Spotlight on four new exhibits at Casa
Southern Alberta artists are sharing the spotlight tonight at Casa, where a public reception signals the opening of several new exhibitions.
Spotlights are part of the story in the main gallery, where Lethbridge-based artist Nicholas Wade is presenting “A Study of Kept Light and Other Works.”
His whimsical threedimensional works, influenced by furniture and architecture, capture light and shadow in a variety of ways.
In one, a vertical surface is topped by a milk carton-like “bec,” adding to its suggestions of fluid movement. In another, identified by a German title, something like an avalanche of wooden slabs provides possible hiding places for children.
Youngsters know that crawling spaces “don’t have to be rectangular,” Wade notes.
Another work, away from the ways, could pass for a footstool. But it’s not all there. “It has fullness and emptiness,” but “it’s full of light.” Wade, born in England, retired here in 2011 after 17 years teaching sculpture at the University of Lethbridge. His teaching career also includes appointments at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ont., the Tyler School of Art in Philadelphia, the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design in Halifax, Brock University in Ontario and the David Thompson University Centre in Nelson.
Sharing space in the main gallery is Tony Partridge, a longtime Lethbridge resident who now lives in Coleman. His “Landscape: An Intuitive and Empirical Response” paintings invite viewers to consider how the concentrated, cerebral process of observing a scene balances with the intuitive choices an artist makes as the brush meets the canvas.
Partridge maintained a studio practice in Lethbridge for several decades, has taken part in many solo and group exhibitions, and his landscapes have been selected for many private collections.
Born in southern Alberta, installation artist Jonathan Miquel-Alvarez moved to Saskatchewan as a schoolboy. But now, armed with education and fine arts degrees from the University of Saskatchewan, he’s back in Lethbridge. His installation, “Evidence” shows what’s left — drop cloths, brushes, tools — after an artwork is completed.
His installation is in one of Casa’s smaller exhibition spaces, as is an exhibit of textural paintings — “Speak Freely” — by Lethbridge artist Jheri Cook. Her expressive works are characterized by bold, engaging colours.
A third hallway space presents “Hoopla!,” a collaboration between the Ability Resource Centre and the Textile Surface Design Guild of Lethbridge. Twenty ARC clients created their art pieces with direction from ARC personnel and guild members.
All are welcome to the opening reception today, starting at 7 p.m. The exhibitions will remain on view until April 13, and admission is always free.