A unique art exhibition opens October 3, 2019 at the University of Alberta’s Augustana Campus Library. Marilène Oliver’s art project Bodies of Data uses scientific images of the human body to create stunning works of art. The exhibition will be on display until December 2, 2019.


As part of a series of events Leonardo da Vinci, 500 Years Later that celebrates work, achievements and influences of one of the most famous artists and polymaths in the history of Western civilization, Augustana Library is honoured to host the art exhibition Bodies of Data by Marilène Oliver.

From the early stages, artists studied the human body and applied this knowledge to their art. Leonardo da Vinci is one of the most famous artists who did this. It is well known that he was given permission to dissect human corpses in the hospitals of renaissance Italy to study and draw human anatomy. 500 years after Leonardo, Marilène Olivier continues exploring the human body. She uses contemporary medical equipment and rich online resources to do so. Marilène began using a variety of radiology images of herself and her family and as her work developed, she also engaged with digital medical tools such as OsiriX. In the artist's own words, working with Melanix, the radiology scans of an unidentified woman available through online databases, “freed [her] from having a personal relationship with the subject.” Marilène’s art successfully plays on the thin line between our curiosity for knowledge and our intrinsic fears telling us how we don’t want to know what’s happening inside of our own bodies and those of people close to us.


Originally coming from the United Kingdom, where she gained her art degrees in prestigious schools in London, Marilène currently works in Edmonton where she also does research and teaches art. Years of traveling around the world and exhibiting in renowned venues brought her to the University of Alberta in 2016.

Join us for the artist talk in Wahkohtowin Lodge on October 3, 2019 at 5 pm, and for the opening reception in Augustana Campus Library at 6 PM.

Royden Mills has done it again and set up an astonishing exhibit in the Rutherford Galleria and in Rutherford Library South. Undergraduate students, graduate students and local artists have thought about an issue that matters to them and how it is represented in material that we use.

The hope is to elicit a response in you, big or small, and figure how we feel about these issues of importance.  Life is short and how do we spend our time? 


By going to school, going to work, and then retiring, our infinitely quick, precious lives are over. How do we deal with our own mortality?



What is life really about? Have we fulfilled our purpose and helped make a difference? Have we stopped living in the present moment, missed brief moments of brilliance or revelations that stand out to change us? When we use material or “matter” it is soon gone; discarded; and forgotten. Matter is how we navigate the world with our bodies and what material we use to do so.

This art exhibit portrays the artists’ take on social movements or issues that are important to them. We, as the audience, will see what each piece means to us; what issues in the world we care about; and how we have contributed to its success or decline.  Will you let yourself be moved even if you do not completely understand? 

Are you willing to see what matters in the pieces of art that are deeply personal and original and stop and to think, “What matters to me?”

Come to the Rutherford Library Galleria to feast your eyes on this unique exhibition. The Opening Celebration is on Saturday, April 13, 2019 from 1 pm – 4 pm.

Come back on Saturday, April 27, 2019 from 1 pm – 4 pm for International Sculpture Day! There will be a talk led by our artists.  Everyone is welcome.  

The exhibit will only stay up until May 11, 2019, so be sure to head down to the Rutherford Library Galleria after your exams are done for a relaxing viewing. You will not want to miss out!

More information on International Sculpture Day: https://www.sculpture.org/isday/index.shtml

-Pictures by Hanne Pearce

We are pleased to present an art installation prepared by the secondary education art students (EDSE 312/313) under the guidance of their instructor: Ron Wigglesworth. The students' ingenuity and creativity were challenged in these projects and the mixed media results are thought provoking.

The libraries hosted a fantastic exhibition this spring in the Rutherford Galleria from April 14 to May 14, 2018. Check out this guest post from Royden Mills, UAlberta Sculpture Instrutor.

Curators: Marilène Oliver and Royden Mills, K-Lee Fraser
Special Thanks to:  Stephanie Jonsson, Cambell Wallace, Steve Dixon and Mark Seignor

This Exhibition offered energy from the momentum of studio artists who either were studying or have studied in direct connection to the Faculty of Arts and especially the Department of Art and Design at the University of Alberta. First Nations artists from Portage College in Lac La Biche presented an important collaborative Installation for this exhibition as invited guests.

The spectrum of contributing artists included First-year Fundamental students with a cross section of Undergraduate students, a few Graduate students and former students who already had terrific, professional careers. This exhibition ran for a month and was really a wonderful opportunity; and we were grateful to the Rutherford Library staff, especially Michael May, who started the exhibitions years ago. We gratefully acknowledged stellar support from Sarah Polkinghorne who enthusiastically supported it and K-Lee Fraser who carried the energy wonderfully this year.



The Printmaking and Sculpture Divisions at the U of A made the show a part of the course curriculum and the undergraduate student work done by them was completed for this exhibition in less than the thirteen weeks of course time this term.  The energy they dedicated spoke to a passion they had for efficiently using their studio practice and reached out in an effort to inspire others.  These artists were all trying to make lives as studio professionals.



Change Climate:  The exhibition was titled in a way about the climate that these students wanted to address which included a range of serious issues that affected the climate of our existence.  The changing weather patterns were obviously a very big and significant concern in our era, the anxieties that we felt over human influence over temperature change, the hopes and fears we felt around the socio-political climate of our era are also very much in the forefront of the minds of some of these artists too.

In some cases the work spoke directly and obviously with full force on trying to provoke change or reaction, but in other cases there was expressed equivocation over feelings to do with human wilfulness and engagement with nature.  There was no question that we had to do something about SO many things in our era and these were the people who carried the responsibility of trying to inspire us by using their Fine Art studio practice. They hoped we would consider things that we may have overlooked about being alive. Perhaps it was the role of artists to present alternatives to orthodoxy in our world through the very way they lived.



Our students studied the traditions of Fine Arts proudly; they all were taught how to draw accurately, they were taught how to sculpt accurately, and they studied art history and contemporary visual culture; and they were faced with trying to sort out how they must generate sustainable lives as professional artists.

The Art and Design Department has proven remarkably successful at launching people into pertinent careers by helping to build individuals who are agile enough to deal with many types of traditional and contemporary media. The students were challenged to take on the same uncommon work ethic that professionals of any discipline require.

You saw work here by a spectrum of artists, junior through accomplished artists seeking not merely to match the décor or be background music to the daily life of this University space.  They sought more. They respected the intelligence of the audience and believed that, generally speaking, all people enjoyed arriving at doing something that at first they may not have considered possible of themselves.  That kind of satisfaction over applying one’s self and challenging one’s self was a sign of respect offered by these artists to the audience.

In the end, the work validated both artist and audience member and in that way art really can save lives, one validation at a time.  We hope you found something that stirred something in you!

Royden Mills, Co-curator of the exhibition, April 2018

Eye-popping artwork is brightening the John W. Scott Health Sciences Library for the month of April. For the fifth year in a row the Scott Library is partnering the Faculty of Medicine (FoM) to present projects created by second year medical students as a part of their Patient Immersion Experiences (PIE).

PIE is an initiative wherein medical students are paired with patient mentors to learn how the process of illness and treatment has affected their lives. Students are then tasked with creating an original piece of artwork inspired by what they’ve learned.

This wonderful exhibit, which includes paintings, sculptures, photographs and more will be at the John W. Scott Health Sciences Library until April 29, 2017. The Health Sciences library is located on the 2nd floor of the Walter C. Mackenzie Health Sciences Centre.

Did you know that over 30% of students at the UofA do not get an adequate amount of sleep? This deficit can result in poor grades, cognitive deficits, and poor physical and psychological health. Sleep, like good nutrition and exercise, is considered one of the foundations necessary for a happy, healthy life. For many post-secondary students, sleep is a major self-care challenge and a potential obstacle to success. Yuluan Wang and Vineet Prasad, graduate students with the Faculty of Rehabilitation Medicine, are on a mission to make the UofA a sleep-healthy campus.

Earlier this year, Yuluan and Vineet were awarded a Heroes for Health grant for their proposal to raise awareness of the effects of sleep on health. As a part of this initiative they have created an eClass course called Dream Big, Sleep Tight, where members of the UofA community can learn about the perils of sleep deficiency and how to combat it.

To help promote this course and the overall importance of sleep, Yuluan and Vineet have put together an exciting new exhibit at the John W. Scott Health Sciences Library. Exploring everything from hidden sources of caffeine to gadgets that can help and harm sleep this exhibit has plenty of solutions to help you catch the Zzzs you need to help you succeed. The Sleep for Success Exhibit will be hosted at the Scott Library from October 16 until November 19, 2017.

In celebration of Canada 150, UAlberta Libraries, in collaboration with UAlberta International, asked international students, "What does Canada mean to you?"

We took 75 student portraits with their answers and created a photo exhibit that will be on display in the Rutherford Galleria throughout July and August 2017.



Thank you to the UAlberta students who shared their thoughts with us for the exhibit. Please come by to check it out!

University of Alberta Libraries and the Faculty of Graduate and Studies and Research are pleased to announce the winners of the second annual Images of Research Competition and Exhibition. This innovative program challenges graduate students to capture, share, and present the essence of their research in one image.

The response from students was enthusiastic. Over 100 visually dynamic images were submitted, representing research across a wide range of disciplines. From those entries, our 6 judges chose 24 images for inclusion in the exhibition, as well as our top prize winners. In addition, UAlberta community members cast over 750 votes for our People’s Choice Award.

And the winners are....

Dylan Brenneis
Master’s
Mechanical Engineering
First Prize (Tie) - $700
Self Portrait 2045


The second tie winner for first is:

Camelia Vokey
Master’s
Occupational Therapy
First Prize (Tie)  - $700
I Am Not Alone


Third prize and honourable mentions:

Noemi de Bruijn
Master’s Art & Design
Third Prize - $500
Wonder-trail in Blue and Yellow


Camille Burger
Ph.D
Drama
Honorable Mention - $250
Body as a Home


Ashley Sims
Ph.D
History & Classics
Honorable Mention - $250
‘Divers cullort ribbans’: material evidence from the archives


The winner of the People’s Choice Award, receiving 87 of the 795 votes, is:

Trevor Poitras
Master’s
Neuroscience
People's Choice - $250
Outgrowth


Congratulations and sincere thanks to all of our winners and entrants for sharing their brilliant images and engaging research summaries!

Winning and semi-finalist images will soon be available online through UAL’s digital repository, ERA.

The public exhibition will be on display in Cameron Library from April 6 to 30, 2017.

Mounties on the Cover is an exhibition containing highlights of a large and extraordinary collection of books that depict the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP).

The Mountie appeared in hundreds of Hollywood movies but was more often seen in the works of hundreds of artists and illustrators, on the covers of thousands of dust jackets, magazines, and comic books.

Robert Leighton.Sergeant Silk, the Prairie Scout. 1929. Robert Leighton (1859-1933) was born in Scotland. He wrote seven books about Mounties. This dust jacket appeared on many other children’s books not authored by Leighton and with no Mountie content, suggesting that it was used as a marketing tool.

The collection represents 50 years of book collecting by distinguished Staff Sergeant (retired) Al Lund of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, who generously donated his entire collection to the University of Alberta Libraries in recent years.

The exhibition opens to the public on Monday, March 20th in Bruce Peel Special Collections (Rutherford South, lower level). For more details: bpsc.library.ualberta.ca

Photo from (dis)Agreements created collaboratively by HUM participants.

The Humanities Program invites you to the opening reception of (dis)Agreements in Cameron Library on January 10th, 2017, 5:30 - 8:30 PM, or to walk through the display from January 9 - 26, 2017.

For this exhibit, participants explored how systems and institutions are built on (dis)agreements and how people, often unwillingly, become part of the agreements by accessing these systems. They explored the role power plays in developing systems and how power is accessed and withheld.

The Humanities Program (HUM) brings together a diverse group of adult learners who all share a passion for lifelong learning. The program is a collaborative effort between the U of A and the greater off-campus community. It offers multiple courses each year that emphasize critical thinking in everyday life.

Each term, they work together to produce a cumulative project that highlights their learning. It is an opportunity to showcase the knowledge of the participants and, more importantly, for the learners to take ownership of it.

Projects in HUM are described as a work in progress. Every class they try to set aside thirty minutes for an activity that provides people with different ways to learn and share. Each project is the beginning of a new idea. HUM celebrates "unfinished" works and challenges you to think differently about what learning looks like and how it is shared.

Rutherford Library is proud to be hosting Wooooodland, a sculptural and mixed media art display until December 23, 2016. The artist, Leona Clawson, is Stantec's Artist of the Year from The Nina Haggerty Centre for the Arts.

Stop by to visit this playful and immersive display in Rutherford South.

The University of Alberta Libraries and Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research are pleased to announce the winners of the Images of Research competition

The 6 prize winners are:

• Pony Meyer: 1st prize for King Me!
• Angela Marino: 2nd prize for Beneath the Flesh
• Dustin Lillico: 3rd prize for Capture and Engulfment of Extracellular Targets by Regulating Membrane Remodelling in Immune Cells
• Ryan Stanfield: Honourable mention for Pore it On
• Stephen Cruikshank: Honourable mention for Havana's Shadows
• Hansy Herrera: People’s Choice Award for The Sons Of Drugs And Violence

L to R: Dustin Lillico, Ryan Stanfield, Pony Meyer, Stephen Cruikshank, Hansy Herrera, Angela Marino Photo by: Xinli Cai

The winning images were just 6 of 114 images entered in our inaugural Images of Research competition, and were received from students in Masters and Doctoral programs representing almost every faculty at UAlberta.

Winning and semifinalist images will be showcased in an exhibition on the main floor of the Cameron Science and Technology Library through May 30, 2016.

Congratulations to our winners, and all of the entrants!

• Visit the Images of Research web site for more information
• Contact ior@ualberta.ca if you have questions or comments

These compelling works of art are part of the MD program’s Patient Immersion Experience (PIE) program, a longitudinal initiative introduced in 2013. Pairs of incoming medical students are partnered with a patient mentor in an innovative program designed to instill a deeper understanding of the human side of medicine by learning directly from patients’ experience of disease and illness. The culmination of this program is the creation of a unique piece of art inspired by the experiences and connections forged between student and patient.

We invite everyone to come by the John W. Scott Library between March 23 and April 22, 2016 to view this wonderful exhibit, which includes paintings, sculptures, photographs and audio-visual installations.  The Health Sciences library is located on the 2nd floor of the Walter C. Mackenzie Health Sciences Centre (enter the University of Alberta Hospital via the 114 Street entrance across from the Health Sciences/ Jubilee LRT Station, or using the the 112 Street entrance; ask for directions at the Information Desk).

The University of Alberta Libraries (UAL) and Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research (FGSR) are excited to announce an Images of Research competition for all current graduate students.

The aim of this competition and its accompanying exhibition, are to:

• challenge current University of Alberta graduate students from all disciplines to capture, share, and present the essence of their research in one image, diagram or drawing
• showcase and preserve graduate student research in print and digital form within the Library and beyond it
• foster student engagement and support graduate students’ academic endeavours

Entries will be accepted from February 24th to March 23rd, 2016. All entries must be received by the competition closing date.

Six prizes will be awarded as follows:

• 1st - $800
• 2nd - $600
• 3rd - $500
• Two Honourable mentions - $250 each
• One People’s Choice - $250

Winners will be announced in April.  Winning and semifinalist entries will be printed and exhibited in Cameron Library.

Visit the Images of Research web site for more information and to submit your entry.

Contact ior@ualberta.ca if you have any questions or comments.

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