Native studies, environmental science grad Lauren Comba now better able to respect Indigenous stories
Watching the Inuit film Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner several years ago, Lauren Comba found herself riveted by its ancient story. Written, directed and acted entirely in the Inuktitut language, the 2001 landmark award-winning film retells an Inuit legend passed down through centuries of oral tradition. The film’s narrative was a part of history Comba had never heard…
The province is the only place in the world where its soon-to-be-official gem is mined commercially
Alberta may soon be getting an official gemstone, as the provincial government recently announced its intention to add ammolite to the Emblems of Alberta Act, along with current emblems such as the wild rose and petrified wood, Alberta’s official flower and stone. Though ammolite wasn’t officially recognized as a gemstone until 1981, it’s been around far longer than…
The U of A’s Mactaggart Art Collection helps students contribute to a lasting historical and artistic legacy
As a child in South Korea, Sung Eun Cho spent many weekends with her Buddhist grandparents, who brought her along to the temples they visited. The youngster found herself captivated by the ornate beauty of the buildings, richly adorned with traditional images and symbols of the ancient religion. “I was mesmerized by the vivid colours…
International study sheds new light on how the huge carnivorous dinosaurs moved, based on fossil evidence of their footprints
New research by an international team including paleontologists at the University of Alberta and the Philip J. Currie Dinosaur Museum has revealed evidence that juvenile tyrannosaurs were more trim and slender-bodied than their multi-tonne elders, a difference that may have helped them pursue fast-moving prey. “The results suggest that as some tyrannosaurs grew older and…
In order to promote respect for others, and to encourage reflection and dialogue, the museum needs to clean up its own house
The Canadian Museum for Human Rights has made news around the world for all the wrong reasons. It has been derelict in its mission and mandate. The museum has been accused of maintaining a poisoned work environment that practices racism, discrimination, a lack of gender equity and inclusion. In November 2007, I was selected by…
Back in the studio after a lifetime of sporadic art lessons, embracing the spirituality and fun
Making art is fun, spiritually soothing and a wonderful outlet for non-verbal, non-scripted creativity. At least that’s what I think after nearly seven decades of observing, sketching and painting. Each of several defined periods of my life was led by one or two talented art teachers, including my mom Frankie Robinson and her pal Peg…
Transmission Difficulties: The Dignitaries once had a place of pride behind my father's desk. My mother eventually sold it. Now we know why
For her 97th birthday, I offered to take my mother to Whistler for the day, especially to see the new Audain Art Museum. She was ecstatic at the prospect, and especially eager to see the in-house collection of works by Emily Carr and E.J. Hughes – her two favourite B.C. realist painters. Mom was a…
TUSCUMBIA, Alabama - The irony is striking. I’m free to tour the childhood home that was for a while her prison, though happily also the site of her liberation. I can hear birds she couldn’t hear, from somewhere in the magnolias and mimosas she couldn’t see. I can trace in an hour the life that…
It may be in St. Louis, Memphis and New York that W.C. Handy popularized the blues. But it’s in Florence, Alabama, that his musical journey began. Dubbed “The Father of the Blues,” Handy was born in 1873 in this city whose population is closing in on 40,000. The family’s two-room cabin, built of white poplar…
Should it become ‘a world-class public art museum’ or adhere to founder Eric Harvie’s Scottish interdisciplinary roots?
After six years as president and CEO of Glenbow, Donna Livingstone is leaving to become CEO of the Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies. Glenbow board of governors chair Irfhan Rawji saluted her efforts at stabilizing the financial situation “and allowing us the opportunity to continue on our way to being a world-class public art…
Watching the Inuit film Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner several years ago, Lauren Comba found herself riveted by its ancient story. Written, directed and acted entirely in the Inuktitut language, the 2001 landmark award-winning film retells an Inuit legend passed down through centuries of oral tradition. The film’s narrative was a part of history Comba had never heard…
