Box 534, 396 St. George St. Annapolis Royal, NS, Canada : arcac@ns.aliantzinc.ca : 902-532-7069 : Open Hours Tues-Fri 10am - 4:30pm / Weekends 1-4pm (by volunteer, call ahead)
Registered Charity Number: 11878 7506 RR0001
ARC Exhibitions 2013
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Snapshot: East Coast Contemporary Aboriginal Art curated by Alan Syliboy
7th April - 5th May, opening 7th April, 2-4pm Snapshot is the first major exhibition of contemporary Aboriginal Art in Halifax since Re-claiming History opened at the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia in June 2000. It focuses on contemporary East Coast Aboriginal art and is curated by renowned Mi’kmaq artist Alan Syliboy. Snapshot provides a glimpse of Mi’kmaq and Maliseet contemporary art at this particular time in 2013. It aims to raise the profile of Aboriginal artists in Atlantic Canada and to accord them the same respect and recognition that First Nations artists already receive in Central and Western Canada. |
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Snapshot showcases the work of six emerging and mid-career artists:
Frannie Francis, Ursula Johnson, Dozay Christmas, Charles Doucette, Gerald Gloade and Jerry Evans.
Francine (Frannie) Francis is a Mi’kmaq artist from the Metepenagiag First Nation in New Brunswick. In her latest series of paintings, Frannie draws inspiration from the porcupine quillwork baskets that are a part of her heritage. She writes: “The laying down of a quill, and the laying down of layer upon layer of paint to create the textured effect in the simplistic forms of dragonflies, turtles and basket covers, the dragonflies symbolizing change and regeneration, the turtles symbolizing heaven and earth, perseverance and Mother Earth”
Ursula Johnson is a Mi’kmaq artist from Eskasoni First Nation and an alumnus of the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design. Her work ranges in styles and techniques, including video, photography, mixed media, performance, installation and traditional Aboriginal art forms Her current work fuses Mi’kmaq basketry and contemporary fine art in her interpretation of the “Urban Aboriginal” and the urgency of cultural preservation. She writes: “Mi'kmaw basketry has had an extensive journey from: Functional Form to "Indian" Craft to Fine Art to Artifact to Archive. My contemporary practice includes creating non-functional forms that reference the traditional techniques that members of my family and other community members have passed on to me. I refer to these non-functional forms as O'pltek (It’s not right) Baskets which are created for the Archive.”
Dozay Christmas has spent much of her life cultivating her passion for art. Growing up in Western New Brunswick on the Tobique Reserve, Dozay is the middle child of a large family. At eighteen, she left the banks of the Tobique to pursue a formal education at NSCAD. Her intention had initially been to pursue a career in education. It was not until her third year at NSCAD, with encouragement from several important individuals that Dozay decided to switch to the fine arts program and pursue a full-time career as an artist.. Dozay has exhibited her art at galleries across the Maritimes, Ontario and the United States She writes: “In this body of work, I want to express how Glooscap/Kluskap has influenced me, to keep pursuing his history in Wabanaki culture. I have seen and read his personality as a strong role model and hero. His stories and lessons are very similar, from Newfoundland to Northern Maine. I truly believe that he has returned to inspire our people to live strong and proud. The people of the Wabanaki have always believed that he will return, to help and inspire us.“
Charles Doucette is a resident of the Chapel Island Indian Reservation in Cape Breton, He graduated from NSCAD in 1987. Charles works in multiple media, including sculpture, painting, goldsmithing, installations and poetry. Charles works conceptually, with an idea determining the method and medium of the resulting piece. He was one of seven Mi’kmaq artists selected by the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Games for the Aboriginal Art Program. He writes: “I first started consciously making art in my early teens, after picking up a rock, I began carving it, after awhile I had carved a little bird. I realized that I could take transform,ideas, thoughts & images in my mind , into real physical objects, and then use objects, marks, ephemera to convey these into something that could be reinterpreted by others in their minds.”
Jerry Evans, a St John’s College of Trades and Technology and NSCAD graduate, was born in Grand Falls, Newfoundland. Jerry earned his ‘chop’, an embossed symbol signifying his experience as a master printmaker, in 1992. Evans has printed for many artists including Anne Meredith Barry, Christopher Pratt, Harold Klunder and Otis Tamasauskas. He writes: “My personal history is a part of the fabric of the history of Newfoundland that includes in its annals the first point of contact, the extinction of a distinct culture, that of the Beothuk, assimilation and recently a degree of recognition of the Native peoples in the region. I believe that artists create images that deal with their identity and my own work reflects a new understanding of who I am. The images that I use serve to reinforce identity for myself, my family and for others in a similar position whose heritage has been denied to them.”
Gerald Gloade, a Mi’kmaq artist from Millbrook, Nova Scotia, started his career 25 years ago working as a Graphic Designer for the Nova Scotia Department of Natural Resources. Today he works for the Nova Scotia Office of Aboriginal Affairs on the Mi’kmawey Debert Project. Gerald’s stories and interpretations of the Glooscap legends have captured many audiences. Raised by his grandmother, who owned and operated a Micmac Basket Shop on the old Highway No. 2, Gerald is inspired by her fortitude as well as the close relationship that he shared with her.
Snapshot was initially organised and funded by the Khyber Centre for the Arts in Halifax, www.khyber.ca, and was made possible by grants from the Canada Council for the Arts and the Province of Nova Scotia. It is sponsored by the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, Friends United, and Ulnooweg Development Group Inc.
Frannie Francis, Ursula Johnson, Dozay Christmas, Charles Doucette, Gerald Gloade and Jerry Evans.
Francine (Frannie) Francis is a Mi’kmaq artist from the Metepenagiag First Nation in New Brunswick. In her latest series of paintings, Frannie draws inspiration from the porcupine quillwork baskets that are a part of her heritage. She writes: “The laying down of a quill, and the laying down of layer upon layer of paint to create the textured effect in the simplistic forms of dragonflies, turtles and basket covers, the dragonflies symbolizing change and regeneration, the turtles symbolizing heaven and earth, perseverance and Mother Earth”
Ursula Johnson is a Mi’kmaq artist from Eskasoni First Nation and an alumnus of the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design. Her work ranges in styles and techniques, including video, photography, mixed media, performance, installation and traditional Aboriginal art forms Her current work fuses Mi’kmaq basketry and contemporary fine art in her interpretation of the “Urban Aboriginal” and the urgency of cultural preservation. She writes: “Mi'kmaw basketry has had an extensive journey from: Functional Form to "Indian" Craft to Fine Art to Artifact to Archive. My contemporary practice includes creating non-functional forms that reference the traditional techniques that members of my family and other community members have passed on to me. I refer to these non-functional forms as O'pltek (It’s not right) Baskets which are created for the Archive.”
Dozay Christmas has spent much of her life cultivating her passion for art. Growing up in Western New Brunswick on the Tobique Reserve, Dozay is the middle child of a large family. At eighteen, she left the banks of the Tobique to pursue a formal education at NSCAD. Her intention had initially been to pursue a career in education. It was not until her third year at NSCAD, with encouragement from several important individuals that Dozay decided to switch to the fine arts program and pursue a full-time career as an artist.. Dozay has exhibited her art at galleries across the Maritimes, Ontario and the United States She writes: “In this body of work, I want to express how Glooscap/Kluskap has influenced me, to keep pursuing his history in Wabanaki culture. I have seen and read his personality as a strong role model and hero. His stories and lessons are very similar, from Newfoundland to Northern Maine. I truly believe that he has returned to inspire our people to live strong and proud. The people of the Wabanaki have always believed that he will return, to help and inspire us.“
Charles Doucette is a resident of the Chapel Island Indian Reservation in Cape Breton, He graduated from NSCAD in 1987. Charles works in multiple media, including sculpture, painting, goldsmithing, installations and poetry. Charles works conceptually, with an idea determining the method and medium of the resulting piece. He was one of seven Mi’kmaq artists selected by the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Games for the Aboriginal Art Program. He writes: “I first started consciously making art in my early teens, after picking up a rock, I began carving it, after awhile I had carved a little bird. I realized that I could take transform,ideas, thoughts & images in my mind , into real physical objects, and then use objects, marks, ephemera to convey these into something that could be reinterpreted by others in their minds.”
Jerry Evans, a St John’s College of Trades and Technology and NSCAD graduate, was born in Grand Falls, Newfoundland. Jerry earned his ‘chop’, an embossed symbol signifying his experience as a master printmaker, in 1992. Evans has printed for many artists including Anne Meredith Barry, Christopher Pratt, Harold Klunder and Otis Tamasauskas. He writes: “My personal history is a part of the fabric of the history of Newfoundland that includes in its annals the first point of contact, the extinction of a distinct culture, that of the Beothuk, assimilation and recently a degree of recognition of the Native peoples in the region. I believe that artists create images that deal with their identity and my own work reflects a new understanding of who I am. The images that I use serve to reinforce identity for myself, my family and for others in a similar position whose heritage has been denied to them.”
Gerald Gloade, a Mi’kmaq artist from Millbrook, Nova Scotia, started his career 25 years ago working as a Graphic Designer for the Nova Scotia Department of Natural Resources. Today he works for the Nova Scotia Office of Aboriginal Affairs on the Mi’kmawey Debert Project. Gerald’s stories and interpretations of the Glooscap legends have captured many audiences. Raised by his grandmother, who owned and operated a Micmac Basket Shop on the old Highway No. 2, Gerald is inspired by her fortitude as well as the close relationship that he shared with her.
Snapshot was initially organised and funded by the Khyber Centre for the Arts in Halifax, www.khyber.ca, and was made possible by grants from the Canada Council for the Arts and the Province of Nova Scotia. It is sponsored by the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, Friends United, and Ulnooweg Development Group Inc.
February 17th to March 24th
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ARC Exhibitions 2012
"Traps" 28th October – 25th November
“Traps” Cecil Day
Opening on Sunday 28th October between 2 and 4pm. Artist talk 2:30pm. Free admission, refreshments will be served.
ARTsPLACE presents Cecil Day: Traps by Port Maitland, Nova Scotia artist Cecil Day.
In Traps (2008-2010), Cecil Day returns to a familiar theme: the natural world and our interaction with it. She explores our precarious relationship with nature through the subject of trapping in this suite of etchings that illustrate, to scale, traditional traps – conibears, box traps, snares, leg irons – alongside their related quarry.
Working in close dialogue with avid trappers, the artist researched each item – how they work, their construction, their history – and the corresponding animal – lobster, eel, weasel, mink, bobcat, bear, rabbit. Day’s interest here lies not in trapping itself, whether in condoning or condemning it, rather she looks to this activity by means of its tools as a vehicle by which to examine the evolving face of our connection to and understanding of nature. The traps serve as a symbol of this relationship.
In finding beauty in these objects and working with them, Day respectfully documents a fading lifestyle, one that is reliant upon a true awareness of the land and knowledge of the patterns and habits of the creatures that reside within it for survival.
Cecil Day: Traps is organized by the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia.
Cecil Day grew up in Portland, Maine. She received a BA in painting at Indiana University, Bloomington, IN (1960) and an MFA in painting from Washington University, St. Louis, MO (1973). Day moved to St. John’s, NF in 1979 and began printmaking at St. Michael’s Printshop. Notable exhibitions include: Tidelines, At the Sign of the Whale Gallery, Yarmouth, NS (2007), Journey in the North Atlantic, Craft Council Gallery, St. John’s, NL (2005), and Dark Forest, which travelled to Acadia University, Wolfville, NS, St. Francis Xavier University, Antigonish, NS, and University of New Brunswick, Fredericton, NB (1994-1996). She has served as artist-in-residence at Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris, France through Washington University, St. Louis, MO (1995) and two others awarded to her by the Art Gallery of Newfoundland and Labrador: Gros Morne National Park, Woody Point, NL (1999) and Rockwell Kent House, Brigus, NL (2006). Day’s work is held in a range of private and public collections including the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, Memorial University, Acadia University, Canada Council Art Bank, National Library of Canada, and Harvard University.
Opening on Sunday 28th October between 2 and 4pm. Artist talk 2:30pm. Free admission, refreshments will be served.
ARTsPLACE presents Cecil Day: Traps by Port Maitland, Nova Scotia artist Cecil Day.
In Traps (2008-2010), Cecil Day returns to a familiar theme: the natural world and our interaction with it. She explores our precarious relationship with nature through the subject of trapping in this suite of etchings that illustrate, to scale, traditional traps – conibears, box traps, snares, leg irons – alongside their related quarry.
Working in close dialogue with avid trappers, the artist researched each item – how they work, their construction, their history – and the corresponding animal – lobster, eel, weasel, mink, bobcat, bear, rabbit. Day’s interest here lies not in trapping itself, whether in condoning or condemning it, rather she looks to this activity by means of its tools as a vehicle by which to examine the evolving face of our connection to and understanding of nature. The traps serve as a symbol of this relationship.
In finding beauty in these objects and working with them, Day respectfully documents a fading lifestyle, one that is reliant upon a true awareness of the land and knowledge of the patterns and habits of the creatures that reside within it for survival.
Cecil Day: Traps is organized by the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia.
Cecil Day grew up in Portland, Maine. She received a BA in painting at Indiana University, Bloomington, IN (1960) and an MFA in painting from Washington University, St. Louis, MO (1973). Day moved to St. John’s, NF in 1979 and began printmaking at St. Michael’s Printshop. Notable exhibitions include: Tidelines, At the Sign of the Whale Gallery, Yarmouth, NS (2007), Journey in the North Atlantic, Craft Council Gallery, St. John’s, NL (2005), and Dark Forest, which travelled to Acadia University, Wolfville, NS, St. Francis Xavier University, Antigonish, NS, and University of New Brunswick, Fredericton, NB (1994-1996). She has served as artist-in-residence at Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris, France through Washington University, St. Louis, MO (1995) and two others awarded to her by the Art Gallery of Newfoundland and Labrador: Gros Morne National Park, Woody Point, NL (1999) and Rockwell Kent House, Brigus, NL (2006). Day’s work is held in a range of private and public collections including the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, Memorial University, Acadia University, Canada Council Art Bank, National Library of Canada, and Harvard University.
"Within our Grasp" 9th September - 14th October
Opening reception September 9th, 2-4pm, artist talk approx. 2:30pm
Installation / part residency
ARTsPLACE Artist-run Centre will be hosting an exhibition by Ontario based artist, Marianne Kyryluk, opening September 9th and running to the 7th October.
“Within Our Grasp” is an evolving sculptural installation inspired by the ideas of connectivity, community and social interaction. To create her work, Kyryluk invites community members to have their left hand and forearm cast, the cast is then sculpted and woven with jute fibre. Each cast hand is attached to the next; the participant choosing how their hand will hold another. The finished piece is then added to the existing sculpture as it hangs in the gallery.
Kyryluk explains “The practice of working with models has become a crucial element of my installments. When using the technique of plaster mould making, I marvel at the simplistic power it gives me to capture the replica of an actual living body at that exact moment in time.”
The artist will be in Annapolis Royal for approximately 2 weeks to carry out the casting process, there will be an opportunity for community members to participate in the sculpture through a draw at the opening on the 9th September.
Marianne Kyryluk describes herself as a permanent fixture at Lakehead University’s Visual Arts Building in Thunder Bay, Ontario. She attained her HBFA in 2009 and continues to exhibit in solo and group shows throughout Canada.
Installation / part residency
ARTsPLACE Artist-run Centre will be hosting an exhibition by Ontario based artist, Marianne Kyryluk, opening September 9th and running to the 7th October.
“Within Our Grasp” is an evolving sculptural installation inspired by the ideas of connectivity, community and social interaction. To create her work, Kyryluk invites community members to have their left hand and forearm cast, the cast is then sculpted and woven with jute fibre. Each cast hand is attached to the next; the participant choosing how their hand will hold another. The finished piece is then added to the existing sculpture as it hangs in the gallery.
Kyryluk explains “The practice of working with models has become a crucial element of my installments. When using the technique of plaster mould making, I marvel at the simplistic power it gives me to capture the replica of an actual living body at that exact moment in time.”
The artist will be in Annapolis Royal for approximately 2 weeks to carry out the casting process, there will be an opportunity for community members to participate in the sculpture through a draw at the opening on the 9th September.
Marianne Kyryluk describes herself as a permanent fixture at Lakehead University’s Visual Arts Building in Thunder Bay, Ontario. She attained her HBFA in 2009 and continues to exhibit in solo and group shows throughout Canada.
Twyla Exner "Post Desktop" 29th July - 2nd September
(image: Post Desktop - installation detail, Twila Exner, fabric, stuffing, foam, wood, wires, variable dimensions)
Twyla Exner Post Desktop imagines circuit components as anthropomorphisized individuals who have broken free from their circuit boards and are exploring new environments.
Artist Statement
I am interested in exploring the emotional and material impact of electronic technology on individual consciousness and experience and the various ways in which it infiltrates or permeates and configures actual space. Psychologically and as concrete objects, technologies are portable companions and fixed appendages in our homes that provide a physical connection between the self and the expanse of digitized information and communication networks. Yet regardless of the material attachment to these electronic companions it is not the objects themselves that are irresistibly alluring, but rather the more intangible connections they enable. We are all aware of the steady transposition of once precious, now abandoned technology, unemotionally replaced with advanced, more attractive multi-tasking tools. As they are expelled, they become deemed only as problematic waste: the materials that comprise them built to last while unyielding impetus dooms the object to obsolescence. However, there is something compelling about the actual substance of electronic refuse. It exists as evidence of the need for actual resources as a prerequisite for digitized environments. This same intangible space prides itself as a release from materiality. But the bits and bytes of the digital landscape still require atoms and molecules, and remain based on a physical system of wires and electrical infrastructure.
As a discipline that concerns itself with image, material, form and space, art provides an opportunity to explore the physical substances that contain the means to the ends of the digital “landscape”. Instead of exploring connections between individuals, objects and the digiscape through functional electronic technologies as a new media artist, I work with low-tech methods and draw from historical techniques to manipulate obsolete electronic materials. Just as many artists throughout history have harvested clay from the Earth, stone from a quarry or collected pigments to mix paints, I gather materials that are representative of my surroundings. Post-consumer telephone wires and electronic components provide the raw materials for my artworks. The processes of weaving, drawing and sewing provide new life through the human touch and incline these mechanisms toward technomorphism. The use of the multiple and organic forms that reference bodily organs, plants, bacteria, animals and molecules give independence to the creations, implying that they are reproducing, growing and creating a new home of the transformable space of the gallery. Softness liberates the exacting structures of the components and plays with the idea that the work of art can come to life and might somehow interact with its viewers. The reality of their touch and texture provides a counterpoint to the virtual, bodiless world of video images and endless digital files.http://twylaexner.com/section/113821_Post_Desktop.html
Artist Statement
I am interested in exploring the emotional and material impact of electronic technology on individual consciousness and experience and the various ways in which it infiltrates or permeates and configures actual space. Psychologically and as concrete objects, technologies are portable companions and fixed appendages in our homes that provide a physical connection between the self and the expanse of digitized information and communication networks. Yet regardless of the material attachment to these electronic companions it is not the objects themselves that are irresistibly alluring, but rather the more intangible connections they enable. We are all aware of the steady transposition of once precious, now abandoned technology, unemotionally replaced with advanced, more attractive multi-tasking tools. As they are expelled, they become deemed only as problematic waste: the materials that comprise them built to last while unyielding impetus dooms the object to obsolescence. However, there is something compelling about the actual substance of electronic refuse. It exists as evidence of the need for actual resources as a prerequisite for digitized environments. This same intangible space prides itself as a release from materiality. But the bits and bytes of the digital landscape still require atoms and molecules, and remain based on a physical system of wires and electrical infrastructure.
As a discipline that concerns itself with image, material, form and space, art provides an opportunity to explore the physical substances that contain the means to the ends of the digital “landscape”. Instead of exploring connections between individuals, objects and the digiscape through functional electronic technologies as a new media artist, I work with low-tech methods and draw from historical techniques to manipulate obsolete electronic materials. Just as many artists throughout history have harvested clay from the Earth, stone from a quarry or collected pigments to mix paints, I gather materials that are representative of my surroundings. Post-consumer telephone wires and electronic components provide the raw materials for my artworks. The processes of weaving, drawing and sewing provide new life through the human touch and incline these mechanisms toward technomorphism. The use of the multiple and organic forms that reference bodily organs, plants, bacteria, animals and molecules give independence to the creations, implying that they are reproducing, growing and creating a new home of the transformable space of the gallery. Softness liberates the exacting structures of the components and plays with the idea that the work of art can come to life and might somehow interact with its viewers. The reality of their touch and texture provides a counterpoint to the virtual, bodiless world of video images and endless digital files.http://twylaexner.com/section/113821_Post_Desktop.html
Jose Luis Torres "Que nos rodea - around us" 17th June - 22nd July
Site-specific Sculpture
Installation - indoor/outdoor site-specific artist residency
Opening reception & meet the artist, Sunday June 17th , 1-3pm
ARTsPLACE Artist-run Centre will be hosting an exhibition by Quebec based artist, José Luis Torres, opening June 17th at 2pm. As an artist-in-residence, Jose Luis will be arriving in Annapolis Royal ahead of time to start working on his sculptural piece, using materials gathered from the community.
Torres’ work, which mostly touches sculpture, tends to frequently involve architecture. He often utilises construction and demolition scrap to create his pieces. The work moves between sculptural and architectural forms often featuring many sub-spaces, in which one can move about or interact with. He is interested in the way we occupy space, by modifying the area, by overhauling it. “With my work, I am looking to stimulate the relationship that is established between the installation location, the piece itself and the individual interacting with it.”
José Luis Torres expose à Annapolis Royal (English version below)
Jusqu’au 21 juillet, le centre d’artistes autogéré ARTsPLACE d’Annapolis Royal en Nouvelle-Écosse présente l’exposition Ce qui nous entoure du sculpteur José Luis Torres.
Réalisée lors d’une résidence de montage de cinq jours, l’installation est en fait une vague géante qui traverse l’espace d’exposition pour terminer sa course à l’extérieur, à la faveur d’une fenêtre. La sculpture imposante est constituée de bois trouvé sur place : rebuts de construction offerts par les résidants intrigués ou encore rejetés par la mer. La mer et son action sur le paysage d’Annapolis Royal sont d’ailleurs au centre de la réflexion ayant mené à l’œuvre.
En effet, fidèle à sa démarche consacrée, l’artiste nomade a imaginé son œuvre en fonction de la configuration de l’espace d’exposition mais également par rapport au contexte géographique du lieu. Au profit du voyage en voiture et en bateau effectué entre son lieu de résidence et la ville côtière de Nouvelle-Écosse, Torres s’est nourri de ses observations des paysages de mer et de côtes qu’il a croisés. Annapolis Royal étant littéralement agressée pas l’action des vagues qui sculptent et grugent ses côtes abruptes, l’artiste a voulu incarner cette force et cette particularité locale dans son œuvre.
En outre, par son dialogue entre l’espace intérieur et extérieur, Ce qui nous entoure provoque un mouvement dans l’espace. Les passants intrigués par la sculpture aperçue de l’extérieur pénètrent dans la galerie et suivent l’ondulation qui conduit leur regard à nouveau vers l’extérieur. Pour l’artiste, l’œuvre renvoie un reflet de la société, soit un amalgame d’essais et d’erreurs, d’accidents et d’intentions, d’ordre et de chaos. Torres y remporte une nouvelle fois le pari de la capacité d’évocation des matériaux, quels qu’ils soient et quelle que soit leur provenance. L’installation affirme également que l’architecture est un dispositif relationnel, un medium d’expérimentation.
José Luis Torres est né en Argentine. Il est diplômé de l’école supérieure des beaux-arts Figueroa-Alcorta en enseignement des arts plastiques. Il est également détenteur d’une maîtrise en sculpture et d’un baccalauréat en architecture. Il vit et travaille au Québec depuis 2003. L’exposition Ce qui nous entoure a bénéficié du soutien du Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec, du Conseil des arts du Canada et de la Ville de Montmagny.
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José Luis Torres exhibit at Annapolis Royal
ARTsPLACE at the Annapolis Royal in Nova Scotia is presenting the Ce qui nous entoure - Around us exhibit by José Luis Torres up until July 21st.
Completed over a five-day installation period, the piece is a giant wave that moves across the exhibit space and finishes outside, by way of a window. The imposing sculpture is made from wood collected in the area: remnants from construction projects offered to the artist by locals who were intrigued by the project or driftwood washed up on shore. The ocean and its effect on the Annapolis Royal landscape are the heart of the artist’s inspiration for the piece.
True as ever to his creative process, Torres imagined his sculpture in function with the configuration of the exhibit space and also in regards to the geographical context of the exhibit location. During his trip by car and by boat between his residence and Nova Scotia , the sea and the shoreline that he observed inspired Torres. Annapolis Royal has literally been sculpted and scraped away by the waves hitting the shore – the artist wanted to recreate the power he saw in that in his piece.
Furthermore, via the dialogue that he has created between the indoor and outdoor spaces, Torres’ exhibit provokes movement in the space. Visitors that are intrigued by the sculpture that they see outdoors move in to the gallery and follow the wave that then brings them around to looking outside again. For Torres, the piece sends certain reflections back to society, an amalgam of trials and errors, accidents and intentions, order and chaos. Torres is able to give new life to the materials that he uses, whatever they are and where ever they came from. The installation also affirms that architecture is an experimental medium.
José Luis Torres was born in Argentina. He has a diploma from the Figueroa-Alcorta Art School in fine arts and teaching. In addition, he has a Master’s in sculpture and a BA in architecture. He has been living and working in Quebec since 2003. The exhibit Ce qui nous entoure was produced with support from the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec, the Canada Council for the Arts and the City of Montmagny .
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Source : Geneviève Caron | Tintamarre communication créative | 418 234-6806
José Luis Torres : http://www.joseluistorres.ca/
Opening reception & meet the artist, Sunday June 17th , 1-3pm
ARTsPLACE Artist-run Centre will be hosting an exhibition by Quebec based artist, José Luis Torres, opening June 17th at 2pm. As an artist-in-residence, Jose Luis will be arriving in Annapolis Royal ahead of time to start working on his sculptural piece, using materials gathered from the community.
Torres’ work, which mostly touches sculpture, tends to frequently involve architecture. He often utilises construction and demolition scrap to create his pieces. The work moves between sculptural and architectural forms often featuring many sub-spaces, in which one can move about or interact with. He is interested in the way we occupy space, by modifying the area, by overhauling it. “With my work, I am looking to stimulate the relationship that is established between the installation location, the piece itself and the individual interacting with it.”
José Luis Torres expose à Annapolis Royal (English version below)
Jusqu’au 21 juillet, le centre d’artistes autogéré ARTsPLACE d’Annapolis Royal en Nouvelle-Écosse présente l’exposition Ce qui nous entoure du sculpteur José Luis Torres.
Réalisée lors d’une résidence de montage de cinq jours, l’installation est en fait une vague géante qui traverse l’espace d’exposition pour terminer sa course à l’extérieur, à la faveur d’une fenêtre. La sculpture imposante est constituée de bois trouvé sur place : rebuts de construction offerts par les résidants intrigués ou encore rejetés par la mer. La mer et son action sur le paysage d’Annapolis Royal sont d’ailleurs au centre de la réflexion ayant mené à l’œuvre.
En effet, fidèle à sa démarche consacrée, l’artiste nomade a imaginé son œuvre en fonction de la configuration de l’espace d’exposition mais également par rapport au contexte géographique du lieu. Au profit du voyage en voiture et en bateau effectué entre son lieu de résidence et la ville côtière de Nouvelle-Écosse, Torres s’est nourri de ses observations des paysages de mer et de côtes qu’il a croisés. Annapolis Royal étant littéralement agressée pas l’action des vagues qui sculptent et grugent ses côtes abruptes, l’artiste a voulu incarner cette force et cette particularité locale dans son œuvre.
En outre, par son dialogue entre l’espace intérieur et extérieur, Ce qui nous entoure provoque un mouvement dans l’espace. Les passants intrigués par la sculpture aperçue de l’extérieur pénètrent dans la galerie et suivent l’ondulation qui conduit leur regard à nouveau vers l’extérieur. Pour l’artiste, l’œuvre renvoie un reflet de la société, soit un amalgame d’essais et d’erreurs, d’accidents et d’intentions, d’ordre et de chaos. Torres y remporte une nouvelle fois le pari de la capacité d’évocation des matériaux, quels qu’ils soient et quelle que soit leur provenance. L’installation affirme également que l’architecture est un dispositif relationnel, un medium d’expérimentation.
José Luis Torres est né en Argentine. Il est diplômé de l’école supérieure des beaux-arts Figueroa-Alcorta en enseignement des arts plastiques. Il est également détenteur d’une maîtrise en sculpture et d’un baccalauréat en architecture. Il vit et travaille au Québec depuis 2003. L’exposition Ce qui nous entoure a bénéficié du soutien du Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec, du Conseil des arts du Canada et de la Ville de Montmagny.
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José Luis Torres exhibit at Annapolis Royal
ARTsPLACE at the Annapolis Royal in Nova Scotia is presenting the Ce qui nous entoure - Around us exhibit by José Luis Torres up until July 21st.
Completed over a five-day installation period, the piece is a giant wave that moves across the exhibit space and finishes outside, by way of a window. The imposing sculpture is made from wood collected in the area: remnants from construction projects offered to the artist by locals who were intrigued by the project or driftwood washed up on shore. The ocean and its effect on the Annapolis Royal landscape are the heart of the artist’s inspiration for the piece.
True as ever to his creative process, Torres imagined his sculpture in function with the configuration of the exhibit space and also in regards to the geographical context of the exhibit location. During his trip by car and by boat between his residence and Nova Scotia , the sea and the shoreline that he observed inspired Torres. Annapolis Royal has literally been sculpted and scraped away by the waves hitting the shore – the artist wanted to recreate the power he saw in that in his piece.
Furthermore, via the dialogue that he has created between the indoor and outdoor spaces, Torres’ exhibit provokes movement in the space. Visitors that are intrigued by the sculpture that they see outdoors move in to the gallery and follow the wave that then brings them around to looking outside again. For Torres, the piece sends certain reflections back to society, an amalgam of trials and errors, accidents and intentions, order and chaos. Torres is able to give new life to the materials that he uses, whatever they are and where ever they came from. The installation also affirms that architecture is an experimental medium.
José Luis Torres was born in Argentina. He has a diploma from the Figueroa-Alcorta Art School in fine arts and teaching. In addition, he has a Master’s in sculpture and a BA in architecture. He has been living and working in Quebec since 2003. The exhibit Ce qui nous entoure was produced with support from the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec, the Canada Council for the Arts and the City of Montmagny .
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Source : Geneviève Caron | Tintamarre communication créative | 418 234-6806
José Luis Torres : http://www.joseluistorres.ca/
"Markers and Tracings" Barbara McLean, 13th May - 10th June
Paintings
(image: Markers III, Barbara Mclean, 2009, oil on canvas, 16" x 12.5")
Artist’s Statement
The works in Markers and Tracings begin my exploration of a human need—deeply felt by individuals and societies—to ‘make a mark’ in time and space. Expressions of this need to leave behind some trace of existence include the mysterious prehistoric cave paintings in Lascaux and Chauvet and the looming silence of standing stone dolmens in Korea: the two primary sources for the paintings/drawings in this exhibition.
I have always loved the simplicity of line, the elegance of form and the mix of drawing and painting in the cave images from Lascaux and Chauvet. Alex Garcia-Rivera in his book A Wounded Innocence cites John Pfieffer’s observation:
cave art is located in utter darkness, far from daylight and twilight zones and living spaces, on wide expanses of wall or doubly hidden inside tiny chambers, caves within caves, secrets within secrets.
Several works in Markers and Tracings are responses to similar sensations of darkness, obscurity and mystery.
My use and application of materials like charcoal and raw powdered ochres intensify my connection with the ‘marks’ and ‘markers’ of the past—and with those who created them. Like the painted walls in the caves, the paintings in Markers and Tracings are multilayered, one image superimposed over another, simultaneously obscuring and revealing each other. As I worked, leaving finger prints or scratchings over and through previously worked drawings, time seemed to collapse. I found myself inhabiting a very different personal space: one that felt overwhelming and totally consuming. Even transcendent.
The huge standing stones I found above ground during the three years that I lived in Korea ( 2003-2006) projected an equally powerful—but very different—sense of ‘being’ scattered, as they were, across the countryside. I wondered at the mass and silent power these dolmens embodied. Their presence felt less personal but equally commanding. In some of my works ‘dolmen’ forms are clearly identifiable. In others their influence is carried by a very conscious choice of colours, textures and materials.
Other pieces in this exhibition are less obviously drawn from those two ancient types of work. They are more connected to the kind of anonymous contemporary scrawls we call graffiti found in public spaces today.
Pieces such as “Centering” and “Dissolving Time” are my own personal notations: influenced by what has gone before, but in a less conscious way.
It would be arrogant to assume that I understand the motivations of the ancients in any real sense. The meanings of their work are still matters of speculation to archaeologists, anthropologists and historians. Yet I know that the works done so long ago and the tracings that I engage in today are both signs and calls to an unknown—and hoped for—‘other’ to locate and witness individual being. The marks I make in Markers and Tracings belong to this cry into the eternal and vast unknown: “I am here, in this place at this time”.
The works in Markers and Tracings begin my exploration of a human need—deeply felt by individuals and societies—to ‘make a mark’ in time and space. Expressions of this need to leave behind some trace of existence include the mysterious prehistoric cave paintings in Lascaux and Chauvet and the looming silence of standing stone dolmens in Korea: the two primary sources for the paintings/drawings in this exhibition.
I have always loved the simplicity of line, the elegance of form and the mix of drawing and painting in the cave images from Lascaux and Chauvet. Alex Garcia-Rivera in his book A Wounded Innocence cites John Pfieffer’s observation:
cave art is located in utter darkness, far from daylight and twilight zones and living spaces, on wide expanses of wall or doubly hidden inside tiny chambers, caves within caves, secrets within secrets.
Several works in Markers and Tracings are responses to similar sensations of darkness, obscurity and mystery.
My use and application of materials like charcoal and raw powdered ochres intensify my connection with the ‘marks’ and ‘markers’ of the past—and with those who created them. Like the painted walls in the caves, the paintings in Markers and Tracings are multilayered, one image superimposed over another, simultaneously obscuring and revealing each other. As I worked, leaving finger prints or scratchings over and through previously worked drawings, time seemed to collapse. I found myself inhabiting a very different personal space: one that felt overwhelming and totally consuming. Even transcendent.
The huge standing stones I found above ground during the three years that I lived in Korea ( 2003-2006) projected an equally powerful—but very different—sense of ‘being’ scattered, as they were, across the countryside. I wondered at the mass and silent power these dolmens embodied. Their presence felt less personal but equally commanding. In some of my works ‘dolmen’ forms are clearly identifiable. In others their influence is carried by a very conscious choice of colours, textures and materials.
Other pieces in this exhibition are less obviously drawn from those two ancient types of work. They are more connected to the kind of anonymous contemporary scrawls we call graffiti found in public spaces today.
Pieces such as “Centering” and “Dissolving Time” are my own personal notations: influenced by what has gone before, but in a less conscious way.
It would be arrogant to assume that I understand the motivations of the ancients in any real sense. The meanings of their work are still matters of speculation to archaeologists, anthropologists and historians. Yet I know that the works done so long ago and the tracings that I engage in today are both signs and calls to an unknown—and hoped for—‘other’ to locate and witness individual being. The marks I make in Markers and Tracings belong to this cry into the eternal and vast unknown: “I am here, in this place at this time”.
(image: Desolation Row, Daniel Heikalo, 2009)
“Portraits of Tamara – Images of the City” Daniel Heïkalo digital collage
19th February - 25th March
Daniel Heïkalo was born in Montreal’s working class neighbourhood of Centre-Sud in 1954. He is completely self-taught and has been practicing the art of photography since 1965, when he started taking pictures of the old houses on and around the street where he lived, and of the architecture of Old Montreal and Old Québec. His fascination with vernacular architecture has continued unabated to this day, and his work on the destroyed and disappearing architectural heritage of his native city is receiving a lot of attention.
Daniel has had two exhibitions in 2010 at the Écomusée du fier monde, a museum dedicated to the history and architecture of his working class part of the city. The forty-one photos in the shows depict streets and buildings that are either demolished or completely disfigured by careless renovation and misdirected gentrification.
Daniel’s photography has also appeared on a series of postcards of Montreal, and been published in Canadian Geographic, The Montreal Gazette, and The Nova Scotia Film Development Corporation production guide. Daniel’s work that is of a more surreal nature, in the form of collages and digital imaging, has been used on several CDs. His work is also in private collections.
View Daniel's virtual exhibition: http://vimeo.com/37040753
http://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/108215626216498226236/albums/5708645306643807041
19th February - 25th March
Daniel Heïkalo was born in Montreal’s working class neighbourhood of Centre-Sud in 1954. He is completely self-taught and has been practicing the art of photography since 1965, when he started taking pictures of the old houses on and around the street where he lived, and of the architecture of Old Montreal and Old Québec. His fascination with vernacular architecture has continued unabated to this day, and his work on the destroyed and disappearing architectural heritage of his native city is receiving a lot of attention.
Daniel has had two exhibitions in 2010 at the Écomusée du fier monde, a museum dedicated to the history and architecture of his working class part of the city. The forty-one photos in the shows depict streets and buildings that are either demolished or completely disfigured by careless renovation and misdirected gentrification.
Daniel’s photography has also appeared on a series of postcards of Montreal, and been published in Canadian Geographic, The Montreal Gazette, and The Nova Scotia Film Development Corporation production guide. Daniel’s work that is of a more surreal nature, in the form of collages and digital imaging, has been used on several CDs. His work is also in private collections.
View Daniel's virtual exhibition: http://vimeo.com/37040753
http://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/108215626216498226236/albums/5708645306643807041
ARC Exhibitions 2011
"Corniche" Ann Clarke, RCA
18th September to 23rd October 2011
An accomplished artist with over 40 years experience, Ann Clarke, RCA (Royal Canadian Academy of Arts) has been invited to bring her exhibition “Corniche” to ARTsPLACE Gallery and Artist-run Centre in Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia.
With the work in this exhibition, Ann Clarke continues to investigate her long-held interest in the dichotomy between flatness and illusion in non-representational painting. Fully engaged by these contrasts, her ambition is to achieve a balance between the tactile painterliness of the atmospheric ground and the hard-edged flat colour and geometry of the embedded illusionistic forms. Inspired by microscopic or fractal images, more often by the purely abstract, this direction employs apparently simple, but deceptively complex, shape and colour relationships.
The challenge of balancing a number of dualities - flatness, texture, illusion, geometry - in each painting is explored in an effort to reward the experience of “looking” and points towards an ongoing renewal in the development of abstract painting.
Born in England, Clarke received her art education at the Slade School of Fine Art, University College, London University. She has lived in Canada since 1968 and since then has had over thirty solo exhibitions. Since 1966 she has shown work in more than ninety group shows in Britain, Canada and the USA. Her work is in public and private collections in Canada, Britain, USA and Australia.
http://www.annclarke.ca/
18th September to 23rd October 2011
An accomplished artist with over 40 years experience, Ann Clarke, RCA (Royal Canadian Academy of Arts) has been invited to bring her exhibition “Corniche” to ARTsPLACE Gallery and Artist-run Centre in Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia.
With the work in this exhibition, Ann Clarke continues to investigate her long-held interest in the dichotomy between flatness and illusion in non-representational painting. Fully engaged by these contrasts, her ambition is to achieve a balance between the tactile painterliness of the atmospheric ground and the hard-edged flat colour and geometry of the embedded illusionistic forms. Inspired by microscopic or fractal images, more often by the purely abstract, this direction employs apparently simple, but deceptively complex, shape and colour relationships.
The challenge of balancing a number of dualities - flatness, texture, illusion, geometry - in each painting is explored in an effort to reward the experience of “looking” and points towards an ongoing renewal in the development of abstract painting.
Born in England, Clarke received her art education at the Slade School of Fine Art, University College, London University. She has lived in Canada since 1968 and since then has had over thirty solo exhibitions. Since 1966 she has shown work in more than ninety group shows in Britain, Canada and the USA. Her work is in public and private collections in Canada, Britain, USA and Australia.
http://www.annclarke.ca/
"Dark Line" A contemporary visual version of the Acadian legend, le Bateau fantome
Lise Robichaud
7th August to 11th September 2011
Acadian artist Lise Robichaud has been invited by ARTsPLACE artist-run centre in Annapolis Royal, to exhibit in their main gallery for five weeks. Her exhibition “Dark Line..”, is a contemporary expression of the Acadian story of the “ghost ship” or “bateau fantôme”. The title refers to the symbolism of a line as a limit, or horizon and also acknowledges the legend in its darkness, as a tale of mystery and mourning. In order to tell the story visually, Lise utilises a variety of different materials; paint, stain, fibre, recycled wood, found objects and paper to name a few. As an installation artist, Lise will create her work on-site leading up to the opening date on Sunday 7th August.
Lise Robichaud is a Professor of Visual Art in Education at the Université de Moncton. As an educator and professional artist Lise is able to explore her interest in the themes of identity, culture, the environment and the conflicts that often arise between them, through her art practice and research. Born in Caraquet, New Brunswick, Lise’s work can be found in collections all over Canada.
Lise Robichaud
7th August to 11th September 2011
Acadian artist Lise Robichaud has been invited by ARTsPLACE artist-run centre in Annapolis Royal, to exhibit in their main gallery for five weeks. Her exhibition “Dark Line..”, is a contemporary expression of the Acadian story of the “ghost ship” or “bateau fantôme”. The title refers to the symbolism of a line as a limit, or horizon and also acknowledges the legend in its darkness, as a tale of mystery and mourning. In order to tell the story visually, Lise utilises a variety of different materials; paint, stain, fibre, recycled wood, found objects and paper to name a few. As an installation artist, Lise will create her work on-site leading up to the opening date on Sunday 7th August.
Lise Robichaud is a Professor of Visual Art in Education at the Université de Moncton. As an educator and professional artist Lise is able to explore her interest in the themes of identity, culture, the environment and the conflicts that often arise between them, through her art practice and research. Born in Caraquet, New Brunswick, Lise’s work can be found in collections all over Canada.
"Ordalie" Anne Marie Michaud
26th June to 31st July 2011
“Ordalie” is an installation project that consists of approximately 2000 drawings of hands, and a video presentation. The artist began the process by drawing her own left hand on a daily basis for almost a year, creating what she describes as a “journal of portraits”. Anne Marie discovered that during this time, she began to feel that it was her hand that was guiding the drawing. Building on this, she set herself intense drawing sessions during which she would draw hands on Buddhist prayer papers with charcoal. What began as observational drawing, evolved into a series of expressive works, as Anne Marie describes “created by memory under the impulsions of my right hand”. The drawings are gestural and expressive, and the hands depicted are sometimes tools, caresses or weapons. The video documents the repetitive and meditative process of one of these drawing sessions.
Anne Marie Michaud completed a Master’s degree in visual arts at Laval University and a BFA at Concordia University. She has exhibited both nationally and internationally. ARTsPLACE would like to invite everyone to the opening reception & talk, refreshments provided. Free admission to the gallery & talk, donations welcome.
26th June to 31st July 2011
“Ordalie” is an installation project that consists of approximately 2000 drawings of hands, and a video presentation. The artist began the process by drawing her own left hand on a daily basis for almost a year, creating what she describes as a “journal of portraits”. Anne Marie discovered that during this time, she began to feel that it was her hand that was guiding the drawing. Building on this, she set herself intense drawing sessions during which she would draw hands on Buddhist prayer papers with charcoal. What began as observational drawing, evolved into a series of expressive works, as Anne Marie describes “created by memory under the impulsions of my right hand”. The drawings are gestural and expressive, and the hands depicted are sometimes tools, caresses or weapons. The video documents the repetitive and meditative process of one of these drawing sessions.
Anne Marie Michaud completed a Master’s degree in visual arts at Laval University and a BFA at Concordia University. She has exhibited both nationally and internationally. ARTsPLACE would like to invite everyone to the opening reception & talk, refreshments provided. Free admission to the gallery & talk, donations welcome.
"Bodily Functions" Gerald Beaulieu
15th May to 19th June 2011
“Bodily Functions” represents an ongoing series of small-scale sculptural works that examines the physical make-up of our bodies as a collection of individual cells, organs and systems. The works are intended as metaphors for our own existence; the essence of our bodies and its workings and processes from respiration to circulation and degeneration to regeneration. Beaulieu has used a number of different materials to realize his concept including silicone, wire, foam, resin and gel, resulting in strange alien-like forms. The work is there to be touched and examined by the observer to give an added dimension to the individual’s experience of the exhibition.
Gerald Beaulieu originally comes from Welland, Ontario. He studied art at the Ontario College of Art and Design, graduating in 1987. In 1988 he moved to Prince Edward Island where he now works and lives with his family. He is primarily a sculptor and installation artist receiving a number of national awards and grants for his work. He has had over 70 solo and group exhibitions across Canada the U.S. and Europe. His work is in numerous public collections including the Beaverbrook Art Gallery and the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia.
15th May to 19th June 2011
“Bodily Functions” represents an ongoing series of small-scale sculptural works that examines the physical make-up of our bodies as a collection of individual cells, organs and systems. The works are intended as metaphors for our own existence; the essence of our bodies and its workings and processes from respiration to circulation and degeneration to regeneration. Beaulieu has used a number of different materials to realize his concept including silicone, wire, foam, resin and gel, resulting in strange alien-like forms. The work is there to be touched and examined by the observer to give an added dimension to the individual’s experience of the exhibition.
Gerald Beaulieu originally comes from Welland, Ontario. He studied art at the Ontario College of Art and Design, graduating in 1987. In 1988 he moved to Prince Edward Island where he now works and lives with his family. He is primarily a sculptor and installation artist receiving a number of national awards and grants for his work. He has had over 70 solo and group exhibitions across Canada the U.S. and Europe. His work is in numerous public collections including the Beaverbrook Art Gallery and the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia.
| gerald.pdf |
"Frozen in Time" Nathalie Daoust
3rd April to 8th May 2011
“Frozen in Time” represents a body of work created by Nathalie Daoust during a residency exchange between CALQ (Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec) and the Christoph Merian Foundation in Switzerland. The work will be exhibited at ARTsPLACE gallery for five weeks and consists of a series of black and white pinhole photographs, hand-coloured by the artist, each image set in an ambiguous world where dream and reality clash. These photographs allowed Ms. Daoust to consciously reconstruct a time in her past, piece-by-piece. Filling the gaps in her memory with visual portrayals of fantasy, she depicts a life-like tale, based on real events.
Her concept was driven by the desire to freeze certain moments in time in order to preserve them intact, like works of art, while also giving them the possibility to move, to change position, and redeem themselves, thanks to an unexpected second life offered through art.
Daoust’s objective as an artist is to push the boundaries of photography through experimental methods. While working with new mediums and discovering new darkroom techniques, Daoust explores the indefinable realm between truth, fantasy and the human desire of escapism.
Whether in New York, Tokyo or Berlin, Nathalie Daoust has always asserted a childlike contempt for reality. With a passion for intimacy, this Canadian photographer, born and raised in Montreal, has devoted all of her art to unveiling the secrets hidden beneath the apparent stability of life. Daoust first broke onto the scene in 1997 while photographing the themed rooms of the Carlton Arms Hotel in New York. This project, her first solo exhibition, was then published into a book, New York Hotel Story for more information on the artist, please visit www.daoustnathalie.com
3rd April to 8th May 2011
“Frozen in Time” represents a body of work created by Nathalie Daoust during a residency exchange between CALQ (Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec) and the Christoph Merian Foundation in Switzerland. The work will be exhibited at ARTsPLACE gallery for five weeks and consists of a series of black and white pinhole photographs, hand-coloured by the artist, each image set in an ambiguous world where dream and reality clash. These photographs allowed Ms. Daoust to consciously reconstruct a time in her past, piece-by-piece. Filling the gaps in her memory with visual portrayals of fantasy, she depicts a life-like tale, based on real events.
Her concept was driven by the desire to freeze certain moments in time in order to preserve them intact, like works of art, while also giving them the possibility to move, to change position, and redeem themselves, thanks to an unexpected second life offered through art.
Daoust’s objective as an artist is to push the boundaries of photography through experimental methods. While working with new mediums and discovering new darkroom techniques, Daoust explores the indefinable realm between truth, fantasy and the human desire of escapism.
Whether in New York, Tokyo or Berlin, Nathalie Daoust has always asserted a childlike contempt for reality. With a passion for intimacy, this Canadian photographer, born and raised in Montreal, has devoted all of her art to unveiling the secrets hidden beneath the apparent stability of life. Daoust first broke onto the scene in 1997 while photographing the themed rooms of the Carlton Arms Hotel in New York. This project, her first solo exhibition, was then published into a book, New York Hotel Story for more information on the artist, please visit www.daoustnathalie.com
"Lachesis' Measure" Bonnie Baker
20th February to 27th March 2011
Bonnie Baker studied printmaking at NSCAD University in Halifax, Nova Scotia between 1980 and 82 after which, she focused her attention on a textile based art practice. Her work has been widely exhibited in Canada, the US and the UK and can be found in public and private collections worldwide; including the Art Bank of Nova Scotia, the Royal Bank and ÉCONOMUSÉE® in Montréal. Drawing, however, has always been at the heart of her work and it is this medium that she has chosen to explore in her upcoming exhibition. "Lachesis' Measure" will show Baker's fascination with the everyday object, in this instance, rope. The idea of representing an everyday, commonplace object, in a two-dimensional form saw her asking if our experience of these objects is the same as if they were actually placed in front of us.
"Rope has such rich history of meaning. It is a basic mundane tool universally found in any culture, but as a symbol or a metaphor, it is expansive. The image of rope can be seen as barrier, obstruction, restriction, detainment, separation, exclusion, then again it’s a lifeline, holding things together, connection, link, a measure of linear space and of time. In Western mythology, it is a metaphor for life, spun, measured and cut by the Moirae, the fates; Clotho, Lachesis, Atropos. Cloth spins the thread of life for each of us; Lachesis measures out the length of our lives and thus determines our destiny. Finally, Atropos, with her scissors cuts the thread, ending life. The interesting question is how it is that fragments of ordinary day to day experience can connect to larger questions of our individual existence, our community and our society."
20th February to 27th March 2011
Bonnie Baker studied printmaking at NSCAD University in Halifax, Nova Scotia between 1980 and 82 after which, she focused her attention on a textile based art practice. Her work has been widely exhibited in Canada, the US and the UK and can be found in public and private collections worldwide; including the Art Bank of Nova Scotia, the Royal Bank and ÉCONOMUSÉE® in Montréal. Drawing, however, has always been at the heart of her work and it is this medium that she has chosen to explore in her upcoming exhibition. "Lachesis' Measure" will show Baker's fascination with the everyday object, in this instance, rope. The idea of representing an everyday, commonplace object, in a two-dimensional form saw her asking if our experience of these objects is the same as if they were actually placed in front of us.
"Rope has such rich history of meaning. It is a basic mundane tool universally found in any culture, but as a symbol or a metaphor, it is expansive. The image of rope can be seen as barrier, obstruction, restriction, detainment, separation, exclusion, then again it’s a lifeline, holding things together, connection, link, a measure of linear space and of time. In Western mythology, it is a metaphor for life, spun, measured and cut by the Moirae, the fates; Clotho, Lachesis, Atropos. Cloth spins the thread of life for each of us; Lachesis measures out the length of our lives and thus determines our destiny. Finally, Atropos, with her scissors cuts the thread, ending life. The interesting question is how it is that fragments of ordinary day to day experience can connect to larger questions of our individual existence, our community and our society."
