Artist Talk with Peter von Tiesenhausen

Join us at the IMA School for an artist talk with Peter von Tiesenhausen, by donation.

Peter von Tiesenhausen’s multi-media work deals with concepts of time, life, voyage, death, spirit, nature and humanity. His practice has grown from landscape painting to sculpture, performance and complex media installations. These are often an expression of where he finds himself and a utilization of what is at hand. Peter claims copyright on his land as an artwork. In the early 90s he started making boats of ice on bodies of water surrounding his studio and home now, no longer possible due to the wildly fluctuating climate. His film Island explores the meaning and significance of the human compulsion to strive in the natural world despite its changing ecosystems.

Peter has lived and worked in the boreal forest of northwestern Canada for most of his life, where he pursues his interest in sustainability. Peter has exhibited across Canada, in Europe and in the U.S. in public galleries and throughout the landscape. In 2016 he participated in “Watershed+ Embedded Artist”, City of Calgary; Banff Centre Leighton Studio Residency; and led CO2 Residency in Demmitt, AB. Peter received the Lieutenant Governor of Alberta Distinguished Artist Award in 2015. In 2018 Peter’s solo exhibition, “Songs for Pythagoras” at the Art Gallery of Alberta was accompanied by a significant hardcover publication with texts by Lucy Lippard, Natasha Chaykowski and Ellie Epp.