Dear Alan

Curated by Natasha Chaykowski and Yasmin Nurming-Por 2017 Alberta Foundation for the Arts Emerging Curator Fellows

Small unidentifiable spheres dot the ground at almost regular intervals, and various tropical birds hold court in the sky, while an elderly cowboy extends his lasso, which like the snake, is curiously straight, in the direction of three surprised looking cattle. The horizon is obscured by undulating hills, and a strange melange of deciduous trees and cacti—both in morphing shades of green, from neon to forest—push through the arid ground throughout the composition. A surreal tour de force, and indeed, a conceptually compelling meditation upon the strangeness of landscape, Alan’s drawing serves as the launching point of Dear Alan; it speaks to a persistent interest in issues pertaining to landscape, methodologies of collecting, and mythologies of Alberta, writ large. This exhibition represents 32 artworks by 31 Alberta artists: Alan* Kay Angliss Bruce Bentz Robert Burcher Edward Burtynsky Joane Cardinal-Schubert Douglas Curran Primrose Diakow Gisela Felsberg Velma Foster Roland Gissing Alexandra Haeseker Faye HeavyShield Barbara Rose Hicklin Wally Houn Esther How A.Y. Jackson Kablona Illingworth Kerr Jim Logan Rita McKeough Bryce Meyer Janet Mitchell Arthur Nishimura Anne Patrick Walter Phillips Harry Savage Robert Sinclair Peter von Tiesenhausen Sylvain Voyer Doris Zahariuchuk *Unknown artist Image courtesy the Alberta Foundation for the Arts