Twenty20: Harcourt House, June 19 - July 19, 2008 Review by Erin Carter

Stumbling up three flights of stairs and through the welcoming doors to Harcourt House, I was colourfully greeted by the mixed media members exhibition sale Twenty:20. Ranging from professional to amateur artists, I was expecting to see more of a professional show than being immediately confronted with pieces that didn’t say much to me. Some of the art seemed rough and not really “done”. I felt that a lot of studies members had done in classes ended up for sale.

Walking through, I noticed a few stand-alone cases that appeared finished, but found it difficult to find them amidst the mish mash of bright colleague-y bits. For example, I couldn’t stop staring at the fine details in Edie McIntyre’s two wax-based portraits. As the two faces followed me through the second room, my eyes were guided to mix media pieces using wood, wax, paint, and found items. I was grounded by the fact that Harcourt House celebrates continuous education in the arts, but I found that the majority of art pieced on the unmatched puzzle of walls leaned on the side of artists in progress.

Harcourt House is a major supporter of home grown artists and it’s nice to see the opportunities they give out to their members, i.e. an art sale and a chance to get their work into the public eye. The majority of the prices for some of the compositions were arguable, but there were a few diamonds in the rough.

Erin Carter is Prairie Artsters 2008 summer intern