Enduring Spirit - Ron Huebner (1959-2004)

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Ron Huebner, "Soul Shoes," c.1997

cast iron (courtesy Ron Huebner Legacy Collection + Archives)

Enduring Spirit... an exhibition of sculptural works by the late British Columbia artist Ron Huebner opens September 20th in the O’Connor Group Art Gallery at the Chilliwack Cultural Centre and continues until October 27th. Curated by the Ron Huebner Legacy Collection and Archives the exhibition represents a select cross-section of work, many never exhibited in British Columbia or Canada.

For over twenty years, prior to his accidental death in Amsterdam in 2004, Huebner resided in both Canada and the Netherlands. From early beginnings in Chilliwack, he went on to attend art schools in Halifax, New York and the Netherlands. In 1984 Huebner had his first solo show in Vancouver exhibiting sensory sculptural work and for the following twenty years went on to exhibit in Canada, Netherlands, Germany, France, Sweden and Belgium predominantly in arts venues supporting alternative perspectives and experimental creative development.

Huebner’s work was professionally recognized and supported throughout his career, receiving numerous professional arts grants, awards and stipends from recognized cultural entities such as the Canada Council for the Arts, BC Arts Council, Pilchuck and the Netherlands Basis. In 2002 he received the prestigious Canada Council Paris Studio Award at Cite International des Arts.

Huebner was passionately engaged in the creation of a distinctive body of conceptually-based work grounded in a focused and personalized vision of the human experience. The work endures and is as compelling today as when it was created in it’s reference to timeless issues and concerns.

Amongst other pieces, the exhibition includes significant and thought-provoking works such as a bed with porcelain heart-shaped electrical heating elements in place of a mattress, cast glass and iron ‘soul shoes’, a neon figure in the shape of Leonardo Da Vinci’s Vitruvian man transforming himself into a tree, large cast glass diamond-shaped forms reflecting internal messaging, a cast resin body chair emanating meditative sounds of water and a 14 foot tall photographic image of a Paris gutter taken from the perspective of a rodent... a project Huebner undertook while living in Paris.

Huebner made a unique, historical contribution to Canadian and British Columbia arts recognized in 2014 by the British Columbia Arts Council with support funding to create the Ron Huebner Legacy Project and Archives, with a focus on fostering recognition of Huebner’s artistic legacy on a national and international level. This exhibition was curated by the Archives.

A comprehensive overview of Huebner’s work can be found online: ronhuebner.org