Tomorrow night the grand opening for a
juried exhibition called The North Now begins at 7:30pm at the Thunder Bay Art
Gallery. It’s the gallery’s first juried show in ten years, and the first time
the gallery has looked to represent the entire Northern region.
Some names will be familiar and there will
likely be a few surprises. This is also likely to be a very good show as the
quality of art produced in and around Thunder Bay has been growing over the
years due to younger artists keeping roots, due to the City’s mandate to
beautify Thunder Bay, part of which offers up competitions for local artists.
For the last eight years the Ontario Arts Council has been
supporting the North with their Northern Ontario Arts programs, instrumental in
allowing artists of our region to explore their métier, to start new projects
or complete them. The OAC also supports artistic venues and the installation
process of new works. With this support, younger artists across the region have
have found their hometowns to be a viable alternative to leaving for cities where
the cost of living is high. Older established artists have also been able to
try out new tricks. As a result, this exhibition will feature new works from a
range of artists of different ages from diverse backgrounds and locations who
will have the OAC to thank.
There
could be some controversy as juried exhibitions elicit all sorts of commentary from
people who feel that this or that artist’s work should or shouldn’t have been
represented. If you’re not the one feeling burnt, this can be a provocative or
entertaining aspect of a juried exhibition, so the Thunder Bay Art Gallery has
to be commended for their courage and setting up a fair jurying process.
The show runs from October 24 to January
4, 2015. More information can be found at www.theag.ca.
This coming weekend, Friday to Sunday, the
annual Walkabout Tour features a couple changes to the roster of artists who
will be displaying their works in their homes and studios. This tour takes
place with a somewhat circular route encompassing a few blocks around Hillcrest
and Waverly Park, so it is a delightful walk with an opportunity to Christmas
shop and meet the artists. Information can be downloaded and maps can be copied
at: www.duncanweller.blogspot.ca.
This year the tour is in commemoration of
Alison Kendal who passed away in August. Alison was a former and active member.
There was some discussion about having Alison’s studio open for the tour, but
it’s a little too soon after her husband’s loss to consider it this year,
mostly because organizing the prodigious amount of work that Alison created
will be a long process.
A
few of the artists are trying out new styles. Luke Nicol is back this year with
bolder and brighter landscape paintings. Sculptor Chris Stones and ceramicist
Kasia Piech both have more contemporary and somewhat surreal works for sale.
Potters are notoriously secretive about their techniques, especially for
glazes. Sara Link is trying out some wonderful new glazes on classically styled
pottery. Liz and Peter Powlowski have lots of new pieces that are both
functional and decorative. Tim Alexander is always exploring and has given an
edge to his functional pieces. He says, “a new branch of my
work will explore geological and environmental themes in a series I've coined
Ring of Fire. It consists of a variety of large heavily textured platters in
different shapes and sizes.” You
can ask how he does it, but don’t expect a direct answer.
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