparkling 1–2PM with Sandra Lamouche Niitsitapi (Blackfoot) and the HOURS least two weeks in advance. Mini Masters Buffalo Master Class for Families people of the Treaty 7 region in Tuesday to Sunday 11-6 Call 403 930 2490 or email Thursday 12 December Southern Alberta, which includes [email protected] Friday 4 October Sunday 27 October Friday 11-8 Thursday 21 November 7–8:30PM the Siksika, the Piikani, the Kainai, 12–1PM 1–2PM Monday Closed 7–8:30PM Crash Course with the Tsuut’ina, and the Iyarhe CONTACT US AT Bring the Baby Art Tour Master Class for Families Crash Course with Sarah Alford Nakoda First Nations. The City Telephone 403 930 2490 & Tummy Time PARKING & WIFI Adrian Stimson of Calgary is also home to Métis Complimentary Email [email protected] Friday 13 December Thursday 10 October Nation of Alberta, Region III. Twitter @EskerFoundation NOVEMBER Friday 22 November 6:30–8PM 6–7PM Esker Foundation extends sincere PROGRAM REGISTRATION @EskerCalgary 4–6PM Date Night at Esker: Hive To Honey Jar: Friday 1 November appreciation for the opportunity Please visit eskerfoundation.art/ Instagram @eskerfoundation Youth Workshop: The Alchemy of Spices Hands-on artisanal honey 12–1PM to live and learn on this territory Facebook Esker Foundation Protest Signs, Pins & Tees with Sachin Sudra program/current to register. extraction with Alvéole in respect and gratitude. Vimeo vimeo.com/esker Bring the Baby Art Tour with Sondra Meszaros and & Tummy Time Jane Trash Saturday 14 December ACCESSIBILITY Friday 11 October ISBN: 978-0-9880263-2-2 1–2PM While Esker Foundation is 4–6PM Saturday 2 November © Esker Foundation, 2019 Friday 22 November Powerful Because They’re physically accessible, we all Youth Workshop: Plant 1–5PM 6:30-7:30PM Different: Exhibition Tour benefit from deeper, relational Medicine for Dreaming: Make with Naomi Potter Mekinawewin, to give Look & Listen at Esker considerations of accessibility. If Your Own Essential Oils and a gift: Story Exchange Balms with Sachin Sudra you have any questions or requests and Paper-Making with Sunday 24 November Sunday 15 December Explore Tamara Lee-Anne Cardinal 1–2PM 1–2PM regarding access to the gallery or Friday 11 October the Bookshop programs, please contact us at Master Class for Families at Esker 6:30–7:30PM Sunday 3 November Community Medicine: Exhibition Tour with 403 930 2490. Look & Listen at Esker 11AM–2PM Shauna Thompson Friday 20 December Steep, Sip, Speak: Applied 6–8PM MORE ART with Beading Workshop with the Esker app Community Evening at Fourth Floor Catherine Blackburn Esker: Language Open House 1011, 9 Avenue SE Inglewood, Calgary, Alberta Canada T2G 0H7 eskerfoundation.art

@eskerfoundation