Continuing her exploration of art as system, art as material, Josee Ouellette and fellow Institute Parachuter Mandy Espezel present new works in progress as “Material Functions.” Though one might have to approach all the exhibitions at Artshab as works in progress due to its limitations of presentation and proximity to active studios, this show is definitely still developing in form more apparently than its conceptual progress.
More familiar with Ouellette through her various memorable reincarnations of material painter, expectations on her latest work with acrylic panels and wood are high(er). It is more than evident and consciously so that the works and frames are drawn and created by the artist’s hand, but there is no distinction between a self-made attitude and a ready-made craft.
But onwards to the self contained nature of the art object as Ouellette’s artistic mandate, and on her path to creating that self-sustaining system, “Material Functions” is an interesting point of reflection.
The Oil Sands Series, which show the most promise in distinguishing her own self, the materials within each piece do interact with one another across theme and form, and it is cheeky and admirable to create a self sustaining work of art called the “Oil Sands Series.” Only the work lacks a finesse that completes the art object as an art experience. A whitewash treatment was added as a very last minute to the background, but as a whole, it is still an idea, a crude oil sands concept, that I look forward to seeing when it is indeed an Oil Sands Series.
The Institute Parachute has potential to be one of the more interesting collectives emerging in this flux in Edmonton's contemporary art scene, but be forewarned of that trap between producing the spirit of DIY work and actually pushing forward the integrity of DIY art.
Sunday, April 6, 2008
Thursday, April 3, 2008
Grand(e) Prairie Artsters*
Finding myself in Grande Prairie over an extended Easter long weekend, this Prairie Artster was undulated with an artistic inspiration that was completely overwhelming.
More so than any city or town I have yet to cross on my prairie travels, Grande Prairie’s artistic community effuses an acknowledgment and connection to their surrounding environment that is as close as I have seen of a true “prairie aesthetic.”
Collapsed Prairie Art Gallery, March 23, 2008, Photo credit: Amy Fung, 2008
Perhaps through sheer concentration of active artists originally from elsewhere, there is an intense awareness of what is happening regionally and nationally without ever conflating the two identities.
From collectors Murray and Chris Quinn to the copyrighted land of Peter Von Tiesenhausen, to the small handful of contemporary mixed and new media artists living scattered across the 50 000 population of mostly displaced Newfoundlanders, the greater Grande Prairie region offers a fascinating study of non inclusive isolation.
Artists visited include Tiesenhausen, one of our country’s greatest land-conscious artists; Ed Bader, tenure at the regional college and recent curator of the highly heralded ARTery exhibition (with a forthcoming catalogue by Border Crossing’s Robert Enright); Tina Martel, mixed media artist and coordinator of Prairie North, an intimate workshop with past facilitators that include Harold Klunder, Aganetha Dyck and Walter May; Ken HouseGO, a ’70s NSCAD graduate turned eclectic folk artist; Bernadine Schroyer, former U of A painting student currently experimenting past her informed training; Donna White, ex-Calgarian who will be returning to her roots just in time for a responsive billboard installation held during the Stampede; Robert Steven, new Executive Director of the Prairie Art Gallery who came on board to lead the city’s only gallery shortly before the unfortunate collapse of the building’s roof; Quinn, whose contemporary art knowledge and collection rivals in scope and in corporeal curation; and Jennifer Bowes, 2007 Biennial artist and former U of A graduate and instructor who so graciously invited me up in the first place and hosted my jam-packed three night stay.
The experience as a whole was overwhelming to say the least, and bits will have to be siphoned into separate forthcoming studio visit write-ups over the coming months, but immediate highlights include:
Murray and Chris Quinn’s contemporary art collection. Wholly unpretentious, hard-working individuals supporting their regional economy, the Quinns’s impressive collection begins the second you step foot onto their front yard. With one of Tiesenhausen’s steel rope canoe boats** air craned in, the collection from there includes seminal pieces by Evan Penny along with photographic works by Jack Burman, Roy Arden and new media works by Nick and Sheila Pye, to name just a fraction of a carefully cultivated collection.
The unwavering resistance to whine and snivel even in lieu of any proper exhibition spaces. Using public storefronts for a large-scale new media exhibition, to the salon-style existence of the gallery’s salvaged collection, to the openness in sharing work with neighbors as well as strangers, the ingrained importance of showing and discussing work for the sake of growing and learning is so incredibly strong and earnest.
Image credit: "PR291" Peter von Tiesenhausen
The wonder of Tiesenhausen’s land accompanied by a Baltic post-Easter lunch. A balance of grounded intuition and an elevated craftsmanship, his site-specific land art dots the 800-some acre property, including functional works such as a beautifully crafted log cabin and a new straw bale studio. Supported by an equal partnership from his wife Teresa, Tiesenhausen’s life is undeniably his art, which in turn is very much about the land he grew up on and continues to raise his sons on.
**Correction from Vue Weekly's copy, which read "boots"
*First appeared in Vue Weekly, April 3 - 9, 2008
More so than any city or town I have yet to cross on my prairie travels, Grande Prairie’s artistic community effuses an acknowledgment and connection to their surrounding environment that is as close as I have seen of a true “prairie aesthetic.”
Collapsed Prairie Art Gallery, March 23, 2008, Photo credit: Amy Fung, 2008
Perhaps through sheer concentration of active artists originally from elsewhere, there is an intense awareness of what is happening regionally and nationally without ever conflating the two identities.
From collectors Murray and Chris Quinn to the copyrighted land of Peter Von Tiesenhausen, to the small handful of contemporary mixed and new media artists living scattered across the 50 000 population of mostly displaced Newfoundlanders, the greater Grande Prairie region offers a fascinating study of non inclusive isolation.
Artists visited include Tiesenhausen, one of our country’s greatest land-conscious artists; Ed Bader, tenure at the regional college and recent curator of the highly heralded ARTery exhibition (with a forthcoming catalogue by Border Crossing’s Robert Enright); Tina Martel, mixed media artist and coordinator of Prairie North, an intimate workshop with past facilitators that include Harold Klunder, Aganetha Dyck and Walter May; Ken HouseGO, a ’70s NSCAD graduate turned eclectic folk artist; Bernadine Schroyer, former U of A painting student currently experimenting past her informed training; Donna White, ex-Calgarian who will be returning to her roots just in time for a responsive billboard installation held during the Stampede; Robert Steven, new Executive Director of the Prairie Art Gallery who came on board to lead the city’s only gallery shortly before the unfortunate collapse of the building’s roof; Quinn, whose contemporary art knowledge and collection rivals in scope and in corporeal curation; and Jennifer Bowes, 2007 Biennial artist and former U of A graduate and instructor who so graciously invited me up in the first place and hosted my jam-packed three night stay.
The experience as a whole was overwhelming to say the least, and bits will have to be siphoned into separate forthcoming studio visit write-ups over the coming months, but immediate highlights include:
Murray and Chris Quinn’s contemporary art collection. Wholly unpretentious, hard-working individuals supporting their regional economy, the Quinns’s impressive collection begins the second you step foot onto their front yard. With one of Tiesenhausen’s steel rope canoe boats** air craned in, the collection from there includes seminal pieces by Evan Penny along with photographic works by Jack Burman, Roy Arden and new media works by Nick and Sheila Pye, to name just a fraction of a carefully cultivated collection.
The unwavering resistance to whine and snivel even in lieu of any proper exhibition spaces. Using public storefronts for a large-scale new media exhibition, to the salon-style existence of the gallery’s salvaged collection, to the openness in sharing work with neighbors as well as strangers, the ingrained importance of showing and discussing work for the sake of growing and learning is so incredibly strong and earnest.
Image credit: "PR291" Peter von Tiesenhausen
The wonder of Tiesenhausen’s land accompanied by a Baltic post-Easter lunch. A balance of grounded intuition and an elevated craftsmanship, his site-specific land art dots the 800-some acre property, including functional works such as a beautifully crafted log cabin and a new straw bale studio. Supported by an equal partnership from his wife Teresa, Tiesenhausen’s life is undeniably his art, which in turn is very much about the land he grew up on and continues to raise his sons on.
**Correction from Vue Weekly's copy, which read "boots"
*First appeared in Vue Weekly, April 3 - 9, 2008
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
Prairie Artsters Studio Visits: Sarah Fuller, Banff.
Estrangement permeates photographer Sarah Fuller’s “You Will Want To Come Back” series. Encapsulating a bygone era of North American cities and towns that remain locked in postwar aesthetics, Fuller’s findings articulate a detached wonder over the deserted drive-ins along the highway and the outdated emblems still encased within functioning motels and diners.
Shooting with a 4 X 5 for both interior and exterior locations, Fuller draws out the moody void of the landscape. Frozen and isolated, old jukeboxes, glowing antlers, a diner booth, appears dreaming in a state of suspended nostalgia. It is however the borderless blank screens that glow a bright nothingness that captures the fantasy and the void. Aged and forgotten drive in screens radiate a longing from the middle of clearings worn brown and green. Like the diner vinyl seats populated with fake plastic bouquets, the screens show hints of past habitation that is at once fixed and always transient.
There are no individuals readily visible in the photographs, but the spaces are comfortable and saturated with active memories. It is in fact the solitary presence, most often conveyed through light, that grounds this series. Blown up to 40” X 50” and exhibited behind plexi, Fuller shares that these places turn into “a void of space that you have to almost literally step into.”
Currently completing an artist residency in Reykjavik for the month of April, 2008, Fuller has been working on a new series called “Dream Work.” Researching the dream state based on Jeff Warren’s “Head Trip,” Fuller has been recording the physical expression of anonymous sleepers through infrared & standard pinhole photography and matching them to their morning written text. The pinhole is left open to expose for the entire duration of sleep and there is a sense that something more than just time and light has been captured once the sleeper wakes and closes the shutter.
The next step of the project will involve collaborative research with the Dream and Nightmare Lab in Montreal's Sacré-Coeur Hospital. Tracing and matching each dream’s neurological pattern to the varying exposure time of pinhole, Fuller is at once researcher, artist and performer as she taps into capturing her own subconscious. Starting with the basic principle of what you look like when you dream, and Dali’s exercise of trying to catch a glimpse of himself as he began dreaming, Fuller is lending an artistic exploration into dream disturbances and how we physically as well as psychological emanate peace and anxiety. The early findings are rich in hue and tones, especially one self portrait taken on the Trans Canada Hwy, which at once sums up Fuller’s approach to life and to art in one majestic unfolding of time lapsed work.
Image credit: "The Golden Booth," Sarah Fuller, 2006.
www.sarahfullerphotography.ca
Studio visited February 16, 2008
Shooting with a 4 X 5 for both interior and exterior locations, Fuller draws out the moody void of the landscape. Frozen and isolated, old jukeboxes, glowing antlers, a diner booth, appears dreaming in a state of suspended nostalgia. It is however the borderless blank screens that glow a bright nothingness that captures the fantasy and the void. Aged and forgotten drive in screens radiate a longing from the middle of clearings worn brown and green. Like the diner vinyl seats populated with fake plastic bouquets, the screens show hints of past habitation that is at once fixed and always transient.
There are no individuals readily visible in the photographs, but the spaces are comfortable and saturated with active memories. It is in fact the solitary presence, most often conveyed through light, that grounds this series. Blown up to 40” X 50” and exhibited behind plexi, Fuller shares that these places turn into “a void of space that you have to almost literally step into.”
Currently completing an artist residency in Reykjavik for the month of April, 2008, Fuller has been working on a new series called “Dream Work.” Researching the dream state based on Jeff Warren’s “Head Trip,” Fuller has been recording the physical expression of anonymous sleepers through infrared & standard pinhole photography and matching them to their morning written text. The pinhole is left open to expose for the entire duration of sleep and there is a sense that something more than just time and light has been captured once the sleeper wakes and closes the shutter.
The next step of the project will involve collaborative research with the Dream and Nightmare Lab in Montreal's Sacré-Coeur Hospital. Tracing and matching each dream’s neurological pattern to the varying exposure time of pinhole, Fuller is at once researcher, artist and performer as she taps into capturing her own subconscious. Starting with the basic principle of what you look like when you dream, and Dali’s exercise of trying to catch a glimpse of himself as he began dreaming, Fuller is lending an artistic exploration into dream disturbances and how we physically as well as psychological emanate peace and anxiety. The early findings are rich in hue and tones, especially one self portrait taken on the Trans Canada Hwy, which at once sums up Fuller’s approach to life and to art in one majestic unfolding of time lapsed work.
Image credit: "The Golden Booth," Sarah Fuller, 2006.
www.sarahfullerphotography.ca
Studio visited February 16, 2008
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