Category Archives: Art

Bob Kebic’s Visual Landscape Poetry

November 24, 2019 By in Art, Ontario Tags: , , , , , , , , 67 Comments

Bob Kebic, No. 2136

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Visual poetry is what comes to mind as I contemplate the highly saturated colors and rich textures of Bob Kebic’s impressionistic landscape compositions.  His paintings are truly exquisite and are reminiscent of the outdoors imagery popularized by certain of the Group of Seven artists, particularly that of Tom Thomson.   However, Kebic’s imaginative canvases reflect a contemporary sensibility by incorporating a subtle cubist stylization of distinctive squared-off “blocks” and edges within many of his works.

As this small sampling indicates, Kebic notably only titles his paintings with numbers, an approach that he regards as allowing each viewer to bring their own experiences of nature and landscape scenery to a piece without being overly influenced by a title that is tied to a location or that is otherwise suggestive.

You can see more of Kebic’s inspiring paintings at his official artist site and at the gallery sites for Toronto and Winnipeg’s Mayberry Fine Art and White Rock, B.C.’s White Rock Gallery.

Bob Kebic, No. 2143

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Bob Kebic, No. 1028

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Bob Kebic, No. 1095

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Bob Kebic, No. 2007

(Image credits: Bob Kebic)

Similar Posts on O’Canada:

• Amazing Landscape Artistry of Philip Buytendorp, Jennifer Woodburn and Steve Coffey

• David Pirrie: Mapping Western Terrains and Our Sense of Place

• Robert McAffee — Artist to Appreciate

 

James Fowler’s Wonderful Geometric Cityscapes

August 24, 2019 By in Art, New Brunswick, Ontario, Quebec Tags: , , , , , , , 31 Comments

James Fowler “The Village, Toronto” (2017)

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James Fowler’s non-traditional landscape paintings perfectly merge broad aerial-like vistas with a strong geometric and digital sensibility.  His artwork hints at the methods of the nineteenth century pointillists and, of more contemporary vintage, Chuck Close’s “pixellated” portrait paintings.    The result in Fowler’s talented hands and imagination is a distinctive abstract style of landscape that is slightly whimsical and very impressive.

As this Toronto-based artist notes on his websites’s artist statement, the idea, partly, is to convey the “lively feelings one gets when flying into a new big city for the first time, when we try to take everything in, or the lasting impressions stored in our memories of traveling anywhere far from home.”  Well said!  And he’s done this with cities throughout Canada, the United States and across the world, as indicated by the small sampling noted here.

More of Fowler’s vibrant work can be seen on his website here and on his Twitter feed here.

James Fowler, “8Bit Montreal” (2017)

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James Fowler, “San Francisco” (2016)

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James Fowler, “Quebec City” (2019)

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James Fowler, “Fredericton” (2018)

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James Fowler, “Downtown, Kansas City” (2019)

 

(Image Credits: James Fowler)

 

Similar Posts on O’Canada:

• Artist to Appreciate: Katharine Burns

• Elyse Dodge’s Imaginative Geometric Landscapes

• Artist to Appreciate: Miyoshi Kondo

 

Manhole Covers Roundabout Saint John

August 11, 2019 By in Art, New Brunswick, Photography Tags: , , , , , , , , , 44 Comments

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Another installment of these cast iron circles, this time from Saint John, New Brunswick.

Hard to say for certain, but I found this group a bit grittier than those in other places.

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Similar Posts on O’Canada:

> Halifax’s Manhole Covers

> Creativity Afoot!: Toronto’s Varied Manhole Covers

> Manhole Covers of Quebec City

 

Quirky and Quaint: Signs of Saint John (Pt. 1)

August 3, 2019 By in Art, Business, New Brunswick, Photography Tags: , , , , , 41 Comments

On a recent late Spring visit to Saint John, N.B. the distinctive signs adorning area shops and walls added lots of color and charm to a meandering walk through the city center.

Similar posts on O’Canada:

⇒ Signs of Vibrant Charlottetown

⇒ On the Street Toronto: Fun & Unusual Signs

⇒ Love These Vintage Neon and Bulb Signs!

 

Eloise Brodeur: Seeking Understanding Through Cows

April 14, 2019 By in Art, Quebec Tags: , , , , , , , , 42 Comments

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Eloise Brodeur, “Best Friends” (2017)

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The cow as a principal subject of painting may seem an odd choice.  But Montreal artist, Eloise Brodeur, has elevated the bovine creature to a sort of muse.   By painting images of her cows against a stark background of a single color, Brodeur suggests to her viewers that there is communion to be had between creatures and people and that perspective should cause us to reflect on our individual and collective lives.

From my own experience, cows seem to be naturally curious creatures, even if they are often skittish around strangers.  Brodeur seems to capture that sense of curiosity and sensitive feeling in her images.

More of Brodeur’s intriguing work can bee seen on her artist site or at the site for Galerie Got Montreal, which represents her work.

Eloise Brodeur, “Just Another Ordinary Day” (2013)

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Eloise Brodeur, “Candy” (2015)

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Eloise Brodeur, “Cherries and Memories” (2016)

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Eloise Brodeur, “Bisou” (2017)

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Eloise Brodeur, “Vote For Me” (2011)

Image Credits: Eloise Brodeur

Laurie Campbell Perfectly Captures Winter in the City

January 27, 2019 By in Art, Quebec Tags: , , , , , , 55 Comments

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Making one’s way through almost any busy city during snowy winter days requires a certain hunkered-down and focused steely resolve.  Montreal realist painter Laurie Campbell beautifully captures this feeling in her cityscapes of Montreal and elsewhere.  The chill in the air, the wetness of walkways covered with snow and slush, and the occasional icy slipperiness beneath the feet are all perfectly evoked on her canvases.

Given the present season, I’ve chosen to highlighted her winter scenes here.  However, Campbell’s artist site and the galleries that carry her work (including Montreal’s Galerie Eric Klinkhoff and Toronto’s Roberts Gallery) are worth visiting to appreciate her wide range of subject matter and the artistry and skill that she brings to her work.  On her website you’ll find several themed series of work, including ones featuring rainy day people, umbrellas, New York City, park hockey, among others.

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(Image Credits: Laurie Campbell)

Marc-Aurele Fortin’s Small-Town Quebec

December 26, 2018 By in Art, History, Quebec Tags: , , , , , , , 44 Comments

Marc-Aurele Fortin, “Grande Vallee” (1952)

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Sticking (mostly) with the winter theme that I’ve been thinking about lately, Marc-Aurele Fortin is another artist in whose works winter figured prominently.  Fortin was a contemporary of the Group of Seven painters and he focused on scenes of small-town Quebec, his native province, and the landscape of the surrounding St. Lawrence River Valley.  Because he was so prolific a variety of styles can be seen in his work, but many of his paintings are typified by vibrantly colored houses and hillsides, dramatic skies and billowy cloudscapes.

While Fortin’s art is available through several prominent galleries, the Artnet website is one of the better resources to see a wide variety of his work in a single place.

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Marc-Aurele Fortin, “St. Urbain” (ca. 1936)

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Marc-Aurele Fortin, “Ste. Rose Paysage” (1939)

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Marc-Aurele Fortin, “Les Cordes a Linge” (1939)

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Marc-Aurele Fortin, “Baie Ste. Paul Sous La Neige”

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Marc-Aurele Fortin, “Maison Rouge en Hiver” (1918)

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Marc-Aurele Fortin, “Winter Scene” (1940)

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(Image Credits: Marc-Aurele Fortin)

Similar posts on O’Canada:

〉  William Kurelek and Winter on the Prairie

〉  Magical Winterscapes by Group of Seven

〉  Old Farm Tractor Along Charlevoix / St. Lawrence River

Gorgeous Winter Scenes by Nicholas Bott

December 25, 2018 By in Art, British Columbia Tags: , , , , , 36 Comments

Nicholas Bott, Near Revelstoke

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Nicholas Bott is a contemporary Canadian painter originally from the Netherlands who has adopted the vast landscape of the country, particularly British Columbia, as his muse.  His style is reminiscent of a couple of the Group of Seven landscape painters, such as Lawren Harris and Tom Thomson.   These gorgeously rendered wintery scenes by Bott seem appropriate for the chilly season in which we now find ourselves.

You can see more of Bott’s colorful landscapes at the websites for Madrona Gallery and Mountain Galleries.

Nicholas Bott, “Breaking Ice, Baffin Island”

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Nicholas Bott, “Looming Arctic Storm”

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Nicholas Bott, “Northern Village”

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Nicholas Bott, “Winter Light, Bulkley River”

 

(Image Credits: Nicholas Bott)

Building the Toronto Subway: John DeRinzy’s Art

November 2, 2018 By in Art, History, Ontario Tags: , , , , , , , , 45 Comments

John DeRinzy, Three Men With Jack Hammers (1950)

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Unless you were around when it was built (I wasn’t, by the way!), it’s difficult to imagine how massive an undertaking it was to build Toronto’s subway system.  Shortly before it’s opening in 1954, local artist John DeRinzy, who worked as a graphics designer for Simpson’s department store (later part of the Hudson’s Bay chain), documented the progress of this major public works project in a series of watercolor and charcoal landscapes.  His inclusion of workers in these images helps the viewer to connect emotionally to the scenes depicted.  They are reminiscent of the style displayed by public art of the New Deal era a couple of decades earlier in the U.S.   (DeRinzy’s work also brings to mind Caven Atkins’ painting “Arc Welder Working on Bulkhead” (1943), which can be seen in this 2013 O’Canada post.)

More background on these images can be found in the City of Toronto Archives here.

John DeRinzy, Underground Utilities, Yonge Street (1949)

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John DeRinzy, Welder (1950)

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John DeRinzy, Men Excavating in Timber Lined Trench (1950)

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John DeRinzy, Man With Jack Hammer (1950)

 

Image Credits: John DeRinzy; City of Toronto Archives

Eric Goggin’s Inviting Travel Posters of Atlantic Canada and Beyond

September 7, 2018 By in Art, New Brunswick, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island Tags: , , , , , , , 53 Comments

Travel posters at their best showcase memorable places in distinctive ways as well as the talent of remarkable artists.  A case in point is the beautiful series of travel posters by Salisbury, New Brunswick-based graphics designer Eric Goggin.  The stylized design, bright colors and buoyant fonts are all fun.  Many of Goggin’s posters have a pleasing vintage feel to them and focus on locations throughout Atlantic Canada.

While well-known cities and areas, such as Gros Morne, St. Andrews By the Sea, Cape Breton and the Bay of Fundy, are featured, Goggin also directs some of his artistry to lesser-known but still picturesque locales, including Cape Forchu, N.S., Shediac, N.B., and Cavendish, P.E.I.  Of course, because they are travel posters they fulfill their principal purpose by inviting curiosity and wonder about the places depicted and make the viewer itch to get on the road to see these sites.

You can see more of Goggin’s terrific poster designs on his DestinationArt website here.

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Eric Goggin, Shediac

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(Images Credit: Eric Goggin)

Similar posts on O’Canada:

¤ Cameron Stevens’ Vintage-Style Canada Parks Posters

¤ Magnificent Travel Art of the Canadian Pacific Railway

¤ Retro Winter Recreation and Travel Ads

Islandmania!

September 5, 2018 By in Art, Nova Scotia, Photography Tags: , , , , , , , 13 Comments

Graffiti At Ferry Terminal, Freeport, Long Island, N.S.

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Way out in the country you don’t often see graffiti, and certainly not the artistic variety. So this painted statement near one of Nova Scotia’s most remote ferry terminals (in Freeport, Long Island) stood out for its vivid colors, its possibly enthusiastic statement about its location, and the fact that it took someone more than a little time to complete this.

Similar posts on O’Canada:

Θ Shades of Toronto Graffiti (Part 3 – Designs)

Θ “Three Things . . .”

Θ Wall Art a la Montreal

Virginia Mak: The Art of Soft Focus

August 10, 2018 By in Art, Ontario, Photography Tags: , , , , , , , 57 Comments

Virginia Mak, On One’s Own #9

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Soft-focus photography might appear easy to execute but doing it well and in a way that conveys feeling and meaning in the image is quite difficult.  In her photos Toronto photographer Virginia Mak skillfully uses this technique to give her images a distinctly moody and ethereal effect that is more evocative of painting.  In contrast to photographs rendered in sharp relief, viewers of Mak’s carefully blurred images are able to contemplate various possibilities of meaning and emotion suggested by her elegant minimalist compositions.  The sampling shown here conjures up feelings of serenity, mystery, vulnerability, desire, longing and wistfulness.

Mak is represented by Toronto’s Bau-Xi Gallery and Calgary’s Newzones Gallery and more of her exquisite images can be seen on the sites for each of these galleries.

Virginia Mak, Hidden Nature #7

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Virginia Mak, Character Reference #1

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Virginia Mak, Character Reference #12

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Virginia Mak, Small Song For the Firefly #6

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Virginia Mak, Small Song For the Firefly #12

 

Image Credits: Virginia Mak

Vintage Magic in PEI: Ice Boat Rarities and Island Uniquities

June 16, 2018 By in Art, History, Photography, Prince Edward Island Tags: , , , , , , , , 35 Comments

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Not far from the Confederation Bridge on the Prince Edward Island side of that engineering marvel a scenic backroad leads to the cozy town of Cape Traverse and two of the best antique shops in all of Canada’s Maritime Provinces: Ice Boat Rarities and Antiques and, its sister shop, Island Uniquities and Antiques, which is just a few hundred yards away down PEI Route 10.   Both shops are housed in 19th century buildings — one an old church  and another a former masonic lodge — that have been masterfully restored and updated by owners Larry and Jane Dugdale.

The exceptional assortment of antiques, curios, artwork and furniture on offer started as a personal collection of the owners that eventually morphed into the well-organized groupings that seem intentionally curated for visual delight.  The Ice Boat building features the former church’s simply designed but stunning original red, blue, green and yellow stained glass windows, which cast a warm, luminous glow throughout the place.  These shops deserve to be called galleries as much as anything else.

If you’re into stylish old or reclaimed furniture, these shops have you covered; automotive and industrial neon, check; vintage toys, thermometers, oil cans, model boats, duck decoys, postcards and ephemera, tools or farm implements, check to all that too — and a great deal more!  Of particular note is the collection of whimsical painted wood sculptures and other artworks by noted PEI folk artist, Kerras Jeffery, who sadly passed away last year at way too young of an age after battling a long illness.  The Ice Boat Rarities shop serves as almost a museum of some of his brightly colored pieces and the shop also features a marvelous cloud-painting by Jeffery on the ceiling of its largest room.

In addition, the staff in both places are super friendly and helpful and the prices are about the fairest I’ve seen for antique shops anywhere.  These places are definitely worth a visit if you find yourself nearby.

More information about these terrific shops can be found at their respective Facebook pages here: Iceboat Rarities and Island Uniquities.  More about Kerras Jeffery and his art is available on the Backroad Folkart blog here, which was formerly written by him and is now maintained by one of his relatives.

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Similar posts on O’Canada:

♥  Cool Vintage Junkyard for Sale

♥  An A++ for Toronto’s Gadabout Vintage

♥  Fred Herzog’s Vintage Vancouver

Elyse Dodge’s Imaginative Geometric Landscapes

May 27, 2018 By in Art, British Columbia Tags: , , , , , , , 38 Comments

Elyse Dodge, “The Stawamus Chief”

 

When I first came across the geometric landscape paintings of Vancouver’s Elyse Dodge, the towering mountain images composed of colorful polygons brought to mind The Beatles’ song “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds”.  That song’s not-so-veiled allusions to psychedelic and kaleidoscopic visions seems fitting for the vibrant playfulness exhibited in Dodge’s art.

In an artist statement, she notes that her “work aims to capture the vibrant beauty of the landscapes that we call home.  . . . The contrast between the crisp geometric lines of the mountains and organic textures of the trees has become my signature aesthetic. The polygonal shapes transform the peaks from being something that is recognizable as a mountain to a faceted, diamond-like form. These surreal scenes encourage the mind to imagine what an alternate and more vivid world could look like.”

Dodge’s work as a professional illustrator (you gotta pay the bills!) and the techniques she borrows from that undoubtedly informs her expressions as a fine artist and her deft manipulations of the iconic landscape of western Canada.

I love the compositional aesthetic of Dodge’s art, but even more I appreciate the deeper ideas about perception that she explores through her paintings.  Her work is a wonderful example of how a talented artist can use her art to challenge us to see our world in a different way and conceive of possibilities we might not have considered otherwise.

Her artist site here provides more insight into and examples of her art and links to some lovely video interviews and profiles.  Vancouver’s terrific Ian Tan Gallery also showcases Dodge’s work.

Elyse Dodge, “Vermillion Lakes”

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Elyse Dodge, “Squamish”

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Elyse Dodge, “Elfin Lakes”

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Elyse Dodge, “Cleveland Dam”

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Elyse Dodge, “Emergence”

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Elyse Dodge, “Vermillion Reflections”

 

(Image Credits: Elyse Dodge)

Similar Posts on O’Canada:

→  Cameron Steven’s Vintage Style Canada Parks Posters

→  Amazing Landscape Artistry of Philip Buytendorp, Jennifer Woodburn and Steve Coffey

→ David Pirrie: Mapping Western Terrains and Our Sense of Place

Cameron Stevens’ Vintage-Style Canada Parks Posters

May 1, 2018 By in Art, History, New Brunswick, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Quebec Tags: , , , , , , , 71 Comments

Cameron Stevens is a hugely talented graphics designer working in Ontario.  Several years ago he embarked on a project to design vintage screen-printed-style posters for a number of Canada’s national and provincial parks.  A few years later he’s now up to 58 gorgeous posters, each of which is characterized by a spare, consistent layout and muted pastel tints as evidenced by the sampling shown here.  Whether intentional or not, most also include a body of water, which is certainly reflective of the vast number of lakes, rivers and sea coasts throughout the country.

On his official Canada’s Parks poster art site, Stevens notes that he was inspired by the artwork produced by the U.S. Works Progress Administration (WPA) in the 1930s and 1940s to promote America’s National Parks.  His Canada Parks posters clearly harken back to that earlier era, as well as the time when the Canadian Pacific Railway blanketed the country with its highly stylized travel posters.  These contemporary posters with a vintage feel are beautiful to behold while bringing well-deserved attention to many of Canada’s spectacular outdoor treasures across its provinces and territories.  Stevens sells these as posters and prints, which can be accessed through the above official poster site and his graphics site.

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(Images credit: Cameron Stevens)

Similar Posts on O’Canada:

~ Retro Winter Recreation and Travel Ads

~ Magnificent Travel Art of the Canadian Pacific Railway

~ Let’s Visit Ontario

~ Go By Air With TCA

Shades of Toronto Graffiti (Part 3- Designs)

April 7, 2018 By in Art, Ontario, Photography Tags: , , , , , , , , 53 Comments

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On the walls of Toronto some of the street art exhibits strong elements of design, such as these examples. I especially like the piece just above, which is painted on a piece of plywood tacked onto the side of a building.

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Shades of Toronto Graffiti (Part 2 – P.S)

April 6, 2018 By in Art, Ontario, Photography Tags: , , , , , , , , 19 Comments

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I realized after I shot these four images that the faces had similar characteristics and they were all tagged “P.S” and were likely done by the same street artist.   Their creator  favors funky, angular faces and there’s definitely a certain style going on with these.

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Similar Posts:

~ Shades of Toronto Graffiti (Part 1 – Overview)

The Daring Canadian Pulps: Oh, My!

March 3, 2018 By in Art, Books / Literature, History, Society Tags: , , , , , , , 55 Comments

Spurred on by a wartime ban on the importation of non-essential foreign goods, including the lurid magazines from below the 49th parallel commonly referred to as “pulps”, the Canadian pulp magazine industry flourished during World War II and the decade after.  Like all good pulp publications, the featured stories often blurred the lines between fiction and reality and routinely served up tales that were risque, grisly, shocking and as often true as not.  Avid readers ate up this stuff!

Adding to its diverse holdings, Library and Archives Canada acquired in the late 1990s a core collection of pulp magazines dating back to the golden post-War era of such publications.  These cover images are from the Archives’s fascinating “Tales From the Vault” exhibition.  Of these covers, I think my favorite might be the fairly simple red-and-black layout above that promises dirt on a Vancouver cult and Winnipeg’s pock-marked Frankenstein. I’ll bite!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Shades of Toronto Graffiti (Part 1 – Overview)

February 25, 2018 By in Art, Ontario, Photography, Uncategorized Tags: , , , , , , , , 63 Comments

Toronto, being the big city that it is, has more than its share of diverse street or wall art, more commonly called graffiti.  This isn’t every one’s cup of tea, but it’s hard to ignore the creative expression that goes into these highly stylized works.

Among the varieties to be found gracing the corner wall of an old building, on either side of the occasional alley way or wherever else you may find these quirky pieces are classic graffiti tags, the enigmatic or humorous character scenes, the images laden with social or political messages, and designs that are as much about vibrant colors as anything else.  I took a lot of shots of these recently, so have broken them up with some being posted here and others planned for a later set of shared images.

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Similar Posts on O’Canada:

∅ Ossington Avenue Graffiti

∅ Montreal’s Vibrant Walls of Graffiti

∅ Wall Art a la Montreal

The Good Old Days: Rural Life in Vintage Postcards

February 17, 2018 By in Art, History, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Photography, Quebec, Society Tags: , , , , , , 37 Comments

Hay Making, Nova Scotia (about 1960)

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Out in the country people work hard, and back in the proverbial good old days they worked even harder.  Whether on a farm, a fishing village or in the forest, rural folk have always had to put their bodies and souls into their labors to eke out a living.

As these vintage postcards from the eastern parts of Canada attest they at least did so amidst beautiful settings.

River Saguenay at Chicoutimi, Quebec (about 1940)

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Ox Cart, Rural Quebec (about 1940)

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Spinning in Rural Quebec (1950)

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Back of Spinning in Rural Quebec (1950):   “Dear Ma – That’s you and me working. Lots of little farms and little houses here. Horses do most of the work. Farms are very small. In winter the men work in the lumber business, in summer farming. Women do fancy work in winter to sell it in the summer. Love Helen”

 

 

Similar posts in O’Canada:

⊕  Quebec Charm in Vintage Postcards

⊕  “Dear Auntie . . don’t be cross”: Scenic British Columbia in Old Postcards

⊕  Moonlit Views of Yesteryear Canada

“I’ll Meet You There”

January 28, 2018 By in Art, Books / Literature, Ontario, Photography Tags: , , , , , , , , , 44 Comments

Can’t help but smile about this quirky handmade sign stumbled upon recently in the Kensington Market district of Toronto.

The words are from a poem by Rumi that is generally understood to be about putting aside judgments that divide people and instead to focus on appreciating the wonders of being and the things that connect us all.

William Kurelek and Winter on the Prairie

January 13, 2018 By in Art, Manitoba, Ontario, Society Tags: , , , , , , , , 83 Comments
W. Kurelek, "Home on the Range" (1967)

W. Kurelek, “Home on the Range” (1967)

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On previous visits to the AGO in Toronto I’ve noticed William Kurelek’s paintings but for some reason his artwork stood out more notably on my most recent visit.  Perhaps this was because my trip there was during a week of extreme cold just before year-end and many of Kurelek’s scenes on display at the AGO are prominently set during the winter.

Kurelek’s parents were Ukrainian immigrants to Canada and settled in the prairie regions, initially in Alberta and later, after his parents lost their farm during the Great Depression, in Manitoba.  Winters can be harsh in much of Canada, but the vast unpopulated stretches of the country’s midsection make for a particularly stark cold season.  While a viewer of his paintings can find other themes in his work (for example, his Catholicism or the influence of Hieronymous Bosch in Kurelek’s “Harvest of Our Mere Humanism Years” below), the experiences of his family and his youth on the Canadian prairie permeate many of his paintings, often in dichotomies. Thus, one can glean the tough slogging of farm work during winter (such as in “Child With Feed in Winter” below) as well as the whimsy and high-spiritedeness of childhood even in the midst of endless snowscapes or the as yet unknowable worries of the adult world (such as with “Reminiscences of Youth” and “After the Blizzard in Manitoba”, both also below).

Kurelek was a prolific painter and other aspects of life on the Canadian prairies can be found in his extensive body of work, but at this time of the year his “winter works” speak most clearly to me.   The collaborative art site William Kurelek / The Messenger is a terrific resource for more background on this notable artist and his distinctively Canadian art.

W. Kurelek, “Reminiscences of Youth” (1968)

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W. Kurelek, “Untitled (Child With Feed in Winter)” (1967)

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W. Kurelek, “After the Blizzard in Manitoba” (1967)

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W. Kurelek, “Sunset Cape Dorset Airstrip” (1968)

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W. Kurelek, “Harvest of Our Mere Humanism Years” (1972)

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W. Kurelek, “Wintertime North of Winnipeg” (1962)

 

Similar Posts on O’Canada:

♦  Magical Winterscapes By Group of Seven

♦  Bob Pitzel’s Art of the Vanishing Prairie

♦  Retro Winter Recreation and Travel Ads

Go Fish!

January 7, 2018 By in Art, Ontario, Photography Tags: , , , , , , , , 43 Comments

During the week after Christmas Toronto’s temperature plummeted to a 57-year record low.  Brrrrr!  Bundled up tightly against such crazy wintery weather, the day was slightly brightened by coming across this group of colorful sculptures of fishing bobbins.  Situated in Canoe Landing Park in the CityPlace neighborhood, these cheerful works were created by noted Vancouver artist Douglas Coupland.  Elsewhere in the park there is an oversized sculpture of a red canoe (also by Coupland), in which park-goers can sit and look out across Gardiner Expressway toward nearby Lake Ontario.  Clever and fun subject for sculptures and another great example of the vibrant public art that can be found throughout metro Toronto.

 

Fred Herzog’s Vintage Vancouver

December 17, 2017 By in Art, British Columbia, History, Photography Tags: , , , , , , , 77 Comments

Fred Herzog, Bogner’s Grocery (1960)

I’ve seen the street photography of Fred Herzog previously but a brief essay by Geoff Dyer in today’s New York Times Magazine prompted me to look anew at Herzog’s work.  Herzog came to Canada in the early 1950s from Germany and from the late 1950s through the 1960s pioneered color street photography in his adopted city of Vancouver.  His candid shots provide a splendid if unvarnished documentary of the city and its people during that period.  The vintage images also subtly illustrate many things that have changed in Vancouver and other urban areas throughout Canada (and America) in the past several decades.

More of Herzog’s work can be seen at Vancouver’s Equinox Gallery and on its website.

Fred Herzog, 2nd Hand Store Boy (1959)

 

Fred Herzog, Alexander Street (1967)

 

Fred Herzog, Granville Street from Granville Bridge (1966)

 

Fred Herzog, Granville/Robson (1959)

 

Fred Herzog, White Lunch Granville (1959)

 

Photo Credits:  Fred Herzog and Equinox Gallery

Similar Posts on O’Canada:

⊕  Vintage / Mod Design: The City Bus

⊕  Love These Vintage Neon and Bulb Signs

⊕  Regent Gas Station and Sleek Modern Design

Artist to Appreciate: Miyoshi Kondo

October 29, 2017 By in Art, Nova Scotia Tags: , , , , , , , , 52 Comments
M. Kondo, Take Off 2011

Miyoshi Kondo, Take Off (2011)

Many of Miyoshi Kondo’s brightly colored gouache paintings may appear at first to convey images of pure whimsy, but looking deeper there is very thoughtful and wry commentary at work in her art.   Among the themes that Kondo explores in her recent art are concepts of home and place, our relationship to the environment, and how technology influences us in ways both positive and less than desirable.  Overall, I discern a strong sense of optimism that comes through in her art, which I think is reflective of this highly personable artist herself.

Originally from Toronto and a graduate of the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, Kondo’s distinctive style is a wonderful example of the vibrant arts scene in and around the charming town of Wolfville, Nova Scotia, where she resides, and the province generally.  She is also among the many fine artists represented by the very progressive Argyle Fine Arts in Halifax.

More of Kondo’s terrific work can be seen at her official artist site here and at Argyle’s site here.

M. Kondo, Take Me Home 2016

Miyoshi Kondo, Take Me Home (2016)

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Miyoshi Kondo, Life is A Highway (2017)

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Miyoshi Kondo, Seaside (2013)

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Miyoshi Kondo, Flight (2017)

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Miyoshi Kondo, Excess Baggage Messenger (2017)

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Miyoshi Kondo, Holdout (2015)

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Miyoshi Kondo, Hung to Dry (2013)

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Miyoshi Kondo, Over the Edge (2010)

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Miyoshi Kondo, Red Rooves (2010)

(Image Credits: Miyoshi Kondo)

Vintage Cover Art: The Goblin

September 6, 2017 By in Art, History, Media, Ontario, Quebec, Society Tags: , , , , , , 38 Comments

Prior to the great stock market crash at the end of the decade and the ensuing economic chaos, the prevalent mood of the 1920s in many places was upbeat and carefree. Magazine covers from the era typify this, including these fabulous illustrations from Canada’s Goblin, a monthly humor magazine.  Launched in 1921, it was in print for about ten years during which time its highly stylized, and at times witty, covers helped it to become Canada’s then most widely circulated magazine.

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(Image Source:  University of Toronto Archives)

“Maudie”

September 1, 2017 By in Art, Film / Performing Arts, History, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia Tags: , , , , , , 24 Comments

Before seeing the acclaimed “Maudie,” I knew a little about Maud Lewis and her folk art but I was unaware of her life story and the everyday struggles that she faced from a very early age.  Sally Hawkins and Ethan Hawke each give deft performances in this emotionally touching movie about persevering and finding happiness in the face of difficult circumstances.  There are notes of grace here, along with a number of tear-jerker moments.

Lewis received some early art instruction as a child from her mother, with whom Lewis would make homemade Christmas cards to sell.  From this basic foundation, Lewis’s many, mostly smallish paintings of bright-colored animals, plants and farm and shore scenes provided her solace in the face of a hardscrabble life in rural Nova Scotia.  The occasional sale of her artworks eventually provided a modest income for her and her husband, Everett, in the later years of their lives.  The movie does a nice job exploring the initially reticent relationship that the two shared and the deep interdependent love that they came to nurture.  A more thorough overview of Lewis’s life can be found in the online Canadian Encyclopedia.

(On a side note, for those familiar with the Maritime Provinces, the rocky shoreline and cozy coastal villages featured in the film will be recognized as distinctively those of Newfoundland, which is where much of the movie was filmed.  Quite ironic given the subject matter and that there are, of course, many beautiful vistas in Nova Scotia.  The explanation for the filming in a different province appears to be the greater availability of film production tax credits in the more northern province.)

Similar posts on O’Canada:

— Denny Lunn’s Buoyant Folk Art

Sarah Hatton’s Visual Creativity

August 20, 2017 By in Art, Quebec Tags: , , , , , , , , 10 Comments

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Sarah Hatton, Vimy (2015)

I’m always impressed with how a talented creative person can take a concept and come up with an unexpected interpretation that enables others to understand an aspect of that concept from a dramatically different perspective.  Such is the case with Sarah Hatton, a contemporary visual artist based in Chelsea, Quebec, who has developed a knack for employing non-traditional materials in service to her artistic vision.

Her “Detachment” series utilizes thousands of brass fastener pins, each originally stamped with a star on its head, salvaged from archival paper records maintained on Canadian soldiers during their WWI service and repurposes these pins to map out constellations of stars matching those that the soldiers would have seen during key battles of the time. This video from her artist site gives a nice overview of this brilliant work.

S. Hatton

Another body of her work seeks to raise awareness about the adverse effects of pesticides on declining honeybee populations.   This award-winning work incorporates dead bees into depictions of some of the natural geometric patterns found in the flora pollinated by these indispensable but threatened creatures. Wow!

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Sarah Hatton, Circle 1 (2013)

Hatton is also an accomplished painter.  Her artist site showcases several series of imaginative paintings that reflect her curiosity about the natural world and individual mortality.  I especially like her “Fathom” series, which seems to play with ideas about the vulnerability and comfort that we feel with watery environments.

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Sarah Hatton, Fathom 3 (2014)

I encourage you to view more of Hatton’s excellent work at her artist site here as well as the several galleries that represent her, such as Ottawa’s Galerie St- Laurent-Hill or the James Baird Gallery in Pouch Cove, NL.

(Image Credits: Sarah Hatton)

 

Halifax’s Manhole Covers

July 24, 2017 By in Art, Nova Scotia, Photography Tags: , , , , , 37 Comments

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While recently running an errand in Halifax I snapped these manhole covers as examples of subtle industrial design.  I didn’t notice as much variety among them as I’ve seen in other cities but that’s probably because I collected these so quickly.  Still, there are a few distinctive examples to see, including one that’s a square cover formed by two triangles.

Similar posts on O’Canada:

⊗ Creativity Afoot:  Toronto’s Varied Manhole Covers

⊕ Manhole Covers of Quebec City

Denny Lunn’s Buoyant Folk Art

July 23, 2017 By in Art, Nova Scotia, Photography, Uncategorized Tags: , , , , , , , 24 Comments

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During a recent visit to the Low Tide Gallery in Bridgetown, N.S., I encountered the colorfully vibrant work of Denny Lunn.  He is a self-taught artist who first took up painting in his mid-70s and whose style is best described as being within the folk art tradition.

Lunn lives in the Annapolis Valley area and, like many folk artists, his subject matter reflects his community, which for him are the coastal and agricultural landscapes of Nova Scotia.  These are scenes that I suspect many Canadians are familiar with — depictions of the maritime shore, lobster and fishing boats, winter skating and hockey, and cows in pastures that joyfully capture the province’s landscape in bright colors.  For Lunn just about any available surface suffices as a canvas for his art, including fishing buoys, shovels, hand saws, paddles, milk buckets, baking tins, rocks, driftwood or any other utilitarian or natural object readily at hand, with every nook and cranny becoming filled with glorious detail.

Some of the imagery takes artistic license and doesn’t fit with the actual landscape but nevertheless conveys a consistent imaginative sensibility.   Thus, in some of Lunn’s paintings snow-covered mountain peaks hover in the background while boats sail along in summer waters.

Low Tide Gallery proprietor Steve Skafte, who is a writer, fine art photographer and genuinely nice fellow with terrific insights and is passionate about the authenticity of Lunn’s art, deserves great credit for helping bring more attention to Lunn.  Skafte created the above documentary video and this coming Sunday, July 30, his gallery will kick off a showcase of Lunn’s work.  It will be well worth visiting if you are nearby.  When Canadians think of folk artists, fellow Nova Scotian Maud Lewis frequently comes to mind (the Nova Scotia Gallery of Art has an exhibit of her work) and she was certainly one of the country’s more prominent such artists.  I believe Lunn deserves to be in her company.

More about Lunn’s work and the gallery is available on the Low Tide Gallery Facebook page.

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Steven Skafte displaying some of Denny Lunn’s works.

 

 

Artist to Appreciate: Mary Garoutte

June 4, 2017 By in Art, Nova Scotia Tags: , , , , , , 56 Comments

Mary Garoutte, “Sundown, Lincoln Street” (2015)

What strikes me most about Mary Garoutte’s urban landscape paintings is the way she highlights the play of light at the beginning and the end of days.  These quiet periods that brim with potential, while also evoking a mixed sense of meditative loneliness and reflection, seem to be as much the subject matter of her work as are the historic houses and store fronts of Halifax, where she is based.  Garoutte cites the Group of Seven artists and Wayne Thiebaud as among key influences on her art, which are evident in her choice of colors and the strong textural brush strokes on her canvases.  Her wonderful art also brings to mind for me the feelings of solitude conveyed by Edward Hopper in his own paintings of dwelling places during the quiet hours.

More of Garoutte’s work can be seen on her artist website here and is also available through Argyle Fine Art.

Mary Garoutte, “Yellow Door (Falkland Street)” (2013) 

Mary Garoutte, “100 Montague Street” (2015)

  

Mary Garoutte, “Dwellings (Light in the Window)” (2015)

Mary Garoutte, “Glass House” (2016)

Mary Garoutte, “Single Dweller” (2016)

Mary Garoutte, “Late Night Visit” (2016)

Mary Garoutte, “Red Bicycle, Young Street” (2014)

Mary Garoutte, “Sunset on Agricola Street” (2013) 

Similar posts on O’Canada:

—  Artist to Appreciate: Katharine Burns

—  Stewart Jones’s Vivid Cityscapes

—  Artist to Appreciate: Christopher Pratt

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