March 5, 5-8pm - Wantaqpa'q / Calm Water: Paintings by Alex Balkam

Alex Balkam at The Prow Gallery
March 5-27, 2026
Artist reception, Thursday, March 5, 5:00-8:00pm
Wantaqpa’q / Calm Water

Wantaqpa’q / Calm Water presents a striking new collection of oil paintings shaped by years of observing and recording the mirrored relationships between land, sky, and water. Drawing from Super8 and 16mm film studies, the exhibition transforms these reflections into richly layered canvases that blur the boundaries between natural phenomena, memory, and story.
Central to the work are significant beings from Mi’kmaw oral narratives who move between earth and water realms — including Jipijka’maq (Horned Serpents) and Kaqtukwaq (Thunders). Their presence threads through the series, grounding the imagery in ancestral knowledge and the living world it describes.
The artist employs a distinctive “oil printing” technique developed in recent years, folding the canvas repeatedly upon itself in a process inspired by the natural mirroring found in lakes, rivers, and coastal waters.
Also featured is a selection of works from Tupsie’katik / Tobeatic, an earlier series informed by research in the Tobeatic Wilderness Area — home to protected species such as Tia’m (Mainland Moose) and Apistane’wj (American marten).
This collection was made possible with support from ArtsNS.