FFWD Weekly
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Visual Arts by Anne Severson The visual arts community does appear to be united in its volatile reaction to my Artsupdate (March 9) comments on "bickering among Calgary artists" and "revenue shortfalls" leading to the Glenbow’s cancellation of the Alberta Biennial of Contemporary Art 2000. Now let’s hear it in public. Is the visual arts community willing to get together and show their support for the rigorous, active, diverse art that is developing right here in Calgary? I think so, maybe, probably, perhaps. I have thrown down the gauntlet, as they say, and I am waiting for concrete rebuttal. I have talked to many of you personally, and I ask you, please don’t let your public silence speak of a fractured arts population. You can send a message to Calgary, to Alberta, to Canada and the world through e-mail to me at ffwd@greatwest.ca or severson@telusplanet.net. I will publish your comments, anonymously if you wish. Support your art community by voicing your opinion, and prove the visual arts are active and united in Calgary. Meanwhile, on the exhibit side of things, printmaking is making its mark. Calgary Printmakers at Image 54 Gallery will be exhibiting new prints by top local print artists such as Marjan Eggermont, Douglas Jaap, Bill Laing, Duncan Mackenzie, Helen Mackie and Carolyn Qualle. What is a print? What’s all the fuss about? At Image 54 you can pick up a short descriptive pamphlet summarizing The Art of Printmaking by Deborah Herringer. The opening is on March 30 at 6 p.m. Come and meet your local artists. Truck’s fund-raising Round 5 video screening of Couple in the Cage by Coco Fusco and Gullerimo Gomez-Pena takes place on March 31 at 7:30 p.m. Entrance is by donation – plea$e help arti$t-run centre$ $urvive. A collaborative performance at The Centre Gallery features Barbara Bickel with writer and singer Pauline Le Bel in Battle Cries: In Search of the Warrior Woman on March 31 and April 1. There is also a free artist talk on April 2 at 2 p.m. For more information call 237-0383. Master’s Projects from the faculty of environmental design will be available for viewing at The Nickle Arts Museum starting March 31. Phone 220-7234 or e-mail nickle@ucalgary.ca for information. The lustrous encaustic female nudes of Teresa Posyniak in Woman at Rest will open on April 4 at 6 p.m. at L’Alliance Française. Meet this intriguing artist who is pushing the boundaries with her difficult encaustic (hot wax) technique, but more significantly with the concept of women painting nude women. Is the nude an object of the "sexual gaze" or is she her own person, comfortable with her sexuality? Congratulations to one of Calgary’s finest artists, John Chalke, for winning the first Governor General’s Award for Visual and Media Arts. The unique textured surfaces of his ceramics have long stood out in Calgary, and in Canada. Wood firing produces his favourite surfaces that are "unexpected, exciting and dramatic." Chalke is represented by Prime Gallery in Toronto, and you can view his work locally at Paul Kuhn.

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