From the Editor

Western Canada's art magazine since 2002

29 August 2017  Vol 2 No 18  ISSN 2561-3316  © 2017

From the Editor

There ought to be a word for that all-too brief sliver of time after a holiday, when you are back home and feel chill – you know, before you sit down and start to catch up on all the work you didn't do while you were away. I was already making a to-do list last week on the bus home from the ferry after a blissful week on Savary Island, a seven-kilometre sandbar in the Salish Sea, perhaps the closest thing to a tropical isle in Canada. I even went on a three-hour cruise, but unlike Gilligan, made it back, and the skipper too. That would be my childhood friend, Kathy, who  generously invited me and four other women to her parents' cabin, and then tirelessly piloted us around in their boat. Internet access was spotty, so while I knew stuff was happening in the art world, I couldn't do much about it. Unplugging felt good. I recharged and was ready to put this issue to bed – once I got the sand out of my hiking boots.

Flip through these pages to catch up with Saskatchewan artist Joe Fafard and his latest show at the Slate gallery in Regina. Fafard is no slouch. He's turning 75, but is still working hard and plans to keep making art "until the cows come home." Meanwhile, Edmonton arts writer Fish Griwkowsky talks to Wei Li, a finalist in this year's RBC painting contest, about her show at Harcourt House. And Calgary artist Dick Averns reviews Lorenzo Fusi's latest offering at the Illingworth Kerr Gallery, a playful re-visioning of U.S. President Donald Trump's proposed barrier along the Mexican border. There's an online component that allows anyone to submit a work. I'm already drawing up plans for my "Alt-Wall." Perhaps you'll submit your ideas, too? Rounding out this issue is a story about a new generation of Inuit artists at Urban Shaman in Winnipeg; cSPACE, a new arts centre in Calgary; and my studio visit with Victoria artist Anne Meggitt, now in her 80s, who could teach us all a thing or two about the art of aging, not just gracefully, but with passion.

Looking ahead, we have a special treat for the next issue. Toronto Star visual arts writer Murray Whyte profiles Joseph Hartman, who has made a name for himself photographing the studios of prominent Canadian artists. Hartman's show at Edmonton's Peter Robertson Gallery opens Sept. 21. I'd tell you more ... but I can't. There's a mass of emails about the fall season in my inbox and I need to read them before I plan the rest of the issue. But first I have to sweep up more sand.

Until next time,

CONTRIBUTORS THIS ISSUE:  Dick Averns, Paul Gessell, Fish Griwkowsky, Karen Quinn