By: Michael Oleksyn, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Prince Albert Daily Herald
Jason Baerg is back at home at the Mann Art Gallery.
For the 50th Anniversary of the Prince Albert Winter Festival Art Show and Sale a special Guest Curator was needed.
Baerg, who was raised Red River Metis in Prince Albert, is the guest curator for the 50th Anniversary of the Prince Albert Winter Festival Art Show and Sale. He was in Prince Albert this week to start the curating process.
Baerg said Jesse Campbell the Interim Artistic Director of the Mann Art Gallery exchanged text messages to set up some concepts before his arrival on Tuesday. Campbell was familiar with the 168 pieces submitted by local artists, and began to lay them out into different categories.
This week, Baerg was at the Mann Art Gallery to begin working through them.
“I was like, let’s arrange things that are really kind of thinking through abstraction and figurative approaches,” Baerg said. “She did kind of a layout … and I made tea, which I think is an important thing to think through because of how I relate to the work and space and this place.”
When you enter the gallery in the entrance way Baerg has started with fibre art and tactile process driven pieces.
He said he’s also sensitive to things like territory and land acknowledgements, so the he wanted pieces like a ribbon skirt or a fringe design or a tapestry piece at the start. However, Baerg said he also wants to lean into the winter aspect of the show.
“Some of the configurations and approaches really do think through ice floes and really kind of emulating those things,” Baerg said.
When you enter the gallery, transitions from the body and land to more conceptual pieces about the land.
“We’re acknowledging custodianship and the land and lived experiences here in Saskatchewan. Then we really are thinking about constellations or clusters,” Baerg said.
There is a section which has more three-dimensional works, including a piece by an Iranian artist. That area includes more abstractions and three-dimensional pieces that transition to more sculptural approaches and a cluster of ceramic pieces. There is another section that is more figurative painting,
Along the back wall there is a section of photographs of people.
Baerg said the majority of this year’s works are paintings. Campbell the medium is a common site at the Winter Festival Art Show and Sale.
“(That) speaks to what a lot of people are focusing on, what they’re thinking about, what they want to experiment with,” Campbell said. “They’re really steeped in painting, but there’s great incorporation of also different painting techniques and materials and experimentation.”
Baerg is a multifaceted Indigenous activist, curator, educator and interdisciplinary artist. He currently serves as an Assistant Professor in Indigenous Practices in Contemporary Painting and Media Art at OCAD (Ontario College of Art and Design) University in Toronto and he is impressed by the work in the Show.
“It’s really been an honour to be present and witness and engage with such a diverse range of creations,” he said. “It’s amazing how active and how much work has come forward. I am humbled. It’s profound. There’s a lot of activity in this region.
“There’s a deep commitment. You look at some of the ceramic pieces, and there’s some incredibly sophisticated, advanced approaches. to ceramic arts,” he added.
Baerg said he was honoured to do the curating and will have to make the decision well in advance of the Opening Gala and Awards Night on Feb. 6 at the Mann Art Gallery.
Baerg said he has some ideas on what will be the ceramic piece, photography and watercolour winners.
Campbell said that the process is intense every year for the curators.
“Our curators, they are attentive to each work, and regarding each work in a very fulsome way,” Campbell said.
Baerg said that being the Winter Festival Guest Curator is special because he is from Prince Albert and got his start as an artist with the Winter Festival Poster Contest.
“I learned how to draw with my mother on that poster,” he said. “The poster really was kind of promoting that Miss Winter Festival and I was probably like 14.”
In 1984, Baerg’s sister entered the Miss Winter Festival contest at the urging of one of her friends. The move brought mixed results.
“That day she won a crown, but she lost her friend because she won,” Baerg explained. “She went on (and) she represented Prince Albert at Miss Teen Canada.
“I think about like how meta that experience was about me learning how to draw. I focused on the Miss Winter Festival, which was a pageant and then my sister became Miss Teen PA.”
Baerg said he went to a television station in Toronto because of that win for his sister.
“That really impacted my life,” he said. “It all really impacted the trajectory of who I am today.
“The arts does transform, like arts and culture, really. That’s why I’m here, and it’s such an honour to come back home and to be amongst all of this great work.”
Baerg has had exhibitions in Mann Art Gallery, including one in 2021 and one in 2013.
“They were the only ones that really supported me to do my Master’s Degree,” he said. “They bought installation of my work, and that helped me to do my Master’s Degree. I have a lot to be grateful for and it’s a real honour to be here.”
It is also a rare thing in recent history for the Curator of the Winter Festival to be someone who has had an exhibition at the Mann.
Campbell said that Baerg’s long standing relationship with the Mann made him a great fit for the 50th anniversary Guest Curator role.
“It’s the 50th, which is really remarkable,” she said. “You think of who has a strong knowledge of many different art forms and approaches and art histories but also sense of place because over the years this exhibition has shown that it very much is rooted in place whether that’s nearby or within that and elsewhere.”
She said Baerg came to mind quickly because of his history with the gallery and being raised in Prince Albert. Through past conversations, she realized he understood what the Winter Festival Show and Sale means.
“It’s courageous for artists to put their work in this show,” Campbell said. “I knew Jason would be mindful of that. We really want curators who are paying attention in that way and then of course, who are going to create a fantastic and intriguing exhibition.”
Baerg said he was grateful Campbell thought of him for the spot but wanted to work it out with the university. He said he wanted to find a way to come and worked with his dean who supported him.
Baerg has set it up so he will only miss teaching three classes while he is away for the Winter Festival. He also likes to bring his experiences back to the classroom.
Baerg will be doing an Artist Talk on Saturday at the Mann Art Gallery, beginning at 7 p.m.
He said that his practice is varied and dynamic.
“I’ve always been incredibly interdisciplinary, although my declared discipline that I have an incredible commitment to is drawing and painting,” he said. “I feel like I’m a colourist, but I just completed an AI project that animates my ancestral images.”
Baerg said he may discuss the AI Project, but he may also discuss his contributions to Indigenous fashion in locations like New York and Vancouver for Indigenous Fashion Week.
Baerg is happy to return to his home as the Guest Curator.
“I am just really grateful to work with the Mann and to be in Prince Albert and I look forward to seeing everybody out at the PA Winter Festival. Happy 50.”
Baerg’s Artist Talk is at 7 p.m. on Jan. 31 and the 50th Winter Festival Show and Sale Opening Gala and Awards is on Feb. 6 at the EA Rawlinson Centre and Mann Art Gallery.
michael.oleksyn@paherald.sk.c