The Mendel Art Gallery

director’s message
art and her expressionistic approach to painting with
local artists. According to painter William Perehudoff,
“she gave the Saskatoon art community a vibrancy it
has maintained ever since.” Eva’s enthusiasm for, and
knowledge of art inspired her father, Fred Mendel, to
begin collecting art, and to support local artists by
buying their work. She also influenced her father to build
an art facility in Saskatoon, and served on the Building
Committee for this important project. It was Eva who
proposed a national competition in the early 1960s to
select the winning architectural firm that would design
the Mendel Art Gallery. Over the course of the Mendel’s
forty-three year history, she has generously given
significant monetary donations, as well as outstanding
gifts of art, which have had a profound, enriching effect
on the cultural life of Saskatoon.
Eva Mendel Miller served as Honourary Chair of
the Gallery from 1976-1987; from 2000-2001; and
from 2002 to the present. In addition, she is currently
serving as Honourary Co-Chair (with Joni Mitchell) of
the most ambitious initiative in the Mendel’s history:
The “Expanding the Vision” Facility Renovation and
Expansion Project. With her most recent gift of $200,000
to our Capital Campaign, Eva Mendel Miller continues
to inspire and lead the way for the future of the visual
arts in Saskatoon. The Gallery is most grateful for her
support.
Our Autumn Season
Autumn at the Mendel features an exceptional lineup
of exhibitions and public programs. For starters,
Graeme Patterson: Woodrow is receiving critical acclaim
nationally, and bringing record numbers of visitors
to the gallery. Through architectural constructions,
animation, animatronics, and video components,
Patterson invites us into a world of whimsy and tragedy
in an imaginative reanimation of the ghosts of the
dying town of Woodrow, Saskatchewan. Organized in
partnership with the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, Halifax,
and curated by Ray Cronin, Senior Curator and Curator
of Contemporary Art at that institution, Woodrow has
been presented in Halifax and Montreal, and continues
its national tour after the Mendel with venues in
Alberta and British Columbia. I’m delighted to report
the Gallery’s purchase of one of Graeme’s works from
the exhibition for our Permanent Collection, The House,
2006, pictured on the cover of this issue of Folio. This
purchase has been made possible with support from the
Canada Council’s Acquisition Assistance Program.
The Insiders, curated by the Mendel’s former
preparator and talented Saskatoon artist, Jeff Nachtigall,
and generously sponsored by PotashCorp, is the result of
some remarkable collaborations and synergies. Through
the Artist in the Community Program, a project of the
City of Saskatoon and the Saskatchewan Arts Board,
Jeff was enlisted as Artist in Residence for the Saskatoon
Health Region. At the Sherbrooke Community Centre,
his passion for art has served as a catalyst for unleashing
the innate creativity of the Centre’s residents, twelve of
whom are represented in this very powerful exhibition.
The Mendel’s Permanent Collection is given special
focus this season with Emotional Geographies, a blast
from past through a variety of works from the 1960s and
1970s curated by Associate Curator Adrian A. Stimson;
Grow Up or Blow Up, a rare look at the illustrative work
of Ernest Lindner; and Joined, the concluding exhibition
in Stimson’s Articulation series, which blends old and
new ideas through personal linkages between the work
of contemporary Saskatoon artists Linda Young, Cheryl
Buckmaster, Todd Gronsdahl, and Dallas Poundmaker
and select works from the Mendel’s permanent
collection.
Special projects include Barrett Russell’s Here and
There: The Easy Magic Machine bicycle trip from
Saskatoon to Burning Man, and Phantasmagoria, the
inaugural exhibition of young people’s art curated by the
Mendel Youth Council. In addition, the Mendel’s ongoing
artistsbyartists series, which is designed to stimulate
critical dialogue between an emerging and senior artist
in the community, featured TransFIGUREmenT: Shelley
Kaszefski and Leslie Potter, a series of gestural figurative
works that explore the human condition.
As you can see from this exciting edition of Folio,
there is much activity happening at the Mendel. Please
enjoy our autumn season.
Warmest wishes,
Terry Graff, Executive Director & CEO