Western Canada's art magazine since 2002
4 December 2018 Vol 3 No 25 ISSN 2561-3316 © 2018
From the Editor
Portia Priegert
So, an architect and an art critic walk into an exhibit …
It may sound like a variation on the old "walk into a bar" gag. But it’s how I began the holiday season – visiting a local hotel that's displaying an array of gingerbread houses created by community-minded folk to benefit Habitat for Humanity, a charity that builds affordable houses for working families.
I invited the architect along to enrich my understanding of gingerbread design – stuff like slab loads and cookie crumble coefficients. He expressed the need for schematic drawings and development permits, presumably from the gingerbread planning authority. Meanwhile, I studied the decorative elements of the different houses. Did the Smarties offer sufficient gleam or would M&M’s be better? Weetabix thatching or Shreddies? It was fun.
Another favourite seasonal event here in Victoria is the truck parade, a charity event to support local food banks. All sorts of trucks – from semi-trailers to dump trucks and cement mixers – are decked out in sparkling lights and other holiday finery. I love the cacophony of horns and sirens, and how the truckers glow with pride at their handiwork. It makes me feel like a kid again.
Events like these remind me that creativity is not just the province of artists, but something that filters through all of us in myriad ways, whether it’s the relationships we co-create, or activities like gardening, cooking or, yes, baking gingerbread.
This issue of Galleries West looks at the northern environment (though not the North Pole’s most famous denizen) via Kristine Thoreson’s story about real and imagined visions of the Arctic. Another northerly angle comes in Doug Maclean’s fall auction report, which is illustrated with a record-setting print, The Enchanted Owl, by Inuit artist Kenojuak Ashevak.
We also write about photographs of industrial sites by Anthony Redpath, portraits of immigrant women by Madhu Kumar, and landscape paintings by Erin Ross. A final story explores the art and architecture of Vancouver’s Fred Hollingsworth, who probably would have rocked a gingerbread house.
Do remember to check out our books issue in two weeks. We'll be exploring some of Canada’s newest art books, but will include one from south of the border that I couldn’t resist: What It Means to Write About Art, a compilation of interviews with leading art critics. Sarah Swan, now based in Yellowknife, pitched this and I’ll admit that visions of the book being delivered to her in some courier’s version of Santa’s sleigh danced briefly in my head.
I hope you find fun – and creative – ways to enjoy the holiday season.
Until next time,
CONTRIBUTORS THIS ISSUE: Maureen Latta, Doug Maclean, John Thomson, Kristine Thoreson