Are You My Mother? Opens Oct 4

Our upcoming group exhibition, Are You My Mother? featuring works by Cal Lane, Clint Neufeld and former Petrolia native Colin Lyons, opens First Friday , October, 4.

Clint Neufeld, Trailer Queen. 2010, 32” x 30” x 44,” Ceramic Vinyl, wood. 

Rooted in the inevitability of transformation and finding comfort in paradox, all three artists featured in the exhibition engage materials, images, concepts and processes that pull together rich and often contradictory juxtapositions of industrial and domestic life. 

Colin Lyons, Automatic Ruins, 2013 . 36"x18"x18", zinc etching plates,
copper sulphate, plexiglas, galvanized steel

Lane, Lyons and Neufeld have created pieces that are aesthetically delightful, while simultaneously challenging multiple political, social and cultural norms. Their art shatters any preconceived notions about, what might appear to be, opposing assumptions of the masculine and the feminine; practicality and frivolity; ornamentation and function; absence and presence; flourishing and failing; craft and fine art…and the list goes on.

Visitors to this exhibition, be ready to have your perceptions turned upside down.

Cal Lane, Oil Drum Tapestry, 2011.58 x 88 x 160 cm, Plasma Cut Steel Oil Drum.

Cal Lane uses functional everyday objects such as shovels, wheelbarrows, oil cans, and steel beams, usually viewed in an industrial context, and transforms them by using a plasma cutter and oxyacetylene torch to create intricate lace patterns. In doing so, the artist pushes the boundaries by what is socially considered masculine and feminine, domestic and industrial, and so on. Lane recieved  her MFA with a major in Sculpture at State University of New York and a BFA from the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design.  She has exhibited nationally and internationally and received a number of awards including a Canada Council Grant and the Socrates Sculpture Park Fellowship.  Raised on Vancouver Island, Cal currently practices in New York. 

Colin Lyons' experiences growing up in Lambton County fueled his interest with the notion of industrial ruins. His recent work, featured in AreYou My Mother?, combines printmaking, sculpture, and alchemy to explore industry through the lens of modernity and ruin. Lyons holds a BFA from Mount Allison University and an MFA from University of Alberta. His current project, Automatic Ruins will be presented in upcoming exhibitions at the JNAAG, ARTSPACE (Peterborough, Ontario), OBORO (Montreal, Quebec), SPACES (Cleveland, Ohio), and Centre d’Exposition Circa (Montreal, Quebec).

A former firefighter and military man, Clint Neufeld creates sculptures that honour the delicate nature and craftsmanship in everyday objects. Ranging from classic car engines and back-hoe buckets, to fine china and decorative plates, his designs pose as precious working models from a past era. Over the last few years Neufeld has won increasing recognition within the Canadian art world. He has had solo exhibitions at public art galleries across the country and was first runner-up for the 2011 Winifred Shantz Award for Ceramics. More recently, Neufeld has been shortlisted for the Saskatchewan Lieutenant Governors Arts, Emerging Artist Award.

Are You My Mother? opens at the JNAAG on Friday, October 4.