Current Exhibitions

Katie Ohe

January 25 - August 29, 2020

Esker Foundation is pleased to present an in-depth look at Katie Ohe’s sculptural practice and her unparalleled approach to material, form, space, and movement.

This exhibition will bring together sculptural work spanning six decades of Ohe’s remarkable career, marking the largest and most comprehensive solo exhibition of her work to date. The exhibition will also draw from Ohe’s material archive, revealing a glimpse of a process devoted to research, inquiry, and visual or formal problem solving.

Ohe is best known for her abstract steel sculptures; organic forms that evoke the undulatory surface of a pool of water, the crest of a rolling hill or cumulonimbus cloud, or the cadence of a walking figure. The surfaces of many of these sculptures are subsequently chromed or polished, creating a flawlessly smooth exterior that conjures an illusion of weightlessness and is also irresistible to touch. Indeed, many of Ohe’s works are fully activated only by the push of a human hand. She remarks, “I want my sculptures to induce or invoke touch before you think that you really shouldn’t.”

Anna Gustafson: Object Lessons

February 3 - August 9, 2020

In the Project Space This street-level exhibition can be viewed from 9th Avenue and is now extended until 9 August. Presented in partnership with The New Gallery As we deplete the earth’s resources to manufacture and power consumer products, we >> read more

Kablusiak: Qiniqtuaq

July 29 - October 20, 2019

Project Space

‘Qiniqtuaq’ (searching/looking) invites viewers to peer through a multi-eyed ghost sheet to witness a looping projection of a video collage screened in front of a piece of oil-stained cardboard. ‘Qiniqtuaq’ is meant to evoke a dream-like state imaging a hypothetical place and time; a representation of what is felt but not known. ‘Qiniqtuaq’ invites a presence of nostalgia, spectatorship, and diaspora.

Kablusiak is an Inuvialuk artist and curator based in Mohkinstsis and holds a BFA in Drawing from the Alberta University of the Arts, Calgary. They use art and humour as a coping mechanism to address cultural displacement. The lighthearted nature of their practice extends gestures of empathy and solidarity; these interests invite a reconsideration of the perceptions of contemporary Indigeneity.