The Quiet Rebuild: New Portraits Exhibit opens Tomorrow!

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The Quiet Rebuild: New Portraits

Award-winning photographer and writer Alexis Marie Chute builds on her series of provocative images of individuals in their time of healing following hardship. The exhibition features never before seen photographs in the noteworthy series, now aptly exhibited at Harcourt House where the work was first conceived during Alexis Marie’s term as Artist in Residence in 2012/2013. In The Quiet Rebuild, Alexis Marie compassionately exposes the private struggles of volunteer models in large black and white photographs.

Artist Talk: Art and Healing

Alexis Marie Chute will speak about her photographs in The Quiet Rebuild –New Portraits. She will share the stories of her volunteer models and discuss the connection between creativity, healing and resiliency.

The Quiet Rebuild Alexis Marie Chute art photography exhibit invite back blog

Details of The Quiet Rebuild: New Portraits:

Location:

Drawing Room, Annex Building,

Harcourt House Artist Run Centre

10211-112 Street, Edmonton, AB, CAN

Exhibit Hours:

Saturday, February 28, 2015, 10:00am – 10:00pm

Sunday, March 1, 2015, 10:00am – 5:00pm

Events:

Artist Talk – Saturday, February 28, 6:30pm

Opening Reception – Saturday, February 28, 7:00pm

Please click here for a preview of the images in The Quiet Rebuild.

 

Hope to see you at the exhibition!

 

Musical Performance by Evan Crawford at “The Quiet Rebuild: New Portraits” Exhibit

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The Quiet Rebuild: New Portraits exhibition is this coming weekend and I’m excited! There are new portraits from individuals and families from across Canada. These photographs capture people who inspire viewers with their strength, determination and resiliency to overcome challenging obstacles and hardship. Their stories will touch your heart. They touched mine.

I am excited to announce that Evan Crawford will be the musical feature at the opening reception Saturday night, February 28th. I am passionate about supporting local musicians – plus, cross-discipline collaborations are awesome.

Get to know Evan Crawford:

Coming from a family of talented musicians, Evan Crawford learned to find something he loved about many different kinds of music. His early influences include country, blues and rock and roll. His country roots taught him how to make something beautiful in its simplicity, while incorporating the darker sound of blues, and the edgy lyricism of rock and roll. These things combined create an alternative sound that can be enjoyed in both peaceful and up-beat environments.

His upcoming EP called In Her Hands, marks his coming to grips with falling in love, while at the same time thinking that anybody who loved him was fated for unhappiness. The five song EP begins with the initial concept of not wanting nor deserving love and ends with a song conveying his acceptance. His single Among the Stars pays tribute to his guitar teacher who passed away when Evan was fourteen, who still remains his single greatest influence in music.

Preview his music on Reverbnation and check out Evan on Facebook.

Details of The Quiet Rebuild: New Portraits:

Location:

Drawing Room, Annex Building,

Harcourt House Artist Run Centre

10211-112 Street, Edmonton, AB, CAN

Exhibit Hours:

Saturday, February 28, 2015, 10:00am – 10:00pm

Sunday, March 1, 2015, 10:00am – 5:00pm

Events:

Artist Talk – Saturday, February 28, 6:30pm

Opening Reception – Saturday, February 28, 7:00pm

Please click here for a preview of the images in The Quiet Rebuild.

 

Come be Inspired by Photography at InFocus Edmonton – Exhibition starts Tomorrow!

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InFocus Edmonton starts tomorrow and you don’t want to miss it! The doors open at 10:00am on Saturday, February 21, followed by evening activities beginning at 6:30pm with the Curator Talk by yours truly. After that, at 7:00pm the opening party officially kicks off with wine and snacks. It will be a great time of mingling, creative conversations and, most importantly, amazing photography by some of Edmonton’s artistic gems. Later in the evening, Mohsin Zaman will grace us with his music. It is sure to be a very memorable night! Then Sunday, February 22, the gallery is open from 10:00am to 5:00pm.

InFocus Edmonton photographers:

Akemi Matsubuchi

Al Dixon

Alicia Proudfoot

Bethany MacCallum

Brady Simpson

Bri Vos

Candace Makowichuk

Chan Rin

Christine Rossi

Christopher Shaw

Colin Vince

Curtis Trent

Dan McKechnie

Darrin Hagen

Daryl Kozub

David Aaron

Dawn LeBlanc

Eric Petersen

Gerry Dotto

Hedy Bach

Jenn Hang

Jonathan Schell

Karue Wahchira

Kevin Tuong

Marc Chalifoux

Martin Snider

Nicolas Abarca

Robert Pohl

Tim Lutic

Wilfred Kozub

InFocus Edmonton YEG invitation Alexis Marie Chute Photography exhibit info

InFocus Edmonton:

Location:

Drawing Room, Annex Building,

Harcourt House Artist Run Centre

10211-112 Street, Edmonton, AB, CAN

Exhibit Hours:

Saturday, February 21, 2015, 10:00am – 10:00pm

Sunday, February 22, 2015, 10:00am – 5:00pm

Events:

Curator Talk – Saturday, February 21, 6:30pm

Opening Reception – Saturday, February 21, 7:00pm

Please click here to learn more about InFocus Edmonton and to RSVP to the opening.

Also, connect with InFocus on Twitter and also on Facebook.

We look forward to seeing you at InFocus!

 

Exposure Photography Festival Kicks-off around Alberta

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February is an exciting month – and even more so now as the much-enjoyed Exposure Photography Festival spreads across the province for the first time. Up to 2015, Exposure was only celebrated in Calgary, Banff and Canmore – but no longer!

Personally, I am thrilled that all of Alberta, particularly our capital region of Edmonton, will have the chance to host exhibitions, artist talks and other programming about photography.

Along with my tireless partner, Aaron Chute, I am curating an exhibit called InFocus. The show will feature Edmonton and area photographers under one roof in the drawing room at Harcourt House. We have such a creative community and this is a fabulous opportunity to show it off!

Exposure Photography Festival Alexis Marie Chute Artist Photographer 001 blog Exposure Photography Festival Alexis Marie Chute Artist Photographer 005 blog

Not only am I working away at InFocus, but I also have a solo exhibition of my own work, entitled The Quiet Rebuild: New Portraits. These images feature volunteer models from across Canada who have endured struggle and tragedy and yet embody an incredible amount of resiliency. It is truly a pleasure to share the stories of others and be a part of their journey.

Exposure Photography Festival Alexis Marie Chute Artist Photographer 003 blog Exposure Photography Festival Alexis Marie Chute Artist Photographer 004 blog

 

 

Healing by the Creative Arts

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Through making my art, I discovered art therapy in a natural, organic way. No one told me to try it to help me heal. I wasn’t recommended a set of exercises to do in order to find myself. I just sat down in my studio with a pile of small woodcuts and got started without any direction or even conscious intent. The first wood sculpture I made I named The Quiet Rebuild and it was the beginning of that larger body of work.

Since then I have looked into the theory of art therapy and find it very stimulating and thoughtful for me in my professional art practice. In one of the semesters of my MFA I took an art therapy class as an interdisciplinary option and found it deepened my perspectives on art and healing. It gave me a new dimension in making, reflecting on and contextualizing my work. Since then the wood sculptures in The Quiet Rebuild grew to incorporate portraits of real people sharing their stories of resilience.

Now I am honoured to teach about the restorative potential of creativity. I offer two workshops: 

Healing through Visual Art

Healing through the Written Word

This summer and fall I will be presenting these workshops in Chicago Illinois, Amsterdam in the Netherlands, Sherwood Park Alberta and San Antonio Texas. If you are interested in having one or both of these presentations at your conference, event or association, please email me at info@alexismariechute.com

I strongly believe that art must say something that matters. Within my work, I wrestle with the ideas of loss, struggle and survival. You can read more about my approach in my Artist Statement.

Art & Photography Updates

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February has been a busy month! Here are some exciting new updates:

Art

Photography

  • As the month wraps up so too does my exhibition of “The Quiet Rebuild” portraits at Art Central in Calgary as a part of Exposure Photography Festival. I gave two artist talks, “The Stories Behind the Portraits” and “Healing Through Creative Arts.” I was also featured on CBC radio in Calgary two weekends in a row talking about my work and a week ago I photographed ten new volunteer models for the project. (If you are interested in participating, please email me info@alexismariechute.com)

 

Photo by Chris Tait

Photo by Chris Tait

Photo by Chris Tait

Photo by Chris Tait

  • I am a finalist in the VISTEK Emerging Photographer Showcase. There are two days left for the online voting so if you like my work please lend me your support before February 27th at midnight! Click here to vote.

 

Upcoming Events: Stories behind the Portraits on Feb 15, then Music and Art on Feb 21

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This month is a busy one for me, commuting back and forth between Edmonton and Calgary every weekend – but boy am I having a blast! Last weekend was the opening reception of “The Quiet Rebuild” and I loved meeting so many new people and talking about my work.

Alexis Marie Chute The Quiet Rebuild Fine Art Portraits 1 blog

 

THIS WEEKEND

 

The Stories behind the Portraits of The Quiet Rebuild

Art Central, 100 – 7th Avenue S.W. Calgary, Alberta, Canada

Saturday, February 15, 2014, 11 a.m.

Join Alexis Marie Chute as she shares the harrowing yet inspiring stories of her volunteer models. From infidelity, heart attack and loss, her portraits tell tales of resiliency to overcome any obstacle. Alexis Marie will also reveal her own experience which was the impetus behind it all.

Alexis Marie Chute The Quiet Rebuild Fine Art Portraits 2 blog

 

NEXT WEEKEND

 

 

A Night of Art and Music with Alexis Marie and Drowning Ophelia

Friday, February 21, 2014

Doors open at 7:00 pm, music at 7:30 pm

By donation, RSVP on Facebook

Art Central, 100 – 7th Avenue S.W. Calgary, Alberta, Canada

Local up-and-coming Canadian band, Drowning Ophelia, will be bringing their Alternative-Blues-Pop sound to Exposure Photography Festival to compliment Alexis Marie Chute’s art exhibition, “The Quiet Rebuild”. Come for a night of wine, snacks and the inspiring fusion of art and music!

This is an 18+ event, sorry no minors.

 

Drowning Ophelia Bio

You could possibly label Drowning Ophelia as “alternative pop;” however, their music combines influences from classic rock to Latin sounds, and have been described as “Santana meets No Doubt meets The Barenaked Ladies”. Currently they are working on their second album, to be released late 2014.

“Watch for them, and you might be saying ‘I saw them long before they were so famous.'”(Tracy Kolenchuck, Edmonton Arts Photographer)

Check out Drowning Ophelia online.

 

Healing through Creative Arts

Art Central, 100 – 7th Avenue S.W. Calgary, Alberta, Canada

Saturday, February 22, 2014, 11 a.m.

After the death of her son, Alexis Marie Chute realized that photography, art and writing were powerful tools to express grief. Join Alexis Marie as she discusses creative personal expression and ways that photography can be used to find healing and self-fulfillment. Examples of photographic image making will be presented.