The featured exhibit runs August 1 – 31, 2025 in Metro Gallery in the Garneau Theatre lobby.⁠

Artist Reception: August 4 at 5:30 pm

Artist: Shania Taylor

Artist Statement:

Everyone has their favourite sweater, blanket, jacket, something that may be soft, or is their favourite colour, maybe it even has a weird pattern that brings the owner some joy when they see it. Textiles play such a huge role in our self-expression and can provide comfort, or help to ground ourselves when life feels a bit overwhelming. Every stitch that I make feels meditative and touching the different textures of the layered threads and fabrics is extremely satisfying. I have always loved a floral pattern and a velvet fabric. These are things that remind me of evenings spent at my grandparents and my mom’s favourite shirt from when I was a child. The nostalgia of these little memories are always welcome but far too fleeting. I try to get the majority of the fabrics I use second hand, it allows for my planning process to have so much flexibility and pushes me to mix patterns and colours that I maybe would not if I had the full range of materials stocked at a fabric store. I aim to create pieces that may tickle an old memory or stir a familiar feeling and hopefully provide some comfort to the viewer.

Shania Taylor is an Edmontonian who works full time as the Operations Manager at Metro and has become slowly obsessed with the world of textile art. She is a self-taught artist and has mainly been focusing on embroidery for the last few years, mixing her own doodles with some more traditional folk art styles, until recently when she has begun dabbling into the world of quilting patterns and how those can be incorporated in her creations.

The featured exhibit runs June 1 – July 31, 2025 in Metro Gallery in the Garneau Theatre lobby.⁠

Artist Reception: June 26 at 5:30 pm

Artist: Blair Brennan, Candace Makowichuk, Craig Talbot, Jordan Rule, Marlena Wyman, Michael Caskenette, Monica Pitre, Paddy Lamb, Parker Thiessen, Wilfred Kozub, Will Truchon and William Northlich

Artist Statement:

Ortona Diaspora is presented by the Ortona Armoury Artists’ Reach Society (OARS),  2025
ortonaarmoury.com

Sponsored by OARS, Edmonton Arts Council, The City of Edmonton and The Works

The featured exhibit runs May 1 – 31, 2025 in Metro Gallery in the Garneau Theatre lobby.⁠

Artist Reception: May 7 at 5:30 pm

Artist: Jenna Hoffart

Artist Statement:

My paintings are an attempt to act out scenes from my subconsciousness through theatricality and exaggeration. Being alive and trying to understand the truth of reality feels like a puzzle. Where do we end and where do we begin? Why is my skin “me”, but not my suit and tie? I did choose the suit after all, and not the skin. The Title Un-fashioned and Half Made-Up takes inspiration from Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, particularly when referring to humans as being imperfect and incomplete upon creation, and that we may become our most genuine selves through our experiences and attachments. I paint with intuitive action in hopes that someday I might find connection to some form of collective truth or magic by expressing personal imagination and spiritual experience.

Jenna Hoffart is a Painter originally from Medicine Hat, Alberta, currently residing in Edmonton, Alberta. She earned her BFA from the University of Alberta in 2023. Her works have most recently been shown at the NE SCULPTURE FACTORY in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

The featured exhibit runs March 1 – 31, 2025 in Metro Gallery in the Garneau Theatre lobby.⁠

Artist Reception: March 1 at 5:30 pm

Artist: Karl Skaret

Artist Statement:

Painting for me is an adventure. Something I see more or less in all paintings I like is a kind of mysterious, romantic, beautiful adventure. My paintings are completely non representational. I feel like there is a kind of purity in color and form in itself. That being said, I look for and often find a kind of visceral sense of a representation of something “real.”

Karl Skaret has been painting for over 30 years. About halfway through he switched from realism to abstract art. It might seem disingenuous to make such a switch but he is really mostly just interested in beauty in general. Later on he became seemingly more intuitive in his interest. Karl has paintings in private collections in Canada and the United States. His work is also included in the Alberta Foundation for the Arts collection. You can see more of his work at karlskaret.com or @karlskaretart on Instagram.

The featured exhibit runs February 1 – 28, 2025 in Metro Gallery in the Garneau Theatre lobby.⁠

Artist Reception: February 1 at 2:00 pm

Artist: Andrew Thorne

Artist Statement:

On August 9th, 1948 Paul-Emile Bourdas, along with 16 other Quebecois artists publish the manifesto Refus Global. The publication would become highly controversial, costing Bourdas his position at École du Meuble de Montréal.

At the time, Bourdas represented Montreal’s Automatiste movement, who took their direction from André Breton and Surrealists who had left Paris during the War. However, Bourdas could possibly be better described as an anarchist, calling for a complete abolition of the Catholic Church and the Duplessis government in Quebec. While describing the Quebecois, Bourdas highlights a quality which exposes a fundamental trait of Canadian identity: fear. A fear that adheres us to a colonial construction of reason. Bourdas calls for a rejection of this rationale, and reason altogether.

In 2025, there are humanitarian crises in the DRC, Syria, Yemen, Afghanistan, Ukraine, and the ongoing genocides in Gaza, Sudan and Myanmar. We can again ask ourselves, what is the rationale that brought us here? There continues to be a rising trend in fascism and conservative fundamentalism in our own country and across the world, further justifying the exploitation of people, and land. We are inundated by the noisy rhetoric and reasoning of political talking heads.

This is my attempt at making an irrational art. I have been drawn towards the rippling of colour, the soft granulation of sumi inks and watercolours. Observing the quiet, letting paper and material perform under their own will. Using stencils and collage while making my prints, I am trying to reject my own aesthetic conditioning by crumpling paper, and letting material lay where it lands. The resulting images are the accumulation of these explorations.

Andrew Thorne is an early career artist based out of Treaty Six territory, Edmonton. His practice has also been informed by his home in Mi’kmaki, or Moncton, New Brunswick, and experience living in Kjipuktuk (Halifax), Nova Scotia. Thorne received his BFA from NSCADU in 2020 and relocated to Edmonton in 2021. Recent projects include, large scale musical instruments built for the 2023 Works Art and Design Festival, and Unstructured at Lowlands Project Space in Edmonton. In 2023 Thorne had exhibitions at Harcourt House Artist Run Centre and the Grande Prairie Art Gallery. Also in 2023, Andrew had the privilege of participating in the Nina Haggerty RBC Emerging Artist Residency as well as St Michael’s Printshop Visiting Artist in Residence in St. John’s, NL. In 2024 Thorne has work at Hermes Gallery and AC World in Halifax, NS. Thorne was the featured artist for the SNAPline issue “Noise/Silence”. Andrew is also a regular collaborator with Anna Wildish, performing under many pseudonyms such as Oil City Demolition, and Anna/Andy.

The featured exhibit runs January 1 – 31, 2025 in Metro Gallery in the Garneau Theatre lobby.⁠

Artist Reception: January 5 at 2:00 pm

Artist: Jacob Audrey Taves

Artist Statement:

Taves’ focus is on amplifying and celebrating error and glitch as a birthplace of new forms and ideas. The images and video in “Accident in the Zero Gravity Swimming Pool” are derived from analogue and digital video feedback and compression errors from improperly formatting video files. There is a wealth of metaphors to be drawn from the use and amplification of error however, in an age where social conventions are becoming more conservative, exploring the beauty of what doesn’t fit expected or intended outcomes has taken on a high level of importance to Taves.

Jacob Audrey Taves received their BFA from the University of Saskatchewan in 2003 and has since presented audio, video and still image work in Europe, Mexico, USA, Asia and Canada. Some highlights include performing and presenting at 4D Festival (Japan), Yaga Gathering (Lithuania), Bruital Uproar (Germany), Vancouver New Music Copyleft Festival (Canada), Something About Sound Instead of Sound (Hong Kong) and Hamsylet (Ukraine).

jacobaudreytaves.ca

The featured exhibit runs December 1 – 31, 2024 in Metro Gallery in the Garneau Theatre lobby.⁠

Artist Reception: December 4 at 5:30 pm

Artist: Dallas Bartel

Artist Statement:

Currently exploring work with abstract expressionism using acrylic, graphite and ink. Influences of 1950’s to 1970’s design. Using repressed, saturated colours against primary hues, shapes and lines over irrational space.

Dallas Bartel grew up in the Edmonton area and spent his high school years in Leduc, Alberta. Art has always been a personal pursuit, something he has enjoyed privately throughout his life. Since 2021, however, he has focused on creating work to share throughout the city. Motivated by family, friends and the clever artistic teachings of Janet Mason.