Esker Foundation
4th floor - 1011 9th Ave SE T2G 0H7 Calgary, AB, Canada

We are pleased to be included in the inaugural Chinook Blast! https://www.chinookblast.ca/friends-of-chi/esker-foundation

Thank you to Edmonton Short Film Festival and Deep Freeze: A Byzantine Winter Fête in Edmonton for including our art documentary on the life and art of iconic Albertan artist Katie Ohe. If you missed the outdoor film festival - due to the temperatures! you can watch the film in comfort and warmth below! #KatieOhe #AlbertaFilm #ArtDocumentary ... https://vimeo.com/436487618 See more

Happy Birthday to both Katie Ohe and Harry Kiyooka who share a life in art and a birthday! Thank you to Katie and Harry for all their contributions to the Alberta art community. From 25 January to 29 August 2020 Esker Foundation presented the largest and most comprehensive solo exhibition to date by Katie Ohe tracing the development of work through six decades of Ohe’s remarkable sculptural practice.... Katie Ohe is a renowned Canadian sculptor & one of the first artists to make abstract sculpture in Alberta. Born in 1937 in Peers, AB. Ohe’s work has been exhibited across Canada & internationally, in addition to numerous commissioned works installed throughout Alberta. In 1991 Katie Ohe received the ACAD Alumni Award of Excellence Award & in 2001 was the recipient of an honorary doctorate from the University of Calgary in recognition of her influence on art in Alberta. In 2019, she became a member of the Alberta Order of Excellence & received the Lieutenant Governor of Alberta Distinguished Artist Award. Born in Calgary in 1928, Harry Mitsuo Kiyooka is an accomplished painter and printmaker. A Professor Emeritus of Art at the University of Calgary with tenure of 27 years, Harry holds both undergraduate and master’s degrees in art and Fine Art. In 1961, Harry Kiyooka assumed a teaching position at the new University of Alberta, Calgary campus. In 1988, Harry retired from the University of Calgary after 27 years with the rank of Professor Emeritus of Art. Harry is a founding member of the Calgary Contemporary Arts Society & Life Member of the Alberta Society of Artists. Harry Kiyooka was awarded a 125th Anniversary Medal of Confederation for his contribution to the community in establishing the Triangle Gallery. Katie Ohe & Harry Kiyooka are represented by Herringer Kiss Gallery, Calgary. Images: Katie Ohe & Harry Kiyooka at the opening of the 2020 exhibition at Esker. Harry Kiyooka, "Aegean 15" 1972. Courtesy Herringer Kiss Gallery. "Katie Ohe: a mystical kind of experience," 18 mins: www.vimeo.com/esker/katie

Thank you to Yvonne Kustec for sharing her ceramic work, and the in-depth making process with us this evening in her artist talk, including her year-long residency at Medalta in Medicine Hat. Medalta #YvonneKustec #ceramics

Happy Birthday! to Katie Ohe and Harry Kiyooka!

Tomorrow evening ~ not to be missed! ~ join an artist talk with ceramic artist Yvonne Kustec. Thursday 18 February, 6-7PM Join Yvonne Kustec for an artist talk about her work and practice, as well as her current exhibition "The Garden" on view in the Esker Project Space until 6 June.... Kustec employs various hand building techniques with clay to produce figurative sculptural work merged with elements of flora and fauna to reclaim the body from patriarchal traditions, institutions, and ideologies. Through her sculpture, she works to deconstruct the symbolic nature of femininity and to redefine historical narratives by stripping them of characterization and virtuous attributes, while highlighting the powerful and instinctual survival nature of the feminine spirit. This free talk will happen online, register at the link: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/artist-talk-with-yvonne-kustec- Yvonne Kustec is a Calgary-based artist originally from Oakville, Ontario. She attended AUArts (formerly ACAD), majoring in sculpture, and graduated with a BFA with distinction in 2011. Kustec employs various hand building techniques with clay to produce figurative sculptural work that is merged with elements of flora and fauna. Kustec uses nature as a metaphor for both transformation and regeneration, and merges flora and fauna with the body to reclaim it from patriarchal traditions, institutions, and ideologies. Through her sculpture, she works to deconstruct the symbolic nature of femininity and to redefine historical narratives by stripping them of characterization and virtuous attributes. Kustec is currently an artist in residence at Medalta in Medicine Hat. @medalta #YvonneKustec #TheGarden #EskerFoundation #eskerprojectspace #CalgaryArts #yycart #Sculpture #contemporaryart

"En estos últimos meses el equipo de SpanicArts ha estado trabajando arduamente en proyectos y colaboraciones con otras organizaciones. Uno de estos eventos fue el Día de Todos los Santos el cual se realizó en conjunto con el Immigrant Council for Arts Innovation y el Consulado de México. Nuestra comunidad se reunió para elaborar una ofrenda para el Día de Muertos dedicada a la memoria de artistas hispanos que han fallecido." ~ SpanicArts "These past few months the SpanicA...rts team has been working hard on projects and collaborations with other organizations. One of these events was Day of All Saints in which we partnered with the Immigrant Council for Arts Innovation and the Consulate of Mexico. Our community came together to create an altar for the day of the dead to commemorate Hispanic artists that have passed away." ~ SpanicArts Thank you to the artists, members, and organizers of SpanicArts for partnering with us over the last 8 weeks as part of the ongoing 'In Common' series. This post highlights this outstanding Calgary-based Hispanic Arts & Cultural non-profit and the work they do! Follow them on IG @SpanicArts or check their website to find out more of their activities: www.spanicarts.com #DayofallSaints #SpanicArts #EskerInCommon #Alberta #MexicanConsulate #artists #LatinArtists #EskerFoundation #yycarts #ICAICalgary #HispanicArtists #Americas #LatinoArtists #LatinaArtists #LatinxArtists

Please note that visits to the gallery must all be pre-booked at: www.eskerfoundation.com/visit at least one day in advance. In order to enhance safety measures at the gallery for staff and visitors unfortunately we are unable to accomodate any drop-in visits for the next two weeks. Thank you for your understanding. #COVID19AB #SafetyProtocols #COVIDAB #Covid19Awareness... Image: Installation view of Samuel Roy-Bois' "Presences" at Esker Foundation on view until 19 December. Photo by: John Dean.

Life of Objects Liz Magor speaks about her landmark installation, One Bedroom Apartment, and our relationships to the objects we live with. "I definitely think of objects as externalizations of a psychological or an emotional condition or state. I often think about the effect of the outer world, outside of your home, outside of your private life, on your emotions and psychological state. The pressure comes from outsideit pushes and impinges on the person. And then what emerg...es in what we buy or what we have affection for or what we surround ourselves with is a symptom of what those outside forces are, which we often don’t acknowledge." - Liz Magor #CanadianArtMagazine #LizMagor Interview with Liz Magor byTess Edmonson. Read the full interview here: https://canadianart.ca/interviews/life-of-objects/ Canadian Art

Good News! The Esker Foundation produced documentary on iconic artist and Esker exhibiting alumna, Katie Ohe has been announced as an Official Selection in two upcoming Film Festivals and has received an Award of Distinction. You can watch the film here: www.vimeo.com/esker/katie International Shorts Film Festival, Victoria, Australia. ... 7 - 12 December, 2020 www.internationalshorts.org Canada Shorts - Canadian & International Film Festival, New Brunswick. www.canadashorts.com - Award of Distinction. #KatieOhe #ArtDocumentary #FilmFestivals Kiyooka Ohe Arts Centre & Sculpture Park https://www.facebook.com/canadashorts

Last call! Book your spot!

Pre-book your visit to Esker Foundation and the exhibition "Presences" by Samuel Roy-Bois, on view until 19 December. Pre-book at: www.eskerfoundation.com/visit Image: Installation view of Samuel Roy-Bois' exhibition "Presences" at Esker Foundation, on view until 19 December. Photo by: John Dean.

Have you got your free ticket? This talk is booking up quickly.... Join Shannon Norberg for what will be a fascinating talk and discussion on the importance of Gender Equality in contemporary art. Part of our Crash Course on Contemporary Art series.

Just released! A few extra spots for our awesome online comic making workshop with local artist and comic-maker Nicole Wolf. #comicbookart #comicsyyc #NicoleWolf #EskeratHome

WEEKEND UPDATE STOP MOTION ANIMATION WORKSHOP BALANCING ACT for children of all ages, with artist Suzanne Presinal Saturday 21 November, 2pm, free! A few spots are still available! Workshop will be held online via Zoom.... The link is below or register via our website www.eskerfoundation.com For this family program we invite children of all ages to join us for a session in balance, whimsy, laughter and fun. Can we balance stuffies with LEGO, a fork with a bowl, then put it all in a kid-made box? Are you up for a challenge? While the kids work with balancing household objects and toys in new ways, parent-collaborators get to film using a stop motion animation app to document these tippy and precarious sculptures! From our workshop space to your living rooms, let’s take some time to adventure and play together. #EskerFoundation #EskerPrograms #EskeratHome #museumathome #thisweekend #animation #stopmotion #film #artworkshop #SamuelRoyBois #homesculpture #family #kidsart #kidsmakeart 's: Installation views of Samuel Roy-Bois' exhibition "Presences" on view until 19 December. Photos by: John Dean. Photo of Suzanne Presinal courtesy of the artist. REGISTER: https://eskerfoundation-family-workshop.eventbrite.ca/

Artist talk online with Jon Sasaki! Discussing his current exhibition "Killing One Bird With Half A Stone" On view until December 19 at Esker.... Jon Sasaki’s multidisciplinary practice delves into the potentially generative outcomes of failure and futility. "Killing One Bird With Half A Stone" centres around a selection of the artist’s videos from the past decade that depict the artist as a solitary protagonist who persistently, sometimes recklessly, refuses to accept the obsolescence, failure, or inadequacy of everyday objects. In "To Change a Lightbulb" (2017), Sasaki resolutely maneuvers a burnt-out lightbulb in the hopes of reconnecting the broken filament and re-illuminating the bulb, if only fleetingly. In "Motivation" (2013), he shakes a pendant lamp with a frayed cord, which illuminates briefly tantalizingly if shaken just so, before inevitably disconnecting again. When faced with the task of scaling a wall in "Ladder Stack" (2009), he perches multiple step ladders on top of one another, before precariously climbing out of the camera’s view, presumably stacking additional ladders ad infinitum.

Stop Motion Animation Workshop for children and families with artist Suzanne Presinal. #animation #freeyyc #EskerFoundation ... Suzanne Presinal

Do not miss this online conversation!

Hurry, hurry, hurry, sign up for these amazing free online offerings: Register via our website on our program page or via the link in our bio. All programs will be on Zoom in MST timezone. . eskerfoundation.com/program/current/... Artist Talk with Jon Sasaki Thursday 3 December, 6-7pm Comic Making with Nicole Wolf - Children & families workshop Saturday 5 December, 2-3:30pm Crash Course in Contemporary Art: "You're (still only) Seeing Less Than Half The Picture" with Shannon Norberg Tuesday 8 December, 7-8pm Join Shannon Norberg for this talk on why Gender Equity matters and what we, and what galleries, museums and collectors can do to balance the scales within the art world. Installing Artwork in your Home with Doug Haslam - workshop Thursday 10 December, 6-7:30pm Make Your Own Badges with Fashion Designers Kristi Woo & Claudia Franco-Slater - Youth workshop Saturday 12 December, 1-3pm We Make Things, but are Things Making Us? online curatorial tour Thursday 17 December, 6-7pm #EskerFoundation #EskeratHome #EskerPrograms #EskerLearning #JarvisHallGallery #ArtistTalk #JonSasaki #DougHaslam #JonSasaki #ContemporaryArt #GenderEquity #ShannonNorberg #KristiWoo #ClaudiaFrancoSlater #installart #picturehanging #howto #curatorialinsights #curatortour #comics #cartoons #badges #fashion #equitymatters