July 8 - September 10, 2021
MON to FRI, OPEN TO THE GENERAL PUBLIC – 10:00am to 6:00pm
FOR INQUIRIES, PLEASE CALL 604-356-9908
Artists: Connie Sabo, Sydney Pickering, Lyndsay McKay, Debbie Tuepah
Curated by Angela Clarke
with Ruth Beer, Department of Sculpture, Emily Carr University of Art and Design
Charles Marega (1871-1939) served as the first instructor of sculpture at the Vancouver College of Art (renamed Emily Carr University of Art and Design). Marega, who was classically trained in sculpture and design in Italy utilizing the media of marble and stucco work brought European training and sensibilities to Vancouver when he emigrated in 1909.
The artworks in this exhibition are indicative of interdisciplinary approaches to contemporary sculpture as an expanded practice encompassing diverse approaches to the selection and use of materials and spatial considerations. They also reflect the artists’ social, cultural and environmental concerns that are important dimensions of their creative practices.
“The exhibition is the first of a year long series celebrating Italian Sculptor Charles Marega’s life and legacy in Vancouver” explains Dr. Angela Clarke, Il Museo Gallery curator. Pathways to Modernity (and Beyond) exemplifies the shift in the genre of sculpture since Marega’s tenure as one of the first sculpture instructors at the Vancouver School of Art (1925 – 1939).
Featuring works by Sydney Pickering, Lyndsay McKay, Debbie Westergaard Tuepah and Connie Sabo Pathways to Modernity (and Beyond) stands in contrast to Marega’s artwork, revealing how sculpture is no longer confined to European figurative constructs or cultural attitudes of his time. Instead, on display in the gallery are works by four women artists that address materiality, aesthetics, technologies and perspectives in relation to pressing issues of today including sustainability, colonialism, and bio-engineering. The materials employed include wood, deer skin, newsprint, latex, chromed metal and even fungal growth in the form of a mixed media “bio” artwork. The artists also make use of sculpture-related presentation strategies that include video projection and installation.
Please join us for this transformative journey.