Release Date: January 27, 2009
Media Contact: Dale Johnson, External Relations
E-mail: Dale.Johnson@uregina.ca
Phone: 306-585-5439
Mobile: 306-536-4312
Fax: 306-585-4997
Portrait exhibition celebrates community project
Grade 1 students from Regina's MacNeill Elementary School and second-year students from the University of Regina's Arts Education program will celebrate the culmination of a community teaching and learning experience at the opening of their shared exhibition, "Through the Looking Glass: The Many Faces of Portraiture."

The opening takes place Wed., Jan. 28 at 1 p.m. in the second floor corridor of the U of R's Education Building, parallel to the Teacher Preparation Centre. The exhibition runs in this location through March 30, 2009 and is open to the public for viewing.

The exhibition features 23 self-portraits made by the MacNeill students and 27 by the U of R students as part of their Visual Educations class (EVIS 101) last fall. The idea to create self-portraits was inspired by a tour of the solo exhibition by Saskatoon artist Wally Dion at the MacKenzie Art Gallery. The show at the MacKenzie features portraits from Dion's Red Worker series. Dion, a member of the Yellow Quill First Nation, uses techniques of social realism to discuss First Nations class struggles in modern Saskatchewan life. His Red Worker series features several larger-than-life portraits composed of multiple panels, depicting Aboriginal people in the workforce. As part of their class, the Arts Education students attended a Wally Dion workshop organized by the MacKenzie.

Guests at the Jan. 28 opening at the U of R will include the Grade 1 class, their parents, the Grade 2 class (invited by the Grade 1 class), MacNeill Elementary School Grade 1 teacher Erin Challice, MacNeill principal Joe Repetsky, MacKenzie Art Gallery educator for school programs Wendy Winter, EVIS students and friends, and colleagues and friends of the Faculty of Education.