Lifelong Learning @ UNB
UNB College of Extended Learning

Experience the unique and thought-provoking work of visual artist Terry Graff's national touring exhibition Avian Cyborgs. The exhibition showcases over 400 paintings, collages, assemblages and sculptures with a persistent avian motif in an elaborate techno-fantasy that focuses on Graff's life-long exploration of the relationship between nature and technology. The exhibition opens at the UNB Art Centre on Friday, Sept. 20 and runs until Dec. 6.

While birds and machines were dominant motifs in Graff's childhood drawings, he started making sculptural assemblages of ducks fused with machine parts and scrap materials in the early 1970s, in effect extending their physical abilities beyond their normal limitations. He used diverse repurposed and upcycled materials, along with cast-off found objects to create his unique avian creations.
 

"As a mirror image of ourselves, the Avian Cyborg is an expression of how we use technology to increase our human capabilities, while at the same time consistently making ourselves more vulnerable to the harmful consequences of its dark side," says Graff.

The hybridized harbingers are the proverbial canaries in the coal mine and invite viewers to think deeply about the nature of the world, the creatures that belong to it, and the technology that we use to enhance or destroy it.

"These tiny winged creatures have survived over 150 million years and are now endangered and face extinction as a result of humanity's egocentric exploitation of the planet," says Marie Maltais, the Director of the UNB Art Centre. "While war, the warming planet, and Covid-19 continue to challenge us today, Graff fuses savagery and whimsy to arm the birds' delicate bodies, enabling them to withstand the concussion of contemporary reality."

Graff's vast body of work has been presented regionally, nationally and internationally to both critical and popular acclaim. Along with his studio practice in Island View, New Brunswick, Graff has had a distinguished career as a curator, an art educator, an art writer and as a gallery director. He has served as director of four public art galleries in four different provinces (Beaverbrook Art Gallery, NB; Mendel Art Gallery, SK; Rodman Hall Art Centre, ON; and the Confederation Centre Art Gallery, PEI), as well as director of the artist-run Struts Gallery. As well, he has curated over 200 exhibitions and authored numerous articles, catalogues and books on both contemporary and historical art.
 

As an art educator, Graff served as Education Curator for the Art Gallery of Windsor, taught visual arts as a high school art teacher in Ontario and New Brunswick, and developed a special program for gifted children designed to encourage and expand creative thinking. In addition, he has been an advisor for several postgraduate art students, and taught drawing and sculpture at Mount Allison University and Contemporary Management in Arts and Culture for the University of New Brunswick. He has been a tireless advocate for the importance of art in people's lives and as an essential ingredient for the health and well-being of communities.

The UNB Art Centre in Fredericton is the final destination for Avian Cyborgs, having previously been shown at the Art Gallery of Sudbury in Ontario, the Woodstock Art Gallery in Ontario and the Cape Breton University Art Gallery in Sydney, Nova Scotia. In conjunction with the exhibition is a copiously illustrated, multi-authored, 200-page book about Graff’s art published by Xeno-Optic Research Lab and Press. In addition, there will be a series of talks that will unfold throughout the exhibition.

The UNB Art Centre (506-453-4623) is located at Memorial Hall, 9 Bailey Drive, University of New Brunswick, Fredericton. The galleries are open 9 am - 4 pm weekdays and during special events. Admission is free to members of the public.
 

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go.unb.ca/enrichment | 506 453-4623 | pce@unb.ca