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Tourism, Culture and Recreation
February 5, 2009

The following is being distributed at the request of The Rooms Corporation:

The Rooms Diverse Exhibition Line-up Gives Visitors a Compelling
Reason to Drop in This Winter

With a dynamic slate of local and national exhibitions, The Rooms is poised to welcome visitors, youth and school groups this winter.

This season�s line-up includes the exhibition Slicing the Waves: Canoes, Kayaks and Small Wooden Boats. Devoted to the social significance, construction and use of small craft in provincial culture, the exhibition examines vessels and the people that have used them, both in the past and as a part of life today.

"Through Slicing the Waves, we illustrate the evolution of boats utilized throughout the province. We want to present the public with elements of their own history and culture and its relevance to the present," commented Anne Chafe, Director of The Rooms Provincial Museum.

The fourth exhibition in the ongoing Space-Based series opens this week. Kym Greeley: Time Trial, features new work by St. John's-based artist Kym Greeley. Working in the genre of landscape, Greeley simplifies representation to create a more mediated, graphic interpretation of her subject. Greeley produced these works during her time as artist in residence at The Rooms.

"It is both exciting and necessary to bring forward exhibitions from and about the province," noted Sheila Perry, Director of The Rooms Provincial Art Gallery. "In the case of Time Trial, we�re building on the successes of the Space-Based series � highlighting the capability of local artists to represent their skill and ability at a noteworthy caliber."

Oh So Iroquois, also opening this week, is a collaborative project from the Ottawa Art Gallery and the Aboriginal Curatorial Collective with the support of the Government of Canada through the Department of Canadian Heritage.

Building on the popularity of past programs, The Rooms hosts animation camps for youth, drop-in art sessions for adults on Wednesday evenings, and a film series in conjunction with the exhibition Afghanistan: A Glimpse of War. The Rooms is pleased to offer an exciting line-up of ongoing programming for youth groups and the public.

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Media contact:
Chrysta Collins
Communications Officer
The Rooms
709-757-8091
chrystacollins@therooms.ca

BACKGROUNDER
Winter 2009 at The Rooms

Slicing the Waves: Canoes, Kayaks and Small Wooden Boats
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Public reception: Thursday, February 5, 7:00 pm
Most people came to Newfoundland and Labrador by boat. And almost everyone who has ever lived in the province has needed them to travel the inland waterways or out to sea. This exhibition looks at how these small but important vessels were made and used, and how they are still a part of our lives today.

This exhibition will be on view at The Rooms until Sunday, September 13, 2009

Oh So Iroquois
Friday, February 6, 2009
Public reception: Friday, February 6, 7:30 pm
Scattered over sixteen reserve communities, two countries, and countless urban centres, the Iroquois Confederacy - a historical alliance of the Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, Seneca and Tuscarora nations traditionally known as the Haudenosaunee or People of the Longhouse � continues to distinguish itself resolutely as six nations ideologically united under one roof. The exhibition Oh So Iroquois emphasizes the dynamism of both traditional and contemporary Iroquoian creative processes, presenting work that is deeply rooted in a cultural system of values and esthetic qualities that permeate the social, political, spiritual, and economic infrastructure of Haudenosuanee society.

Oh So Iroquois is a collaborative project from the Ottawa Art Gallery and the Aboriginal Curatorial Collective with the support of the Government of Canada through the Department of Canadian Heritage (Museums Assistance Program).

This exhibition will be on view at The Rooms until Wednesday, May 3, 2009

Kym Greeley: Time Trial
Friday, February 6, 2009
Public reception: Friday, February 6, 7:30 pm
The fourth exhibit in The Rooms Provincial Art Gallery's ongoing Space-Based exhibition series features new work by St. John�s-based artist Kym Greeley. Working in the genre of landscape, Greeley simplifies representation � ...more info to create a more mediated, graphic interpretation. As such, in her work roads and highways predominate, as the frequent vantage point for the experience the natural geography. Kym Greeley graduated from the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design in 1997, and attended the Cooper Union School for the Advancement of Art and Science in New York in 1996. She has shown work in Germany, Canada and the United States.

This exhibition will be on view at The Rooms until Wednesday, May 3, 2009

Afghanistan: A Glimpse of War
This groundbreaking exhibition from the Canadian War Museum presents Canada�s participation in the war in Afghanistan -- from 9/11 to the most recent breaking news. This exhibition allows visitors to discover personal stories drawn from the chaos of battle and the struggle for peace, including those of the Newfoundlanders and Labradorians who are playing a role in every aspect of operations.

This exhibition will be on view at The Rooms until Sunday, June 7, 2009

Danish Modern: Suzanne Swannie Textil
Suzanne Swannie is a Halifax-based designer and weaver who creates functional textiles, tapestries and large architectural installations for private and public environments. She also weaves pictorial tapestries and is known for unique fabric constructions such as the installation Repassage. Both the woven works and the constructions display the Danish Modern principle of repetition of modular units as a means of generating surfaces and structures with a typical emphasis on rich colour harmonies.

The retrospective selection includes tapestry works from the 1970s; pieced and appliqu�d wall textiles created in collaboration with the Mi�kmaq women of Eskasoni Reserve (1977-1980); production household textiles (1980s); the creased-silk installation Repassage (1986); subsequent tapestry carpets and their paper studies (1990s, 2000s); and the major figurative tapestry triptych completed in 2007.

This exhibition will be on view at The Rooms until Sunday, April 12, 2009

Public Works: Recent Acquisitions
The Rooms Provincial Art Gallery Collection was established in 2003; this exhibition highlights selected additions to the collection since The Rooms opened its doors to the public in 2005.  Most of these recent acquisitions have been generous gifts from artists and collectors to the people of this province.  There have also been purchases, made possible through matching funds from The Canada Council for the Arts.  All are valued acquisitions, as The Rooms moves forward in building its new collection.

The Rooms Provincial Art Gallery Collection is one of three collections under the care of the Gallery.  The others are the Provincial Art Bank Collection and the Memorial University of Newfoundland Collection.

This exhibition will be on view at The Rooms until Sunday, April 12, 2009

Ongoing
Wish You Were Here

Unique, colorful vintage post cards from the early decades of the 20th century feature images on a variety of subjects and communities throughout Newfoundland and Labrador. These postcards pre-date the common glossy photo card and include examples produced by photo-mechanical printing processes as well as actual photographic cards. Some of these can be considered small gems of �mail-able� art. Wish You Were Here also introduces the newly acquired Ruth Schultz Collection of postcards to the public.

This exhibition will be on view at The Rooms throughout winter 2009.

Ongoing
Wonderful Hard Work
A joint effort from The Rooms Provincial Archives, Art Gallery and Museum, Wonderful Hard Work highlights the work of Newfoundland and Labradorians and the tools of their trades, past and present. This exhibition examines how in Newfoundland and Labrador, we worked to live and lived to work in a physical, social and economic environment, often harsh and overwhelming. Through the exhibition of artifacts, artwork, images and documents from The Rooms� collections, this exhibit examines how despite life�s daily toil, peoples living here over the centuries have demonstrated fortitude and ingenuity in adaptation.

This exhibition will be on view at The Rooms throughout winter 2009.

2008 02 05                                                      2:00 p.m.


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