It looks as though Cold Lake artist Alex Janvier’s works could be going on an extended tour.
The City of Cold Lake had loaned a piece, entitled “Big Fish Waters (L’ohwa’chok Touwah’)”, to the National Art Gallery, in Ottawa, where they expected to have it on display as part of an exhibition of Janvier’s work until April. The piece was commissioned in 1982 and usually hangs at City Hall.
Now however, the city has gotten a request to extend their loan into September of 2018 so that it can go on a cross-country national tour.
“Alex Janvier is one of Canada’s most acclaimed contemporary artists,” a blurb for him on the National Gallery’s website reads. “His unique and authentic style, a combination of Indigenous and modern art influences and techniques, is not seen anywhere else in the world. Universal in appeal, his paintings reference Indigenous culture and history, as well as his own outlook on life.”
Janvier has been having quite the run lately. In addition to his exhibition he was also commissioned to create a mosaic for the new Rogers Place in Edmonton called “Tsa tsa ke k’e (Iron Foot Place).”