Dawn Owen gives a talk and guided tour of the celebratory exhibition
Macdonald Stewart Art Centre (MSAC) is celebrating their 35th anniversary with an exhibition labeled XXXV. This exhibit, which launched at the beginning of May, showcases artworks from MSAC’s permanent collections.
Since their beginnings in 1978, the MSAC collection has grown from 150 pieces to more than 8,000. Dawn Owen, curator of contemporary art at MSAC, had the task of severely editing down this collection in order to choose which specific works to showcase.
On May 28, Owen gave a curator’s talk at MSAC to discuss the selected pieces and and how the exhibition was organized. The focus of this show was on modern and contemporary art, something that has “…always been our strength,” said Owen.
As Owen toured a large group through the gallery, she spoke of several pieces of interest. In the main clerestory gallery was a piece from the “Jalousie” series by James Carl, a University of Guelph faculty member. This sculpture was fashioned out of aluminum venetian blinds which were woven into a cactus-like shape. Owen spoke about how the work was “…pushing boundaries around materiality,” something common to contemporary practice in sculpture.
The second gallery to the left was a room shaped around photo-based artworks. Owen spoke about how it is currently a “…revolutionary time for photography,” since several of these works pushed the boundaries between what is sculpture and what is photography, especially in regards to how they occupied space.
One standout piece was Christine Davis’ “Hyperbole.” This triptych photograph featured a plate of reflective steel underneath the image, something that brought the image out into living space. Davis used optical tricks of inverting and reflecting images, something that mimicked not only the photography process, but how we view photography as well.
The group then migrated to the large rooms to the right of the clerestory gallery. A large painting on one of the feature walls was “London No. 5” by Jack Bush, an artist who had newly piqued the interest of the National Gallery of Canada.
Adjacent was a 400-pound work by David Bierk, a triptych with solid plates of metal on either side. Bierk’s work typically existed within the confines of traditional painting, though upon second glance the piece took on the role of both photography and sculpture.
In the back room was a sculpture titled “Torso” by Michael Snow. The piece was “…dramatically lit…” and light was placed around this work in order to highlight the texture and form.
The room also featured two different takes on portraiture. “Firestorm” by John Scott was an incredibly large graphite drawing on canvas and Owen described it as an “…anthropomorphised portrait.” The other portrait work on the juxtaposed wall was a painting titled “Studio Interior” by Malcolm Rains. This portrait behaved as a “Literal portrait of the artists creative space,” said Owen.
Upon walking up the stairs and entering the first room, everyone was met with a sweet aroma. Owen pointed out that “Very rarely … do you have a sense of smell as well as sight” in a gallery setting. This was because of the large sculptural work by Aganetha Dyck hanging from the ceiling. This work was created from a live colony of honeybees and explained the unique scent in the air.
Inuit wall hangings and textiles surrounded the rest of the room, but there was also a special commissioned wampum belt by artist Ken Maracle, and it sat next to the “Hudson Bay Coffee Blanket” produced by MSAC’s own Verne Harrison. This display intended to represent the “…trade and commodification…” of art and culture.
In the transitionary hallway space between the upstairs galleries, there were several painted works from southern-Canadian artists who have visited the Arctic. Owen made the decision to include a work by Lawren Harris titled “Morning Light, Lake Superior,” and while Harris was not a modernist, he was someone who ventured north and interpreted that environment. Owen stated that this piece was “…a gift to the viewers.”
The final gallery space in the back of the second level was a room of contemporary metalwork’s. Many pieces were by silversmiths, with artists “…flirting with function.” The space also featured abstract works and paintings, with a focus on the “The Separation Resolved” by Rolph Scarlett. This piece was included because he was also a jewelry maker, and his work inspired Owen to put other abstract works within the context of the show.
Overall, XXXV featured some of the very best of the contemporary and modern MSAC collection thanks to the work of Owen and her colleagues. If you have yet to visit the exhibition it’s not too late as it will be running until July 14.