Western Canada's art magazine since 2002
1 August 2017 Vol 2 No 16 ISSN 2561-3316 © 2017
From the Editor
Portia Priegert
The dog days of summer – when I first heard the expression as a young intern at the Calgary Herald, I wondered what it meant. Well, here I am again, many years later, in the dog days, but now the Internet can effortlessly satisfy my curiosity.
According to National Geographic, the expression has nothing to do with dogs panting in the sun. Rather, it refers to a period of time when Sirius, the Dog Star, rises just before the sun, usually in late July, a reference that dates back to the ancient Greeks and Romans. And as dictionary.com notes, the dog days have come to mean a period of lethargy, inactivity or indolence.
While I won't admit to indolence – well, perhaps a few extra-long lunches – this issue, oddly enough, features two stories illustrated with canoes, a prime site for dog-day reverie. One relates to an exhibition in Calgary that explores Canada’s collective romance with the canoe. The other looks at a new book by National Gallery of Canada director Marc Mayer and the Indigenous work now displayed at the venerable Ottawa institution.
There’s also a focus on photography. Our cover story is about an exhibition culled from the photo archives of the Globe and Mail that's now on view at the Art Gallery of Alberta in Edmonton. There’s also a story about the work of early Japanese-Canadian portrait photographers at the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, and another about contemporary Calgary artist Blake Chorley, who uses photo techniques from the 1800s to create images that seem to step back in time.
And what dog day would be complete without an idyll in the Greek Isles? Ours is brought to you by Calgary curator Caterina Pizanias, who organized a show on Tinos, an island popular with Greek artists and intellectuals, by three Western Canadian artists – Ron Moppett, Allyson Glenn and Colleen Heslin.
Looking ahead to future issues, our writers are at work on cover stories about the Stages project being organized by the Plug In Institute of Contemporary Art in Winnipeg. And we’re also talking to Joe Fafard, whose upcoming show at the Slate Fine Art Gallery in Regina will mark his 75th birthday.
Please enjoy reading this issue – perhaps even in a canoe.
Until next time,
CONTRIBUTORS THIS ISSUE: Paul Gessell, Fish Griwkoswsky
