Sunday, March 13, 2016

Artists' Date (Part II)

When I left you at the end of Part 1, M and I had finished our tour through two exhibits at the Art Gallery of Alberta.  From there, we walked back to the Alberta Craft Council and our car, parked across the street from it.  We bought a bit more time on the meter, and went in.

The exhibit we really wanted to see was in the Feature Gallery -- X3, a collaboration of artists from three "organizations on the cutting edge of fine craft": the Alberta Potters' Association, the Nina Haggerty Centre and Contextural I Fibre Arts Cooperative.  My friend, arlee barr of Calgary, is a member of the latter, and it was her work I particularly wanted to see.

First, though, we popped into the Discovery Gallery, which is a small space in a front corner of the main level, just on the edge of the Gallery Shop.  What we found there was "What Grows in the Ditch", an exhibit of Donna Brunner's rug hooking and pottery based on her "observations of the changing vegetation along the roadside near Battle Lake, AB."  The contrast between the lush, textured hooked surfaces of the hangings and the curved, solid lines of the pottery was enthralling.  As I cannot find contact information for her...I will share only one photo (without permission)...but you can see what I mean...

Lily Still Standing
Donna Brunner

Donna's exhibit is in the Discovery Gallery at the ACC through March 19th.


From there we went downstairs to the "main event".  arlee has given me permission to share what we found -- Contextural's share of the exhibit being our main interest -- so I'll begin with her piece:


The Birth of Silence
arlee barr


Moving around the space...examples of a wide variety of textile/fibre expression:


Saori-style Coat
one of two pieces by Karen King


Dahlia Log Cabin Series: Quilt #2
Terri Illingworth


Cariboo and Cutlines (front view)
Dana Bush

X3 will be in the ACC's Feature Gallery through March 26, so you still have a couple of weeks to enjoy the entire exhibit...  :-)


Moving back upstairs, in the Gallery Shop the felted landscapes of Corinne Cowell held me in thrall...



Along with that of SAQA Colleague, Margie Davidson, and the fine line art quilts of Leah Gravells...just to name a couple...

But we were out of change, and it was time to leave the downtown core before we got completely tied up in rush hour.   Our heads spinning with colour and our creative juices completely replenished -- and then some! -- M and I climbed into the car for the 'drive home de-brief'.   It had been an entirely satisfying day...

And it was time to get back into the sewdio!

What about you, Gentle Readers?  What do you do to fill your creative well?




2 comments:

Jo Vandermey said...

To fill the well there is nothing like a good road trip. Our small group the Fabrigos went on one last month to Cambridge Ontario and between the exhibits and lunch and a wonderful photo challenge the laughter and conversation sparked a reboot of creativity for me.
If you want to check out what we did Karen wrote about it on our group blog fabrigos@blogspot.com
We still are laughing about our photo shots.
Are you still heading to Ontario for the opening of my corner of Canada. Al will be at the opening. I can't make that but will get to see it when we go on our next road trip to see it and the quilts from Latvia. Something to look forward too!

Jo

elle said...

I have kinda let those artist dates slip away. |I need to revive them. Good for you and thanks for sharing!