art of the Peace | Issue #12

www.artofthepeace.ca

A Publication for the Visual Arts Spring/Summer 2009

Issue 12

of the Peace

Bibi Clement Vigil of Angels Iskoteo Arts Festival Three Soapstone Artists The New Prairie Art Gallery

IMAGINE YOUR FUTURE. YOU’RE CURIOUS. YOU’RE COURAGEOUS.

IMAGINE YOURSELF HERE.

VISUAL ART

MUSIC

DRAMA

Most musicians are only

An artist looks at the world

Unlock the potential that is

happy when they are

a little differently. Learning

discovered through

playing, singing,

to express oneself is a

unlimited creative energy

performing or at the

journey and an adventure

and freedom of expression

controls in a recording

all at the same time. At

at GPRC. Acting,

studio. A career in music is

GPRC, we will inspire,

improvisation, dynamics of

a possibility with the right

motivate and encourage

movement and

tools to pursue your

you to explore the visual

collaboration are explored

dreams.

process.

as the actor in you develops.

Diploma in Music, Acoustic Interactive Digital Design Bachelor of Music, University Transfer Program

Visual Arts, Certificate Program Diploma in Visual Arts, Studio Practice Interactive Digital Design Bachelor of Fine Arts, University Transfer Program

New This Year!

Diploma in Drama, Technical Theatre Drama & Performance

CONTACT US:

FI NE ART S

finearts.gprc.ab.ca | 780-539-2090 | Toll free 1-888-539-4772 ext. 2443 10726 106 Avenue, Grande Prairie, AB, T8V 4C4 | Email: finearts@gprc.ab.ca

there...

art out

1957-2008

Paul Qayutinnuaq, The New Prairie Art Gallery

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contents

30

24

Three Artists

Blaine Askew

11

16

12

3 Soapstone Artists

5

Bibi Clement

from Rolla, BC Artist’s Statement Contributors Artcetera Edna McPhail Iskoteo Site Bytes Art Books in Review A Gallery of Artists Exhibitions & Opportunities

Editor: Eileen Coristine Editorial Committee: Dale Syrota, Carrie Klukas, Suzanne Sandboe, Jim Stokes Design, Layout & Advertising: imageDESIGN Publisher: Art of the Peace Visual Arts Association,

Box 25227, Wapiti Road P.O.

Grande Prairie, AB T8W 0G2

Phone: (780) 539-4046 (Dale Syrota)

E-mail: art@artofthepeace.ca Printing: Parsons Printing Cover: Bibi Clement, photo by Marijke Dronyk

Art of the Peace Visual Arts Association acknowledges the financial assistance of: The Alberta Foundation for the Arts

City of Grande Prairie Arts Development Fund

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ŠAll rights reserved Art of the Peace 2009 Reproduction in whole or in part is strictly prohibited.

Art of the Peace makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of the information it publishes, but cannot be held responsible for any consequences arising from errors or omissions.

artist’s statement

contributors

Touching- a multi dimensional sensation

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Eileen Coristine

he essence of three-dimensional art is that it invites us to touch or to imagine what it would feel like to touch the object. We touch it with our eyes in a more complete way than we would a picture. We see the curve of a wing made of carved and polished stone and our finger wants to run along its satiny surface.

There can be immense pleasure in making something that we know other people will want to pick up and use. Something thats very form gives them pleasure and thats function satisfies a need. A beautifully treened cup or pottery bowl can be a pleasure to look at, a pleasure to hold and a pleasure to use. What could be more pleasing to a sculptor than to create something like this?

The humble materials, stone, wood and clay speak to us of our human roots. In the right hands those same simple elements can evoke a prairie storm or imbue an angel with the magic of art.

Imagine yourself eye to eye with a life-sized vessel full of Bibi Clement’s moods and memories. Then remember, she made it from mud.

The sculptor invites us to experience the sculpture: Do we want to touch it? Do we want to pick it up and use it? Or do we want to give it a hug?

Eileen Coristine With this issue, we would like to introduce two new features we’ve added to the magazine. siteBYTES is a column by guest writers exploring the field of electronic art. artcetera, is about the latest in art technique and materials. art of the peace 4

Art of the Peace is always looking for ideas that will make our publication fresh and informative. If you have any information you’d like to share, or any comments please contact us at artofthepeace.com.

has earned degrees in English Lit and Education, as well as a diploma in Visual Arts. She is by turns (or all at the same time) an artist, a writer, a teacher and a mom. She was editor of Art of the Peace magazine from ‘06 to ‘08.

Ellen Corea

is a graduate of the Alberta College of Art and Design with a focus on media research and sculpture. She has also studied at Emily Carr College in Vancouver, the University of Calgary and the Ontario College of Art. Ellen is the Curator/Director of the Dawson Creek Art Gallery and also has the position of Executive Director of the Peace Liard Regional Arts Council.

Kim Fjordbotten

is an artist and the president of The Paint Spot, an art materials store where in-house artists love to share their product knowledge and experience to create an environment full of inspiration, technical advice and unique materials.

Jody Farrell

has spent 25 years writing for newspapers and magazines across Canada. A sometimes teacher, artist and contractor in the oil and gas industry, she raised her three daughters to find and follow their passion in life. Hers revolves around finding a way to live on English Bay in Vancouver.

Robert Steven

is the Executive Director/Curator of the Prairie Art Gallery. He is also a current member of the Premier’s Council on Arts and Culture and an active volunteer with various clubs, associations and committees, including the Art of the Peace Visual Arts Association.

David Olinger

is Manager of Marketing and Communications with the City of Grande Prairie. David’s varied career has included newspaper reporting in various cities and assistant editor/writer at the Ontario Lottery Corporation. He also operated his own communications company, The Write Stuff! David served as communications officer with the Huron-Superior Catholic District School Board prior to returning to his Western Canadian roots two years ago.

Photo by Kristine McGuinty

Paul Qayutinnuaq’s meticulously crafted Inuit hunting tools represent things that were once everyday and functional.

Through his dedication to making the ancient tools from their original materials, we are able to see the textures and imagine what it felt like to work with a bone knife or a fishhook carved from an antler.

Wendy Stefansson

Photo by Paul Pivert

Even if we’re looking at a two dimensional representation of a statue or a pot, it is measured and weighed by our previous experience and our curiousity.

began as a writer of poetry, fiction and journalism. The photography required in newspaper reporting led her into the visual arts. Each piece of art or writing, created through the struggle between her limited skills and her fanciful ideas, is greeted with a sigh of celebration and then sent out into the world to find a life of its own.

art out there...

The Centre for Creative Arts Moves Home

Heating Up The Works

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F

he Creative Arts Centre is on its way back home.

July first is the target date for the move back to the updated Old Courthouse building. “The renovated space will provide Peace Area residents with the functional, healthy and accessible creative space that they deserve,” says Candace Hook manager of the centre. “A creative space where everyone is welcome to explore, experience and celebrate art.”

or 13 days this summer, June 19 to July 1, The Works Art & Design Festival will present The Big Picture, featuring more than 400 artists showcased in 28 sites housing 44 exhibitions and special events,

The permanent home of the Centre for Creative Arts.

Along with a gallery space and gift shop for the showing and sale of regional art exclusively, the centre will also boast studio space for their ceramics, glass, jewellery, drawing, painting, textile and digital classes. Six additional private studios will be available for rent to local artists. The building will be wheelchair accessible, properly ventilated and even offer a bistro serving healthy food.

“We hope that this renovated space will act as a hub for Grande Prairie’s arts community,” says Hook.

100 Dresses for Grande Prairie

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n November, the Prairie Art Gallery hosted artist Nicole Bauberger for an artist residency and an exhibition. Nicole’s series called, 100 Dresses has her creating 100 paintings of dresses in 10 days in the city where they will be exhibited. 100 Dresses for Grande Prairie was her 9th 100 Dresses. All 100 dresses were painted in encaustic (en kô stik), a form of painting with melted Nicole Bauberger at GPRC. beeswax and pigment, fused to a surface with heat. The public was invited to watch her brush, layer, and scrape wax to make 100 small paintings of dresses. Nicole was painting on location at the Grande Prairie Regional College in the Pillars area, and all of the paintings were exhibited in the Glass Gallery at GPRC. In addition to Nicole’s 100 dresses, she welcomed sixty “Guest Dresses” made by members of the community. All of Nicole Bauberger’s 100 Dresses for Grande Prairie can be seen on the Gallery’s website, www.prairiegallery.com.

The Works, the largest Art & Design Festival of its kind in North America, is a free event that showcases the best in cutting edge design, digital art and new media technology alongside traditional visual art mediums.

Over the next two years, The Works will feature themed exhibits that focus on sustainability and environmental consciousness. These exhibits will bring together art, sustainability and social responsibility in an exciting and thought provoking way. The themed program for 2009 The Works Art & Design Festival is Heat.

For more information visit www.theworks.ab.ca

A Brush with Success

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ould you donate worn-down, paint-encrusted brushes to an art installation? Kimberly Fjordbotten’s desire is to create an installation of many used brushes. Transforming the tool into art seems appropriate - creating a place of honour and remembrance. For several years, artists have given their used, abused and otherwise non-functional brushes to this project. Donors are asked to write or carve their name into the handles, inviting the curious to ask who owned this brush; how was it used; and what was created?

An exhibition will be held this fall. There is no deadline for the brush project, as this will be a lifetime collection; however, to be included in the fall installation, please send brushes by July 31, 2009.

Thank you to everyone taking part in this project. Send brushes to Kim Fjordbotten c/o The Paint Spot, 10516 Whyte Avenue, Edmonton, Alberta, T6E 2A4. Contact info@paintspot.ca

Worn Brushes by da Vinci Brush Company

art of the peace 5

High on Ice

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ce carvers from around the world gather in northern B.C. every winter to compete in the High On Ice Winter Carnival. Since 2005, the City of Fort St. John and the Fort St. John Arts Council have partnered to put on the carnival and every year the event has grown in scope and in international repute. High on Ice is one of only three National Ice Carving Association sanctioned events in Canada and draws competitors from Russia, Japan and Belgium. The Arts Council makes the event very friendly to local artists by organizing the amateur snow and ice sculpting competitions and offering ice-carving workshops throughout the year.

Juggling by Peter Vogelaar and David Ducharme. Second place in realistic category. Photo by Sue Popesku.

Tenth Annual Matta Fest

E

Belly dancer at Matta Fest.

Photo by Eileen Coristine.

ach year since 1999, Historic Dunvegan Park has welcomed May with a fair called Matta Fest. It is the time when people gather outside, rain or shine, for a gypsy style gathering celebrating spring, Mother Nature and coming together as one. Artists and crafters who have earth friendly creations are invited to sell, barter or simply display their treasures. Belly dancers, aboriginal dancers, temple dancers, circle dancers, Tai Chi practitioners, singers, musicians, story tellers and jugglers also embrace the spirit of ‘come in unity’ by donating their talents to this family friendly event.

Matta Fest 2009 will be held May 3, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Historic Dunvegan Park.

Dane-zaa Dreamer’s Musical Notes by Garry Oker

Northeast Aboriginal Artworks Society Formed

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rtists Garry Oker and Brian Jungen have joined forces with Fort St. John area native elders to create the Northeast Aboriginal Artworks Society. The resulting group is dedicated to the innovation of a new cultural mythology. “We want to develop new disciplines and fuse mythology with communicative arts,” says Oker. “Using things like story telling, music and crafts we will help organize the cultural talent at a local level.”

Both artists are of the mind that, by using modern methods, the arts can empower and can break down barriers that cause racial stereotyping. Training more young people in various artistic disciplines is also an important goal of the society. Oker is currently working on an animated video game to teach the traditional stories and songs of the Swan People, the mythical teachers of the Beaver Indians.

Prairie North 2009

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he Fine Arts Department of Grande Prairie Regional College in Grande Prairie will host the ninth Prairie North Creative Residency from June 7 to June 20, 2009. The residency provides participants an opportunity to network with other professional artists from across the province and country. It is a chance to learn and share within an intensive, open studio environment. Available during the residency are two guest artists, who will act as facilitators, providing mentorship, studio visits and both formal and informal critiques. This year the guest artists are painter Monica Tap and performance/installation/mixed media artist Adrian Stimson. Organizers encourage applicants in traditional media, new media, combined visual studio disciplines, and other creative fields such as writing, poetry, dance and music. For more information please visit prairienorth.org or contact Tina Martel, Coordinator at tmartel@gprc.ab.ca or (780) 539-2814.

PNCR is the only residency of its type in northern Alberta and has facilitated numerous ideas and opportunities for exhibitions, collaborations, and performance. art of the peace 6

Monica Tap, Split, oil on canvas.

There’s a Storm Movin’ Out

Art in a Raw State

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T

n mid January, Grande Prairie artist Grant Berg received word from the Calgary-based Alberta Society of Artists that one of his sculptures had been accepted into its group exhibit, Planet Earth. Berg’s work was one of only 58 selected from a total of 379 submitted by Alberta artists.

Grant Berg, There’s A Storm Movin’ In III, Soapstone Carving. Photo by Cheryl McCartney

Entitled There’s a Storm Movin’ In, Berg’s piece is a soapstone sculpture which depicts the spectacular but destructive force of a prairie thunderstorm. As part of the Planet Earth show, it was exhibited at the Leighton Art Centre in Calgary from March 14 to April 11, 2009. Berg was in attendance for the opening.

Creations, Inc.

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reations, Inc. is a newly developed fundraiser for the Fairview Fine Arts Centre’s elementary student’s program Artists at School. This year the Grade 4, 5 and 6 students from E.E. Oliver Elementary and St. Thomas More will enjoy five weeks of instruction in pottery, with instructor Heather McNair, and watercolour painting with instructor Carolyn Brown.

The program always ends with a show of the students’ works in the Fine Arts Centre Gallery.

This year local artists will share the show and help raise funds necessary to keep Artists at School going. For Creations, Inc., regional artists are being asked to create original art on 5x7 canvasses. The canvasses will be displayed and raffled at a wine and cheese reception on June 12 at the gallery. Anyone interested in helping out by donating a canvas, or attending the event, can call the centre at 780 835 2697.

Figure Study by Kevin Yasinski.

his fall, Emilie and Larry Mattson will host the third biannual Sweetwater 905, a multi-arts festival held at their family farm near Rolla, BC. Musicians, dancers, poets and visual artists will converge on the location from September 11th to 13th. Confirmed artists on the 2009 roster include award-winning documentary filmmaker Nettie Wild and Peace Country photographer Wayne Sawchuk among many others, both from the local arts community and from farther afield.

The theme of this year’s festival is Monumental. Contributing visual artists will be displaying large-scale works within the farm environs. According to publicist Inge-Jean Mattson: “The event aims to bring art into a more raw state as it is viewed and heard in barn stalls, old granaries, or in the dirt.”

Tim Heimdal stands in front of his Kakwa Falls Mural. Photo by Mel Ebelhauser.

Muskoseepi Park Mural

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ook for plenty of painting action when you’re strolling in the park this summer.

Heart of the Peace is the theme of a huge mural project that will change the face of Muskoseepi Park over the coming months. With 2000 square feet of surface to cover, the Ampitheatre Bandshell will be transformed from its graffiti covered state into a collage of Grande Prairie’s history, culture and natural environment.

Renowned muralist, Tim Heimdal, is leading the project and will be joined by interested area artists and youth who are referred by the Emergency Shelter, the John Howard Society and Sunrise House.

Mural Master of Vision, Chris Thiessen has been working on this project for four years. He says, “The project will begin May 1 with workshops with Tim and the painting will run to the end of the summer. Anyone wanting to become involved can call the Centre for Creative Arts.”

Rounding out the weekend, there will be street performances, a hypnotist, and horsedrawn wagon and pony rides.

Local artists will be selling their wares in “Chicken Coop Alley.” Festival-goers and participants can camp in the horse pasture for a nominal fee.

For up-to-date information or to get involved, go to www.

Firedancer at last year’s Sweetwater 905.

The New Prairie Art Gallery

It’s a Living Thing

by Jody Farrell

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rande Prairie’s Montrose Cultural Centre, located on the site of the former Prairie Art Gallery (PAG), is scheduled to open this June. The modern and airy downtown building is home to both a new gallery and The Grande Prairie Public Library. The PAG will double the former exhibition space with its 8,000 square foot Prairie Art Gallery seeks to expansion, while the library will engage users in a genuine feature 37,400 square feet on and open dialogue about two floors. The facade of the the visual arts. historic Central High School that housed the PAG since 1975, and was damaged when its roof collapsed in 2007, will form the cornerstone of the Montrose Cultural Centre. Its repair is due to be completed by 2011.

The Montrose Cultural Centre, the new home of the Prairie Art Gallery is in its final phase of construction.

Since 1975, Grande Prairie’s only public art gallery has produced a wide range of both professional visual arts exhibitions and hands-on programs. In its unstuffy, people-friendly environment,

it helped foster an appreciation of regional artists, as well as national and international ones whose works adorn galleries around the world.

Public galleries are perhaps society’s most recognizable “goto place” for a peek at what’s in store for our future. Everywhere, as has always been the case, visual arts reflect experiences and changes that we all experience, often even before they’re recognized by the world at large. Robert Steven, PAG Director-Curator, tells us some of what we can expect from our own Prairie Art Gallery during its first years in its new home.

“It’s hard to guess what the future holds,” Steven says when invited to imagine what the PAG will look like in the years to come. “We may be fooled.

Right now though, I see the art world fully adjusting to the information age.”

Steven points to the everchanging world of online

communication. While until recently, computers offered a “read only” experience, the latest internet sites including YouTube and Facebook make the actual sharing of information possible. These sites’ democratic approach, with content entirely produced by the public and not the programs’ creators, have radically changed the way we relate to our world. It’s an appealing feature for the PAG, which seeks to engage its users in genuine and open dialogue about the visual arts.

“The Prairie Art Gallery space was initially created for art discourse,” Steven says. “We are looking to expand that with a content-rich interactive format on a regional and international scale.” Under Steven’s guidance, the gallery will amass information and facilitate research and interaction with artists, allowing visitors to enjoy a wide range of experiences, including the chance to be a gallery curator. Visitors will be invited to locate art

In his earnest conviction that Grande Prairie and the Peace area is home to some of this country’s most interesting visual artists, Steven is determined to make the PAG “the best little art gallery in the world.”

His multi-faceted plan begins with acknowledging a major obstacle for any gallery: limited storage. The 8,000 square feet that will be added onto the existing PAG heritage building will feature new exhibition space for works on loan, but will only store so much donated or purchased art. What space the new gallery has will have to do for the next 20 years.

Digital space, on the other hand, provides nearly unlimited storage at very little cost. Steven’s “best little gallery in the world” plans include creating “Peace Works,” an event he describes as a “tangible juried exhibition” with a famous guest curator whose presence would bring

international exposure to the gallery, while introducing its new patrons to the PAG’s soonto-be virtual library of regional artists.

Grande Prairie Guild of Artists

Expressions of Light Show & Sale

June 4 - 23

“Even the discourse an international curator creates will drive us to do more on an international level,” Steven says. “We cannot bring our artists to the world if the world isn’t looking.”

His long-range vision involves creating a sustainable endowment program that enables the PAG to eliminate fees and fundraisers altogether, and focus primarily on becoming a world-class visual arts information centre. Steven also dreams of developing a province-wide professional association whose goal is to make Alberta itself the “best place in the world.”

“People want us to do what we do well. Our job is to determine what that is and do it to the very best of our ability.”

The Montrose Cultural Centre will feature the 4,200 square foot Central Hall, an open, warmly decorated public facility that will feature artwork and comfortable meeting spaces for community and private use. The Cultural Centre will be a stunning new addition to Grande Prairie, visible even at night, creating an inviting downtown go-to place for decades to come.

Opening Reception June 4th, 7:00pm

Painting by Louanne Hart

images on computer and project their personal favourites onto a wall. Steven envisions a virtual library that contains the latest in international and national arts news, along with live web-cameras showing what a regional artist is doing that very day. He sees the ongoing dialogue between gallery visitor and artist as essential in keeping Peace Region art relevant and alive.

9929 100 Avenue, Grande Prairie, Alberta T: 780.538.2771 | F: 780.538.2790 | W: www.uniquegallery.ca

gage

mercantile Antique Furnitu re Collecta bles Polish P ott Gift Item ery s Amish P antry It ems Local Ar t

Open May 1st to Christmas Thurs. thru Sun. 1:00 - 6:00 p.m.

Featuri ng work by: Erin Ste lm Paul Ma aschuk rtel Charity Dakin Paula F ior Eileen C ni oristine and mo re

Located on Hwy 64, between Fairview and Hines Creek.

Phone: 835.8043 or 835.4554. art of the peace 9

TREX

The Alberta Foundation for the Arts Travelling Exhibition Program

For the 2008/2009 Travelling Season the Prairie Art Gallery presents four new Exhibitions: Collective Soul: PNCR 2007

The Alberta Foundation for the Arts (AFA) has supported a provincial travelling exhibition program since 1981. The mandate of the AFA Travelling Exhibition Program is to provide every Albertan with the opportunity to enjoy visual art exhibitions in their community.

Three regional galleries and one arts organization coordinate the program for the AFA: Northwest Alberta: The Prairie Art Gallery Northeast and North Central Alberta: Art Gallery of Alberta Southwest Alberta: The Alberta Society of Artists Southeast Alberta: Esplanade Arts & Heritage Centre

Anne McKenzie, 2007

‘Studio B’ Prairie North Participant from Calgary

Common Threads: Textiles in Art Melanie Jenner

‘Pink and Yellow Petals’, Artist from Grande Prairie

displace/graft/retrace: Catherine Hamel Catherine Hamel

Artist and Professor of Architecture at University of Calgary

Checkerboard and Other Patterns Daniel Campbell

from the Prairie Art Gallery Permanent Collection

For a complete list of exhibitions visit www.prairiegallery.com

#103, 9856 97 Avenue, Grande Prairie, AB T8V 7K2 P: (780) 532-8111 | F: (780) 539-9522 | E: info@prairiegallery.com June 8th, 2009 we will be in our new location in the Montrose Cultural Centre 9839 103 Avenue, Grande Prairie, AB T8V 6M7

magazine designers extraordinaire

art of the peace 10

Paul Qayutinnuaq, 1957-2008

Farewell to the author of Stories In Stone

by Eileen Coristine

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arving in soapstone, caribou antler and wood, Paul Qayutinnuaq created detailed depictions of a way of life that he saw vanish in his short lifetime. Born on the land near Gjoa Haven, Nunavut, Paul was mentored by significant master carvers in the area. At nine years of age Paul sold his first carving. By his early twenties he was receiving wide recognition for his unique style and was represented by a gallery in New York.

Trips out to hunt with his father provided Paul with his inspiration for his carvings. Paul carved hunting scenes and was meticulous in his reproduction of the detailed snow-knives, spears, knives and lures. His early life was a combination of time spent using these tools on the ice and time spent trying to preserve this way of life in his art. Although hunting traditions that evolved over thousands of years disappeared during Paul’s lifetime, they still live on in what Paul described as his Stories In Stone.

While in his twenties Paul and his wife Sue moved to Yellowknife where he became a journeyman painter and decorator. A job interview first brought Paul to Fairview. Although he didn’t get the job, Paul liked the Fairview area and the nearer access it gave him to the B.C. stone that he liked to work in. Paul and Sue moved to Fairview where he spent the next 25 years painting houses, carving and helping Sue raise their four daughters, Shelly, Kim, Melanie and Lindsay.

Paul’s carving shed and shown around. “That visit taught me more than I would have learned in years of chopping away on my patio,” Grant says.

After years of carving for galleries and on commission, in 1999 Paul began participating in the Great Northern Arts Festival in Inuvik each year. There he taught soapstone carving and found the most appreciative audience for his artworks ever. The Great Northern Arts Festival is attended by collectors from around the world. Paul found that actually meeting the buyers, and answering their questions was much more gratifying than never knowing those who purchased from a gallery. After his first year, Paul began carving almost exclusively for that event, and every year he sold out there.

During the last five years of his life, Paul endured a battle with cancer that often left him with too little energy to work on his art.

While in what was believed to be a remission, Paul resumed carving at a very productive pace. Unfortunately, the cancer was still present and Paul died in September 2008. “Although Paul lost his voice, and then his life to cancer, he continues to tell his ‘stories in stone”, says his friend Grant Berg. “The wonderful thing with stone is that these stories will be told for hundreds, and maybe even thousands of years.”

Paul Qayutinnuaq at work

As well as creating his elegant animal forms and exquisitely detailed hunting tools, Paul also loved to teach. “He liked to be with people and demonstrate and answer their questions,” explains his wife Sue. “He also taught all of our girls and they’re all talented.”

When Grant Berg, a longtime admirer of his work divulged to Paul that he himself had begun to carve, he was immediately taken into

Paul Qayutinnuaq, Seal Hunter

art of the peace 11

Three Soapstone Artists Tapping into universal narratives

by Wendy Stefansson

Grant Berg

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rairie people are sky watchers. The concept of “landscape” here necessarily includes a vast and animated sky; a sky that’s a force to be reckoned with. In the work of Grande Prairie sculptor Grant Berg, this sky is a recurring motif.

His soapstone piece, There’s a Storm Movin’ In, depicts a big prairie thunderstorm rolling across the plains; the kind you know is going to hit you like the wrath of God. The sculpture curls in successive waves coalescing around a central void. Laced with marble-like veining, the stone itself gave Berg “lightning ripping across the storm front.”

In another work, Berg uses a pale green, translucent stone to depict rippling waves of northern lights. In a third, he has sculpted not a sky, but a bird; a phoenix. Berg struggled with this piece because it didn’t seem light enough to fly until he removed large amounts of stone from the wings, abstracting the bird to create a visual balance between strength and lightness.

Berg uses stone – dense, inert and earthbound – to represent air and flight. He feels compelled to, in his words, “carve the intangibles.”

Grant Berg, Northern Lights, Soapstone Carving. Photo by Cheryl McCartney.

Leslie Bjur

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rande Prairie artist Leslie Bjur talks to me about her recent soapstone sculpture, The Argument. It is solid stone rendered organic and fluid; its sinuous curves seem almost animate. Multiple tendrils strain in different directions, all trumpet-mouths and taut nerves. It reminds me of Yeats’ line, “Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold” – except that this is the moment just before disintegration, while the centre is still intact. While there is still hope for resolution. While dissolution is not yet inevitable. Bjur points out that there is a narrow part of the sculpture, so narrow that the stone comes close to breaking. It sticks out; has sharp edges. This piece is like the last verbal barb you aim as you are leaving the room.

Created at a time when a close friend was at odds with her partner and living with Bjur, The Argument expresses some of the intensity of that moment. That energy finds its way into the work. Bjur contends: “I don’t do pretty work. I do work that is organic,” growing naturally from life as it is lived.

Leslie Bjur, The Argument, Soapstone Carving

art of the peace 12

“Living in this moment,” she says, “means making this piece right now.”

Rénald Lavoie

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nside Rénald Lavoie’s workshop at his farm outside of St. Isidore, he casually lifts a cloth off of a seemingly nondescript mass. What emerges surprisingly from beneath is La voix de la mère (The Voice of the Mother), a 28” tall sculpture he has carved in Brazilian soapstone. All roundness and encircling, the piece depicts a raven arcing upward along the spine of a mother engaged in an intimate conversation with the child in her lap. The figures seem to form a complete universe unto themselves; whole and self-contained.

This kind of uncomplicated humanity comes through in all of Lavoie’s work. Choosing the human form for its expressive possibilities, Lavoie is able to tap into universal narratives – beginnings and endings; intimacy, possibility, regret, grief and loss. One figure stands erect, her head cast down, her arm drawn protectively across her chest to her mouth. Another drops to the ground on all fours, sway-backed and stricken. Perhaps most poignantly, on a gravestone Lavoie carved for his brother, a figure in the fetal position emerges from – or returns to – the rough, uncarved mass of the stone.

Lavoie says simply: “We’re all part of this same rocky world.”

Rénald Lavoie, La voix de la mere, Soapstone Carving

The Prairie Art Gallery is pleased to announce its grand re-opening in the new Montrose Cultural Centre.

Coming Soon:

Bibi Clement: Vigil of Angels Yasuo Terada: East Wind Blows West HAN: Voices from the Earth Iskoteo Arts Festival: Iskoteo Public Galleries Conference Funded by: Visit: www.prairiegallery.com art of the peace 13

artcetera: Tips for Artists Artists Carve Out New Opportunities

PWS

by Kim Fjordbotten

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culptors are pioneering a new and spectacular art form that is literally reshaping our world.

Carving styrofoam has been done since the material was invented.

In the hand of hobby artists, styrofoam has been used to create contoured bases and mountains for dioramas, model railroad scenery, puppet stages, Halloween props and Christmas decorations. In the hands of artists, this material is finding acceptance as a valid way of producing larger public art works. With a basic knowledge of tools, proper studio practices, and an exercise of imagination, artists can carve out an exciting profession.

The process of traditional carving takes patience, care and time.

Sculptors respect the influence of natural materials, be they stone, wood or metal. Consequently, when a buyer wishes to commission a specific work, many artists are hesitant, not knowing if they can find the raw materials to suit the image requested. They are often asked to create larger works but the scale, weight, and time make life-size and over-sized projects cost prohibitive for artists and patrons.

Styrofoam is lightweight and easy to carve. Several sheets can be glued together to create massive works; sculptures carved from styrofoam can be painted with special effects and faux finishes. Special hardeners can coat the surface for works to be displayed in public spaces and outdoors.

Using a heated wire tool solves the messy problem of cutting sty-

art of the peace 14

rofoam. Just turn on the power to cut and make forms without the dust and mess produced by a saw, rasp or knife. The hot wire slices through styrene foam like a hot knife through butter.

Safe studio practices should be observed when using materials for sculpting. Anything that can be carved or sanded creates fine dust that, once airborne, can get into the lungs. A dust mask is required when working with stone, wood, and plaster. Styrofoam and all other extruded polystyrene sheets give off fumes when heated by hot-wire cutting or vigorous sanding (even by hand) and also by application of hot glue.

The fumes, hydrogen halides, cause eye and nose irritation and can be smelly. Styrofoam should be worked on in a ventilated environment and the artist should wear a graded fume-mask with a filter capable of removing the appropriate fumes and preventing their inhalation.

The demand for foam sculpture is as varied as the artists who create them. Sculptors can make fine art replicas, statues, and museum exhibits. Mural artists could transform any wall space into an eye-catching 3D sculpture.

There is steady custom work for architectural shapes and faux landscapes, tradeshow advertising, window displays, billboards and signage as well as props and 3D cartoons for parade floats and festivals. Not only is the work varied and fun, artists can use their talents to make a living as well as fine art.

Peace Country themes and wilderness vistas

780-354-2165

Picture Perfect Grande Prairie

Unique Gallery Grande Prairie

Cultural Centre Beaverlodge

Bush Cabin in Winter 5 x 7�Original Oil, 2008

Robert Guest Douglas Udell Galleries: EDMONTON CALGARY VANCOUVER

Sharon Lynn William, Costal Colour

Following Betty’s Trail

Spring Workshops & Retreat at the McNaught Homestead 4 miles southwest of Beaverlodge on Hwy.722

PHOTOGRAPHING THE PEACE Instructor: Don Pettit Dates: June 6th and 7th Cost: $130 WATERMEDIA PAINTING Indoors and Out Instructor: Sharon Lynn Williams Dates: June 12th, 13th, and 14th Cost: $250

For more information and to register call 780-354-3600 or email bacs@telus.net For Information on the McNaught Homestead Preservation Society see www.mcnaughthomestead.org-a.googlepages.com Brought to you by The McNaught Homestead Preservation Society and the Peace Watercolor Society

From Palette to Gallery,

Edna McPhail Visionary never lost enthusiasm for art

by Ellen Corea

O

n October 20th, 2008, Dawson Creek lost a driving force in its arts community. Edna McPhail was a dynamo; she never sat around waiting for someone else to provide what she saw lacking in her community.

In 1982, Edna was the first to envision creating an art gallery from a discarded prairie grain elevator. She started the “Save the Elevator Project” and, with her group of dedicated volunteers, brought to life an idea that has given Dawson Creek an international reputation and provided one of the icons for which the city is famous.

Edna volunteered tirelessly in the arts, forming the first Arts Council in the early 1980s, and bringing much need provincial funding into the region for local groups and organizations. Edna’s art classes inspired countless artists of all ages to explore painting and to find pleasure in the act of creating beautiful things.

Edna was experimental, embracing all types of creativity. Her work reflected and transcended the passage of time. She was an innovator and with the help of her paint brush, a story teller. Her work reflected the splendor that she saw all around her in the landscape and the people of the Peace.

On a personal level, for many of us, Edna was a mentor and counselor. She was the person that we wanted to “be when we grew up.” Edna was flamboyant; her ideas were new, fresh and visionary. Edna’s friendship transcended the generations and she never lost her enthusiasm for life or for art.

Edna McPhail was featured in the Fall & Winter 2005 issue of Art of the Peace

we have beautiful art materials to inspire

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10516 Whyte Ave. Edmonton, Alberta Toll Free 1 800 363 0546 www.paintspot.ca art of the peace 15

Bibi Clement:

Vigil of Angels

by Eileen Coristine

art of the peace 16

The Prairie Art Gallery re-opens with a celebration of Bibi Clement’s delicate journey.

A

fter a lifetime of experience and three years of building, Hythe potter Bibi Clement is preparing to share her angels with the world. Each is a vessel containing the memories of good times and bad times. Some of the angels are white, some are black, some have 18 carat gold wraps around their heads; every one represents someone, someone who has taught Bibi a lesson.

Vigil of Angels, will be the first show held in the new Prairie Art Gallery’s Contemporary Gallery at the Montrose Cultural Centre. “This exhibit would have taken place in 2007, had the gallery not collapsed shortly before its scheduled opening.” says Robert Steven Director-Curator of the Prairie Art Gallery. “ The Gallery has always believed strongly in this project, and intends to present it at this, its earliest opportunity. We feel proud to feature a Peace Country artist at this time, and want to set a tone for frequent exhibitions of Peace Country art to come.”

This inaugural show invites visitors to walk among more than 100 angels and wonder, “who are you?” Although not portraits, each of the angels represents a real person, maybe it’s someone you know, or maybe it’s you.

“Each one represents a very special person in my life,” Bibi explains. “The angels are a tribute to the kindness given to me. But, there are dark angels, too, representing dark moments and experiences in my life. There are people who make our lives more difficult, but there is always a lesson. Maybe it is that we are not going to be like them.

Maybe it is that we learn to understand another person’s pain. If you haven’t had difficulty then you can’t have compassion.”

“Our journey is so delicate,” says the artist.

“These vessels are very delicate, yet have strength.”

Bibi’s angelic representations range from life size to 20 centimetres. Either they stand, kneel or float. Symbolic wings wrap them each in a cloak, which Bibi describes as a “cloak of comfort.” Her earlier careers in fashion, dance and theatre inspired the draping clothing they wear and the expressive movement of each piece. Through the clay and the firing methods that she has been developing over the past twelve years, each piece manifests as an individual.

These scupltural angels have no faces. Bibi likens them to characters in the classical Japanese Noh theatre. In Noh the characters wear masks and as Bibi explains, “the mask is the same in every pose, just the movement of a hand or a shoulder gives the emotional expression.” Although the angels in her Vigil of Angels won’t be named (they are, after all her angels, not ours) at least one has already been recognized.

Bibi’s process begins with the idea of the person she wants to recreate, and moves through her experiences with them. Some of the pieces begin on the wheel, some are built out of clay slabs and others are mechanically extruded and altered. Then the robes and heads are added.

Once the building is complete, the angel is fired in either the wood-firing kiln, the salt firing kiln or the downdraught kiln.

“The porcelain angels will be fired in the salt kiln, because they are so light,” she explains.

Bibi’s wood-firing kiln, Bishogama, was built by Bibi’s friend and mentor, Yasuo Terada. Yasuo brought a crew of seven people with him from Japan, built the unique wood firing kiln and named it. “The B stands for his father Bizan, sho means flying ash and flames through the kiln,” Bibi explains, “and gama means kiln.”

A selection of angels from the Vigil of Angels Exhibition. Photos by Ross Bradley.

art of the peace 17

Firing the Bishogama requires a crew of six people who will commit to a six day and six night firing regime. Carefully loading the kiln, which requires up to 1000 pieces to fill, can take three days. Once the kiln is lit, Bibi says you must “let the kiln speak, it will dictate what to do.” One firing can require thirteen cords of wood. Vagaries of weather can have a significant effect on the outcome of a firing.

All of this requires very hard work compared to flipping a switch on an electric kiln and waiting a day or so for it to fire and cool down. The wood has to be cut, hauled and chopped. The fire has to be minded in long shifts and built up according to the kiln and the weather. A firing demands a lot of the people, but there is a centuries long tradition that has taught Bibi patience and awe.

be frustrating with so much at stake. But when you open the kiln there is so much beauty looking at you.”

Those angels that are ruined in the kiln are replaced. Every person will have their angel, even if it doesn’t work the first time.

This isn’t to imply that all of the angels are pristine. Some angels have flaws and some have cracks that Bibi has repaired with 18 carat gold. Such extreme firing can also result in angels that come out of the kiln looking even more like the person who inspired them due to surprising changes in the glaze or the colours of the robes.

Most of the pieces for the June installation are ready, but some are still waiting for their turn in the kiln.

To this firing, Bibi will add the dozens of smaller angels she’s been creating to accompany special editions of her upcoming book. The book, which is being written by her daughter Dymphny Dronyk, will be a retrospective on Bibi’s 35 years as a potter.

Risk is also an element in the wood firing practices that Bibi implements. “ I want the fire to do all sorts of things; it adds another dimension. Canadian clay only goes up to Cone 10 Later this spring (1280 degrees the crew will C.) but I fire be assembled up to 1300. It and the ardudoesn’t sound ous but exciting like much of a kiln vigil will difference,” she Bibi Clement. Photo by Marijke Dronyk take place. Her explains, “but subjects have beyond that things quite often slump.” Con- evoked Bibi’s memories and their lessons sequently some pieces are broken, bent or have been poured into these angelic vessels. ruined during the firing.

Now they and their creator have only to listen to and obey the dictates of the kiln.

“Compared to the Japanese,” she explains, “we are young to understand the work that “These pieces encompass my life; all of goes into wood-firing so we don’t have the these people have influenced me. After a life appreciation. The wind can shift and knock time of wonderful things,” she says, “the the temperature of the kiln down. This can moment is now.”

A selection of angels from the Vigil of Angels Exhibition. Photos by Ross Bradley.

art of the peace 18

East Wind Blows West

Traditional work in a contemporary style

Y

asuo Terada is in essence the complete potter. His involvement in each of his vessels or sculptures starts with digging clay near his home in Seto, Japan, and ends with firing it in a kiln built by his own hands. Whatever the results, he couldn’t be more invested in what he has created.

Since he met Bibi Clement in Japan eleven years ago, Yasuo has been visiting her studio and home near Hythe almost yearly. In June, he will be sharing the spotlight with her at the newly reopened Prairie Art Gallery’s first show. Their dual show Vigil of Angels and East Wind Blows West, will celebrate their friendship and growth together as artists.

Yasuo specializes in building large outdoor wood-firing kilns. These kilns, called anagama, have been used for centuries in Japan. Pottery fired in these kilns is usually unglazed. The ash resulting from the firing process creates unique glazes, colours and surface textures. Over the years Yasuo has built 50 of these kilns in Japan and another 10 throughout the world, one of which is Bibi’s Bishogama.

This spring Yasuo will visit Hythe twice. In March he will bring some of the work he’s been creating at his home studio and to participate in a gold firing with Bibi. Then in June, he will return for the opening of their show, bringing with him a group of students, his tea master group and his family.

According to Bibi, we can expect Yasuo’s show to include some exceptional works. “The Japanese have a very traditional outlook,” she says, “but he says ‘clay is clay and anything should be possible’.”

From a family legacy that goes back 150 years and an ancient culture with its origins in pottery, Yasuo Terada is Japanese pottery’s destiny manifest.

Yasuo and Bibi unloading the wood salt kiln. Photo by Gerry Emas.

art of the peace 19

Iskoteo

A Six Day Celebration of Arts and Culture

by David Olinger

J

une promises to be a feast for the creative senses of Peace Country residents.

The Iskoteo Arts Festival, in conjunction with the Lieutenant Governor of Alberta Arts Awards Gala, will provide six days of arts and cultural activities for the entire family.

Alderman Helen Rice chairs the organizing committee. The organizing committee has representatives from the City of Grande Prairie, Grande Prairie Regional College, The Grande Prairie Public Library, the Prairie Art Gal-

“We want to make this celebration something to remember...”

Alderman Helen Rice lery, Wordspinner, the Grande Prairie Friendship Centre, The Art of the Peace Society and the community at large.

“We want to make this celebration something to remember and to leave a legacy,” she says.

“Grande Prairie was chosen to host the Arts Awards because of its demonstrated commitment to the cultural community and our ability to host major provincial, national and international events.” art of the peace 20

Iskoteo, a Cree word meaning fire in the sky, was the cultural component of the 1995 Canada Winter Games, making it natural to reintroduce it as a festival built around the awards. The date enhances the significance of the event, occurring during National Aboriginal Day and the Summer Solistice.

The festival includes music, visual arts and literary activities.

Each day focuses on a different sector of the area’s arts and cultural communities, highlighting an array of performers and artisans.

It starts with Municipal Government Day at the Montrose Cultural Centre on June 16.

Grande Prairie’s Public Library will feature several children and young adult authors and a Puppet Play and Story Time.

The Centre for Creative Arts will exhibit forty creatively designed skateboard decks, present a pottery demonstration with Potter Bibi Clement and home to various Wordspinner events; poet and author Sid Marty is delivering a fiction workshop, Angela Kublik, publisher for House of Blue Skies, and David and Rose Scollard of Frontenac House, are offering informational seminars.

The Farmers Market will host a Summer Solstice Super Market on 101 Avenue.

Art of the Peace Society will open a Juried Art Show at GPRC. GPRC is launching an Art Walk

of their permanent collection and an exhibit from the Grande Prairie Friendship Centre, as well as hosting “Songs of Solstice” at the Douglas Cardinal Performing Arts Theatre.

The Prairie Art Gallery is hosting the Provincial Curators Conference and an exhibit from Bib Clement’s Vigil of Angels and East Wind Blows West by Yasuo Terada.

The focal point of the week is the Lieutenant Governor of Alberta Arts Awards Gala. The Honorable Norman L. Kwong, C.M., A.O.E., Lieutenant Governor of Alberta will present the awards.

“The gala will be a spectacular event, celebrating the summer solstice with a fire and ice-themed dinner,” says Gala Chair Janet Longmate. “We are honoured to welcome artists and guests from across the province to this prestigious celebration.”

Two Distinguished Artists will receive $30,000 each, a handcast medallion, pin and framed citation. Recipients are Albertans who have made a significant contribution to the arts in Alberta.

The weekend concludes with the Aboriginal Day activities on Sunday at Muskoseepi Park.

Visit www.iskoteo.com for more information.

of the Peace

Judi Roberts Artist

Juried Art Show June 16-21, 2009 Glass Gallery

M a i n F l o o r, G r a n d e P r a i r i e R e g i o n a l C o l l e g e

Opening Reception & Awards Announcement June 16 th, 7:00pm - Everyone Welcome

V i r t u a l S h ow o n a r t o f t h e p e a c e. c a l a u n ch i n g J u n e 1 7 t h , 2 0 0 9

secret@telus.net (250) 262-1445

www.judiroberts.artspan.com

Northern Arts Studio & Gallery 8038 - 100 Street South, Fort St. John, BC

www.northernartsmagazine.com

Jim Stokes Wallace Galleries - Calgary Scott Gallery - Edmonton

F u n d e d by

iskoteo

AR TS FE STIVAL

Carol Adrian-Clark Ed Ashton Kim Dettling Pauline Freed Dianne Gaboury Barb Greentree Wanda Hollingworth Ray Laurin Gordon Mackey

TISTS AR

AN NO

RTH

Megan Mackey Anne Patrick Irene Pearcy Emily Schudlo Marty Sherburne Linda Thetrault Tannis Trydal Donna Thorpe-Andersen

Annual Show & Sale November 14 Phone 780-568-3334 art of the peace 21

Here Now or Nowhere

by Robert Steven

D

uring January 2009, The Prairie Art Gallery presented an exhibition of works by artists from across Canada, and abroad, in Grande Prairie’s streets. Was it successful? Was it worth the cost and the effort?

Why did we do it? What does it all mean?

If you didn’t see the exhibition, Here Now or Nowhere, you can get a sense of it by visiting www.herenowornowhere. com. There, you’ll see that the projects included a variety of videos shown in shop windows and at the Gaiety Theatre, a number of drawings that were published in the Daily Herald Tribune, an interactive installation that connected the audience with volunteers through an artist-made telephone, a comic book that was distributed freely throughout the downtown and for one weekend only, a family home that was transformed into a giant installation of light and rhythm. It also included a day of talks when the guest curator, two prominent journalists and four of the artists shared their comments and their roles in the exhibition to a capacity crowd in a vacant downtown storefront.

Our mission in building and sharing this exhibition was to provide a special experience for many diverse participants.

All experienced something that they had rarely, if ever, seen in Grande Prairie.

But what did it mean? And why did we do it? We did it because we believe that art is a special kind of food for the human spirit, and that our community should not be starved of any forms of art. Our community deserves the full experience that the world of art has to offer. Without that experience, we are left at a disadvantage, not in our knowledge of art (for no one can truly and thoroughly know art), but rather in our knowledge of ourselves and in our humanity.

We brought this show to the streets so that the people who saw it there would be empowered to respond to it however they might. This is how we serve the community; we offer this little bit of emotional power, this little bit of intellectual freedom, to everyone we meet.

Image by J. Diehl and Digital design O Strasky

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Art Books in Review

by Wendy Stefansson 9918A 100 Avenue P: (780) 513-1933 F: (780) 513-1949 Pottery | Glass | Jewellery | Hats Home Decor | Handpainted Silk

Edited by Ruth Chambers, Amy Gogarty and Mireille Perron

OUTDOOR IMAGES CANADA (2008) Ltd. Phone: (780) 532-3701 Fax: (780) 532-7301

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Craft Perception and Practice: A Canadian Discourse, Volume III

Edited by Paula Gustafson, Nïsse Gustafson and Amy Gogarty

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WE’RE MOVING... to the Montrose Cultural Centre in June 2009

Located on 98 Street at 103 Avenue

the destination for discovery, enrichment, inspiration and education For more information on our moving dates, please watch our website at www.gppl.ab.ca or call (780) 532-3580

9910 - 99 Avenue, Grande Prairie, AB T8V 0R5

Gift Shop watercolours, local pottery, knitwear, Calvin Cornish prints, quilted and hand woven items

Spring Courses • oil painting • pottery • watercolour • jewellery

Utopic Impulses: Contemporary Ceramics Practice

• stained glass • acrylic painting • mosaic • kid’s art

Watch for Spring Exhibits featuring Kristine McGuinty, Carmen Haakstad and Heather McNair

www.fairviewfinearts.com

hrowing a pot is a profoundly political act. Not in the sense of partisan politics, of course; more in the sense of committing a small, personal act of resistance. To be a potter in an age of quickly and cheaply mass-produced ceramic goods is to keep alive the skills to make useful and necessary objects. It’s to resist the passive consumerism of a world shaped by Walmarts and ebays.

It’s to understand the true value of labour and production.

This is just one of the recurring themes in Utopic Impulses: Contemporary Ceramics Practice. Structured as a selection of articles by diverse artists (or ‘makers’, as they describe themselves) and writers, it delves into multiple topics from multiple points of view.

Photos and descriptions of selected ceramic projects – largely but not exclusively from western Canada – accompany the discussion.

The book Craft Perception and Practice: A Canadian Discourse, Volume III is similar in format and covers much of the same territory, but casts a wider net. Not limited to ceramic artists, this volume also includes knitters, weavers, glassmakers, metal smiths, jewellers and woodworkers. It even includes artists not usually discussed in terms of craft; notably Fort St. John’s own Brian Jungen. It expands upon the theme of political activism or resistance through craft, but also delves into discussions of craft and its relation to the body, its relation to language and to time, its materiality and its conceptuality.

Both books (to borrow a phrase from newly-minted American President Barack Obama) propose “the audacity of hope” through small acts of craft. art of the peace 23

Three Artists from Rolla, BC Divergent Journeys

by Wendy Stefansson

T

wo young men and their mother paddle silently across a moonlit pond in a canoe. It’s a performance and an image with echoes throughout human history – the family, the boat, the journey. Displacement, travel, migration; gestation, birth, death, transcendence – a whole life journey is summed up in it.

The mother, in this case, is painter and mixed-media sculptor Emilie Mattson; and the canoe is an artwork completed in collaboration with her two sons, Dean and Karl, each an artist in his own right. Made from willow branches stretched with cow placentas and coated with fibreglass, it is called simply The Craft.

Emilie Mattson It is the use of cow placentas as a medium which marks Emilie Mattson’s distinctive contribution to The Craft. Having farmed in the Peace Country for 41 years, she has been observing placentas for a long time, drawn to them by their inherent colours and transparency. They have become for her an art medium which by its very nature speaks of the feminine, of motherhood. Emilie has used placentas sandwiched between soldered panes of glass to construct a larger-than-life sculpture of a chalice, a sacred vessel. In another work, she has stretched placentas across a frame of branches to create a kite wielded by a female figure made of clay, the ‘kite string’ an umbilical cord.

Emilie feels that, “using the materials that are right in front of [her]” gives her art authenticity. Drawn directly from the life she lives, her materials have a resonance that just can’t be bought in an art supplies store.

Dean Mattson Dean Mattson is a poet, singer and song-writer. He is also a painter and, interestingly, something of a closet cartoonist.

Dean’s paintings are characterized by simplified forms, vibrant colours and bold, black outlines. Each canvas tells a story, often featuring a recurring character – Crooked Man, who is bearded, and frequently depicted in a boat – much in the manner of cartoons. But don’t be lulled into an expectation of childlike innocence. Dean’s paintings regularly depict guns, razor wire, Viking ships, scythes and dripping daggers. In the painting Covet, there are several figures engaged in gaping, silent screams reminiscent of the famous painting by Edvard Munch. Comic books – and even more so, the video games which are their interactive equivalents – have long been violent in content. Perhaps this candid violence is one of the largely unacknowledged truths of childhood.

I ask Dean if the Crooked Man character is autobiographical, and he waffles.

Clearly the journey the character is making is a dark one.

Top: Emilie Mattson, Hangin On; bottom: Dean Mattson, Covet.

art of the peace 24

Karl Mattson Karl Mattson and his wife Inge-Jean made an epic canoe trip from their family farm in Rolla to the Arctic Ocean in 2005. The expedition was a turning point for Karl’s art career.

Already an established painter and sculptor, Karl packed a video camera on the trip north and discovered a love for filmmaking. His first film, Sweetwater to Saltwater, recounted the journey itself. This led to an impassioned documentary, Keeping the Peace, about industrial threats to the Mackenzie River watershed including both the proposed Site C dam near Fort St. John and the tar sands operations in Fort McMurray. More recently, Karl’s interest in visual storytelling and concern for social justice have led him to southern India where he began work on a documentary on the “migration of HIV/AIDS” among child sex workers.

Karl Mattson, Dark sky - reflection - from Keeping the Peace

Karl says, “The constant battle of life is the subject of [his] art.” Perhaps video is the medium best suited to this subject, unfolding over a period of time like a journey.

• Monthly Gallery Exhibitions • Store featuring local artists • Classes for all ages and skill levels

• • • •

THE CENTRE FOR

CREATIVE ARTS

June - August 9:00am - 5:00pm, Daily

By Donation Artists Run Centre Year Round Gift Shop

September - May 10:00am - 5:00pm, Tuesday - Friday 12:00 - 4:00pm, Saturday

• 13 Exhibits Per Year • Art Rental • Education Programs

Check us out online for more information

www.creativecentre.ca (780) 814-6080

Tel: (250) 782-2601 www.dcartgallery.ca

101 - 816 Alaska Avenue Dawson Creek, BC V1G 4T6

3 convenient locations in Grande Prairie

Courtyard

GALLERY

WESTSIDE #101, 10635 Westside Drive IVY LAKE #701, 10003 - 92 Street MONTROSE Montrose Cultural Centre

Original Works by Local Artists Lower Level, QEII Hospital 10409 98 Street, Grande Prairie, AB Exhibition Opportunities Available by contacting Carrie at 780-538-7583

Marilyn Gourlay

FORT ST. JOHN - #5, 10011 - 96 Street, FSJ Medical Centre art of the peace 25

Carol Adrian-Clark

Carmen Haakstad

realistic renderings of nature in coloured pencil and oil painting

(780) 539-4483 | www.carmensimages.com

Ph: 780-532-0846 | acdesign@telus.net

a gallery of ARTISTS Showcasing a selection of Peace Region art

Evelyn E. Harris Grandmother

Judith A. Brown Mother

Carolyn Brown

Dale R. Sales Painting from life experiences, landscapes, portraits, horses and western themes

Granddaughter

Three Generation Watercolour Artists (780) 864-3608 www.telusplanet.net/ ~jchbrown/ art of the peace 26

(780) 876-5432 9807-97 Avenue, Grande Prairie drsales@telusplanet.net

www.artofthepeace.ca

Emily Lozeron Signature Member, Artists for Conservation Portraying wildlife in a way that people can appreciate the beauty of nature...

Suzanne Sandboe ASA, PWS

Available at Unique Gallery (780) 567-3114 www.natureartists.com/ emily_lozeron.asp

(780) 568-4124 www.suzannesandboe.com

Marj Taylor (780) 532-0355 | mataylor@telusplanet.net 9506 77 Avenue, Grande Prairie, AB

Wendy Stefansson

Dale Syrota Watercolor Artist PWS/CSPWC Exhibits with the Grande Prairie Guild of Artists and the Peace Watercolor Society (780) 539-4046

Klaus and Rika Peters

Visual Artist

Photographic and Digital Art

(780) 624-8522 | wstef@telus.net

(780) 814-7430 | www.meanderworksofArt.com

Marian Jacoba Shilka Intuitive Painting in Acrylic, Watercolor, Mixed Media (780) 532-7562 | mshilka@telusplanet.net | Grande Prairie

Eileen Coristine (780) 494-3410 | ecoristine@hotmail.com

Vicki Hotte “Unique rural art from the Peace Region� available at the Beaverlodge Cultural Centre

(780) 354-3712 svhotte@telusplanet.net | www.vickihotte.com

Grant Berg

Stone Carver (780) 568-4400 | www.grantcberg.blogspot.com

art of the peace 27

BEAVERLODGE, ALBERTA • Beaverlodge Cultural Centre Exhibits & Events All shows & sales open at 2 pm at the Centre.

Angie Patterson Show & Sale April 26th – May 28th

Photography Workshop with Don Pettit June 6th – 7th

FAIRVIEW, ALBERTA

GRANDE PRAIRIE, ALBERTA

• Fairview Fine Arts Centre

• Centre for Creative Arts

Opportunities Schoolhouse Studio is available as a retreat, event, classroom or gallery venue. For more information call 780512-6316.

Exhibits & Events Function from Dysfunction Heather McNair Pottery Show & Sale April 3rd – May 2nd

Exhibits & Events Art Board June 16th – 21st

exhibitions & opportunities

Refer to the Galley Directory for locations, contact information and hours.

Beaverlodge Regional High School Art Students Exhibition May 31st – June 11th

DAWSON CREEK, B.C.

Beaverlodge 100th Anniversary Exhibition June 14th – June 25th

Exhibits & Events Mixed Media Visual Arts Students from School District #59 April 20th – May 9th

Tammy McGee Show & Sale June 28th – July 23rd Bibi Clement Show & Sale July 26th – August 27th Erin Brown & Greg Schmidt Show & Sale August 30th – September 24th Peace Watercolour Society Show & Sale September 27th – October 29th Jan Olson & Wendy Olson-Lepchuk Show & Sale November 1st – November 26th Programs Ongoing programs in pottery, stained glass, batik, weaving, acrylic, oil and watercolour painting. Call 780-3543600 for dates and details.

Opportunities Gallery exhibition and gift shop sales opportunities are available. Call 780354-3600 for further information.

• McNaught Homestead

• Dawson Creek Art Gallery

Banner Project for Grade Three Students May 8th – 30th Creations, Inc. Artists at School gallery display June 6th – 20th FAC Members’ Show & Sale June 26th – July 25th Melanie Hellum & Christen Cook August 1st – 29th Annual Ag Society Quilt and Fibre Show Sept. 4th – 26th Kerry-Ann Schatz Show & Sale October 2nd – 31st

M-K Artists of the Muskwa Ketchika May 12th – June 7th

Erin Stelmaschuk & Paula Fiorini Show & Sale November 6th – 26th

Earth, Sea and Sky Lori Shea, Tracy Wandling, Laurie Embree August 11th – September 12th

Programs The Centre offers fine art courses on an ongoing basis. For course and membership information, phone the Centre at 780-835-2697 or send an email to finearts@telus.net.

Kindred Spirits - Minds Alike - Woodfiring Friends Bibi Clemt, Greg Crowe, and Tasuc Terada September 14th – October 2nd Converging Conversations Spencer Goldade & Friends October 3rd – November 8th Programs Jewellery Making May 11th – June 8th, 1 - 3 pm or May 7th – June 4th, 7 – 9 pm (Beginner - $170) April 6th – May 4th, 1 – 3 pm April 2nd – 30th, 7 – 9 pm (Advanced - $150)

Events Euphemia McNaught Festival McNaught Homestead July 25th – 26th

Open Studio - Life Drawing Starts May 31st, 7 – 9 pm $10 drop in For info and registration contact the Gallery at 250-782-2601

Programs Plein Air Painting & Drawing Weekend Workshop with Sharon Lynn Williams McNaught Homestead June 12th – June 14th

Opportunities Opportunities for exhibition in the gallery are available. Guidelines for exhibitions can be viewed at www.dcartgallery.ca.

art of the peace 28

Domino III Carmen Haakstad & Jim Stokes May 8th – 30th

FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. • Fort St. John Community Arts Council

Exhibits & Events Regional Juried Art Exhibition April 5th – May 2 Peace Gallery North Spirit Dreamers Garry Oker Peace Gallery North Opening: April 3rd, 7 pm Runs through May 5th.

GRANDE CACHE, ALBERTA • Grande Cache Tourism & Interpretive Centre

Exhibits & Events Exhibiting the Palette Pals Art Club, local art, year round. Check out www. grandecache.ca for an up-to-date schedule of exhibitions and events.

Programs Pottery Workshop Bibi Clement June 18th The Centre has classes for everyone!

Check out our website, www.creativecentre.ca, to find out more.

Opportunities Are you artistic or crafty? Are you looking for an outlet to share your craft? We are currently looking for instructors to teach a variety of classes. Interested parties can contact the centre.

• Grande Prairie Museum Exhibits & Events When the Sun Goes Down Until December 2009 Rodacker/Campbell Gallery 100th Anniversary of the United Farmers of Alberta April 6th – June 30th Heritage Discovery Centre/ Kin Gallery Programs Tours and school programming available by phoning 780-532-5482 for further information.

• Grande Prairie Regional College Exhibits & Events Art of the Peace Juried Art Show June 16th – 21st Opening: June 16th, 7 pm Glass Gallery Art Walk June 16th – 21st Launch: June 16th, 7 pm Glass Gallery Lieutenant Governor of Alberta Arts Awards Gala June 20th, 5 pm Advanced Tickets available: 780-8304729 or artsawards@cityofgp.com.

Glass Gallery Rotating exhibits on an ongoing basis throughout the year.

Programs Prairie North Creative Residency June 16th – 21st

The Fine Arts Department Classes include Diploma, University Transfer programs and courses in Music, Art and Drama. Programs may also fulfill Fine Arts option requirements with FAD credit courses. Non-credit Visual Arts courses include drawing, painting, digital arts and photography.

• Montrose Cultural Centre Events Grande Opening of the Montrose Cultural Centre June 19th, 7 pm Advanced Tickets

• Picture Perfect Opportunities The Robert Guest Gallery at Picture Perfect is available for exhibitions - call Allan at 780-539-4091 for information.

• Prairie Art Gallery Exhibits & Events Safe and Sound Ongoing until June 2009 Prairie Art Gallery Over 250 works from the Permanent Collection of the Prairie Art Gallery.

Voices of the Earth HAN June 8th – October 15th The Prairie Art Gallery in the Montrose Cultural Centre East Wind Blows West Yasuo Terada June 8th – September 15th Opening: June 19th, 6:30 pm The Prairie Art Gallery in the Montrose Cultural Centre Vigil of Angels Bibi Clement June 8th – September 15th Opening: June 19th, 6:30 pm The Prairie Art Gallery in the Montrose Cultural Centre New Travelling Exhibitions Displace/Graft/Retrace September 2008 – August 2009 Checkerboard and Other Patterns October 2008 – September 2009 Common Threads September 2008 – August 2009 Collective Soul: PNCR 2007 September 2008 – August 2009 For a complete list of travelling exhibitions please check our website at www. prairiegallery.com.

Programs Artist Trading Cards Workshops and Trading Sessions Last Friday of every month, 6 - 8 pm

Check www.prairiegallery.com for current programs for all ages or call 780532-8111 for information.

Opportunities TREX For information about the Travelling Exhibition Program contact

The Prairie Art Gallery 780-532-8111 www.prairiegallery.com

• Queen Elizabeth II Hospital, The Courtyard Gallery

Exhibits & Events GALLERY Marilyn Gourlay May – June AFA Travelling Exhibition July – August Janet Enfield September – October Pat Nelson November – December SHOWCASES Sarah E. Smith May – June Chris Jammer July – August Marj Taylor, Susan Williams, Debbie Courvoisier & Andrea Johannson October – November

© from left to right, top to bottom: Made in Germany by Precht Wikinge, Made in Germany by Weiland Lounge, David Susuki by Lisa Brawn, and Barry Manilow by Lisa Brawn

.....mind-altering..... stay tuned for the works festival 2009 June 19 - July 1 More than 900 works of art by 500 artists featured in over 30 exhibits in Downtown Edmonton & Sir Winston Churchill Square. www.theworks.ab.ca Chalk Art Contest Deadline - June 1, 2009 5 pm.

Volunteer! Download your application at online.

2010 Exhibit Call to Enter Deadline - August 28, 2009

Opportunities for Artists For information about exhibitions contact Carrie at the QEII Foundation office 780-538-7583. Display cubes (showcases) are also available for collections or 3-dimensional art.

• Unique Gallery Exhibits & Events Natalie Green April 16th – May 4th Noboru Kubo May 7th – May 26th Grande Prairie Guild of Artists June 4th – June 23rd Laureena Braatz July 2nd – July 20th Angie Patterson September 10th – September 28th Carrie Klukas October 1st – October 17th Jim Stokes, Whitney Lee Hayes & Lynn LeCorre October 29th – November 16th Opportunities Opportunities for exhibitions in the Gallery are available. Call Dan at 780538-2790.

art of the peace 29

Blaine

Askew

Blaine Askew, Measures

I

have been carving treenware for about 20 years. Treenware is an archaic English term; it simply means ‘ware made from trees.’ There are many kinds of treenware, most are utilitarian items such as small boxes and containers, butter molds, maple sugar molds, tools, spatulas, spoons and scoops.

My kitchen treenware begins with a tree and proceeds through the use of hatchets, knives, chisels and files. Carving by hand allows me to expose and make use of hidden characters of the wood such as grain, shape and colour. The qualities of the wood, rather than the force of power tools, dictate what a piece will be like. Although there is usually some pre-planning, each piece takes shape, sometimes surprisingly, often serendipitously as it is carved.

I produce functional art that is intended to be used. The beauty of the piece can be appreciated fully when it is in your hand, stirring, mixing, serving, scooping...

art of the peace 30

Cultural

MONTROSE CENTRE

EXHIBITIONS The Prairie Art Gallery: Main Gallery Main Level of the Montrose Cultural Centre

Bibi Clement: Vigil of Angels June 8 - September 15, 2009

The Prairie Art Gallery will be closing temporarily to move into the new space. Dates of the move are to be announced. We hope everyone will visit us in our new location at 9839 – 103 Avenue in Grande Prairie, Alberta.

Each “Angel” sculpture in this exhibit has an extraordinary significance. Not angels in a purely biblical sense, they represent the kind and wonderful incidents that have transpired throughout Bibi’s life and the people who have touched it with grace. To her, the layers and nuances of the ash and salt in the wood-fired glazes are symbolic of her past and present experiences.

www.makeitgrand.ca

Yasuo Terada: East Wind Blows West

We're Moving!

The Prairie Art Gallery and the Grande Prairie Public Library will be moving into the newly built Montrose Cultural Centre in Spring 2009.

June 8 - September 15, 2009 Yasuo Terada sets new

THE PRAIRIE ART GALLERY The Prairie Art Gallery Temporary location #103, 9856 - 97 Avenue Grande Prairie, AB T8V 7K2 The Prairie Art Gallery The Montrose Cultural Centre 9839 – 103 Avenue Grande Prairie, Alberta T8V 6M7 PH: (780) 532-8111 FAX: (780) 539-9522 E-MAIL: info@prairiegallery.com

www.PRAIRIEGALLERY.com www.ISKOTEO.com

Celebrate our re-opening during the Iskoteo Arts Festival.

boundaries in modern Japanese ceramics with his uninhibited forms, designs and glazes. His work flowing from abstract to naturalistic, represents a fusion of age-old tradition and contemporary vision. Terada’s interest in raw materials and profound love for Canada’s still unbridled natural environment brings him back annually.

The Prairie Art Gallery: Project Gallery Upper Level of the Montrose Cultural Centre

HAN: Voices from the Earth June 8 - November 1, 2009 Voices from the Earth is a multi-media, moveable public art installation that develops the theme of hope for the world’s threatened environment.

OPENING RECEPTION Friday, June 19, 2009 at 6:30 pm Prairie Art Gallery in the Montrose Cultural Centre

June 16th  Municipal Government Day at Montrose Cultural Centre  Art of the Peace Juried Art Show Opening Reception  Art Walk Launch

June 17th  The Local Connection @ Your Library  Chamber of Culture Mixer

iskoteo

June 18th  Pottery Workshop with Bibi Clement  Writing Your Life Workshop with Bob Stallworthy

AR T S FES T I VA L

 Poetry in French Workshop with Pierrette Requier  Publishing Panel  Iskoteo Puppet Play and Story Time for Families  Clem and Muriel Collins Writing Contest Awards

June 19th  Reading by Sid Marty  Frontenac House - Quartet 2009 Launch  Lobstick Press Launch  Songs at Solstice  Opening of Vigil of Angels Exhibit

June 20th  Summer Solstice Super Market

J u n e 1 6 th - 2 1 st, 2 0 0 9

 Fiction Workshop with Sid Marty

6 days of cultural events in Gr ande P rairie, highlighted b y t he Li eute nant Gover nor o f A l ber ta A rts Awards Gala

 Youth Writing Workshop with Anna Marie Sewell

Lieutenant Governor of Alberta Arts Awards June 20th, Grande Prairie Regional College

June 21st  National Aboriginal Day Celebrations

w w w.is k ot e o.c om

On-Going Events  Art Walk  Art Board Exhibit  Vigil of Angels Exhibit  Art of the Peace Juried Art Show Exhibit  Prairie North Creative Residency

Grande Prairie Friendship Centre

THE CENTRE FOR

CREATIVE ARTS

Word s p i nner