January 6 | 6-7PM | FREE
Join us for our first Bletcher Hour of 2022! Sign up early to ensure you receive your reading before our holiday closure (Dec. 25-Jan. 4).
NEW for 2022!! Attend 8 out of 12 Bletcher Hours and receive a gift - your choice of a Bletcher Hour tote designed by Cindy Baker OR your choice of one publication available at the SAAG! Receive a Bletcher Hour bookmark at your first meeting and get it stamped at each monthly attendance.
The gallery’s critical reading group, named after our first librarian Hazel Bletcher, gathers for open discussion once a month. Readings explore key themes of the exhibitions and current events, with the intent to deepen our understanding of the artworks and their context within our community.
On Jan. 6, we will gather in the SAAG's Art Library (601 3rd Avenue South) to discuss Gunvor Guttorm's article "The Power of Natural Materials and Environments in Contemporary Duodji".
Gunvor Guttorm is a Sámi art historian, professor in duodji (Sámi arts and crafts, traditional art, applied art) at the Sámi University College in Guovdageaidnu/Kautokeino in Norway, and duojár (practitioner of duodji). In "The Power of Natural Materials," Guttorm argues that duodji today must be understood with regard to the practices of duojarat, Sámi worldviews and a concept of contemporaneity. The article is featured in Sámi Art and Aesthetics: Contemporary Perspectives, edited by Svein Aamold, with Elin Haugdal and Ulla Angkjær Jørgensen. Sámi Art and Aesthetics was selected for our Art Library by Jan-Erik Lundström, who curated our current exhibition Britta Marakatt-Labba's Under the Vast Sky.
Please note, the Southern Alberta Art Gallery is participating in the Government of Alberta’s Exemption Program. To enter the Gallery, visitors aged 12 and older will need to provide proof of vaccination, proof of vaccination exemption, or proof of a negative test result received within the last 72 hours. The provincial mask mandate is also in place, so we do ask that all in attendance wear face coverings.
Everyone is welcome to join these open discussions! Readings are sent as PDFs in advance of the event. Please contact Heather Kehoe, Publications & Programming Intern | hkehoe@saag.ca to sign up.