William Exelia
Laugh Lines
Monday, March 25 - Saturday, March 30; closed Friday, March 29
Gordon Snelgrove Gallery, open Monday - Thursday 10am - 4pm, and Saturday 12 - 4pm.
Closing Reception: Saturday, March 30 at 1 - 4pm
Wrinkles are constantly marketed as an undesirable thing to prevent, but I have always thought them to be proof of life and love. Laugh Lines is an exhibition which features a series of pieces inspired by the human condition. The poetic nuances of love in every form inspire almost everything I do. I am completely in love with my closest friend, with my newborn niece, with my favourite coworker, with the people I met travelling and will never see again, with the strangers I saw laughing at their first snow the morning after it fell outside of my apartment, with the people on the other side of the world whom I will never meet.
The pieces in this exhibition are primarily acrylic paint or chalk pastels, and are created in layers after layers on top of themselves. Brush strokes and line weight are very important to the underlying themes of these works, nodding to the more technical aspects of the title ‘Laugh Lines’. The lines themselves play a big role in the feelings of each piece– be that the subjects emotion or the ones felt whilst creating –and while most of the work is representational, there is still a very abstract quality to much of the canvas which is meant to reflect those states.
I love ‘love’. I am a hopeless romantic in the way that I was taught what Romance means as a literary genre; that happy endings prevail. That love is always the answer, in whatever shape that takes.
About the Artist
William Exelia is an artist based out of Saskatoon who considers himself a ‘digital artist-slash-painter’, spending as much of his time creating digital works as he does creating physical paintings. Whatever medium he chooses though, the subject matter is almost always people in whatever capacity that may be. He spends his time exercising media literacy by indulging in essays and social spheres surrounding television, film, and literature; exploring exactly how many different forms ‘love’ can present itself. He has often said that he can excuse poor story so long as there are characters with convincing love, because those relationships often interest him more than plot, whether thats romantic, platonic, familial – anything. These relationships are a basis for much of his work, where he elaborates on those inspirations.
William is completing his BFA at the University of Saskatchewan, and will start a Concept Art Diploma through a Vancouver animation school in April with intentions to pursue a career in visual storytelling.
Randy Huang
Tell Me If Your Dreams Can Heal
Monday, March 25 - Saturday, March 30; closed Friday, March 29
Gordon Snelgrove Gallery, open Monday - Thursday 10am - 4pm, and Saturday 12 - 4pm.
Closing Reception: Saturday, March 30 at 1 - 4pm
My paintings represents both a deep fascination for an era of European art that took place roughly between the 1860s and 1950s that saw an influx in liberality and emotional liberation in art as well as an unabashed veneration for feminine beauty and aesthetics.
About the Artist
Before I went back to school, I tried my hand at several things because I didn't know what to do as a career. I initially tried getting into computer science because I was interested in independent game development, but everything else related to that field didn't seem to appeal to me. Then I tried culinary school, but the idea of creating something beautiful only for it to be consumed had a lasting effect on me that will surface once more later in life. And finally, I tried becoming an automotive technician, yea, I shouldn't have romanticized the idea of being a mechanic. At the end, I was working as a car detailer at a dealership. As boring as the job was, I did meet a wonderful person there named Kaitie Cornea. I told her about my interest in becoming an artist, that in combination with a temporary layoff due to the pandemic in 2020 had encouraged me to go back to school to pursue art. I planned on getting a degree just for the sake of that, but midway through school I discovered that I had a real knack for painting. Going back to school turned out to be a really good decision.
Cassandra Van Buekenhout
Chasing Yesterday
Monday, March 25 - Saturday, March 30; closed Friday, March 29
Gordon Snelgrove Gallery, open Monday - Thursday 10am - 4pm, and Saturday 12 - 4pm.
Closing Reception: Saturday, March 30 at 1 - 4pm
Cassandra Van Buekenhout’s inspiration for her work comes from her interest in natural landscapes, farms and abandoned buildings around Saskatchewan. She has also been hugely influenced by her grandparents’ fond memories of growing up on the Prairies. Through her work, Cassandra creates bold liner visual experiences that draws in the viewer and sparks curiosity and perhaps even rekindles their own memories and stories of life on the Prairies.
Chasing Yesterday is a series of two- and three-dimensional artworks that showcase her fascination, passion, and enthusiasm she has for creating artwork influenced by history and more specifically her grandparent’s life stories. For as long as she can remember, she has always had an immense curiosity to learn about and to understand what her grandparent’s upbringing was like.
“Each piece in this exhibition I hold dear to my heart. I not only created these works to symbolize and honour my grandparents’ stories, but also created them with the hope that it would inspire conversation and remind the viewer of their own grandparents and family stories.”
This exhibition represents my long-lasting bond with my grandparents, that only grew after their passing. I embrace their stories and upbringing through these pieces. I want this exhibition to remind us all that even though our ancestors’ lifestyles were humble and we have come a long way we should never forget our common ground - where we came from and how it all began.
About the Artist
Cassandra Van Buekenhout was born and raised in Regina, Saskatchewan. In 2019, she moved to Saskatoon and enrolled at the University of Saskatchewan in the Bachelor of Fine Arts Honors Degree Program. Throughout her degree, Cassandra began to favour printmaking as her primary medium because of the attention to detail it requires, the labor-intensive process and the end results produced.
Cassandra is an active member of several art groups and organizations such as Saskatchewan Printmakers and the Saskatchewan Craft Council. Cassandra has been, and continues to be involved in numerous exhibitions, art markets and printmaking demonstrations throughout Saskatchewan and Alberta. In 2023, she had a residency at the Bunkhouse Studio, at the Saskatoon Forestry Farm Park & Zoo, and this spring Cassandra will begin teaching Printmaking classes, sharing her passion for printmaking, as she takes her next steps to peruse a future in art therapy.
Programming and Events
Closing Reception: Saturday, March 30 at 1 - 4pm