The image of the Viking has tended to be one of a horned, bloodthirsty barbarian. The Vikings exhibition reveals a more complete image of Vikings as traders, raiders, skilled merchants, homesteaders, colonists, sailors and craftspeople. Interpretive panels with mounted artifacts from excavations in North America and Europe explore Viking activities in both continents. Learn about daily life, crafts and trade. Discover what a typical settlement looked like in both North America and Europe. Be amazed at their sophisticated ship building techniques. Call 905-984-8880 for Museum hours and information.

Farheen grew up in St. Catharines and was mentored by NAC member Carolyn Wren. She is a video installation and photo-based artist now living in Victoria. As Farheen describes in her artist statement:

"My art practice investigates the body as a site of struggle and performance as a way to activate space…I use myself as a subject in a way for me to exert my agency and create expansive spaces in opposition to the many closed and rigid systems that are imposed upon my body.”

The exhibition is made possible through the support of the Audrey Shimizu Memorial Fund and the Niagara Community Foundation. This fund was established in 2005 in memory of NAC member, environmentalist and artist Audrey Shimizu to support the payment of exhibition fees to women artists exhibiting at NAC.

pastel on paper, 2008

May 9 - 27
NUTS - another mixed bag: Sheldon Rooney
Cram

Self taught and driven to record his daily life, St. Catharines' artist Sheldon Rooney presents a new portfolio of pastel drawings.  His direct, unschooled style represents the freshness we come to expect from the best forms of primal regionalism in the post modern world.  Whether sitting at home, attending a wedding, or visiting metropolis, all Rooney's views are fair game for colourfull statements about everyday life.  It is what you might expect to come from a Heavy Rock lover - simple, crazed, and a bit loud.

David Spriggs, Archaeology of Space, acrylic on curved polyester sheeting in display case, 2008.

Opening Reception: Saturday, May 31 at 2 p.m.
Artist Talk: Saturday, May 31 at 3 p.m.

"The exhibition Archaeology of Space is the culmination of an ongoing investigation into the thresholds of image and space.  Working simultaneously with concepts of space and in real space, I tangibly explore the manipulation and reconstruction of image and space. These scaled down abstractions of nature have an illusionary reality to them.  Archaeology of Space is placed on the ceiling - a place often reserved for religious iconography - submitting the viewer into a power relationship." - David Spriggs

David Spriggs was born in Manchester, England and currently resides in Montreal.  He attended the Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design in Vancouver where he received his BFA in 1999, and he received his MFA from Concordia University in 2007.  While enrolled at these schools he attended student exchange at Central St. Martins College in London, England and Bauhaus University in Weimar, Germany.  Spriggs was given the Arts Achievement Award at the annual Immigrants of Distinction Awards in Calgary in 1998 and has since then exhibited in New York, Toronto, London, Calgary, and Vancouver.  His work is represented by Galerie Art Mūr, Montreal and Leo Kamen Gallery, Toronto.  A catalogue documenting Spriggs' work will be co-produced by Rodman Hall and the Southern Alberta Art Gallery.

June 14
GAVEL, GALA, HEY!
Art Auction and Black Tie Dinner
The Niagara Artists' Company

Takes place at the Canada Hair Cloth building
Doors open at 7:30 pm
Tickets $100

Opening Reception: Saturday, June 21 at 2 p.m.

This new body of work brings together objects, video, audio, and photos that, in some way, all fall under the category of disappearing things. They have been collected and arranged to offer a loosely structured installation. While their relationship to the idea of disappearing things may initially seem obvious, their relationship to each other will allow for an ever-shifting renegotiation of relevance. A bookwork with text by Jacob Wren will accompany the exhibition.

Gwen MacGregor is a Toronto artist working in installation and video. Her work reflects her close observation of time and how its passage shapes small dramas or uncannily familiar situations. In 2001 her work was presented in the Present Tense Project series at the Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto. MacGregor's work has also been shown in many group exhibitions across Canada and in Mexico City, London, Prague, Venice, Shanghai and Los Angeles. In 2003 she was the recipient of the Friends of the Visual Arts, Toronto, Artist of the Year Award. In 2004 she participated in the International Studio/Curatorial Program in New York. MacGregor presented her first solo exhibition at Jessica Bradley Art and Projects in Toronto in 2006. Last year she exhibited her work in Paris, Berlin, and Madrid as part of Rencontres Internationales video festival.