Game Night: Parallel Play with Shea Iles

During his performances/workshop/hang session, Shea Iles invites folks from the audience to join him on stage to play a solo card game while he improvises on guitar alongside them. (If you don't know any solitaire games, that's okay — Shea will teach everyone a really easy one at the start so that anyone can have a turn.) This is a kind of collaboration he has come to really enjoy: two people doing their own thing, side by side, connected only by circumstance. Shea will also talk about why he loves games, what he thinks they can do, and how he's working to integrate them into his artistic practice.

This is part of the HOME residency in July/August 2026 and gratefully funded by Calgary Arts Development: https://www.sparrowartspace.com/julyaugust-2026
For newcomers, home can be a place left behind, a space in flux, or a future still being imagined. For Indigenous artists, home is rooted in ancestral land, community, and resilience, often in the face of historical and ongoing displacement. This residency creates a space for dialogue between these experiences, revealing shared struggles and points of connection while honoring the complexities of each perspective.

Home Residency brings together five Newcomer and Indigenous artists — Kseniia Koshmai, Yu Chen, Shea Iles, Jona Redwood, and Ezgi Türker — whose practices explore different understandings of home through miniature boxes, portraiture, beaded game cards, dreamcatchers and letters.

The residency creates space for dialogue between these perspectives, fostering connection while honouring the distinct histories, relationships, and experiences each artist carries. Over July and August, the artists will explore what home means to them individually, drawing from their own histories, cultures, memories, and lived experiences while also developing a collaborative artwork and offering public workshops.