"Canadianness is a more or less arbitrary way of understanding...artists who live full time in New York are still claimed as Canadian... How these artists relate to the Group of Seven? I don't care!"

Thank the peace that someone else thinks like this, let alone someone established and invited to speak to our class. Chris Downe was a really great speaker to have because he gave our class a different perspective on canadian art than what we have been getting. I understand and appreciate that we need to learn about the figureheads and the big names... but they aren' t the reason that I love art. Its those that don' t stick to the yellow brick road and do some really interesting things... Chris gave us a whole list of them (I got 23 names to look up and fall in love with that, for the most part, I had never heard before!). 

There is always the goal to paint something newer, something better, to create some new revolutionary style and have your name in the newsprints because really, who wants to "hitch up your car to a horse", wouldn't that be going backwards?

What about Art for Arts-sake?! What about just colour and emotion and representation of what you want to represent in a way you want to represent it. There don't have to be rules... isn't that the point?

Ben Reeves

Paul-Emile Borduas

Doug Kirton

Lucy Hogg

Sandra Meigs

Two of my favourite topics in class today - painting with a palette knife (Bourduas) and painting from your dreams.
We also discussed Refus Global... so on that note: Down with reason, make way for magic!

"The Spirit of Texas" Jennifer Morrison

It "...is not a style. It is the cry of a mind turning back on itself" 

- Antonin Artaud

"Burning Giraffe" Salvador Dali

"Conceptualizing dream imagery as a metaphorical narrative is analogous to understanding the underlying meaning of an abstract painting"

-Myron L. Gluckman

I've always had excessively vivid and, well, violent dreams. I'm not a disturbed person or anything like that at all, but almost every night I die in my sleep. I don't watch alot of creepy shows or play violent video games, I don't know if I really buy into the whole "influences of the social media" argument. Everybody thinks differently but one thing is always the same. We are all looking for something; love, money, happiness... I don't know. Maybe my dreams are trying to tell me that I want someone to take care of me and keep me safe. Or maybe I was a serial killer in a previous life and this is my pay back. Who knows. I'm sure that Freud would have some pretty interesting theories though. 

Susanna Shap

The 1930's were a period of transition in the arts - the artist begins to pay more attention to what's going on inside the work, and begins moving away from nationhood and geographically specific art to a more international art scene. In comes Avant-garde.
Aesthetic emotions and significant form become the talk of the proverbial town. Fauvist styles and sentiments had a strong impact on the art of the time.

"And Max, the kind of all wild things, 

was lonely and wanted to be where someone loved him best of all" 

- Maurice Sendak, Where the Wild Things Are

While the fauvist brush stroke may not be continued through the style of the times, the sentiment persists. 

LL Fitzgerald "Pritchard's Fence" 1928

Fitzgerald moves away from the reclusive nature of the group of seven and instead includes scenes of homes and life in his images. However, there are almost entirely abandoned - lonely and cold.  Snow banks waiting to be plaid in and swings waiting to be swung. 

Eerie perfectness. 

Empty habituated landscape. 

Juxtaposition of natural fluidity against geometric houses. 

I've been focusing a lot in my classes lately on public art and its relationship with the community. I have to say though, I wasnt head over heels for some of the works that we looked at, Such as Emanuel Hahn who I find slightly rigid and seemingly trying to recreate classical arts instead of progressing forward. To me, just a bit boring.

There are way more interesting sculptures in Canada then that!

In Vancouver there has been a park that has in it 14 sculptures of Laughing Men, all with unique expressions. Whenever you see them people are hanging off of them or re-enacting the poses or climbing all over them, They get dressed up for holidays and events and are a really well-enjoyed part of the landscape.

My point is that Public art can be just a art of the landscape that nobody ever notices, or they can be interactive and enjoyed and really turn a neighbourhood into a community, even a destination. 

Art during war-time years is typically strongly restricted. The few areas where it is allowed to flourish are typically in promotional or documentary methods. It is during the interbellum where true creativity thrives. I started looking into interbellum art and came across something pretty unrelated but also really cool... Inmate art as promoted by Dr. Jean Lacassagne.

Lacassagne was a doctor who worried about the health and well-being of inmates and prostitutes.He was the son of a law doctor who made many visits to inmates in Lyon, his hometown, and became increasingly interested in tattoo's as an art form. A project through the site Art Without Bars sprung from Jean's work and documentation in this field.

There were restrictions placed on this project to make it more interesting to the inmates, but overall it was a great way to make them feel of better worth and also to encourage them creatively.

October 23rd, 25th, and 30th:

I forgot to write a new post for a couple classes - nobody is perfect. These classes all pretty much covered the same content though so I thought it would be alot more effective to just group them together rather than pull my hair out trying to think of something to say each time.

Emily Carr, Emily Carr, oh Emily.

I am actually really happy that we covered Emily Carr so much, even though I am definitely sick of her and don't want to talk about her ever again for a solid amount of time. At least for the rest of semester.

Coming from Vancouver I have definitely heard her name a few times. [Side note: what shocked me was how so many of my friends here didn't know who she was when I mentioned I was writing an essay on her!!] She always seemed like this great mystical person when I was younger because I always saw the swirling magical forest and totem scenes from the later part of her life that she has become so well known for.
I never knew the controversy surrounding her.
Ive taken a handful of classes at Emily Carr University of Art and Design, but even when I was there not a single instructor even mentioned her name.
The time that Carr was producing was not the best time to be a native in Canada - they were considered as a dying race being over taken by the Great White North. But, did Carr share the same opinions as those that have judged her so harshly for being discriminatory and inconsiderate? She was the most common essay topic, so there must be some type of magic about her.

This song by Hannah Georgas for some reason just really makes me think of Emily Carr. There is a magic in her. They are both coming from Vancouver, their arts are obviously about very different things, and yet they are both things that they care passionately about, so how different are they?

Why are we still judging people based on their passions or how they identify themselves? Weren't we supposed to be past this 100 years ago?

Emily Carr may not have been native, she was an outsider observing them perhaps - but she saw magic in them and she wanted to be a part of it. I respect that alot. I understand that alot. I don't think its something that needs to be argued at all anymore.

My contribution to today's panel discussion. 

Oh good.. more about the Group of Seven.

The most interesting thing that I found in this class was the process of designing the logo for the group. It's just a 7 inside a circle, but it took many more tries and designs before it got there. My notes from today pretty much consist entirely of 7's inside circles and other shapes.

I also noted down "positive & negative space, coexist on one plane". I think it was in reference to a Tom Thomson painting. I'm probably putting way too much into this quote because it's getting a bit late and I'm getting a bit tired - but it, in a way, is really deep and pretty much sums up everything that I like about the Group of Seven.

Yes, there were a bit gendered and all similar types of people, but from what I can tell, they were all very open to working with other artists for the betterment of the craft in general.

I also found it really interesting that alot of them became war painters. In their depictions of trees and mountains you don't see any of the danger or anger involved in war. Maybe one of the reasons that they all loved going to the woods so much was to escape the violence of the time.

Zegirja Rexhepi - Destroyed Violin

I started looking into this a bit more and found an article by CBC about wartime and its effect or relationship with arts and culture - if you're interested you can find it here.

There goes the neighbourhood... here comes the Group of Seven with Tom Thomson blazing their path!

As a child whenever I used to go to art galleries with my mom, I would always run straight to the most abstract or most colourful or most obscene work in the gallery. She would take her time looking around for the more classical pieces, then, coming upon a work from the group of seven, she would say:
"Look Rachel, look at theses ones, and read about them. These are really important to your history and to Canada"
Or something along those lines. Honestly, I never saw it. I never really understood why what I was looking at was so significant or so much better than the works that I liked so much better.

So, I guess what I am trying to say is that I am glad we have finally breached this subject in class. Here's the thing though - I think, knowing more about them, I like the group of seven even less.
It sounds to me like they were really just very masculine men, but not in so much of the attractive way.. a bit more conceited then that. I don't dispute that they are an important part of Canadian Art History, I am just so sick of them always being what everybody talks about when you mention the topic.

There are way more interesting canadian artists out there. 

I will admit, I do like some of their works. They are all very aesthetically pleasing and well done. They got the reputation they did for a reason. 

Personally, just not really what I am in to. I appreciate learning more about them, but I think i am already done with that, ready to move on please. 

If you didn't catch this from my last post, I am not pursuing a career in fine arts. I am however a woman, and I am pursuing a career possibly in art history, or possibly architecture which is its own type of art. So, obviously, the education and advancement of women in arts, especially in canada, is very important to me. Like broke and living on the street versus have a well-cared for life doing what I love important.
Yea, that's big.

Painting I did in High School... not significant or terribly impressive, just representing right now how I feel about the future. Slightly nervous? Like going to school without any clothes on? That sort of feeling. 

The class today was about women artists and their education... I don't really think that females have a particularly difficult time getting educated in fine arts nowadays... In fact I think that its almost reversed in that it is more difficult for men because of stereotyping in the society. That being said, being educated and being successful are two completely different things and, as I am sure is the norm with most students at this time, there is the constant thought running through my mind of:

What happens after school, what do I do when I graduate, What if no one hires me, What do I want to do, What can I do, What if I just get stuck working at Mcdonalds for the rest of my life?? Stress dude. 

It sounds silly and over-exagerative, but this literally is all I think about. So yes, it is sort of a big deal. A little bit at least.  

Supposedly Homer Watson was the first Canadian landscape painter to see Canada as it truly was, and not as some dreary european-stylized painting. I do very much appreciate that he included people in some of his works, even if they are minor to the landscapes. I like that Watson depicts Canada in images that actually show it as somewhat developed, not some rural wilderness. Unfortunately, up until this class I still had not heard of him, and still it is the group of seven's works that are pushed as examples of Canadian landscapes more so.


I always love artists that are self-taught. It makes me feel like one day I might actually have a chance at significance. I know it is very unlikely, but I am studying Art History for a reason... Being that I never got around to sending my portfolio on time for fine arts. I do love Art History though, in all seriousness. Still, it's nice to dream about something different on occasion.

The Royal Canadian Academy of Arts is not what it used to be. In 1880 it was incredibly important in Canada in giving artists a way to convene and work together, as well as to gain recognition and publicity.
It still does this.. but today the RCA has over 700 members operating in more than 20 art forms..... I don't even know what all 20 of those art forms would be! I checked out the website, but unfortunately it wasn't generous enough to tell me what exactly all twenty of these visual art forms were, without repeats. Though it does range from architecture to filmmaking to fine craft.
Two things.. OKay, I wouldn't have said architecture in that list of 20, though it definitely is acceptable! Also, what exactly is fine craft??? I hate these vague terms that seem to be applied to the arts because no body knows how to explain something so broad and progressive. I just thought that on a big list like that it may have gotten a bit more specific.
Oh well.
There is an RCA medal that gets awarded to, well I would assume to those of exceptional warrant within the academy. One of the first ones was awarded to Viljo Revell, an architect. I had never heard of Revell before this, but having an interest in architecture, he jumped out at me.
Turns out he is a finnish man who designed Toronto City Hall. And yes, that is apparently the only significant building that he designed in Canada. Good-job Royal Canadian Academy. What am I missing her? Some nationalistic sentiments or something?

Toronto City Hall (this image makes it look significantly more pleasing as a result of the HDR, its really quite grey). 

I don't think I've ever noticed the city hall the few times I've been in Toronto... it is evidently very modern in style, but also very very grey. It is supposed to resemble a large eye in plan and so has been nicknamed the "Eye of the Government". Okay, it's a pretty cool city hall - the one thing I just don't really like about it is that it has a pretty good view looking over the water, from what I can tell, and yet it seems like all the windows more so look across at each other. Who wants to look out the window from  desk and see more people working? Maybe it increases productivity with the employees through some sort of Panoptican effect?

Anyway, turns out that Revell died a year before the building was complete... so thats pretty unfortunate and also still leaves me wondering why he won the award. Maybe I'll have to do some more research on this. If anybody wants to save me some time and fill me in that would be great!

Library session............ I'll be honest with you. I didn't go. In the past 3 years at Mount A, and indeed in my entire education history, I have been required to go to far to many library sessions. I just don't find them useful at all and they are really just so so so so so boring. If you are in your third or fourth year of university and you still don't know how to use a library, well then in all honesty you should probably just go home now. At least if you are in a B.A. program. When I think of going to another never ending library lecture all I can think of is how I wish I could pull a Guy Laramee and destroy all the books by turning them into something much MUCH more exciting.
As a statement on his website, Laramee says:

"“Our love for mountains will heal us”. Heal us of what? Of over thinking? Of our obsession with knowledge? Of greed? In fact it doesn’t matter. When you recover health, the only thing you can say is “sickness is over”. Health is like love. Try to describe it and you’re out of it. "

I don't know what it is about mountains, but I do know that every fiber of my being agrees with the first statement... being from British Columbia, every time I go home from the very flat maritime's and see the mountains I honestly just feel one hundred and thirty percent better, like they just filled a hole that had been missing.

Guy Laramee - Detail of Browns Bible

Guy Laramee - El Amor por las Montana nos Curara

You can see more of his amazing work here: www.guylaramee.com .
That would be a way better library to have a class at! Just saying..

We've seen alot of landscape painting and have been discusing if Landscape is the paradigm to being Canadian.
Are these, canadian and a wild landscape, terms interchangable? In developing a sense of national pride, why is it always the landscape that we look to first? There are all these images like David Fowler's "A Woodland Wanderer" that represent Canada as this great undeveloped space. Fowler was even an immigrant to Canada, so his sense of nationhood would really be created by his experiences and not by a pre-conceived notion bred into us.... I think that this will be something to think more on in the coming classes.

John Hammond, Bay of Fundy Fishing Boats

We talked about many of the original "Canadian Artists".. such as William Notman and those that were in his studios. One that stood out for me was John Hammond and his semi-impressionistic, semi-tonalist style. One thing I find really cool about taking a Canadian Art class is that we get a chance to study the works of the artists who have taught and been taught at Mount Allison, such as Hammond who was the head of the fine arts departments many years back. His "On the Marsh" is even used as promotional material for the Owen's, but up until today I knew not a thing about him.

Joseph Légaré "Burning of the Parliament Building in Montreal" 1849

We spent a good amount of time in class discussing Joseph Légaré. His artwork is all very well done, though he copies the bases of it for the most part from an original print or sketch. What I found most interesting is that he was one of the earlier Canadian artists to paint in oils... When you think of the big time painters and really all European based artists of the time, the assumption is that they work in oils, not watercolors, and definitely not acrylics. At this early time in a new nation, however, taking a small water color kit for documenting landscapes was much more realistic that a big kit of oils. Légaré was a financially stable individual, and so this enabled him, apparently, to paint without the worry of saleability. Perhaps this is why he chose to branch away from watercolors, or maybe it was just because he was wealthy enough to afford them. Either way, it must have been a pretty exciting time - being one of the first "new world" Canadian artists, really setting the trail for where we now are.