March 13 – April 25, 2026
Mappae Mundi
Celebrating 120 Years of Abstract Art: 1906–2026
Main Gallery
Opening Reception: Friday March 13th, 7 – 9 pm *
Free admission
Mappae Mundi is a solo exhibition of new, large-scale oil paintings by Lori Sokoluk, an Alberta-based visual artist. These abstract works express the varied inner and outer realms we inhabit, much as medieval mappae mundi combined geography, legend, history, scripture, dreams, and nightmares to reflect the full range of human experience.
This body of work represents the artist’s return to her prairie roots, as well as a return to large-scale painting. It brings her mature artistic expression to themes that have been lifelong interests: landscape, mystery, and duality.
Lori’s personal visual language uses external elements to mirror inner aspects of our being. Expansive land beneath a vast sky represents body and spirit. Rich summer colours express abundant life force, while the cold, stark hues of winter speak of death. Straight lines and geometric forms interact with landscape contours, much like logic and intuition shape different parts of our knowledge systems.
Are these new paintings landscapes? Tales of otherworldly journeys? Poetry breathed in secret? They may be all of these. Multiple perspectives, strong contrasts, layered surfaces, hints of landscape, and the ambiguity of abstracted elements work together to suggest rich, multifaceted meaning.
Several works are presented as diptychs or triptychs, allowing each panel to tell a facet of the story while remaining in dialogue with the others. Other pieces incorporate extensions to the substrate, enabling the image to break beyond the confines of the rectangular panel – reflecting the idea that a complete description of human experience does not fit neatly into a simple box.
Personal experience and universality are aspects of the same whole. Lori describes her understanding of human experience by weaving together elements of landscape, personal history, conceptual relationships, and poetry in her own contemporary mappae mundi.
Artist Biography
Lori Sokoluk has recently returned to her prairie roots after many years living in Montréal, Boston, New York, and Vancouver. She is now based in Smoky Lake, Alberta.
A deep attachment to landscape and an affinity for mystery are readily evident in Lori’s highly abstracted work. Her search for the beauty, power, and mystery underlying everyday experience is informed by her background in architecture and her meditation practice.
Lori holds a Master of Architecture degree and studied at the School of Visual Arts in New York City. She has taught at the Boston Architectural Center and at international art summer schools in Metchosin and Gibsons, British Columbia. She has also served as a guest critic at the Massachusetts College of Art and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Lori is a juried member of the prestigious Alberta Society of Artists.
Her work has been exhibited in galleries across North America and at art fairs such as Red Dot Miami and Art Expo New York. Her paintings have been featured in Contemporary Art and Professional Artist magazines, appeared on two television programs, and been used on two jazz album covers. Her work is held in the collections of the New York City Public Schools, Dalhousie University, and numerous private collections.
Top Image: The Truth Is Not Drawn On Any Map (detail) 2025; oil, acrylic, pastel and NeoColor II Crayon on cradled wood panels, 48 x 108 inch.
Courtesy of the artist
*Opening Recetions are for Members and Guests
