September 30th, 2022 – The National Day for Truth and Reconciliation
The studio will be closed during regular hours while our staff and board take time to reflect and listen and learn. To commemorate the day, we commissioned artist Jessie Jannuska to create the design you see above, and printed 250 copies to give away.
Each of the prints will be distributed throughout the city by our staff to schools, community organizations and individuals. This year’s print is a touching image with an important message of intergenerational strength. We are honoured to be able to produce and share it with our communities.
From the artist: “This work is a response to Anishinaabe Elder, Art Solomon’s quote: “To heal a nation we must first heal the individuals, the families, and the communities.”
Jessie Jannuska is a Winnipeg-based visual artist with mixed Dakota, Ojibway and settler ancestry. She has a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Brandon University. She has exhibited in over 30 group shows and eight solo shows, in addition to four murals and two billboards. She primarily works in acrylic, watercolor, beadwork, mixed media, murals, and performance art.
by Niamh Dooley, 2021
September 30th is The National Day for Truth and Reconciliation
The studio will be closed during regular hours while our staff and board take time to reflect and listen and learn. To commemorate the day, we commissioned artist Niamh Dooley to create the poster design you see above, and printed 200 copies to give away.
On September 28th and 29th, between 10am and 4:30pm, the first 50 people that knock on the door of the studio will be given two copies of the poster. We are giving each person two copies in hopes that one is kept and one is hung up in their neighbourhood. Additional copies will be distributed throughout the city by our staff. It is a beautiful print with an enduring message and we are happy to be able to produce and share it with our communities.
From the artist: “The design is referencing imagery from my kookim and imagery of myself as a baby in a tikinigan (cradle board) with a star blanket design honouring and respecting Indigenous culture and people, and remembering those who came before us.”
Niamh Dooley is an Anishininew (Oji-Cree) and Irish artist, based in Winnipeg, MB, Treaty 1 territory. Niamh is originally from Sioux Lookout, ON, Treaty 3 territory, and a band member of St. Theresa Point First Nation, MB, Treaty 5 territory, part of the Island Lake communities.
Martha Street Studio is pleased to present gathered together, a curated exhibition by Chloe Chafe, Adrienne Huard, and Mariana Muñoz Gomez.
Curatorial statement:
We would first like to acknowledge that we are on the original lands of Anishinaabe, Ininiwak, Anishininiwak, Dakota, and Dene Peoples, and on the Homeland of the Métis Nation. This is Treaty 1 Territory.
Art existing in public spaces has the power to shape neighbourhoods, to acknowledge the land we live on and come from, and to tell stories. Streets and online spaces become spaces wherein artists use graphics and direct engagement to facilitate communication in their communities amidst challenging political climates. Artists are the voice for movements and they offer access to complex stories by reinterpreting the issues at hand. They use their beautiful and striking images to create change. This exhibition focuses on the effective design that artists Chief Lady Bird, Isaac Murdoch, Lapiztola, Lido Pimienta, and Whess Harman create from a place of care and collaboration. Their power to create dialogue through various mediums is celebrated in and beyond the gallery walls.
An ethos of care, empowerment, and resistance is imperative to identifying and undoing the oppressive mechanisms of colonialism. Working as a musician, artist, and curator, Lido Pimienta embodies these values in her everyday praxis. Through her actions and creative practice, Pimienta explores themes including gender, race, and resilience. Her visual work is as exuberant and playful as her music and shares a boundless joy with her community. As part of gathered together and Wall-to-Wall Culture and Mural Festival, audiences are invited to join a conversation with Pimienta, presented in partnership with The Uniter.
Lapiztola and Isaac Murdoch strive to use their art for positive social change. Each of them have brought an accessibility to activist-based art that surpasses the locale of the artists through the internet, streets, banners, and picket signs. This promotes a powerful message to create unity across diverse audiences. Despite being located across the continent, Lapiztola and Murdoch share similarities using collage-style imagery with bold pop art to capture the viewer’s attention from afar. Their dedication to transferring their skills and knowledge to others unites us in meaningful ways for generations to come. Digital and in-person workshops presented in collaboration with these artists will provide the public with opportunities for hands-on engagement. The workshops are presented in partnership with Graffiti Art Programming and Wall-to-Wall Mural and Culture Festival.
Both Chief Lady Bird and Whess Harman’s art practices focus on the strength and power of their nations while rejecting colonial tropes that aim to disempower Indigenous Peoples. Much of their works are dedicated to taking up physical and conceptual space, within and outside the gallery walls. This exhibition invites them to share their voice on Treaty 1 territory as a way of empowering Indigenous relations all across Turtle Island. Within their illustrative works, they speak to the ways in which they celebrate family and kin, while providing compelling perspectives on the vast and fluid Indigenous knowledge systems that weave together on Turtle Island.
gathered together and associated programs are presented in partnership with Wall-to-Wall Mural and Culture Festival and Graffiti Art Programming, with additional funding from the Winnipeg Arts Council, Manitoba Arts Council and Building Communities Through Arts and Heritage.
Please enjoy the online gallery of the exhibition gathered together.
Please enjoy this online gallery of works made by participants of the Winter/Spring 2021 Youth Outreach Program.
Martha Street Studio’s Youth Outreach Program is a free after-school program open to youth aged 16 – 25. It is comprised of 24 classes over 12 weeks during which students learn four different printmaking processes. Information on the next session dates and the application process is available on the Free Youth Programs section of our website or you can email education@printmakers.mb.ca for more information.
The Youth Outreach Program could not be made possible without the continued investment of the Graham C. Lount Family Foundation. We are also thankful for the continued support of the Winnipeg Foundation, the Manitoba Arts Council & Province of Manitoba.
Alberta Printmakers
30th Anniversary Portfolio: FUTUROLOGY
Futurology, is the study of postulating possible, probable, and preferable futures, and the worldviews and myths that underlie them.
This exhibition is part of a print-exchange between Martha Street Studio and the Universities of Brandon & Manitoba, Alberta Printmakers, and Vague Démographique (QC)
Currently in the gallery we are celebrating the work of the most recent graduates of our INKubator Program! Please enjoy our online gallery as we continue to monitor public health advisories. The exhibition will continue until July 24.
Featuring work by: Alicia Copstein Mercado, Olivia Michalczuk, Tanea Brown, Dominique Simard, and Chester Friesen
JOB POSTING: Professional Programming Coordinator Category: Part-time, permanent (0.7) Position rate: $17/hr @ 21hrs/week – with extended health benefits Application Deadline: June 1st, 2021 To apply, submit CV (or equivalent) and cover letter to director@printmakers.mb.ca
MPA-MSS acknowledges the barriers within the artist-run sector and our organization that affect applicants from equity-seeking groups. We encourage applications from people historically underrepresented in our sector, more specifically, people who identify as gender diverse, Queer, 2-spirit, Indigenous, Black, People of Colour, Official-Language Minority, and Persons with Disabilities. MPA-MSS is committed to providing a safer and supportive work environment that mitigates barriers to equity and the challenges of precarious labour.
General Responsibilities: The development, coordination and delivery of all aspects of the studio’s gallery and professional programming activities. Reports to: Executive Director Supervises: Volunteers
Qualifications: -Experience in the field of artist-run center culture and or arts organization administration. -Ability to develop and maintain positive working relationships with artists. -Excellent communications skills, both written and verbal. -Excellent organizational skills. -Proficiency in a variety of software (Word, Excel, Photoshop, InDesign) and social media platforms (mailchimp, instagram, facebook). -Ability to prioritize tasks, work independently and exhibit sound judgment.
-Ability to work in a busy, shared office space and share general customer service tasks (answering the phone, processing sales, engaging with studio visitors)
-Experience in install / strike of exhibitions.
Tasks involved in Professional Programming – Exhibitions:
· Coordinate yearly professional exhibition schedule
· Coordinate critical writing, hired writer, layout and printing of exhibition brochure
· organize pick-up/delivery of artwork for exhibition
· organize and promote annual call for exhibition submissions
· sustain focused outreach for call for exhibition submissions
· communicate all relevant details to exhibiting artists
· organize artist talks as budget allows
· coordinate ASL interpretation and other accessibility requests for artist talks
· promote professional programming to media, on website and through emails
· organize hospitality for exhibition openings
· provide information about upcoming professional programming and events for newsletter, members
· attend professional programming exhibition openings, artist talks, etc.
· Curate/coordinate one exhibition per year in consultation with Executive Director
Tasks involved in Professional Programming – other:
· Liaise with other organizations for the purpose of joint programming
· organize and promote annual call for residency submissions
· sustain focused outreach for call for residency submissions
· communicate all relevant details to residency artists (incoming and outgoing)
· organize off-site events, exhibitions when required
· organize and promote annual call for U of M summer student scholarship.
· contribute to and maintain archive for professional programming for the purposes of granting and promotion: archive of exhibition ephemera, digital photos of events and exhibitions, Studio Editions archives, archives from artists in residence, digital and print archive of press about MPA
Tasks involved in Art Sales:
· Marketing, promotion of artwork
· Seek out artists, make and maintain connections to artists towards consignment
· Manage consignment items on Webstore and in Print Shop: capturing images and information for inventory system
· Create and maintain contracts and records for artwork on consignment
· Annual inventory of artwork on consignment
· make and maintain connections to buyers
· assist with inquiries regarding artwork for sale
· framing: liaise between client and framers, arrange drop-off, pick-up, quotes and client billing where appropriate
· keep print sales area and flat files clean and organized.
· seek out and apply for MSS representation at art fairs, coordinate artwork and staff towards art fairs.
Tasks involved in Studio Editions Program:
· invite Manitoba artists to collaborate with an MSS technician to produce a Studio Edition
· coordinate with artist and technician to determine edition size, price, launch date, etc
· maintain Studio Edition Artist contracts and records
· work towards producing up to 3 Editions per year
· marketing of Studio Editions and Studio Editions Raffle, including coordinating with third parties as applicable
· yearly inventory of MSS editioned works
· maintain Studio Editions section on Webstore: capturing images and information for inventory system and archives.
EQUITY STATEMENT
Martha Street Studio is an equal opportunity employer and encourages applications from underrepresented, LGBTQ2, new immigrant, disability and Indigenous communities to apply. It is the Manitoba Printmakers Association’s policy to hire employees solely on the basis of the ability of the applicant to do the job. MPA will make every effort to provide additional adaptations and professional supports to accomplish tasks and responsibilities for successful candidates identifying those specific needed accommodations.
VISION
“Unparalleled, accessible facilities and education in the print arts”
MISSION AND MANDATE
The Manitoba Printmakers Association maintains the heritage of excellence in printmaking while advancing artists and innovation through technique, education and community engagement at its sustainable Martha Street Studio facility.
VALUES
Innovative MPA encourages innovation in printmaking and education while maintaining a standard of excellence and our printmaking heritage.
Inclusive MPA is an open and inclusive environment which engages actively with the community through education and outreach and welcomes new and long-term artists from many disciplines.
Integrity MPA is sensitive to diversity, individuality and its place in the community, which is realized in the way we treat our members, each other and our partners.
Supportive MPA supports artists, encourages their growth and well-being, and acts as a stable hub for excellence in printmaking practice, international networking and promotion of work.
Educators MPA believes in the education and mentorship of artists, creating printmaking experiences for the community, and informing the public about our tradition and activities.
Viability MPA is a fiscally responsible organization, committed to ensuring that its operations and diverse programming remain viable in the long-term.
Hours, Location, Accessibility:Our hours of operation are Tuesday – Friday 10 am – 5 pm, and Saturday* 12 – 5 pm. *closed Saturdays of long weekendsMartha Street Studio is located at 11 Martha Street. A loading zone is located on the street at the front of the building. Martha Street Studio is an accessible space with a lift and two accessible gender-neutral washrooms located on the second floor.
We want to see your prints, and more importantly, we want others to enjoy them too!
Please join us for the MSS Relief Effort – Print Exchange to receive 5 new works in the mail made by your fellow printmakers. If you are interested in participating, email your name and address to: askmartha@printmakers.mb.ca with the subject line: MSS Relief Effort – Print Exchange
Participants are asked to create an edition of at least 6 prints, paper size no larger than 5×8”, using at least one traditional printmaking technique. Martha Street Studio will take care of the distribution of the exchange so that everyone receives 5 prints by other artists. The sixth print will be kept in our print archive.
The theme is Resilience. Take that in whatever direction you’d like, or don’t! The exchange is open to any and allmembers of Martha Street Studio – If you are not currently a member you may purchase/renew your membership here: shop.printmakers.mb.ca/martha-street-studio-membership-regular
The due date for print submissions is March 15th, 2021 (if your address is outside of Winnipeg your submission will be accepted late provided it is postmarked March 15th). You should receive your collection of 5 prints by the end of April, 2021.
Please make sure that you have read and followed the guidelines posted below before submitting your print edition. If you have any queries please email: director@printmakers.mb.ca for clarification.
Submissions to the MSS Members Print Exchange must comply with all guidelines. Any edition that fails to meet one or more of the guidelines will be returned to the printmaker with an accompanying explanation. All prints will be packed in a standard envelope and delivered by regular mail to participants.
Please make sure that you have read and followed the guidelines before submitting your print edition. If you have any queries please email director@printmakers.mb.ca for clarification.
Members Print Exchange Guidelines
Original Work
All work submitted must be created specifically for the MSS print exchange and you must own the intellectual property rights for all images submitted.
Theme : Resilience
This theme should be interpreted broadly to encompass anything the artist feels. The theme is not mandatory; if you aren’t feeling it, don’t use it.
Membership
You must have a current MSS Membership to participate. You may purchase or renew before submitting at shop.printmakers.mb.ca/martha-street-studio-membership-regular Please direct any membership inquiries to askmartha@printmakers.mb.ca
Paper Size
Your paper must be no larger than 5×8”. Measure twice, tear once. Prints must be able to fit in a standard-mail 9.6 x 5.625” envelope.
Edition Size
A minimum of Six (6) prints, one of which will be retained by MSS for our Print Archive. Editions may be larger, please send the first 6 in the edition for the exchange.
Print Medium
All submissions must be created using an editionable* print technique only. Each print must contain at least one traditional print technique. All work must be 2 dimensional only. Please ensure that your prints are made using high quality printmaking materials, acid-free paper, and archival inks*
Signing and Editioning
All prints must be signed, editioned, and dated. This may be on the front or back of the print.
Paper Selection
All prints must be printed on high quality* paper acid free paper appropriate to the print medium.
Print Presentation
Each print must be fully dry and individually protected by glassine paper if heavily inked or prone to scuffing/transfer.
Submission Deadline
March 15th, 2021 by 4 pm – SUBJECT TO CHANGE WITH NOTICE for mailed submissions, a post-mark of March 15th will be accepted
Submission Form
Please complete the submission form at the end of the guidelines and include it with your finished edition.
*While we are printing at home and under some experimental printing circumstances, our definition of an “edition” will remain approximate rather than precise. As well our definition of “high quality” and “Archival inks+” will remain flexible. Do your best!
How To Submit Your Edition:
Please ensure you have clearly labelled your prints with your name and title
In person submissions
To submit your prints in person please contact staff at MSS to arrange a curb-side exchange Tuesday to Friday, 11-4pm
Mail-in submissions All submissions mailed from outside of Winnipeg must be postmarked no later than March 15th, 2021. Please post all submissions to:
Martha Street Studio 11 Martha Street, Winnipeg, MB R3B 1A2
Martha Street Studio Relief Effort – Print Exchange Submission Form
Artist Bio
Name:
Address:
Email:
Social Media contact (optional):
Would you like your social media handles shared? (circle one) Y or N
Exhibition Dates: Friday September 6th – Friday October 18th, 2019
Opening Reception: Friday September 6th, 5-8 pm
Artist Talk: Saturday September 7th, 2pm
Martha Street Studio is pleased to present Obscura, a solo exhibition of work by Angela Snieder (ON). Obscura will be on display at Martha Street Studio from Friday September 6th to Friday October 18th. An opening reception will be held on September 6th from 5-8 pm with the artist in attendance. Snieder will present an artist talk on Saturday September 6th at 2pm.
Obscura engages with questions of truth and artifice related to experience, perception, and lens-based processes. Through various photographic forms, including photopolymer prints, large-scale pasted prints and moving analog projections, the works in the exhibition aim to prompt a negotiation of reality and its representations that calls into question the truthfulness of photography.
The role of illusion is central to the printed and projected scenes. Photographic textures and surfaces offer a sense of familiarity, recalling physical spaces such as mineshafts, caves, undergrowth or mountains, but incongruities in scale and subject matter unsettle the scenes and allude to their artifice. What is happening in the shifting moment when the eye catches on to the trick; and how does the knowledge of this conspiracy alter the experience of the image? The feeling of certainty comes in and out of focus as tall grass undulates or an illuminated fog floats in a snow-filled room.
The newest work, Field (2019), is a moving analog projection created with two camera obscura devices. Whereas historically the camera obscura projected an image of the external world (reversed and inverted), the devices in the exhibition reveal fabricated physical spaces, projected through apertures onto the walls of a darkened room.
Artist Statement
How can we think about the relationship between physical and psychological spaces? My creative practice explores the possibility that the intersection of the two can foster deeply contemplative experiences and enable attentive and empathetic consideration of our relationship with the world.
Working in photo-based print media and installation, I make use of the mimetic qualities inherent to photography, with the hope of drawing attention not only to the photograph’s capacity for deception, but also to the duplicitous nature of perception and memory. Since their invention, photographic impressions have held an evidentiary power due to their indexical relationship with the physical world. Using the diorama as a creative device, I construct spaces that play with this implicit sense of trust. The resulting printed and projected images reference built structures, but exist in a state of transformation, as if being reclaimed by natural materials and processes. These dream-like scenes serve to explore an ‘in-betweenness’; spaces of both protection and entrapment, of natural and built, of fascination and fear. They are settings in which something is on the verge of taking place.
Angela Snieder is an artist working primarily in photo-based print media and installation. She completed her BFA at York University (2013) and her MFA in Printmaking at the University of Alberta (2017). Angela taught for several years at the University of Alberta in Printmaking, Foundations, Drawing and Intermedia, and at the Society of Northern Alberta Print Artists (SNAP). She has exhibited nationally and internationally, most recently in a solo show at Alberta Printmakers in Calgary, and in group shows including the 7th International Guanlan Print Biennial in Shenzhen, China, and the Krakòw International Print Triennial in Krakòw, Poland. She is the recipient of a SSHRC graduate scholarship and a Research and Creation Grant from the Canada Council for the Arts for an ongoing project with collaborator Morgan Wedderspoon. Angela currently resides in Hamilton, Ontario.
Not Yet Earth: The work of Madeline MacKay
By Kelly Campbell, 2018
While I live, my body is flesh. When I die, it will be meat. My consciousness will cease to exist, but my corpse will persist. It will be buried in a box in the ground. The chemical bonds that hold the organic materials of my meat together will be broken down, their energy released and repurposed to suit the needs of whatever living thing consumes my remains. Just as I digested the meat of countless plants and animals to fuel my earthly vessel while I was alive, my carcass will pass through and become part of thousands of bugs, bacteria, and plants, until it is unrecognizable as what it once was. It will become part of the environment; traces of me will be spread throughout the soil, the air, the grass. I will no longer be a single entity, but a small piece of everything. I will be the earth, and the earth will be me.
While poetically compelling, the process of rot and decomposition is often viscerally disgusting in practice. A dead body is sad. A decomposing body is repulsive. Why?
Troubling the line between what is self and what is not in the context of the body creates disgust. For example: on your head, your hair is beautiful, luscious, and thick. You toss it from side to side as though you are in a shampoo commercial. Enjoy this moment, puny human, for several weeks later, balled up in the drain, removed from and perversed of its original context, it is revolting. That you used to find it so appealing makes its present state all the more vile. Look at what it has become! Look at what you have become.
I am watching a video. A thin person with long brown hair, wearing a white t-shirt and underwear, arranges irregular strips of a stringy grey material in a muddy puddle. The video is titled Meat Drawing. Without this titular designation, I doubt I would recognize the pale flesh in the artist’s fingers as such.
The creator of and performer in this work, Madeline Mackay, doesn’t think of meat as food – she’s a lifelong vegetarian. I’m not. Is this why I find the video so difficult to watch? I rarely look at meat this long even – especially – when I’m eating it. Raised on fish sticks and chicken nuggets, I prefer my meat pre-butchered, shredded, dyed, and pressed into familiar shapes and textures. The wet crunches of tendons between my teeth and the jiggling wetness of fat on a bone makes me lose my appetite. I didn’t grow up thinking of meat as dead creatures and I don’t like to be reminded.
While it is true the meat we see comes from an animal intended for human consumption – the sinew, fat, and skin in Not Yet Earth‘s video and print works were pulled from a butcher’s trash and cut into strips by the artist – to fully understand the discomfort and impact of the work we must look further than meat’s relationship to food. Juxtaposed with the artist’s living body and a muddy pool, the meat shreds are forced into relationship with both. Recognizable as an indistinct part of an animal body, but not yet unrecognizable enough to be part of the earth, the flesh exists in a transitory state.
The artist was compelled to create this work after contracting a flesh eating disease wherein her immune system attacked her own blood platelets. In reference to her illness, she states, “I have never been more aware that my flesh has an existence that is independent of mine.” Sickness, much like gore and guts, has a way of forcing one to recognize the disconnect between a sense of self and the bodily vessel within which it is carried. The body and the mind become two distinct parts of the self, one over which we might have dominion and another over which we do not. Mackay’s artistic investigation into dead meat manipulates this unique substance in an effort to regain control and understanding of the materials of which she is made. Through observing this work, we gain a new understanding of self – what we are made of, where what we are made of ends, and what happens when what we are made of is no longer us, but not yet something else.
Kelly Campbell is an artist, musician, and songwriter. Their artistic interests include labour, gender, colour, craft, disposability, horror, fantasy, and cute pictures of animals. Find them on the internet @kellygrub.
Kelly grew up in so-called Nova Scotia, territory of the Mi’kmaq people, and currently resides in Winnipeg, Manitoba, which sits on land lived on, travelled over, and protected by Anishinaabe, Néhiyaw, Dakota, Dené, and Métis people long before Kelly or any of their ancestors knew it existed.
Martha Street Studio gratefully acknowledges the Canada Council for the Arts, the Manitoba Arts Council and Winnipeg Arts Council for their dedicated support of our professional programming.
