ESTEVAN — The Estevan Art Gallery and Museum has two exhibits that will remain for the summer.
It Looked like your BioSuit by Melanie Barrett is in Gallery No. 1, while Blood from a Stone by Leandra Brandson is in Gallery No. 2. Both started in late June and will continue until Aug. 22.
In her artist's statement, Barnett said her exhibit is a speculative world-building project that melds agronomy, figurative sculpture, climate science, mycology and ecology in a jumbled heap that speaks to an imagined feature.
"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," said Barnett.
Through consumption of terrestrial macro algae, Barnett said the Wearers developed the ability to photosynthesize, which gave them bright green complexions. They also have their biosuits, which Barnett said are living protective garments made of a symbiosis of fungi, moss, lichen and algae.
Much of the world-building focuses on the Wearers' approach to agriculture, Barnett said. This is based on their development of sustainable agroecosystems, a worldview Barnett said mimics her own experience 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," she said.
Brandson said in her statement that 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 medieval-style carvings, the works follow Brandson as through periods of loss, grief and joy.
Created during a personal reckoning with gender and identity, Brandson said the sculptural forms are fragmented and mismatched. Constructed in segments and finished with underglaze, directional sprays, flocking and acrylic, she said each work approaches loss with a sense of wonder and whimsy, creating melancholic, tongue-in-cheek scenes akin to historical manuscript margins.
Getting blood from a stone is impossible, and she said these works are offerings to those who continue to pursue the impossible, knowing they will fail.
