Big Things was a large-scale steel sculpture exhibition series organized by the North Edmonton Sculpture Workshop for the Royal Alberta Museum's outdoor South Terrace. [1] [2] [3] [4] The exhibition series began as an effort to "expose the public to the richness and diversity of contemporary sculpture in steel, while encouraging a critical dialogue between artists." [3]
The inaugural Big Things exhibition in 2002 was the first time the Royal Alberta Museum had ever displayed an exhibition of its kind, featuring nine large, abstract steel sculptures. [3] According to the museum's assistant director Tim Willis, "Dealing with abstract sculpture is not part of our core mandate.... It just goes to show how art can transform an inert public space. [5] " Artist Ryan McCourt sought out the venue in part for its cultural context, and in part due to the inherent practicality of the site. "The context of it being at a museum was much more appropriate than having it at the Law Courts or outside the Shaw Conference Centre," says McCourt, [4] while also noting that the museum's large stone facade and open concrete terrace space is especially conducive to viewing large sculptures. [2] Exhibited sculptures included Tilley, by Mark Bellows; Valour and Cowardice, by Andrew French; Radiant, by Peter Hide; Midway, by Ken Macklin; The Moment You've Been Waiting For and Spanish Castle, by Ryan McCourt; Almost Whole, by Royden Mills; and From the Model, by Susan Owen Kagan. [2] [3]
Due to the success of the premiere exhibition, originally scheduled to just last the summer, Big Things was held over until May 2003, when it was immediately followed by Big Things 2, shown from May 6, 2003 to April 30, 2004. Big Things 2 featured work by the same artists as in the first showing, minus Kagan. [1] [4] Exhibited works include Lust or Love?, by Mark Bellows; Florence, by Andrew French; Modernist Man, by Peter Hide; Easter Sunday, by Ken Macklin; Inside Elevation, by Royden Mills; and Solus, by Ryan McCourt.
Big Things 3 followed, on display from May 8, 2004 - April 30, 2005, [1] with the same roster of exhibiting artists. [5] The sculptures exhibited include Moorshead, by Ken Macklin; Hindu Lion, by Peter Hide; French Riviera, by Andrew French; Bassinet, by Royden Mills; Arma, by Mark Bellows; and Overture, by Ryan McCourt. [6]
Big Things 4, from June 3 to October 1, 2006, [1] featured sculptures "Petra" by Simon Black; "Truth and Falsehood" by Andrew French; "Leviathan" by Peter Hide; "Caesura" by Bianca Khan; "Destroyer of Obstacles" by Ryan McCourt; "Between Premonition" by Royden Mills; and "Trojan Yak Genera" by Robert Willms. [7] [8] [9]
An artist collective is an initiative that is the result of a group of artists working together, usually under their own management, towards shared aims. The aims of an artist collective can include almost anything that is relevant to the needs of the artist; this can range from purchasing bulk materials, sharing equipment, space or materials, to following shared ideologies, aesthetic and political views or even living and working together as an extended family. Sharing of ownership, risk, benefits, and status is implied, as opposed to other, more common business structures with an explicit hierarchy of ownership such as an association or a company.
Sir Anthony Alfred Caro was an English abstract sculptor whose work is characterised by assemblages of metal using 'found' industrial objects. His style was of the modernist school, having worked with Henry Moore early in his career. He was lauded as the greatest British sculptor of his generation.
Peter Nicholas Hide is an English born abstract sculptor. A one-time pupil of Sir Anthony Caro, Hide is best known for upright, large-scale welded sculptures made of heavy, rusted industrial scrap steel.
The Art Gallery of Alberta (AGA) is an art museum in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. The museum occupies a 8,000 square metres (86,000 sq ft) building at Churchill Square in downtown Edmonton. The museum building was originally designed by Donald G. Bittorf, and B. James Wensley, although portions of that structure were demolished or built over during a redevelopment of the building by Randall Stout.
The Royal Alberta Museum (RAM) is a museum of human and natural history in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. The museum is located in Downtown Edmonton, north of City Hall. The museum is the largest in western Canada with more than 7,600 square metres (82,000 sq ft) exhibition space and 38,900 square metres (419,000 sq ft) in total.
Brian Jungen is an artist of Dane-Zaa and Swiss ancestry living and working in the North Okanagan of British Columbia. Working in a diverse range of two and three dimensional materials "Jungen is widely regarded as a leading member of a new generation of Vancouver artists". While Indigeneity and identity politics have been central to much of his work, Jungen has "a lot of other interests" and themes that run through his oeuvre. His work addresses many audiences' misconception that "native artists are not allowed to do work that is not about First Nations identity", by making poetic artworks that defy categorization.
Royden Mills Is a sculptor who has taught as a contract Academic at the University of Alberta over more than 25 years. His first professional studio was in Hokkaido Japan and he now works out a rural studio not far from Edmonton. A selection of his large-scale work can be found at: Grounds For Sculpture, Hamilton New Jerzy, Terwillegar Park Edmonton Canada, State University of New York, Odette Sculpture Park, Franconia Sculpture Park (Minnesota), Augustana Campus of the University of Alberta and Chomin Hall Shikaoi, Hokkaido Japan, among other places. Mills work can be seen at the University of Lethbridge, Arlington Heights, Chicago, Sculpturesite Gallery San Francisco, Robert T. Webb Sculpture Garden in Dalton Georgia, The Alberta Foundation for the Arts, Canmore Hospital Canada, and also in Centennial Plaza Red Deer Alberta, as well as Shikaoi, Hokkaido Japan, as well as in Imagining Science at the Art Gallery of Alberta where he collaborated with internationally recognized Print Artist, Sean Caulfield The work they generated has been seen at the Glenbow Museum in Calgary, UQAM Gallery Montreal, McMaster University Museum, and Enterprise Square, Edmonton. He has won many of Canada's major art awards and continues to work actively to promote the advancement of Sculpture as a discipline, most obviously as an active studio artist, demonstrating that it is possible to make a life through art, paid for by art even if one is not a highly paid educator. He also takes the opportunity through his contract academic position to advance the potential of his students in very significant ways. Through opportunities for young artists at Franconia Sculpture Park many University of Alberta Students have gone on to enjoy mentoring from John Hock, Jon Isherwood and they also have been able to enjoy seeing how they can enjoy working far outside of the Canadian scene. Mills' undergraduate students have twice won the International Sculpture Centre's Outstanding Student Achievement Award in 2014 and 2015. Kaise Campbell and Tiffany Adair beat even applications for this award from graduate students from many leading institutions and were given the opportunity to meet and learn about further opportunities available to them. During his many years of teaching in the Department of Art & Design at the U of A, he has coordinated all 32 sections of art and design fundamentals, while also maintaining a very strong professional studio practice. In 2014 he won the William Hardy Alexander Teaching Award and the Faculty of Arts Teaching Award.
Sokari Douglas Camp CBE is a London-based artist who has had exhibitions all over the world and was the recipient of a bursary from the Henry Moore Foundation. She was honoured as a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2005 Birthday Honours list.
Welded sculpture is an art form in which sculpture is made using welding techniques.
Carol Lorraine Sutton is a multidisciplinary artist born in Norfolk, Virginia, USA and now living in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. She is an award-winning painter whose works on canvas and paper have been shown in 32 solo exhibits as well as being included in 94 group shows. Her work, which ranges from complete abstraction to the use of organic and architectural images, relates to the formalist ideas of Clement Greenberg and is noted for the use of color. Some of Sutton paintings have been related to ontology.
Edmonton Contemporary Artists' Society (ECAS) is an international artists' exhibition collective founded in 1993, based in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
The Robert T. Webb Sculpture Garden is a 5-acre admission-free, open-air museum and sculpture park located in Dalton, Georgia, near Chattanooga, Tennessee, and is operated by the Creative Arts Guild, the state's oldest multi-disciplinary, community arts organization. The sculpture garden is the first permanent installation of its kind in the state of Georgia The garden features almost 40 outdoor sculptures in three sections of the Guild's property—the Magnolia Crescent, the Rosen Garden and the Founders Garden—that provide an organic setting for the works, including mature trees, shrubs and flowers. The garden includes works by prominent artists such as Isamu Noguchi, Scott Burton, Guy Dill, Chana Orloff and Ken Macklin. The Creative Arts Guild also maintains an indoor art gallery, which hosts rotating exhibits by local, regional and national artists. The sculpture garden welcomes approximately 10,000 visitors each year and is an educational resource for regional schools.
Robert Byron Willms is a Canadian sculptor and teacher, best known for creating assembled, abstract steel sculptures.
Diana Thorneycroft is a Canadian artist based in Winnipeg, Manitoba, whose work has exhibited nationally and internationally. Thorneycroft works primarily in photography, drawing, and sculpture/installation. Her work blurs the lines between gendered bodies by employing phalluses.
Ken Macklin is a Canadian artist best known for his large abstract sculptures made from industrial materials.
Terry Fenton is a Canadian artist, author, critic, and curator known for his landscape paintings, his support of modernist art, and his writing on the work of artists such as Jack Bush, Anthony Caro, Peter Hide, Dorothy Knowles, Ken Macklin, Kenneth Noland, Jules Olitski, and William Perehudoff. Fenton is the former director of the Edmonton Art Gallery, the A.C. Leighton Foundation, Calgary and the Mendel Art Gallery, Saskatoon. Since 2013, Fenton has resided in Victoria, British Columbia.
Ryan McCourt is a Canadian artist best known for his sculptures. He lives in Edmonton, Alberta.
The North Edmonton Sculpture Workshop (NESW) is an artist collective, or artist-run initiative, centred on a co-operative shared studio in Edmonton, Alberta, focused on "the creation and promotion of ambitious contemporary sculpture made using industrial processes and materials". The NESW name makes a symbolic reference to the cardinal directions in allusion to the idea of boundless exploration.
Andrew Michael French is an English born abstract sculptor. A one-time pupil of Peter Hide, French is best known for upright, large-scale welded sculptures made of brightly painted steel. With sculptors Mark Bellows, Bianca Khan, Rob Willms, and Ryan McCourt, Andrew French is identified as part of the "Next Generation" of Edmonton Sculpture.
William (Bill) Laing is a Scottish/Canadian artist based in Calgary, Alberta. He is known for his printmaking and sculpture.