Dr. Salem Bland, by Lawren Harris

It is unusual to find a portrait painting by Group of Seven member, Lawren Harris.   This painting of Dr. Salem Bland is, however one such painting, which has been found online.

This is a picture with few compromises. The flat background, the black clergical gown, the contrasting white clergical collar, the steel grey-white hair the severely sculptured beard and the strong, squared jaw give Dr. Bland a rather doctrinal, black and white view of life.

Bland's face lacks any trace of a smile. His features from his eyes down are drawn and tight and his beard is precisely trimmed.

I find myself looking at the backlighting behind Bland, and wondering if I don't see subdued suggestions of a halo effect?

But there is more. Harris's genius in this is in his ability to turn Bland into a man we can empathize with. Dr. Bland looks at the world with tremendous compassion and gentleness. His eyes are questioning and they suggest that he has been weeping or is at least, near to tears from the matter of human sin and suffering.

Dr. Bland, has a high intellectual forehead and cerebral dome, which phrenologists say befits a man of great intellect.

The statements made by this painting, are perhaps best seen by looking at Lawren Harris's theological viewpoint. Dr. Salem Bland, suggests that Harris is presenting a theosophistic statement against the doctrinal position of conservative, protestant, Christianity, for Harris was a Theosophist.

I won't expand upon this for I don't wish to use the blog as a forum for religious points of view, so you may wish to learn more about Theosophism on Wikipedia.

But, viewed in this context, Harris is following the footsteps of a legion of artists who have gone before him and who have used their art as a vehicle for making religious statements.

Wikipedia provides a good insight into the life of Dr. Bland. He was a foremost believer in the social gospel and his life was marked by many valued contributrions to humanity and to the ministry. Dr. Bland served in the Methodist, Wesleyan Methodist, and United Church of Canada, after church union.

As producer of the Portrait of the Visual Arts in Canada, I wish to thank Mr. Jonathan Cameron for the comments he sent 'The Portrait'. I took Mr.Cameron's advice and found an excellent article on Dr. Bland.
All things considered, I decided that this entry required some rewriting to set the matter about Dr. Bland straight for the record. And, I extend my apologies to family members who were related to Dr. Bland.

 If you click on the Wikipedia link you will learn more about his contributions and life in the ministsry.  Please click here.

Antoine de St-Exupery on Perfection:

"Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away".

Canadian Artist, Ice Bear (Chris Johnson) at his Dallas Exhibition

I have not chosen art, the painting and sculpture. It is a task, a responsibility if you will, given me by the Creator from birth. As a small child removed from home and family, speaking no English and placed in foster care in Toronto, drawing was often my primary means of communication. The elders of my people, whom I met for the first time a few years ago, tell me that even as a toddler, I drew. I am, they say, what the Anishinabe call a Dreamer.

You can find Ice Bear art at these fine galleries:
British Columbia,
CRS Trading Post, Brittannia Beach,BC
Coastal Carvings, Coombs,BC
Eagle Feather Gallery, Victoria, BC
House of the Spirit Bear, Vancouver, BC
Oak Leaf Gallery, Chemainus, BC
Sooke Harbour House, Sooke, BC
Turtle Island Gallery, Kelowna BC
Squamish Lil’wat Cultural Centre Whistler,BC

Elsewhere in Canada
Wah-sa Gallery, Winnipeg, Manitoba
Whetung Gallery,Curve Lake, Ontario

International
Agora Gallery, New York
American Indian Art Council, Dallas, TX
Turnbull Studio Gallery, Maui

Ice Bear's website:
http://www.icebearstudios.com/

Robert Bateman

Steven Snider, Ontario Artist

I first met Stephen after responding to an advertisement to join his weekly art group in Warkworth, Ontario. Stephen took me into his sketching class, even though my focus was watercolour painting.

Stephen's classes were lively, communicative affairs and loaded with good teaching and lots of laughter.

Stephen knew how to challenge and push buttons. He walked into a zone where most teachers dared not tred, when he took my brush in his hand and demonstrated over top of my artwork.

I was frustrated beyond imagination. I tossed my work down on a sofa, in frustration at my own lack of progress.

On another occasion he whipped a small brush out of my hand and admonished me for its use. But, through it all, Stephen placed my development foremost, and he provided valuable lessons on values of light. Stephen later told me that he had not had any painting student who had such enormous drive to succeed. He has been a supportive friend in art ever since and is generous with advice, encouragment and supportive critiques.

Stephen is a graduate of the Ontario College of Art, in Toronto and he has lived until recently in the picturesque village of Warkworth. His artwork has been used by advertising agencies, businesses, magazines, and the Dept. of National Defence and the War Museum. No surprise, for Stephen had his early sights set on becoming a pilot.

Look for some of Stephen's future works on the blog.

Please check his website: www.stephensnider.net/

Opening of the 2008 Great Northern Arts Festival

Herry Arifin, Toronto Watercolour Artist

Herry paints loosely, wet on wet, and this type of painting is ideal for him eliminating extraneous details, and closing in on his subjects. Unlike many new watercolour artists, Herry isn't afraid to include people in his works. Because of this his works are filled with energy and human vitality.

Herry is an eclectic artist and he eagerly paints, still lifes, landscapes and urban scenes. But, it seems to me that Herry's work comes to life when he paints his home city of Toronto. His delight of city scenes seems unlimited; be it street cars, ethnic neighbourhoods, busy sidewalks or boats in the harbour.

While Herry's urban scenes are lively and filled with the energy of the city, his still life pictures sparkle with the energy generated from his mature understanding of colour interplay and dynamics.

Herry Arifin, is relatively new to the art scene, but his watercolour paintings are making his presence known in the Canadian art scene.

Herry invites you to read on his website:

"Painting is, for me, a way of communicating, of expressing to others my feelings about the world around us. When I retired early, in 2002, I found that I had suddenly lost many of the opportunities for communicating that had come with my work. Painting has filled that need since then, and I think it could do so for many retirees.

People often think that to paint one must have unusual, inborn talent, or to go through a long period of training in art school. I found that is not really true – painting, like talking is a natural human activity. I had no special training as a young person, only after retiring, I attended painting classes. This taught me the fundamentals of design and of the technical aspects—handling paints and paper. Since then it has been a matter of practice, and looking as much as possible at high quality paintings by others.

The choice of medium and style for communicating in paint is a personal one. At first I wanted to imitate other painters, but fairly soon I realised that the important thing was to allow my own style to develop. I’ve chosen watercolor because it suits my personality as well as my painting style. What inspires me most is taking a busy, even chaotic, scene, and organising it into a pleasing, simple pattern of values and colors."

http://www.herryarifin.com/

Along the Columbia Valley Wetlands, British Columbia, Canada.

I took this picture the other day and decided to post it on the blog.

The Columbia Wetlands is a large, wildlife protected area and is the home of many species of birds - including bald and golden eagles - and it is also where I live. I have been challenged lately to paint a picture of this scene.

Robert Genn on Artistic Self Criticism

Robert Genn is one of Canada's most accomplished painters, having gained international recognition with his genre, for the most plart being, subjects on Canada's West Coast. But, he has also painted in most parts of Canada, the United States, Central America, Europe, and Asia. Born in Victoria, British Columbia in 1936, he attended Victoria College, The University of British Columbia, and The Art Centre School in Los Angeles, California. Genn carries on the tradition of the Canadian Landscape with fresh, painterly techniques and strong design, often and especially exhibiting his devotion to painting by reducing grand themes to small panels painted in the wilderness he loves.


source: Mayberry Fine Art, http://www.mayberryfineart.com/artist/robert_genn/


"Evolved artists compartmentalize their confidence. They tend to be audacious at the primary easel and critical at the secondary easel. Allowing themselves the satisfaction of dissatisfaction, they stealthily check their efforts for the quality they seek. We all know of perfectly incompetent artists who never apologize for anything. This, too, is a form of self-delusion that sends a lot of substandard work out and about.

The real art is to develop the skills to vet your art prior to its completion. Clarifying and isolating elements in the work that may need revising--and doing so verbally--is not a bad thing, even in front of others.

The first trick is to identify those elements that are fixable and those that are not. The second trick is to know how to fix the bad stuff without losing the audacity you had in the first place. The third trick is to know it's all an illusion, and with the help of your devious creative mind you have once more done the best you can under the circumstances. The fourth trick is to avoid the trap of perfectionism. At some point you must abandon all your façades and get on with the next project, no matter what your wife says. "

Source: Robert Genn:

'The Painter's Keys' ezine newsletter. This biweekly art newsletter is now over ten years old and the subscription is complimentary. Please see, http://www.painterskeys.com/

Thoughts From Robert Bateman

For readers interested in the intellectualization
of art,you may wish to check out Robert Bateman's
site:


Robert Bateman's Ideas,


http://www.batemanideas.com/Default.htm


I was drawn to his observations, titled, 'Bateman on Art.'
Above picture by: Birgit Freybe Bateman


Quotes to Reflect Upon

"During the 20th century an elite group has established itself as a sort of priesthood.....The curator and critic priesthood holds the keys to the kingdom of "High Art".

"The driving force was the myth of the artist as a rebel and the rallying cry was "If it has been done before, it's not worth doing again!"

"It is futile to march behind a banner saying "If it's been done before, it's not worth doing again!".

"When the books and articles started to come out and I began to become 'famous', I also began to get slings and arrows from certain Canadian quarters. Canadians are famous for doing this to other Canadians in similar circumstances. I guess that it goes with the turf."

A Crazy Woman by Robert Genn

More notes on Emily Carr

When I was four years old, I was riding along in the back seat of my grandfather's 1936 Hupmobile. Passing through Beacon Hill Park, in Victoria, BC, I spied a lone woman on a stool with a big easel. "Look Papa, an artist," I said. My grandfather - I can still see the expression on his face - looked over his shoulder, and confided. "Her name is Emily Carr. Some people think she's crazy.

Within a few years of that encounter, that crazy woman had passed away and then there were only her paintings and writings. Emily was a unique product of a Victorian upbringing, a West Coast vision, and the influence of modern mentors. Her remarkable books started appearing in 1941. In them we get a glimpse of the anxieties and joys of a creative pioneer - an original thinker with an attitude

When you really think about your hand you begin to realize its connection, to sense the hum of your own being passing through it. When we look at a piece of the universe we should feel the same,"she says. Emily felt the hum and found a way to respond. Painting in the "marvellous modern manner" she wondered if she might ever feel the burst of birth-joy, that knowing that indescribable, joyous things, that have wooed and won me has passed through my life." Emily was a spiritual being who responded to the great forests and the native cultures of our coast. She was a quirky loner who hoisted the chairs of her studio, so guests would not have a place to linger. For those she found 'interesting', she might lower one down.

Too young to test her hospitality, I nevertheless ingested her writing. Her words got me going. "There is something bigger than fact: the underlying spirit, all it stands for, the mood, the vastness, the wilderness." This wilderness took both of us away in boat and camper, on voyages of discovery and countless sorties of unfinished business. "Sincerity is itself, religion," she told me and I believed. I was pleasantly surpises that her concerns were mine; "You always feel when you look it straight in the eye, that yuou could have put more into it, and let yourself go and dug harder."

Robert Genn, on Emily Carr: Text, Love Letters to Art. pg. 33.

Studio Beckett, Publications, Vancouver.

Tony Bennett Art Interview

Callling All Gullible Artists

How's this for an email?

GALLERY GORA
C O N T E M P O R A R Y A R T & DESIGN C O N T E M P O R A I N

279 Sherbrooke West, suite 205 Montréal QC Canada H2X 1Y2

art@gallerygora.com tel: (514) 879.9694 (514) 879.9694 fax: (514) 879.9694 (514) 879.9694

ATT: Frederick Winston
We have viewed your work and would like to offer you an opportunity for an exhibition of your work in Montreal, for the year 2010/2011. Please find below the “Terms and conditions”.You will receive a confirmation, an exhibition date and other related information (by fax or e-mail) within a week of the gallery’s receipt of the “application form” (see page 3)Visit the gallery website for additional information: http://www.gallerygora.com/
Gallery Gora is in the heart of downtown Montreal. The gallery is adjacent to the “Musée d’Art Contemporain” and other major museums. Gallery Gora has existed since 1994 and represents a number of Canadian and international contemporary artists.As an expanding cultural center in North America, Montreal is increasingly attracting ‘cultural tourism’. It has two official languages (French and English) as well as many other tongues spoken by its multi-cultural population. This provides the basis of a lively cultural scene that organizes a great array of cultural events, such as the Montreal Jazz Festival, the Just for Laughs Festival, and the International Film Festival.
TERMS AND CONDITIONS 1. Eligibility and Application ProcedureGallery Gora invites you to exhibit in a solo or in a group exhibition. Selections are made solely on the basis of artists’ portfolios. Please send to the gallery:- Completed and signed application (see page 4)- International bank/postal money order or bank transfer (see “deposit” paragraph 3)You will then receive a confirmation, an exhibition date and other related information.

2. Duration of ExhibitionThe exhibition runs for a minimum of 3 weeks (at least 19 opening days, not including setup and take down time).

3. Exhibition FeeA - Solo Exhibition- Each artist can have up to 20 pieces of work depending on size- The fee for a solo exhibition is $2,500.00 to cover gallery expenses.- The first $2,500.00 of sale are commission free.- The gallery takes a 20% commission during the 3 week exhibition- A deposit of $700.00 is paid together with the application. It is payable by International Money Order (see application form page 4)
- The balance of the fee is payable 5 weeks prior to the exhibition date. All money is refundable in full if Gallery Gora cancels the exhibition.

Observations

From Renoir:

Milo Andrea Wagner
"The figures of a Renoir blend sublimely into their settings, and the settings back into the figures. That his subjects exist in intricate symbiosis with their environment is both a technique of the brush and a philosophical statement, nowhere better illustrated than in his early masterpiece of 1874, La Loge (The Theatre Box)."

Emily Carr Journals:
"I begin to see that everything is perfectly balanced so that what one borrows, one must pay back in some form or another that everything has its own place, and is interdependent on the rest, that a picture, like life, must also have perfect balance."



Sources:
The Catholic Herald. UK
http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/reviews/r0000276.shtml
Emily Carr: 'Hundreds and Thousands'. (earlier posting)

Tony Bennett: The Singing Artist

At the end of the day, I think that the singer, Tony Bennett will prefer to have made his name with a paintbrush rather then with a microphone.

Tony's portrait of Duke Ellington is in the Smithsonian collection and he is rapidly making a name for himself in art circles.

If you check out his works I think you will be surprised for when it comes to his brushwork, he's definitely got the tools.

Since this blog has a watercolour focus, you will be surprised to learn that the painting above is a watercolour. Not too many artists make a comfortable transition from oils to waters, so I wonder if Tony didn't begin as a watercolourist before taking up the rag and turps media.

When Tony sings, "I left my heart in San Francisco," I wonder if his heart wasn't on a canvas he had painted of that city?

Tony's art website:

http://www.benedettoarts.com/index2.html

Artists in Motion: What Artists Can do in Small Towns

What a small town can do when a small town wants to

Marmora, Ontario celebrates a year of Art

Marmora is by all intentions, a sleepy little village in eastern Ontario. One of its residents told me that those who are employed in Marmora service the needs of the retired and unemployed.

This is definitely a "roll up the streets after 6 o'clock," village.

Then, along came newcomers Christine Dominico and Eiliean Teat. Two very artistic ladies with big dreams and huge ambitions. Both wanted to wake the sleepy little village up with a fresh coat of paint and bring it to life.

By the time a year had passed - they had not only created what they set out to do but they created a model for small towns everywhere.

The first thing the women did was seek out other like minded artists with advertisements in the local papers and word of mouth and together they initiated their goal by featuring an art workshop in an abandoned railroad station and an Arts in the Park event along walkways which grace the Crowe River which flows through the village.

By the time these two events ended, the wheels were turning. The two called for meetings in a committee room in the village 'town hall', and the art community turned out in force; musicians, writers, dramatists, and visual artists all.

By November, the little village was taken by surprise when the group initiated their first of many to be, Christmas Showcase of the Arts. Those who attended attended were greeted by singers, a juggling clown, and a splendid supply of refreshments.

By the time their first year had ended time, the group had created bye laws, a committee structure and had incorporated. They also found a local shop which was empty to showcase the visual arts and to feature books written by local writers. The store is funded by a governmental funding grant, and by local artists who committed themselves to $30 a month to display their works.

Their list of activities in the first year, is nothing short of amazing. The group has spun off, art workshops, a literary contest, a juried art show, a dramatic presentation, and a musical performance.

It is rather amazing to think that a village of about 1,300 people and a surrounding area could produce about 40 artists to display their art in the village gallery. But what surprises most visitors is the quality of the artwork. Most of these artists have produced their artwork quitely and without fanfare to be shared by friends and family.

But there was more. The artists for the most part had been working, without connection to any other artists. The side benefit of the work of these two ambitous and visionary women, and the people they drew around them to share their dreams was that a community of artists was born and that this community strengthens their sense of identity.

All of which leads to the question - if this small, Ontario village and nearby vicinity can produce so much hereto unknown art, is this characteristic of small towns throughout the province?

The Marmora AIM project has further implications. Small town Ontario, and for that matter - small towns and villages in Canada have seen a shift of economy and the brightest and most ambitious of their youth have 'moved on' to where employment offers a more secure future.

Over the years, a spiritual decay has set in, within these villages. Village pride has taken a back seat to despair and loss. Villagers see themselves as boondockers.

The dynamic influence of art in Marmora, has provided this little village with colour, and identity. There are those who now have a vision of the town attracting, an business "arts community" to create boutiques and coffee shops.

It goes to show what two people with a vision for the arts, and hard work can achieve.

Please visit the Marmora AIM (Artists in Motion) website, for a more extensive story of their accomplishment, and to read of the contributions of others who have joined the village art team.

http://artistsinmotion.org/

The Passing of Tom Bjarnson

Tom Bjarnson was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba. He was born in 1925, seemingly with an inherent love of airplanes. Bjarnson dreamed of becoming a pilot, but his dream wasn't realized because of visual problems. His mother, who as an artist excouraged him to take a correspondence course in drawing and that marked the beginning of his future as an artist.

In a Legion Magazine' article about Tom, Jennifer Morse wrote:

"Bjarnason’s paintings are unusual in both style and composition. He layers on transparent ink and acrylic (often white) and renders outlines as part of the work. Although he has created lovely oil pastels, he avoided oil paints because of the drying time required to finish a canvas."

Tom illustrated for Readers Digest, Star Weekly and Air Transport in Canada.

He died on Augut 26, 2009 of pneumonia at the age of 84.


Sources: Legion Magazine (online)

http://www.legionmagazine.com/en/index.php/2008/11/tom-bjarnason/

Windsor Star (online)

http://www.windsorstar.com/Illustrator+known+military/1933389/story.html

Coping with Pretty

Emerald Lake, Alberta

Don Konrad, an artist friend and I talked at length about the difficulty of painting mountains. Mountains are so formidable a presence, and so appealing to the senses that it is easy to paint them in their grandeur. But, we both chuffed with indignance at the thought of painting pretty. Its downright plebian.

Artists have been known to walk mountain trails and almost perform physical gymnastics to find the right scene - in the attempt to avoid the classic, pretty mountain against the pretty sunset scene. Is it any wonder that artists, take vast liberties with nature? A rock here, a boulder there, a pine which has long died and is about to crash into a river....anything...even an old shoe submerged along a lakeshore to grab interest. Anything but what the eye sees! Or...is it anything to enhance what the eye sees?

Why did we we both bob our heads in agreement that we didn't like painting conventional mountain scenes? The answer I suspect was found in the universal appeal of mountains. The world is awash with violet and crimson sunsets, and bold dramatic mountain peaks and emerald lakes. Prints of such pictures can be found in every bargain store and cut rate emporium throughout the land.

The problem is - there is almost a universal appeal to the beauty of mountains. Maybe this is what scares artists away. They have overdone to the point of boredom. And, artists being artists, many of us try to redefine what we see. We search for the unusual...something unique to capture the eye.

What hurts so much is that, there is a big market for kitch art. And brutal economics rears its ugly head when we pick up our paint brushes and are faced with the decision of painting ' His Majesty' as he is illuminated in the evening sky, or coming up with something, uniquely........artistic. Where's that boot along the shore I was looking for?

Meet Clive Powsey: Background Bio

Cliff: Towards Castle Craig

Clive studied drawing, painting and printmaking at the Ontario College of Art, graduating in 1980, and began exhibiting, primarily watercolour, in 1981.

Group exhibits include International Waters (1991), a joint exhibition of the Canadian Society of Painters in Watercolour, the American Watercolour Society, and the Royal Watercolour Society. Paintings are in the collection of IBM Canada, McCain Foods, HSBC Asset Management, Trent University, the Fulcrum North collection, Providence Health Care, and Gibralter Solutions, among others. In 1999 he received 'Best Watercolour' at The Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition.

Although an artist by occupation, Clive has occasionally instructed courses at art institutions, vocational schools, continuing education programs, and gallery programs including The Ontario College of Art, Malaspina College's continuing education program and Max the Mutt Animation School.

He also worked for many years in the animation industry for companies and clients including Disney and Nelvana as an art director, background supervisor, stylist and painter for theatrical release features, direct to video features, television specials, television series and advertising.

Clive is a member of the Canadian Society of Painters in Watercolour and lives and paints in the Comox Valley, British Columbia, Canada

From:
http://www.studio737.com/ClivePowsey/powseybio.htm

Emily Carr - today and yesterday