April 2, 2008
The Great Unsolved Mysteries in Canadian History website has just launched a new case — “Death on a Painted Lake: The Tom Thomson Tragedy.” I thought it was particularly fitting that the CBC carried a news story announcing this new cyber sleuthing adventure on the very day we are holding our last Canadian Art History class of the year.
March 26, 2008
We ended class with a great discussion about Folk Art today, but ran out of time before everyone had a chance to comment. Of particular interest to a lot of you was the notion of originality in Folk Art (ie: following a pattern). If you’ve got anything else to add to this discussion, or if you want to address the questions below, please go ahead and post here. (Remember, blog posts count towards your participation grade in VISA 2P51!)
Questions for Discussion:
1) What are the distinctions between “Art” and “Folk Art”? Is this a necessary division?
2) Is it necessary to have an established art gallery legitimize a piece as “Art”? Why or why not?
3) What do we mean by the term “antimodern” in the context of Folk Art? (hint: see assigned reading for today)
March 19, 2008
Discussion Questions:
-How do the artists in the case studies for today (see below) use their art to address issues of race, gender and/or sexuality in their art? Does the type of art used in each case study influence the ways in which theses pieces might be understood by the viewer? Why or why not?
-Both of the case studies listed below have selected to exhibit or perform their art in a public space. Why do you think they chose to do this?
Case Study #1: Shawna Dempsey & Lorri Millan, Lesbian National Parks & Services: A Force of Nature
-Relates to the following assigned reading: Margot Francis, “The Lesbian National Parks and Services: Reading Sex, Race and the Nation in Artistic Performance.” Canadian Woman Studies 20, no. 2 (2000): 131-136.
-Click here to see an excerpt from this performance.
Case Study #2: Ken Lum, There is No Place Like Home
-Relates to the following assigned reading: Sadira Rodrigues. “Dealing (with) Cultural Diversity: Vancouver Art, Race, & Economies.” In Vancouver Art & Economies, ed. Melanie O’Brian, 165-185. Vancouver: Arsenal Pulp Press, 2007.
-Click here for more information on this piece. I’ve included a few images below — the first one is the full installation in Vienna, the following images are details of the piece. (*Note: this piece has been installed in a number of different cities. In Canada, it was installed outside of the Canadian Museum of Contemporary Photography, located just down the street from Parliament Hill.)
March 19, 2008
The opening for the VISA 3P96 show, “Compulsion,” takes place on Wed., March 19th from 4-7pm at the Sean O’Sullivan Theatre Gallery. Many of the VISA 2P51 students are in this show: Sarah, Evelyn, Jacqueline, Aidan, Christine and Rachel. If you’ve got the time be sure to check this show out! (more details on the poster below)
March 13, 2008
Folks — someone left an article of clothing in the classroom today. I’ve got it in my office for safekeeping, so if you notice you are missing something of the textile persuasion, fire me an email and I’ll arrange to return it to you.
March 6, 2008
Hey folks — hope that those of you who attended the opening for The Great Canadian Surreal Beaver Ball event had fun last night. For those of you who couldn’t make it, the Beaver Balls will be at NAC until the 15th of March. There will also be a machine installed at Rodman Hall from the 7th - 29th of March.
Just a reminder that I still need to collect $7 for the supplies from a number of you. Arnie has given me the amount owing for our class and I would like to settle up with him as soon as possible, so if you haven’t already paid me it would be great if you could bring the money next class.
February 29, 2008
Just a quick note to let you know that I’ve updated the links section of the blog to include the websites we looked at in class this week (Edward Burtynsky, Aganetha Dyck and Ian Wallace). We had a wonderful discussion of these artists and their work this week — thank you to all who participated! If anyone has any follow up comments, please feel free to post them here.
February 19, 2008
Thought you all might like to read the official press release for our multiples exhibit! Fun times! Invite all your friends!
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The Great Canadian Surreal Beaver Ball
Refuse Locale: An Evening of Surrealism in St. Catharines
Join us on Wed., Mar. 5, 2008, for a very special evening celebrating the ongoing legacy of surrealism in Canada at the Niagara Artists’ Centre at 7 p.m.
The Department of English features readings by contemporary surrealist poets Stuart Ross and Beatriz Hausner, and acclaimed Automatist scholar Ray Ellenwood reading from his recent translation of Thérèse Renaud’s /The Sands of Dream/ (the first book of Canadian surrealist poetry), the evening will also include surrealist games, films, art, and activities.
From the Department of Visual Arts, the evening will see the launch of the Great Canadian Beaver Balls Multiples installation. Great Canadian Beaver Balls is an exhibition of 1600 artist multiples created by 120 Brock University students from five different classes, representing three disciplines in the Humanities department: English, Art History and Studio Art. Encapsulated in plastic balls and sold from a classic Northern Beaver Vending machine, artworks include: miniature bookworks, temporary tattoos of concrete poetry and sculptural explorations in a wide range of media. Beaver Balls will be available from vending machines for $2 each during gallery hours. The Multiples exhibit will run at the NAC until Mar. 15, 2008. Visit NAC’s website for gallery hours.
To cap off the evening, theatre company Suitcase in Point, will stage an original theatrical production of Claude Gauvreau’s remarkable “In the Heart of the Bulrushes.”
Join us for an evening of Canadian Surrealism on Wed., Mar. 5, 2008 at 7 p.m. at the Niagara Artists’ Centre, 354 St. Paul St., St. Catharines, ON. Tickets available at the door: $8 adults | $5 students/seniors/artists.
February 6, 2008
The excitement over the “Beaver Balls” is building! Some of the other classes involved in this project have already submitted their “beaver balls” to Catherine, and she has generously agreed to share some photos of those assignments with us. Keep in mind that in our class the goal is to use the medium of the “beaver ball” to educate the public about some aspect of Canadian Art/Art History and that the other classes involved in this project had different thematic goals. Nonetheless, I thought you might find inspiration in the photos below. (I especially liked the fabric “beaver balls” that come packaged with a little info pamphlet!)
We’ve set aside the 26th of Feb. (a Tuesday) for printing the tattoos. You can bring your file to the studio in the GLN building between 9-3 that day, and we will get it printed up for you on the temporary tattoo paper. You will also be able to pick up your 10 empty “beaver balls” that day. You’ll need to bring your file on a CD or a USB drive, and you’ll want to ensure you save it as either a .doc or a .pdf file. **Please make sure you DO NOT save it as a .docx file or we won’t be able to open it (those of you with the newest version of Microsoft Office will want to be especially careful about this file format!)** As you know, the projects are due in class the following day. 9 of the “beaver balls” you submit will be going into the exhibit at NAC, the 10th ball + your paper will be coming in to me for marking (bring them all to class and we’ll sort them out there). I will be returning that 10th ball to you with your paper so you can have a one of your multiples for your own collection.
Lastly, don’t forget that I need to collect $7 from each of you for the supplies for this project.
February 5, 2008
Since both the “DIY Field Trip” date and reading week fall in Feb., I thought I’d post a couple more event announcements that may be useful for your exhibition review project in VISA 2P51. As always, if you know of any other events or exhibits that may be of interest to students in this class, pass them along and I’ll post them to the blog.
1) Marta along sent some interesting info about what is going on at the Art Gallery of Hamilton, including
Cheap Meat Dreams and Acorns: Ken Gregory
On view from January 26 to April 27, 2008
Story Time: Narrative in Contemporary Art
On view March 1, 2008 to February 8, 2009
Curated by Sara Knelman
2) CRAM has a show called “Time and Space” which features the work of Maggie Groat. Excerpt from CRAM below:
“Working entirely with found images, Time and Space looks at the overlooked or in-between moments of captured memory. This multimedia exhibition includes video, light boxes, photographs, and 35mm slides. Each work has been created through subtle manipulations of appropriated imagery, both personal and foreign. The moments chosen are linked by themes of everydayness, banality, routine actions, insignificant events, and nostalgia.”
