Susan Shantz
Confluence
June 8 - June 19, 2022
Gordon Snelgrove Gallery
“In its presentation of installation, bookworks, embroidered objects and video, Confluence is the result of Saskatchewan artist, Susan Shantz’, artistic and scientific exploration into the water sources that sustain our province: from the glaciers in the Rocky Mountains of Alberta water flows across the prairies in the South and North Saskatchewan Rivers, joining to create an enormous delta near the Manitoba border. Shantz states, “While I experience the river near my home as a natural phenomenon and place of beauty, after learning more about the river from scientific and environmental perspectives, I have come to realize it is a highly-managed water source. It sustains us, but with a cost for those downstream. Drawing on field trips to sites along the river, I use a variety media (from textiles to videography) to consider the currents that connect us in this prairie water basin.” Shantz’ work encourages viewers to consider the interconnectedness and fragility of our water sources, the environmental impacts of human progress on our water systems and how these impacts will ultimately affect us all.”
from the original text at the Moose Jaw Museum and Art Gallery
Information Links:
Susan Shantz: Confluence at the Moose Jaw Museum & Art Gallery
In Conversation - Susan Shantz: Confluence at the Moose Jaw Museum & Art GalleryA recording of our In Conversation Series talk with artist, Susan Shantz, and water researcher, Dr. Graham Strickert. This conversation introduces Shantz’s work in the exhibition, Confluence, on display at MJM&AG February 4-May 1, 2022, the research on waterways that informs her work, and the importance of considering water sustainability and security. Live Stream originally hosted March 3, 2022.
Art exhibit urges society to ponder the preciousness of water by Moose Jaw Today
Special hours for this exhibition:
Wednesday, June 8 - Sunday, June 19, 12 noon - 5 p.m.
NOTE: Thursday and Friday, June 16 & 17: 12 noon - 6 p.m. (extended hours for ALECC conference attendees) and Saturday, June 18 the gallery will be closed for a special Sound/Water Wave Meditation I for ALECC conference attendees (Eventbrite Ticket).
A Sound/Water Wave Meditation II for community members will take place Sunday, June 19 from 10:45 - 11:45 am, prior to the gallery opening at 12 noon (Eventbrite Ticket), followed by a closing reception from 3 - 5 p.m.
About
Susan Shantz is as Saskatoon artist and professor of sculpture and mixed media art in the Department of Art and Art History at the University of Saskatchewan. Her mixed-media installations include textiles, found objects and video exploring our cultural connections to nature. In developing the artworks for her exhibition, Confluence, Shantz was informed by working with environmental scientists on collaborative, community and teaching projects including Delta Days, Becoming Water/Being Water and the City of Saskatoon and Moose Jaw Art Gallery digital billboard public art projects, We Are The River and We Are The Lake. Earlier versions of some of the works in Confluence were shown in Currents at the Duggan House Residency and Artwalk, Esplanade Gallery, Medicine Hat, Alberta.
Shantz’s artwork has been featured in solo and group exhibitions in public and artist-run galleries across Canada and internationally and supported with grants from the Canada Council, Ontario Arts Council, SK Arts and the British Columbia Arts Council. Her work is in public art collections including the Canada Council, SK Arts, Remai Modern (Mendel Collection), MacKenzie Art Gallery, Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, Art Gallery of Hamilton, Museum London, Canadian Clay and Glass Gallery, Burlington Cultural Centre and in private collections.
Sound/Water Wave Meditation with Sandie Irvine in Susan Shantz’s exhibition, Confluence
Sandie Irvine, of MoonYoga, Saskatoon, will lead a one-hour Sound/Water Wave Meditation in Susan Shantz’s Confluence exhibition, connecting the theme of water with sound waves using crystal bowls. Come prepared to lie (or sit) beneath the blue water tarps and bathe in spacious silence and sound. Blankets will be provided.
“I’ve been a musician all my life. Alongside classical training in my youth… I sensed music in the hills, notes in the clouds, mantras from the trees. Most of all I could hear my own song. I learned of Nada yoga (the yoga of sound) while studying yogasana; it described the natural experience of intuitive ‘sounds’ as part of a centuries old tradition … I sought out further study leading me to practice as a sound artist” -Sandie
Sound/Water Wave Meditation 1
Sound/Water Wave Meditation 1, is open to attendees of the Association for Literature, Environment, and Culture in Canada (ALECC) CONFERENCE 2022
Tickets (and medical masks due to Covid) required (space will be limited):
Saturday, June 18, 2:00 – 3:00 (gallery doors will open at 2:00 and will be closed at 2:15 to ensure this is an uninterrupted event).
Sound/Water Wave Meditation 2
Sound/Water Wave Meditation 2, is open to all.
Tickets (and medical masks due to Covid) required (space will be limited):
Sunday, June 19, 11:00 – 12:00 (gallery doors will open at 10:45 and will be closed at 11:00 to ensure this is an uninterrupted event)
