APPLAUSE!!

APPLAUSE

Not many visual artists are accustom to applause in Canada. Yet it happened to me this February. I have a little exhibition, Global Forces - Intimate Spaces, showing downtown Ottawa in a church hall. One Saturday, when I dropped in, a large group called Conversations in English for New Canadians, had just returned from their annual Winterlude skating on the Canal for hot chocolate. As I entered the hall, it was announced that I was the artist of the prints on display.  Everyone stepped forward and applauded. I looked behind me, thinking the applause was for someone other than me. What a great feeling when I realized it was for me! This must be what performing artist enjoy, as well as the money from tickets sold. Well enough said. I'm sure many visual artists can relate to what I'm saying. How special it is in Canada to receive applause. And yet, I'm reminded how when I have had exhibitions outside of Canada, the cultures applaud the visual artist all the time, and indeed show caring reverence, as if we are treasures.

Global Forces - Intimate Spaces Exhibition 2012 is showing at the Church of the Ascension Hall, 253 Echo Dr. Ottawa, parking available. I've selected eighteen photomontage archival pigment prints from my Arctic Crisis Part 1 (15) and from Ecology of Narrative Space Part 2 (15) in which the aesthetic discussion relates to the ephemeral nature of time, space, memory and identity. I'm giving an Artist Talk Saturday, March 3, 2012 at the same location. However, my inspiration begins thirty plus years ago when I worked in the Central Arctic Kitikmeot Region of Nunavut, then the Northwest Territories. Browsing my photo album, my eyes landed on my yellowed 1980's prints, their faded appearance reinforcing my senses a long ago identity. Simultaneously, their spatial aesthetic and concern with delicate light reminded me of a life long research concern with human-environmental dynamics.  As a contemporary visual artist many years later, its natural for me to reposition these memories, using digital photomontage techniques, within a contemporary aesthetic and global socio-environmental discussion. Come to the talk if you want to know more and to discuss your interpretations.

GETTING UNSTUCK

Water overflowed a small strip of eavestrough beside my garage door. Propelled by indignation with this 'improper' drainage, I mustered the energy to haul out the step-ladder. Defiantly, I climbed, my balance uncertain these days. Precariously teetering at the top, my hand blindly felt for the blockage. Seemingly in one swoop my hand closed in on marshy debris, flinging it to the ground, the sound of gushing water, then an emptied silence.

Perhaps a metaphor for how to become 'unstuck', blindly grab hold of what's there and fling it out? But then what of the "emptied silence"? And this is where I hesitated before climbing back down the ladder, dutifully putting it back in storage. The job done.

During the past year, the channel for my creative energy has shifted. And I'm not sure what to do. I'm standing at the top of the ladder, and it is silent. Meanwhile I am happy with my life. I am not the stereotypical frustrated starving artist. Rather, my life is full, overflow taking paths of least resistance. And I am still an artist.

Channeled energy is thought to be essential for efficient production and results in Western societies. What is missing in this paradigm is consideration for the uniqueness of the being of the artist. And this is why artists need to get away. To rejuvenate their authentic source. 

NOTE: In this blog we discuss aspects of the business of art for visual artists from the unique perspective of the independent artist who is creating first, and then after the fact locates the audience that will most appreciate their aesthetic. However, the discussions might be useful or amusing to anyone. 

BUSINESS OF ART TRAINING, B.O.A.T. inc: RESEARCH IN ART

BUSINESS OF ART TRAINING, B.O.A.T. inc: RESEARCH IN ART

RESEARCH IN ART

Colleagues and friends often ask me what I'm doing in regards to my art practice.  Usually, I would answer with a specific exhibition or project. The many back-to-back exhibitions during the last several years has been great exposure, bringing regional and international recognition for my artwork. Artist Resumé.

In 2011, space is needed to review these experiences, to read, to think and experiment. I've joined an independent Research in Art reading group with other artists and curators in Ottawa.  I'm interested in theoretical readings on thingness, phenomenology and environment, relating these to specific art practices and exhibitions.

The location of my own visual/multimedia practice in theoretical discourse concerns how memory works as constantly shifting, a position that challenges traditional notions of a series of fixed points along a linear narrative line. I'm also concerned with the simultaneity of experience with environment, perception and consciousness.

However, my creative process is more intuitive than analytical. My art is inspired by scraps of personal video and photographs captured over a lifetime. These are intuitively altered and combined digitally as memory is reshaped by present experience. When creating I am  in the flow of being.

Note: See blog entry: 11/23/09 Riding the Wave

CURATORS: DIFFERENT STROKES

Visual/Media Arts Curator Versus Project Coordinator are different roles. The Curator comes up with the exhibition concept, theme, and selection of artworks and artists. A project coordinator would ideally assist the curator with logistics of implementation.

Comparing Curatorial Approaches includes many variations according to individual philosophies, educational backgrounds and institutional mandates.  At one end of the continuum the Curator has a theme, and selects artworks that not only they view will contribute, but in which the artist's stated overall creative intent reinforces the theme. This Curator works closely with the artist being careful to not impose meaning on work that is at odds with the artist's intent, while at the same time locating it within a broader discussion. At the other end of the curatorial continuum is the academic who has a theme into which artists' work is selected regardless of any intent of meaning by the artist.  The benefits for the artist to this approach are insights from another perspective, but can also create mixed-feelings of being misinterpreted.

BUSINESS OF ART TRAINING, B.O.A.T. inc: CURATORIAL CLINIC

BUSINESS OF ART TRAINING, B.O.A.T. inc: CURATORIAL CLINIC

CURATORIAL CLINIC

What is a Curatorial Clinic? According to the Power Plant Gallery in Toronto, it is an informal opportunity to discuss one's work with members of the Curatorial Team, and not an evaluation or appraisal service. Members of that gallery can make a fifteen-minute appointment on Fridays. I was inspired to take-up this opportunity when recently Toronto Art Critic, Andrea Carson in her blog, View on Canadian Art - VoCA referred to me as an excellent artist doing lovely, sensitive work about place and memory, but who was "off-the-radar".

Preparing for this type of brief presentation forces the selection of visuals and quick explanations for inevitable questions from the curatorial team. The fifteen-minute time constraint could have been bumped to thirty. However, with everyone around the table being art junkies, a time constraint is necessary. From the perspective of the the artist, its an opportunity to listen to informal response by gallery's curatorial leadership and support. Based on this experience, I would recommend the Ottawa Art Gallery provide curatorial clinics for their artist members.