New works by Jewell Goodwyn and Leesa Streifler in the Gallery II Main Space.
Jewell Goodwyn and Leesa Streifler explore what it means to be female in the
21st century. They do this by mining domestic realities through a feminist lens.
The two artists met in 1990 when Jewell was a graduate student at the University
of Regina. Leesa was her advisor. Jewell and Leesa have kept in contact ever
since and this is their first show together.
Jewell Goodwyn lives in
London, Ontario and is the founding Executive Director of Artist-Run Centres and
Collectives of Ontario (ARCCO); as well as a founding member of other art
service organizations and coalitions provincially and nationally. Employing
humour and wit, Goodwyn implores the use of advertising and mass media to create
conceptually based installations, and signs to critically reflect upon issues
dealing with identity, gender and the human condition.
Leesa Streifler
lives in Regina, Saskatchewan and is a Professor of Visual Art at the
University of Regina. She holds an MFA from Hunter College in New York. She is
the recipient of numerous grants and her work has been exhibited widely. Her
practice focuses on the impact of contemporary social norms on the physiological
and psychological health of women. Body image, illness, mental health, aging,
mothering and family dynamics have been examined in her recent work.
The work in this exhibition began when Leesa inherited her
mother-in-law, Rose Bell's, recipe cards. She then wrote and drew over the cards
and photographed and enlarged the images. The work reflects on the role of
mother and nurturer, both of previous generations as well as today. The
fulfilment of nurturing as well as the xpectations and frustrations of domestic
life are the subject matter of this work.