24 Alberta Artists Announced for 2017 Alberta Biennial of Contemporary Art

Posted on 
January 22, 2016

EDMONTON, AB, January 25, 2016 — After reviewing more than 260 applications, travelling 4500km and meeting with artists from across the province, 24 have been selected for the 10th Alberta Biennial of Contemporary Art set to open in the summer of 2017 at the Art Gallery of Alberta and Walter Phillips Gallery.  

Curators Kristy Trinier (Art Gallery of Alberta) and Peta Rake (Walter Phillips Gallery) selected artists to represent a diverse selection of contemporary art practice currently at work in communities from Fort McMurray to Lethbridge. 

Artists 

  • Ashley Bedet, b. Calgary, based in Calgary
  • Devon Beggs, b. Edmonton, based in Edmonton
  • Andrew Buszchak, b. Brantford, Ontario, based in Edmonton
  • Roy Caussy, b. Hamilton, Ontario, based in Lethbridge
  • Mark Clintberg, b. Edmonton, based in Calgary
  • Gerry Dotto, b. Edmonton, based in Sherwood Park
  • Craig Fahner & Neal Moignard, b. Calgary, based in Calgary & b. Adelaide, Australia, based in Calgary
  • Svea Ferguson, b. Calgary, based in Calgary
  • Megan Green, b. St. John’s, Newfoundland, based in Fort McMurray 
  • Tia Halliday, b. Calgary, based in Calgary
  • Tamara Lee-Anne Himmelspach, b. Lloydminster, Saskatchewan, based in Saddle Lake Cree Nation/ Calgary
  • Kristopher Karklin, b. Lac du Bonnet, Manitoba, based in Calgary
  • Taryn Kneteman, b. Edmonton, based in Edmonton
  • Kristopher Lindskoog, b. Edmonton, based in Calgary
  • Jay Mosher, b. Red Deer, based in Calgary
  • Wil Murray, b. Calgary, based in Okotoks/ Berlin, Germany
  • Justin Patterson & Stacey Watson, b. Brooks, based in Calgary/Vancouver, British Columbia & b. Washington, D.C., based in Calgary
  • Paul Robert, b. Calgary, based in Calgary
  • Marigold Santos, b. Manila, Philippines, based in Calgary/ Montréal, Quebec
  • Parker Thiessen, b. Beaverlodge, based in Edmonton
  • Justin Waddell, b. Toronto, Ontario, based in Calgary
  • Nicole Kelly Westman, b. Red Deer, based in Calgary

The exhibition 

The Art Gallery of Alberta and Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity’s Walter Phillips Gallery are jointly organizing and co-presenting the 10th Alberta Biennial of Contemporary Art. The exhibition will exist in two parts and open first in the summer of 2017 at the Walter Phillips Gallery and at the Art Gallery of Alberta on September 22, 2017, with public programming at both sites throughout the exhibition’s duration.

Collaborative sessions planned at Banff Centre 

The cohort of artists will meet this summer with the curators for the Alberta Biennial Sessions, an intensive series of workshops at Banff Centre to further develop their artworks and expound upon the exhibition themes.

This is the first time that artists have been brought together in such a way prior to the Biennial. 

About the Biennial 

Since its inception in 1996, the Alberta Biennial of Contemporary Art has presented new and exciting works by 145 Alberta contemporary artists. The Alberta Biennial has served to promote Alberta artists across the country and brings national attention to Alberta’s art scene.

The 10th Alberta Biennial of Contemporary Art is generously sponsored by ATB Financial. 

About the Curators 

Kristy Trinier is a Curator at the Art Gallery of Alberta. Trinier curated Future Station: 2015 Alberta Biennial of Contemporary Art, as well as exhibitions at the AGA and Enterprise Square Galleries. Her previous roles include Public Art Director at the Edmonton Arts Council, where she managed the City of Edmonton’s Public Art Collection, related exhibitions and public art programs and Grant Writer at Banff Centre.

Trinier has written for Canadian Art, Momus and other arts publications. She holds a Bachelors degree in Visual Art and English from the University of Victoria, and a Masters degree in Public Art from the Dutch Art Institute (DAI, ArtEZ Hogeschool voor de Kunsten) as a Huygens scholar in The Netherlands.


Peta Rake is the Curator of Walter Phillips Gallery and the Banff International Curatorial Institute at Banff Centre. She has curated exhibitions at ISCP (New York), Oakland Museum of California (Oakland), CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Art (San Francisco), Luggage Store Gallery (San Francisco) and the Esker Foundation (Calgary). She writes regularly for C Magazine and her texts have appeared in Canadian Art, Fillip, and Blackflash among others.

She has previously worked at California College of the Arts and Steven Leiber Archive (San Francisco) and the Institute of Modern Art (Brisbane). She holds a Masters in Curatorial Practice from California College of the Arts, a Bachelors degree in Creative Industries from Queensland University of Technology and was the 2014 Curator Award recipient from ISCP in New York.


For more information, visit youraga.ca/biennial2017

Please direct media inquiries to: 

Tracy Stewart
Communications Officer • Art Gallery of Alberta 
(780) 392-2468 • tracy.stewart@youraga.ca