By Sam Borsato - @BorsatoSam on Twitter

University art looking forward, back and into nature

Apr 2, 2017 | 9:12 AM

LETHBRIDGE – Two art installations at the University of Lethbridge have captured the city’s rich history, as well as its natural environment.
 
The first is curated by a pair of senior undergraduate stduents.
 
Grace Wirzba and Elise Pundyk, who study studio art and art history and museum studies respectively, began organizing the Looking Back/Looking Forward exhibit in early January for the main gallery. 
 
It includes work from the university’s more than 14,000 piece collection, all tied together with quotes that tell the story of the gallery’s history and future in Lethbridge.
 
“We knew that we wanted voices to be heard, not just our voices, because there’s quite a big community and history behind the collection here,” the pair said in an interview with Lethbridge News Now.
 
“We started with interviewing people from the community, people who used to work at the gallery, people who have a presence in the art community now, then kind of went from there.”
 
Both are currently interns at the U of L art gallery. As part of their learning experience, they had help from assistant curator, David Smith, designing the layout of the exhibit.
 
Wirzba and Pundyk agreed that it’s been a fantastic experience, especially when it came down to figuring out how to draw from their different art backgrounds in a cohesive way.
 
“I want that value that I have for [the gallery], that other people have it, and maybe for other people to start to appreciate it. I think it’s sometimes a quiet part of the university, and to draw attention to it is what I want,” Wirzba explained when asked what she hopes people take away from Looking Back/Looking Forward.
 
Pundyk said for her, it’s more about the “memories attached to it,” and believes it will open up a dialogue about the importance of the gallery.
 
The second exhibit, by Calgary-based artist Jennifer Wanner, focuses on the preservation of endangered plant species.
 
Her work began back in 2013, compiling watercolour paintings, collages and stop-motion video for the installation that is the current feature of the Helen Christou gallery. Even now, Wanner says it’s a work in progress, given that new plants are continually added to the endangered list in Canada.
 
“Each of the plants represents a province or territory, and then there’s one plant that represents all of Canada. So, each of these plants are comprised of collaging together the most endangered and threatened species for each of those provinces,” she explained about the design of her exhibit.
 
“We decided not to do necessarily chronologically from west to east, and from north to south. We put it together so that it flows in a more elegant way… It comes full circle to the one from Canada.”
 
The subject was of particular interest to Wanner because it’s not only an art concept, but crosses over into science. She noted that we tend to adapt, instead of preserving what is about to be lost, when asked what message the Second Nature installation is meant to relay.
 
“Science does a lot of good for us, but we have to take a look at how we sometimes take our science so far that it turns into this preposterous, ridiculous proposal… Instead of having to save all those species in all of the land, how do we save that species in an efficient way.”
 
Looking Back/Looking Forward will remain in the university’s main gallery until June 9, and Second Nature will be on display until June 2.