U of L opening new exhibit at Hess Gallery virtually

By University of Lethbridge on April 16, 2021.

The University of Lethbridge is opening a new exhibit COVID-style today.
Its new exhibition “Processes of Remediation: art, relationships, nature” will open virtually at the Hess Gallery at 3 p.m.
This will be the first opening for the U of L gallery in more than a year.
According to a press release, lana Bartol’s timely exhibition harnesses the power of art to provide a new perspective and create conversation in response to climate change and local environmental concerns.
Processes of Remediation: art, relationships, nature highlights the growing concern around the Grassy Mountain open-pit coal mining project in southern Alberta, conducting in-depth research on this environmental crisis and how to engage diverse people in a productive conversation about the issues.
Connecting with scientists at uLethbridge studying climate change, prairie plants and insects, and engaging alumni artists in mentorship roles, Bartol’s online and in-person exhibition continue an important conversation that has recently come to the forefront in Alberta politics.
“This is an incredibly timely exhibition, and yet we started it a year and a half ago,” explains gallery director Dr. Josephine Mills. “We planned an open-ended art research project, a partnership with the artists in the gallery that was about the environmental crisis. Alana was going to look at coal from a historical perspective, the history of Lethbridge. When the government rescinded the coal policy it meant that she was super well equipped to address this in a timely manner.”
According to the university press release, “the exhibition reflects the impact that humans have on the landscape in ways that may not be visible. It does so through charcoal rubbings made on surfaces in normal environments.
“Alana comes from a long line of water witches, so this project draws on her work with dowsing, and the history of dowsing in connection to mining and resource extraction,” says Mills. “In her artwork, she uses dowsing to ask us to reconsider consumption-driven relationships to the earth and what are known as natural resources,” said Mills in the press release.
To check out the opening, see the preview tour at https://youtu.be/mPCKssGBFJM
A preview interview with Bartol can be found at https://youtu.be/As_uo6lnFe0
More information: Dowsinganddigging.com