We are glad to continue the Annual Members’ Show + Sale this year in an in-person & digitally friendly format: this year, we will feature all of the members work in the gallery, with viewings by appointment/drop-in, as well as in the virtual gallery below.
The opening reception for this year’s Members’ Show was held December 10th, 5-8pm. As with our recent openings, we will be maintaining physical distancing requirements by restricting the total number of people permitted in the gallery to 5 at a time. Vaccination verification and masks are also required. We encourage you to book your visit ahead of time to avoid a line up.
These events are free to attend and open to the public. Our current COVID-19 protocols can be found here. Please call (204) 779-6253 or email askmartha@printmakers.mb.ca to book an exhibition viewing appointment.
Martha Street Studio is pleased to present florescence, a solo exhibition by Joy Wong.
The grotesque body is one with no beginning or end, and is taking up too much, and one with its environment. In the main gallery, the exhibition is of a body “contaminating” the space. Cut-outs from etchings and lithographs are pasted over each other on the gallery walls, in an expansive collage. In this way, the gallery becomes an activated body, the walls become the surface, the skin. Sculptural acrylic monoprints drape and hang off of copper armatures. The basis of these prints are both loosely referencing bodily imagery (such as wrinkles, puckers, dimples, pimples, etc.) and in ambiguous shapes. This project is also a material investigation, as the ideas of the matrix and multiplicity are integral to the ever-expanding body. The corporeal is highlighted in this project, by the thrusting of the two-dimensional qualities of print into an immersive three-dimensional environment.
Artist statement: At the intersections of disgust and beauty, decay and decadence, my practice deals with materiality and the physicality of the human body. Personal history informs research about what it means to reckon with a body in space, meditate on the grotesque and abject, and navigate the meeting point of preservation and destruction. My practice has consisted of projects on the human body through a representational or on a phenomenological standpoint. Lately I have been investigating the notion of the matrix, both as the origin of production and the source of multiplication. I am interested in ideas of the grotesque, and in relation to that, the ideas surrounding abjectness, especially from a queer, diasporic perspective. My ongoing research has largely been based on skin – its role as mediator between interior and exterior worlds, and its relationship to the superficial and superfacial of mark-making and printing/painting. The marks on top of and within the layers of skins I create are fragmented and ambulant, with the potential to come together or fall apart. I am particularly invested in production that is in flux- in works that are on the cusp of deteriorating, falling, or ripping, or on the threshold of renewing, blooming, and coalescing.
Artist Bio: Joy Wong (she/they) is an artist and educator based in Tkaronto/Toronto, who works in painting, print media, sculpture, and poetry. Their practice focuses on the intersections of decay and decadence, and connects material investigations with the shifting physicality of the body. Wong was a finalist for the 2018 RBC Canadian Painting Competition. She was the 2019 Pope Artist in Residence at NSCAD and has held residencies at St. Michael’s Print Shop in St. John’s, Newfoundland, and the Robert McLaughlin Gallery in Oshawa, Ontario. They have received grants from the Canada Council of the Arts and the Ontario Arts Council. Wong teaches at NSCAD University and University of Toronto.
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.
Please enjoy the online gallery of the exhibition florescence.
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.
Exhibition dates: May 7 – June 11, 2021 Please review our COVID-19 procedures in full here.
Virtual artist talk:Saturday May 22, 2pm CDT ASL interpretation is available by request for Deaf attendees. Requests must be submitted by 5pm on Wednesday May 19 to askmartha@printmakers.mb.ca.
The virtual artist talk will be delivered via Zoom. Zoom’s automatic closed captioning function will be enabled during the presentation. To access this event, join the Zoom meeting at 2pm CDT on May 22 by clicking this link: https://zoom.us/j/95843443414 or by using this meeting ID: 958 4344 3414. You do not need to download Zoom ahead of time, but you may do so at https://zoom.us.
This event will be recorded. Please turn off your video when joining the Zoom meeting if you prefer not to be recorded.
These events are free to attend and open to the public.
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Martha Street Studio is pleased to present Subconscious Terrain, a solo exhibition by Tracy Peters (MB).
Subconscious Terrain invites visitors into a metaphorical bog of moss images that situates them between a resting ground and a place of unrest. Immersive photo-based installations illuminate Sphagnum moss within physical and imaginative space, intersecting human and non-human ecosystems. This exhibition is a meditation on the life and death of Sphagnum habitats and their capacity for resuscitation and preservation. The delicate prints that inhabit the gallery embody the fragility of threatened bog environments, while attempting to elevate the vitality of peatlands as mitigators of global warming and climate change.
Artist statement:
In my interdisciplinary practice, I am drawn to threatened habitats that are in the midst of cataclysmic change. What deeply motivates me is resilient behaviour in ecosystems that enable their adaptation to human intervention. Often, I carry out my work and research in natural environments where unpredictable weather and ecological surprises challenge me to adapt my studio production to biological processes.
In my recent work, I use photographic materials in collaboration with natural forces to collect impressions from the passage of time, light and weather in eroding landscapes. I wove giant photographs into an abandoned grain shed, and embedded light-sensitive paper in a stone beach as witness to the effects of climate on the ecosystem. These allow me to communicate with the environment in an attempt to understand its physical knowledge. Through these haptic interventions, I respond to the wind and water in ways that parallel those of my body, such as breathing, pulse and consciousness.
Subconscious Terrain is a new project that builds on my long-term study of architecture in threatened environments through the creation of multi-media installations about Sphagnum moss. This work investigates the bog as a metaphorical skin–how sphagnum moss functions as a protective blanket that envelops its habitat to protect and nurture it.
My research incorporates themes such as restoration, preservation, fragility and survival–all characteristics of a bog. The installations investigate perspective, illusion, and depth to immerse the viewer in a bog so that they can look up to where the ground meets the sky. They are an attempt to raise consciousness of peatlands as a living solution to slow down the climate crisis.
Tracy Peters is a multidisciplinary artist based in Winnipeg on Treaty 1 Territory. Her work examines the entanglements of human and non-human processes in response to eroding landscapes and environmental/climate crises. Peters has received grants from the Canada Council for the Arts, the Manitoba Arts Council, and the Winnipeg Arts Council. She has attended residencies which include a partnership between Void Gallery and The Social Studios and Gallery in Derry, Northern Ireland; the ArtCenter/South Florida-MAWA artist exchange program in Miami, Florida; the Plug In ICA Summer Institute in Winnipeg, Manitoba; the Independent Imaging Retreat (Film Farm) in Mount Forest, Ontario; and The Banff Centre in Alberta, Canada. Her work has exhibited across Canada, in Europe and Australia.
The artist would like to thank the Manitoba Arts Council for their generosity in supporting this project, the University of Manitoba WIN Herbarium, biologist Dr. Carla Zelmer, KC Adams for writing the response, and everyone at Martha Street Studio who made this exhibition possible.
Join us on Thursday March 25, 2021 at 6pm CT, for a virtual artist talk with Scott Benesiinaabandan. This talk will be delivered via Zoom.
Accessibility information:
ASL interpretation is available by request for Deaf attendees. Requests must be submitted by 5pm on Saturday March 20 to askmartha@printmakers.mb.ca. Zoom’s automatic closed captioning will be enabled during the presentation.
The Zoom link will be posted a week prior to the event. You do not need to download Zoom ahead of time, but may do so at https://zoom.us.
This event will be recorded–please turn your video off when joining the Zoom meeting if you prefer not to be recorded. This artist talk is free to attend and open to the public.
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Scott Benesiinaabandan is an Anishinaabe (Obishkkokaang) intermedia artist who works primarily in photography, video, audio and printmaking. Scott has completed an international residencies at Parramatta Artist Studios in Australia, Context Gallery in Derry, North of Ireland, and University Lethbridge/Royal Institute of Technology iAIR residency, along with international collaborative projects in both the U.K and Ireland. Scott is currently based in Montreal, where he is completing a MFA in Photography, where is also a long running artist-in-residency at OBx Labs/Ab-TeC and Initiative for Indigenous Futures. He is currently investigating new mediums such as audio works, light sculptures and virtual reality.
In the past years, Benesiinaabandan has been awarded grants from the Canada Council for the Arts, Manitoba Arts Council, Winnipeg Arts Council and Conseil des arts des lettre du Quebec. His work can be found in a number of private, provincial and national collections.
Benesiinaabandan has taken part in several notable exhibitions across Canada and internationally: Harbourfront’s Flatter the Land/Bigger the Ruckus, Subconscious City at the Winnipeg Art Gallery, GHOSTDANCE at Ryerson Image Centre and solo exhibitions; unSacred, at Gallery 1C03; and in Sydney, Australia, mii omaa ayaad/Oshiki Inendemowin, Melbourne; Blood Memories, little resistances at Platform Gallery; and Insurgence/Resurgence at the WAG. He recently completed a public commission for CONTACT Photography Festival in Toronto.
