Western Canada's art magazine since 2002
10 September 2019 Vol 4 No 19 ISSN 2561-3316 © 2019
From the Editor
Portia Priegert
I was checking my inbox last week when I spotted a painting of my neighbourhood here in Victoria.
James Bay has a complex and layered history, including early Indigenous settlements – a burial ground is still visible in Beacon Hill Park – and grand old homes built by European settlers, including Emily Carr's family.
But the biggest draw for me is the waterfront. Its barnacled rocks and log-strewn beaches are sprawled before the magnificent backdrop of Washington's snow-capped Olympic Mountains, a stone's throw across the Strait of Juan de Fuca.
The painting that caught my eye, Resolve, James Bay, a seascape by Terry Fenton, is part of a group exhibition, Land, Sea and Sky, that also features work by Dorothy Knowles, Greg Hardy and Nathan Birch.
Fenton, the former director of the Edmonton Art Gallery and the Mendel Art Gallery in Saskatoon, moved to Victoria in 2013. His painting, on view at Victoria's Winchester Galleries until Sept. 25, shows an overcast sky with a single dramatic streak of brilliant sunset. I recognized the view immediately from my daily walks.
I don't know if the image would resonate as much with other people. Paintings of familiar places tickle my brain. It started me thinking about how we respond to objects and images that trigger memories. Proust, of course, made this his life’s work.
The offerings in this issue of Galleries West are varied, but some, like Yukon writer Genesee Keevil's account of To Talk With Others, touch on place. Less tangible landscapes are evoked in a fascinating Vancouver show, Winds. You can also read about an innovative Calgary park created collaboratively with the artist group Sans façon.
Other stories look at American artist Anthony Goicolea, who is showing in Vancouver, and Albertan Susanne Aaltonen, whose work focuses on family trauma. The issue's final item pulls the strings on an exhibit of puppets from around the world.
Looking ahead, expect an amusing story about Victoria-based artist Diana Weymar’s viral art project, Tiny Pricks, that has seen hundreds of people embroider some of Donald Trump's most outrageous comments. We’ll also look at Spill, a Vancouver show that decries the hazards of water pollution.
Meanwhile, I’m working on a Q-and-A with Vancouver artist Carol Sawyer about her new project, The Scholar’s Study. When I look at her father's desk drawers, especially the one with a magnifying glass and a stash of old eyeglass cases, I’m taken back in time to my father’s desk.
I don't think I'm feeling nostalgia. The gloss of sticky sweetness that often comes with idealized versions of the past is missing. Rather it's a sharp stab of recognition. Her images feel truthful. They resonate, somewhat like that painting of James Bay.
What resonates for others, I wonder? Is the familiar? Or are you drawn to what’s new and unexpected? In my case, I would say both, although with the passage of time, the aura of le temps perdu may be gaining ground.
Until next time,
CONTRIBUTORS THIS ISSUE: Beverly Cramp, Genesee Keevil, Ciara McKeown, John Thomson, Dorothy Woodend