Visitor Information
Mon, Tue, Thu, Sat: 10 am – 4:30 pm
Wed & Fri: 10 am – 8 pm
Sunday & Holidays*: Closed (*Open Heritage Day, Remembrance Day and Family Day from 12-4:30pm)
September 23 – December 2, 2023
Shirley Rimer: A Chronicle in Clay
Curated by Mary-Beth Laviolette
Where imagination and the sheer fun of creation are celebrated.
A longtime resident, Rimer is one reason why the city shines as a centre for ceramic art. A Red Deer College (Polytechnic) graduate, as an instructor, curator and cultural community builder, Rimer’s own artistic accomplishments are the highlight of this special exhibition of ceramic sculpture.
Featuring over 30 art works made in the past 40 years, a chronicle about their making and Rimer’s personal discovery of clay traditions in other countries: Greece, Turkey, Mexico, India, France, Italy, China and America. They are about handbuilding in clay, reinterpreting the vessel, communicating with colour and reflecting on subjects like family, culture and heritage here in Alberta and abroad.
Related Programs
Shirley Rimer, Clowning Around 10”x10”, earthenware paperclay, 1996.
About
Shirley Rimer
The Artist
This exhibition of 45 works of ceramic sculpture honours Shirley Rimer’s contribution to Canadian art. A long-time resident of Red Deer, Rimer knows the city is rich in ceramic artistry thanks in part to Red Deer College (now Polytechnic) where she also trained. In addition, for as long as Rimer has been active as an artist, travel has also been important in shaping what is on display here.
A participant in Artist Residencies offered in different countries, each place she has travelled to has left its mark. This includes China, Greece, Mexico, Turkey, India, Italy, United States, France and Medicine Hat, Alberta. The results are an artistic chronicle or record about one artist’s efforts to interact and learn about different cultures and their art and ceramic traditions. The idea is not to copy directly but to create a link between what has been seen and experienced by Rimer. It’s then at that point her imagination gets to work in hand building new ceramic sculpture both at the residency and once she is back in Red Deer.
A 1981 graduate of Red Deer College, Shirley Rimer has had a long involvement in central Alberta’s art scene not only as an artist but as a published writer too. Writing about what she has experienced in different countries including closer to home the Red Deer area where she once participated in building a large outdoor kiln. Rimer has also instructed at Red Deer College and at workshops in smaller communities. The artist has shown in more than 60 exhibitions across Canada and elsewhere. At the downtown Red Deer Public Library is a clay mural she created after winning a public commission.
The artwork in this exhibition comes largely from a donation recently made by Shirley Rimer to the museum’s art collection. In addition, on display are other pieces on loan from the collection of Alberta Foundation for the Arts and from the artist herself.
Mary-Beth Laviolette
Art Curator/Writer/Public Speaker/Author
With a speciality in Alberta visual art, Mary-Beth has worked for over a decade as a contract curator – researching and organizing exhibitions for public art galleries in Alberta. They include: Glenbow Museum (Calgary), Art Gallery of Alberta (Edmonton), Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies (Banff), Red Deer Museum + Art Gallery, The Esplanade Gallery (Medicine Hat), Galt Museum (Lethbridge), Okotoks Art Gallery and Lougheed House (Calgary).
In addition, she has collaborated as an art curator in commissioning new artwork and securing long term loans for the following: YW HUB (a social housing project encompassing a community centre, daycare, gym, classrooms and housing for single women in Calgary); Mikai’sto/Red Crow Community College Standoff, AB (Canada’s first reserve-based post-secondary college with commissions by Blackfoot artists) and the family shelter, Inn From the Cold in downtown Calgary.
As a published author, books include: An Alberta Art Chronicle (2005); Alberta Art & Artists: A Survey (co-author, 2007); A Delicate Art: Artists, Wildflowers & Native Plants of the West (2012); Annora Brown: Old Man’s Garden (2020) and Greatest Garden: The Paintings of David More (2021). In 2023, a new book on Alberta photographers will be released as: Photophelia: Encounters with Alberta Photographers.