Friday, May 9, 2008
Artists’ Statements . . .
DIANE WILE-BRUMM – LANDSCAPE OF HISTORY
Nurtured since childhood on stories of roots in Lunenburg County, this place has always lured me. In June 2006 I finally moved here. Now I search for remnants of my forbears' lives: endless hard work, strong family ties, simple pleasures. And always the land, carefully tended, in harmony with the seasons. Crumbling farms and faded photos have inspired me. Several preserved journals gave me titles – and so much more. They breathe life into the Old Ones.
Each painting is a deliberate combination of something lost and something remaining. Beyond nostalgia, to me they suggest values that illuminate our humanity, crossing time, offering a gentle counterbalance to the materialism, waste, and environmental crisis of the present. The watercolour is layered, heavy in places, washed away in others – a little bit like memories.
The titles of the paintings are excerpts from the journals and diaries of my ancestors…
NORENE SMILEY – LANDSCAPE OF THE HEART
‘I am interested in how and why we connect to a certain place above all others. Whether we search all our lives or stumble upon it by accident, how do we recognize it? Could it be the smell of the sea, the way the sky weighs down the earth, or the quality of light? Is it where we find peace or where our friends and family are? In the end, do we all have an innate internal landscape?
I think I have always been drawn to the question of how and why people live where they do. I’m not sure I could answer this myself. I grew up moving continually, every two years. I have little in the way of long-term memories. I lack the signposts and life-long connections that many count on to ground where they come from and to hold the story of their lives. I realized, in doing this project, that this theme is explored in many of my creative practices.
In these acrylic paintings, place seeps into bone, figures become one with the land they love. I allowed the under painting to inform the work, letting the image emerge gradually, layer after layer. I have included excerpts, from the subjects’ thoughts, as they tried to express their intangible, inescapable, often deep-rooted, connection to place.’
SHANNON BELL – EMOTIONAL TOPOGRAPHY
These paintings represent a physical and emotional viewpoint and a narrative that is unintentional . . . involuntary . . . it happens as I drive down the highway at 100 km ph. I watch the land go by and I try to keep up. These paintings are about my twenty-nine year journey traveling from Halifax (where I live) to Charlottetown (where I was born). This is not about abstraction or representation . . . it’s how I see the yellow ochre fields, burnt sienna soil and cobalt blue skies. A world of shape and colour in which detail is sacrificed to speed on a road that’s been twinned, tolled and linked to and from Prince Edward Island. It’s an emotional topography that serves as an entry and exit between the two destinations.
I paint these landscapes because this is who I am. I paint them influenced by twenty-four years as a graphic designer, Richard Diebenkorn’s sense of place and Henri Matisse’s sense of shape and colour.”
Nurtured since childhood on stories of roots in Lunenburg County, this place has always lured me. In June 2006 I finally moved here. Now I search for remnants of my forbears' lives: endless hard work, strong family ties, simple pleasures. And always the land, carefully tended, in harmony with the seasons. Crumbling farms and faded photos have inspired me. Several preserved journals gave me titles – and so much more. They breathe life into the Old Ones.
Each painting is a deliberate combination of something lost and something remaining. Beyond nostalgia, to me they suggest values that illuminate our humanity, crossing time, offering a gentle counterbalance to the materialism, waste, and environmental crisis of the present. The watercolour is layered, heavy in places, washed away in others – a little bit like memories.
The titles of the paintings are excerpts from the journals and diaries of my ancestors…
NORENE SMILEY – LANDSCAPE OF THE HEART
‘I am interested in how and why we connect to a certain place above all others. Whether we search all our lives or stumble upon it by accident, how do we recognize it? Could it be the smell of the sea, the way the sky weighs down the earth, or the quality of light? Is it where we find peace or where our friends and family are? In the end, do we all have an innate internal landscape?
I think I have always been drawn to the question of how and why people live where they do. I’m not sure I could answer this myself. I grew up moving continually, every two years. I have little in the way of long-term memories. I lack the signposts and life-long connections that many count on to ground where they come from and to hold the story of their lives. I realized, in doing this project, that this theme is explored in many of my creative practices.
In these acrylic paintings, place seeps into bone, figures become one with the land they love. I allowed the under painting to inform the work, letting the image emerge gradually, layer after layer. I have included excerpts, from the subjects’ thoughts, as they tried to express their intangible, inescapable, often deep-rooted, connection to place.’
SHANNON BELL – EMOTIONAL TOPOGRAPHY
These paintings represent a physical and emotional viewpoint and a narrative that is unintentional . . . involuntary . . . it happens as I drive down the highway at 100 km ph. I watch the land go by and I try to keep up. These paintings are about my twenty-nine year journey traveling from Halifax (where I live) to Charlottetown (where I was born). This is not about abstraction or representation . . . it’s how I see the yellow ochre fields, burnt sienna soil and cobalt blue skies. A world of shape and colour in which detail is sacrificed to speed on a road that’s been twinned, tolled and linked to and from Prince Edward Island. It’s an emotional topography that serves as an entry and exit between the two destinations.
I paint these landscapes because this is who I am. I paint them influenced by twenty-four years as a graphic designer, Richard Diebenkorn’s sense of place and Henri Matisse’s sense of shape and colour.”
Thanks . . .
From Here is finally open. Thanks to everyone who showed up on that beautiful sunny Sunday afternoon. We are overwhelmed by your support. Friends and family came from as far away as Ontario, Prince Edward Island, from all corners of Nova Scotia from across the bridge in Halifax and from Dartmouth. So thanks to all our friends and family who encourage, support and say very nice things just when we need them. We couldn’t do it without all of you.
Monday, April 28, 2008
6 hours later . . .
Whew, the show is up and it only took us 6 hours. Hope to see everyone on Sunday, May 4, 2008 from 2-4 pm at the Craig Gallery, Alderney Landing in Dartmouth.
Saturday, April 12, 2008
Its a Date
Opening Reception: Sunday, May 4, 2008, 2–4 pm
Exhibition: April 29 - May 25, 2008
Craig Gallery at Alderney Landing
2 Ochterloney Street, Dartmouth, NS
(next to the Dartmouth Ferry Terminal Building)
902-461-4698
www.alderneylanding.com
Gallery Hours:
Monday: closed
Tuesday-Friday: 12 noon - 5:30 pm
Saturday: 9 am-5 pm
Sunday: 11 am-4 pm
Exhibition: April 29 - May 25, 2008
Craig Gallery at Alderney Landing
2 Ochterloney Street, Dartmouth, NS
(next to the Dartmouth Ferry Terminal Building)
902-461-4698
www.alderneylanding.com
Gallery Hours:
Monday: closed
Tuesday-Friday: 12 noon - 5:30 pm
Saturday: 9 am-5 pm
Sunday: 11 am-4 pm
Shannon … on my ipod
This is the music that I've listened to consistently while painting this series:
Live at the Fillmore, Lucinda Williams
Essence, Lucinda Williams
The Sky Observer’s Guide, Amy Cook
The Last Waltz, The Band
Will the Circle be Unbroken Vol. I, II & III, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
Lonelyland, Bob Schneider
My Baby Just Cares for Me, Nina Simone
Black Doves, Amelia White
Stop Making Sense, Talking Heads
Dusty in Memphis, Dusty Springfield
Awake is the New Sleep, Ben Lee
Kind of Blue, Miles Davis
Portrait in Jazz, Bill Evans
Ravi Shankar, Chants of India
Greatest Hits, Muddy Waters
J.S. Bach: Suites for Cello, Pablo Casals
Live at the Fillmore, Lucinda Williams
Essence, Lucinda Williams
The Sky Observer’s Guide, Amy Cook
The Last Waltz, The Band
Will the Circle be Unbroken Vol. I, II & III, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
Lonelyland, Bob Schneider
My Baby Just Cares for Me, Nina Simone
Black Doves, Amelia White
Stop Making Sense, Talking Heads
Dusty in Memphis, Dusty Springfield
Awake is the New Sleep, Ben Lee
Kind of Blue, Miles Davis
Portrait in Jazz, Bill Evans
Ravi Shankar, Chants of India
Greatest Hits, Muddy Waters
J.S. Bach: Suites for Cello, Pablo Casals
Diane … on my CD player
These are the ones I listen to over and over and over while painting:
Joel Plaskett Emergency: "Ash Tray Rock", "Truthfully, Truthfully"; "Down at the Khyber"
Joel Plaskett: "LaDeDa"
Amelia Curren: "War Brides"
Ruth Minikin: " Folk Art"
Ron Hynes: "Ron Hynes"
Plus:
Leonard Cohen: "I'm Your Man"; " Tower of Song"
Glen Hansard, Marketa Irglova "Once"
Damien Rice: 'O'
Natalie Merchant: "Ophelia"
James Blunt: 'Back to Bedlam"
Santana: "Supernatural"
Eros Ramazzotti: 'Calma Apparente"
Aerosmith: 'Greatest Hits"
Joel Plaskett Emergency: "Ash Tray Rock", "Truthfully, Truthfully"; "Down at the Khyber"
Joel Plaskett: "LaDeDa"
Amelia Curren: "War Brides"
Ruth Minikin: " Folk Art"
Ron Hynes: "Ron Hynes"
Plus:
Leonard Cohen: "I'm Your Man"; " Tower of Song"
Glen Hansard, Marketa Irglova "Once"
Damien Rice: 'O'
Natalie Merchant: "Ophelia"
James Blunt: 'Back to Bedlam"
Santana: "Supernatural"
Eros Ramazzotti: 'Calma Apparente"
Aerosmith: 'Greatest Hits"
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