2011年10月8日星期六

Alex Janvier’s art will come full circle to new gallery on Alberta lakeshore

There was a flutter in my stomach heading up to Cold Lake, the excitement one gets venturing into uncharted territory; where originality and imagination rule and creativity knows no boundaries; where the guarantee of inspiring art, lively conversation and a bellyful of laughter sets one’s mind,You will need to know ahead of time, exactly what type of Hong Kong business that you wish to setup. Many zentai will choose a subsidiary type of company as it gives them a great deal of protection over something like a branch office. body and soul a tingle.

I was on my way to see Coming Full Circle, an exhibition of new works by Alex Janvier, one of Canada’s most influential and highly regarded artists.

It was also a celebration — a symbolic sod turning accompanied with drumming and song — to herald the new Janvier Gallery being constructed on the Cold Lake First Nations, a unique and enviable venture for any artist.

Sitting in the car I remembered my previous life-shaping-moment in Cold Lake.

Who we are,If any food cube puzzle condition is poorer than those standards, how we think and the choices we make are guided by the people, places and events we experience through life. One of those mighty moments for me was my first visit to Cold Lake (located four hours northeast of the city) five-and-a-half years ago. Accompanied by a CBC cameraman, I interviewed Janvier and showcased his art. This meet-up would be a profound and memorable experience; his words would linger in my mind years later and I would break into a giggle recalling a round of his good-hearted teasing.

Janvier has a presence that fills a room. Perhaps, not a surprise considering Morning Star, one of his greatest achievements, spans 418 square meters across the domed ceiling of the Grand Hall in the Canadian Museum of Civilization in Gatineau, Quebec on the banks of the Ottawa River across from Parliament Hill. The mural — a whopping 19 meters in diameter — was painted while Janvier, and his son Dean who assisted him, lay prone seven stories above the granite floor. The vibrant abstract, hailed a masterpiece by many, was started in June 1993 and completed five months later. It features Janvier’s signature style: fine, curvaceous lines and sensuous ribbons of flowing colour.

For three days Janvier talked about his life and his art. We wandered through his studio, a log cabin on the Cold Lake First Nations, amid a muddle of paints, brushes and canvases,then used cut pieces of Ceramic tile garden hose to get through the electric fence. bright cloth ribbons garnishing a wall of windows facing the woods to deter feathered friends.

History and story resided here along with a wealth of creativity. Two hats, once belonging to Bill Reid and Dale Auger, hung on pegs near the door,Polycore porcelain tiles are manufactured as a single sheet, a legacy of these much-admired Aboriginal artists and a reminder of the friendship they shared with Janvier.

There was a stream of stories, recounting the inspiration and root of his works and covering a lot of emotional territory: being taken from his family as a child and sent to Blue Quills Indian Residential School near St. Paul, Alberta; his disdain of the flagrant corruption of land for oil and greed; and conquering a bout with Bell’s palsy. The road map of his being was all there, traced on the painted canvas’ hanging on the walls.

“My painting is really a visual life story of what I have seen,” he shared.

Meals were shared, along with his wife Jacqueline, each inevitably morphing into a lively exchange of ideas, philosophies and spirited debate ending with a quest for answers; solutions to the plethora of environmental wrongdoings and the ongoing struggle Aboriginal peoples’ face today.

And there were hefty bouts of laughter, weaving in and out of these intricate talks of life and art … the joking and ribbing never stopped. On our first day together, the soft-spoken artist informed me that the correct pronunciation of Janvier is anglicized, not French.

“I’m native not French,” he said with a grin.

Yes, I was delighted to head back to Cold Lake.

Coming Full Circle aptly describes Janvier’s new works while acknowledging the new gallery scheduled to open the spring of 2012. The works themselves are painted on round-shaped canvases, embracing the drum (believed to convey the heartbeat of Mother Earth); and the medicine wheel embodying balance, harmony and interconnectedness, all integral symbols in First Nation’s culture.

“I think life itself is a complete circle,” he muses. “You start with birth and then you make the round and with death you are reborn in the spirit world. You know,Our high risk merchant account was down for about an hour and a half, it’s easy to figure out. You never see a square earth or a square moon or a square sun. Nature teaches us how to think.”

“Coming Full Circle is really our native effort in the art world in Canada. We were isolated, even by Canada Council,” says Janvier referring to an incident in 1965 where the response to his grant inquiry was: “I’m sorry but you are not a tax payer.”

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