New exhibitions opening up at Two Rivers Gallery

Assistant Curator Meghan Hunter-Gauthier states

“All for Water emerged from a call for submissions which invited artists to consider the fact that by 2050, it is estimated there will not be enough fresh water for the earth’s inhabitants. Currently, Canada’s lakes, rivers, streams, and wetlands hold twenty percent of the world’s freshwater. One day, we may be asked to share this water with others in need. Yet, even today there are many threats to freshwater ecosystems in this country, and access to freshwater is a concern for multiple communities.”

Joanne Salé’s Dream 1 and Dream 2 addresses issues related to species and habitat loss. Catherine Ruddell’s photographs, Kwapiki / To Go for Water, considers access to freshwater, and those who must travel beyond their homes in order to get it.

David Jacob Harder’s Drinking Vessels features concrete casts of single-use beverage containers that often pollute watersheds and take hundreds of years to decompose.

Neil McClelland’s The Fraction Called Happiness is a painting about a possible future where freshwater is depleted and swimming pools are a grim reminder of reckless consumption.

Luke Blackstone’s kinetic sculpture I WAS, AM, WILL BE, WATER, produces ice from water vapor in the air, melts the water, then returns the water to the air; a tool for the possibly bleak future that McClelland’s painting pictures. Even among these warnings and bleak predictions, there are depictions of hope in this exhibition.

Morgan Asoyuf’s Bentwood Box Crown, pictures Christine Martin, a community leader and land defender of Ts’msyen ancestry; and Mouse Oracle Crown, pictures singer, actor, and activist Ta’Kaiya Blaney of the Tla’amin Nation. This work presents Indigenous women as royal; wearing crowns designed by Asoyuf that elevate their work as leaders and stewards of the land.

Through Asoyuf’s photographs, we are reminded of those taking action, and the importance of doing so ourselves.

“An Exercise in Listening”

Ruth Cuthand, Annie Dunning, Genevieve Robertson & Kelsey Stephenson Curator: Meghan Hunter-Gauthier An Exercise in Listening features work by four artists from across Canada: Ruth Cuthand (SK), Annie Dunning (ON), Genevieve Robertson (BC), and Kelsey Stephenson (AB). The exhibition gathers together a collection of sculpture, sonic art, video, drawings, and prints to create a narrative around the importance of listening in order to create a more inclusive and environmentally-minded future.

“Climate change has been a global issue for over thirty years. Yet, in spite of a multitude of warnings from scientists, politicians, artists, and everyday people, humanity largely remains on a capitalist trajectory defined by growth and resource extraction,” states Assistant Curator, Hunter-Gauthier.

This exhibition asks how each of us can do a better job of listening to the planet and to each other. An Exercise in Listening grew out of Two Rivers Gallery’s concurrent exhibition, All for Water.

All the artwork in An Exercise in Listening references water in different ways. Annie Dunning’s bronze and glass sculpture, Cochlea, includes an audio recording of waves on a pebble beach located on Malcolm Island, BC.

Genevieve Robertson’s Still Running Water and Alluvial Fan focus on the Columbia River, a changed watershed, with fourteen hydroelectric dams.

Ruth Cuthand’s Boil Water Advisory, No7, features beaded representations of bacteria commonly found in contaminated drinking water in Indigenous communities. Kelsey Stephenson’s Divining considers the impact places have on people and vice versa.

Her work takes inspiration from water, which has the power to change landscapes over time through erosion.

“Although these works are not necessarily about listening, each of them alludes to a different kind of listening. Through artworks focused on, or inspired by water, the public is invited to listen closer, longer, purposefully, and thoughtfully in their own lives, and consider how doing so can result in more environmentally and socially conscious actions” states Hunter-Gauthier.

If you are interested in these exhibits, you can visit the gallery between Tuesday – Saturday 10 am-5 pm. Open until 9 pm on Thursdays. Admission by Donation.

Two Rivers Gallery 725 Canada Games Way, Prince George, BC, V2L 5T1

by Randi-Marie Adams

New exhibitions opening up at Two Rivers Gallery

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