INSIDE THE JOKE: John Wing wings it

INSIDE THE JOKE: John Wing wings it

Rather than focus on the entire Edmonton Comedy Festival, Oct. 16-19 at venues around town; rather than focus on one specific comedian performing therein, maybe it would be fun to zero in on just one joke. In doing an absurd in-depth examination of said jest, with any luck we can tease out all the humour […]

Colleen Brown to reveal alter ego at Rip Roarin’ Refinery

Colleen Brown to reveal alter ego at Rip Roarin’ Refinery

Singer-songwriter Colleen Brown has long relished the idea of creating an alter-ego – and now, as the creative director of the Art Gallery of Alberta’s “Rip Roarin’ Refinery” party happening Saturday, June 1, she gets her chance. “Gilda Brass” will be making her stage debut at the arty party celebrating AGA’s new exhibit The Piano. […]

Truth trumps special effects at Global Visions Film Festival

Truth trumps special effects at Global Visions Film Festival

If there seems like there’s more interest in documentaries these days, it’s because there is. Hey, it’s either that or another damned Batman movie – in 3D, of course. “In an era when the major studios are really just concentrating on action or effects-driven superhero franchises, audiences are turning to documentary for real storytelling,” says […]

ART: Nothing Earth shattering at Biennial exhibition

ART: Nothing Earth shattering at Biennial exhibition

As amusing and sometimes inspiring as it is, don’t expect breakthroughs in “new” art at the 2013 Alberta Biennial of Contemporary Art. It tries to be contemporary. As soon as you enter the foyer of the Art Gallery of Alberta (AGA), you’re served the message: “This isn’t going to be your parents’ art exhibition.” The […]

ART: Every day was Halloween for medieval monster makers

ART: Every day was Halloween for medieval monster makers

Zombies want your brains and vampires want your blood, but the modern pop monsters have nothing on the creepy creatures lurking in the Art Gallery of Alberta – they want your souls. The macabre exhibition “Beautiful Monster: Beasts and Fantastic Creatures in Early European Prints” opened just in time for Halloween and is up until […]

SCARY TIMES: 13 Halloween events for grown-ups who don’t want to grow up

SCARY TIMES: 13 Halloween events for grown-ups who don’t want to grow up

It’s no mystery why Halloween has been completely co-opted and dominated by grown-ups – it’s because many modern grown-ups have failed to grow up. Joe Flaherty – SCTV’s Count Floyd, so he ought to know about this sort of thing – complained that many of the adult students in his improv classes back East were […]

ART: Nothing happens by accident in Catherine Burgess sculptures

Abstract metal sculpture leaves a lot of people cold – pun intended. But there’s a lot to be discovered and enjoyed if you don’t have to ask the classic “But what does it mean?” question, or need to identify a recognizable object in the work. Catherine Burgess’s “Absence|Presence” installation is up at the Art Gallery […]

ART: Les Automatistes still making modernist waves today

A painting by Les Automatiste artist Jean-Paul Riopelle may have sold for $2.2 million at a recent auction in Paris – but it is the work of the group’s driving force Paul-Emile Borduas (above) that really stands out in a new exhibition at the Art Gallery of Alberta. The Automatiste Revolution: Montreal 1941-1960 exhibit, up […]

Painter Arlene Wasylynchuk wins new $10,000 arts prize

Edmonton’s newest arts award went to painter Arlene Wasylynchuk as she won the first $10,000 Eldon & Anne Foote Edmonton Visual Arts Prize, presented by the Visual Arts Alberta Association (VAAA) on June 20. “I’m really honoured,” said Wasylynchuk. “It was a great group to get short-listed with and it’s great for the city to […]

ART: Talent overcomes cultural supression in Alex Janvier at the AGA

The superb collection of some 90 artworks making up the Alex Janvier exhibit at the Art Gallery of Alberta touches on many levels. Primarily abstractionist, Janvier’s colourful, curvilinear assemblies inspired by traditional themes are well represented at the AGA, from their exploratory beginnings in the 1960s through the ‘70s when they became his most familiar […]

City of Edmonton Archives launches online exhibit with Ella May Walker

Wilfred Walker, son of the late Edmonton artist, author, musician and conservationist Ella May Walker, offered up a revealing detail about his mother as he addressed a recent gathering at the Prince of Wales Armoury that officially opened an online archive exhibit about her. “There was a nudist colony on Lake Wabamun,” Walker began. “Our […]

ARCHITECTURE: Douglas Cardinal vs. the soulless city of glass

Architect Douglas Cardinal has always sought to incorporate both history and natural surroundings into his designs, which range from the Telus World of Science here in Edmonton and the Museum of Civilization in Ottawa, to the Museum of the American Indian in Washington, DC. So how will the Calgary-born, award-winning aboriginal designer be received when […]

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