SAAG presenting Crazybull exhibits as part of Arts Days

The Southern Alberta Art Gallery (SAAG) is celebrating art and culture in Alberta, with a special weekend of Arts Days programming supported by Alberta Culture Days. Guests are encouraged to book their gallery visit for Arts Days in advance at saag.ca/visit.

Exhibitions on view at SAAG include Lauren Crazybull’s exhibitions “Tsima Kohtotsitapiihpa Where Are You From?” and “Granny Dora.”

“Tsima Kohtotsitapiihpa Where Are You From?” includes the hand-painted map of Indigenous territories now known as Treaty 6, 7, and 8 territories of Alberta, traversed by Crazybull, SAAG noted in a news release. The photographic documentation of this journey culminated in a book created by the artist, and an audio soundscape by Crazybull, featuring a score by musician Matthew Cardinal.

Crazybull’s mural “Granny Dora” is presented in the eastfacing window of the SAAG. As Alberta’s 2019 Artist in Residence, Crazybull used their funding from the provincial government to reclaim the familial and geographic knowledge lost to them in the child welfare system.

As part of this project, they travelled to Fort Mackay to meet with their grandmother for the first time in over a decade. There, Crazybull began to reclaim their relationships to land, language, and kin and later immortalized the meeting in a painted portrait of her grandmother which would be used as a source for their vinyl mural.

SAAG is also hosting youth activities from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily. Youth craft workshops will let youth create their own unique abstract figure of something that has influence on their life or something they just love. SAAG will also host a button-making station for participants to create their own wearable piece of art.

Refreshments will be available from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. or until supplies run out. There will be complimentary spudnuts from Bootsma

Bakery for guests as well as coffee refreshments.

Capacity is limited, social distancing and mask requirements are in place. There will be masks available at Visitor Services for guests if needed.

SAAG’s updated website

will allow guests to easily access information on current and upcoming exhibitions, public programming, education classes and reserve tickets to visit the gallery.