opening of image as story
at collective works gallery
Collective Works is an artist run gallery located at 1311 Gladstone Avenue. Image as Story opened
on March 12, showcasing several members in a unique collaboration with the Belfry Theatre. The Belfry's annual SPARK Festival (March 8-21) produces innovative Canadian drama. belfry.bc.ca
Artists created their visual stories after viewing or reading a festival play. Image as Story runs until
March 25. During the festival, Collective Works will remain open until 8 PM. collectiveworks.ca
Web Design, Content and Photos:
Kate Cino promoted arts events for 18 years at Boulevard magazine. She has a History in Art degree and a Public Relations certificate from the University of Victoria. kate-cino@shaw.ca
Photographer Miriam Thoeny-Mulhall stands beside In her Unfettered Bloomers (Russian Play). Miriam's grandmother was a young woman during the Stalinist era. Her bloomers serve as a ground for the artist's photo-transfers. The enigmatic, sepia toned transfers convey the romance, mystery and menace of the gravedigger's persona. For the photo-shoot in Ross Bay Cemetery, Miriam dressed a male friend in period costume.
Ceramic artist Harumi Ota reacted to The Drowning Girls by sculpting three elongated figures, arranged in an orderly, horizontal sequence. Trained in Japan with techniques for high-fired ceramics, the artist is well-known in Victoria for both functional pottery and imaginative abstract creations.
Rosalie Matchett responded to The Russian Play with this triptych in encaustic and oils. The cropped female image on the left shows the ravages of time and trauma. The middle image (with no eyes or mouth) depicts Sonya's powerless position due to dire circumstances.
Far right, eviscerated seed pods, set in a circular pattern, suggest the cessation of life cycles.
Charlotte Bell used a sunny acrylic palette and figurative abstraction to describe the lover's graveyard scene in The Russian Play. Her style makes reference to the innovative Russian painter Kasimir Malevich. His Suprematist paintings (circa 1915) used geometric shapes to convey "the supremacy of pure feeling".
Arlene Nesbitt presented Endeavour to Bloom in response to The Russian Play. While visiting St. Petersburg in 1993, she took this photo of a determined flowering plant peeking from the cracked masonry of a basement window. The photo is edged with an intricate design from a Russian casket and a floral drawing created by the Arlene's mother.
Gallery guests Sheila Blake (left), Marie Nagel (middle) and Irene Khurana (right) delight in the narrative content of a visual image.
The Video Guy, Efren Quiroz from exhibit-v.ca, keeps our eyes on the visual arts. He is flanked by Kate Cino, left, and PJ Kelly, right.
Visitors to the exhibition can view two canvases by Betsy Symons, replying to The Russian Play. The artist works in an abstract style, creating washes of colour and texture with a variety of mediums, including watercolours, inks and oil paint. Artworks by other collective members are also on display during Image as Story.
