Art Weekend

Tags

2017, AGCC, Art Gallery, art., Canada., CCOA, Charlottetown, Confederation, Festival, PEI, Robert Houle, Saulteaux, theatre

This has been a busy weekend with the Opening of the Summer Theatre Festival at the Confederation Centre of the Arts and then on the next night the Opening of the Summer Exhibit at the Art Gallery. In both cases it brought out the whose who of PEI Society from the Lieutenant-Governor to Members of Parliament, Senators, Chief Justice and many others actors on our social scene.

The Opening play is Million Dollar Quartet which tells the story of the meeting at Sun Records in December of 1956 of four greats of the Rock and Roll scene, Jerry Lee Lewis, Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash and Carl Perkins in Memphis.

The reception before and after was a lot of fun with a live orchestra and great food by the new Chef of Mavor’s Miguel Cervantes.

The next night was the opening of the Summer Exhibit of the Art Gallery of the Confederation Centre. This being the 150th Anniversary of Confederation, the exhibit highlights the Collection of the Art Gallery, the best pieces of our 17,000 works of Art by great Canadian artists. The Art Gallery is mandated to show only Canadian Art since the Centre is a Memorial to the Fathers of Confederation.

We also unveiled a new giant painting by Canadian Native Artist Robert Houle Aka Blue Thunder who is a  from St-Boniface, Manitoba. It joins the other great canvasses on the same theme by Jean-Paul Lemieux, John Fox, Jane Ash Poitras, Yvon Gallant, Wanda Koop, Jack Shadbolt.

Robert Houle, Blue Thunder (born 1947) is a Saulteaux First Nation Canadian artist, curator, critic, and educator. Houle has had an active curatorial and artistic practice since the mid-1970s. He played an important role in bridging the gap between contemporary First Nations artists and the broader Canadian art scene through his writing and involvement in early important high-profile exhibitions such as Land, Spirit, Power: First Nations at the National Gallery of Canada (Ottawa, 1992). As an artist, Houle has shown both nationally and internationally. He is predominately a painter working in the tradition of Abstraction, yet he has also embraced a pop sensibility by incorporating everyday images and text into his works.

We were told or ‘O-ween du muh waun’ by Robert Houle, 2017

Me and the artist

This great canvas represents the Delaware in the classical pose from the celebrated propaganda painting of Benjamin West, The Death of General Wolfe which is in the National Gallery of Canada.

The Death of General Wolfe by Benjamin West, 1770. The Official story as told is of Wolfe dying on the Plains of Abraham in September 1759 during the famous battle against French General Montcalm. This scene was pure fantasy but it was necessary for propaganda purpose in England to raise taxes to pay for the Seven Year War, the tax raise led a few years later to the American Revolution.

In his painting Houle presents a different narrative, he rejects the fantasy painting of West and presents not a battle scene, stating that who won the battle is not really important and should not be celebrated. For Houle on this anniversary we should celebrate today’s Canada. Further being from the Saulteaux First Nation the idea of 150 years does not apply to his people since they have lived in North America for 15,000 years.

 

I also got a very nice gift this weekend, I often give tours to school children aged 8 to 12.

Once class sent me several thank you notes designed and written by the students.

Each card as a personal message addressed to me as a thank you from a student. I am very proud of this gift and happy that for some kids the day at the Art Gallery meant something.

 

classes in Art

Tags

Art Gallery, art., CCOA, Charlottetown, museum

For the last 4 years I have worked in National Museums here with school children presenting Art to them. I was trained at the National Gallery in Ottawa for 3 years and have read quite a few books on the topic and how to do it.

In Ottawa, I did presentations in school rooms and in the galleries of the National Gallery of Canada. My groups are about 20 to 25 students, which is fairly large and demanding. What helps of course is having a school teacher present who is also interested and engaged and on whom I can depend if a student misbehaves or if there is some problem.

National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa.

Art Gallery, Confederation Centre, Charlottetown.

 

In the last two days I had 5 classes of grade 4 – 5 students in age 10 years old.

They came from Charlottetown, Summerside, Stratford. Some came by school bus and others like this morning came on foot. On the whole it went well and the exercise was about introducing them to Art in general, explaining how to look at Art and doing some exercise so they understand that art in itself is a large concept and not confined to what bourgeois society tells you it is. The students for the large part have never been to a museum, so it is a very new experience for them. The art I was showing them is all on display in the galleries and it is all contemporary, some is installations, all very modern with no easy reference, as I told them it is not about meaning but about observing and looking closely, trying to understand what the artist is trying to achieve and what the artist is conveying.

Getting 10 year olds to look closely at something can be difficult, attention span is short and by today’s standard anything you look at as to be self-evident, not so with contemporary art.

Some kids are good at observation, others have imagination, others have skill at drawing, others do not have a clue. In a class of 25 kids, at least 7 will not be interested and look bored, another 4 will try to wander away, look at other things in the gallery, will not be able to focus. Some will be talkative, others will be silent and withdrawn. From time to time there may be one autistic child or a child who is so painfully shy they stand apart of the group. By job is to try to include everyone and get everyone to share, talk and ask questions. I always make a point of encouraging them, there are no wrong answers, encouraging them to feel free to draw whatever they want, some children have a hard time with that concept, they prefer to be told what to do, being imaginative does not come easy in a world preparing them to be good little consumers.

I also realize that some parents are largely absent from their children lives and leave it up to the State to look after them, some come from troubled homes. Some children are never spoken to at home, there is no conversation between adult and child, no sharing, that is very sad to see. Parents themselves may never have been to a museum or art gallery, never read a book, have just basic education, enough to get a job and pay the mortgage. They have kids but what to do with them, in other words their parental skills are poor.

I had one autistic child in one group, he stood apart from the group in silence, he was lost in thoughts, he was in his own world, the teacher told me that at first he did not want to come to the gallery and would wait outside in the great hall. He appeared fearful or maybe not understanding what was going on. He did change his mind, was it something I said, I do not know. Once in the gallery he became animated, the art works seemed to speak to him and he had a keen interest. He even asked me questions , he noticed things other kids did not, he certainly appeared much more mature and very intelligent.

Next week the new Summer program will be installed in a period of 4 weeks, I am looking forward to it.

Caroline L. Daly

Tags

Art Gallery, art., Canada., caroline louisa Daly, CCOA, Charlottetown, paintings, PEI, sketches

There will be a Vernissage at the Confederation Centre Art Gallery this Saturday 28 January at 7pm. Featuring the sketches and water colours of Caroline Louisa Daly (1832-1893)

She was the daughter of Sir Dominick Daly, Lieutenant-Governor of Prince Edward Island from 1854-1859. The family lived at Government House also known as Fanningbank in Charlottetown.

The Official Residence was built in 1834 and the first Lieutenant-Governor moved in and died promptly in 1835 of pneumonia,the house is on an expose piece of land facing the Strait of Northumberland, very windy and was not then well insulated.

When the Daly family moved in some 20 years later the conditions in the house had been improved. Caroline who was born in Montreal in 1832 when her father, an Irish native of Galway, was serving as Colonial Secretary in Lower-Canada. Sir Dominick would have a long career in the Imperial Service and the family would move all over the world as he was promoted from post to post.

Caroline documented where they lived and what she saw in her sketches and water colours. She left us a wonderful record of life on the Island between 1854-59. We have precious few artistic rendering and documented memories of Fanningbank and thanks to her and her father we have a link to the past. The curator of the exhibit Paige Matthie also did a wonderful job of clearing up a long standing mistake on attribution of those sketches. Many decades ago poorly done research had attributed the work to two fellows also named Daly who lived in Montreal. They had never visited the Island and there was no link between the artwork and them but for some unknown reason it was assumed they were the authors.

The Daly family has also given us more works by Caroline Louisa Daly and other documents related to Sir Dominick.

This is truly a beautiful exhibit and it is opening in a few days.

Fanningbank in Winter

If you look closely you will see on the right in the background the steeple of St-James Presbyterian and people skating on Government pond.

What is interesting, because of her water colours and sketches of Fanningbank during renovations in the 1930’s and later, these art works were used as a reference for historians and architects.

The Ice Sugar Cone in front of Momontrency Falls near Quebec City

Countryside PEI

Getting there

Tags

CBC, CCOA, Charlottetown, Christmas star, Food Bank, Food drive, Friends of CCOA, Island Morning, Matt Rainie, PEI, Receiver Coffee, XMAS

Today we finished decorating our Christmas tree and as tradition dictates I put the Star on top. Same Star ornament, decades old, bought in a local store in Ottawa all those years ago for $1. a lot of sentimental value in that little tin foil star.

Today at the Confederation Centre of the Arts, the Friends of the CCOA offered as is tradition a thank you Coffee with cakes and sweets to all the staff of the Centre. All the cakes and sweets are home made by the board members,  I made oatmeal muffins which flew off the plate. We also offered Mandarins which are so popular at this time of the year.

While at coffee, our Board President was discussing next year’s decoration at the Centre with the Chief engineer. This year we did 21 Xmas trees all decorated differently this does not include all the other trees outside around the Centre. The Chief engineer was saying that he can buy a 15 foot tall tree for $40. A tree that size in any big town in Canada would go for $350.+. Here on the Island everyone does boughs and wreaths from natural products often coming from a relatives grove or farm, you just don’t buy the stuff at the store. The little grocery store I go too on Riverside, has an excellent butcher shop in the old fashion sense, they have two butchers who can advise you and give you the cut of meat you want. On the other side they have a bakery, Cristal is the baker but she also has friends who bake for her and all her breads, buns, cookies, etc. are made right there, they also have a great PEI Cheese counter and organic vegetables from the Island Farmers, you know them the names are familiar. So they also sell all kinds of greenery to make wreaths and boughs and the prices are very reasonable. Just love going to that store which is in front of the Hillsborough River.

A wreath on our Friend D.S. front door, they are made by P.S. who has a lot of talent when it comes to doing such things.

Here is another wreath on the house next door

I think those wreaths are just beautiful and all on my street, so I get to walk pass them every day.

Talking of coffee, we go at 3pm to Receiver Coffee shop on Richmond Street, the place is owned by Chris and the coffee is superior in taste and quality, the food is also very good, It is the place to go for coffee in Charlottetown. The shop sits just across from the CCOA so you get a lot of actors, artists and musicians who come in for coffee and a bite to eat. So the other day on FB, I saw this promo for the Island Morning coffee blend with Matt Rainie and Mitch Cormier who are the hosts of the CBC Island Morning Show, it is listened too by most of the population of the Island. Everyone knows Matt Rainie, so they arranged with Chris to get a coffee blend which could be sold to customers for $20. of which $10. would go to needy families and Food Banks during the Holiday Season.

 

At Christmas time a lot of groups will give money and food to the Food Bank. The CBC is doing a turkey drive and the Island Potato Farmers will give 10lbs of potatoes for one turkey given, so a family in need gets a fresh Island turkey and 10lbs of spuds. They did say on the radio tonight how many turkeys have been given so far and they already have hundreds of pounds of potatoes to go with it. Another business gave 120 pies to the CBC for the food drive and Boomer Gallant our local weatherman star went to collect them. The generosity is touching and surprising because it comes from people not Corporations or big business, many donate anonymously.

Just a final picture tonight of St-Paul’s Anglican on Grafton Street next to Province House.

St-Paul was built by William Critchlow Harris in 1896, brother of the famous Canadian Painter Robert Harris.

Wreath contest

Tags

art., CCOA, Charlottetown, Christmas wreaths, decorations, PEI

Every year the Friends of the Confederation Centre for the Arts organize a wreath contest. Anyone can make a Christmas Wreath and bring it to the CCOA to be displayed in the long gallery. Some people spend a year preparing and making their wreath, it has to be original and not commercial. There is a panel of judges and a prize is given, all in good fun.

Here is some photos of this year’s entry.

This entry is made from the remnants of a Lobster trap and decorated with PEI shells.

This one was made by a 10 yr old girl and she made by hand each little fairy on her wreath

Dog biscuits and leash for Christmas

The caption on this one says What I want for Christmas is my two front teeth.

Cut out music sheet of Christmas carols.

Clothes pegs snow men and deers

Just a sample of all the wreaths this year on display.

 

Leviathan

Tags

Art Gallery, CCOA, Charlottetown, Leviathan, Paul Griffin, PEI, Sackville NS

The Leviathan is something that is described as large and powerful. I remember towards the end of my high school, we read this book; Leviathan or The Matter, Form and Power of a Common Wealth Ecclesiastical and Civil—commonly referred to as Leviathan—written by Thomas Hobbes (1588–1679) and published in 1651. It was not easy going because it requires a lot of attention, reflection and in 1975 at 19, I probably did not have the sufficient academic background to understand it all.

Why would teachers pull out such a book in our sociology classes, maybe to expose our young minds to a difficult topic, forcing us to think.

The work concerns the structure of society and legitimate government, and is regarded as one of the earliest and most influential examples of social contract theory. Leviathan ranks as a classic western work on statecraft comparable to Machiavelli’s The Prince. Written during the English Civil War (1642–1651), Leviathan argues for a social contract and rule by an absolute sovereign. Hobbes wrote that civil war and the brute situation of a state of nature (“the war of all against all”) could only be avoided by strong, undivided government.

We also read The Prince by Nicolo Machiavelli and found that book much easier to understand with it’s lessons still applying to our society today.

The Leviathan by Paul Griffin of Sackville N.S., at the Art Gallery of the Confederation Centre of the Arts, Charlottetown, PEI. Weighing 5000 lbs. or 2267 Kilos.

This sculpture is an Elm tree from New Brunswick that Paul Griffin selected and brought to PEI by truck. Just the fact that he was able to move such an incredibly large fragment of a tree over to the Island is amazing to me.

In August 2015 we were visiting the Island and saw Paul Griffin hammer daily the galvanized nails into the wood, some 100,000 of them. The Leviathan was then left on the upper terrace of the Art Gallery, until October 2016.

It was moved to the entrance gallery which is underground and leads to the Art Gallery. The new space inside the building with proper lighting gives a far more dramatic effect to this sculpture. A huge crane was required to lift the Leviathan unto a flat bed truck which then travelled around the Centre to the garage entrance on Richmond Street and from there moved inside into the Art Gallery.

Looking at this sculpture I am reminded of another sculpture by Rodin, the man that walks.

I really like this piece, for its texture and the sheer presence and mass and it occupies now a strategic area leading into the Art gallery.

 

Visitors!

Tags

Acadians, Art Gallery, AZ, CCOA, Charlottetown, dachshunds, Dunes Café and Gallery, Ferragosto, Matos Wines, MCCA, PEI, Point Prim, Stanhope Beach, theatre

Summer time in PEI brings tourists and visitors/Friends. In the last week leading to Ferragosto (15 August) which is also the Acadian National Day in the Maritimes.

*Acadians are known as Cajuns in Louisiana. The Acadians are the descendants of French colonists who settled in Acadia during the 17th century going by ethnic identification, some would define an Acadian as a native French-speaking person living in the Maritime provinces of Canada. The Expulsion of the Acadians starting in 1755, also known as the Great Upheaval, the Great Deportation and Le Grand Dérangement, was the forced removal by the British of the Acadian people from the present day Canadian Maritime provinces of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island —an area also known as Acadia.

Matos Winery on road 9 in Cornwall, PEI. The Rosé, Chardonnay and Pinot Noir are very good.

View from the river of the City at Confederation Landing with the Spires of St-Dunstan Cathedral.

We had two friends with whom we have been on vacations to Stratford, Ontario for the theatre season. This year we convinced them to come East to the Maritimes to visit PEI, something they had never done. They were with us for a week. The height of the tourist Season is July and August, it tapers off after September 1, then we get cruise ships with retired and seniors coming in for the day. They got a pretty good view of the Island, met a lot of people, we introduced them to, saw many sights, fine dining, wine sampling, theatre and shopping. We also went to the beach on a quiet rainy day, the only one of their stay. We also did things with them we would not normally do such as taking a city and river cruise on the amphibious bus and saw seals in the Hillsborough river, they are pretty big seals, not cute little things. Also on two separate nights while walking back home we came upon a Fox which looked nervous at seeing us and moved on pretty quickly. Obviously a young fox, the older more mature ones will sit at a distance and look at you.

Our friends at Point Prim Lighthouse (1847) the oldest lighthouse on PEI, still in use.

Will and I walking from the Beach at Stanhope on that rainy day.

The garden at Dunes Café and Gallery with it’s cluster of multicolored flowers in the large gardens surrounding the sea side property. Peter and Nash have over the years done a superb job, it is such a pleasure to go and visit, just 20 minutes on Brackley Point Road. 

This week is Olde Home Week and Saucer and Gold Cup Week with harness races everyday. The 14 horses competing for the Cup have been named and now is time to place your bets.

We are going to see Anne Kenstein and Friends at the Guild Theatre this week, it is a play adaptation of Anne of Green Gables done as Rocky Horror Picture Show, it is described as the Mother of all PEI Comedy shows. This play has not been done for a few years but it was a huge success when it premiere. Some of the original cast are back this year, I am looking forward to it. There is quite a lot of theatre in town at the moment, Mamma Mia and Spoon River which I liked a lot, it takes place near Joliette, Illinois in a small town cemetery. The dead on the Hill come back to talk about their regrets and what they should have done while alive, great music and quite entertaining. There is also a lot of musical venues not only in Charlottetown but also in many smaller towns around us. All of it is really affordable, there is no lack of things to see and do and shows to go to. On the 25 August at the Guild there will be a special show Tower of Tease Burlesque which as the title indicates will be a mix of Gypsy Rose Lee meets Magic Mike, who said we did not have entertainment in this town.  The Art Gallery has 4 shows running at the moment, I am conducting a tour in French for a group of University students from UPEI next week.

All in all a busy Summer so far.

 

The puppies on the balcony amongst the flowers.

The Provincial Flag of PEI now on the front of my car.

 

90 days ago

Tags

CCOA, Charlottetown, Dunes Gallery, first quarter, new home, PEI

It has now been 3 months since we moved to Prince Edward Island. We are now settled into our new home and have a life routine. It was a lot of work setting up house, more so than I can remember, the last time being in 2011. There was a lot of little details, by changing Province you also have to get a new driver’s permit, car licence and registration, Provincial Health card with its 3 month wait period. Also have to change address with people like the National Revenue Agency, so that income tax is calculated based on your new Province of residence.  Then there is work around the house, painting, decorating, arranging closets and emptying boxes. so many details, enough to make your head spin.

All the while discovering this new Province, the smallest in Canada with a total landmass of 5,656 sq. km (2184 sq. mi) and a population of 140,000 people. Everything seems to be 30 minutes away.

I got my family pass to enter the National Parks where some of the nicest beaches in North America are located. We now have a butcher, 2 green grocers and 2 gardening centres where we can buy annual flowers and plants for our balcony. I think my favourite spot is Point Prim where the oldest lighthouse of the Island is located. I have discovered that we do have a lot of lighthouses on the Island given the rocky and dangerous coastline.

I also like to go to Brackley Beach and visit Dunes with its beautiful gardens. http://www.dunesgallery.com

I also started a new volunteer job at the Art Gallery of the Confederation Centre for the Arts. http://www.confederationcentre.com/en/  This keeps me fairly busy and I am enjoying myself.

It has been a good 3 months and every morning I sit on my balcony, enjoying my espresso and just looking at the park and the river and all the activities on the water or at the marina, a morning ritual I follow, listening to the CBC Island Morning. Speaking of which for PRIDE Week in PEI, 25-30 July, the Island has turned this event into a big festival where everyone is participating. The street intersections in Charlottetown have been painted in the colour of the rainbow flag, the CBC has changed the colours of its corporate logo from Red to rainbow colour, etc. It seems that Pride Week is just another excuse to have lots of fun.