ESCAPE / The Great Indoors
curated by Liuba González de Armas
February 20 — March 28, 2021
open Wednesdays and Fridays, 1-6pm; Saturdays and Sundays, 12-6pm
Fern Pellerin, ME MANGAV TUT, 2020; wool yarn, rug canvas, cotton thread; 29x59”
Why should comfort imply tedium? ESCAPE / The Great Indoors brings together cozy, bright, and colourful explorations of domestic space by four emerging artists. The featured works – which range from painting, textiles, installation, and audience-artist collaboration – seek to re-enchant interior spaces, transforming the mundane into the fantastic through colour, metaphor, and play while retaining the intimacy and connection of home.
ESCAPE explores imaginative tactics to transcend domestic confinement, reframing our homes as sites of hidden wonder, both rich in spontaneity and ripe with possibility. And yet this focus on domesticity should not be conflated with isolation. These works suggest enchantment isn’t solo work: the artists draw meaning from connections with themselves, others, culture, and the more-than-human.
Participating Artists:
Kayza DeGraff-Ford
Tee Kundu
Fern Pellerin
Anna-Lisa Shandro
Curated by Liuba González de Armas, Halifax's 'Young Curator' supported by the Canadian Museum Association.
The artists and curator will take turns sitting at the gallery for the duration of the exhibition, and warmly invite guests to visit and bring their curiosity, their candour, and stories of home. The gallery will extend its regular hours of Saturdays and Sundays, 12-6pm to also include Wednesdays and Fridays, 1-6pm.
Collaboratively organized by MSVU Art Gallery, Dalhousie Art Gallery with exhibition space and programming services provided by HERMES Art Gallery Cooperative Limited.
Liuba González de Armas
Curator
Liuba González de Armas, Halifax’s “Young Curator” supported by the Canadian Museum Association, a position made possible by funds from the Shirley L. Thomson Award for Young Curators in partnership with Dalhousie Art Gallery, MSVU Art Gallery and Saint Mary’s University Art Gallery.
Kayza DeGraff-Ford
The Bathroom
2019
oil on canvas, 60” x 84”
Kayza DeGraff-Ford presents a cinematic triple self-portrait set in a bright, wallpapered bathroom. At once fantastic and profoundly candid, the work finds humour in repetition. There is a gentle absurdity in having the rich range of activity that makes up life contained to a single room.
Fern Pellerin
ME MANGAV TUT
2020
wool yarn, rug canvas, cotton thread, 29” x 59”
Fern Pellerin’s hooked rug ME MANGAV TUT embraces the innocence and tenacious optimism of childhood by translating doodle aesthetics into the language of fine textile craft. A consummate feel-good work made of warm wool fibres in bright warm tones, Me mangav tut (Romani for “I love you”) signals a return to the artist’s roots, and offers an embrace both visually and haptically.
Anna-Lisa Shandro
Back to your roots
2020–2021
large assortment of different sized textile pieces, integrated textile foliage, pillows, and a simple wood kitchen chair
Anna-Lisa Shandro’s immersive textile installation channels the whimsy and makeshift messiness of a blanket fort or treehouse. The confluence of textile and vegetal motifs refuses rigid boundaries of interior and exterior.
Tee Kundu
Untitled (TBA)
2021
socially sourced and participatory installation
As a gesture of connection, artist Tee Kundu invites gallery visitors to share their thoughts in a collaborative project that combines virtual and analog realms. This socially-sourced work will be shaped by input from visitors throughout the duration of the exhibition, and will culminate in a public on-site installation. Click here to participate with Tee’s survey!
