CURRENT EXHIBITION

NINA LEVITT

Little Breeze

6 March - 11 April 2010

Presented in collaboration with the Centre for Art Tapes

Opening Reception: Friday, 5 March, 8:00 pmArtist’s Talk: Saturday, 6 March, 3:00 pm

Heroism, mystery and danger ¡V the elements of a World War II adventure movie appear this March and April in a beautiful and evocative art installation. Just in time for International Women’s Day, Saint Mary's University Art Gallery presents the interactive media installation, Little Breeze. Toronto-based artist Nina Levitt places conventional narrative elements in a critical context, as they relate to the lives of women and the way they are, or are not, represented in mainstream media.

Originally produced in co-production with Alberta’s Banff Centre, Little Breeze employs visual motifs familiar from adventure and spy films. Where we are used to seeing men in the heroic roles, Levitt has focussed on women, incorporating material from the lives of women who worked in intelligence during World War II, as undercover agents behind enemy lines. Levitt raises questions about how we construct history and remember the past.

Entering the Main Gallery, a visitor sees a projection of numeric ASCII code that resolves itself into a series of images of women. The use of digital data recalls the pivotal role of code-breaking during World War II in the development of the modern computer. A collection of suitcases are strewn about the gallery floor: when visitors pick one up, it triggers a sound clip from Carve Her Name with Pride, a film about British secret agent Violette Szabo. The Side Gallery features a second installation and a text-based work, Service Records, appears in the Library and Atrium elsewhere on campus.

Nina Levitt has worked with photography and video for twenty years. Her work is primarily concerned with the absence of women from visual culture and often relies on the recovery and manipulation of existing images. An Assistant Professor in the Department of Visual Arts at York University, Levitt has exhibited internationally and been widely published and reviewed. More information about her work can be found at www.ninalevitt.com.

The exhibition is presented in collaboration with the Centre for Art Tapes and accompanied by a full-colour catalogue featuring an essay by Robert Bean, professor of photography at NSCAD University. An opening reception will take place at the gallery on Friday evening, 5 March at 8:00 pm. The artist will present a public talk about her work on Saturday, 6 March at 3:00 pm. Students at Saint Mary's University will also experience the exhibition in conjunction with a course presented in the winter term through the History Department on “Women in the Two World Wars.”

All events are free of charge and open to the public at Saint Mary’s University Art Gallery in the Loyola Building, 5865 Gorsebrook Avenue. Refreshments will be served. Call 420-5445 or check www.smuartgallery.ca or our website or Facebook page for updates. All exhibitions and programmes at the Gallery receive significant support from the Canada Council for the Arts.

nina levitt web page

UPCOMING EXHIBITIONS

TIME & SHAPES

and

UPSTREAM

1 May - 7 June 2010

GISELE AMANTEA

19 June - 8 August 2010

SCOTT SAUNDERS

28 August - 3 October 2010

KENT MONKMAN

The Triumph of Mischief

October-November 2010

Cree artist Kent Monkman offers a Queer perspective on the history of First Nations¡¦ encounter with European cultures. The artist proposes an
anthropological investigation of the European male in a silent film
projection within a post-modern teepee and performs in the glamourous drag persona of Miss Chief Share Eagle Testickle. An accomplished painter, Monkman also recreates romantic 19th-century Beaux-Arts landscapes of North America, re-imaging the presence of ¡§cowboys and Indians¡¨ within this wilderness idyll.

TOURING EXHIBITIONS

(other galleries showing exhibitions originated by SMU AG)

2010

9 October 2009 - 31 January 2010 (now extended to 27 February 2010)

Leopold L. Foulem: Recuperation

Art Gallery of Nova Scotia,
Western Branch Yarmouth

341 Main Street
PO Box 246
Yarmouth, NS B5A 4B2

AGNS webpage

2009

15 January - 22 February

Marlene Creates: Signs of our Time

McIntosh Gallery

University of Western Ontario

19 January - 3 May
Leopold L. Foulem: Recuperation

Gardiner Museum

111 Queens Park, Toronto

28 June - 7 September

Leopold L. Foulem: Recuperation

Beaverbrook Art Gallery

703 Queen Street

Fredericton, NB

PAST EXHIBITIONS

2010

PULP FICTION

Marc Bell, Tasha Brotherton, Mark DeLong, Barry Doupe, Shayne Ehman,

Liz Garlicki, James Kirkpatrick, Amy Lockhart, Jason McLean, Jennie O'Keefe, Seth Scriver, The Lions, Peter Thompson

9 January - 21 February 2010

2009

Faculty Alumni Student Staff Exhibition (FASS)

26 November - 13 December 2009

JULIUS ZARAND

26 November - 13 December 2009

SARA ANGELUCCI: Somewhere In Between

17 October - 22 November 2009

Organised and circulated by Ontario's Cambridge Galleries.  Ivan Jurakic, Curator.

LORRAINE FIELD: Vanishing Point

5 September ¡V 11 October 2009

VESSNA PERUNOVICH: Emblems of the Enigma

27 June - 2 August 2009

Curated by Donald Brackett

NICOLAS BAIER Pareidolias / Pareidolies

2 May - 14 June 2009

Curated by Bernard Lamarche, Musee regional de Rimouski

MATT WEDEL

7 March to 11 April 2009

MARY-ANNE WENSLEY:inescapable shelter

7 March to 11 April 2009

DOUG GUILDFORD:Between the Tides

10 January to 22 February 2009

2008

GERARD CHOY:One Ton of Won Ton Bowls

17-19 December 2008

FASS 2008: Faculty Alumni Student Staff Exhibition

27 November - 14 December 2008

Susan Dobson: Temporary Architectures- Media Release (PDF)

18 October - 23 November 2008

Allan Chawner & Andrew Chubb: Bar Beach (Beyond the Sea)-

18 October - 23 November 2008

Euan MacDonald (everything happensatonce)- Media Release (PDF)

Curated by Ann MacDonald and Barbara Fischer

Circulated by the Doris McCarthy Gallery

6 September - 12 October 2008

Andrew Forster: Duo / Trio / Quartet  - Media Release (PDF)

28 June - 3 August 2008

BURROW - Media Release (PDF)

Janice Kerbel, Adriana Kuiper, Liz Magor, Samuel Roy-Bois
Organized and circulated by Oakville Galleries

26 April - 15 June 2008

Mitch Robertson 567: Economies of Good and Evil - Media Release (PDF)
Organized by Plug In ICA, Winnipeg and Oakville Galleries

8 March – 13 April 2008

Kate Wilson: Microbial Baroque (Main Gallery) - Media Release (PDF)

Brandon Vickerd: Bionic Forest (Side Gallery) - Media Release (PDF)

12 January - 2 March 2008

2007

Peter Dykhuis: You Are Here – Media Release (PDF)

13 January – 18 March 2007

Dharma Bum: Works of Sylvain Bouthillette - Media Release (PDF)
20 April - 27 May 2007
Co-produced by EXPRESSION, Centre d¹exposition de Sainte-Hyacinthe and Musée régional de Rimouski

Burning Rubber - Media Release(PDF)
2 June – 29 July 2007

David Diviney, Lori Hersberger, Richards Jarden, Steven Laurie, Hans Moonen, Ben Morieson, Guy Overfelt, Lukas Pearse, Jacqueline Riemer, Brad Wadden, Curated by Ariella Pahlke

18 Illuminations - Media Release(PDF)

Stephen Andrews, Kenn Bass, Janet Bellotto, Dana Claxton, Tom Dean, Stan Denniston, Sarindar Dhaliwal, Reuel Dechene, Luis Jacob, Bill Jones, Micah Lexier, Bernie Miller, Sheila Moss, Lisa Neighbour, Ed Pien, Chrysanne Stathacos, Sharon Switzer, Tim Whiten
Co-curated by Carla Garnet and Corinna Ghaznavi
8 September – 7 October 2007
Produced and circulated by the Tom Thomson Memorial Art Gallery

Léopold L. Foulem : Récupération (Main Gallery) –Media Release (PDF)

Vases, Plates and Small Heads: Ceramics from the Permanent Collection (Side Gallery)

20 October - 25 November 2007

(Léopold L. Foulem : Récupération and Vases, Plates and Small Heads were exhibited in association with NeoCraft Conference 2007)

FASS 2007: Faculty Alumni Student Staff Exhibition
30 November – 16 December 2007

Image House Project

Emily Jones, François Gaudet, Paul Hammond, Iris Porter, Adriana Kuiper, Colleen Wolstenholme, Carl Zimmerman, Robert Zingone

Presented in collaboration with Eyelevel Gallery and Image House Digital

30 November – 16 December 2007

2006

The Idea of North: An exhibition about sound and site
13 January – 19 February 2006

Monika Napier: mad, mad, mad, mad world
4 March – 16 April 2006

Sight Unseen: Recent Acquisitions and Other Works from the Permanent Collection
22 April – 11 June 2006

To a Watery Grave – Media Release (PDF)
Produced and circulated by the Confederation Centre Art Gallery and Museum
17 June – 30 July 2006

Camille Zakharia: Division Lines – Media Release (PDF)
8 September – 15 October 2006

Inhabiting: the works of Isabelle Hayeur (Main Gallery) – Media Release (PDF)
Laura Calvi: Manoeuvres (Side Gallery) – Media Release (PDF)
21 October – 26 November 2006

FASS 2007: Faculty Alumni Student Staff Exhibition
30 November – 17 December 2006

2005

Bev Pike: The Hysteria Chronicles
8 January – 20 February 2005

Recent Acquisitions
Lucy Pullen: Double Meandering Line Drawings and The Thing
8 January – 20 February 2005

Suzanne Funnell: step lift pivot all of your enemies will die (cont’d)
26 February – 8 April 2005

Sheila Provazza: In the Sweet By and By (A Panorama)
26 February – 8 April 2005

Indefinite Space: Ron Shuebrook & Bruce Taylor
23 April - 12 June 2005

Rudi Meyer: Quotes and Receipts, mainly from Japan
23 April - 12 June 2005

Marlene Creates: Sign of Our Time
18 June – 31 July 2005

Maritime Art: Canada’s First Art Magazine (1940-1943)
18 June – 31 July 2005

Cathy Busby: Sorry
27 August – 30 September 2005

Leah Modigliani: The Great One
27 August – 30 September 2005

RBC Canadian Painting Competition
5 -16 October 2005

Ilan Sandler: Three Senses and Table Talk
5 October – 20 November 2005

FASS 2005: Faculty Alumni Student Staff Exhibition
24 November – 20 December 2005

2004

First Son: Portraits by C.D. Hoy
10 January - 22 February 2004

Dan O’Neill
Viewer Discretion: New Work and Work in Review
6 March - 18 April 2004

Susie Major: small wars
24 April - 6 June 2004

Ed Pien: Tracing Night
24 April - 6 June 2004

Summer Session: Works From the Permanent Collection
12 June - 11 July 2004

Étoiles : art de la Baie Sainte-Marie / art of St Mary's Bay
31 July - 26 September 2004

Exhibit A: Photography from Atlantic Canada
2 October - 21 November 2004

Blur: New Work by Tashia Friesen & Kim Waldron
2 October - 21 November 2004

FASS 25: Silver Edition
25 November - 12 December 2004

     Nina Levitt, LIttle Breeze, Installation view of Suitcase Room,

Doris McCarthy Gallery, Toronto, 2004

James Kirkpatrick, the talking that influences everything, 2008

Sara Angelucci, She Crossed the Sea #2, 2001

Lorraine Field, Tomb, 2007

Vessna Perunovich, Infinite Wall, 2007

Matt Wedel, flower tree, 2008

Mary-Anne Wensley, inescapable shelter (detail),

2009

Doug Guildford, Skirt , begun 2007

Gerard Choy, One Ton of Won Ton Bowls (detail), 2002