Feminist Figure Drawing, March 2024
The past few months have been busy: packing up 20 years of accumulated this-and-that at our Main Street location, finding and renovating space on Cumberland, and two back-to-back fundraisers. All the while, MAWA has continued to offer a wide variety of art education programming to serve visual artists at all stages of their careers. Phew!
Now that the dust has settled, MAWA is going to take time to finally unpack. But that’s not all ….
Our new space has great walls and lots of light, so we are going to fill it with art in the coming months. MAWA is hosting Gender Queer, an exhibition by youth to celebrate Pride Month in June, and Textural Dimension, works by Textile and Fibre Artists of Manitoba, in July and August (see page 4 for details). Then in September, MAWA is mounting an exhibition celebrating the history of our flagship Foundation Mentorship Program curated by Abigail Auld, followed by the always joyful MAWA members’ show in November. During the winter months, artists Desa Kalem and Avery Ascher will be animating the “Tiny Gallery” wall. And that will bring us to Over the Top 2025! In other words, art, art and more art.
As well as offering exhibitions, for the first time Feminist Figure Drawing is continuing throughout the summer. The response to MAWA drawing programs has been overwhelming – we hear you! You want to draw.
Finally, staff are busy working on Art Alive, a soon-to-be-released tool that will show teachers many different ways to use Manitoban artworks in the classroom, with links to curriculum. The project, led by Yvette Cenerini and Dawn Knight, will engage students from K-12 in the artwork being produced here and now.
That’s what we are doing this summer. How about you? Whatever it is, we hope that it includes many of your favourite things. Summer is such a glorious time. May yours be filled with relaxation, community, creativity and whatever you need to nurture your unique artist self.
– Shawna Dempsey and Dana Kletke