Saskatchewan Craft Council is pleased to present Passages, an exhibition of new sculptural works by artists Paula Cooley (Saskatoon, SK) and Louisa Ferguson (Meacham, SK).

Mentor Cooley and mentee Ferguson began collaborating as part of CARFAC (Canadian Artists’ Representation/Le Front des artistes canadiens) Saskatchewan’s Mentorship Program. This exhibition brings together collaborative and individual pieces which have been created as a direct result of the artists’ past mentor/mentee relationship.

Finding ways to integrate clay, glass, and metal, Cooley and Ferguson have focused on enhancing their diverse range of skills while engaging with concepts that come from a particular symbol. Cooley and Ferguson use the iconic form of a boat as a starting point. The resulting works showcase the creative journey of following a concept. In their artist statement, Cooley and Ferguson describe their collaborative process:

“The boat form allowed us to explore various interests, be it the formal qualities of light, shadow, and negative space or metaphorical journeys through life and time… For Passages, ideas and forms evolved as we handed off segments of sculptures to each other to respond to and build upon. The collaborative process can be difficult. There is always the push and pull of individual purpose, personal artistic vision and subjective meaning, but we both found that there was always an invigorating energy propelling us forward to see what work would ultimately emerge.”