The term natura vindicat is Latin for nature reclaims. It’s also an exhibition of drawings by Saskatoon-area artists Cristine Andrew Stuckel and Diana Roelens inspired during an 8-month artist residency at the Saskatoon Forestry Farm Park and Zoo. The exhibit is on display now at the Humboldt and District Gallery until September 9.
Having met in their first year of university, Stuckel and Roelens have experimented with unique ways of working collaboratively since 2020. Their large-scale collaborative drawings have focused on building new and untamed environments within the urban landscape.
Working collaboratively on each piece, the artists found ways to compromise and meld individual styles into a cohesive and seamless arrangement. This unconventional way of working mimics the collaborative efforts – the give and take – necessary between humans and nature for Earth and all its inhabitants to flourish.
The relationship between humankind and Earth’s natural forces is long and storied, but it is evident that through human organization – settlement and urbanization – there came a desire to control nature, to plunder, transform and cultivate the landscape to meet the needs of the population and to create ‘orderly’ spaces: manicured, weed-free environments.
But have we gone too far in our quest to sanitize and control our surroundings? Is it possible to allow the dwindling vestiges of the natural world to reclaim space within the urban environment and restore equilibrium between humankind and nature?
Their work has won awards at the Annual Winter Festival at the Mann Art Gallery in Prince Albert in 2022 and 2023, and in 2022, one of their collaborative drawings was acquired by the Mann Art Gallery for their permanent collection.
Join Cristine Andrew Stuckel and Diana Roelens for an opening reception and artist talk on July 17, 7:00 pm at the Humboldt and District Gallery.
-content provided by Humboldt and District Gallery