Alexis Marie Chute speaking about InFocus 2016 on Global Morning News
Breaking new ground as the first-ever national photography contest and exhibition, rooted right here in Edmonton, The Future is a fitting theme for this year’s InFocus event.
InFocus started as an idea shared across a restaurant table in the summer of 2015, between founder and curator Alexis Marie Chute and her husband Aaron.
“We saw a need for a national photography exhibition held in Western Canada, specifically Edmonton,” she says.
Since 2002, Chute has been “bootstrapping it,” basically, as a visual artist, attempting to figure out how to get her photographs, sculptures and other artwork seen in galleries. InFocus acts as a way for young artists to be represented alongside other up-and-comers and, now—as its profile has expanded—veterans of the craft.
It began with local work, showing a few Edmonton photographers in Harcourt House in 2015, then grew last year to include Alberta artists at the dc3 Art Projects gallery. This year, the burgeoning exhibition is being hosted at The Front Gallery from Feb. 7 to Feb. 28, and features photographers from around Canada, students and enthusiasts rubbing artistic shoulders with veterans from coast to coast.
“It really is trying to bring together really amazing photography. It’s not like you have to have a long C.V. full of galleries to have access to the space,” Chute says. “It doesn’t really matter where you’re from. It’s more of the eye of the person that’s taking the picture.”
This year 190 photos were submitted by deadline. Of them, organizers selected 45 for the show, representing 27 photographers from across Canada. Of those, 13 are local.
When Chute put forward InFocus’s theme—The Future, in a very broad sense—she says the contributors ran with it, and the interpretation of the idea spawned some interesting results.
Local artist Andy Greening’s three pieces ponder the future of Edmonton’s urban development, particularly surrounding Northlands Coliseum, which is quickly losing many of its big-ticket events.
“[He’s] documenting something old before it’s gone,” Chute says.
Then, perhaps a little more direct in its approach, there’s a portrait of local actor Mark Meer dressed in the garb of Commander Shepard (who Meer voices) of Mass Effect game fame.
“We’re just amalgamating so many different photographer’s voices and, in doing that, we have a really innovative exhibition,” Chute says.
Like exhibits prior, 2017’s run of InFocus is offering a people’s choice award, provided by Vistek, in which anyone from around the world could vote on their favourite submission once per day. The winner will be announced during the opening reception on Thursday, Feb. 9.
The following night, the gallery will host portfolio reviews, in which local professionals—like documentarian Larry Louie and photographer Curtis Trent—in the field will weigh in on aspiring photographer’s works, although this segment costs $40. Anyone interested needs to register online prior to that evening at InFocusPhoto.ca.
Submissions for next year’s contest will be open sometime during the first week of March.
“I think Canadians are just as brave and bold and experimental and thoughtful as photographers from anywhere else in the world,” Chute says. “We just might not be as in-your-face.”
InFocus Photography Exhibition and Competition
Tues., Feb. 7 to Tues., Feb. 28
The Front Gallery, free
ARTS@vueweekly.com
Photo Credits: Gerhard Kaiser, Colin Vince, Paul Seaton, George Pimentel
It’s hard to imagine how Alexis managed to do all that while curating the InFocus Photography Exhibition, a nation-wide event promoting innovative Canadian photography, along with her international publicity tours and appearances as an inspirational speaker, and still find time to spend with her husband and two children.
Although a successful artist now, the road wasn’t easy for her. Alexis recalls the first time she decided not to get a traditional summer job, and instead did painting commissions and photography.
“It was a summer while I was still a student at the U of A,” she says. “I remember sitting at the Campus Earl’s restaurant and my dad being very upset about my decision, saying ‘You need to get a real job!’
“But I’ve always had this attitude that comes from life as an artist where you receive rejection letters non-stop, and you develop a thicker skin. Through that, and people not thinking I could do it, I developed this attitude of ‘You don’t think I can do it? Watch me!’ It’s too easy to give up. It was my 50th rejection letter where I stopped being mopey about it, and got stronger.”
The strength and resiliency of the human spirit is at the heart of everything Alexis creates, and she is a firm believer in the power of storytelling. She’s particularly excited about her InFocus Photography Exhibition (now going into its 5th year), and her Expecting Sunshine documentary, which uses unusual filmmaking techniques she’s excited for people to see.
When asked how her life has changed since graduating from the U of A, Alexis smiles as she talks about her family.
“At the U of A, I would stay up until 4 in the morning painting. And if I didn’t have classes, I would sleep until 4 in the afternoon. My lifestyle has definitely changed since having kids,” she laughs. “And as much as I love my family, I want them to see how I’ve protected my life as an artist. I grew up having a strong mom who was career driven and an inspiration to me — and I want my kids to see that as well.”
Alexis credits the U of A for not just helping her figure out what her strengths were as an artist, but for her “education in world view.”
“I didn’t just learn the skills and techniques to make my art, but I learned how to communicate and why it’s important to communicate. It gave me the foundation that, once I did figure out who I am and what my voice is, I’m able to share that message better because of my experience at the U of A.”
Learn more about Alexis and her many artistic projects at alexismariechute.com.
Artist Life Advice from Alexis
- “Surround yourself with people who believe in you. I wouldn’t be where I am today without my parents, my husband, my kids — people who cheer me on no matter how down I am about something.”
- “Develop a thick skin and the resilient attitude that you’re going to do this no matter what. No matter if other people will believe in you or not, you have to believe in yourself.”
- “Learn business. There is an art form to being able to sustain yourself with your artistic pursuits. Never stop learning.”
