Opening reception: Friday, June 6, 2025 from 5PM – 8PM
Artist talk: Saturday, June 7 at 2PM
Exhibition run: June 6 – July 5, 2025
Free and open to the public
Photo by Blaine Campbell
Martha Street Studio is pleased to present PROOFREAD, a solo exhibition by Yvonne Mullock (AB)
PROOFREAD—a term traditionally used to describe the process of checking for errors in text prior to printing—has been repurposed as the title of an installation by Yvonne Mullock that blends print, video, and costume. Developed during Mullock’s nine-month residency in the University of Alberta’s Printmaking Department, PROOFREAD draws on the traditions and social history of the letterpress to create a participatory and democratic word game.
The installation centres around a relief-printed typeface made from used clothing gathered through Mullock’s friendships. Viewers are invited to arrange this one-of-a-kind alphabet to spell out words and statements of their choosing. Like an ongoing form of fridge poetry, the text is continually edited, added to, and rearranged as a form of immersive, experiential word play. Constantly evolving, this printed community message board serves as a silent broadcaster of statements and ideas, evoking memory and discussions about the life garments carry with them.
PROOFREAD was created with generous support from the Canada Council of the Arts, the Alberta Foundation of the Arts, Calgary Arts Development, the CSIF, as well as the students, faculty and technicians in the University of Alberta’s Printmaking Department.
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Artist Statement:
Working across materials and processes including ceramics, textiles, video and printmaking, Yvonne Mullock creates multidisciplinary and socially-activated works that push at the traditions of making to reimagine a world where functionality is pliable, and materials are considered with renewed potential. Led by both curiosity and discipline over a 24-year career, she has collaborated with a broad range of individuals and communities—western hat makers, horticulturists, mycology societies, architects, rug hooking guilds, and quilters— to create works that reflect upon heritage, cultural customs and craft traditions through time-based performances, exhibitions and sculptural installations.
In her most recent work, Mullock uses worn clothing as a starting point to evoke memory and discussions surrounding the life garments share with us. Through direct casting, slip dipping and printmaking, subtleties of fraying and piling from cycles of wearing and laundering are amplified in ink and ceramic forms. Socks, t-shirts, pyjamas, pantyhose, and underwear, either gifted to the artist through friendships or taken from her own wardrobe, continue to serve the body in renewed states as hooked rugs, ceramic forms, and prints. Through this material transference, the inherent tactile qualities of wear become markers of time and a quiet archive of lived memory.
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Bio:
Yvonne Mullock is a multidisciplinary artist whose practice spans textiles, sculpture, video, print, and ceramics. Her work challenges traditional modes of making by incorporating unconventional tools and materials, often engaging audiences through time-based performances and sculptural installations. Recent exhibitions include PROOFREAD at the University of Alberta’s FAB Gallery (2024), Harmonia at The Esplanade Arts and Heritage Centre (2021), and Gift-Love for the Art Gallery of Alberta’s Manning Hall Commission (2019). Her work is held in the permanent collections of the Alberta Foundation for the Arts, The Esplanade Arts and Heritage Centre, and the Glenbow Museum. Mullock is currently based in Moh’kinstsis / Calgary, Alberta on Treaty 7 territory.
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Hours, Location, Accessibility:
Gallery hours are Tuesday – Saturday, 10AM – 5PM
*closed Saturdays of long weekends
Martha Street Studio is located at 11 Martha Street. A loading zone is located on the street at the front of the building. Martha Street Studio is an accessible space with a lift and two accessible gender-neutral washrooms located on the second floor.