Image: The Robert McLaughlin Gallery, Oshawa
The Robert McLaughlin Gallery in Oshawa will present ‘Zoe Ann Cardinal Cire: In Plains Air’ from September 26, 2026, to February 14, 2027. Curated by Leila Timmins, the exhibition marks Cardinal Cire’s first museum solo exhibition in Canada.
The presentation brings together new work shaped by the artist’s time on her ancestral territories in Treaty 6. It rethinks Western plein-air painting through Cree worldviews in which living, making and being on the land are inseparable.
A central installation takes the form of an expansive trapline house wall made from painted, unstretched canvas. Other works incorporate earth pigments, folded and stitched canvas, beaded lines and provisional wooden structures. Among the works is ‘Tante’ (2026), made with dry earth pigments on raw canvas and measuring 66 by 49 inches.
Cardinal Cire was born and raised on Treaty 6 territory in central Alberta. Her practice engages paint, beads and textiles, with a focus on place and material associations.
A free opening event on September 26, from 1 to 4 pm, will include an artist talk with Cardinal Cire in the exhibition at 1:30 pm.
