Newfoundland and Labrador artists featured in contemporary art exhibit at McMichael gallery

Vaughan Citizen
January 8, 2014
By Adam Martin-Robbins

A boatload of East Coast art sails into Kleinburg later this month.

The McMichael Canadian Art Collection launches Changing Tides: Contemporary Art of Newfoundland and Labrador Jan. 25.

The show, which runs to June 1, boasts a wide range of pieces, including works by notable artists David Blackwood, Will Gill, John Hartman, Christopher Pratt, Ned Pratt and Gerald Squires.

Changing Tides features 66 works by 28 artists, covering a broad range of styles, subject matter and mediums — from Pam Hall’s repurposed cod fishing trap to Scott Walden’s documentary photographs of small town clubs and legion halls to Jordan Bennett’s interactive sound and video sculpture that lets you see through the eyes of various animals.

Other artists whose work will appear in the exhibition include Scott Goudie, recipient of the Newfoundland and Labrador Arts Council’s 2013 lifetime achievement award; Marlene Creates, winner of the 2013 BMW Prize at Toronto’s recent Scotiabank CONTACT Festival, and Mike Flaherty, a recent nominee for the RBC Ceramics award.

“The extraordinary beauty of Newfoundland and Labrador has given rise to a unique visual language,” Victoria Dickenson, McMichael’s executive director and CEO, said in a news release. “For the first time in the Toronto area, visitors will have the chance to experience the artistic visions of artists such as Ned Pratt, David Blackwood and Marlene Creates together in one place.”

Changing Tides opens one week after the kickoff of the Mary Pratt retrospective showcasing more than 60 paintings created by the Newfoundland artist during the past 50 years.

An acclaimed photo-realist painter, Ms Pratt is known for creating luminescent pieces depicting ordinary moments or objects — glowing jars of jelly or rumpled sheets piled at the foot of a bed — in an effort to raise up and celebrate what many of us consider mundane.

Her works will be on display at the gallery until April 27.

A number of special events are being planned in conjunction with both exhibitions.

First up, Ms Pratt appears at the McMichael gallery  Jan. 18 to sign copies of a new book, simply titled Mary Pratt, featuring five essays by art experts as well as 75 colour reproductions of her most renowned paintings.

The book signing gets under way at 2:30 p.m.

Then Ms Pratt joins Mireille Eagan, curator of Canadian Art at The Rooms in Newfoundland, for a discussion of her work and influences. That talk has sold out.

Up next, the gallery celebrates the culture of Newfoundland and Labrador with a festival of traditional music, contemporary art and animated conversation. That event runs Feb. 15 to 17.

The McMichael gallery is at 10365 Islington Ave.

For more information, visit mcmichael.com