VOL 10 MARCH 2021
Beauty is
fun lively radiant H A I R T R A N S P L A N T S U R G E RY C O S M E T I C D E R M ATO LO GY M E D I C A L D E R M ATO LO GY L A S E R R E J U V E N AT I O N
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March 2021
Highlights Note A message from the Modern Luxuria team 6 Profile Fire and Ice — life callings for Mark Fistric 12 Men’s Fashion 75 Years of world class style — Val Berg 16 Women’s Fashion You have the right to remain fabulous — Andy Jones 22 Wellness Capturing the essence of mother nature — Lavender Clouds and Poetry 30 Cuisine What to eat in Edmonton — our favourite March picks 40 Arts & Culture A visual search and the art of politique with Jesse Thomas 52 Real Estate Ravine retreat in Wolf Willow Ridge Estates 64
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www.modernluxuria.com
‘‘
In an age of distraction, nothing can feel more luxurious than paying attention
’’
— Pico Iyer It’s hard to believe March is here and we will be closing the first quarter of 2021. Time goes by fast and our goal is to cherish every moment that we get to spend with our families and loved ones. We are learning to live with constant changes as public health rules shift due to Covid-19 related situations; and we are accepting this new reality and hoping for this year to bring us better and happier moments. March is marked by International Women’s Day. It’s a month that reminds us of the important, significant contributions women bring to our communities. Women are the real architects of society, says Cher, and we couldn’t agree more. Some of the extraordinary women that build our communities join us in this edition and we hope you’ll enjoy their inspiring stories. It’s not every day that a local business is featured in Oprah’s magazine, and Lavender Clouds and Poetry had that exact
Left to Right: Marlenie Arana, Tracy Sestito, Terri
experience last year. Top notes in these inviting scents
Photographed on location at The Westin Edmon
come through a creative process that’s truly unique to Akosua Nyarko — we loved hearing her story. Growing up, many boys dream of becoming hockey players or firefighters; Mark Fistic got to live both of these dreams. After retiring from the NHL, he became a full-time firefighter and opens up about camaraderie, family, and how he overcomes the heartbreak that comes with this calling. -6-
PHOTOGRAPHY BY TATYANA SEMENOVA
March 2021
Belley, Elsa Amorim, Serap Ozturk, Tatyana Semenova, Erin Slobodian, and Lindsay Brommeland. Missing: Karen Meurer
nton
In the spirit of International Women’s Day, but also a month that (hopefully) brings the first signs of Spring, we are delighted to bring you many local stories about artists, retailers, restaurants, wine stores, and a lot more. We hope you take a moment to immerse yourself in these stories, in these luxuries – both big and small, and join us in celebrating every day. Happy Spring to all of you, in our beautiful, snow covered and sunny Edmonton. — Modern Luxuria Team -7-
www.modernluxuria.com
PUBLISHED BY MODERN LUXURIA LTD.
FOUNDER Elsa Amorim
CONTRIBUTORS Brandy Belitsky Jelena Bojic Joe Gurba Karen Meurer Amber Prepchuk Tatyana Semenova
CREATIVE DIRECTOR Terri Belley MANAGING EDITOR Heidi Johannson COPY EDITOR Lucie Oosterveld BRAND AMBASSADORS Marlenie Arana Serap Ozturk Tracy Sestito
VOL 10 MARCH 2021
COVER Harley Davidson Fat Boy®
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EDMONTON’S PREMIER DIGITAL GUIDE TO LUXURY AND LIFESTYLE
ADVERTISE WITH US TODAY HELLO@ MODERNLUXURIA.COM | PHONE 780-906-7235
Left to Right: Karla Billey, Angela Ruzza, Dorothy Briggs, and Nicole Bird
ADVERTISING FEATURE
Celebrating International Women’s Day Inspired by local women who are making a positive difference in our communities, we celebrate these leaders, entrepreneurs and community builders
KARLA BILLEY
DOROTHY BRIGGS
Karla Billey Design Inc. has been committed to design
Dorothy Briggs is a name synonymous with the driving
excellence for two decades, creating interiors that unify
force for power behind women in the business community.
classic elegance with modern luxury.Quality furnishings,
With an ardent, entrepreneurial spirit, this vibrant, dynamic
accents, and decor are what sets our clients’ projects
leader has become an undeniable catalyst for women.
apart from the masses, taking each home or space from
Dorothy has received endless accolades for her
ordinary to extraordinary! My business is based on long
accomplishments as the founder/publisher of Womanition®
term relationships with my clients and a repertoire of
Magazine; a publication so successful that it has quickly led
trusted suppliers, specializing in creating spaces that are
to an entire network of the Womanition Six Pillars, uplifting
beautiful, functional, and always unforgettable.
and empowering women in countless communities.
ANGELA RUZZA
NICOLE BIRD
Jilly’s Boutique is a thriving local lifestyle and gift
Since the inauguration of Rsvp Design in 2014, we have
boutique located in beautiful Windermere on the southside
had many roadblocks, but with perseverance and tenacity,
of Edmonton. Since opening its first store-front boutique
failure is not an option for us. We are a design centre
25 years ago, Jilly’s is also enjoying a strong presence
offering a range of design services and related products to
across Canada since launching www.jillysboutique.com in
builders and homeowners. By participating in community
2016. At Jilly’s we work hard to be a place where everyone
events and development boards, we continue to grow our
feels welcome...a happy place that people can escape
client base through community connections involved in
to by offering a carefully curated collection of affordable
Edmonton’s residential growth. We are passionate about
home decor, fashion, beauty accessories, and gifts.
supporting women in male-dominated fields.
www.karlabilleydesign.com
www.jillysboutique.com
www.womanition.com
www.rsvpdesign.ca
www.modernluxuria.com
Fred and Mark Fistric
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March 2021
Fire and Ice Getting to know Mark Fistric WORDS BY HEIDI JOHANNSON PHOTOGRAPHY BY TATYANA SEMENOVA
“If I switch fire halls, it’s kind of like getting traded, although it’s in the same city. It’s 10 km down the road, not 10,000 km across the country.” — Mark Fistric. Perseverance and dedication are two attributes that embody Mark Fistric. It’s these qualities that eased the transition from professional hockey player to first responder with the Edmonton Fire Department, giving Fistric not one, but two dream careers. He’s creating a life that prioritizes family, but also comes with its own set of challenges. Managing stress and expectations, he has discovered a deep fire for physical fitness and a cold-as-ice commitment to both family and profession. ▶
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www.modernluxuria.com
After 9 years in the National Hockey
not know what was ahead of me. For
League, you found yourself retired at
me, I didn’t know if I was even going
the age of 30. If one dream job wasn’t
to be playing on game days. That kind
enough, you’re now experiencing
of guessing kept me on my toes.
another. Have you always wanted to
It’s the same type of thing with the
be a firefighter?
fire department, you don’t know what
When I played junior hockey for the
that next call is going to be. Nothing is
Vancouver Giants, the Vancouver
predictable and that’s why it’s exciting
Fire Department would come into
to go to work everyday.
the dressing room to recruit. They thought we fit that mold. I always
Let’s talk about your physical fitness.
had an inkling of becoming a first
You ranked first overall on the
responder. A desk job was something
eligibility list for the fire department.
I could never see myself in,
How did the game of hockey ready
I needed spontaneity.
you for the department’s testing? It made it a lot easier. At the time,
That must have been challenging for
I was still doing off season hockey
you to make peace with retirement?
training and there is nothing better.
At the time, I was still in summer
Professional hockey players train so
training for hockey. I had not decided
hard all year round, their commitment
that I was ready to retire so I started
is 24/7. But I will say, I eventually had
to volunteer with the Edmonton
to switch up my training regimen.
Fire Cadet Program for high school
For hockey, it’s all short bursts of
students. I volunteered every
forty-five second to one minute shifts,
Wednesday night and just fell in love
then recovery. I now had to train for
with it. Between me wanting to heal
endurance. It was pretty challenging.
my body and wanting to be at home with my family everyday, it just made
Can you speak to the importance of
sense for me to pursue a change
teammates, then and now?
in my career.
The camaraderie, the teammates, being in the dressing room, it is the
How did the NHL prepare you for a
exact same thing as being in the
career in firefighting?
firehall. With firefighters, we all have
Everyday I used to go to the rink and
our strengths and weaknesses, just
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March 2021
like a hockey team. On the ice, we
being sent to the minors, and of leaving
go out and make up for each other’s
my family across the country if I got
shortcomings and be there for each
sent down. After a while, the pressure
other. There’s no difference at the
builds up, from all different directions.
firehall or when we are out on a call.
In firefighting, the pressure is if someone calls 911. When that happens,
What are the constants that keep
they are most likely having their worst
you physically motivated?
day and it’s up to us to make it better.
Number one is my family. My wife
It’s so rewarding. It’s like scoring a goal
and I have to keep up with our three
in the NHL. So you have pressure, but
young boys. Before the pandemic,
If I switch fire halls it’s kind of like
we were running all over the place
getting traded, although it’s in the
and it’s easy to tire out. So fitness has
same city. It’s 10 km down the road,
become a big priority for us. And
not 10,000 km across the country.
of course, my job. There’s going to
Edmonton is home. We have our family
be a time when someone is going
and we have our friends.
to depend on me, it could be life or death. If there’s a time when I have
Heading into your fifth year as a
to rescue someone, I want to be fit
firefighter, what are some factors that
for that task. I wouldn’t be able to
contribute to your overall well being
live with myself if someone lost their
and that can take you into this next
life because I wasn’t fit enough to do
phase of life?
the job. We are there to protect our
A good workout and surrounding
community and keep them safe.
myself with my family. With this job,
It’s the pride of being a firefighter.
you see some stuff that you wouldn’t wish upon anybody; it’s heartbreaking.
How do the pressures of a career in
For me, the biggest thing is having
the NHL differ from those in the fire
empathy and being able to come home
department?
to an unreal support system — my wife
When I played, I was a fringe player.
and my sons. I’m able to come home
I was a sixth or seventh defensemen.
and escape into my family. Not all days
The team was always looking for
are bad at the firehall but when you do
someone better, to make the team
get that bad call, you know that when
better. There was the uncertainty of
you get home, it’s all going to be ok.
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www.modernluxuria.com
75 Years of World-class Style and Quality All about first impressions WORDS BY JELENA BOJIC PHOTOGRAPHY BY TATYANA SEMENOVA MODEL KONSTANTINOS KOUKOUZIKIS OF PATTI FALCONER AGENCY
Val Berg opened a clothing store in
never disappoints. The ultimate staple
Edmonton in 1946, with a passion for quality
pieces in your wardrobe must consist
and stylish men’s wear. When a business
of a well-tailored suit, a casually smart
is celebrating its 75th anniversary, many
blazer that pairs well with both denim and
wonder what the magical ingredients for
dress pants, and a bold coloured sweater.
its longevity are. From a unique brand
Complementing colours and attention to
proposition, to providing exceptional
detail will allow your mix and match items
customer service, Val Berg’s philosophy
to bring effortless and polished looks. And
includes the assurance that you’ll be
get creative with footwear...from brown
dressed well, your suits will be tailored to
ankle boots to classic dark chestnut dress
perfection, and you’ll know how to care for
shoes or casual navy loafers; suitable choices
your new purchases.
for whether you’re strolling the city or pairing them for a formal look. Infuse these
When it comes to business casual attire,
looks with Spring accessories; glasses, hats,
high-quality knitwear and a dress shirt
scarves — any of these will add to strong
combo, paired with tailored pants or denim
first impressions. www.valbergs.ca ▶
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March 2021
Digel jersey stretch blazer, Sergio flannel pant and Selleng shoes Oscar of Sweden wrinkle free shirt Seaward & Steam silk tie and pocket square
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www.modernluxuria.com
Mayser wool felt hat Maerz superwash merino sweater Oscar of Sweden wrinkle free shirt Digel Nigel pant and Sandro boot
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March 2021
Wigen’s Newsboy cap Maerz knit blazer Digel Faros sweater M5 by Meyer slim jeans Lloyd Fenton shoes
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www.modernluxuria.com
Vico Paparelle- Dream tweed suit Digel Kinley shirt and Salomon shoes Seaward & Stearn silk tie and pocket square Benchcraft leather belt
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4552 - 99 Street Edmonton, AB T6E 5H5 www.rsvpdesign.ca
www.modernluxuria.com
Futuristic Fashion by Andy Jones Peaks and Valleys collection with intricate expression WORDS BY JELENA BOJIC PHOTOGRAPHY BY TATYANA SEMENOVA HAIR AND MAKEUP BY AMBER PREPCHUK MODEL ANGIE BOYLE OF PATTI FALCONER AGENCY
“You have the right to remain fabulous,” says
well to the androgynous vision, allowing
Andy Jones, as he’s selecting his favourite
for gender-neutral looks, with fluid fit and
pieces from the new collection called Peaks
expression. In the designer’s words, it’s a
and Valleys; a collection that embodies the
celebration of “people from all different
candor of everyday wear and the refinement
walks of life, nationalities, orientations, and
of formal outfits. Inspired by futuristic and
backgrounds.” Inclusive genre and fashion
visionary themes, he combines vibrant
that celebrates diversity brings us these
colours with clean cuts and exquisite fabrics
intriguing samples of the Peaks and Valleys
to create these bold designs. The pieces are
collection, as we explore the unique and
practical and progressive, yet
compelling concepts by this local designer.
multi-dimensional and stylish. Bold colours,
For more details, visit Andy Jones’ Etsy page:
capes, and wrap pieces lend themselves
www.etsy.com/ca/shop/MisterAndyJones ▶
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March 2021
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www.modernluxuria.com
Belted navy jersey jumpsuit with contrasting abstract rainbow print.
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March 2021
Navy jersey cape, with white racer back sleeveless shirt, and paired with navy neoprene skirt.
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www.modernluxuria.com
Navy chiffon-neoprene evening dress with swarovski crystal detailing
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March 2021
Bamboo draped body-con dress with swarovski crystal detailing
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www.modernluxuria.com
Navy cotton dress shirt with scuba rainbow print skirt.
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March 2021
Quilted blue sweater paired with blue dupioni stretch pants.
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www.modernluxuria.com
PHOTO BY KAYLA GUTKNECHT
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March 2021
The Poetry of Perfume Local artisan, Akosua Nyarko, is reinventing the art of botanical perfume WORDS BY BRANDY BELITSKY
Akosua Nyarko is a wife, mother of three,
Lavender Clouds & Poetry is a
and serial entrepreneur taking the local
black-owned, small-batch, non-toxic
beauty industry by storm. Her passion for
fragrance brand specializing in clean
perfume started at a very young age and
botanical scents that are concocted with
was ignited when she stumbled across
precious essential oils, absolutes, plant
the art of botanical perfume: the craft of
essences and natural aromatic isolates.
capturing the very essence of mother
Each perfume is handcrafted in small
nature to create enchanting scents. Despite
batches and aged for three months in a
the limitations and lack of representation
temperature-controlled environment. The
in the black community, the urge to create
aging process allows the elements to meld
and fabricate perfumes is how Lavender
together harmoniously before finally being
Clouds & Poetry came to fruition.
bottled in uniquely hand-painted bottles. ▶
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www.modernluxuria.com
The concept for the artisan-painted bottles pays homage to the beautiful, billowy lavender clouds Akosua saw one evening as she watched the sun set. The idea was then born that each perfume bottle would be as unique and abstract as the clouds she gazed at in awe on that warm summer evening. As an artist and creative at heart, Akosua finds inspiration for her scents through lucid dreams, quirky names, random smells and sometimes even images. When she is hit with a revelation, she confides in her notepad and writes out ramblings of how she feels and what she envisions in that particular moment. As she writes, the notes of the fragrance begin to come alive to the point where she can literally smell the aroma wafting from her notepad. www.lavendercloudsandpoetry.ca
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March 2021
PHOTO BY CHELSEA HAINES
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www.modernluxuria.com
The Feel of the Open Road Never Gets Old... ...just more exciting! Enjoying the fun and exhilaration of riding motorcycles on the open road has always given people a sense of freedom, but never has that feeling been as important as in the last year. This made us wonder about how to incorporate motorcycling as a great addition to our “fun things to do'' arsenal, so we talked with the Kent Family at Harley-Davidson® of Edmonton. We asked their advice about what’s new and exciting in the motorcycling world. ▶
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March 2021
PHOTOS SUPPLIED
WORDS BY KAREN MEURER
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www.modernluxuria.com
Of course the Kents would say any Harley-Davidson® is a great ride, but they do have a favourite in the iconic Fat Boy® line. The Fat Boy® line gained notoriety by appearing alongside Arnold Schwarzenegger in the well known ‘Terminator’ sequel. Now in 2021, the iconic line is growing with the introduction of the Harley-Davidson Fat Boy® Special™. “It doesn’t matter if you are an experienced rider or new to riding, this model’s relaxed riding position, smooth suspension and powerful engine will be sure to leave you with nothing but smiles for miles.” ▶
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March 2021
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www.modernluxuria.com
Between its sharp looks, instant torque and dominant attitude, this motorcycle gives you a confident and fun ride. And its powerful, smooth-running engine with crisp throttle response will provide you with that pure, soul-satisfying rumble of a Harely-Davidson®. The 2021 models include an eye-catching portion of sculpted, bright chrome that gives the Fat Boy® motorcycle a look that’ll make a big impact. They command the roads with sophisticated suspension technology, dominating stance, and darkness-defying LED lighting. Harley-Davidson® is one of the most well-known, luxurious brands in the world. H-D is synonymous with Mercedes, Ferrari & Rolex. The best of the best. Luxury at its finest. What other brand in the world does a person tattoo on their body? None. Enough said. www.hdeedmonton.com
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March 2021
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PHOTOS SUPPLIED
www.modernluxuria.com
LOX & EGG SANDWICH Rosewood Foods $11 | 10150 100 Street NW | www.rosewoodfoods.com
What to Eat in Edmonton WORDS BY JOE GURBA
There aren’t enough pages in this magazine to highlight all the killer meals being whipped up in Edmonton’s best restaurants. Here’s a short list of three dishes you do not want to miss this month. They hail from tireless chefs who’ve beaten back the worst of our pandemic blues with stunning and satisfying recipes for the hungry and discerning.
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March 2021
Rosewood has given the downtown breakfast and lunch crowd a reason to rejoice. Husband and wife industry vets, Jesse & Angela Gado, have combined their pedigrees at classic Edmonton joints like Leva, Corso 32, Lockstock, MRKT, and Under the High Wheel to create this institution-in-the-making. Not only is Rosewood’s execution fast and their prices immensely reasonable, but their dishes are out of this world. Their Lox & Egg Sandwich is a case in point, a marriage of skilled technique and excellent ingredients that creates a meal that stands proud in its simplicity. The day before you arrive, they’ve already shaved down enough steelhead trout for tomorrow, curing it overnight in a pastrami inspired dry rub. The next morning they’re up early, baking a divine milk bun that’s so fluffy and sumptuous you could eat it on its own, but when sliced asunder and flash-toasted, this chewy crunch is created. That perfectly caramelized gluten. Sweet, sweet gluten. Poor, poor celiacs. When you finally arrive for your sandwich, that’s when they start soft-scrambling some proper eggs (fluorescently orange yolked eggs!), folded layer by layer until, at the last moment, like an angel tapped them on the shoulder, they fold in some sweet caramelized onions they’ve had going the whole time. Then, to make your mom proud, they top the lox and eggs with kale tossed in an anchovy and mustard vinaigrette. And that’s it. The result is nourishing, delicious, and sure to become an Edmonton classic in its own rite.
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www.modernluxuria.com
Shōjō is perhaps Edmonton’s best kept secret. Loan Bui and Kevin Chau built this warm den of reprieve in the Brewery District back in September of 2019, right below Wilfred’s. It’s a certified gem, a space where the hours melt away amidst dark wood panelling and harmonious design. One small plate after another of opulent Japanese tapas land gently on your table. Each dish seems tailor made to pair their seemingly endless list of Japanese whiskies, sakes, shochus, beers, and wild cocktails. This is, of course, the entire point of an Izakaya, to tap into the Japanese custom of always drinking with food. Shōjō’s Mushroom Cream Udon Noodles were an instant hit that never left their menu. These have to be one of the most stick-to-your-ribs umami bomb comfort foods any vegetarian could ask for. As you’d expect from Japanese cuisine, half the charm is in the texture. The bounce from their pan roasted mushrooms mimics the springy udon noodles. Enveloping every noodle is a cream sauce thickened with soy and shot through with a dashi made with kombu, a savoury japanese kelp, as opposed to the traditional dried bonito flakes that would have made this dish impossible for the veggie adherent. It’s a clever way to add a similarly complex depth and salinity. All this bounce is counterbalanced with a generous garnish of crispy fried onions and sesame seeds, then kicked up a notch with shredded nori and togarashi—Japan’s signature seven-spice all-star seasoning. A simply stunning way to carbo-load.
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March 2021
MUSHROOM CREAM UDON Shōjō Izakaya $13 | 10425 121 Street NW | www.shojoizakaya.com
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www.modernluxuria.com
ALBERTA BEEF SHORT RIB Smokey Bear $38 | 8223 104 Street NW | www.smokeybearyeg.com
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March 2021
Smokey Bear is a truly unique and ambitious restaurant. Chef owner Riley Aitken is an Alberta boy who followed his culinary impulses first to Denmark and then on to Australia. There he trained with chef James Viles at one of Australia’s top ranked restaurants, Biota Dining, where Viles had elevated Aussie open-fire barbeque to the level of modern haute cuisine. When Aitken returned to Canada, he bought the former Accent Lounge space off Whyte and traded acacia logs for Canadian maple, applying these primeval techniques to Albertan ingredients. This brightly oak-clad minimalist space is a joy, gently perfumed by smoke and the swirling juice of Edmonton’s largest natural wine list. Smokey Bear’s beef short rib connects all the dots from Down Under up over to Whyte Ave. They take these gorgeous grass-fed cuts—sourced from Pine Haven Farm in Wetaskiwin—and quickly seal them over a scorching hot flame, then place them in a braise for several hours. They’re then ferried onto a higher mantle above the fire to further soften and gather in clean maple smoke. Finally, they’re seared on the grill and shined up with a malt glaze and a dazzling flakey salt that melts in your mouth about as fast as the beef. If that wasn’t enough, they include a dollop of their harissa paste made from house charred then fermented peppers. Wash it all back with a natty big red (yes, natty big reds do exist!) and you too can feel like the first person to tame fire.
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www.modernluxuria.com
Rare Wine Report WORDS BY JOE GURBA
Many Albertans outside of the drinks’ business don’t realize how good we have it here for wine selection. We live in one of the best wine markets in the world. Every week we see a new wave of lovely and limited wines appear in our shops, however briefly, until those in the know snap them up. This is a small sampling of the terroir driven wines you need to hunt down this month, wines made on small farms by true vignerons with that rare gift for gently translating nature into art. These wines are nourishing and artful records of another lap around the sun.
The Sandris missed the memo on modernization. Their wines are a time capsule from before modern upgrades transformed Barolo into the oakier brawny affairs they are today. Sandri’s wines are still as austere, pious, and rustic as the monks his dad bought the farm from in 1965. Elio Sandri farms just seven hectares on the Perno hill, a ludicrously small holding for today’s Barolo. When one hectare goes for over €1.2m, you must truly love farming wine not to cash out, live on a beach, and never shovel grape skins again. But Sandri’s passion has kept him in his farmhouse, the Cascina Disa. Sandri’s uncompromising farming — even requesting his small team stays calm and hushed when among the vines — results in character-driven fruit that needs no additives or removals to shine, just a saintly patience while it matures. The Riserva bottling is Sandri’s tête de cuvée from his oldest vines planted in 1937 on SW facing mid-slope. There are less than 300 cases made of his regular Barolo. No doubt far fewer of the Riserva. When wines are this rare and magnificent at once, I marvel that we have them in Alberta. If you foolishly open this now rather than ten to twenty years from now (as I did for this review) you’ll find all kinds of cherries over pencil shavings, potpourri, and hints of anise and mint and tarmac. The patient, however, will be rewarded with all the tar and roses and truffle notes great Barolo is famous for. - 46 -
March 2021
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Elio Sandri 2013 Riserva Barolo Perno DOCG Nebbiolo. Piemonte, Italy $100 - $110. Still available at Wine & Beyond www.wineandbeyond.ca
www.modernluxuria.com
Domaine Philippe Chavy 2018 Meursault Chardonnay. Burgundy, France $80 - $90. Still available at: Color de Vino, Fine Wines by Liquor Select, Crestwood, Glenora www.colordevino.ca, www.liquorselect.com, www.crestwoodfinewines.com, www.glenorafinewines.ca
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March 2021
Phillippe Chavy is old-school. His website looks like Tom from Myspace made it in junior high school. He’s a third generation vigneron and no doubt nearing retirement himself. Nevertheless, he’s still out there in the vines, ploughing with a horse, eschewing chemicals, and practicing biodynamics in his humble eight hectares of Puligny-Montrachet and Meursault. But you can still taste the clean hard lines of modern technique in the cellar. He ferments in temperature-controlled stainless steel, pays the coopers, and filters his wines. This richly poised Chardonnay over delivers for a village level bottling. The fruit comes from four old-vine parcels totalling less than one single hectare: Moulin Landin (planted 1957), Pellans (planted 1945), Gruyaches (planted 1932), and Pelles (planted 1973). Pellans and Gruyaches directly abut the lower flank of the Charmes premier cru and no doubt lend this wine its Charmes-like power. Pelles and Moulin Landin meanwhile benefit from cooling winds funneled through the valley from Saint Aubin, once a detriment but now an important balancing factor as climate change has noticeably changed the degree of ripeness year after year. These plots bring acidity and elegance to the blend. This wine is archetypically Meursault, the sort of wine you’d use to train for blinding: Voluptuous, creamy, buttery (without being popcorned). It caresses the palate with its lovely leesy texture, exuding notes of poached pear, hazelnut, and beautifully integrated oak spice. Simply classic. Drinks well now but can be advantageously cellared for another three years.
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www.modernluxuria.com
Twenty minutes south of Triers, sits one of the world’s most radical farms. Tumbling down a south facing cliff on the Saar river, a battalion of individually staked Riesling vines stands at attention, resisting the wind, their roots clinging deep beneath the blue-gray slate. Half way down, the vines halt at the deadly edge of a 100ft vertical drop above the river. Courageous workers park the tractor at the top, harness themselves to it with carabiners, and descend into the vineyard. This, dear reader, is Schonfels. The wine from this GG vineyard (meaning grosses gewächs, Germany’s grand cru) is grown by fifth generation vigneron, Florian Lauer. With vines planted in 1912, this own-rooted vineyard was abandoned in the 1980’s when Riesling was out of vogue. The extremely low yields and dangerous toil of the farming made it impossible for the Lauers to sell the wine for what it cost to produce. But in 2000, after taking over from his father, Florian Lauer made the brave (insane?) decision of risking his entire business on the expense of reviving this fallow vineyard without even knowing if the vines would still produce, let alone whether the wine would taste worthy of the price tag it would need to justify. Fortune favours the bold indeed. Today the Schonfels’ GG produces one of the boldest, most complex, fine-boned, and mineral-driven Rieslings on earth. This cuvée is everything the Mosel is famous for, turned up to eleven. Drink now or easily cellar up to a decade.
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Peter Lauer 2019 Schonfels GG Faß 11 Riesling. Mosel, Germany. $85 - $95. Still available at Sherbrooke, Crestwood. www.sherbrookeliquor.com, www.crestwoodfinewines.com
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Jesse Thomas and the Art Politique A visual exploration of who is represented and who has the right to represent them WORDS BY JOE GURBA
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We live in a political time. Like never before, every facet of life has been politicised, or rather discovered in the political dimension it always occupied, depending on your view. Aesthetics is certainly no exception, its political charge stronger than ever as people outside of the formal arts’ community also begin to haggle over the role of visual representation. Nowhere is this laid more bare than in the question of public art, mostly so in the campaign to remove existing public art like the confederate statuary of the American South. Enter Jesse Thomas. Jesse Thomas has lived and exhibited around the world and now teaches painting at the University of Alberta. Nevertheless, he still considers his native New Orleans home. He’s explored numerous topics in his paintings since graduating with a BFA from the Art Institute of Chicago in 1993 and an MFA from Washington University in Saint Louis in 2003, not least the intersection of the arts and power. In 2017, he completed a series of lithographs that sought to digest the inner turmoil of seeing landmarks and artifacts of his home removed and the outer turmoil of his nation grappling with the ongoing realities of racism. These were the four statues of Confederate Army generals that led forces to protect the Southern states’ right to own human beings. As painful as it was to see landmarks removed that had become woven into the tapestry of the NOLA’s beautiful visual identity, Thomas recognized that the history they represent has not receded into an apolitical haze for everyone. As so many of NOLA’s 60% African-American residents made clear, the oppression these men fought to uphold remains a present and living reality But in so recognizing, the infinitely receding question of the line between representation and power opens to an abyss of questions about the role of the artist, especially the historical painter, and whether such an artist can still exist. And if so, who? In the first three pieces, the familiar statues hang dream-like in the left of the visual plane, thereby drawing the eye to read the painting left to right like a poetic text. They seem to dangle aloof from an off-canvas crane, twirling precariously in all their implied heft. All five works swirl with visual references to so many instances of tension in representation, the teeth-baring battles, and in the quieter, glacial manufacture of imagery. ▶
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The Politics of Representation begins with the labyrinthine bewilderment of deconstruction. The Jefferson Davis monument (the first and only president of the Confederate States during the Civil War) points left, as if to the past. Behind him is the recurring image of Donald Judd’s, ‘Untitled, 1967’, slotted wall from the MOMA, a famous example of pure formalism, almost trolling the viewer with the question of whether there’s any quarter for artists or can even the most rawly geometric exercise stand up to the question of power in representation. As in all three, this wall is a door to nowhere, but in the first lithograph a familiar silhouette looms, that of then-recently inaugurated Donald Trump, maneuvering to seize on the fear and anxiety that emerges from such all-encompassing deconstruction. On the stage sits a chaos of tacked together pieces and discarded rags confusingly mirrored every which way, refusing to yield to the straightforward comforts of interpretation. Where once a monument stood taken for granted, rarely considered in it’s full context, a chasm has suddenly opened in the floor of certainty. From every station of society, people scramble to respond. And on the far right begins a recurring image of the news anchor, trying to make sense of it all, trying to maintain an ever-deteriorating pretense to objectivity. ▶
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The Politics of Representation
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Next, The Politics of Aesthetics lithograph carries us further into the fray. The infamous image of Paul Ryan weightlifting in TIME Magazine occupies center stage, taking on a profound new meaning. We can read in this an assertion of meaning from the political right. Their clumsy reassertion of meaning offers reprieve from the nausea of guilt and moral uncertainty. Ironically, this serves only to advance the power of the unscrupulous who would capitalize on this anxiety, a justification for a memorialized one-sided history. The irony lies in that these justifications are facsimiles of those originally offered by the Confederate States as NOLA’s Confederate General PG Beauregard dangles to the left. In the foreground, a defiant philosopher stares directly at the viewer, Jacques Ranciere, who penned the essay, The Politics of Aesthetics, instrumental in the deconstructive turn in art criticism that created this new battleground for meaning. We’re taunted further by two easter egg paintings behind Paul Ryan. On the left, Gerhard Richter’s photo-realism painting ‘Dead’, showing a West German communist insurrectionist from the Baader-Meinhof Gang. Her death in prison was heavily contested. Did she commit suicide as the official line went? Or had she been surreptitiously murdered by the state? The painting
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re-established a defensible form of art historical painting that had evaded the 20th century critiques of art’s place in capturing history. By depicting a photograph from the newspaper, Richter problematized the line between art being disallowed from representing history while the media’s role in representing history could go on unchecked. No longer is this the case. On the right hangs Dana Schutz’s painting ‘Open Casket’, a photo-based depiction of Emmett Till, just as Richter had done in ‘Dead’. The story of Emmett Till is painful to recount and I hope is already familiar to the reader. This fourteen year old boy who was black was brutally murdered by two men who were white. His mother, Mamie Till’s, insistence that her son’s funeral be held open-casket resulted in widespread circulation of the close-up photos in the media, shocking America into a moral consciousness that laid the foundations for the civil rights movement. Dana Schutz’s painting in 2016 was an attempt at allyship, but as a white woman, the painting was ultimately censored in a firestorm of debate in the shifting landscape of identity politique, further The Politics of Aesthetics
fracturing the place of the artist to represent the political. She could not stand on the same ground Richter had in ‘Dead’, despite her best intentions. Together these symbols awake a host of difficult questions. ▶
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Finally, we witness Vehicles of Understanding, together with General Robert E. Lee, commander of the Confederate forces, who surveys the wreckage as if taking final account of the battlefield, aborted works of art littering the stage, a luminous TV blathering in the center, a fractured depiction of a monumental sculpture, and a distant news anchor with their back turned to it all. ▶
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Vehicles of Understanding
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With the conceptual groundwork established in these first three lithographs; the final two, Winter Landscape and Horse’s Mouth can offer the viewer several endless explorations that I think it best not to narrate here. Instead, I leave them to you, the viewer, to ponder and interpret as you see fit, and encourage fortitude resisted knee jerk conclusions but rather to dwell boldly in the grey space that a lithograph creates by its very nature. ▶
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Winter Landscape
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These lithographs linger so uncomfortably over these perilous questions of who has the right to represent anything. They push back against ever more radical propositions that some artists need not be in the conversation at all. From a litany of symbols and references, these works create a matrix of emergent meaning from which the viewer can draw forth their own questions. Perhaps these are questions that have not occurred to them. Perhaps questions that feel dangerous to ask. Perhaps questions that need to be asked. www.scottgallery.com/artists/jesse-thomas
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Horse’s Mouth
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RAVINE RETREAT
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PHOTOS SUPPLIED
March 2021
Tucked away in Wolf Willow Ridge Estates, is this sensational custom-built bungalow by Western Living Homes. Situated on a stunningly landscaped, 9819 sq.ft. ravine lot, this gem is a beholder to all of Edmonton’s natural beauty. A fully finished walkout basement makes it an oasis totalling over 5427 sqft. of luxury and well designed living space. ▶ - 65 -
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Thoughtful window size and placement throughout welcomes the outdoors in from every angle. Continuity of flooring creates an ease on the eye that adds to this open air feel. The owners attentively selected finishings for the home that blends the warmth of traditional living with modern elements. ▶
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www.modernluxuria.com
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Food eaters and preparers alike will take notice of the chef’s kitchen with custom cabinetry, high end appliances, butler pantry, and formal dining room. ▶
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In addition, the main floor showcases two bedrooms. Reminiscent of lavish hotel stays, the spacious principal suite with walk-in closet & decadent ensuite bathroom doesn’t disappoint. The second sizable bedroom respects your wardrobe wants as well, with its own walk-in closet. Three additional bedrooms in the basement are available for additional family members who like their space or guests who won’t want to leave. ▶ - 70 -
March 2021
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www.modernluxuria.com
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In total, six spa inspired bathrooms should alleviate any morning tussles. At day’s end, retreat to one of the many amenities available to you without ever having to leave your home. ▶
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The spacious bonus room overlooking the ravine may be where you enjoy the full house sound system. There are 3 fireplaces to warm your heart while your feet stay toasty with in-floor heating throughout the kitchen, bathrooms, basement and triple car garage. Watch a family favourite in the theatre room or simply select a pinot grigio from the wine cellar. Cheers to enjoying the generous entertaining spaces both inside & out. - 74 -
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For the socializers and the quiet retreaters, this might be the haven for you. Holland and Associates - Redefining Real Estate Listing Price: $2,250,000 www.yeghousesearch.ca www.rivercityrealestate.ca - 75 -
Amber Victoria Prepchuk Model: Grace Panganiban
Makeup Artist
www.ambervictoriaprepchuk.com
