Peter B Larson, Ursa Major & The Black Madonna | Calvin Stalvig

“What happened to Peter?” the people want to know. All had be right and just so when he left for the river, but when he returned, something was different.
“Have you seen Peter?” they asked one another.
“Yes, but…” and their voices trailed off because they couldn’t quite find the words to say more.

This is the story of what happened after Peter returned from the river.
It’s the story of what happens when Witnesses are abruptly called to order.

Night Club is proud to present Calvin Stalvig’s solo exhibition Peter B. Larson, Ursa Major & The Black Madonna opening on Saturday August 24th 6-9pm, with the performance beginning promptly at 7pm. For this exhibition, Stalvig has transformed the space into a shrine dedicated to Ursa Major and The Black Madonna. During a performance involving several collaborators, the spirit of the Black Madonna will be conjured through instrumentation, dance, vocals, trance, storytelling and the rite of baptism. Attendees are invited to witness this deeply human ritual of devotion, which is outside the boundaries of religion, and form a connection to a greater spirit that surrounds us all. A survey of Stalvig’s recent sculptural work, as well as a large-scale painting by Whalen Polikoff, live score by Graham Peterson, and vocal performance by Namir Fearce will be incorporated into the installation. Throughout the exhibition, Stalvig will be present in the gallery attending to the shrine with hand-cast candles, gifts of honey, and wildflowers. Attendees are welcome to provide offerings to the shrine during open hours.

Included within Stalvig’s shrine is an iron sculpture titled Ursa Major. The power figure simultaneously references the Black Mother as Goddess, the 30,000-year-old fertility votive Venus of Willendorf, and the Greek mythological bear of the titular constellation, which is the lone constellation continuously visible in the sky of the Northern Hemisphere containing the Big Dipper and the Northern Star. In elementary school choir, Stalvig remembers singing the slave hymn Follow the Drinking Gourd, which encodes the constellation as a map. Stalvig says, “Since then I’ve had an affinity for the North Star, and a sense that those constellations are critical for my survival.” In the case of this exhibition, Ursa Major serves as a physical, ancestral, and emotional anchor in the installation, as well as a metaphoric guide to realms beyond.

The Black Madonna, having an enigmatic and multifarious actuality, is a type of Marian statue or painting of dark features, often depicted holding a child to symbolize motherhood, interconnectedness, and transformation. Known for having a strong dual presence: one that is maternal, nurturing, and fertile and the other fiery and destructive, the Madonna as an archetype is venerated across cultures and devotional communities. In Haitian Vodou, Erzulie Dantor is a revered maternal figure who is a fusion of African spirituality and Catholicism. She is associated with other goddesses such as Kali, the Hindu goddess who represents the opposing forces of creation, destruction, death, and salvation, as well as Hecate, the Greek goddess who has the ability to do both good and evil, often associated with witchcraft, magic, lunar cycles, and doorways.

Peter is a white man who’s been occupying Stalvig’s body since September 11, 2001. For more than two decades he lived with the sense that there was a ghost-shadow, following his every move. In 2021, while researching witch trials of medieval Europe and the university’s complicity in imperialist domination, he was admitted to the hospital after being immobilized by acute back pain. It was there in the hospital that he discovered Peter and his hiding place. Since then Peter and Stalvig have been cohabitating in the same host body where they trouble notions of the self and authority.

About the Artist:

Calvin Stalvig was born and raised on Gitchi-gaami, Lake Superior, one of Earth’s largest freshwater portals to the underworld. His psyche and aesthetic are informed by the juxtaposition of majestic nature, human industry, craft & folk rituals that facilitate contact with Others. Much of Stalvig’s art practice is rooted in creating the conditions for personal learning through collective insight. His extensive research in and out of the studio serves as a conceptual framework for his explorations. 

Gallery Hours: Fri – Sun, 1 – 5pm 

Image: Calvin Stalvig, Ancestor, courtesy of the artist