Tours

Walking Tour: Mourning Home > April 13th

Glenna Cardinal

Artist Glenna Cardinal has a bone-deep connection to the reserve land that she grew up on, the land that was her Tsuut’ina Nation grandmothers’ and is now the Southwest Calgary Ring Road. Cardinal presented a conversational walking tour, beginning with her work on view in the Esker Foundation Project Space and ending with her installation Tina Dik’iizh | clear road or clear trail in the Elders’ Guidance Circle at the Calgary Public Library—with discussion of various places in between. Presented in partnership with TRUCK Contemporary Art.

Exhibition Tour: Raise Your Hands Up to the Sky > April 5th

Naomi Potter

Director/curator, Naomi Potter led a tour of Neil Campbell and Jeremy Shaw’s exhibitions. Asking participants to question their ability to let go of their objectives, assumptions, and need to control, this tour considered how one can be fully present, not only in these exhibitions but in the world at large.

Exhibition Tour: Speaking to the Spine > March 8th

Shauna Thompson

The works of both Neil Campbell and Jeremy Shaw appeal to the body, to the physicality of perception, to speculative realities, altered states, and to the transcendent potential of harmony and rhythm. Curator Shauna Thompson led a tour of Esker’s winter exhibitions in which we considered the conceptual linkages between these two distinct yet sympathetic practices.

Esker Community Evening > December 14th

Naomi Potter

Enjoy a family-focused exhibition tour, film screenings, and art-making fun for kids and adults; along with seasonal treats from our neighbours at Bite Grocer + Eatery. Bring friends and family, drop by if you are in the neighbourhood! Esker is pleased to partner with our friends at Bite Grocer + Eatery.

Exhibition Tour: When the mind is untroubled > December 9th

Shauna Thompson

The exhibitions of Tammi Campbell, Agnes Martin, and Sarah Stevenson are united in an austere formal language of grid and line. However, foundational to these ascetic aesthetics are individual interests in emotion, physicality, and sensuality. Join Esker curator Shauna Thompson on this conversational walking tour that aims to illuminate the nuanced and affecting inspirations behind these three artists’ practices. Registration recommended.

Exhibition Tour: Living Above the Line > November 17th

Elizabeth Diggon

While Tammi Campbell, Agnes Martin, and Sarah Stevenson each create work in different media, their practices are linked through a shared fascination with the grid and its infinite permutations. Join Elizabeth Diggon, Esker’s assistant curator, on this informal tour that parses the conversations occurring between Campbell’s, Martin’s, and Stevenson’s work on the visual language of the grid and its different material expressions. Registration recommended.

Tour of the Alberta Printmakers’ Gallery and Studio > October 26th October 26th

Join Esker Foundation for a private tour of Alberta Printmakers’ Gallery and Studio. Established in 1989, this Calgary based non-profit and artist-run centre features a fully equipped print studio and a contemporary gallery specializing in print-based exhibitions of established and emerging artists. On this tour we will view the current exhibition, Fiercely Open by John Graham, followed by a lithography demonstration by local artist James Boychuk-Hunter, while learning about this long-standing artist-run centre. Participants will meet at the Alberta Printmakers’ Gallery and Studio, transportation will not be provided. 16+ only. Registration essential.  

Exhibition Tour: The silver cord > October 19th

Naomi Potter

Please note: new revised date. Drawn, etched, painted, and suspended, the line forms the central core from which all three artists in these fall exhibitions are connected. The simplicity and variation of a line, and the intervals of space between, are emblematic of the gratifyingly modest practice of each artist. This tour will draw together the practices of Campbell, Martin, and Stevenson, with particular focus on how their work, specifically the course of the line, inscribes the movement of the body through the hand. Registration recommended.

Edible Plant Walk with Full Circle Adventures > September 29th

Julie Walker

The City of Calgary’s Wildland and Provincial parks are protected pockets of indigenous, wild plants – some even endangered. On this walking tour of Pearce Estate Park, learn to identify native plants, their uses, and the habitat they grow in. This program is held outdoors and is a physical outdoor walking tour. Please make sure you dress appropriately for the weather. The tour will meet at Pearce Estate Park, transportation will not be provided. This program is not wheelchair accessible. 10+ only. Registration essential.

Bus Tour to the Canadian Museum of Making > August 26th

Join us on an intimate and rare tour of the Canadian Museum of Making, located near Cochrane. This museum features a collection of machinery and tools that were built and used from 1750 to 1920 in Canada, Britain, and the United States, as well as an extensive African metalwork collection. The tour will also feature a blacksmithing demonstration by artist, blacksmith, and curator L. Japheth Howard. Bus transportation to and from the museum will be provided. Unfortunately, this program is not wheelchair or walker accessible. Participants must be over the age of 16.  

Exhibition Tour: The Magic of Material > August 17th

Naomi Potter

Join Naomi Potter for a tour of the fantastic and magical worlds of Vanessa Brown and Anna Torma. Rich in symbolic imagery, both artists reclaim and activate craft traditions by challenging the historical stereotypes of certain materials or skills; embroidery, patchwork, and appliqué relegated to the domestic realm, and steel associated with industry, weaponry, and brutality. These seemingly opposite material selections act as a point of connection, proposing a conversation that binds as much as it does question the hierarchy of material and making.

Exhibition Tour: Curiouser and curiouser > July 27th

Elizabeth Diggon

Vanessa Brown and Anna Torma both layer fantastical imagery, personal histories, and hidden symbols into their work. Join Elizabeth Diggon, Esker’s assistant curator, on this informal tour that considers the conceptual and material threads that link together these two artistic practices.

Threads of Beauty: Hungarian Textiles in the Glenbow Collection > June 16th June 16th

Daryl Betenia

Daryl Betenia, Manager, Collections will offer a behind-the-scenes look at Glenbow’s small but beautiful collection of Hungarian textiles. Learn about the various uses behind these textiles and the history of how they became part of the Glenbow collection. The tour will also highlight some special household items that are part of the collection. Participants will meet at the Glenbow, transportation will not be provided. To attend this tour, you must be over the age of 16. Registration essential.

Exhibition Tour: The screen, the dream, the stitch, and the weld > June 9th

Shauna Thompson

Join curator Shauna Thompson on this walking tour of Vanessa Brown’s The Witching Hour and Anna Torma’s Book of Abandoned Details. Together, we’ll discuss the narratives of material value, craft and fabrication, remembrance, and feminist histories, as well as the richness of humour, pleasure, and fantasy that weave together these two materially lush exhibitions. Registration recommended.

Exhibition Tour: Pretty in Pink: The emotive power of colour > April 19th

Naomi Potter

Baker-Miller Pink, the colour used in Kapwani Kiwanga’s pink-blue, is a tone of pink claimed to reduce hostile, violent, or aggressive behaviour. Early tests performed by colour researcher Alexander Schauss in the late 1970s observed that this particular shade of pink had a profoundly calming effect, noting that merely staring at an 18 × 24 inch card printed with this colour, especially after exercising, would result in “a marked effect on lowering the heart rate, pulse, and respiration.” In 1979, the first institutional use of this pink was tested on prisoners at the Naval Correctional Institute in Seattle, Washington. The findings were that “no incidents of erratic or hostile behaviour” were experienced, and “only fifteen minutes of exposure was enough to ensure that the potential for violent or aggressive behaviour had been reduced.” Schauss named the pink after the Naval Correctional Institute directors, Baker and Miller. What effect does colour have on you? Do you believe orange increases oxygen supply to the brain, that blue suppresses appetite, or that babies cry more in yellow rooms? Let the colours speak for themselves in this tour of A wall is just a wall (and nothing more at all). Registration recommended.

Tour of the Canadian Architectural Archives > April 7th

Join staff from Archives and Special Collections at the University of Calgary for a guided tour of the Canadian Architectural Archives. The CAA is the largest collection in the world of Canadian architectural materials. Staff will provide a behind-the-scenes look at the archival storage vault, and highlight some special items. Participants will meet at the University of Calgary, Taylor Family Digital Library. Transportation will not be provided. Registration essential.

Exhibition Tour: Architectures of Control and Resistance > March 15th

Shauna Thompson

Curator Shauna Thompson gave a walking tour through Kapwani Kiwanga’s exhibition A wall is just a wall (and nothing more at all) and discussed the institutional legacies of colour, light, and design and how bodies in space might be controlled by or find ways to resist architectural influences.

Exhibition Tour: Research as Resistance > February 22nd

Elizabeth Diggon

Through a strikingly minimal visual vocabulary, the work of Kapwani Kiwanga employs extensive research on institutional architecture and design, the management of bodies through colour and light, and subtle means of resistance or subversion. Join Elizabeth Diggon, Esker’s lead researcher, on this informal tour that will trace the threads of research and the connections to Alberta histories and institutions that run through Kapwani Kiwanga’s A wall is just a wall (and nothing more at all). Registration recommended.