2024 exhibitions - City Hall Art Gallery

February 23 to May 12, 2024

Opening: Friday, February 23, 5:30 to 7:30 pm
Access is limited to the Laurier Avenue entrance. 

Artists’ tour: Sunday, May 12, 2 pm
Free admission. Presented in English. 

Exhibition documentation images

Exhibition booklet [ PDF – 3.3 MB] 

The paintings in A Glimmering Feel Towards the Now use technology while remaining rooted in a history of painting to articulate the connected nature of our world. All three painters work in gestures: brushstrokes on the canvas that connect the work to a vast history of painting through direct art historical references. An extensive amount of information is packed within the compositions, urging the viewer to move through the paintings in layers, unpacking each part and understanding our place within the world building that takes place via pigment.    
 
Spirals, circles, and repetition guide the eye throughout the show—cyclical elements that hint at a non-linear depiction of history: the nostalgic and slightly out-of-reach aspect of Kyak-Monteith’s compositions; the nesting boxes of forms and figures within Gordon’s paintings that necessitate a turn of the head to view at all angles; the slow unveiling of Alex Sutcliffe’s abstractions and how they oscillate from soft and gentle strokes to angular, modern forms. Each evokes the desire to see the paintings from all angles—getting close to the artwork, turning your head, zooming in—to better understand the process.   
 
- Excerpt by Tatum Dooley

Biographies

Atticus Gordon (b. 1995, Ottawa) is an emerging painter and installation artist working between Chicago and Ottawa. Atticus completed a Bachelor of Fine Arts at the University of Ottawa in 2019 and is currently a Master of Fine Arts Candidate at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. He has exhibited his work in North America and Europe, including Berlin, Chicago, Detroit, Montréal, Toronto, Halifax and Ottawa. His paintings can be seen in public collections in Ottawa and Montréal.  

Megan Kyak-Monteith (b. 1997, Mittimatalik/Pond Inlet) is an emerging artist residing in Halifax, Nova Scotia. She graduated from NSCAD University in 2019 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Interdisciplinary Studies, specializing in drawing and painting. She works as a freelance illustrator for children’s books and magazine articles and continues to paint from her home in Halifax. Her work has appeared in Inuit Art Quarterly and Inuktitut Magazine and a series of children’s books, The Nunavummi Reading Series.  

Alex Sutcliffe (b. 1997, Chicago), Bachelor of Fine Arts (2020) NSCAD University, is an emerging visual artist based out of Halifax, Nova Scotia. Alex was born and raised in Chicago before moving to Ottawa at 11 years old. He has exhibited his work throughout Halifax, Ottawa, and Toronto including the Art Museum at the University of Toronto, Art/Toronto, and the Anna Leonowens Gallery. His approach emphasizes painting’s illusionary qualities through a focus on surface, texture, and layering processes. 

Atticus Gordon gratefully acknowledges the financial support of the Ontario Arts Council. 
Alex Sutcliffe gratefully acknowledges the financial support of the Canada Council for the Arts. 

May 30 to August 18, 2024 

Opening: Thursday, May 30, 5:30 to 7:30 pm
Access is limited to the Laurier Avenue entrance.

Artist tour: Sunday, August 18, 2 pm
Free admission. Presented in English. 

Exhibition documentation images

Exhibition booklet [ PDF - 5.1 MB ]

Since July 2021 I have created over 100 installations at residential school historical sites, museums, art galleries and other public spaces. Many of these spaces serve to present a colonial viewpoint and primarily speak about the settlers who arrived and lived here, but not the Indigenous people that were displaced along the way. The installations are constructed with red wool, silk or cotton yarn that has been crocheted, knit or woven. Red is the colour of blood. Red is the slur against Indigenous people. Red is the colour of passion and anger, danger and power, courage and love. I am hoping to bridge the gap between settlers and First Nations, Métis and Inuit people by creating art that is approachable and non-confrontational and starting a conversation about decolonization and reconciliation.   

- Interpretive text by Tracey-Mae Chambers

Biography 

I grew up as a stranger to my own story; adopted and re-named, grafted into a new family tree. The discovery in adulthood of my Métis heritage was a revelation that set me on a path of discovery. I often work in the powerful tradition of the vessel as a metaphor for individuals; we fill and re-fill ourselves throughout life to create our own story. My developing story as an Indigenous heritage woman and her quest for harmony with the natural world. I am a proud member of the Métis Nation of Ontario. My ancestors are from the Drummond Island community as well as Mackinac Island. www.traceymae.com 

The artist gratefully acknowledges the financial support of the Ontario Arts Council. 

August 29 to November 24, 2024 

Opening and artist tour: Thursday, August 29, 5:30 to 7:30 pm 
Tour begins at 6 pm. Free admission. Presented in English. 
Access is limited to the Laurier Avenue entrance.  

Exhibition booklet [ PDF – 6.6 MB ] 

In 2016, Rozenbergs was taken with the possibility of using materials characteristic of 21^st-century technology. The Transfiguration tapestries reflect a change in outer form – a metamorphosis associated with constant changes in style, weaving techniques and materials. The series is dedicated to the revelation of the dynamically engaging time in which our generation has lived. In the artist’s youth, a boom of vinyl recordings by the likes of the Beatles and other phenomena was directly followed by an era of cassette tapes with music by artists such as Pink Floyd. Then everything was taken over by video cassettes that allowed you to watch current-day movies. These technologies were forgotten at the beginning of the century, but the brown audio tapes and black video tapes survived, and Rozenbergs weaved them into decorative tapestries. Adding natural fibres to polyester and polypropylene, this transition to synthetic materials was a logical step.

Signs of the Time focuses on the revelation that every era has its own signs and symbols, and the artist looks for these characteristics of our time. The works express the belief that the passage of time is a succession and that our future is rooted in reflections of the recent past. 

- Excerpt by Dr. Art. Dace Lamberga 
 

Biography  

Egils Rozenbergs is a prominent Latvian textile artist in the European and global world of fibre art. He is recognized for his ambitious and carefully planned large-format figurative compositions that incorporate expressive movement and the original texture of the Soumak technique. Since 1968, Rozenbergs has worked and experimented with new materials and techniques. Early in his career, he followed classical tapestry rules, over time developing his unique artistic potential. Compelled by ambitious and stylized compositions, colour relations and drawing, Rozenbergs is internationally recognized for his style. 

Rozenbergs’ work has been celebrated in numerous solo and group exhibitions in Latvia, Europe, the USA and Australia since 1968. His artworks have been acquired by various institutions and private collectors in Latvia, Australia, Canada, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Great Britain, Russia, Spain, the USA, and Venezuela, including the Latvian National Museum of Art, the Cleveland Museum of Art in the USA and the Museum of Arts and Design (MAD) in New York City. When Queen Margrethe II of Denmark came to Riga in 1992, she was presented with a Rozenbergs tapestry as a gift from the Latvian state. Since 1977, Rozenbergs has been active in the Latvian Artists’ Union; he headed the Textile Art section, organized international textile symposia and was the Union’s president (1994–2005). He was Secretary General of the European Textile Network (1993–1999) and has received awards of recognition from France, Italy, Norway and Latvia.  

This exhibition is organized by the Embassy of Latvia in Canada and Ambassador of Latvia to Canada Mr. Kaspars Ozoliņš with the support of the State Culture Capital Foundation and VIA ARS Cultural Communication Society. 

December 5, 2024 to February 23, 2025 

Opening: Thursday, December 12, 5:30 to 7:30 pm
Access is limited to the Laurier Avenue entrance.

This exhibition features a selection of artworks added to the City of Ottawa Art Collection in 2024 through purchase, donation and commission. Artworks from the City’s Collection are on display in over 170 municipal buildings and spaces across the city. 

Gabriela Avila-Yiptong, Claudia Gutierrez, Carl Stewart