HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Lucknow Sentinel, 1993-10-13, Page 14•
Page 14 - Lucknow Sentinel, Wednesday, October. 13, 1993
HONOUR THE PAST...
INVEST IN THE
FUTURE
with a
MEMORIAL GIFT
Your investment in the future of Children
can also be a fitting memorial tribute!
THE FOUNDATION BUILDERS
MEMORIAL GIFTS PROGRAM allows
family and friends to pay a lasting tribute
to aloved one through a donation to the
Huron C.A.S. Family Resourcd Centre.
If Memorial Donations total $500, the
family will be notified that a bar will be
added to a foyer plaque in memory of the
deceased
To participate. please forward your
cheque, in any amount, (naming the ben•
eficrary of your gill) to,
CHILDREN'S AID SOCIETY
OF HURON COUNTY
Box 128 Goderich, Ontario N7A 3Y
or. for more rdormation please odll,
524-7356
1-800-265-5198
Charitable Gifts ever 010 00
will be tax receipted
LUCKNOW
DISTRICT
COMMUNITY
CENTRE
Lions .Bingo.
Oct. .17/93
SatuOctober Ilth
Debbie Darcy - Lome Humphrey
Fnda�. Oduhcr 22nd
Lucy Serena & Jamie Johmam
Saturday, October 23rd
L.ivunnc Currin & Ruh Mai/e
OPEN DATES
October Friday. 15 Saturday~ 111.
November .1• I2 -I')
December 3.111-17
."ONLY" CALL 528-3532
9a.m.-5p.m.
BEGINNERS
STAINED GLASS
CLASSES
TUESDAY OR THURSDAY
NIGHT CLASSES
STARTING OCT. 19/93
and OCT. 21/93
FOR INFORMATION
AND
REGISTRATION CALL:
HALF MOON STUDIO
R.R.#6, Goderich, Ont. N7A 3Y3
529-3265
Catch the last wave
of stammer .savings
during our
GIGANTIC EXCESS INVENTORY
REDUCTION SALE
starting Wed., Oct. 13
4 Prices Slashed
up to
Lucknow man reviews work of area
artists to be seen in studio tour
by Murray Barrett
Visitors to Bayfield's newly
renovated Town Hall on Oct. 1, 2
and 3 may have thought they had
wandered into a. 'Best In Show'
collection of'art works from major
Toronto or New -York galleries. On
display was an exhibition by mem-
bers of the Huron Society of Artists
- not just painters -but potters,
weavers, stained glass workers,
mixed media artists and a black-
smith.
In order to see an assemblage of
work of this quality you will have
to spend foot -bruising days in the
aisles of shows like the One of a
Kind, slogging through acres of
bandsawn pulltoys and jam jars
fitted with oh -so -cute gingham
collars. In the end you will not find
better potters than Robert Tetu or
Sylva Leser, nor will you find a
better glass designer than Philip
Sommer.
You certainly will not fmd a
better blacksmith than James Wal-
lace. He is regularly commissioned
to produce work for architects and
designers that will grace some of
the finest homes and commercial
projects in Canada. It is easy to see
why.
The bedstead that he had on
display in this show was wonderful-
ly restrained - a spare design in a
medium too often given to
demonstration of how many
arabesques, grape clusters and fleur-
de-tis patterns can be worked into a
piece. As Picasso could capture the
essence of a portrait subject with a
single line, Wallace. is able, with
exquisite economy of means, to
define and contain the space of this
bed's head and foot boards.
And while we are on the subject
of the attraction of restraint, (not
readily evident in this reviewer -
but these artists are so good that I
can't restrain myself), Pauli Som-
mer has produced a table lamp
which is a little, muted, green and
mat black gem which is one of the
best examples of less is more' that
I have ever seen. It sold at the
show. I sure hope that she will do
another.
I wonder if it is fully understood
what a talented and important group
of artists live and work here?
Jim Howlett, for instance, is cur-
rently working on stained glass
commissions for a house in Min-
nesota, hospital in Ontario and for
a municipal building. His in-
novations an sandblasted, bottom -lit
glass panels are awesome. His
portrayal of a whale is so convin-
cing that you want to dive in and
swim with it.
This physical reaction extends to
Kim Howlett's work. Though it is a
'no -no' I confess that I did manage
to surreptitiously fondle one of her
woven pieces. It was worth the risk;
it was nice to touch.
If painting and sculpture are your
interest, you will have to endure
many days of bankrupting parking
fees and insufferably snotty
Yorkville gallery owners to unearth
work of the calibre of the paintings
in this show.
Mystery is the wonder of Jo Man-
ning's paintings and a shirt is the
symbol of this mystery. This shirt is
omnipresent, sometimes amorphous,
sothetimes barely discernable - but
always there. Always there to chal-
lenge us, to invite us to join Jo in
her puzzlements, or perhaps to
participate with her in her creative
process.
You see, I don't know what the
shirts mean but I do know that
being allowed to try to figure it out
is a lot more interesting than a
straight landscape.
It helps, of course, that Jo can
paint. She can paint like an angel -.
with the confidence and authority
and control ofher medium that we
have a right to expect from
someone exhibiting in public. We
have a right to expect to judge the
worth of a painting not . by how
photographic it is. Jo. left that
behind her years ago at the Ontario
College of Art. Now she uses her
skill to present to us wonderfully
rendered philosophical conundrums.
She gives us misty grasses . and
dimly perceived fencie posts and
thickets and brambles which snare
our attention.
And always there is the shirt. I
wish I could figure out its meaning.
Why don't you try?
Mystery is also characteristic of
the best work of Puck Merkies. Her
straight forward landscapes would
hold their own in any collection of
realist works, but one painting titled
Rock Jeweils is special for the same
reason that a Jo Manning is special;
it requires that we become a par-
ticipant in the artist's work.
Rock Jeweils is filled with trian-
gular shapes that are not im-
mediately recognizable as anything
in particular, or better yet, recog-
nizable as anything the viewer
wants to make of them. It is terrific
but I would like it better if it had a
name as enigmatic as the painting
itself.
And do you fmd the words
'sinuously angular' a contradiction
in terms? If so, I invite you to see
the sculptures of Leda McAlister.
Tell me if you don't agree with that
description of her work.
Ron and Bev Walker, William
Creighton, Gwen Smithers-Kiar,
Anne. Eekhoff Hamilton and Tristan
Eekhoff are all first rate painters
covering schools and styles ranging
from wildlife to mixed media. I
wish could write about them all, but
space does not permit. They are all
worth seeing.
Aren't you sorry you missed this
show?
Grieve not. It was a
sampler/preview of the work of the
artists who will open their studios
to the public on the weekend of
Oct- 16 and 17.
Don't waste you time and money
going to Toronto or New York -
first rate works of art are being
produced right here in Huron Coun-
ty. Torontonians come here to see
them. .
The artists' studios are open from
• 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on both
Saturday and Sunday. Brochures
with a map are available by
phoning the Hulon Society of Ar-
tists at (519) 345-2184.
Murray Barrett is a 'sometimes'•
artist living in Lucknow.
OFF
on selected Fabrics
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If you're a student who will be ' 18 sir older on
Election' Day, October 25, pick up an
Elections Canada leaflet from, yotir Student
Association. It's all about exercising your
right tc) vote.
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CANADA
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