culture making - an exhibition

this wednesday, september 21 will be the opening reception for culture making, an exhibition coinciding with a conference at king's university college in edmonton, alberta (canada) around the same theme, inspired by andy crouch's book of the same name.

i hope to see you there. if you aren't able to make it, i will take pictures of the exhibition and post them here, including my own piece.

what's in your name?

something that i do as a more commercial venture are what i call "calling cards". these are pieces that explore the calling that i believe is embedded in one's name. i believe that naming one's children is a prophetic act; which is why it is so important to think through the name(s) you give them.

i research the individual's name(s) and, while [prayerfully] working on the imagery - using primarily collage, though sometimes drawing or painting - i think about a phrase that might encourage, challenge, entreat, remind, provoke that person to live out the calling embedded in, and declared by, their name. it's actually not that different from working on an icon, really. as an example, here is my own name:

edward - "rich guardian", "blessed"; from Old English: ed - wealth, property + ward - guard, "protector" (perhaps both material and spiritual riches?) i.e. a trusted warden of other people's property

patrick - noble, patrician; figuratively, "father"

daniel - Heb: "my God is Judge" or "my Judge is God:, fig. the spirit of all prophecy

van vliet - Dutch: "of, or from, [running] water"

so what are [at least some of] the meanings - dreams, visions - imbedded in my name? what is the [prophetic] calling there to discover? there is certainly a call to be someone who protects, and nurtures. that protection involves wealth - though not necessarily monetary - and both mine and others'. in turn, that wealth is not simply to be squirrelled away, it must be shared, (re)distributed. there is also a call to, and the promise of, maturity and authority; and submission to it. lastly, there is a sense of connection to the spirit of G-d. so how do i encapsulate all these ideas in a single phrase?

perhaps this:

the riches you protect are spiritual

happy birthday marshall mcluhan!

last night, as a prelude to today's centenary celebration of marshall mcluhan (born right here in edmonton!) i attended a talk at the aga (art gallery of alberta). the evening included a guided tour of the exhibition andy warhol: manufactured with the university of alberta's dr. marco adria, who discussed the similarities between mcluhan and warhol. not only were there a numbver of wonderful and iconic warhol pieces to view, the parallels between the two were striking (and actually reminded me of how much i actually do like warhol's work), and illuminating. interesting points and thoughts:

• they both saw their function in the world as being witnesses of the changes and manifestations of culture. not judges. not advocates. witnesses.
• both were devoted, if not devout, catholics, attending mass daily. evidently, warhol always carried an icon with him (and now i need to find out which one) - and the aesthetic of the icon was very common in his work. the centrality of the mass, the communal experience, was core to their projects and work.
• they were both concerned with the disappearace of a sense of immanence, for the art object first, but also culturally. art, or images, used to contain a real presence. in the age of advertising, and "the retinal flash", images no longer have a sense of immanence, of weight.
• they both embraced mistakes, and one of the manifestations of this is their love of puns. and while puns are playful, it is serious play. warhol's 'real' name was actually warhola, but he took on someone else's misspelling of his name as his own. similarly, mcluhan's book the medium is the massage was supposed to have been the medium is the message. they were willing to explore those kinds of incidents and mine them to see what they revealed.

after the talk, i took another tour around the exhibition. highlights for me were an early 1959 drawing - fish under glass - that paired a beautful line drawing of a fish with gold foil and collage eleemnts alongside a calligraphic recipe written in ink. there were, of course, soup cans - chicken noodle and scotch broth - but there were also several lovely little stencils, which were hand-cut (and not pre-drawn) for silkscreening.

another room held a number of his portraits - silver liz from '63 is classic and tina chow's 2 portarits, with their ghosted eyes, are haunting - but the most intriguing portrait was his blurred and overprinted small 1962 portrait of warren beatty. the idea of celebrity and identity being fugitive is almost palpable.

i have yet to sit down and watch his films (i tend to find film/ video work tedious) but there were 2 pieces - one of a male store mannequin and one of the statue of liberty - composed of 4 photographs stitched together (2 on top, 2 on the bottom) that were quite nice. the images were taken over the course of 1976-86 and then assembled. the last two pieces that really caught my eye were dollar sign from 1981 (so fun!) and a magnificent and hyoog (20'+) eye-popping pink last supper from 1986. the wigs were anti-climactic after that...

PS. the guide used an iPad for his notes and, after he showed us the marshall mcluhan quote he had inscribed on it - "we become what we behold", i now deeply covet one.

?rogress is almost over

i recently curated ?rogress at the stollery gallery (in the nina haggerty centre for the arts). this exhibition was part of bridgesongs, a music and arts experience that features two nights of live music, an album release, two art galleries, as well as spoken word and artist workshops. it was also part of this year's the works: art & design festival.

bridgesongs is something i've been involved with for a few years now (this is its fifth year). i love how it's about community. i love that it's taking place amidst the blossoming arts community of alberta avenue, and that it seeks to be a part of the revitalization happening there.

so here's how bridge songs works. a theme is chosen, and announced to a group of collaborators consisting of songwriters and artists. these groups begin writing songs and creating art inspired by the theme. a collection of songs is chosen by the songwriters, and, as the bridge songs collective, they get to work refining and recording those songs. meanwhile, a call for submissions is released to bring in art from the community at large.

the goal is that a dialogue is created between the artists and the community through the creation and enjoyment of art. themes explored range from the serious to the playful, drawing in work and audiences from a broad range of genres and demographics. the end result is a truly collaborative, community driven, one of a kind arts experience.

anyway, the exhibition (and thank you dave for allowing me to do it!) features works by pam baergen, benjamin lemphers and tj mclachlan, is open from June 17th to July 5th. the works in the exhibition explore the idea of Progress through lenses of natural, urban, and personal cycles of destruction and (re)construction. or so i maintain. the closing reception is tuesday july 5th, from 7-9 pm. i hope you'll be able to join us.

reflections on NextGen: Canada

as some of you know, i was accepted as a participant in NextGen: Canada, a professional development workshop or "learning collaboration" opportunity offered in partnership by the alberta museums association, the getty leadership institute at claremont graduate university and the university of alberta museums (and which is based on GLI at CGU's internationally respected Museum Leaders: The Next Generation program. it was an honour to be accepted, and it was a pleasure to meet the other 18 participants, who came from all over the country, and to represent the next generation of canadian museum leaders.

over the next few days and weeks, i hope to be able to capture some of my thoughts and responses (and plans) about this experience and what particularly imapcted me personally and professionally. it was an interesting, enlightening and curious experience, and one that i shall not soon forget. it provided me with some great tools, but also helped to clarify and stir other hopes and dreams. it was timely in that it intersected and parallelled other activities and intentions in my life, and it will be interesting to see how these ideas about, and tools for, leadership play out in other areas of my life...