January 30th, 2021 – April 21st, 2021

Carbon Copy

Carbon Copy: Jennifer Wanner & Teena Dickerson

Teena Dickerson creates new life forms in her mixed media metal sculptures by merging fossil shapes with the images of living animals including humans. Their shapes and forms are interconnected across time, echoing one another.

In the same spirit, Jennifer Wanner works in hand-cut inkjet paper collages and animation to explore the idea of “second nature”: copies of a pristine “first nature” that often no longer exist.

Historic botanical watercolour paintings by Barbara George and Annora Brown allow us to cross boundaries of time and space and explore this pristine “first nature.”

Animation by Jennifer Wanner: Bower

The physical boundaries humans impose between territories are not recognized by other animal or plant species.

The stop-motion animation Bower, by Jennifer Wanner, features the plant species at risk that grow on Canadian soil but also live beyond borders. The word bower is derived from the Middle English word bour meaning “dwelling”. Our planet is currently considered the only dwelling that supports life as we know it; we should honour how we live within it.

In this five-minute animation the central plant-character, a threatened aquatic plant called Bolander’s Quillwort (Isoetes bolanderi) that grows in Alberta, California, northern Arizona, and New Mexico, desperately attempts to build its shelter using fellow plant species at risk.

The soundtrack, entitled Bloom – II Playful, composed by Dorothy Chang and performed on the cello by Yuri Hooker, contributes to the manic disposition of the central plant-character caught in a futile struggle to construct its elaborate protective bower.

The frantic efforts of the Bolander’s Quillwort mirror humanity’s drive to develop technologies and organizational systems that attempt to restore and protect what we are on the verge of destroying: the natural world – our bower. The frenzied response to environmental crises favours adaptation rather than conservation and preservation.

Bower, 2020, stop-motion animation
4 min 58 sec
Music: Bloom – II Playful, composed by Dorothy Chang
Cello Performed by: Yuri Hooker
Music Courtesy of: Kylix Music Publishing
Collection of the Artist

Artists’ Talk: Carbon Copy

Join artists Jennifer Wanner and Teena Dickerson for a free virtual tour of their exhibit, Carbon Copy, plus a live Q&A via Zoom.

Teena and Jennifer will talk to viewers while MAG staff livestream footage of the exhibit. There will be an opportunity for Q&A at the end of the talk & tour.

Hosted by MAG Curators Joanne Gruenberg and Pat Matheson.

Curators’ Talk: Carbon Copy

Join the MAG’s art curators via Zoom for a talk & tour about artists Barbara George and Annora Brown. These two historic artists are a part of the larger exhibition Carbon Copy: Jennifer Wanner and Teena Dickerson.

Learn about their lives, their work and how they relate to the contemporary art in this exhibition. Art Curators Joanne Gruenberg and Pat Matheson will talk to viewers while livestreaming footage of the exhibit. There will be an opportunity for Q&A at the end.

© 2024 Red Deer Museum + Art Gallery. All Rights Reserved | Charitable Registration # 119112241 RR 0001 | site by Unlimited BS

Pin It on Pinterest