Creative Escapes
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"Emma Lake Artists' Workshop"
Scenes from Emma Lake Artists' Workshop, one of the country's longest-running retreats. Images courtesy Emma Lake Kenderdine Campus.
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"Emma Lake Artists' Workshop"
Scenes from Emma Lake Artists' Workshop, one of the country's longest-running retreats. Images courtesy Emma Lake Kenderdine Campus.
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"Athabasca Glacier"
Peter Shostak, "Athabasca Glacier," 2002, oil on canvas.
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"Lake of the Glacier (left)"
K. Neil Swanson, "Lake of the Glacier," 2003.
Creative Escapes
By Rod Chapman
Dawn breaks cold over Columbia Icefield, each breath a sharp reminder that we are intruders in this bleak, frozen landscape. At 7 am the rising sun cuts an icy wedge across the blackness, infusing the upper reaches with a clean artist’s light.
The birth of this September morning is interrupted by a soft click-whirr, click-whirr. Out on the deck of the Icefield Chalet the artist aims, knowing that the light is too richly hued and ephemeral to be adequately captured on film. Click-whirr, embracing the wind-swept contours of Mt. Andromeda, tracing the wedge of light across Sunwapta Valley.
Too soon, it is over. The artist packs up his camera equipment and heads inside. Later he will trade these photographs for easel and paint, trying to recapture the intensity of dawn meeting day. Later still, his morning’s work will be shown in the Wonder of Water exhibit at Canada House Gallery in Banff.
Wonder of Water is a child of this artist retreat at the Columbia Icefield. Opening May 10, it features selected works resulting from the five-day sojourn last September. Hosted by Brewster Tours and Canada House Gallery, the retreat was attended by six invited artists — Roger D. Arndt, Robert Jones, Page Ough, Carl Schlademan, Peter Shostak and K. Neil Swanson.
“It was great. We got to know each other a bit, and there was a terrific sense of camaraderie,” says Shostak, who is now working on about 10 paintings sparked by the all-too-brief respite in the Rockies, with “maybe 10 more paintings” in the works.
Wonder of Water was planned in conjunction with the United Nations’ International Year of Fresh Water, partly because the massive Columbia Icefield feeds four of the continent’s river systems and three oceans.
Not all artist retreats have such lofty international affiliations, however. Most are simply intended as creative renewal, an opportunity to get away and let the juices flow again.
Beyond the many artist retreats at bed-and-breakfasts in isolated settings, Western Canada is home to several major retreats that attract artists from around the world. Here we showcase one from each Western Canadian province — Painter’s Lodge near Campbell River, B.C.; Banff Centre in Alberta; Emma Lake, Saskatchewan; and St. Norbert Arts Centre in Manitoba.
Painters at Painter’s
A variation on the theme of self-directed artists escaping in a spirit of exploration, Painters at Painter’s is hosted by the fabled Painter’s Lodge fishing retreat in Campbell River, B.C. This year the ninth annual celebration of art May 23 to 25 will feature 26 prominent British Columbia artists.
In the Painter’s Lodge version, aspiring artists and other guests pay for the opportunity to meet working artists and become immersed in a retreat setting. An exhibit of professional work is on display for the weekend, and many of the artists offer demonstrations, participate in panel discussions or simply work in and around Painter’s Lodge, allowing the public to watch and learn from the masters.
“Painter’s Lodge retreat is a different experience. At the icefield we were all practicing artists and we discussed a lot of the nitty gritty details about the business of being an artist. At Painter’s Lodge all the artists are on display for the weekend – it’s more of a teaching type of situation,” says Shostak.
For more information see www.painterslodge.com.
The Banff Centre
The Banff Centre offers a number of options for retreat-seekers. Creative residencies provide the luxury of time and space for working artists to create new works, research innovative ideas and experiment with different techniques and modes of production. Thematic residencies offer a structured program where artists come together under the umbrella of a common theme running through their work. Self-directed residencies provide opportunities where the artist is free to experiment and explore new directions.
See program details at: www.banffcentre.ca.
Emma Lake
One of the country’s most successful and longest-running retreats, Emma Lake Artists’ Workshop is preparing for its 50th anniversary in 2005. Open to approximately 25 participating artists and two invited guests, this year the workshop from July 25 to August 8 features artist Clay Ellis from Edmonton and New York-based critic Karen Wilkin. However, these guests serve only as catalysts, not instructors — there is no formal teaching and participants work in close proximity to each other in a large studio facility.
“The Emma Lake workshop is steeped in tradition — people feel like they are part of a history book. It’s a very stimulating experience for most participants,” says Kimberly Mathews, program coordinator for the Community Arts Program.
Affiliated with the Emma Lake Kenderdine Campus of the University of Saskat- chewan and located about 50 kilometres north of Prince Albert, the isolated campus also has a communal dining lodge overlooking the lake where meal-time conversations and stimulating late-night discussions serve to fire the creative juices. In addition to the workshop, Emma Lake also has formal instruction programs and artist residencies.
More information is at: www.emmalake.usask.ca.
St. Norbert Arts Centre
St. Norbert Arts Centre in Manitoba issues an annual invitation to artists and cultural organizations in a variety of disciplines to apply for residency, working independently in a retreat setting for up to six weeks. Residencies can occur throughout the year.
The retreat setting at St. Norbert is steeped in history. As the seat of the provisional government formed by Métis leader Louis Riel in 1869, St. Norbert is considered by many to be Manitoba’s birthplace. In 1988, the province designated the guest house and surrounding land of a nearby Trappist monastery, previously destroyed by fire, as a heritage site. In 1991 the guest house became the St. Norbert Arts Centre and was subsequently renovated.
For more information visit the website at www.snacc.mb.ca.
Across the west, artist retreats draw thousands of working and aspiring artists each year.
Each retreat has its own character, but each is united in a similar purpose — stimulating creativity in a communal atmosphere away from the distractions of everyday living.