University of Waterloo Art Gallery - Heidi Jahnke & Gary Carlson

This was my first time visiting the University of Waterloo Art Gallery (UWAG), located in East Campus Hall. This particular exhibition had two showings: Gallery one by Heidi Jahnke and Gallery two by Gary Carlson. The exhibition was held in two separate, but still spacious rooms. 

Exhibition Hall

Heidi Jahnke's theme, 'weird fiction' captures her view of the world at large. Many of her paintings are unexpected and filled with designs from the unlikely to the absurd. She placed her drawings throughout the exhibition hall but it is at the maroon wall where she specifically designed the layout of the paintings. In many, if not all, of Jahnke's paintings used a large variety of bright colors.

Gallery 1

The image below depicts three painting that have caught my attention.

Towards the left you can see a ballerina who is cut in half. The background colors show a transition from bright to dark which provides a eerie feeling. The shades of pink and purple on the ballerina's dress are done nicely to show depth. In the middle painting, is a sculpture that is made out of hotdogs. You would never imagine someone creating something out of hotdogs. The painting on the top right  shows a pineapple head. The yellow background blends perfectly with the human body and pineapple head because it might be referring to what is inside the pineapple.

 Janhke's Work

I found that the exhibition as a whole was very successful. I loved the design of Jahnke's paintings on the background of the maroon wall. The rest of her work was placed onto the white walls. However, I believe that she could have had more artwork on these areas. It felt like there was large gap between paintings and a lot of the space on the walls were wasted.

Jahnke's other work

The gallery serves an important purpose towards the university community and the general Kitchener / Waterloo community. UWAG provides many artists with a place to both display and promote their work. It is important for the Kitchener and Waterloo community to support local artists.

One of the main issues with the gallery is that not a lot of students know about it. When I asked my roommates if they have ever been to the UWAG, none of them knew what I was talking about. I believe that in order to make the gallery more successful, more people have to know about these exhibitions. UWAG has to find a special way to promote the gallery.



We were told from the curator that most artists' dream was to head to Toronto to work and display their art there. However, due to the shift in the economy, many of these artists cannot afford a place to both sleep and work around such a high-cost living area. Due to the financial constraints artists are considering moving to locations like Kitchener/Guelph which is more feasible for them.




(all images courtesy of the artists and University of Waterloo Art Gallery)