Self-taught artist Tau Lewis constructs sculptural portraits using found materials and objects sourced from urban and rural landscapes. She connects these acts of repurposing and collecting with diasporic experience and Black bodies. Her portraits are recuperative gestures that counter persistent tendencies to erase or peripheralize Black artists and narratives within Canadian art and history.

On Wednesday, August 2, 2017 at 7pm, Lewis will give an artist talk titled “Magic in Limitation” presented in conjunction with Wendy Book Club – session two of our 2017 Summer Institute research program, lead by Walter Scott and Niki Little.

Interested in the generative nature of thinking creatively about the material and financial realities of producing work, Lewis has found new freedom and possibility in using only materials she can source for free – scraps, found objects or leftovers. Working from this premise, that magic can be found in limitation, Lewis will introduce Winnipeg to her practice drawing out the connections between her material choices and the thematic concerns of her work such as: Black identity, adaptation and survival; identity politics; diasporic bodies and the environment; and self preservation and healing.

In addition to participating in the Wendy Book Club, Lewis’s work will be exhibited at Plug In ICA for the fall exhibition, Entering the Landscape opening September 30, 2017.

Tau Lewis is a Jamaican-Canadian artist living and working in Toronto, Ontario. A self-taught sculptor, Lewis combines natural and synthetic materials to create simulations of living things with careful consideration of the history and symbolism of her materials. Lewis has exhibited in Canada and the USA at the Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto; the New Museum, New York, and Night Gallery, Los Angeles. She has received support from Toronto Arts Council and Ontario Arts Council. Recent and forthcoming exhibition sites include: Oakville Galleries, COOPER COLE, Art Gallery of York University, Toronto, and Plug In ICA, Winnipeg, Canada.

Upcoming Wendy Book Club Programming:

 Thursday, August 2, 2017 | 7pm

Summer Institute Open Studios

All our programming is free and open to the public. Everyone welcome! 

The Summer Institute is an international post-graduate research program for professional artists working in all disciplines and media. In 2017 Plug In ICA hosts two sessions of the Institute, both emphasizing writing as an expanded field incorporating elements of critical confession, reflection and artistry. For the second session, July 17 to August 4, participants work with writer, artist and editor, Walter Scott and artist and curator, Niki Little with special guests Tau Lewis, Becca Taylor, and Maya Ben David.

Each session invites participants who wish to work independently or collaboratively based on their own interests and projects and includes opportunities to work in a peer-to-peer environment through group activities planned during the session. A number of guest artists, curators and theorists will visit the Summer Institute for lectures and studio visits.

The participants in the Wendy Book Club, Summer Institute Session II include:

Joi T. Arcand • Alex Ateah • Madeline Bogoch • Viola Chen 陈宜晴 • Kristiane Church • Kelly Campbell • Dayna Danger • Jillian Groening • Whess Harman • Emma Mayer • Mariana Muñoz Gomez • Pooja Sen • Sarah Stewart • Tanis Worme

For More information on the Wendy Book Club Summer Institute, Session II, see: Summer Institute II: The Wendy Book Club

We gratefully acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts, the Manitoba Arts Council and Winnipeg Arts Council. We thank the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts for their support of our 2016 and 2017 program, as well as Payworks and Wawanesa Insurance for the direct support of our youth programs.

Plug In ICA relies on community support to remain free and accessible to all, and enable us to continue to present excellent programs. Please consider becoming a member of Plug In ICA and a donor at https://plugin.org/supportor by contacting Angela Forget: angela@plugin.org

For media inquiries please contact: Sarah Nesbitt at sarah@plugin.org or by phone at (204) 942-1043. For general information please contact: info@plugin.org