Operated by the Calgary Contemporary Arts Society

March 17 to May 6, 2006

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Human/Nature

Installations by:
Liz ingram, Amy Loewan, Lyndal Osborne and Laura Vickerson

The exhibition human/nature presents work by four alberta artists: Lyndal Osborne, Laura Vickerson, Amy Loewan and Liz Ingram (…). All four of these artists communicate on personal and spiritual levels about the nature of the self, the nature of nature and the importance of integrating the human and natural worlds. What motivates and inspires them as human beings is experienced universally across the planet, as concerns of others become theirs as well. Everyday, as communication systems expand, our world grows smaller. Technology transforms experience for us all, yet it threatens to reduce distance and difference to electrons flickering across a computer screen. Against this danger of dematerialization, these artists make work that is profoundly engaged with the "stuff" of material and natural worlds (…).

These four artists can be said to typify Canadian art in that they all make work that is confident, personal, rich in concept and highly skilled in execution. Clearly, their work is not uniform in its visual appearance, nor does it ascribe to any particular style or mode of expression. What makes their work representative of this region is the artists' commitment to values of human dignity, respect for the environment, visual economy and a willingness to engage viewers in a shared experience. Each artist brings her own experience of self and world to create works expressive of her understanding of what it means to be human and her responsibility as an artist to nature.

Amy Gogarty

The above text is a fragment of the essay by Amy Gogarty presented in the exhibition catalogue directed originally to audiences in Shanghai and Hong Kong

List of Images (top to bottom, left to right):

1. Liz Ingram - Synectic Stream, 2005 (installation view); digital prints, glass, plexiglass, wood, fluorescent light, sound track. Photo courtesy of the artist.
2. Liz Ingram - Sacred Stream 3, 2001; digital output transparencies, plexiglass, wood, fluorescent lights. Photo courtesy of the artist.
3. Amy Loewan - A Peace Project, 2001; rice paper weavings, ink, charcoal and pastel. Fragment of the installation at the Doland Modern Art Museum in Shanghai in 2004. Photo courtesy of the artist.
4. Amy Loewan - A Peace Project (detail), 2001; rice paper, ink, charcoal and pastel. Photo courtesy of the artist.
5. Lyndal Osborne - Accretion Tables (fragment of the installation), 2004; mixed media installation: natural and industrial materials, wood and paint. Photo courtesy of the artist.
6. Lyndal Osborne - Accretion Tables (detail), 2004; mixed media installation: natural and industrial materials, wood and paint. Photo courtesy of the artist.
7. Laura Vickerson - William's Carnations (detail), 2001; rose petals, dress pins and organza with metal hangar. Photo courtesy of the artist.
8. Laura Vickerson - William's Carnations, 2001; rose petals, dress pins and organza with metal hangar. Photo courtesy of the artist.