Hudson Studio Tour 2016

Are you an artist with a studio? Interested in participating in the Hudson & Area Studio Tour, September 24 – 25, 2016?

Please e-mail AHA member Shernya Vininsky – kv[AT]ca.inter.net –  to find out more.

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La Mémoire de Hudson @ Auberge Willow

To celebrate the 150th anniversary of Hudson, 15 local artists have come together to produce canvases celebrating a particular aspect of our Town’s history. Most of these artists are also members of the AHA.

Now some of these paintings are on display at Auberge Willow, 208 Main Road in Hudson, until the end of March.

An opening reception is planned for Saturday, January 23, from 6 – 8 pm. Roger Mann will provide the musical entertainment. Please consider dropping by!

To read the informative booklet about the show, put together by AHA member and participant Mona Turner, click here.

 

 

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Rencontre-échange avec Pierrette Labonté

Membre d’AHA Gisèle Lapalme suggère un événement d’intérêt aux membres:

Dimanche, le 10 janvier, Pierrette Labonté, artiste-peintre, discute son travail au Musée Régionale de Vaudreuil-Soulanges, 14h – 16h, en français.

$7 pour les adultes, $6 age 65+

Labonté travail avec les média fluides sur terra-skin. Ses tableaux sont exposés au Musée jusqu’au 20 janvier. Pour plus d’information, visitez le sîte web ou téléphonez 450-455-2092.

 

AHA member Gisèle Lapalme suggests an event which may be of interest to members.

Sunday, January 10, Pierrette Labonté, artist-painter, talks about her work at the Musée Régionale de Vaudreuil-Soulanges, 2 – 4 pm, no reservations. The talk will be in French but the artist can answer questions in English.

Cost: $7 per adult, $6 for age 65+

Labonté works with fluid media on terra-skin. Her work is currently on display on the museum’s second floor. For more information, refer to the museum’s website or phone 450-455-2092.

 

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Peggy Guggenheim: Art Addict

This recently-released film, directed by Lisa Vreeland, is a portrait of a truly remarkable woman.

Peggy Guggenheim was born into a well-to-do family whose members ranged from the eccentric to the criminally insane. In 1920, at the age of 22, she left her New York home for Paris where she immersed herself in the bohemian life. She opened her first gallery in London in early 1938, and found herself on a buying trip to France at the outbreak of World War II.

Using her contacts in Paris and a budget of $40,000, she snapped up many works of modern art, setting herself a goal of “one a day”. Artists were desperate to sell their work at that point, with the closing of many French galleries and the campaign of the German occupiers to condemn progressive work as “degenerate”. When finished, she had acquired ten Picassos, forty Ernsts, eight Mirós, four Magrittes, three Man Rays, three Dalís, one Klee, and one Chagall, among others. She opened her New York museum/gallery in 1942.

Ms. Guggenheim considered her “discovery” of Jackson Pollock to be one of her major achievements. Another was surely the establishment of her museum of modern art in Venice, the Peggy Guggenheim Collection.

The film itself is a standard documentary, nowhere near as colourful as the life of its subject. Some of those interviewed express opinions about Guggenheim’s appearance and personal life which seem inappropriate to the modern viewer. At least one of the journalists who converse with Guggenheim is unskilled in the art of the interview. Despite these shortcomings, the movie paints a vivid picture of an extraordinary person, the fascinating people she drew into in her circle, and the vibrant world of mid-century art, both American and European.

The film is playing at Cinema du Parc until at least December 24, along with a Hitchcock retrospective.

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Gender and the Beaver Hall Group

Recently I attended an engaging lecture by art historian and Concordia professor Kristina Huneault on “Gender and the Beaver Hall Group.” This is one of the many events that complement the current retrospective at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. She noted that the BHG was roughly half women, but is often thought of as being a women’s group. (Check out the group’s Wikipedia entry if you have any doubt.) The thrust of her talk was “Why do we think of the BHG as a women’s group?” and “What happens if we add the male members back into the group?”

Why this concentration on the women? Several reasons, as Huneault explained.

Country Scene, Anne Savage, member of BHG, painted (mostly) stylized landscape

First, in 1966 Nora McCullough of the National Gallery organized a show about the BHG that focused on the women. Charged with putting together a traveling show that would introduce Eastern artists to Western Canada, she contacted Anne Savage, one of the few group members active at the time, to inquire about individual painters. It was only when Savage began to talk about the BHG and the ongoing friendships among the female members that McCullough grasped onto the “hook” of the BHG, and put together a show focused on its women. Until the current show at the MMFA, there has not been any other retrospective of the Beaver Hall Group.

One film was made about the BHG, “By Woman’s Hand”, and it profiled three of the women painters. Two books have been published about the women members, “Painting Friends: The Beaver Hall Woman Painters” by Barbara Meadowcraft, 1998 and “The Women of Beaver Hall: Canadian Modernist Painters” by Evelyn Walters, 2005. (I have read the first of these books and it is rather dry.) So we see that the women of the group have had more exposure than have the men.

Baie-St-Paul, A.Y. Jackson, member of BHG and Group of Seven, painted wilderness and towns

Secondly, the group was more important to its women members because they had few other options. The male members could join other groups, like the Pen and Pencil Club, that were closed to women. The best-known male members, A.Y Jackson and Edwin Holgate, also belonged to the Group of Seven, and they are remembered for their membership in the Toronto group, not for their membership in the BHG. Likewise Adrien Hébert, who is well-known in Quebec but not as a member of the BHG.

Self-Portrait, Edwin Holgate, member of BHG and Group of Seven, painted landscape, nudes, portraits

Third, there has been some backlash to the primacy of the Group of Seven in Canadian art history that has caused some to have another look at the BHG, its contemporary. Huneault made the point that people love to think in binary terms. Group of Seven: painters of wilderness, monolithic, Toronto-based, establishment, all-male. Beaver Hall Group: painters of the city, diverse, Montreal-based, working in obscurity, all-female. Not all factual, but sometimes the nuances get lost in binary thinking.

Corner Peel and Ste-Catherine, Adrien Hébert, member of the BHG, painted urban landscape

Fourth, Huneault pointed out that Janson’s iconic “History of Art” published in 1962, did not mention a single female artist. It is understandable that feminist art historians, beginning in the 1960’s, tried to correct this situation, and were happy to highlight the BHG women.

Self-Portrait, Lilias Torrance Newton, member of the BHG, portraitist

Huneault didn’t really answer her second question. But she was pleased that the current exhibition celebrates the men of the group alongside the women, and would like to see more research done on those men who are less well-known.

This current retrospective of the BHG, which has been very well-attended, raises questions about many dualities: male/female, Montreal/Toronto, cityscape/wilderness, English/French. But, as so often in life, the reality is more complicated than easy.

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Helen Frankenthaler

Trespass, Helen Frankenthaler, 1974

The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts is offering a film program about women artists in conjunction with its exhibition of the Beaver Hall Group. Recently two films were screened together, one about Georgia O’Keeffe and another on Helen Frankenthaler.

Born into privilege in Manhattan in 1928, Frankenthaler began exhibiting her abstract expressionist paintings in the early 1950’s. She is credited with inspiring a new movement, Color Field painting. One of her innovations was to work with very dilute pigment, first oil and later acrylics. When applied, these paints stained the canvas rather than lying on top of it, much as dye is absorbed by cloth. This allowed her to create very atmospheric effects.

For Hiroshige, Helen Frankenthaler, 1981

The best part of the film was showing the artist at work. What struck me about her process was how restrained she was in applying her paint to the canvas. Whether she made a broad stroke across an enormous canvas with a mop-like brush, or licked a dollop of thickened paint off with a single finger, she was always looking for an instance of beauty, of interest. She allowed the properties of the paint to make their own magic.

The Human Edge, Helen Frankenthaler, 1967

Said Frankenthaler,

What concerns me when I work, is not whether the picture is a landscape, or whether it’s pastoral, or whether somebody will see a sunset in it. What concerns me is – did I make a beautiful picture?

Coming up in the film series are “Frida, Nature Vivant”, “Finding Vivian Maier” and “Alice Neal”. More information is available at the museum’s “What’s On” site.

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Art Scramble at VKH

Arbor Gallery in Vankleek Hill hosting ArtScramble 2015

December 12th:  2pm – 4pm

Arbor Gallery – CfCA invites you to our exciting fundraising event, ArtScramble, in which every ticket holder walks away with a piece of original artwork. The event will take place December 12th from 2 – 4 pm. When you purchase a ticket for $25 you will not only help to support the many activities and exhibitions at the gallery, but will also have a chance to choose your favourite piece from a diverse collection of sketches, prints, photos and paintings which will be displayed on one wall in the large gallery.

Here’s how it works: When you arrive at the Gallery and hand in your ticket, you will be given a numbered two-part ticket (half for you, half goes in a bowl). You will then have about an hour  to eat, socialize and write down the numbers of your favourite pieces. We will then draw each numbered ticket out of the bowl and each person will have one minute to ‘Scramble’ up to the wall and take down one of the images they’ve chosen. This will continue until everyone has selected a piece of art. There are more pieces hanging on the wall than there are ticket holders so everyone will have a choice.

The gallery asks those who want to come as a guest, and not participate in the Scramble, to pay $10 at the door.

This year’s selection of art is once again provided through the generosity of artists, many of whom have shown their work at the gallery. It will include paintings, watercolours, sketches, prints, photography and jewelry.

You’ll also be able to enjoy the GIFTED! show, the gallery’s annual holiday exhibition featuring jewelry, artisanal gifts, and small art works, all selected to help your holiday gift-giving.

Tickets can be purchased at Scotiabank in Vankleek Hill or at The Review. For more info, contact Reenie Marx at 613-678-1616.

Remember, space is limited so buy your ticket now.  

We look forward to seeing you at the gallery!

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Craft Fair/Foire Artisanale

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Art War: Film at Concordia

Received from Diana Tapia, Coordinator for Cinema Politica Concordia:

On Monday, October 26 we will be screening ART WAR. Art War (2013) by Marco Wilms is a doc where Graffiti, rap, street art and electro pop provide an enthralling, evocative and multi-layered mise-en-scène to the Egyptian revolution.

SYNOPSIS

Art is a weapon! This motto still holds true in Cairo. After 30 years of autocracy, President Mubarak was swept away by his people. Now the street belongs to them, the young rebels and artists. Graffiti sprayers and painters make the walls speak. They recount the days of fighting in blood-smeared portraits, the time of anarchy in wild collages, the attempts at liberating themselves from a suppressed sexuality in obscene pictures. Walls become a chronicle of the rush of events; electro pop and hip hop supply a thrilling soundtrack. Euphoria is followed by overpainting and destruction. Snipers are at work, aiming at the protesters’ eyes. The revolution is no more romantic than this underground art, whose aim is to provoke and take risks, is accommodating.

The screening will take place at 7:00pm at Concordia University in Room H110, 1455 de Maisonneuve West, with special guests in attendance. This screening is co-presented with the Howl Arts Collective. Entrance is by donation. The venue is wheelchair accessible.

For more information about the film, please visit the event page on our website and Facebook:
Art War/ Cinema Politica Concordia

Art War/ Facebook Event

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AHA @ les Journées de la Culture

Jane Hannah encouraging budding artists

Nick showing real skill in his first-ever painting

Loretta getting started

George getting right into it

This past weekend was a busy one for cultural events in Hudson. The AHA set up a painting station at the community centre where people could drop by and paint as part of les Journées de la Culture. Thanks to Elizabeth, Gisèle, June and Jane H. for coming out to paint.

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