A visit to Thunder Bay Art Gallery these days brings one quite literally face to face with brightness, lightness and considerable darkness too, as aren’t these what make up near everything in the natural, spiritual and human worlds?
Three new exhibits by a trio of talented local artists are sure to have viewers thinking and feeling along such lines. For this viewer, there was also a fourth notion of time.
Kasia Piech’s background speaks of broad humanistic passions (religion, linguistics, fine art); she currently teaches ceramics at LU. Stepping into the largest gallery one’s eyes first register hundreds upon hundreds of tiles along the perimeter. Her striking opening panel is entitled The Cardinal Sins.
One becomes aware and is soothed by hushed music, the sort heard in centuries-old churches. “It’s the Easter Masses from the 1300s, Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday. These are the most important times for a Catholic,” explained Piech.
One begins travelling along the walls where black horned, hoofed and winged creatures leer and grimace; gradually these give way to similar creatures in red that appear more innocent but still not angelic (to this viewer).
“The works with red imagery are the virtues,” explained Piech, “but there are many so I selected the ones opposite the Cardinal or deadly sins.”
Circling the installation at its centre isn’t easy. Its bright green hue, thick texture and bold thrust of pillars both attracts and repels, not the least because of what’s embedded into, onto or beneath them. “The centre path down the middle of the grass is not full of sin or virtue but is the middle way. I don’t think of my message as positive or negative; it is life.”
In the second gallery Chris Stones’ Material Memory is amazing: a solid collection of sparse, heavy, craggy or delicate sculptures, some photographs and a painting. The materials he’s used to put together these memories evoke feelings of loneliness and chill, thoughts of decay, endurance and grace.
“Any sculptor or artist working consistently is acutely aware of the world around him or her. Geographically speaking I think we live in a most beautiful part of the country,” remarked Stones. “I’m particularly attracted to water, shorelines. I quarry from the north shore of Lake Superior.
No, I don’t start out and say ‘I’m going to build this about that.’ I enjoy the finding and discovering. Beginning with beach combing and scrap yard hunting to the complexities of assembling and installing less than stable materials, i.e. dehydrated bird bodies and gallons of water. It’s also about utilizing and recycling materials, because I can’t afford to buy everything I need brand new.”
As mentioned, an amazing exhibit that whispers and haunts.
In the last gallery, a near-dizzying explosion of vibrant colour, dreamlike collages on large, large panels with surprising titles. Patrick Doyle’s Living in Landscape is best viewed from a few steps back.
“My process starts with lines and colour washes; then is built up bringing negative and positive shapes to the whole of the work. My intention is for viewers to find their own paths in the paintings.”
These terrific exhibits are up at TBAG until Oct. 24: don’t miss them.
Three new exhibits by a trio of talented local artists are sure to have viewers thinking and feeling along such lines. For this viewer, there was also a fourth notion of time.
Kasia Piech’s background speaks of broad humanistic passions (religion, linguistics, fine art); she currently teaches ceramics at LU. Stepping into the largest gallery one’s eyes first register hundreds upon hundreds of tiles along the perimeter. Her striking opening panel is entitled The Cardinal Sins.
One becomes aware and is soothed by hushed music, the sort heard in centuries-old churches. “It’s the Easter Masses from the 1300s, Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday. These are the most important times for a Catholic,” explained Piech.
One begins travelling along the walls where black horned, hoofed and winged creatures leer and grimace; gradually these give way to similar creatures in red that appear more innocent but still not angelic (to this viewer).
“The works with red imagery are the virtues,” explained Piech, “but there are many so I selected the ones opposite the Cardinal or deadly sins.”
Circling the installation at its centre isn’t easy. Its bright green hue, thick texture and bold thrust of pillars both attracts and repels, not the least because of what’s embedded into, onto or beneath them. “The centre path down the middle of the grass is not full of sin or virtue but is the middle way. I don’t think of my message as positive or negative; it is life.”
In the second gallery Chris Stones’ Material Memory is amazing: a solid collection of sparse, heavy, craggy or delicate sculptures, some photographs and a painting. The materials he’s used to put together these memories evoke feelings of loneliness and chill, thoughts of decay, endurance and grace.
“Any sculptor or artist working consistently is acutely aware of the world around him or her. Geographically speaking I think we live in a most beautiful part of the country,” remarked Stones. “I’m particularly attracted to water, shorelines. I quarry from the north shore of Lake Superior.
No, I don’t start out and say ‘I’m going to build this about that.’ I enjoy the finding and discovering. Beginning with beach combing and scrap yard hunting to the complexities of assembling and installing less than stable materials, i.e. dehydrated bird bodies and gallons of water. It’s also about utilizing and recycling materials, because I can’t afford to buy everything I need brand new.”
As mentioned, an amazing exhibit that whispers and haunts.
In the last gallery, a near-dizzying explosion of vibrant colour, dreamlike collages on large, large panels with surprising titles. Patrick Doyle’s Living in Landscape is best viewed from a few steps back.
“My process starts with lines and colour washes; then is built up bringing negative and positive shapes to the whole of the work. My intention is for viewers to find their own paths in the paintings.”
These terrific exhibits are up at TBAG until Oct. 24: don’t miss them.
