MADI AITKEN, SILAS MURRAY-PEYTON, ABIGAIL NORTHCOTT, RAEMOND PARKER-RAUDA, DANI SPAN, TITANIA TOMPSON
GENERATIVE PROMPT: ARTIST MENTORSHIP WITH MICHELLE SYLVESTRE
10 MAY 2025 - 26 JULY 2025

Alongside the long-running Art’s Alive and Well in the Schools exhibition every Spring at the Southern Alberta Art Gallery Maansiksikaitsitapiitsinikssin, Generative Prompt is a group exhibition of local high school students working in an artist mentorship model with Lethbridge-based artist Michelle Sylvestre. This project began with monthly mentorship meetings hosted by Sylvestre, guiding the students through steps of material experimentation, creation, and concept formulation. Through the guidance of a practicing contemporary artist, this project offers an interested group of highschool students an in-depth opportunity to learn the possibilities of contemporary art practice, from artwork creation to presentation in their own thematic exhibition. 

This exhibition originated with a prompt to the six artists about engagement with the rapidly evolving world of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Utilizing a range of mediums, the artists explore themes of environmental impact, the absorption of human information, and the shifting role of humanity in an increasingly digital world. Some artists incorporate shrinking plastic, a versatile material that adds texture and depth to their expressions of AI's influence. Through their diverse works, each artist provokes us to consider how AI increasingly intersects with our lives through the intertwining of machine and human expression, its repercussions on energy and water consumption, and ongoing tensions between organisms and machines in the realms of imagination and creation.

Michelle Sylvestre holds a BFA in Art (2017) and an MFA in New Media (2021) from the University of Lethbridge, located on Treaty 7 Territory, Alberta. Currently pursuing a PhD in Cultural, Social, and Political Thought, her research investigates systemic patriarchal and colonial biases in artificial intelligence (AI). As an interdisciplinary artist, Sylvestre’s public and exhibition work examines identity and community through technology, sculpture, and performance. Using research-creation, she merges critical inquiry with artistic practice to address complex sociocultural challenges, advocating for equity and inclusion in technology.

Sylvestre is a Researcher in Residence in the Abundance Intelligence Niitsitapi Pod in the Centre for Indigenous Art, Research, and Technology and a sessional instructor at the University of Lethbridge. During her masters, she received the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) scholarship and is currently a finalist in the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation Scholarship.

Visual Arts Teacher Facilitator: Tiffany Kiist

Organized in cooperation with Lethbridge Collegiate Institute of the Lethbridge School Division.

We acknowledge the support of the City of Lethbridge, the Canada Council for the Arts, and the Alberta Foundation for the Arts.