The September long weekend was filled to the brim with family, football, food and adventuring. My nieces, Ainslie and Eliane, and I caught a drive down to the gallery on a perfect sky blue day in Ottawa.  I was giddy, as I had been anticipating the exhibit of Chris Cran’s work for some time.  I am so darned proud!  I’ve always assumed that Chris was so much younger than me.  We are closer in age than I had imagined.

Back in the late 1980s, Chris opened his studio up to me and my then-spouse and generously shared, in his witty fashion, his bigger-than-life pinhole camera and the work that he was exploring at the time.  I’ve never forgotten his generosity that day and it remains evident, in so many ways, that he is an active and contributing community member where all of the arts are concerned in Calgary.  Through Chris, I met another awesome dude out of Salmon Arm, Herald Nix, and have become a big fan of his music, as well as his art.  For many reasons, I was so excited to have the chance to enjoy the retrospective of Chris Cran’s work, elegantly and historically displayed in one of my favourite art galleries.

This post will contain just a few images, all Chris’s work.  I’ll share about other works that I enjoyed in separate posts.

One of the security guards, Thomas, gave us many insights on our tour of Chris Cran’s work.  He took in every word of Chris’s tour offered during the exhibit’s opening days. He was so generous to pass short narratives on to us.  He could not give permission for us to photograph him while he was wearing his uniform, but I guess I had nabbed this one before that conversation. When I went on the studio visit, Chris was working on the Stripe and Halftone Paintings. I saw something very gestural in this piece and so the girls humoured me by becoming the forms in the piece.  Love them so much!

These are a mere smattering of images from the exhibit.  I really was swept up in the experience of being in such an aesthetically pleasing space wandering in and out of gallery spaces, in awe.  Later, I will post the few Instagram shots I took, as well.

I feel so grateful when magic like this takes flight and lands in my heart.  I love you, Eliane and Ainslie, for being with me.