New exhibits opening at Casa

By Toyin Obatusin - Lethbridge Herald Local Journalism Initiative Reporter on November 9, 2024.

Herald photo by Toyin Obatusin Artist Mary Kavanagh sets up an original piece as part of her Dust to Dust exhibit while preparing to showcase at Saturday's exhibition opening at Casa.

The new Winter Exhibition Opening at Casa will showcase seven new exhibits starting today and running until Jan. 10.

The community is invited to the opening reception this evening at 7 p.m.

There is no cost to visit the exhibitions but donations are appreciated and can be done online at http://www.casalethbridge.ca/contact-us/.

Being showcased in the main gallery is Mary Kavanagh’s Dust to Dust. A professor in the Department of Art at the U of L, showcased not only in Canada, but internationally. Because of research, Kavanagh has travelled across the globe, visited active military bases, weapons testing and research facilities, and sites of mining extraction and remediation. Places that have difficult histories is a preference.

Kavanagh has been supported by the Canada Council for the Arts, the Alberta Foundation for the Arts, and the Social Sciences and Humanities and Research Council of Canada. Her work has been showcased in over 50 critical reviews and essays and has been featured in publications including War Art in Canada.

The Gallery also is presenting Shelby Charlesworth’s Absent Hand. Born and raised in Lethbridge, Charlesworth is an interdisciplinary artist and educator in Calgary.

She received her Masters in Fine Arts at the University of Connecticut in 2021 where she was an Instructor of Record for Sculpture. She also worked as a Studio Assistant, Sculptor and Ceramicist in L.A. back in 2022. Charlesworth is an advocate for the Alzheimer’s Society and has created art processes for seniors with dementia. Her primary focus is community engagement and arts accessibility through visual language. Like Kavanagh, she is also showcased both nationally and internationally.

Next up we have artist Sidney Frenette-Ling’s Wandering Between. Frenette-Ling is multidisciplinary artist From Markham, Ontario, who now lives in Lethbridge and is working towards his Bachelor of Fine Arts in Art Studio, and minoring in Marketing at the U of L. The artist focuses on printmaking, digital and traditional sculptures, and poetry. He refers back to his work to create “writings.” He uses computer software and aquatint etching. Aquatint is a printmaking technique that creates zonal tones rather than lines.

Kendel Kinahan’ Wildscapes, explores the boundless terrains of Alberta and Saskatchewan. According to Kinahan, the intent of the exhibition is to share the raw beauty that surrounds us in nature. This is not limited to the mountains, but also the badlands, sand dunes and forests. Kinahan enjoys how a simple change in lighting allows for a difference in the way you view the same setting in what inspires a lot of the paintings that the artist produces. The materials of choice are acrylic, charcoal, and most recently oils. Kendel grew up in a farming community in Northern Alberta, and this has contributed to her strong sense of nature in its simplicity, beauty, and adaptability.

Brian Quinn’s With a Flowerish is dedicated to the “vibrant plants and flowers,” in his wife’s garden. He went to Medicine Hat College and studied graphic design before moving back to Lethbridge to become an actor. He found a love for the arts over the acts, as it is easier for him to express himself without the added exaggeration of emotions.

Deb Middleton-Hope is presenting Postcards from the Imagination.

“My art journey began to take priority over life’s other distractions in my mid-sixties. After a 30 year career in law enforcement, raising a family and travelling overseas for three years, I began to focus on the things that fulfilled my day, instead of just filling my day. I have four children, and seven grandchildren, who give me plenty of material to fill my sketchbook,”says the artist.

Middleton-Hope has created postcards using the art of storytelling, as she calls it, drawing and sculpting the characters, telling her story and expressing herself as who she is naturally. She crafted every postcard specifically to be showcased at this 2024 exhibition, presented by Casa.

Delia Cross Child will be showcasing her Work exhibit. Being of Blackfoot descent and growing up in her ancestral land, The Blackfoot territory, Cross Child’s cultural background encourages her students to understand their own cultures and languages just as their ancestors have provided it to them. Delia reminisces, As Children we played and explored on the hills overlooking the mountains to the west and the Old Man River flowing to the east.

She is a Blood and Peigan artist, who uses historical and contemporary art traditions to inform the public about First Nation issues. She says she comes from a world of chaos, “a world whose legacy included the mass-trauma of forced assimilation, residential schools, and “hunger, sadness, and abuse.” Like so many of the artists, Child also attended the U of L where she earned her B.A. in Art and Native American Studies, and her B.Ed. in Art. Cross Child has had work exhibited at the Glenbow Museum, Walter Phillips Gallery, and Southern Alberta Art Gallery, in the public collections of the University of Lethbridge, the Blood Tribe Administration, and the Glenbow Museum.