Wonderpool brings three Edmonton artists' imagined worlds to Gallery@501 starting July 8
Mixed media works from Sara Norquay, Byron McBride, and C.W. Carson use printmaking, textiles, painting, and relief sculpture to transform everyday materials.
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Wonderpool: Portals to Imagined Worlds opens Wednesday, July 8 at Gallery@501, showcasing how everyday materials can be transformed into passageways for memory, myth, and imagination. Three Edmonton artists—Sara Norquay, Byron McBride, and C.W. Carson—use printmaking, painting, relief sculpture, and textiles to create rich, multi-layered worlds.
Norquay's works feature quilting and printed textiles depicting prairie winter landscapes. Her intricate quilted pieces create abstract environments using fabric, one of the world's most universal materials. She has created more than 100 textile works in the last six years, allowing the process itself to reveal visual worlds.
McBride draws inspiration from mythology, contemporary visual culture, gaming, and fantasy traditions. Using printmaking, painting, and relief sculpture, he creates hybrid creatures that blend the familiar with the ancient, inviting viewers to construct their own narratives around his evolving beings.
Carson transforms mass-produced stickers—sourced from average retail outlets—into dense, abstract compositions that give new life to consumer culture's visual language. Pop culture imagery becomes raw material for his latest creations.
"Together, the works in Wonderpool: Portals to Imagined Worlds celebrate curiosity and transformation across imagined realms," said Lindsey Bond-Garcia, acting curator at Gallery@501. "By pushing materials beyond their conventional uses, the artists create spaces of wonder that invite new ways of seeing, making and being."
The exhibition runs through Saturday, August 22. A free opening reception takes place Thursday, July 16 from 6–8 p.m. at the Strathcona County Community Centre Agora.
