Mary Anne Barkhouse: Le rêve aux loups

Opening reception Fri, Sept 15 from 6 – 10 p.m. Artist talk: r/Evolution: Exhibition Tour with Jennifer Rudder and Mary Anne Barkhouse Nov 10, 7-8:30pm (free).

Esker Foundation presents the first solo exhibition in Alberta of work by Kwakiutl artist Mary Anne Barkhouse. The largest survey exhibition of Barkhouse’s work to date, Le rêve aux loups is guest curated by Jennifer Rudder − with an earlier iteration of the exhibition originating at the Koffler Gallery, Toronto. At Esker Foundation the exhibition is greatly expanded upon and reimagined, bringing together for the first time, works from major museum collections along with three new commissions.

The artistic practice of Mary Anne Barkhouse is deeply engaged with environmental and indigenous issues, with the visual iconography of animals playing a central role. Barkhouse situates her work between two worlds, the human and the natural. She employs the beaver, raven, wolf, and coyote as symbols of the ability to adapt and persist, regenerate and repair – even throughout endless incursions into their environs.