All and Nothing 

Calgary artist Margaret May, in experimenting with new media, has opened a generous horizon for her work in printmaking. By combining the printmaker's strategies with forms of painting and sculpture, she is able to bring the images and concerns of her prints into a more physical and tactile region. Situated on narrow shelves or ledges along the wall, her recent work enters into three dimensions, and hence into the viewer's space.  

May's images are essentially portraits of the self, albeit more concerned with self than with portraiture, and comprise a stunning, resonant and complex work of symbols. These symbols, however approximate, speak both singly and in concert of such things as "memory, longing, sexuality, joy, despair." Working out her ideas in serial variations, May initiates a dialogue which involves the viewer in the act of confronting the self. 

The works in this exhibition are taken from two recent groups: the Vignette Series and the Vital Flame Series. The former contains ephemeral, half-glimpsed scenes of almost unrecognizable objects adrift on dark, soft grounds. Archetypal dreamscapes, they represent places in the self where inner and outer realities converge. The Vital Flame Series casts the image of the flame as a symbol of consciousness. Emblazoned on inert grounds these flames do not cast light or warmth but, as abstract signs, represent emotions in suspended animation. 

In her own words May says, "I want my expression to be clear and genuine. Although my concerns are primarily inward looking, the hope is that when others view the work, they will also find moments of calm involvement."