Two new exhibits at the Estevan Art Gallery and Museum (EAGM) provide a look into the impact of anxiety can have on our lives.
Joseph Anderson and Lissa Robinson’s Creatures from Sky to Sea, consisting of mixed media textile sculptures, is curated by the Organization of Saskatchewan Arts Councils (OSAC) and is currently on display in Gallery No. 2.
Speaking at a reception earlier this month, Diana Chisholm, who is the artist in residence for the Estevan Arts Council and a visual arts and media assistant for OSAC, said this is part of the Art on the Move program that OSAC offers to rural communities.
The selections in Creatures from Sky to Sea look to be very playful and soft, but once the viewer takes a deeper look at them, Chisholm said they become very ominous.
The exhibit stems from two artists considering how they can explore the creatures through textile or soft sculpture. Robinson focused on creatures from the sky, while Anderson zeroed in on those in the sea.
“I think it’s really a fun and playful exhibition, and a nice way to explore ideas of how we see work that has a little more focus,” said Chisholm.
The other exhibit is Coulrophobia, which is located in the EAGM’s project space, and named after the fear of clowns. It includes several pieces from the Andrew King show print collection that are permanently at the EAGM.
In a write-up for the exhibit, EAGM associate curator David Dyck noted people marvel at King’s printmaking skills and the artistry in his posters, but contemporary viewers are often terror-struck when faced with the clowns found in these images.
“One of the things we noticed, looking through our archives of prints, is that the clowns, are … typically floating up in the sky and sort of peering down on midways and circuses and stuff,” said Dyck.
King was celebrating the clowns and the fun that could be had at a midway or a circus, but in recent decades, clowns have often become threatening and menacing, thanks to the depiction of clowns in horror movies. Dyck also pointed to serial killer John Wayne Gacy, who dressed as a clown before killing his victims, as a source of anxiety.
Dyck hopes people will think about how something that was so joyful for some generations could be associated with fear.
King was the publisher of the Estevan Mercury in the 1940s and 1950s. His posters, which he created with wood blocks, were used for circuses and fairs throughout North America.
