Capsule Machine Project
December 2024 - June 2025
FREE UPCOMING EVENTS
Toy capsule machines are typically found in shopping malls and filled with cheap toys. We are subverting this expectation by filling one with artist-made and designed pieces, creating a playful and accessible way for the public to interact with art. All pieces are free of charge to the public and can be accessed using our custom tokens!
When the machine isn’t living at the Latitude 53 gallery, it will be popping up at various other spots throughout the city. Keep an eye on our social media to track where you can find it next, and tag @latitude_53 in your posts and stories showing off what you find in the machine!
Six artists have been selected to have their own take on miniature artworks programmed in our capsule machine, with each artist’s pieces launching from December 2024 - June 2025. These works range from keychains and pins to miniature sculptures and more!
Alongside the programming of each piece in the machine will be a public workshop created and run by the artist! More details about each artist’s pieces and workshop will be released closer to their launch.
This project is generously supported by the Edmonton Arts Council’s Connections & Exchanges Initiatives 2024.
capsule machine Artists:
Karla Mather-Cocks: Pieces launch in December | Workshop in April
Lara Felsing: Pieces launch in February | Workshop in March
Wanahae - Corvus Roan: Pieces launch in March | Workshop in April
Roses Noun: Pieces launch in April | Workshop in May
Carly Greene: Pieces launch in May | Workshop in May
Alexa Rayne : Pieces launch in June | Workshop in June
featured capsule machine artist
CORVUS “WANAHAE” ROAN
Corvus “WANAHAE” Roan, he/they, is an indigiqueer and twospirit Visual artist, Youth leader, community support worker, and land defender. Currently residing on treaty six territory, in so-called Edmonton, he is Stoney Nakota from Alexis Nakota Sioux nation, near ‘Waka Mne’ (Lac st Anne), Nehiyaw with family from ermineskin Cree nation and small boy camp on treaty 6 territory. Also adopted secwepemc raised in the Shuswap on unceded territory in interior BC.
They are a self-taught visual artist specializing in illustration and acrylic painting, usually larger scale work such as large paintings or murals. Their work often depicts and focuses on the VISUAL and ARTISTIC representation of indigenous bodies and the many (maybe even complicated) identities that come along with it. His goal as an artist is to curate artistic works of culture, language, kinship, and land, alongside the resilience that these topics intersect on.
They would also identify themselves as a survival artist who uses art as a format to conceptualize and process trauma experienced as a two spirit and indigiqueer being surviving genocide and capitalism.
ABout The work:
Berry picker
The capsule machine’s placement at different locations throughout the city is an opportunity for you to ‘gather’ various types of berries designed and handpainted on parfleche by the artist.
“It's not a bad thing to be a berry picker, I thought this project might be a fun way to experiment with a new medium to paint on while poking fun at the ‘berry picker’ joke you often hear in indigenous spaces haha.”
The artist hopes that those who get the chance find the capsule machine and ‘gather’ one of the berry designs also gets to join us for an upcoming workshop to learn more about the history of parfleche, indigenous perspectives in art, and the two-spirit experience when it comes to gender norms and roles played in historical and in modern day societies
Although Parfleche is the primary medium discussed throughout the upcoming workshop, the artist's prior focus and medium has been traditional/ acrylic paint-based practice. They have been wanting to experiment with more traditional forms of art, and through this project, they get to share that experience and practice while also bringing a collection together to show what our communities can do when we learn and create together.
workshop:
Painting on Parfleche on Saturday, April 5th 1-4pm!
Paint alongside WANAHAE during his live demonstration of painting on parfleche. You’ll learn more about the history of parfleche, Indigenous perspectives in art, all the while getting a chance to see a live demonstration of working with and mixing traditional and contemporary practices, materials, and art mediums.
This is a creative learning opportunity to work with parfleche, but if you are uncomfortable, there will be canvas available. If you choose not to join in on painting, you're welcome to sit back and listen, and paper and markers will be available to create with.
In this exchange, we will be learning, sharing perspectives, and telling stories in a shared creative space as a way to come together as different communities to learn from one another.
What to bring: Participants are encouraged and welcome to bring their own craft and supplies to work on during this time as well.
Past Capsule Artist Launches
lara felsing
Where to find Lara’s baskets: Check our socials to see if you can find the machine at the Latitude 53 gallery, or at one of our 6 pop-ups across Edmonton!
Lara Felsing is an interdisciplinary Métis artist from Northern Alberta, Canada. Her practice explores kinship to the natural world and advocates for the necessity of living in reciprocity with the land and all living beings. Traditional plant harvesting is at the core of Lara’s practice, and she gathers roots, leaves, berries, petals, and pine needles to create compostable baskets, paintings, weavings, and blankets that speak to the necessity of honouring and showing gratitude for Mother Earth's gifts. Lara has an MFA from the Emily Carr University of Art & Design in Vancouver, British Columbia, and has exhibited across Canada and internationally. She has attended residencies at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity and the Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts.
About the work:
Traditional medicinal plant harvesting is at the core of my practice. I collect the likes of roots, leaves, berries, petals, spruce tips and pine needles in the tradition of my ancestors to create compostable paintings, sculptures and blankets that speak to the necessity to honour and show gratitude for the gifts provided by Mother Earth. Over the past year, I have been weaving baskets from castoffs found in the forest near my home. We were evacuated due to wildfires twice in 2023, and I have been collecting remnants from the burn sites, such as flagging tape, fallen spruce needles, twigs and grass. Each time I return to the site of Alberta Wildfire EWF-031, I see, hear and smell that the forest is still very much alive, and although it is in a state of regrowth, it still contains valuable gifts. I create the tiny forest baskets as small gestures that remind us of these gifts. They are so small (some as small as 1" across) that they must be handled thoughtfully and carefully - much like we need to care for the forests, land and more-than-humans with whom we coexist.
workshop:
Lara’s Eco Baskets workshop on March 8th!
Learn how to make a small, soft basket from second-hand materials. Feel free to bring some of your pre-loved fabric to upcycle into something new!
karla mather-cocks
Karla’s pins will launch in four parts from December 2024 - May 2025, with a new pin for each season.
Where to find Karla’s pins: Check our socials to see if you can find the machine at the Latitude 53 gallery, or at one of our 6 pop-ups across Edmonton!
the artist:
Karla Mather-Cocks is a multifunctional artist and craftsperson whose practice encompasses textiles, surface design, installations and public art. She is an active member of the Alberta Craft Council, Allied Arts Council of Lethbridge, Alberta Society of Artists and ewes+mies (Collective). She exhibits throughout Canada and enjoys sharing her experiences through workshops and community involvement. Her solo exhibitions include Sins & Insecurities: The Confessionalist (2019) and The Real House Finches of LA (2023).
About the work:
Mini Tapestry Pin: 4 Seasons is a four-season series allowing for the exploration of different seasonal colour palettes on a tiny woven scale. Each pin is an original experiment within the constraints of a season's colour palette. Each pin allows for creativity with different materials and the interplay of colours. Having the ability to work on a small scale creates challenges and encourages different ways to work in a woven form. Mini Tapestry Pin: 4 Seasons are meant to be proudly worn to express the beauty of colour and texture.
workshop:
Weave a Season Workshop on April 12th, 1-4 PM!
Learn basic weaving techniques while you weave your own tapestry pin. Explore different colours and textured yarn while you work on a tiny loom. Participants will leave the workshop with their own small-scale woven pin and some basic weaving techniques and knowledge.
What to bring: A notebook and pen!
This project is supported by
