VANCOUVER ART GALLERY PRESENTS EMILY CARR: A ROOM OF HER OWN

Emily Carr, Untitled (self-portrait), 1924-25, oil on paperboard
Vancouver Art Gallery collection, Emily Carr Trust

The Vancouver Art Gallery (VAG) is launching a yearlong exhibition with highlights from the permanent collection of Emily Carr paintings. 

Emily Carr: A Room of Her Own explores the intersection between celebrated Canadian artist Emily Carr and the Vancouver Art Gallery. 

The exhibition, opening September 30, 2023 and on view through September 8, 2024, presents a selection of Carr's paintings from VAG's collection of 252 works of art -- the most important collection of Carr's art in the world. 

Presented in a single room and guiding visitors via a timeline, the works offer a full range of Carr's artistic production: watercolors, canvases, oil on paper works, charcoal drawings, ceramics and textiles. 

A Room of Her Own highlights four key areas:

• Carr's education abroad and early beginnings
• VAG's first exhibition and significant acquisitions in 1937-38 respectively
• Major conservation efforts led by VAG staff
• The role the Carr Collection  played in the Gallery's decision to relocate to its present building

Through archival materials and the works of Carr, this exhibition uncovers the ongoing connection between the Carr Collection and VAG, and the importance of Carr's placement in the new Vancouver Art Gallery at the Chan Centre for Performing Arts opening in 2028.

The exhibition is organized by the Vancouver Art Gallery and curated by Senior Curator Diana Freundl

Vancouver Art Gallery

750 Hornby Street

Vancouver BC V6Z 287

 

AMTRAK RESUMES SERVICE TO VANCOUVER; CANADA WAIVES COVID-19 BORDER REQUIREMENTS

Beautiful views of British Columbia aboard Amtrak Cascades from Everett, WA to Vancouver, BC. 

The last time I visited Canada was in the summer of 2018. Which means it has been four years since I've visited our neighbor to the north. Oh, Canada, how I've missed you! 

But with Amtrak Cascades service resuming daily service September 26, it's full speed ahead for me to take the train from Everett to Vancouver, BC (I've already booked my ticket for a couple nights in November). Here's updated information about the resumption of train service between the two countries

Fun letters in Robson Square during my last visit to Vancouver BC.

In other upbeat news, Canada has removed all COVID-19 border requirements beginning October 1, 2022. That means you no longer need to show proof of vaccination or don a mask when boarding a train or plane.

View from the Wedgewood Hotel of the Vancouver Art Galley at the corner of Hornby and Robson. 

Planning Your Trip

Amtrak Cascades

Wedgewood Hotel & Spa 

Fairmont Hotel Vancouver

Vancouver Art Gallery

Destination Vancouver 

©SueFrausePhotos

MONTREAL MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS PRESENTS: NICOLAS PARTY | L'HEURE MAUVE

Nicolas Party, Portrait with Mushrooms, 2019. Private collection. ©Nicolas Party. Photo Adam Reich

Swiss-born artist Nicolas Party, known for his meticulously composed pastels, painted sculptures and colorful installations, is having his first exhibition in Canada. The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (MMFA) has given the 41-year-old artist carte blanche in creating a dialogue between his works and a selection from the Museum's wind ranging collection. The exhibition runs February 12 - October 16, 2022. 

Through more than 100 of his works and a series of murals realized in situ, Party presents a dreamlike experience on the theme of nature. The Museum's galleries provide the canvas onto which the visual artist and muralist -- cum curator and exhibition designer -- expresses the full measure of his art. 

Partial view of the exhibition Nicolas Party : L’heure mauve, Montreal Museum of Fine Arts.

©Nicolas Party. Photo MMFA, Jean-François Brière

Nicolas Party, Sunrise, 2018. Private collection, courtesy of Xavier Hufkens, Brussels. ©Nicolas Party.  
Photo Isabelle Arthuis.

The exhibition, named after the iconic painting L'Heure mauve (Mauve Twilight) by Canadian symbolist Ozias Leduc, found in the MMFA's collection, brings together watercolors, pastels and sculptures by Party -- including about 20 works that have yet to be exhibited. The landscapes, portraits and still lifes illustrate the complex and often inextricable ties that bind humans to nature. 

Partial view of the exhibition Nicolas Party : L’heure mauve, Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. ©Nicolas Party.

Photo MMFA, Jean-François Brière

Party's creations combine figurative and Surrealist genres that are set against some 50 works from the MMFA's extensive collection that spans four centuries. Selected by Party, they range from paintings by such artists as Gustave Courbet, Otto Dix and Lawren S. Harris to chairs by Wendell Castle and Shiro Kuramata. 

Throughout the galleries in the Michal and Renata Hornstein Pavilion, Nicolas Party explores the many-faceted relationships that humans have had with nature through the ages: original sin, conquest, ruined landscape, sublime space and as a place of desire, chaos, death and metamorphosis.

"At turns poetic and provocative, Nicolas Party's exhibition is an invitation to dream and to re-imagine the terms of our relationship to nature," says Mary-Dailey Desmarais, Chief Curator of the MMFA. "Setting masterpieces of the MMFA collection in conversation with his singularly fantastical creations, Party shows us that the past is deeply relevant to our present moment and that works of art have infinite stories to tell."

Nicolas Party. Photo Richmond Lam.

NICOLAS PARTY  | L'HEURE MAUVE

Montreal Museum of Fine Arts

Michael and Renata Hornstern Pavilion

February 12 - October 16, 2022

Tickets Available Online

An exhibition set to song by Pierre Lapointe

At the Museum’s invitation, Quebec singer-songwriter-composer Pierre Lapointe created a soundtrack comprised of 14 songs that add a musical dimension to this major immersive exhibition. 

Structured in seven themes, the album contains original creations and revisits works by masters of song from Quebec and abroad – from Félix Leclerc to Kurt Weill, as well as Charles Aznavour, Claude Léveillé and Pete Seeger. Produced by Lapointe and arranged by Philippe Brault, its sounds combine piano, guitars, percussion and voice. Some of the titles – in which the Molinari Quartet notably participated – integrate beguiling arrangements composed of choral music, strings and wind instruments. 

VANCOUVER ART GALLERY RECEIVES $100 MILLION GIFT FOR CREATION OF A NEW BUILDING IN DOWNTOWN VANCOUVER

 

Vancouver Art Gallery (VAG)is the recipient of a $100 million transitional gift to support the creation of a new building in downtown Vancouver. The Audain Foundation's gift is the largest single cash gift to a Canadian art gallery and comes at a time when the VAG is celebrating its 90th anniversary. 

The new Vancouver Art Gallery at the Chan Centre for the Visual Arts will be located between Cambie and Beatty streets, with a front entrance on Georgia Street. It will include more than 80,000 sq. ft of exhibition space, more than double the existing space. There will also be visible art storage, a theatre, library/research center, artist studios, accommodation for visiting artist and a visual arts preschool and daycare situated around a 40,000 sq. ft. courtyard. The building will also house the Institute of Asian Art, a new Centre for Art and Communication and a multi-purpose Indigenous Community House.  The project is expected to create an estimated 3,000 construction jobs and 1,000 permanent jobs in the tourism sector.

Rendering of the wooden exterior of the new Vancouver Art Gallery

The building is being designed by Swiss architects Herzog & de Meuron together with Vancouver architects Perkins & Will, in consultation with Coast Salish artists. The collaboration is reflected in the building's design and use of sustainable practices. The new Gallery will be the first Passive House art gallery in North America, a voluntary standard for energy efficient, significantly reducing the building' ecological footprint. With this new facility, the VAG demonstrates its commitment to environmental sustainability and acknowledges its location on the ancestral terries of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh Nations. 

According to Anthony Kiendl, CEO and Direct of VAG, the objective is to raise an additional $160 million from the public and private sectors. The Audain Foundation gift follows a visionary gift of $40 million by the Chan Family Foundation to establish the Chan Centre for the Visual Arts.

The current home of the Vancouver Art Galley ©SueFrausePhoto 

LE GERMAIN HOTEL MONTREAL UNVEILS COLORFUL MURAL

Le Germain Hotel Montreal recently unveiled a major project collaboration with the MURAL Festival of Montreal, North America's largest urban art festival. The boutique hotel now displays a permanent mural on its front facade, designed by Canadian artist Michelle Hoogvelt. 

Following its reopening after extensive renovations, Le Germain Hotel Montreal pursued its innovative relaunch by bringing an elegant touch to downtown Montreal. The initiative is part of the 2021 Mural Arts Program by the City of Montreal to revitalize its neighborhoods. It also contributes to the revival of the downtown area, at a time when art provides solace and gives hope for a desired return to normal. 

Contemporary painter and mural artist Michelle Hoogveld, a Calgary native turned Montrealer, stayed at Le Germain Hotel Montreal for one week prior to beginning the project and throughout the completion of the piece. "It allowed me to soak up the energy of the hotel and add these new feelings to my mural," said Hoogveld. "It's even more emotionally charged," added the artist, who utilizes color to convey her emotions. 

Towering at more than 171 feet, the artist had to work on a platform suspended from the roof of the hotel to apply the 80 different colors. The mural dramatically transforms the hotel's exterior.

Hoogveld's colorful works may be seen around the globe, in both the private and public realm. She creates her work on canvas and walls, and in Canada they may be seen in Montreal, Quebec, Charlevoix, Ottawa, Toronto and Calgary. Her work is also on display in the United States, Mexico, Peru, England, Portugal and Germany. 

Germain Hotels, pioneer of the boutique hotel concept in Canada, is a family-run business founded in Quebec in 1988. Its portfolio includes 18 properties across the country under the Le Germain, Alt and Escad banners.  

SPRING INTO ART! VANCOUVER ART GALLERY OFFERS FREE VIRTUAL SPRING BREAK FAMILY PROGRAMS MARCH 15-19

 

US citizens may not be able to visit Canada during COVID-19 due to the US-Canada border closure, but families on both sides of the border can tap into the Vancouver Art Gallery's Spring Into Art,  offered online from March 15-19, 2021. The daily online art making sessions are free, and workshops are led by Family Programs Coordinator Christina Jones and/or a local artist, who will share their artworks and demonstrate activities. Open to all ages and abilities. 

MARCH 15 - 1PM | Amabie Postcard Project w/Cindy Mochizuki

Learn about Amabie, a Japanese yokai first documented in the Higo prefecture (now known as Kumamoto). Create your own Amabie postcard to send to a friend or family member with a lucky message of care and good health. This yokai is the subject of visual artist Cindy Mochizuki's animated film Amabie, on view in the exhibition Stories that animate us. In the story, a mermaid-like creature appeared as a glowing green light with three fish-like legs, scales and a beak. She was said to have passed the message to those who spotted her: "Good harvests will continue for six years, but, if disease spreads, show a picture of me to those who fall ill, and they will be cured." This story was largely forgotten until the 2020 pandemic, when people took to social media creating their own illustrated versions of Amabie as part of the #amabiechallenge. 

MARCH 16 - 1PM | Virtual Studio Tour with Sonny Assu

Find out more about the materials, stories and ideas that inspire interdisciplinary artist Sonny Assu as he gives a private tour of his art studio. The tour includes behind-the-scenes access into Assu's artistic practice and how his creations come to life. Assu's work is on view in the exhibition Uncommon Language. 

MARCH 17 - 1PM | Playing with Sound and Movement

A special screening of Allison Hrabluik's film The Splits will be shown. Hrabluik contacted people for the film who she thought moved in interesting ways -- starting with gymnasts, a hula hooper and weightlifters who moved in athletic ways. she also incorporated other ways of performing like opera, burlesque, amateur music and how people move at work and with animals. "I also incorporated elements of our lives that lean toward the grotesque -- the salmi makers and the hotdog eater," explained Hrabluik. "I was interested in the similarities between the different actions performed." Taking inspiration from The Splits, participants will experiment with surprising combinations of actions and sounds effects. 

MARCH 18 - 1PM | Space Comics with Cole Pauls

Award-winning writer, printmaker and illustraor Cole Pauls uses comic arts as a way to celebrate his Tahitan culture. Inspired by settings in outer space, participants will work with Pauls to create a zine that tells your story. 

MARCH 19 - 1PM | Transformation and Imagination: Animal Collages with Sandeep Johal

Sandeep Johal uses shapes and lines inspired by her South Asian heritage to tell stories. Participants will tell their stories by transforming shapes, patterns and colored paper in creating their own imagined animal collage.

REGISTRATION | PROGRAM COST IS FREE

https://www.vanartgallery.bc.ca/exhibitions/spring-into-art

EMILY CARR: FRESH SEEING - French Modernism and the West Coast opens at Victoria's Royal BC Museum

Emily Carr, T’anuu ‘Llnagaay, Haida Gwaii. Carr painted T'anuu on her first trip to Haida Gwaii after her return from France. The Post-Impressionist influce may be seen in the cloud details. 

Here is yet another reason why I'm missing my adventures in British Columbia and beyond during the global pandemic. Emily Carr: Fresh Seeing ~ French Modernism and the West Coast has opened at the Royal BC Museum in Victoria. It's the last stop on the exhibition's cross-Canada tour, with the addition of paintings and archival materials from the museum's permanent collection. The exhibition captures the moment Carr revolutionized her painting style -- emerging as a Canadian modernist -- following her 16-month trip to France in 1911. 

Picnic with Haida guides and old Billie dog, 1912

On her return from France, Emily Carr (center) travelled to Haida Gwaii with her dog, Billie. She was hosted by the Russ family (Clara Russ at right) and other Indigenous families who offered support and guidance.

The exhibition takes visitors on a journey from Victoria to France and back to British Columbia as Carr immerses herself in the world of modernist art. Her paintings from this period are displayed chronologically, growing in size/scope/color that developed into the iconic style for which Carr is known internationally. Says co-curator Dr. Kathryn Bridge, "I honestly believe that without her time in France, Emily Carr would never have become the great artist we know today."

                                             Emily Carr: Crecy-en-Brie

Carr visited Crecy-en-Brie while in France. This painting is part of the Royal BC Museum's permanent collection. 

Emily Carr: Fresh Seeing includes 67 artworks by Carr and her compatriots in France, which chart Carr's transformation into an artist of the Canadian avant-garde. An additional exhibition, Everyday Emily Carr, features 22 examples of Carr's portraiture from the Royal BC Museum's own collections -- they range from sketches to small watercolors, along with one of Carr's hooked rugs. 

Emily Carr: Fresh Seeing - French Modernism and the West Coast 

Royal BC Museum 

675 Belleville Street

Victoria, BC 

All visitors required timed tickets, available online for advance purchase. 

Adults $22.95 - Students & Seniors $14.95 - Youth $13.95

The exhibition runs through January 24, 2021

 Photos courtesy Royal BC Museum

Alexander Calder: Radical Inventor | Canadian restrospective of the artist opens in Montreal

The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (MMFA) presents the first Canadian retrospective of Alexander Calder (1898 - 1976), showcasing the full scope of the American artist who set art in motion. The exhibition sheds new light on Calder's works, as seen through the perspective of innovation. It runs September 21, 2018 to February 24, 2019. 

Alexander Calder: Radical Inventor includes more than 150 works by the artist. Calder's multidisciplinary practice is shown through his wire portraits, paintings, graphics, sculpture, jewelry, and his invention of the mobile. The artist worked in a variety of fields including drawing, sculpture, painting, design and performance; his half-century career took his creations to five continents. Alexander Calder (1898-1976), Red Gongs, 1950, aluminum, brass, steel rod, wire and paint. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York Fletcher Fund, 1955. © 2018 Calder Foundation, New York / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / SOCAN, Montreal. Photo courtesy The Metropolitan Museum of Art / Art Resource, New York

Among the 150 objects are numerous works and documents rarely or never before on public display -- they have been specifically restored for the exhibition: 

• The Brass Family (1929), sculptures on loan from the Whitney Museum of Art
• Kiki de Montparnasse (II) (1930), on loan from the Centre Pompidou, Paris
• White Panel (1936), on loan from the Calder Foundation;
• Red Gongs (1950), a mobile on loan from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (pictured above)

Also in the exhibition are little-known sculptures made by Calder in his childhood. 

Alexander Calder:

Radical Inventor

Montreal Museum of Fine Arts

1380 Rue Sherbrooke O, Montreal

September 21, 2018 ~ February 24, 2019 

Art Gallery of Greater Victoria: Gallery Associates' 65th annual House Tour

One of the six homes on the 2018 House Tour. 

Now in its 65th year, the Gallery Associates House Tour in Victoria, BC is scheduled for Sunday, September 23, from 10AM - 4PM. Hosted by the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria (AGGV) and the Gallery Associates, the six featured homes are diverse in their architecture and interior design and located in unique locations throughout Greater Victoria -- from Oak Bay to Saanich to West Saanich and North Saanich.

In addition to touring the residences, which all feature impressive art collections, visitors will be able to chat with local artists working at each location. This year's artists in action include:

Andy Wooldridge, painter

Ken Faulks, plein air artist/illustrator

Monica Reekle, photojournalist

Katherine Farris, painter

Irene Khurana, painter

Sherry Tompalski, painter 

Tickets for the self-guided tour are $35 and on sale at the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, 1040 Moss Street or online at aggv.ca/house-tour. They are also available at GardenEorks in Oak Bay, Saanich and Colwood; Dig This in Sidney; Munro's Books, Victoria; and Ivy's Bookshop in Oak Bay. Funds raised support programs and operational expenses of the AGGV.

For more things to do in Victoria, visit Tourism Victoria's website. 

'Walking Figures' by Polish sculptor now in collection of Montreal Museum of Fine Arts

 Photo ©MMFA, Denis Farley

Three sculptures by the Polish artist Magdalena Abakanowicz (1930-2017), Walking Figures, are now in the collection of the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (MMFA). They were donated by art lovers Marcel and Caroline Elefant, and now "stride along" the Path of Peace in the Michal and Renata Hornstein Pavilion for Peace. The pavilion is located on the Level 3 terrace, now named for Marcel and Caroline Elefant. This is the first acquisition of the Polish artist's work by a Canadian museum. 

The three silhouettes of Walking Figures symbolize democracy and one of its tenets, freedom of individual expression. They were produced between 2004 and 2006 at the Śrem foundry near Poznan, Poland under the direction of Magdalena Abakanowicz, who was 76 at the time. Each figure is different, having been designed as a single work. The trio were taken from a group of 16 figures, a special commission for the Vancouver Sculpture Biennale (2005-2007).

©Photo Sebastien Roy

The installation of the three sculptures on the terrace was a technical feat. Each "walker," whose individual weight is nearly a ton, was anchored in preparation to be lifted 17 meters (55 feet) in the air with a crane. Once hoisted to the rooftop, a half-dozen workers built a system of pulleys to fasten each sculpture to the others and to make a metal base. 

©Photo Sebastien Roy

Often censored in the past, Abakanowicz created the headless, asexual humanoid figures to evoke a vision of people queuing for hours to obtain food, to survive. As described by Nathalie Bondil, MMFA's Director General and Chief Curator: "With both legs firmly planted on the urban ground, they follow in the footsteps of ancient Greek sculptures, the kouri, as well as The Walking Man -- the work of Rodin and Giacometti. Each of these monumental figures has its own expressionist texture, resembling wrinkled skin or tree bark. The choice of the raw material -- corroded cast iron -- evokes the fragile human condition as its telluric force." View a video: Installation of Walking Figures.

Photo @MMFA, Denis Farley

Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (MMFA)

1380 Rue Sherbrooke O

Montreal, Quebec, Canada

Montreal and Vancouver: New exhibitions featuring Jean Paul Gaultier and Claude Monet

LOVE IS LOVE: WEDDING BLISS FOR ALL A LA JEAN PAUL GAULTIER
MONTREAL MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS
May 27 - October 9, 2017

Jean Paul Gaultier, Punk Parisienne collection, Women's pret-a-porter spring/summer 1997. Photo ©Rindoff-Garcia / Angeli

The Montreal Museum of Arts presents LOVE IS LOVE: WEDDING BLISS FOR ALL A LA JEAN PAUL GAULTIER. Opening May 27 and running through October 9, 2017 this original installation brings together more than three dozen of the French designer's haute couture bridal creations.

Jean Paul Gaultier, Gay Wedding collection. 'Les Maries' wedding ensemble, men's pret-a-porter spring/summer 2005. Photo ©Patrice Stable/Jean Paul Gaultier

The exhibition features 36 wedding gowns and suits created between 1990-2017, all designed by Jean Paul Gaultier. The exhibition LOVE IS LOVE is a reflection of the ongoing commitment of both Jean Paul Gaultier and the MMFA to promote the acceptance of diversity and continue the fight against homophobia. The show's title is an allusion to the speech given by President Barack Obama in 2015 regarding the legalization of homosexual marriage in all American states.

Jean Paul Gaultier, Cutters collection, 'La Mariee' wedding gown, haute couture spring/summer 2001. Photo ©Patrice Stable/JeanPaul Gaultier 

Presented in the museum's Contemporary Art Square, the exhibition is organized around a monumental wedding cake featuring female and male mannequins -- couples of every gender and orientation. The faces of some of the mannequins are animated. LOVE IS LOVE is part of the MMFA's Year for Peace, reflecting the Museum's humanist values and commitment to peace and acceptance.

Montreal Museum of Fine Arts

1380 Sherbrooke Street West, Montreal Quebec

mbam.qc.ca

CLAUDE MONET'S SECRET GARDEN

VANCOUVER ART GALLERY

June 24 - October 1, 2017

Claude Monet | Nympheas, 1903 | oil on canvas | Musee Marmottan Monet, Paris
Photo ©Bridgeman Giraudon/Press

Claude Monet's Secret Garden is being hailed as the most important exhibition of French painter Claude Monet's work that has been shown in Canada in two decades. The exhibition, from the collection of the Musee Marmottan Monet in Paris, presents 38 paintings that span the course of Monet's long career. The Vancouver showing is the only presentation of the exhibition in North America. His art reflects a diversity of subjects, from the portrayal of modern life in his early figure studies to the inventive treatment of light in his scenes of the Parisian countryside and view of the River Thames. 

Claude Monet | Nympheas, 1916-19 | oil on canvas | Musee Marmottan Monet Paris | Photo ©Bridgeman Giraudon/Press

The exhibition culminates in a major series of paintings of his famous gardens in the French village of Giverny, where Monet lived from 1883 to the end of his life. In this series, Monet has created a visual exploration of plants and water. His renderings of weeping willows, waterlilies and the Japanese bridge in his garden are among the most iconic imagery in Western painting today. 

Stephen Shore | Waterlilies (from the Giverny Portfolio), 1977-83 | chromogenic print | collection of the Vancouver Art Gallery

Running as a complement to Claude Monet's Secret Garden is an exhibition by contemporary American photographer Stephen Shore. Twenty-five photographs from VAG's collection are being shown for the first time in Vancouver. Stephen Shore: The Giverny Portfolio is comprised of images he made during several visits to Monet's garden at Giverny between 1977-1983. 

Vancouver Art Gallery

750 Hornby Street, Vancouver

www.vanartgallery.bc.ca

'Treasures of the Chinese Scholar's Studio' opens at the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria

A Gathering of Literati handscroll, ink and colours on silk attributed to Qiu Ying (1494? – 1552), but an exquisite 18th century copy Intended Gift of Robin Bassett.

Traditional Chinese culture highly values all things related to the scholar's studio -- where most of the nation's art and literature were created. To appreciate the scholar's studio up close, see the new exhibition at the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria. Treasures of the Chinese Scholar's Studio opened August 14 and runs through November 15, 2015. 

According to AGGV's Asian Art curator Barry Till, Chinese scholars were the educated and privileged elite -- officials, academics, poets, calligraphers, painters and connoisseurs. "They were highly esteemed," said Till. "Their tastes and artwork had tremendous influence on their country's culture." 

The AGGV's collection of 200 treasures on display gives a glimpse into the life of a Chinese scholar. The exhibition includes pieces from the Shang dynasty (16 to 11 century BCE), to the later Ming dynasty (17 century ADE) and Qing dynasty (early 19 century ADE). It includes many recently donated pieces that have never been previously exhibited. Among the artifacts are the scholars' studio materials, antiques and works of art.

Till says that a Chinese scholar's studio would have been strewn with brushes, inkstones, paper, seals, paper weights, teapots, wine cups, incense burners and paper. "The most important were known as the four treasures, and they were the essentials: brush, ink, inkstone and paper," said Till.

The exhibition includes 20 important ancient inkstones recently donated to the AGGV. Inkstones are the stones used for the grinding and containment of ink. Because the stone affects the texture of the ink, a good inkstone is as important as good ink for serious calligraphers and painters.

Running in conjunction with the exhibition are a lecture and a tour, both included with Gallery admission or membership:

• The Rocks, Stones and Seals: An Excursion into Daoist Aesthetics. September 9, 2PM. Dr. Jordan Paper highlights the relevance of sealstones, inkstones and rocks as they pertain to Daoist aesthetics upheld by Chinese scholars. 
• Curator's Tour led by Barry Till. September 30, 2-3PM. 

Seattle Art Museum presents first major US exhibition by Haida artist Robert Davidson

Last week, the Seattle Art Museum opened the first major US exhibition of work by Haida artist Robert Davidson. The 67-year-old Canadian artist's work has been pivotal in the revitalization of Northwest Coast Native art. Robert Davidson: Abstract Impulse is on view at SAM through February 16, 2014. The exhibition features Davidson's recent works, along with key works from his early career. 

In 1969, Davidson erected the first totem pole in nearly a century in his ancestral British Columbia village of Masset, located in Haida Gwaii (formerly the Queen Charlotte Islands). He has since worked for more than 40 years absorbing the bedrock art traditions of Haida art and craft. He first learned from his great-grandfather, Haida artist Charles Edenshaw, and gradually explored new directions within the highly disciplined structure of the old Northwest Coast models -- in wood sculpture, ceremonial arts, jewelry and prints. 

Abstract Impulse showcases Davidson's recent forays into abstraction in his easel paintings, graphic work and sculpture. Using non-traditional media, he pushes the colors and forms of the Haida art form, making him one of the most important Northwest Coast Native artists working today. The exhibition features 45 paintings, sculptures and prints that Davidson has created since 2005, along with works from his earlier years. 

The Seattle Art Museum has an impressive collection of historic Haida art, including key pieces by Davidson's ancestors. "We are especially pleased to present Davidson's contemporary work and connect it to the culture that he has worked so hard to revitalize," said SAM's Kimberly Rorschach. Davidson most recently had a retrospective exhibition at the Vancouver Art Gallery in 1993. Another Haida artist's works, Charles Edenshaw (1839-1920), are at the VAG in an exhibition that runs through February 2, 2014.

Following its three months at SAM, Robert Davidson: Abstract Impulse will travel to New York's Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian from April 12 to September 28, 2014.

"Robert Davidson is one of Canada's most respected and important contemporary visual artists. A Northwest Coast Native of Haida and Tlingit descent, he is a master carver of totem poles and masks and works in a variety of other media as a printmaker, painter and jeweler. He is best known as an impeccable craftsman whose creative and personal interpretation of traditional Haida form is unparalleled. His distinctive style is appreciated by the Haida community and contemporary arts scholars alike, with many of his works considered post-modern masterpieces. His work is sought by collectors internationally." Robert Davidson | Eagle of the Dawn Artist LTD.

Vancouver Art Gallery's 'Charles Edenshaw' Exhibition First Major Survey of Haida Artist's Work

Haida artist Charles Edenshaw (1839-1920), who worked in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, was an exceptional carver of wood, silver and argillite. The Northwest Coast artist combined traditional Haida design with his own unique and elegant personal style. Vancouver Art Gallery's exhibition, Charles Edenshaw, opens on October 26, 2013 and marks the first major survey of Edenshaw's work. It features more than 200 pieces in all media, from public and private collections around the world. The exhibition runs through February 2, 2014.

It's the largest number of Edenshaw works ever assembled, and Haida Chief and exhibition advisor James Hart says the art is a testament to Edenshaw's individual spirit and singular talent. "All the pieces that Charles created carry the respect of his people, ancestors and his family," said Hart. "To be connected to this line of important Haida cultural prerogatives and the changing ways of our future, we must carry on, in the Haida Way." Charles Edenshaw is organized around five central themes: Haida Traditions, Narrative, Style, New Forms and Legacies. 

The Vancouver Art Gallery has a long history of presenting First Nations Art. Since featuring BC Coast Indian Art in 1941, the Gallery continues to present both contemporary and historic Northwest Coast art in such landmark group exhibitions as People of the Potlatch (1956), Arts of the Raven (1967), Down from the Shimmering Sky: Masks of the Northwest Coast (1998), Raven Travelling: Two Centuries of Haida Art (2006) and Beat Nation: Art, Hip Hop and Aboriginal Culture (2012). VAG has also presented solo exhibition of artists Bill Reid, Robert Davidson, Marianne Nicolson and James Hart.

Charles Edenshaw was organized by the Vancouver Art Gallery and curated by Robin K. Wright, Director of the Bill Holm Center for the Study of Northwest Coast Art and Daina Augaitis, Chief Curator/Associate Director. Haida advisors included James Hart and Robert Davidson.

Image Credits

(Left) Platter, pre-1894, argilite, The Field Museum, Chicago Photo: The Field Museum (#A114412_05d, John Weinstein)
(Middle) Charles Edenshaw (attr.) Eagle Cane, late 19th century, wood, ivory, abalone shell, silver, 91.7 x 9x4 cm. Collection of Museum of Anthropology, University of British Columbia
(Right) Sea Bear Bracelet, late 19th century, silver, McMichael Canadian Art Collection, Purchase 1974, 1981.108.1 Photo: Trevor Mills, Vancouver Art Gallery 

Second Annual Victoria International Chalk Art Festival Features Professional Chalk Artists

Leon Keer is a Dutch pop-surrealist artist from the Netherlands who is a world leading artist in anamorphic (3D) street art.

The second annual Victoria International Chalk Art Festival returns to Vancouver Island September 14-15, 2013. The free festival, the largest of its kind in Canada, features  professional chalk artists at three venues in Victoria: Centennial Square, Government Street, and Bay Centre's lower centre court. 

This year's chalk artists represent the region and the world, and include Amsterdam's Leon Keer. One of the world's leading 3D chalk artists, Kerr will present a 20' x 20' 3D chalk painting at Bay Centre. He started his painting September 11, three days prior to the festival weekend, so he'll be able to complete his work by the conclusion of the festival. 

This year's festival theme is First Nations in British Columbia. A number of the artists, including Keer, will be painting First Nations' scenes or people. Prominent First Nations' artist Jamin Zuroski will be painting with San Diego artist Lori Escalera at Centennial Square. 

In addition to the chalk art, there will be a performance stage at Centennial Square featuring singers, dancers, drummers and local music acts. The Square will also host a kids' chalk zone. 

Organizers are expecting more than 30,000 people to attend the festival, sponsored by the Victoria International Chalk Art Society. Executive Director John Vickers says his organization took deliver of approximately 10,000 pieces of chalk and they're looking forward to a weekend of sunshine!

Note to Festival Goers: Government Street will be closed to vehicle traffic from Fort to Yates Street, and will feature as many as 40 artists who will create 8' x 10' chalk paintings within the closure zone.

Susanne Ma was born in Germany and raised in Taiwan. She started street painting in 2002.

The Robert Bateman Centre in Victoria, BC Features Largest Exhibit of Canadian Artist's Original Works

The Robert Bateman Centre is in the restored Steamship Terminal.

Although I'm a loyal Closet Canuck, I admit I'm not familiar with the legendary Canadian artist Robert Bateman. But I found out plenty about him when I last visited Victoria in July. Bateman is a Canadian naturalist and painter who focuses on wildlife and nature in his paintings, with his subjects ranging from Africa to Canada's Arctic. On May 24, 2013 The Robert Bateman Centre opened in Victoria's Inner Harbour. Located in the historic CPR Steamship Terminal* that's been restored, the 5,000 sq. ft. space (465 sq. meters) includes a gallery, educational space and retail store.

Robert Bateman Sketchbooks

The permanent exhibition features about 160 of Bateman's masterpieces, with some of the paintings in the $11 million collection never seen before by the public. The exhibition begins with a section of The Loretta Anne Rogers Gallery that's dedicated to British Columbia. Bateman  moved to BC's Gulf Islands in the 1980s, which resulted in an outpouring of new work, some of which appears in this gallery. The Suzanne and Walter Scott Galleries showcase some of his best work inspired by his travels and affection for Africa. 

Tools of the artist. Robert Batemen's brushes on display. 

Ten galleries cover different aspects of Bateman's work, two of which are of special interest to youth and children. The Family Gallery includes a hands-on nature play area for children under 10, while the Kathryn Iredale Gallery focuses on birds. The bird collection may be explored by a multi-channel sound system and sensors on the paintings. When visitors pass their hands over the labels on the paintings, an appropriate bird sound resonates in the gallery. I enjoyed watching the video in the Diane and David Reesor Theatre, where Bateman spoke about his vision while working in his studio on Saltspring Island. 

Canadian wildlife by Robert Bateman

Photos by Sue Frause

*The CPR Steamship Terminal is a historic landmark in Victoria's Inner Harbour. Constructed in 1924, the neo-classical building was designed by Francis Rattenbury and P. Leonard James. Rattenbury was also the architect of The Fairmont Empress Hotel and the Legislative Building.