The UNB Art Centre presents the work of emerging and established Canadian artists. Exhibitions will be listed here for the current year.
Exhibition opened: Friday, March 8 at 5 p.m. until April 29.
The UNB Art Centre celebrates its 13th annual World Water Day with two exhibitions, Beachcomber by Gary Weekes and Aqua by Jean-Christophe Lemay. World Water Day (WWD) is an initiative of the United Nations to bring awareness to the importance of water resources and their sustainable management. This year’s exhibition represents two different perspectives on WWD. Weekes’ focus is less about environmental concerns and more about social ones - the use of water as a historic means of transportation as it relates particularly to the Black experience.
Lemay on the other hand, presents a series of large-scale photographs that depict the power and beauty of our Canadian waters and its inhabitants. Through his camera, Lemay creates stunning documents of the great Canadian outdoors and invites the viewer on this passionate journey with him.
Weekes’ Beachcomber presents a perspective on Black Canadian history. On the walls are images of the Bay of Fundy’s New River Beach. As part of the North Atlantic, the waters of the Bay of Fundy, are those same waters that touch the shores of England and Africa providing the currents upon which 18th century sailing vessels plied their trade.
On the gallery floor, blocks of concrete and epoxy resin encapsulate images of driftwood and stone. For Weekes, the stones collected on the beach represent the ballast used to keep ships afloat, while the driftwood stands in for the slave ships themselves.
Gary Weekes is a Fredericton-based photographer and filmmaker who has exhibited at the Fredericton Regional Public Library, the Charlotte Street Art Centre, Gallery on Queen, and the New Brunswick Sports Hall of Fame. He is the first Black artist to have a solo exhibit at the Beaverbrook Art Gallery. In 2023 he was the recipient of CBC’s Black Changemaker Award. Weekes has received Canada Council and ArtsNB grants in support of his work.
He has participated in the FAA Artist-in-Residence program and taught photography for EdVentures and the UNB Art Centre’s Leisure Learning and Design Works programs. He is Vice-President of the New Brunswick Black Artists Alliance, President of DocTAlks, and a Board member of ArtsLink NB and the Fredericton Arts Alliance.
Photographer Jean-Christophe Lemay’s exhibition Aqua, directs his lens on Canada’s aquatic environments and the animals that inhabit them. His images are a means to discover the bounty that exists in this country but also to highlight the precariousness of these ecosystems. As a result of habitat degradation, pollution, over-hunting and over-fishing, the world is losing approximately 100 - 10,000 species a year. In Canada alone, it is currently estimated that more than 800 species are on the brink of extinction with over 4,000 more at risk.
Jean-Christophe Lemay has received many awards for his outstanding photography. In 2023 he was awarded Canadian Wildlife Photographer of the Year by the Canadian Geographic magazine. In that same year, he received Silver and Bronze at the Paris Photography Awards, was an exhibitor and speaker at the Aves Nature Photo Festival in Belgium, and was awarded third prize in the Landscape category of the Canadian Wildlife Federation’s annual photo competition.
In 2021 he was awarded first place by both Nature Sauvage and Canadian Geographic magazines. Jean-Christophe Lemay’s photographs of the expedition aboard the research vessel Coriolis II were featured in the exhibit Fathom the Depths of the St. Lawrence Estuary: Art & Science/ À des brasses de profondeur dans l’estuaire du Saint-Laurent: Art et Science at the UNB Art Centre in 2023.
The UNB Art Centre is pleased to present Rediscovering the Roots of Black New Brunswickers, a program of exhibits and films designed to showcase and honour the everyday experiences of Black New Brunswickers.
Jan. 19 through March 1, with the opening on Friday, Feb. 9 at 5 p.m. This exhibit is a project commemorating Black History Month, a time set aside to celebrate Black achievement and to acknowledge that the struggle for recognition and equality happens every day.
This collection of portraits and biographies has been an ongoing project for the UNB Art Centre. This year nine new portrait panels have been added and now include Carol Howe, David Peters, Carl Howe, Terry Dymond, Chester Eatmon, Gabriel Johnson, Randolph George Hope, Dexter Noel, and Carl White.
Additionally, banners highlighting some of the individuals honoured in the panels will be on display along Regent and Westmorland Streets in Fredericton throughout February again this year.
This year’s film series, presented in partnership with the New Brunswick Black Artists Alliance, is every Tuesday in February at 7:30 p.m. in room 261 of Marshall d’Avray Hall on the UNB Fredericton campus.
