CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK B4 -JT #4 ARTS WEDNESDAY,OCTOBER 18, 2006 ARTS EDITOR:SUSAN CHILTON 519-894-2231, EXT. 2642 [email protected] B4 Diversity of show illuminates Exhibition displays research materials that act as inspiration for five local artists

BY ROBERT REID ART EXHIBIT RECORD STAFF Who: Studio Alert: KITCHENER Illuminating the Source hose who doubt the vitality and di- Where: Kitchener-Waterloo Tversity of the visual arts in Water- Art Gallery loo Region are in for a pleasantly rude When: Through Jan. 7 awakening when they drop by the lat- Phone: 519-579-5860 est instalment of the Studio Alert se- ries at the Kitchener-Waterloo Art Gallery. Curated by Allan MacKay, the Viewers are invited to make their gallery’s curatorial and collections own intuitive associations with the consultant, the fourth annual exhibi- work. Happily,there are no pat visual tion showcases the range and quality equations. of artistic practice across the region by MELISSA DOHERTY focusing on five artists. “We’re trying to pay attention to our Melissa Doherty’s series of Tree- own neighbourhood,” MacKay noted hugger oil paintings depicts clusters of during an informal chat. deciduous trees as soft, fuzzy,cotton- Aptly titled Illuminating the ball objects that bring to mind the cud- Source, the exhibition features three dly,stuffed toys young children love to Kitchener artists, Melissa Doherty,So- hug. heila Esfahani and Paul Roorda; one As warm and fuzzy as the images Waterloo artist, Noriko Maeda; and are, Doherty is keenly aware of how one Elora artist, Paul Dignan, an assis- humanity has reduced nature to a tant professor in the University of Wa- fetish object after imposing our will on terloo’s fine arts department. the environment, taming in our own The exhibition examines the rela- image what had hitherto been wild. tionship between inspiration and Doherty’s earthy pastels remind us works of art. of how much nature has retreated. Cul- When MacKay made his rounds of tivation has reduced landscape to arti- area studios he became interested in fice and artifact. the source materials on which the SOHEILA ESFAHANI artists base their artmaking. Consequently,the exhibition incor- Eastern poetry and mysticism porates displays of research and re- blends with Western abstraction in the source materials that act as material elegant paintings of Soheila Esfahani. inspiration for the artists. As well, it in- The coalescence of culture and es- cludes a video of conversations with thetic produces a union greater than the artists. its disparate parts. Illuminating the Source features Some of the words of the Persian representational and non-representa- poet Rumi are identifiable, other times tional works, but it’s the spaces in be- they are graceful lines, like sculptured tween that allow room for reflection, desert sands or ripples on water. RECORD STAFF Acrylic painting by Paul Dignan, untitled. contemplation and critique. The script is raised from the canvas, This dialogue between artist and resembling lines of thick honey or viewer is heightened because of the ex- gooey chocolate. It’s all a viewer can do graceful, a kind of visual ballet. Her hibition’s compactness which encour- to resist the temptation to touch these colour is subtle; less is more nuanced ages concentrated attentiveness. highly tactile paintings. and suggestive than more. A sense of You don’t have to be familiar with play — remember the joy of painting PAUL DIGNAN the poetry of Rumi to understand these as a youngster? — animates her work, Combining manual drawing, digital lyrical works, but it’s imperative to ap- which references the dynamic nature imaging and acetate projection, Paul preciate the poetry of line, shape and of nature. Dignan transforms common, recogniz- colour. Such titles as Blue Moon, Into the able imagery (for example, scripts, Forest and Play Like a Child reflect NORIKO MAEDA monograms and wallpaper patterns) Maeda’s joyous esthetic. into uncommon, unrecognizable Line is metaphor for Noriko Maeda. PAUL ROORDA shapes. She transforms what appears to be tra- His trio of untitled acrylic canvases ditional calligraphy into the search for Paul Roorda’s work is so subtle, so are Popish in mood and feel, sporting meaning and relationship with the elegant — dare I say beautiful — it’s an array of squiggles, swirls and fins world. easy to overlook, at least initially, its in bright and bold greens, greys, pinks, Her larger ink on wash pictures are powerful critique of institutional reli- RECORD STAFF reds, turquoises and black. minimalist, spontaneous, delicate and gion. Painting by Melissa Doherty, oil on canvas, titled treehugger#2. Roorda’s art eloquently advocates spirituality over piety,faith over belief, ritual over dogma. Like Esfahani, Roorda’s working methods are serial, meditative and transformative. He composes life-sized images out of material fragments which are embed- ded in small squares of delicate tissue paper. The squares are then meticu- lously sewn together with thread, pro- ducing a grid pattern. Lot’s Wife is a life-sized image of a woman drawn through shadowy pointillist dots rather than solid lines. Similarly,Samson is a life-size im- age of a man drawn with thousands of pieces of hair. His hands are bound with thread. Christ (Self-Portrait Levitating Over a Bed of Nails) shows a man lying on his back above a bed of nails. It’s an evocative pun on the Resurrection which depicts Christ as a Houdini-like RECORD STAFF magician showman. RECORD STAFF Ink-wash painting by Noriko Maeda, titled Blue Moon. [email protected] Installation by Paul Roorda, titled Once Daily, uses altered Bible and bottles.

Autobiographic PASSING Grodzinski named novel by Lister Sinclair, playwright, Elora Festival GM Quebec-born legendary broadcaster writer wins ongtime CBC broadcaster and play- ELORA Lwright Lister Sinclair, best known as host of the radio program Ideas, was ith a solid background in classi- Joanne Grodzinski, Staebler award remembered as a “true Renaissance Wcal music and a tested reputation the former head of man’’ following his death Monday at 85. Lister Sinclair host- as a mover and shaker in the local mu- the Guelph Youth RECORD STAFF Sinclair, who joined the public ed the CBC radio sic scene, Joanne Grodzinski has been Music Centre, has broadcaster in 1944, was host of Ideas program Ideas for WATERLOO REGION named the new general manager of the been named the for 16 years, from 1983 until his retire- 16 years. The Elora Festival and Singers. new general man- rancis Chalifour’s autobiographi- ment seven years ago. In recent years, broadcaster and She replaces JoAnn Martin, who re- ager of the Elora Fcal novel, After, has been chosen as he hosted the show on a guest basis. playwright died tired after six years at the helm. Festival and the 2005 winner of the Edna Staebler He also wrote hundreds of radio and Monday at age 85. Grodzinski, who lives in Elora, Singers. Award for Creative Non-fiction. television plays during his career and owned Guelph’s Carden Street Music, a After tells the story of a 15-year-old was once referred to by critic Nathan Horizon, Festival, Court of Opinion, store that catered to classical and jazz school mathematics and Canadian citi- boy in the year following his father’s Cohen as “easily the foremost in Cana- and Morningside. music lovers. Shortly after retiring, zenship. She also co-created and pro- suicide. da’s array of post-war playwrights.’’ In 1972, he became vice-president of she took on the job as executive direc- duced the award-winning Maestro Or- Staebler judged the submissions “A true Renaissance man — writer, the CBC and helped organize what is tor of the Guelph Youth Music Centre pheus and the World Clock, a chil- and the winner was selected before her actor, critic, producer, poet, mathemati- now known as the Alliance of Canadi- as the centre was getting started. dren’s story set to classical music. death on Sept. 12. cian, scientist, naturalist, music com- an Cinema, Television and Radio Grodzinski remembers the early Grodzinski said she hopes to parlay The award was created 15 years ago mentator, linguist, lecturer and prize- Artists. days of the youth music centre, when her experience into a successful season and is administered by Wilfrid Laurier winning programmer — Lister en- Born in , Sinclair was raised in several desks were pushed together in with the Elora Festival and Singers. University. riched our lives with the breadth and England. He earned a BA in math and a solitary room and a burgeoning pile “When I decided to come here, I felt It aims to support a beginning depth of his knowledge,’’ Jane physics from the University of British of debt threatened to overcome the vi- privileged to take an active role in the Canada writer in publishing a work Chalmers, vice-president of CBC Ra- Columbia and an MA from the Univer- sion of its organizers. community I had been part of for 16 with Canadian significance. dio, said in a note to staff. sity of . In 1985, he was made an On her watch, the centre cleared its years. Working with classical music — Quebec-born Chalifour is a social She described Sinclair as “one of officer of the Order of Canada. $500,000 debt and grew to see more than one of my first loves — and with a science teacher who lives in Toronto. CBC’s finest broadcasters and ambas- Ideas will broadcast a three-hour 1,000 children and youth make use of it world-acclaimed festival and choir is a He has published several novels and ar- sadors, and one of our true pioneers.’’ tribute to Sinclair, starting Monday at each day. dream come true,” she said in a re- ticles in English and French. Sinclair also spent time as host of 9 p.m. on CBC Radio One. It will contin- With a background as an educator lease. Chalifour will receive the award at a CBC-TV’s The Nature of Things and ue Tuesday and Wednesday. and a BA in psychology, Grodzinski ceremony in the Paul Martin Centre at appeared on numerous shows includ- used to write books on elementary • Guelph Mercury Laurier on Nov.8. ing , Telescope, • Canadian Press