Three Sheets to the Wind at Avalanche!, Calgary

Calgary has become a hotbed for grassroots artist-run activity operating outside of the longstanding government-sanctioned centres in the city. Avalanche! is on the leading edge of this group of upstarts, operating a gallery and a couple of studios to supplement the cost of programming. Three Sheets to the Wind is the gallery’s three-year anniversary exhibition and functions as a digest of its 2015 calendar by featuring one editioned print from each exhibited artist.



Meghan Dyck, Avalanche! Edition No. 21, 2015

Artists Cassandra Paul and Nate McLeod operate and program the space. Over the past year they put together a compelling program of small, well appointed solo exhibitions by primarily local artists at varying stages of emergence. They also produce the aforementioned multiples, but cleverly avoid the usual pitfalls of ARC swag by making the medium (archival inkjet print) and scale (20” x 14”) consistent. The show is a handy primer of worthy Southern Alberta artists, including particularly strong pieces by Omar Lalani, Meghan Dyck, Miruna Dragan, and Linsday Sorrell. The diversity of the prints is striking. In a time when group exhibitions look increasingly homogenous, there is a pleasing amount of aesthetic tension here.

This yearend summary makes me curious to see how Avalanche! will develop. Hopefully they’ll move beyond solo exhibitions. I have nothing against single artists shows but Cassandra and Nate (whose day jobs are at WordFest and Contemporary Calgary respectively) clearly have something to say and I’m interested in what that might look like across a varied exhibition structure.

And it goes without saying that this is a fairly ideal opportunity for holiday gift shopping. At $150 a pop the editions are a great way to enhance (or start) an art collection while supporting Calgary’s scrappy contemporary art community.


Avalanche!: http://avalancheavalanche.com/
Three Sheets to the Wind continues until December19.


Sarah Todd is a curator currently based in Calgary. She has previously worked at Western Front, InterAccess Electronic Media Arts Centre, XPACE Cultural Centre, and The Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery. She has also produced projects with a range of organizations including Vtape, Kunstverein München, The Goethe Institute, The Pacific Cinematheque, Glenbow Museum and The Illingworth Kerr Gallery. She is Akimblog’s Calgary correspondent and can be followed on Twitter @sarahannetodd.