| Springtime has arrived, and along with the warmer weather comes a heated debate about how to spend the treasury’s oil-soaked money.
Historically, wealthy societies, including the Romans, Greeks and Nabataeans invested heavily in supporting art and architecture. Will Canada create a context where artists will flourish, or will it retreat to a place where no risks are taken?
Alberta, as one of the richest provinces in this country, has much to add to this debate. Some – those with vision – will understand that this point in our history is a golden opportunity to create something great.
If you want concrete evidence of what an arts legacy can look like, take a walk through the retrospective exhibition of Edwin Holgate’s creative output, currently on display at the Glenbow Museum. Holgate (1892-1977) is often referred to as the "eighth member of the Group of Seven." He created a body of work that touches on the people, places and culture of this country, and it reminds anyone who views it of why artists should be at the top of our collective priority lists, not the bottom. It runs at the Glenbow until June 4.
Galleries are another area that always seems to be scrambling for funding. It’s a situation that this province should rectify by establishing a dedicated fund to help offset the costs of running public galleries and artist-run spaces. Lottery funds and piecemeal grant programs are not enough for those spaces where we showcase the creators of this province’s visual culture.
Jacek Malec, director of the Triangle Gallery, is one Calgarian who has continuously aspired to bring the very best in contemporary art and design to the city. An art historian by training, Malec clearly understands how a commitment to the arts now means a legacy for all in the future. The current Triangle exhibition, human/nature, brings together four female artists in what is a poetic intersection focusing on idealism and humanity. It runs at Triangle Gallery until May 16.
Just a few blocks away at Truck Gallery is an exhibition entitled Mixed Signals, from Tricia Middleton of Montreal and Calgarian Scott Rogers. Truck says it "investigates corporate models, material modes and values, accumulation and organization through makeshift architectural forms, painting, drawing and video." Mixed Signals is at Truck Gallery until April 22.
At Alliance Française of Calgary, an exhibition of paintings by Laotian Thép Thavonsouk, titled Shadow and Light: Saffron Robes, soaks up the atmosphere of his homeland during the monsoon season.
He writes, "My paintings evoke the silence, serenity and harmony found between man and nature. They are inspired by the play of light and shadow and of beauty and drama in the mist and the clouds, as well as by the graceful descent of rainfall. My paintings represent the grandeur of nature and man’s ephemeral existence. The colour saffron represents the mysterious, peaceful and spiritual side of life." The exhibition opens April 12.
The Stride Gallery is featuring a ceramic installation by Linda Sormin entitled Cheh-Ae-Siah. On display until April 22, it’s described as "an unruly drama of chance, desire, risk, failure and wishful thinking. Thrown and altered forms burrow into hand-built scaffolding; pinched coils link together and colonize a slip-cast object; found shards are thrust into press-molded slabs."
And if you want to see the work of some future notable artists, visit the Nickle Arts Museum, where, beginning April 13, the U of C’s graduating bachelor of fine arts students will hold their annual exhibition. It runs until June 9. |
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