A Publication for the Visual Arts Fall/Winter 2007 Issue 9
of the Peace www.artofthepeace.ca
Brian Jungen: A DEEPER WELL
Symposium ‘07 Deryk Houston: Cultivating a Place of Peace Open to Interpretation: Three Peace River Artists ollege C O NCE RT SER IES
Mark O’Connor’s For further information hot swing please call GPRC Fine Arts at 780-539-2443 November 21, 2007 All performances at DJ Cardinal Performing Arts Centre Chatham Baroque January 11, 2008
Robert Silverman February 14, 2008
Ensemble Caprice baroque turbulence February 24, 2008
Camerata Nordica sweden March 16, 2008 Rising Again?
Deryk Houston
Workshops in Progress
Art of the Peace Symposium ‘07 The Prairie Art Gallery: 7 8 13 25 contents 14 20 16 Steve Mills
Brian Jungen Open to
Interpretation art out there... 4 the BUSINESS of art 10 Art Books in Review 12 Artists with Issues 19 education & opportunities 22 The Last Word 26
Editor: Wendy Stefansson ©All rights reserved Art of the Peace Editorial Committee: Dale Syrota, Carrie Klukas 2007 Design, Layout & Advertising: imageDESIGN Art of the Peace Visual Arts Association Contributors: Jody Farrell, Wendy Stefansson, Ellen Corea acknowledges the financial assistance of: Reproduction in whole or in part is Publisher: Art of the Peace Visual Arts Association, strictly prohibited. c/o The Prairie Art Gallery, The Alberta Foundation for the Arts Suite #103, 9856 - 97 Street, Grande Prairie, AB T8V 7K2 Art of the Peace makes every effort to Ph: (780) 532-8111; [email protected] ensure the accuracy of the information Printing: Menzies Printers it publishes, but cannot be held respon- Cover: Prototype for New Understanding #5, 1999, Nike Air Jordans, City of Grande Prairie Arts Development Fund sible for any consequences arising from human hair. Courtesy Catriona Jeffries Gallery, Vancouver errors or omissions. art out there...
Taking it to the Streets
his coming January, just Tas you are putting away your Christmas lights, a new exhibit is going to be lighting up Grande Prairie’s 100th Ave- nue! ARTery will be a conver- gence of video and text art by nationally and internationally renowned artists occupying the storefronts along the street, which is a major artery in the city. Together, the Prairie Art Gallery and curator Edward Edward Bader’s mock-up of John Will’s Bader have assembled a cast planned video installation in the window of artists including John Will of Calgary; Michael Campbell and of Midwest Furniture. David Hoffos of Lethbridge; C. Wells of Hamilton; Anne Troake of St. John’s, Newfoundland; Bill Viola of Long Beach, Califor- nia; and Karina Ksvirsk, as well as the team of Micah Lexier and Christian Bok of New York. Bader hopes that bringing art to the Toast, acrylic on panel, by Calgary artist streets will help revitalize the heart of the city during a tradition- Anne McKenzie ally slow time of year, create a surge of attention amongst people The Healing Arts who might never have been to a gallery, and quicken the pulses of long-time art lovers. n September 21st, the OQueen Elizabeth II Hos- pital in Grande Prairie hosted its First Annual 5 x 7 Benefit Show and Sale. Over 50 local artists had submitted pieces of original art on 5 x 7 inch pieces of wood supplied by the hospi- En Plein Air tal. Each of these was signed on the back, creating mystery rom June 7th to 9th, well-known watercolourist Brent Laycock and excitement for art patrons, led a three-day plein air painting workshop at the Euphemia F and every work was sold for McNaught Homestead near Beaverlodge. Participating artists the same amount: $50. Some had the opportunity to paint the scenery, flowers and homestead people went home with works buildings, with an additional field trip to a local landscape vista. by acclaimed artists, and others Laycock, whose work has been exhibited widely and published in with works by up-and-comers. Waterton: Brush and Pen, provided demonstrations and critiques In addition four works were on a daily basis. raffled off: one each by artists Harold Klunder, Laura Vick- On June 9th, Peace Country photographer Don Pettit of Dawson Creek erson, Peter von Tiesenhausen joined the group to lead a day-long photography workshop, also find- and Dale Sales. All proceeds ing many subjects for artistic expression on the homestead site. went to benefit the Courtyard Gallery for “arts in healthcare.” Workshop participants observe Laycock’s demonstration at Halcourt Cemetery near the McNaught Homestead. art of the peace 4 Artists of the BC Peace Receive Recognition
ach spring, artists from Eacross northeastern BC answer the call of the Peace Liard Regional Juried Art Ex- hibition. This year the event was co-hosted by the Phoenix Theatre Society in Fort Nelson and the Peace Liard Regional Arts Council during the month of May, but the exhibit will travel throughout the various communities in the BC Peace Sales poses with his painting, Lazy Evening, in the hospital cafeteria. over the course of the coming Donations by Sales year. Grande Prairie artist Car- rie Klukas was on hand to pro- ccording to Karen Longmate, Visual Arts Coordinator at the vide feedback to artists and jury AQueen Elizabeth II hospital in Grande Prairie, artist Dale the show, selecting the winners Sales is by nature a very generous man. Last May, Sales donated of three generous cash prizes four of his paintings to the hospital following the success of an provided by EnCana. Taking exhibit of his work at the Courtyard Gallery there. Longmate says home the $1000 Distinguished Sales’ subjects – horses, landscapes and people in the community – Award was Peter Shaw, for his reflect the lives of the patients in a way that they can easily connect work Wood Frog. with, bringing them comfort in challenging times. Wood Frog by Peter Shaw
Sales has recently returned to painting, after a 30-year hiatus dur- ing which he raised his family and built a successful woodworking business. He believes that each painting he does is a progression from the last one, and that by giving these early paintings away, he frees up energy so his work can evolve. Retrofit, Renovation and Relocation for the Centre for Creative Arts
he building in which the TCentre for Creative Arts Dream Home Art Sales through has been housed is temporar- the Roof ily closed. The City of Grande Prairie, which owns the struc- very year, the Queen Eliz- ture, has planned a retrofit which will see them opening The once-and-future Centre for Creative Eabeth II Hospital Founda- Arts, currently closed for renovations. tion in Grande Prairie holds up the walls to remove asbes- a Dream Home Lottery, and tos, as well as to update the every year there is art by local electrical system, plumbing and heating. They are estimating that artists on the walls of the fur- this work will take 6 to 10 months to complete. nished home. This year, an ad- ditional gallery space was cre- While the sledge hammers are flying, the Centre for Creative Arts ated on the lower level in order will be carrying out renovations of its own, altering the layout to A diptych entitled Nebula by Grande to showcase all of the art that better suit the needs of their users. To view the floor plans and Prairie artist Carrie Klukas used in the was submitted. What nobody up-to-date photos and information, see the Centre’s new website staging of the 2007 Dream Home. expected was that the art sales – www.creativecentre.ca. Until the renovations are complete, the from this venture would total Centre for Creative Arts will be located at 10031-103 Avenue, in $16,600! Twenty-nine pieces ranging in price from $125 to $2400 the old RCMP building. went home with happy art lovers, and while 25% of the purchase price went to the Hospital Foundation, 75% went to the artists in- volved. Hospital Visual Arts Coordinator Karen Longmate specu- lates that, “many collectors view the Dream Home as a venue to purchase great local art.” art of the peace 5 ArtsPost Too!
ntil recently, the Fort St. UJohn Community Arts Council (FSJCAC) was housed in a historic building owned by the City. Dubbed the ArtsPost, the space was ample enough to house the Potter’s Guild as well as the Spinners and Weav- ers, with room to spare. How- ever, the City recently sold the building to developers, leaving Hikers at the summit of Mount de Veber. the FSJCAC scrambling for a new home. Passport To The Peaks: Willmore Wilderness Wanderers Happily they were able to rent he Willmore Wilderness Wanderers climbed to the top of a new space, and spent the TMount de Veber during July 2007 to acquire another embossed summer renovating the facil- Volunteer Rosemary Landry helps with stamp from the Passport to the Peaks cairn perched at the top. ity to suit their purposes. With the renovations at the new ArtsPost Too. Each of the 21 cairns has an original painting by Grande Cache hard-working volunteers con- artist Robert Guest on the front, depicting that particular mountain. tributing over 600 volunteer hours to the project, they were able to All of the peaks can be viewed from the town of Grande Cache. move in by the end of September, and hosted their grand opening Two members of the group pictured, Ian McDonald (centre) and on the weekend of October 5th and 6th. The FSJAC’s new loca- Jack Deenik (bottom right), have since completed their passports. tion has been christened ArtsPost Too. Less than 10 people have accomplished this task to date.
Welding Together Peace River History
rtist Sonia Rosychuk will be welding together old steel imple- Aments to make what she refers to as a “sign sculpture” for the Peace River Museum and Archives, and she’s involving the whole community in the venture. The sign will have the letters that spell out the word “Museum” embedded in a larger, abstract overall de- sign, all of it fashioned from found metal. Rosychuk is looking for metal pieces which have some connection to the area’s history – farming, oil exploration, the railroad, etc. – to be donated by lo- cal people or businesses. Integrating these heritage pieces into the new and contemporary sign is uniquely appropriate for a museum, says director Laura Gloor. Rosychuk hopes to begin assembling the work on site at the Museum in spring 2008. This 3-foot papier maché frog was a col- laborative project by Shirley Kerr and other community members.
Reduce, Reuse and Make Art!
his past July the Fort St. TJohn Community Arts Council (FSJCAC), in partner- Jennifer Bowes ship with the Northern Environ- Bowes is Back mental Action Team, mounted a show of artworks made from rtist and instructor Jennifer recycled or found materials. ABowes is making a repeat They called it “The Art of Re- performance at Grande Prairie duction.” Unloved CDs, news- Regional College this school papers, and old suitcases all year. While long-time instruc- found new lives as art media. Artist Sonia Rosychuk (left) and museum director Laura Gloor discussing plans. Photo tor Ken Housego is on sabbati- by Kristjanna Grimmelt, Peace River Record Gazette. The FSJCAC used this, their cal, Bowes will be covering his last show in their ArtsPost loca- classes. Bowes taught at GPRC tion, to “go out with a bang.” in 2005-2006. art of the peace 6 Prairie Art Gallery: Rising Again?
by Wendy Stefansson
n Friday, May In the interm, the Prairie Art Gallery is down but not out! It has O25th, a small temporarily relocated to #103, 9856 97 Avenue in Grande Prai- crowd of politicians, rie. While there is limited space in this location, 250 works from media members, the gallery’s permanent collection have been mounted as well as and loyal supporters a children’s discovery room. Shows which had been scheduled turned out for the prior to the gallery’s collapse last March have been cancelled or official sod-turning postponed for the time being, but a variety of other programming ceremony at the site has been planned taking advantage of other spaces in the region in- of the new Grande cluding the Glass Gallery at Grande Prairie Regional College, the Prairie’s Cultural Grande Prairie Public Library, the Shannon Library in Sexsmith, Centre. Turning a and the classrooms of many local schools. spade on behalf of the Prairie Art Gal- lery was Marj Tay- lor, president of the gallery board. Marj was joined by Wen- dy Nurcombe of the Grande Prairie Pub- Left to right: Grande Prairie Mayor Wayne Ayling, lic Library board, Grande Prairie Public Library Board President Wendy the two boards hav- Nurcombe and Prairie Art Gallery Board President Marj Taylor wielding shovels at the sod-turning cer- ing partnered in this emony for the new Grande Prairie’s Cultural Centre. project since its in- ception. Although the ceremony took place in late May, work had clearly begun at the site several weeks prior, and backhoes and trucks could be seen busily moving and removing dirt behind the presenters.
According to City of Grande Prairie Marketing and Communica- Prairie Art Gallery’s permanent collection on display in their temporary location. tions Manager David Olinger: “Pilings, caps, concrete walls for the parkade, and underground services (were) installed (in late Au- gust). Before November, weather permitting, a concrete slab will be placed over the parkade. During the winter, steel walls will be erected. By spring, construction on walls and masonry will occur.” The new library/gallery project, which is to be connected to the old Prairie Gallery building, is slated for completion in early 2009. You can watch the progress on the construction site web cam at www.makeitgrand.ca. Coming Soon to a Computer Monitor Near You! Meanwhile, the half-collapsed heritage building of the Prairie Art Gal- lery laid pretty much where it landed on March 19th. Owned by the The Prairie Art Gallery website (www.prairiegallery.com) City of Grande Prairie, its fate was in the hands of their insurance com- received a major redesign over the summer. One of pany whose adjusters needed time to assess the damage. According to the new features that will be launched on it this fall is Olinger, the green light has now been given and, “the collapsed Prai- a “virtual collection.” Peace Country artists will be able rie Gallery can be reconstructed back to its former state with updates to submit digital images of their art to this visual da- to meet present-day standards.” A final decision will not be made on tabase, which will then be accessible to internet users whether to proceed until the cost of completing the work is determined. everywhere. Watch for details on the site in October! That information is expected by the end of October.
art of the peace 7 Workshops in Progress: Two Artists Using Art for Growth and Healing
by Jody Farrell
only found his way out for good represents all that remains to be to put people in touch with in 2000, after several stints in learned from the elements and their true selves, accessing the rehab and aboriginal healing the elders. emotion is just the start. What’s programs. Today, he and his needed next is the capacity to wife Celine live in the centre of For Salopree, “every little line put it all down on paper in a the small Dene-Tha First Nation is a word from an elder.” free, no holds-barred fashion. village, 70 km north of High Along with exercises that Level. He welcomes visitors, evoke different sentiments, talking openly about his past Marian Jacoba Shilka teaches watercolour and his art, and takes young techniques that fit a variety of people to healing conferences in Shilka feelings. Still, what participants the far north. He participates in n interest in tapping into put down is not always what traditional dancing, drumming Aour innermost person is they intended. “It’s not you, and song, and uses his own what excites Marian Jacoba it’s the medium,” Shilka will paintings to inspire others to Shilka most these days. The explain to the exasperated will- embrace their heritage. Grande Prairie artist facilitates be artist. “It might just be that “Awakening Your Creative you’re really a cabinet maker.” “I came back to my senses and Powers” workshops in which started to pick it (my life) up in she encourages exploring and As for Shilka’s own work, art is a good way. I started to receive illustrating our personalities a soul to soul connection. She back the elder history, and what and feelings. believes that by following, not it all meant.” forcing, creativity, the artist Roy Salopree, Gho’ni Kah ne ta, water “I do a lot of work around based medium, 2007. produces authentic works that Salopree says his precise emotions,” Shilka says. It’s not do not require justification. compositions and clean lines always an easy task. People When Shilka was inspired to Roy Salopree reflect the singular meanings may wish to explore their turn out watercolour paintings oy Salopree of Meander and rather formal ways of the personal landscape, and sign up that some deemed “aboriginal” River recalls making pen- R elders’ teachings. “When elders to do it in an artistic way, but in spirit, she explained that the cil drawings at an early age. taught, we had to be very still. getting adults to access their images she renders resonate He was given his first set of oil We could not look away. The own deepest feelings requires with something deeply felt. And paints at 15 by a local Hudson’s fine line, for me, represents confidence as well as skill. “I while that something might Bay manager who spotted his the accuracy of their stories.” tell them: ‘Let’s approach this include elements of aboriginal talent. Today, the 54-year-old’s In one work, two open- with a childlike spirit.’ As we art, it came from a place of exquisite designs give the im- mouthed fish are receiving the become adults we let that go. It authenticity, and therefore, pression their creator follows awesome wisdom that comes can be hard to get it back again, works for her. a fairly straightforward and with the knowledge of life’s and yet that’s what’s needed.” grounded path. And he does. interdependence. The empty, But the circle you’ll find in ev- open circle between them While the introductory Marian Jacoba Shilka, Jungle Jester, wa- ery painting signifies the circu- watercolour course is designed tercolour. itous route Salopree travelled to get home.
Salopree spent much of his adolescence and adulthood as “a different person,” with alcohol, and later, prescription drugs, obliterating most of what inspires creativity. He art of the peace 8 Calvin Cornish
Limited edition pencil prints available at:
Outdoor Images #104, 10814 100 Street Ph: (780) 532-3701
Grande Prairie Farmers Market
Phone: (780) 814-7053 www.gonewild.ca
'Foggy Moon on the East Slopes' Oil Painting by Knife, 12 x 16”, 2006
Ruth Lewkowitz Vicki Hotte Catherine Nychka Carol Sletsma Marion Brown Marilyn Snell Marjorie Henn Vivian Farnsworth Robert Guest: Peggy Martin Darlene Dautel Deanna Burchett Louise McNeil Lynne Brown East Slopes Studio, Toni Schuler Amber Barclay Florence Aubin Diane Bertold Grande Cache, Alberta (780) 356-2128 Contact The Prairie Art Gallery at 780 532 8111 for information
Pottery Glass Jewellery Hats Home Decor Handpainted Silk
9918A 100 Ave. Grande Prairie
P: (780) 513-1933 F: (780) 513-1949 www.gppl.ab.ca Ph: (780) 532-3580 9910 99 Ave. Grande Prairie
Fairview Fine Arts Centre Gift Shop Unique. Local Art.
Painting from life experiences, No GST. landscapes, portraits, horses and western themes. Dale R. Sales Open Noon to 5 pm, Tuesday to Saturday cell: 876-5432 [email protected] 9807-97 Ave. Grande Prairie, AB 10812 103 Avenue 780-835-2697
art of the peace 9 the BUSINESS of Art Why arts councils matter, PART II - BC
by Ellen Corea
nlike Alberta, British Co- guilds, arts centres, libraries, arts and culture in the province and organizations that work Ulumbia has a network of museums). Regional arts coun- through public education, re- on the “ground floor” of cul- community and regional arts cils represent the community search, advocacy, and – perhaps ture. On the other hand, rural councils that promote and sup- arts councils on a regional ba- most importantly – the award- and isolated areas vying for port the development of all sec- sis. Over the entire arts council ing of funds. These funds are the same funding dollars as tors of the arts on a community system is the Assembly of BC divided amongst individual art- large organizations and areas basis within the province, oper- Arts Councils, an advocacy or- ists, cultural facilities, organiza- with huge population bases ating differently in each com- ganization for all the councils tions and provincial advocacy are somewhat disadvantaged. munity according to its unique in the province. organizations including the As- Those of us in northern and needs. In most cases the Com- sembly of BC Arts Councils. rural communities will have to munity Arts Council functions The British Columbia Arts continue to work just that much as an umbrella organization for Council (BCAC), on the other The Arts Council System works harder to have our voices heard member groups that provide hand, is an arms-length agency well in the majority of com- and our cultural achievements cultural services and programs of the BC government which munities providing support for recognized. I say we are up for to the community (galleries, is responsible for supporting grass roots arts and the artists the challenge.
Cash Injection for Alberta Art Representatives from the Can- tions are successful. (Visual arts That said, the number of grant by Wendy Stefansson ada Council and the Alberta organizations do much better.) requests received from Alberta Foundation for the Arts (AFA) Logan explained that the reason artists in the past has been low played to a packed house at the for such a low success rate is the – so much so that the AFA and Peace Library System board huge volume of applications that the Canada Council will be room on May 23rd. The infor- the Canada Council receives, partnering in a venture called mation session addressed all of but he encouraged artists to ap- the Alberta Creative Develop- the arts – music, dance, litera- ply again even if they’ve been ment Initiative to encourage ture, theatre, etc. – as well as turned down before. Applica- Albertans to apply. Through the visual arts. For visual art- tions are reviewed by a jury of this initiative, $6 million will ists, the news was mixed. art peers, and assessed solely on be injected into the Alberta arts the basis of artistic merit. There economy over the next 3 years. Jim Logan of the Canada Coun- are no quotas allocated by gen- Details should be available this cil reported that only 10% of der, age, race, language, artistic fall on the Canada Council and Beaverlodge artist Darlene Dautel speak- individual artists’ grant applica- medium or geographic region. AFA websites. ing with Canada Council’s Jim Logan.
Fall/Winter Hours: • By Donation 10:00am - 5:00pm ASA, PWS • Artists Run Centre Tuesday - Friday Suzanne Sandboe • Year Round 12:00 - 4:00pm • Gift Shop Saturdays
• 13 Exhibits Per Year • Art Rental • Education Programs
Phone: 780-568-4124 www.suzannesandboe.com Tel: (250) 782-2601 101 - 816 Alaska Avenue www.dcartgallery.ca Dawson Creek, BC V1G 4T6 art of the peace 10 Wally’s Beer Cooler • Tropical Plants • Home & Garden Decor • Fresh Cut Trees & Greens • Poinsettias
South on Highway 40, Grande Prairie
Christmas Open House December 1st, 2007
• Antiques t4FMFDUJPOPGXJOFT • Light Lunch, Homestyle t4QFDJBMDBTFPSEFST Deserts & Specialty Teas t-BSHFWBSJFUZPGCFFST • Elegant Victorian Atmosphere • Collectables, Fashion Apparel & Accessories • Gardening Giftware Tel: 780 - 513 - 4312 9320 - 100 street, Grande Prairie AB Locally owned and operated
Grande Prairie Art Society MARIAN JACOBA SHILKA Intuitive Painting ArtistsPh: 780-568-3334 Fax: 780-568-2926 North
Carol Adrian-Clark Natalie Green Anne Patrick Ed Ashton Wanda Hollingworth Irene Pearcy Kim Dettling Wilhelmina Johnston Janet Roy Pauline Freed Ray Laurin Emily Schudlo Dianne Gaboury Gordon Mackey Viola Steinke Barb Greentree Megan Mackey Linda Thetrault Awakening Your Creative Powers Watercolour Classes 780-532-7562 Grande Prairie [email protected] Fine Art in a variety of styles and media
Ed Ashton Watercolour Artist Member of Artists North Carmen Haakstad
Ph: (780) 532-6803 www.edashton.com [email protected]
780 . 539 . 4483 Rustic scenes featuring original grain elevator www.carmensimages.com sites anywhere in Alberta art of the peace 11 Art Books in Review Places of Their Own Bookstore and The Forest Lover Widest selection of art materials by Wendy Stefansson and best prices north of Edmonton.
n Carr, O’Keeffe, Kahlo: Places of Their Brushes | Paints | Specialty papers | Raw Canvas IOwn, writer and curator Sharon Rohlfsen Udall braids together the stories of three of the most remarkable female painters of the twentieth century – Emily Carr, Frida Kahlo and Georgia O’Keeffe. Weighty Hours of Operation: but well-worth reading, this triple- 9:00 am - 4:00 pm, biography-cum-art-book inspired an Monday - Friday international exhibit which toured in the early years of this millennium. P: (780) 539-2926 F: (780) 539-2768 Try to imagine Emily Carr and Frida TF: 1-888-539-GPRC Kahlo in the same room. If you are thinking that just about the only thing they have in common – other Grande Prairie Regional College than painting – is a pet monkey, you might not be alone. Add into Main Campus, Main Floor the mix a third comparison with Georgia O’Keeffe, and Carr comes 10726 106 Ave. out looking somewhat maiden-auntish – the Victorian spinster who Grande Prairie, AB rejected, it seems, a conventional social life for the inner life. Of course, the fact is that all three rejected a conventional life; that part of being a serious artist and a female has always been the necessity of first inventing a life that allows you the hard-won freedom to make Enjoy our inside atmosphere art. At best, their lifestyle choices were difficult and idiosyncratic. or, Eschewing or obsessing about men (or both at the same time), in a hurry - drive thru remaining childless, spending large portions of their adult lives alone – it cost these women to be artists.
All three were brilliant and original artists who nonetheless struggled for recognition in a male-dominated art world. And ultimately, all three achieved it.
he Forest Lover by Susan Vreeland, is a fictional Tretelling of the life of Emily Carr. Vreeland clearly understands the struggles of an artist – financial, emotional and spiritual. These are all in the story. 101 - 10635 Westside Drive Grande Prairie But she balances these with exquisite descriptions of the moments of grace in 10003 92 St. - Ivy Lake Plaza which art happens. Describing one of Grande Prairie Carr’s artistic breakthrough moments, she writes: “A single swirl of energy – birth, growth, feeding, breeding, and decay – all of it continuous Life, teeming with mystery, Light Lunches and she a part of it. She felt an incoming and Mouthwatering Desserts NOW OPEN IN an unfurling, a momentary mindlessness, a FORT ST. JOHN Specialty Coffees long-awaited union, a beautiful silent oneness, & Teas and she was left with an unutterable calm.” Local Artwork For an artist, this book is a gift. on display art of the peace 12 Deryk Houston: Cultivating a Place of Peace
by Jody Farrell
eryk Houston’s landscapes life’s purpose. He was also in- in Baghdad before leaving in but the project ground to a halt Dand still lifes are rich and terested in contrasts though, and 1999. “It opened up something in late 2002 with the threat of happy and colourful. Their ti- the United Nations-imposed inside myself,” Houston says of further bombing. Houston re- tles, sometimes humourous and sanctions and their devastating the large-scale land sculpture. turned to Canada. No plans always warm, give the sense of effect on the children of Bagh- He went on to create another have been made yet to continue an artist in love with the land dad - Unicef estimates that as near his birthplace in Scotland the sculpture as the country still and those who inhabit it. So, many as half a million children in 2001, and then started the faces widespread destruction when Houston returned from a under five have died as a result Peace Sanctuary in Hudson’s and grief. visit to Iraq in 1999 and found of the war and sanctions - left Hope in 2002. himself painting out of anger him desperate to both make These days, Houston contin- and pain, he gradually realized sense of the situation and offer Along with his son Sam and ues his overall vision, which that the messages of love and a message of hope for all par- catskinner (bulldozer) Phil includes healing himself and hope he felt he was really about ents and children living in fear Kirtzinger, Houston created those who have suffered along- would necessitate a change of and conflict. a 1000-foot diameter raised side him. The Hudson’s Hope canvas. Peace Sanctuary, which he pur- posely set in a remote area so Houston lives in Victoria and that visiting required genuine has property in Hudson’s Hope “When I got back (from Iraq), I was quite effort, has been a comfort. And in northeastern BC. He made while plans are afoot to plant his first trip to Baghdad as part totally shattered,” Houston explains. trees that help protect the art- of a peace delegation after ex- work from an onslaught of all- pressing concern for the chil- “When I got back, I was quite landscape featuring a mother, terrain vehicles, Houston envi- dren there who’d suffered the totally shattered,” Houston ex- child, and dove in the BC Peace sions a lifetime commitment of ravages of war. His visit to Iraq plains. His early artwork fol- Country. Following its comple- making it a place of peace. and its lasting effect on him and lowing the trip was dark, accus- tion and the NFB filming, he his art is beautifully document- ing, and angry, and did nothing returned to Baghdad for several “It was a great healing process ed in the National Film Board’s to help matters. It took about a months, where he worked on for myself after having been From Baghdad to Peace Coun- year, he says, to figure out how a large-scale sculpture that the to Iraq,” Houston says of the try. It follows the artist’s at- to turn what he’d witnessed Iraqi government planned to cast landart. “I want people to ap- tempt to understand all sides of into something spiritual and in bronze. Plaster handprints proach the site the same way the conflict, and his subsequent positive. Houston had taken of children they might a modest church. I landscape art, first in Iraq; later, who were dying of cancer were hope it will stand for genera- in Victoria, BC, and his native In 2000, following his bout of one part of the huge project, tions to come and become a Scotland, and finally in Hud- despair, Houston made a large which took several months and symbol of peace for those who son’s Hope. image with hay in a farmer’s created a great deal of anguish never give in to hatred in the field in Victoria. It featured a for his family back home. He struggle against evil.” Houston says in the film that mother and child and resembled managed to complete the three- his art always sought to explain a small one he’d made of stones part structure’s plaster version,
Deryk Houston, painting of his Peace Sanctuary Houston takes an imprint of the hand of an Iraqi Aerial view of Deryk Houston’s Peace Sanctuary near Hudson’s land art (detail). child dying of cancer in a Baghdad hospital. Hope, BC. Photo by Don Pettit Art of the Peace Symposium ‘07
by Wendy Stefansson On October 12th and 13th, the fifth annual Art of the Peace Visual Arts Symposium once again brings together artists and art lovers with four fascinating presenters in Grande Prairie, Alberta. Chris Cran enowned Calgary painter Chris Cran is interested in the way that a painting is per- Rceived. He contends that we are “hard-wired to stare at a rectangle with coloured stuff on it that’s almost dead flat” and see a vista in it. That the way we look at a painting is “the pleasurable side of looking for a tiger in the bush.”
In his well-known series of self-portraits from the 1980’s, Cran made paintings that consciously denied the viewer the illusion of looking into a vista. Rather than seeing through the artist’s eyes, the viewer was looking at the artist who was looking back at him/her with a directness more evocative of advertising than of art. With such iconic works as My Face in Your Home and Self-Portrait Accepting a Cheque for the Commission of this Painting, Cran poked fun at the pretensions of the art world while begging a more serious question about art as conspicuous consumption and the complicity of artists in making it so.
Throughout the 1990’s Cran played with the optics of perception, imposing a pattern of stripes or dots over an image to obscure or dissolve it. Most recently, he has been making portraits which deliberately do not look back at the viewer. Rather, the faces are depicted glanc-
Above: Chris Cran, Chorus Painting ing past or around the viewer, presumably taking in what is on the opposite wall of the gallery. About (orange) these works, Cran claims: “It’s a really sneaky way of appropriating other people’s work!” Cran Below: Jane Ash Poitras, Potato Peel- ing 101 to Ethnobotany 101, (detail) contends that he paints and assembles the works in a given show like disparate elements in a story, but that it is up to each viewer to compose a unifying narrative. Ul- timately, it is the viewer’s perception of a painting – or a show – that completes it.
Jane Ash Poitras he experience of looking at a Jane Ash Poitras artwork, especially Ta large-scale piece, is an investment. It takes time. It’s a bit like putting together all of the pieces of a puzzle; or perhaps, in this case, more like investigating the scene of a crime.
I am looking at a detail of Poitras’ Potato Peeling 101 to Ethnobotany 101. It is long and horizontal in format, an alphabet frieze in big white letters all along the top edge. Below that there are pages from a book or books, collaged and painted over loosely with stencilled words and simply rendered horses reminiscent of Aboriginal pictographs. There is a photograph of a student with his back to us, working out an equa- tion on a chalkboard, a smaller one of a formal class picture, a hand- coloured student’s map of Canada, and a painting of a tipi encampment art of the peace 14 by the edge of a river. In handwriting it says: “A government official came to my father and asked him to send me to a place called Qu’Appelle school ….” The third visual band is crowded with sepia- toned photographs of Aboriginal people, most of them children in school settings. At the bottom, there is the Union Jack centrally imposed on a band of Hudson Bay Company stripes. And that’s just the first of three panels.
This, as most of Poitras’ work, is endlessly evocative. As a mixed media artist, Poitras uses collage, printmaking, and painting to bring together diverse fragments, both visual and textual, and challenges the viewer to identify the references and “read” the story. Robert Rauschenberg once said, “The art- ist’s job is to be a witness to his time in history.” Poitras appears uniquely poised to witness hers.
Stephen Teeple Stephen Teeple is an award-winning architect, three of those awards being Governor General’s Awards for Ar- chitecture. He’s also the architect of the long-awaited 8000-square-foot expansion of the Prairie Art Gallery, the adjoining Grande Prairie Public Library and their common central hall – collectively known as Grande Prairie’s Cultural Centre.
Teeple says that his design for the Centre was “very definitely inspired by Grande Prairie and the landscape around Grande Prairie.” From the ground up, he tried to “reference the local colour.” He sourced Artist’s rendering of the north elevation of Grande Prairie’s Cultural Centre. out new bricks with colours and textures similar to bricks once made from local clay; they will form the exterior walls of the building. But it is the “flowing zinc roof” which will really be the centre of attention, abstractly recalling the “billowing fields of the prairie.” The silver-coloured zinc will change with the light from moment to moment, reflecting the natural colours of the sky. The angles of this roof, in combination with strategically placed glass walls will bounce light into the building and reflect it off interior roof structures, causing subtle shifts in the play of light throughout the day.
According to Teeple, the “poetics” of architecture have changed. Today architects conceptualize a “building as a natural system.” The light, the shadows, the colours, the materials, the way the build- ing absorbs heat and moves air – everything is part of an organic whole. Teeple’s building has been “imagined in terms of the earth environment.”
Edward Bader In his artist’s statement, Edward Bader says that “Drawing is a tool of inquiry,” which he uses to explore ideas and convey his emotional responses to life. Although he paints, does film work, and teaches a range of subjects from drawing to new media at Grande Prairie Regional College, Bader finds that he continually comes back to drawing.
Bader’s drawings have an elegant simplicity reminiscent of Chinese brush paintings. Balancing large areas of white space against intricate brush or pen strokes, he embraces an aesthetic in which “the void is just as important as the marks on the paper.”
However, unlike Chinese brush paintings, Bader’s drawings tend to be site-specific in a way that I usually associate with installation art. He responds not only to the specific landscape around him, but also to the social and political aspects of place. For example in The Beaver Hunters, the sexual refer- ences – the hunters with their phallic guns, the beaver representing the female for reasons I need not explain – speak of the skewed demographic of northern Alberta where men, especially young men, have numbers and power disproportionate to the population as a whole. However, the piece is also intended to question the role of Canada (symbolized by the beaver) as a resource-based economy. Beavers, it is well known, destroy their own habitat. The Beaver Hunters suggests that in our current commitment to resource extraction, Canada may be exceeding ecological limits.
As in The Beaver Hunters, Bader’s “inquiry” sometimes morphs into satire, resulting in works which function much like oversized political cartoons. Yet the sheer mastery of his drawing keeps them Edward Bader, The Beaver Hunters. solidly within the world of fine art.
art of the peace 15 Brian Jungen: A DEEPER WELL
by Jody Farrell
That Brian Jungen (pronounced Yung-un) is shy becomes clear the more (the less) he talks. He pauses before he speaks, and speaks softly. His words are carefully chosen: if he finds he’s get- ting ahead of himself, he stops and starts again. Every now and again, he briefly dips his head as if to consult some deeper well. Then with quiet, perhaps reluctant resolve, he raises it to part with what he’s retrieved from the source.
“I actually chose the visual arts because I am a shy person,” Jungen confides. “I thought I could hide behind what I made... At first, when I had to give talks, I wouldn’t sleep for days... It has been hard.” He smiles. Shyly. He later allows that with all the opening receptions and gatherings Shapeshifter, 2000, plastic chairs. Instal- he’s attended in recent years, he has come to enjoy speaking, though he would never lecture on lation view. Courtesy of Catriona Jeffries Gallery, Vancouver. a regular basis. art of the peace 16 1980, 2007, golf bags, cardboard tube Courtesy of Catriona Jeffries Gallery, Vancouver. Photo: Scott Massey
e are in my home in in” tags, link the artist to work- from those familiar white plas- WGrande Prairie. This fa- ers in the Third World where the tic Canadian Tire chairs. The mous Vancouver-based artist shoes were produced. How, in whales, like the masks, evoke who spent his childhood in the displaying Nike masks in mu- many “tensions,” and have B.C. Peace region has gener- seum-like cases, Jungen recalls been reviewed extensively. I ously agreed to take time out the state-of-the-art displays of love that he took such an un- of a hard-won holiday to be in- running gear he discovered in green material – these chairs terviewed. It happened quickly the U.S. shoe emporium Nike- will live forever – to fashion – he was here only briefly to town. How those shoe stores in a museum-like skeleton of a grab a few things before head- turn mimic museums in render- nearly-extinct mammal, em- ing back to his family near Fort ing their product an artwork. bodying along the way a wide St. John – and in my own awe How museums, in their con- range of references to aborigi- and excitement, I’m having servative and dusty treatment nal mythology and lifestyle, its trouble just letting him talk. of what was once a very live decay, and its reduction to that Or not. I’ve read too much and tradition, have reduced Aborig- hands-off, museum-style exhi- have too many questions, and inal ceremonial wear and cul- bition. it’s difficult to sift through it all ture to something old and dead. and be coherent. These articles point to other He graciously offers that the famous artists, architects, and skeleton idea was almost too Jungen is, if not the, then one literary theorists whose work obvious as he considered the of the most celebrated Cana- and words inform Jungen’s chairs, which, when piled out- dian artists of the new millen- art. The double meanings, the side a restaurant, stood looking nium. Those keeping track of intellectual layers, the myriad very much like stacked bones. the contemporary art scene will of “tensions,” have your brain In toying with other potential have read about or seen his col- bouncing back and forth so fast creations, he kept returning to lection of aboriginal ceremo- it leaves you dizzy. Jungen’s the notion of disassembling and nial masks made from recon- Vancouver dealer, Catriona reconfiguring the chairs into a structed Nike Air Jordans. The Jeffries, offers an artist bibliog- museum-like replica of a skel- pages of print that collection raphy online that, downloaded, eton. I know by the mounds of alone has engendered, the lay- totals 13 pages, with articles articles I have pored over that ers of meaning and connections in several languages detailing he’s explained these things all drawn between such opposites various exhibitions across Can- too often. The initial idea and as the dissolution of aboriginal ada, the US and Europe. And it its many related themes, fol- rituals and the ongoing ritual- only dates back to 2000. lowed by a sometimes slow ization and fetishism of sports and deliberate investigation of and its gear, is mind-boggling. “I am not really into talking resources, references, materi- Critics and curators employ art,” Jungen confesses some- als and the eventual resolution every manner of artspeak in where in the middle of our con- of it all, is what keeps him in- describing his genius: Jungen’s versation. “I find it boring to terested. careful linking of the sports talk about what I have already and aboriginal cultures in reas- done.” “Those connections can hap- sembling Nike footwear with pen all at once, and you get so as little alteration as possible. The revelation has me tuck excited that you work 16 hour The Air Jordan’s red, black questions about his older works days. I get that maybe 10 per and white colours’ evocation away in my notebook. Still, I cent of the time,” Jungen con- of Northwest Coast Aboriginal can’t help but mention my fa- cedes. The rest of the time he art. How the back of the masks, vourite, a series of whale and spends seeking inspiration. with some still-attached “Made sea creature skeletons made
art of the peace 17 He gets more animated as he re- using objects that refer to that Lately, Jungen has been re- calls preparing for a 2006 show place and its people. His cour- searching suits of armour, fasci- in New York. Prior to that instal- age and determination in pur- nated by how different cultures lation, created on site, he’d dis- suing on-location installations protected themselves. In partic- covered “these big, overstuffed has created a demand for this ular, he’s intrigued with the his- chairs you could plug into your approach from galleries around torical battle gear worn by the home entertainment system. the world. He has been invited Japanese. “It was angular, and There’s a motor in them that re- to Sydney Australia’s Biennale made with cloth and leather. sponds to the sub-woofer chan- in 2008, with the understand- Very different and delicate,” he nel...” I’m trying hard to keep ing that he will research and says. But for these few precious writing as he joyfully describes produce a public artwork that weeks in July, he has returned how these crazy chairs move to somehow relates to that region’s to his roots. His late mother the music and movie sounds. I culture. was Dane-zaa, his late father, imagine a hilarious scene with Swiss. He likes “hanging out a person happily plunked down His success is not only criti- with family, eating caribou and in front of his super-sized tele- cal. While public galleries have elk and canoeing on the Doig vision and stereo, physically clamoured to purchase his art, River.” He notes with pride that jerking around like that dog you Jungen is awed at the interest the young children are keen plug into your iPod. With some among private collectors. One to “do art,” and he enjoys the difficulty, he purchased two of patron bought a 6,000 square drumming and dancing. these over-the-top chairs and foot installation Jungen had proceeded to take them apart mounted in Harlem, New York. To questions around why his right there in New works evoke the York’s Casey Ka- Northwest Coastal plan Gallery. In the peoples’ culture and three weeks preced- “My art is about what people see not the Doig River ing his show, he built in their everyday environment . . . First Nation’s, Jun- two western saddles gen says that British and stands. The spe- I look out at the world.” Columbia, by filling cial motors from the its airport and mu- chairs were attached seum walls with the to the saddles and coastal nations’ art wired to a home theatre/stereo The exhibition was in a convert- and ceremonial attire, has cre- system. He added eight hand- ed factory where he joined 300 ated a sort of “branding” of all made human “skulls” that he old sewing tables and painted Aboriginal traditions, pulling created using old baseballs he a basketball court on their sur- them all under one roof, and and his dog had found in an over- face. The collector is erecting rendering them dead in this grown park in Vancouver. Some his own building to house the tired and formal representa- of the balls had writing on them, work. The irony of it all is stag- tion. This feeding the public a and he constructed the skulls gering. Interest in personally specific culture is one message keeping most of the baseball owning such big works reflects he addresses in his art. He also features. He wired mini speak- some of the very “commodifi- hints that, like everyone, ev- ers into these skulls. The instal- cation” of culture that Jungen erywhere, his family has suf- lation, with its mounted saddles addresses in his art. Still, it has fered dark times. Those are not and skulls bumped and bounced allowed him to continue explor- what fuel his bouts of creative and moved to a surround sound ing new ideas which often de- inspiration. He doesn’t look to system that pumped out at top mand space and materials he the sadness for answers. Who volume the music and words of could not otherwise afford. His would, he asks. big budget films. Jungen chose job is to stay the course of the the sounds of movies that repre- artist. He is now able to employ “I am often asked why I don’t sent the flag-waving American two assistants in his Vancouver speak the (Doig River First Na- Top to bottom: consciousnness, including Un- studio, where work is anything tion) language. I’ll be in Eu- Installation view, The Evening Redness in the West. 2006. Mixed media . Cour- forgiven, Saving Private Ryan, but dull. “I phone one day and rope, and they will ask me that, tesy of Casey Kaplan Gallery, New York. and Platoon. Critics and visitors say, ‘find out everything you and I think: ‘You took it away, Photo: Adam Reich. loved it. can about golfbags,’’’ Jungen and now you want me to be Brian Jungen. Photo courtesy of Ca- laughs. It helps too, to have help able to speak it? My art is more triona Jeffries Gallery, Vancouver, BC. Jungen still creates in his studio handling the sometimes repeti- about what people see in their Study for The Evening Redness in the but finds it “way more exciting” tive work of disassembling the everyday environment, not my West, 2006, softballs. Courtesy Casey to explore an environment and various sports gear he favours immediate family. I look out at Kaplan Gallery, New York. Photo: Bob Goedewaagen. its particular culture, making art using. the world.” art of the peace 18 Come Home to Comfort Artists with Issues: • Master Craftmanship Talking with their Hands • Made in Alberta • Premium Hardwoods • Custom Orders & Design by Wendy Stefansson • Home Decor & Artwork
ike Brian Jungen, many visual artists are uncomfortable talk- Every piece destined to become Ling about their work. They prefer to let their art speak for a cherished family heirloom them. If art is a conversation – and I think it is – then these artists have learned to talk with their hands, letting their hands give visual form to their ideas. And for some, those ideas are of a decidedly social or political bent.
Jane Ash Poitras is one of these. She has commented: “I’m not Old afraid to take on social issues. It’s interesting that these paintings (the ones that address issues) are the ones that I’ve become known FINE FURNISHINGS for, not any peaceful ones of landscapes. It’s tough art and it pricks 11012 100 St., Grande Prairie the social conscience, but people have accepted it even though it can be difficult to look at... When I was painting those pictures, I 780 538 9300 wasn’t thinking of fame or money, it was just a passion to express the story.” (Heather Andrews Miller, Windspeaker, March 2006) www.oldhippy.com
This, I think, is where most artists who choose to take on larger issues in their work are coming from: they make art to speak about what is important to them. Poitras’ work tells the story of her re- discovery of her Aboriginal roots after being raised in Edmonton -Conscious Pe by a non-Aboriginal woman. Much of it is celebratory, but not y, Health ople A U for Bus all of it; she wrestles with some difficult topics. In many of her nique Service works, for instance, she addresses the cultural dislocation that has Your Personal Chef Service Includes: resulted from the policy of placing Aboriginal children in residen- - Menu planning created and tial schools. designed to fit your personal food preferences Jungen also addresses the complexity of Aboriginal/non-Aborigi- nal relations in his work, but he does so in a way which overlaps - Meals prepared in your own home with Chris Cran’s concerns about how culture becomes a com- nient and Affor modity, and what gives it value and to whom. Both Jungen and at is Conve dable! It’ native th Sonia Rosychuk are concerned about the exploitation of workers s the ‘Dining Out’ Alter 780.568.4629 in the developing world. Edward Bader’s work sometimes sati- Jo Ann Wells CPCA Member [email protected] rizes aspects of the distinctive culture of northern Alberta, with an eye to social, political and environmental issues. Deryk Houston went all the way to Iraq and back to understand war and its after- math, and to make art about peace. And that’s just the artists in this magazine.
Perhaps the greatest value of using art to speak about political or social issues lies in its open-endedness. Because art creates im- ages instead of arguments, its meanings can be less explicit and less linear, and therefore richer and more complex. It has the abil- ity to reference multiple sources, juxtapose seemingly unrelated ideas, and function on multiple levels at once. Freed from the necessity of spelling everything out, artists can put issues out for •Aboriginal Art •Soapstone Carvings •Jewellery consideration without dictating a conclusion, without imposing a •Craft Supplies •Leather Products •Jade false clarity. They can beg the questions but leave the answers open to interpretation.
art of the peace 19 Open to Interpretation: Three Peace River Artists
by Wendy Stefansson Kristine McGuinty ristine McGuinty has long been known in Peace River as a talented portrait photographer. Per- Khaps it is not surprising, then, that human faces and figures feature so prominently in her other art work, particularly females.
McGuinty’s women are simplified, abstracted and set in similarly simplified backgrounds. They are depicted with heads cocked on improbable angles, their necks gazelle-like, their eyes sometimes closed. They have, on occasion, been compared to Renaissance madonnas; or perhaps to the more stylized faces of Byzantine mosaics. The resemblance is there, but for McGuinty the specifically religious content is an unintentional reference. Rather, she is drawn to Renaissance images of women for the peacefulness and serenity in their faces, and the sensuous draping of their clothes. About her women, she says: “I want to portray the power they have within, their strengths, the hardships they have endured, their heartaches. In the end, it’s the power of survival I am looking for.”
These women have appeared in a recent series of acrylic paintings collectively called Liminality. They have appeared in a mixed-media altered book on which McGuinty has been working over the last two years, and now they are turning up in some of her photographic works. Using film and camera, McGuinty has layered images of her own artwork by means of multiple exposures, creating associations and meanings through chance juxtapositions. Far from the crystalline clarity and light of her professional portraits, these works are filled with complexity and ambiguity. Meanings are layered one upon another, images are lost and found, text emerges from and disappears back into tex- Kristine McGuinty. Untitled composite photo of images from her altered book, ture. Writing about art becomes writing as art. It is as if several pages of her altered book have been The Limits of Words. combined and compressed into a single image. To quote McGuinty: “Art becomes art becomes art.”
Paul Martel. Prayer for Sunset, acrylic on canvas. Paul Martel elf-taught artist Paul Martel is best-known for images loosely laid in using vibrant colours, then Soverlaid with fluid black marker lines; lines that outline areas of colour while they describe and energise landscapes, skies, suns. These works are nearly-abstract paintings with their own interpreta- tions superimposed; the drawing and the painting distinct but related entities in animated conversa- tion with each other.
Favouring primary and secondary colours – colours straight from the crayon box – and using them undiluted and unmixed, Martel’s colour palette is perhaps in part an outgrowth of 18 years of teaching elementary school. His black lines are evocative of colouring books or school worksheets. There is an unapologetic childlike exuberance to his paintings. Martel reflects, “If I hadn’t been teaching my art would be totally different.”
Recently, however, Martel has been moving back into abstraction – returning to his roots as a painter – having felt limited by the demands of representation. In his new work Prayer for Sunset, a piece completed for a show of art inspired by poet Leonard Cohen, his lines have acquired a new freedom and complexity. Evocative of – and perhaps inspired by – a Jackson Pollock drip painting, these lines convey raw, unmediated emotion. They capture but don’t literalize Cohen’s words: “The sun is tangled/in black branches.”
When Martel opens up about his work, his words flow as rapidly and freely as the lines in his paint- ings. He tells me he uses “flowing line trying to show a Buddhist way of thinking. Everything is a art of the peace 20 flow of energy and we’re kind of caught up in it, all part of this flowing, fluid energy that is always changing.” Martel is trying to interact with this stream as it flows by and through him in the moment of painting. P.W.S.
Sonia Rosychuk ixed media and installation artist Sonia Rosychuk describes Mher art process as “flying by the seat of (her) pants!” Prefer- ring not to start with a clear idea of where she will end up, she lets the work evolve and become whatever it becomes. There are no sketches, and no maquettes. She doesn’t say, “This is what it will be like.” She says only, “This is what I’m going to try.”
Because she doesn’t go into a project with a preconceived idea of what it should be, Rosychuk is happily surprised. She says: “Even if it doesn’t look ‘pretty,’ I feel it’s beautiful because I’ve created something out of nothing.” A piece that she doesn’t like can al- ways be reincarnated in another form when integrated into a new work, continuing to evolve through its second (or third) life.
With play as her primary process, nothing is ever wrong, and ev- erything is interesting. Rosychuk has taken workshops in tech- niques as diverse as metal weaving, Chinese brush strokes, and altered books. Similarly, her media are many. From driftwood to Picture Perfect Unique Gallery Cultural Centre scrap metal, from nail polish to watercolours, from Chinese news- Grande Prairie Grande Prairie Beaverlodge papers to National Geographic magazines, it all fuels her creativ- 780-354-2165 ity.
Recently, Rosychuk came across a box of 157 decorative birds for $10 in a local liquidation store. Compelled by the “Made in China” sticker attached to each one and the way these handmade objects had become so grossly devalued – by what this says about DaleWatercolour Syrota Artist PWS, CSPWC the fickle demands of western consumerism and how those de- mands are both supporting and altering the lives and the economy of the Chinese – Rosychuk created an installation piece posing the birds on a long cable between a retro-style black telephone and its receiver.
About this work, as about her life, Rosychuk says only, “it is what it is.” She says it with both passion and serenity.
Ph: (780) 539-4046 Exhibits with the Grande Prairie Guild of Artists & the Peace Watercolour Society
KimberlyFine Artist Boychuk
780-624-1719 Sonia Rosychuk. A Little Birdie Told Me. Mixed media. www.kboychuk.com Detail view of installation. art of the peace 21 BEAVERLODGE, ALBERTA McNaught Homestead Programs • Grande Prairie Museum Programs For details on courses and regis- • Beaverlodge Cultural Centre Provincial Historic Site with 160 tration visit www.dcartgallery.ca Exhibits & Events acres, farmsite buildings and Eu- phone 250-782-2601. Lantern Tours phemia McNaught Schoolhouse October 19th & 20th Exhibits & Events Studio (restoration in progress), GPRC Drama students All shows & sales open at 2 p.m. Opportunities nature trails throughout. Future art- at the Centre. Opportunities for exhibition in the ist’s retreat. Interested sketching Pioneer Christmas gallery are available. Guidelines groups/photographers/individuals Opening December 2nd Ruth Heijne for exhibitions can be viewed at welcome, call 780 -512 -6316 for Show & Sale www.dcartgallery.ca. information or to visit site. September 30th - October 26th Programs Art Auction Tours and school programming Opportunity to donate art in support available by phoning (780) 532- of the Dawson Creek Art Gallery. 5482 for further information. Call 250-782-2601 for details. • Grande Prairie Regional exhibitions & FAIRVIEW, ALBERTA College
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Watch the Rotating exhibits on an ongoing Fairview Post for the new season basis throughout the year. Beaverlodge Art Club Miniature 5th annual Christmas Gift Fair will of fall courses and membership Show & Sale feature an array of gifts from local information, phone the Centre at Programs 780-835-2697 or send an email to March 2nd - March 28th artists and artisans throughout the The Fine Arts Department [email protected]. Peace Country. Grand Opening on Offers students a wide range of ca- 14th Annual Quilt Show November 18th - 10am to 4pm. reer and learning opportunities in March 30th - April 25th GRANDE CACHE, ALBERTA the Fine Arts. These include Diplo- Marjorie Taylor ma, University Transfer programs, Programs “Contemporary Works: A Com- • Grande Cache Tourism & and courses in Music, Art, and Ongoing programs in pottery, mon Touch” Interpretive Centre Drama. Students in all programs stained glass, batik, weaving, January 11th - February 9th may also fulfill their Fine Arts op- acrylic, oil and watercolour paint- tion requirements with FAD credit Don Pennington Exhibitions ing classes for a variety of ages. Check out www.grandecache.ca courses. Non-credit Visual Arts “Vertical Views” Please call Debbie, 780-354-3600 for an up-to-date schedule of exhi- courses include drawing, painting, 50th Anniversary Photo Exhibit for dates and details. bitions and events. digital arts, and photography. February 15th - March 1st Opportunities • Heritage Discovery Centre Time Out for Seniors Call for Entries, Winter 2008 - GRANDE PRAIRIE, ALBERTA Centre 2000 Beaverlodge Art Club Miniature “Exploring Art” Show & Sale, images cannot be April 2nd - 19th • Centre for Creative Arts Exhibits & Events larger than 16 square inches. Open Exhibits in the Kin Gallery to all artists, call Darlene at (780) Students in School District “Mixed Media” Programs 356-2128 for information. Check out our new website at April 25th - May 10th Princess Louise: A Woman of www.creativecentre.ca for current Substance Gallery exhibition and gift shop information about our education Art Auction Showing through November, 2007 sales opportunities are available. programs, drop-in and artist run May 2nd, 2008 Please call Debbie at 780-354- studios. 3600 for further information. Call 250-782-2601 for info. art of the peace 22 A Century of Prints Opportunities December 6th, 2007 - January TREX 15th, 2008 For information about the Travel- Artistic Web Designs by ling Exhibition Program contact • Picture Perfect The Prairie Art Gallery Glowing Rivers 780-532-8111 www.prairiegallery.com Opportunities Like many artists, you're considering setting up a Capture the Beauty of the Peace; Art Auction website to take advantage of the huge potential of call for entries - winter 2008 - call the Internet. (780) 539-4091 for more info. Opportunity to donate art in sup- port of the operations of The Prai- rie Art Gallery. Call 532-8111 for If you can type a letter and click a mouse, you already The Robert Guest Gallery at Pic- details. have the skills you need to make your own website. ture Perfect is available for exhibi- Winter 2008 tions - call Allan at 780-539-4091 for information. • Queen Elizabeth II Hospital, Go to to • Prairie Art Gallery The Courtyard Gallery www.glowingrivers.com see for yourself all of the benefits and Exhibits & Events Exhibits & Events features of our easy web page builder Safe and Sound GALLERY and get your art on the web today. June 8th, 2007 - January 1st, 2009 Janet Enfield Prairie Art Gallery September & October, 2007 Over 250 works from the Perma- 10 day free trial nent Collection of the Prairie Art Holly Crichton & Gallery. Caroline Sinclair Satisfaction guarantee or money back November & December, 2007 Michael Campbell, David Hoffos Karina Ksvirsky, Micah Lexier/ Carrie Klukas & Christian Bok, C. Wells, John Carmen Haakstad Will, Anne Troake, Bill Viola January & February, 2008 ARTery January 4th - January 31st, 2008 Natalie Green 100 Avenue, Grande Prairie, AB March & April, 2008
Annual Art Auction SHOWCASES INFO-MURALS & STORY BOARDS April 26th, 2008 Polar Bears- collection fresh, unique, large format October & November, 2007 colourful graphics New Travelling Exhibitions dynamic communication tools Tim Heimdal Seasonal Holiday Maquette to Mural December 2007 CREATIVITY WORKSHOPS September 1st, 2007 - August A variety of short, FUN time-outs to reduce 31st, 2008 | Travelling Antique Toy collection stress & renew energy! January & February, 2008 Carmen Haakstad, Carrie Klu- kas, Tina Martel, Anita Pimm, Opportunities for Artists Marjorie Taylor For information about exhibitions g r e e n l e a f Brainstorm: 5 Abstract Painters contact Karen at the QEII Founda- CONSULTING September 15th, 2007 - August tion office 780-538-7583. Display 780-538-3381 www.greenleafconsulting.ca 31st, 2008 | Travelling cubes (showcases) are also avail- able for collections or 3-dimen- John Hall, Helen Mackie, Jim sional art. Westergard, Illingworth Kerr, and others • Unique Gallery Ph: 780-532-5232 Wildlife Excursion October 1st, 2007 - October 1st, Exhibits & Events 2008 | Travelling Peace Watercolour Society For a complete list of travelling Fall Show & Sale exhibitions please check our web- October 11th - November 8th site at www.prairiegallery.com.
Programs Check www.prairiegallery.com for current programs for all ages or call (780)532-8111 for information. Emerald Lake, acrylic, 16x20”
art of the peace 23 FALL SHOW & SALE P . W . S Peace Watercolour Society gage mercantile Louanne Hart
Antique Furniture Collectables Polish Pottery Gift Items Amish Pantry Items Local Art Opening Reception: October 11th, 7 - 9:30pm Showing until November 8th Featuring work by: Erin Stelmaschuk Paul Martel Open Year-round Charity Dakin Wed. thru Sun. Paula Fiorni 1:00 - 6:00 p.m. Eileen Coristine Anniversary and more 20th Located on Hwy 64, 9929 - 100 Ave, Grande Prairie between Fairview and Hines Creek. Ph: (780) 538-2771 Phone: 835.8043 or 835.4554.
Jim Stokes Forbes & friends Grande Prairie Scott Gallery Custom Framing & Gallery Edmonton Local Pottery Original Work WallaceGalleries Prints Calgary Photographs Cards Willock & Sax Banff 9903 100th Ave. Quality Original Art Peace River, AB Amanda Allen, Training Time P: (780) 624-1984
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Call toll-free: 1-866-373-8488 www.peacephotoGraphics.com 1204–103rd Ave. Dawson Creek photoGraphicsINC art of the peace 24 STEVE MILLS
Steve Mills, UNBC #3, copper etching.
I work in a variety of media and subjects, but my work always deals in some way with the land, my place in it, my view of it, or my relationship to it. I choose to work in a serialized format so I can explore a subject fully, sometimes over a period of several years. Periodically I combine series, and I always work a series through a number of different media to see how the process and materials will affect my message. Recently, I find myself undergoing a change of direction after a couple years of introspection and consultation with my mentor, Gordon Smith, who painted with Lawren Harris.
art of the peace 25 The Last Word: Unpacking Prairie North
by Wendy Stefansson
ast May at Prairie North, artist Edward Bader made a comment to the effect that the real impact Lof a residency like this one only begins to make itself known three to six months after it is over. He must be right. I’ve just crossed the three-month mark, and I feel like I’ve barely begun to process it all.
The Prairie North Creative Residency at Grande Prairie Regional College is two weeks of unstruc- tured studio time in the company of some of the best artists around, and I was lucky enough to be able to participate in it this year. The whole experience was humbling, working in the presence of so many incredible artists. It was exciting, watching art emerge almost moment-by-moment at the hands of so many different people working with so many different approaches. It was a great time, getting to know each other over meals and coffees and laptops and campfires and glasses of wine. It was funny, as jokes developed almost organically, like mushrooms popping up all over the place at once. It was delicious – catered by Jeffrey’s Cafe every day. It was intense, as – for me anyway – this was a rare opportunity to make art uninterrupted by my life and supported by others who didn’t think that mak- ing art was an odd way to spend one’s vacation time. Or one’s life, for that matter.
So, what did I learn?
That if you’re an artist, then not making art is not an option. You’ve got to discover the art you came here to make, and make it. That knowing this, seeking out others who are on the same journey is, at the very least, validating. That being able to dedicate time to making art is an incredible gift, and that time spent getting to know the other artists is just as valuable.
I came home from Prairie North with an incredible quietness in my head, something I rarely experi- ence in my cacophonic brain and whirlwind life.
Thank you to the tireless organizers of Prairie North (Tina Martel and Ken Housego), to the gracious mentoring artists (Laura Vickerson, Harold Klunder), and to all of my fellow participants. It was a great ride!
Visiting artist Laura Vickerson sewing vintage linens onto a 12’ x 12’ sheer Wendy Stefansson, Editor scrim, Memoria, during her time at Prai- Art of the Peace rie North. Tim Heimdal, QEII Art Collection Courtyard GALLERY Wendy Stefansson Original Works by Local Artists Visual Artist
780-624-8522 [email protected] Lower Level, QEII Hospital 10409 98 St. Grande Prairie, AB T8V 2E8
Exhibition Opportunities available by contacting Karen at 780-538-7583 Palimpsest 2007 art of the peace 26 P. 780 . 532 . 6353 10017 100 Avenue Grande Prairie N WWW.IMAGEDESIGNPROS.COM DESIG from CREATION to COMPLETION
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P. 780 . 532 . 8730 9917 A 97 Avenue Grande Prairie WWW.MENZIESPRINTERS.COM In The Gallery: SAFE AND SOUND: The Prairie Art Gallery’s ARTery Permanent Collection On display until January 2009. Programs at The Gallery: January 2008 - Cultural Tours - Art Appreciation 100th Avenue - YOUR SPACE: Discover Art - Art Trading Card Sessions Grande Prairie, Alberta, Canada Outreach Programs: - Artists in the Classroom - Getting to know your Cultural Heritage Michael Campbell The Alberta Foundation David Hoffos for the Arts Travelling TREX Exhibition Program Karina Skvirsky presents three new exhibitions for 2007 Micah Lexier BRAINSTORM: Christian Bök 5 Abstract Artists C. Wells John Will MAQUETTE TO MURAL: Tim Heimdal Retrospective Anne Troake
Bill Viola WILDLIFE EXCURSION
For a complete list of exhibitions visit Curated by Edward Bader www.prairiegallery.com
www.prairiegallery.com
#103, 9856 97 Avenue Grande Prairie, AB T8V 7K2 P: (780) 532-8111 | F: (780) 539-7522 | E: [email protected]
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