Harcourt House is all about art that makes you sit back and reflect.
Harcourt House features two exhibition spaces — the Main Gallery and the Art Incubator Gallery. This spring, two powerhouse exhibits offer a sharp, striking take on the world.
Dustin Coulson, a mixed-media sculptor, contrasts nature against industry — and explores the tension between progress and the wild — with his exhibit, Unnatural Order. And while Coulson grapples with the physical world, Oksana Movchan’s exhibit takes a more ethereal approach. She, who tackles everything from painting to printmaking to glass work, is behind There is a Beginning and no End, a painting exhibition which blends light and transformation — and draws you into a world where boundaries blur.
Coulson grew up in a hamlet so small that the post office proudly displayed his childhood drawings.
He was known as the “kid who could draw” in Sangudo, Alberta — a skill that, as he reflects, defined his early years surrounded by nature. But after studying graphic design at MacEwan University and building a successful career in the design industry, Coulson found himself far removed from the hands-on work that had once been at the core of his creativity.
This detachment from his roots led him to make a bold decision: He turned to sculpture to reconnect with his true artistic self.
“I decided to explore different avenues, and actually started working with insects and entomology, and creating small sculptures that were representative of what I saw as being current states of affairs,” Coulson shares.
But birch bark, with its beauty and significance, became the material that resonated with him.
“I wanted to still be able to tell the story there about humanity and nature, and honestly, it began more around my desire to explore materials and flush out what those materials could be in terms of symbolism… I went towards just natural materials, juxtaposed with man-made materials.”
Birch bark, for Coulson, symbolizes nature’s resilience while also serving as a reminder of the environmental toll modern progress has on the world.
“Birch bark has been utilized for generations, both in North America and abroad, by civilizations to create, whether it be canoes or otherwise,” he says. “It has been valued for its versatility and its ability to be shaped and to create with it. At the same time, [it] can be harvested sustainably. [But] with the current state of ecological and environmental change, with the heating of the planet and everything, birch being a very sensitive tree, [it] is subject to large-scale death because of what’s happening.”
Unnatural Order pushes viewers to reconsider the relationship between nature and industrial growth. Coulson intentionally contrasts the fragility of this ancient material with the cold strength of industrial materials like brass and concrete. “The contrast between these materials is striking,” Coulson says. This stark contrast between the raw beauty of nature and the imposing presence of human-made materials forces viewers to reflect on the environmental cost of progress.
One of the standout pieces in the exhibition, The Weight of Progress, makes this point loud and clear — a brick presses down on layers of birch bark, symbolizing the crushing weight of industrial growth. “I think it’s quite a clear message, what I’m trying to say in terms of the weight to progress and what it’s doing to the environments we surround ourselves in.”
Sustainability is a core value in Coulson’s practice, and he takes great care in sourcing his materials responsibly. “I source all of my birch bark myself. A lot of it comes from my land. I’ve got 3.2 acres of land with my partner out west of the city, by Alberta Beach, and that’s been extremely rewarding to just be out in nature,” he says. “I never source from live trees, just to ensure that [I’m] keeping things sustainable and affecting the environment as little as possible.”
His work is a reminder that while human progress marches forward, nature is still here — resilient, but increasingly vulnerable. “What I hope to do with my work is really bring that to the fore, bring those elements of nature that are missing to the very environments that have deleted them.”
Oksana Movchan’s artistic path was all but inevitable.
Born in Kyiv into a family of artists, she was immersed in creativity from childhood. “My father was an artist. My mom was an engineer. I also have a sister who is an artist too. So pretty much a family of three artists,” she shares. By Grade 5, she was enrolled in a specialized art school and later pursued printmaking at the National Academy of Visual Art and Architecture. Unlike in North America, where students explore multiple disciplines, Movchan had to commit early.
“You have to make a decision whether you’re going to be a printmaker or painter or sculptor,” she explains. She chose etching, working with zinc and copper plates, mastering the delicate balance of light and shadow.
Her career took an unexpected turn when she was invited to Canada for a solo exhibition. “I was doing my PhD at Ukrainian Academy of Arts, I was invited to Canada with a solo show by Canadian Ukrainian Art Foundation in Toronto, and so I came to Canada with solo show that was mostly etching, because at that time that’s what I was doing.” What was meant to be a temporary visit became permanent. “My life took a different course after that — I met a guy and decided to stay in Canada.”
Movchan’s latest exhibition, There is a Beginning and No End, explores light in its many forms. “There’s that inner light, there’s virtuous enlightenment through meditation and looking within… There’s also just having a lighter approach to life — the lightness of being.” But she’s also fascinated by light as a physical phenomenon. “There is always something that casts the light,” she says. “But then there is no end, because you cannot really pinpoint that edge where it stops — it just spreads,” she says, describing the foundation of her exhibition.
For years, Movchan worked mainly in black, white, and a single additional colour. It was an aesthetic deeply rooted in her printmaking background. “I actually, genuinely thought that this is going to be my style. This is my new voice, and I felt complete with this,” she says. “For a few years, I was exploring that direction.” But then, her personal life took a turn. “When something dramatic happens in your life, sometimes it just shakes you to the core and then it changes or transforms you to a different human being…” she says. “And then, that shift causes certain changes even in your practice, especially if you’re a creative person.”
In There is a Beginning and No End, paintings invite deep introspection. “There are layers of meaning,” she says. “Some are really obvious, that you see right away, and then if you keep looking, you may find something else.” But she doesn’t ask viewers to decode her work — only to experience it.
“It’s just there. And you may pass it by, or you may stop and smell the flowers,” she reflects. “That would be ideal. That would be beautiful. But if it doesn’t happen, the tree still blooms.”
Together, Unnatural Order and There is a Beginning and No End invite us to look closer — at nature, at light, at the forces shaping our world — from March 7 – April 17, with a free opening reception on March 7.
