Three new exhibits at the Southern Alberta Art Gallery (SAAG) take a different peek at portraiture.

 

 In the upstairs gallery, Lethbridge based artist Dagmar Dahle’s “Tangle” features mixed media gouache paintings.

 

“She was in a residency in Paris and started doodling as a way to ease mental burnout,” observed Jeremy Franchuk, Southern Alberta Art Gallery communications co-ordinator.

“ “Tangle’ combines 14 years of work,” he said.

 

She  is also creating a large scale work on one wall from Jan. 7 to Feb. 4 so you will have the opportunity to talk with her about her work,” Franchuk continued.

 

The group exhibition ‘ The Faceless Familiar,” featuring the works of Barry Doupé , Nick Sikkuark, U of L educated artist  Kasia Sosnowski, Alison Yip and Capilano based artist Elizabeth Zvonar, turns the idea of portraiture on it’s head.

 

“ They all reflect  portraits and body parts,” Franchuk said, there are surreal paintings,  sculpture, ceramics and multi-media works in the exhibit.

works .

 

“ Kasia  Sosnowski works in ceramics. They reflect the fragility of the human body through the fragility of ceramics,” Franchuk said.

 Vancouver multi-media artist Barry Doupé’s multi-media installation  was created on an old Amiga computer.

 

“Vancouver based artist Barry Doupé  created his on an old Amiga computer.”.

 

“Elizabeth Zvonar’s naturalistic works reflect a sense of the familiar but also look a the body as a psychological state of being,” Franchuk said.

 

The exhibit also features work by arctic artist Nick Sikkuark, who passed away in 2013. 

 

Raneece Buddan’s exhibit in the SAAG library “ Desiderium”  uses a variety of different Indio-African artistic mediums including ceramics, printed textiles and weavings are created from studying time-honoured clay, block printing and weaving practices from Nigeria, Ghana, and India. She  created self portraits while reflect on her heritage as a mixed race  Jamaican of Indo Caribbean and Afro-Caribbean ancestry .

 

“I researched the traditional styles of afro and Indo Caribbean techniques,” she said , adding she started creating the sculptures in her last year of university in 2019-20.

 

She created the most recent pieces this July to September.

 

“ They’re all self portraits,” she said adding her more recent works are textile arts.

 

“ I wanted to show the beauty of Afro-Caribbean art styles and techniques,” she continued, noting they also reflect not fitting in completely with her Indo-Caribbean roots.

 

 The opening reception  for the two solo exhibitions and a group exhibition is 7-9 p.m. , Saturday, Dec. 3 . They exhibits are on display until Feb. 11.

—By Richard Amery, L.A. Beat Editor