The Agnes Etherington Art Centre will launch its Spring/Summer season on Friday, April 27, with the introduction of five new exhibitions.

Attendees will be able to view each of the newly-arrived exhibitions – Chris Kline and Yam Lau: Weave; Gabrielle Kilian Sims: Hook; Artists at Work: Picturing Practice in the European Tradition; The Art of African Ivory; and the much-anticipated Charles F. Gibson: Events of a Military Life in Kingston.

“Our season launch brings artists, curators and art lovers together to celebrate and savour the great visual and media art of our time along with treasures of the past,” says Agnes Director Jan Allen. “This spring, we are highlighting recent acquisitions, and five deeply original new shows, including a fresh installation of the Lang Collection of African Art.”

The Members’ Preview starts Friday’s celebration at 5 pm, with in-gallery introductions to the shows. The public reception and remarks commence at 6 pm, running through to 7:30 pm. The galleries will remain open to 9 pm. A Creation Station is available for free family care in the Studio, 6-7:30 pm. Register online to save a spot.

The launch of artist Sarindar Dhaliwal’s book The Radcliffe Line and Other Geographies, will also be part of Friday’s event.

FEATURE EXHIBITIONS

Chris Kline and Yam Lau: Weave

Canadian artists Chris Kline and Yam Lau present Weave, a two-person exhibition that reflects precise involvement in the fields of force of materials. The artists’ respective works find surprising affinities: Kline’s tender and rigorous hand-coloured paintings contrast with Lau’s gliding cinematic movements through simulated space, while both artists are intimately involved with the entanglement of idea and substance, being and becoming, memory and form, especially as woven through or across screens.

Artists at Work: Picturing Practice in the European Tradition

For the early modern artist of 17th- and 18th-century Europe, the studio was the site of the vital study, creative exercise and network cultivation that fostered professional success. The relics of these practices are on display in Artists at Work: Picturing Practice in the European Tradition as a celebration of the physical and intellectual pursuit of creativity. From images of the studio to portraits meant to promote the artist’s reputation, the works in this exhibition have been assembled to describe the process of the early modern European artist and reflect the continuation of this tradition into Canadian conventions. Featured artists include Jacques Philippe Le Bas, William Etty, Baldassare Franceschini, Antonio Gabbiani, Aert de Gelder, Ludovico Gimignani, Willem Horst, Ignaz Sebastian Klauber, Bill Roff, William Sawyer, and Abraham Susenier.

Gabrielle Kilian Sims: Hook

This exhibition gathers a poignant selection of Gabrielle Kilian Sims’s recent drawings. Figurative works in charcoal and ink, they are charged with the anguish of grief and explore the feelings of dread, outrage and tenderness compelled by conditions of entanglement and loss. A Kingston resident, her art has been exhibited in Canada, United States, Europe and Qatar and is held in public collections including the Canada Council Art Bank.

The Art of African Ivory

Africans have traded raw and carved ivory for centuries. Its lustrous sheen makes it desirable, as does the brute majesty of its source: Africa is home to the world’s largest elephants. Across continents, ivory objects are used in rituals—rites of prestige and pageantry rolled into one. Desired by a range of bodies—political, social, medicinal, religious—ivory sparks discussion of history and debates about ecological and wildlife preservation. This exhibition showcases works donated by Justin and Elisabeth Lang. Visitors will discover how Africans have used ivory to teach morality, convey social standing, heal wounds, safeguard communities and commercially profit.

Charles F. Gibson: Events of a Military Life in Kingston

While stationed in Kingston as an Ensign in 1831-1833, Charles Frederick Gibson painted the landscape and activities around him. This exhibition features his Kingston watercolours and drawings, alongside works by other contemporary artists, such as Lt. Edward Charles Frome, Sir Richard Henry Bonnycastle and Harriet Dobbs Cartwright. Through Gibson’s eyes, we experience Kingston of the 1830s, as events of a military life unfold, both quotidian and monumental: from painting and sketching, to disease and ill-health, to the construction of the Rideau Canal and re-building of Fort Henry.

For more information visit the website for the Agnes Etherington Art Centre.