Exhibitions

Estevan Art Gallery & Museum » Exhibitions

Current Exhibitions

Gallery I

“It looked like your biosuit”

Melanie Barnett

June 13th – Aug 22nd, 2025

earthbound (adjective)
Pronunciation: \ ˈərth-ˌbau̇nd \

“it looked like your BioSuit” is a speculative worldbuilding project that melds agronomy, figurative sculpture, climate science, mycology, and ecology in a jumbled heap that speaks to an imagined future.

This body of figurative ceramic sculptures tells the story of the Wearers, a fictional community who, following an ecological catastrophe of near-mythological origins, survived their new treacherous landscape through two pivotal adaptations. Through the consumption of plentiful terrestrial macro algae they developed the ability to photosynthesize, an ability that has given them bright green complexions. The second adaptation is the creation of the BioSuits: living protective garments made of a symbiosis of fungi, moss, lichen, and algae. The BioSuits act as mycoremediating partners cleansing the environment around the Wearer to ensure their safety. In return for this gift the Wearers offer the BioSuits a stronger chance at reproduction. The Wearers are forever displaced, bound to walking generational migrations to avoid cyclical environmental hazards that wrack the earth’s surface. As they walk, the BioSuits accompany them, dispersing their spores over great distances. Over time, over generations of these cycles, the descendants of the BioSuits will eventually mycoremediate the entire planet.

Much of the worldbuilding focuses on the Wearers’ approach to agriculture. Their worldview is based in their development of sustainable agroecosystems, a worldview that mimics my own experiences growing up on a grain farm in rural Manitoba. The figures represented in my work are portraits of friends and family members, many of whom interact with agroecosystems on a daily basis.

The idea of symbiosis and collaboration is a recurring theme in the work and the written text that accompanies it. Though it may be presented as a slightly optimistic view of the future of our species, if all we ever see in speculative works is pain and suffering how could we possibly dare to hope for a better future?

Gallery II

Blood From a Stone

Leandra Brandson

June 13th – Aug 22nd, 2025

earthbound (adjective)
Pronunciation: \ ˈərth-ˌbau̇nd \

Blood From a Stone is a sculptural exploration of queer embodiment, survival, and self-invention through the lens of a queer woman. Featuring figurative ceramics and medival-style carvings, the works follow artist Leandra Brandson as through periods of loss, grief and joy.

Created during a personal reckoning with gender and identity, the sculptural forms are fragmented and mismatched. Constructed in segments and finished with underglaze, directional sprays, flocking, and acrylic. Each work approaches loss with a sense of wonder and whimsy, creating melancholic, tongue in cheek scenes akin to historical manuscript margins.

To reap blood from a stone is an impossible task, yet repeat pursuit of the impossible carries with it a sense of reverence for the task itself.

These works are offerings to those who continue to pursue the impossible, knowing that they will fail and still trying regardless.

Past Exhibitions

Submissions

Submission Procedures

The EAGM welcomes proposals from artists and curators in all media for exhibitions or special projects for 2020 and onward. The gallery presents a diverse program of exhibitions, lectures and meetings with artists, and is involved in the production of curated exhibitions connected to themes developed by the EAGM. Together, the programs propose a critical reflection on contemporary art and culture. The gallery offers three exhibition spaces for artist proposals, and welcomes submissions from curators and artists on an ongoing basis.

The gallery has two exhibition spaces (Gallery I and Gallery II). The EAGM provides professional technical services for selected projects. The EAGM pays fees to artists and curators in accordance with CARFAC standards. Submitted projects are assessed and recommended for program inclusion by the curator. Please note that unless requested, we do not notify artists when a proposal has been received, and it can take some time for a decision to be made. Artists are always notified as to whether their submission has been selected for exhibition. Please note that our schedule is currently full for the near future, although we are happy to receive proposals to keep on file for future consideration.

Submission Requirements

Updated CV
Statement of Intent or a Specific Project Description
Artist Statement
10 to 20 digital images or video files* or Photographs
(on video tape, CDR, DVD, or memory stick – if applicable)
Image Identification Page (Title, Medium, Size, Year, etc.)

*For digital images submit only .jpg files in RGB format at a resolution of 72 dpi, with a maximum size of 1.5 MB and a maximum of 1024 x 768 pixels.

Please include a self-addressed stamped envelope if you are submitting via mail and would like to have your submission returned to you.