My dear friend, Bob, was in town and from the time we met up at the Central Branch Public Library, last weekend, until we got to my place to share dinner, we were able to fit in a few art events. I’ve posted about Bob before. We met at ACAD, sharing a third year studio space and conversed our way through many lunch hours. A lot of time has passed since 1998 and he has had a seat at many Thanksgiving and Christmas feasts. Likely our most memorable event was meeting up in Paris to enjoy art together and then some relaxed time in Monet’s part of the world, Giverny, France.
Over the years, I’ve commissioned Bob to paint several pieces for me, the most important being the ten magpie paintings through my final months of teaching, one to represent every season and one of Pauline’s window looking out onto Kootenay Lake. My treasured teacher from the University of Lethbridge is easily remembered each and every time I look up at the painting.
Painting by Robert Melville: Blue Glass Looking Out on Kootenay Lake
Bob and I walked over to C2, where the exhibition Voted Most Likely curated by Kim Dorland is happening and then I took him on to have his first ever wander of the Esker Foundation. Borrowed directly from the C2 description…Contemporary Calgary has invited Kim Dorland to guest curate an exhibition of artists who currently call – or have previously called – Calgary “home”. Featuring the work of emerging and established artists working in a variety of mediums, Voted Most Likely includes Chris Cran, Bradley Harms, DaveandJenn, Mark Lawes, Erik Olson, Annelie McKenzie, Tiffany Wollman, Pamela Norrish, Kent Merriman Jr, Stacey Watson, Kiarra Albina, Matthew Mark, Jeremy Pavka, and Chad VanGaalen.
I have decided that I much prefer attending these art exhibits in the quiet of my own time rather than during the busy and sometimes crowded opening events. If you are in the mood, however, openings are a great opportunity to meet up with the artists and converse about their process. Why not do both?
Regardless, it was a beautiful thing to meet up with my friend from Vancouver and share in delightful conversation about the work.
The day was a chilly and wet one, but filled to the brim with connecting, whether that was with people or art.
I got Max out in the early morning. He was in his typically joyful place, leaping through the air in order to retrieve his Chuckit! Paraflight Fetch Toy Frisbee Disc. He loves it! It’s durable and I concur with all of the points made in the following review. I try to alternate his types of work outs each day, taking him out onto trails on his own or doing work outs such as this toy provides. I call this toy a whizzo…and I pick them up, two at a time, when they are on sale and keep them in stock in my front hall closet. Max seems to go through about two a year.
While you play this sort of game with your energetic dog, you need to remember to temper the height of your throw in order that your dog does not experience long term wear on his hips and joints. Border collies are so active, agile and obsessed that they have no limits on what they choose to endure, so you, as an owner, must set the limits. It is a difficult thing to watch your very active dog succumb to arthritis at some point because you chose to be an ‘over achiever’ with him. A side note here is that I have developed very beefy arms in my years of training and owning this breed. Certain dogs require hard work every day. My boy would be one of those. This work needs to be varied so to remain interesting and so sometimes making your dog sit and stay for 45 minutes is another alternative, particularly on bad weather days.
I dropped Max home and headed to meet with my retired teacher-friends for a coffee. I treasure these friends so much and felt absolutely blessed as I left yesterday morning. Our conversation was varied and enthusiastic. We had opportunity to share both joy and pain and were there for one another to celebrate and support, both. I continue to be surprised with the human resistance to retirement. There is so much that happens in the world beyond ‘the job’. Thanks to my friends for sharing your interesting lives with me. I am truly blessed by your smarts and your wit.
From there, I jumped on the C Train and got off at the City Hall stop. After a warm chicken salad sandwich, enjoyed in our central public library, I headed over to the John Clark exhibit at C2. I found Jeffrey Spalding in an intense conversation with a couple of people and so enjoyed my encounter with the images on my own. I love the synchronicity of the entire event….CTrain City Hall Chicken Salad, Clark, C2…it was a C sort of a morning.
The exhibit is a beautiful collection of works by John Clark. The collection, available until August 31, is another amazing tribute to a person with a unique statement about his surroundings and experience. I was most emotional in front of a huge canvas painted in 1989, the piece that appears at the complete right of the following photograph.
Arnaud Maggs, John Clark in his studio, 1988. From the University of Lethbridge Art Collection. Gift of the artist, 1989.
I continue to long for a greater connection with the University of Lethbridge since attending during the years 1973 to 1977, and so I really enjoyed this piece, I believe to be titled Bird and Bridge.
An excellent tribute to John Clark’s life and exploration…beautifully displayed and worth our admiration. Gratitude to C2 and also the various contributors of the pieces featured in this exhibit.
From C2, I headed over to the Glenbow Museum to enjoy the Bee Kingdom’s:The Iconoclasts in Glass. AWESOME! Get out to see this one. I have written several times about the Bees over these last several years, but, please DO enjoy this elegant display of a very comprehensive collection of works. Such a clear vision was evidenced in this body. A pleasure! Congratulations and shout out to Phillip, Tim and Ryan!
Phillip Murray Bandura
Timothy Belliveau
Ryan Fairweather
I hung out in the museum for a little while…thinking especially about Marion Nicholl’s work for some reason. I thought she was such a phenomenal visionary. I don’t wish to get into the generational and gender ‘thing’ here…but…come on!
It just wouldn’t be right to be so close to create! at the Golden Age Club, to not walk over and see what was cooking. I enjoyed a coffee and rice crispy square with visionary and facilitator, Wendy Lees; artists Margaret, Lorna, Jo-Anne and Les and got filled in about all of the recent goings-on including the creation of a Little Library and another zine.
I met up with my daughter after jumping on the train and rockin’ my way to the ‘burbs’ from the core. After yet another Max-event, Cayley and I met up with a beautiful friend of ours at the Blue’s Can and I spun some circles in the dance floor to the all-so-familiar tunes of Tom Phillips and the Men of Constant Sorrow. The day could not have been more full, rich and beautiful.
After all of this, I remembered to take the garbage out for a Friday morning pick-up. And, after reading a few fantastic pages of Carol Shield’s Small Ceremonies (Karen, get this book!), I was off to sleep.
I can hardly keep up with the art exhibits! Dad and I have been busy this summer. I have some catching up to do. The Beaverbrook exhibit at the Glenbow escaped me…slipped right through my finger tips. I was fortunate that, back in the day, as a recipient of a Teacher Plus award from the Calgary Catholic School District, I traveled Canada, visiting each and every provincial art gallery and the National Art Gallery in Ottawa as well…a single summer immersed in art museums! During that summer, I spent a great deal of time in The Beaverbrook Art Gallery, enjoying the collection and other works. It was fun to hear my daughter’s reaction to the experience of standing before the Santiago El Grande (1957) by Salvador Dali, given that I had stood in awe of the piece as a young woman in Fredericton, New Brunswick in the 1990s. Cayley and I discussed the piece and I pulled out my brochures from the visit…we both wondered about how many people had stood before the piece during its life. She spoke of a woman who sat beside her and chatted quietly with her about this piece. Art is so wonderful for its mysteries. It’s important that we visit art museums.
I drove through Vancouver and missed the Douglas Coupland exhibit. This is one that I longed to see. A person could spend their lifetime viewing art, but one has to try to make a balance, especially when life offers so many wonderful things.
Regardless, I’ve got an exhibit on my hit list for today. It leaves C2 On August 31, so my readers may wish to also stop by to see John Clark’s work. There’s been some confusion as Calgary has had two galleries merge, with the hope that they will evolve into Contemporary Calgary. What’s required of the citizens of Calgary is support for a vision that is evolving and likely suffering the pains of transition in many ways. It can’t be easy.
“The Wheel” (detail), 1986, oil on line, courtesy of the Clark Estate Photo retrieved from FFWD Calgary.
Of John Clark, Jeffrey Spalding eloquently states, and this taken directly from the FFWD article linked above…
“John Clark was a seeker: he was somebody who sought enlightenment, sought meaning and sought deeper purpose in things,” says Spalding. “I’m not entirely sure that he found it, and I’m not entirely sure that we’ll find it through his work, but… you’ll find… his desire to try to locate himself in the world and to understand the interaction of himself, nature and culture.”
I think, interesting stuff…enough for me to grab the C train down for a light lunch and a browse. I hope that my Calgary based readers will take me up on my invitation to stand before these energetic works. Personally, given my connection with the Lethbridge landscape, I look forward to enjoying Clark’s response to the same. Tonight I will dish out my thoughts on this special tribute exhibit.
Bob and I walked over to C2, where the exhibition Voted Most Likely curated by Kim Dorland is happening and then I took him on to have his first ever wander of the Esker Foundation. Borrowed directly from the C2 description…Contemporary Calgary has invited Kim Dorland to guest curate an exhibition of artists who currently call – or have previously called – Calgary “home”. Featuring the work of emerging and established artists working in a variety of mediums, Voted Most Likely includes Chris Cran, Bradley Harms, DaveandJenn, Mark Lawes, Erik Olson, Annelie McKenzie, Tiffany Wollman, Pamela Norrish, Kent Merriman Jr, Stacey Watson, Kiarra Albina, Matthew Mark, Jeremy Pavka, and Chad VanGaalen.
I have decided that I much prefer attending these art exhibits in the quiet of my own time rather than during the busy and sometimes crowded opening events. If you are in the mood, however, openings are a great opportunity to meet up with the artists and converse about their process. Why not do both?
