IRIS at 20 for FAC 2017

Jan. 9, 2017 to April 28, 2017

IRIS at 20

Opening: Monday January 16, 5.30-7.30 
Panel: 6.30-7.30

 CWSE Hallway Gallery
252 Bloor Street West, 2nd Floor
Toronto, ON

Exhibition Dates:
Jan. 9 2017 to April 28 2017
Open days & evenings: free & accessible

Over many years of International Women’s Day (IWD) celebrations, the IRIS Group has mounted a series of Women In . . . projects and events that involved the collection of donated objects, images and writings invested with personal or symbolic meaning. These intimate donations represent a culture of gracious sharing among women. The items now form an IRIS archive, which is part of an extensive dialogue concerning women’s issues. Each IRIS member has chosen an item and partnered it  with new artwork, retaining, expanding or reinterpreting the original story that accompanied the donation. IRIS at 20 was first exhibited at the Robert McLaughlin Gallery, Oshawa, in celebration of the group’s 20th anniversary. The CWSE Gallery exhibit will include original artwork and photographic works on paper that document large works, delicate materials and installation pieces. The visual work will be accompanied by individual artist’s statements. 

The installation entitled, The Archive, is a compilation of donated objects suspended within steel bowls. The reflective, metal framework and concave surface creates optical distortions and perceptions that engage and require further investigation, encasing each piece in its own physical reflection. The ritualistic role of the bowl, the domesticity of the containers and their connection to gender roles, and the tradition of displayed, archived objects are examined elements of The Archive.

IRIS at 20's exhibit is WIA's satellite exhibition for Feminist Art Conference 2017 and will serve to focus our activities around International Women’s Day at the Centre for Women’s Studies in Education (CWSE), OISE/University of Toronto.

The IRIS Group, a visual arts collective of ten women artists, was formed in 1996 as a forum whose aim is to raise levels of access for women in the arts, share ideas, offer mutual support, and develop projects that further the overall intentions of the group. IRIS has exhibited work and mounted women-centred outreach projects in public and private galleries and on campuses in Ontario, Alberta and New York State.  Recent exhibition activity includes IRIS at 20 at RMG Oshawa and FILMIC at Station Gallery Whitby.  Catalogues and other publications are available at http://www.theirisgroup.ca

 International Women's Day publication recording the herstory of IRIS IWD exhibitions:
http://www.theirisgroup.ca/uploads/6/3/3/9/6339395/iwdbook3.pdf
IRIS is a member of CARFAC Ontario.
Participating artists for IRIS at 20: Laura M. Hair, Judith Mason, Mary Ellen McQuay, Margaret Rodgers, Janice Taylor-Prebble, Sally Thurlow, Wendy Wallace
IRIS Contact person: Laura Hair:  lmh.art@rogers.com 

Iris Group;
https://oshawa.snapd.com/event/919717#/






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