Memorial exhibition to honour late Medicine Hat College art instructor
By Samantha Johnson Local Journalism Initiative Reporter on January 4, 2024.
reporter@medicinehatnews.com Starting next week, the Cultural Centre’s One-on-One Gallery is holding a memorial exhibition for Medicine Hat College art and design instructor Nelson Yuen. Yuen joined MHC in 1986, teaching in the visual communications program until his retirement in 2014. The exhibition will display works created by Yuen over the course of a career spanning more than 50 years. MHC art and design instructor and curator Dean Smale said, “Curating this exhibition has been a bittersweet experience for me. Nelson was a good friend, my very first friend in Medicine Hat. Reliving my friendship with Nelson through his work has been sad, but also surprising, enlightening and enjoyable. The breadth of work is immense, complex, eccentric and culturally diverse.” Everyone is welcome to the exhibition and Smale encourages all those who knew Yuen to remember his unique personality through viewing his art. The exhibition highlights the joyful spirit of life Yuen embraced and has pieces in a variety of mediums, including pencil crayon, watercolour, lithography, acrylic, oil painting, wood carving and assemblage. “This exhibition will remind us of the wonderful, warm and eccentric Tantric Prairie Guru, Nelson. It will enliven your senses, spark your imagination and leave you with a smile,” said Smale. “Nelson’s warm, bright spirit and unique character was infectious, and that same wonderful uniqueness is at play in this exhibition.” Retired art and design instructor Poul S. Nielsen stated, “I believe that this retrospective is a wonderful testament to his versatility, uniqueness, originality and creativity. He shall be sadly and greatly missed by all and certainly not soon forgotten.” The exhibition will be open to the public from Jan. 8-24 during gallery hours, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. from Monday to Friday. A public reception will be held at the gallery Jan. 12 at 7 p.m. 8-7
