The weekend held some real magic at Contemporary Calgary (Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA)). My daughter, Cayley, and I spent a part of Saturday afternoon peacefully perusing the weighty and elegant Hardingham Sculptures 1990, produced by Douglas Bentham.  When I say weighty, I refer to a lot of personal landmarks…moments of identifying with landscape, primarily the vastness of the prairies and central to southern Alberta.  I’ve always been intrigued by the ordered rows of abandoned field equipment in the back yards of our Canadian farms, all of it that deep oxidized colour of abandoned wreckage.

I really encourage my readers to visit the artist’s website for a beautiful history and archive.

Douglas Bentham has maintained an international reputation as a major practitioner of abstract, constructivist sculpture for over forty years. ‘He is one of the country’s most prolific sculptors,’ writes art critic Terry Fenton, ‘one of its finest, one of Canada’s first sculptors in every sense.’

Of the experience, Cayley wrote…

“This was a cool collection because all of the pieces made me want to climb up inside them and sit on them. There was quality to them like they were tractors or something. Also the big empty spaces I could imagine the Saskatchewan sky filling. They would be a beautiful addition to the flat open prairie that is Saskatchewan. This weekend the show closed.”

There are constantly amazing offerings in our city.  The fine arts are alive and well.  Support them where you can.