Samantha Dickie

Samantha Dickie presents
A Moment in Time
September 10 - October 31, 2021

Victoria Arts Council Gallery, 1800 Store Street, Victoria.
Hours: Wednesday - Sunday, 12:00-5:00
Artist Talk: Sunday, October 17 @ 3PM, VAC Gallery

Detail: Written on the Body, porcelain with photo transfer, 2019. Photo: Samantha Dickie

The Opening of A Moment in Time on September 10 was a lively affair. The evening event happened at the Victoria Arts Council Gallery on Store Street. Some folks mingled outside on the rounded steps. Others donned masks, stepping into a blue lagoon of colour to view the remarkable installations. Dickie was all smiles, greeting her network of friends and creative colleagues. “I work long hours alone,” she says, “so feeling this strong support from community gives me energy to go forward.”

Dickie has been moving forward for twenty-five years. She began working with clay in 1996 and completed a Diploma in Ceramics from the Kootenay School of the Arts in 2001. After graduation, her unique talent with abstract sculpture and installations led to several artist residencies, grants and exhibitions. The artist has travelled widely, exploring and photographing dramatic vistas. In the Yukon, she found the contrast between wide open spaces and rugged terrain awe-inspiring. She seeks to express the tension of this juxtaposition in her work, alluding to the “restless space between stillness and movement”.

Installation View. Photo by Samantha Dickie

A Moment in Time features four abstract ceramic installations, all with multiple components. StillPoint and Drop are attention magnets. Each has over 750 ceramic parts, hand-crafted and fired in Dickie’s home studio over many months. Dickie describes the shape of the porcelain pieces as the cupped palms of hands. To other viewers, they may resemble beach shells, birds in flight, floating sea creatures and clouds. They hang from microfilament in precisely constructed configurations. The pieces appear to float in the air, gently swayed by passing air currents.

While touring the show with Samantha Dickie, we pause in front of StillPoint. The installation was made for Holding Space a solo show at the Art Gallery of Burlington, Ontario. (Nov 2019 - Jan 2020) The seven-foot structure is a bisected sphere with a hollowed out centre. Gazing into the centre of the sphere presents a visual mystery. I feel invited to enter this space, beckoned by a kind of a celestial hammock, to rest there formless and complete. Dickie points out that StillPoint defines space as emptiness. This emptiness can be experienced as a void, or as unbounded potential for new growth.

Still Point, porcelain, 1,100 components, 2019. Photo by artist.

The location of the VAC gallery was once a bank. The walk-in vault with a reinforced steel doorway is now cheerfully blue. Dickie has always liked the idea of filling a room with natural forms. “The repetition of white on white, using similar shapes and sizes, highlights the subtlety of the work,” she says. The installation includes 1800 rounded forms that fill the 56 square foot space to a depth of 14 inches. “The space was big enough to be ambitious,” she notes, “and small enough to be possible.”

Drop was created for a group exhibition at Touchstones Nelson Museum of Art and History. (March-May 2020) Due to Covid, the public did not attend, but an excellent video and catalogue were created. In the video, Dickie describes how Drop invites the viewer to experience a sense of spaciousness. Light and space are enhanced by the silky whiteness and translucent qualities of Coleman porcelain clay. There is visual tension created by the separation of the upper and lower sections of this installation. In this way, Drop evokes the magnetic forces that both unite and expand our universe.

Drop, porcelain, 750 components, 2019.

Detail: Drop, porcelain, 750 components, 2019.

The Greater Victoria Community Arts Council (now called the Victoria Arts Council) was founded in 1968. In 2018, Kegan McFadden became the new Executive Director. “We now pay CARFAC fees to our artists,” he says, “whereas they used to pay us.” Our mandate at the Victoria Arts Council is to support regional artists, explains McFadden. “Many amazing artists on the island have been overlooked,” he says. After 20 years exhibiting in public galleries across Canada, this is Dickie's first solo exhibition in her hometown of Victoria. As curator, McFadden worked closely with Dickie for many months. The VAC is a publicly funded organization with paid staff. This allows them to organize and support a major show like A Moment in Time.

Funding for this complex show came from several public sources and Madrona Gallery. Michael Warren, owner of Madrona, applauds the progressive mandate of the VAC. “Kegan’s leadership brings new life to the organization,” he says. Warren was happy to help support A Moment in Time in the public gallery. Dickie’s sculptural creations have enlivened Madrona Gallery for several years. Warren describes Dickie as a remarkable talent, unique in the area of conceptual ceramic design. “The scope of Samantha’s work is exceptional,” Warren says, “and requires special handling and display space.” The Installation at the VAC gallery took a seasoned crew of four an entire week. Be sure to experience the resulting achievement on view until October 31.

Grounded, porcelain, 1800 components, 2021. Photo by artist

Detail: Written on the Body, porcelain with photo transfer, 2019. Photo by artist. Space as Containment. 40 component wall assemblage, hung in a 22ft horizontal line. Referencing vertebrae, each unglazed porcelain rounded form touches the next with a connecting line of photo transfers.

Samantha welcomes your interest and can be reached at [email protected]
View her 2021 Studio Update here:

Samantha Dickie and Curator Kegan McFadden at Opening on Sep 10, 21

Michael Warren at Madrona Gallery in July 2021.

Web Design and Content by Kate Cino
Arts writer published in Focus on Victoria, Yam and Boulevard.
History in Art degree and Public Relations certificate from
the University of Victoria

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