2000 ° 2001 ° 2002 ° 2003 ° 2004
The BAC's contemporary visual art program is collaboratively developed
and delivered by a Program Team that is lead by George Wale, M.Ed., Director
of Programs and includes the Curator of the Collection, Jonathan Smith, M.F.A.;
Dawn Beatty, Curator of Programs and Preparator, Brad Isaacs. Curatorial objectives
are achieved through a series of exhibitions over a number of years rather than
any in one fiscal period. Our visual arts program has three areas of focus:
The Burlington Art Centre pays artist fees in accordance with the CARFAC Exhibition Fee Schedule.
entitled:
Simon Frank and Dave Hind
Curator - Carol Podedworny
January 10 - February 14, 2002.
University of Waterloo Art Gallery
March 3 - April 7, 2002.
AIC Gallery, Burlington Art Centre
Simon Frank and Dave Hind are artists and craftsmen. It is the dual nature of their artistic production that is of interest to the mandates of the co-host institutions. That Frank and Hind cross over in terms of their interests - producing both functional and non-functional objects - is relevant to the Burlington Art Centre which is an art gallery integrally connected to a number of artists' guilds, and to the U of W Art Gallery which is intimately connected to the studio program of the University of Waterloo Department of Fine Arts.
While the work of Frank and Hind is being brought together with the intention
of presenting artists who are also craftsmen, the exhibition is also very much
developed around the aesthetic principles shared by these artists. Firstly,
both artists work with natural materials and in forms that echo natural phenomena.
Secondly, both artists are interested in producing bodies of work that respond
with a functional presence that is ecologically motivated. There is an holistic
presence to the work of both artists that is reflected initially in the materials
the artists use, but also in their processes, which merge the artistic with
the useful. Certainly part of what is interesting about this exhibition is its
ability to ponder the question of utility in the 'fine arts.' It is also important
that Frank and Hind work in materials that provide an opportunity for 'play'
between materials, concepts, and working practices ... of significant importance
to the installation is the juxtaposition of works in wood and works in metal.
The exhibition will be comprised of a selection of works from each artist to
be determined during studio visits in January and May 2001. The conceptual development
of an exhibition thesis - beyond the material foundations for the exhibition
as outlined above - will be developed in collaboration with the artists during
the studio visits.
Co-produced by Burlington Art Centre and the University of Waterloo Art
Gallery
Publication
Artists' tour and talk
Karen
Trask: Touch Wood / Marianne Reim: Steel Notes 
May 5 - June 23
Curator: Dawn White Beatty
AIC Gallery, BAC
"Imagine a library as a forest". With these words Montreal artist Karen Trask begins her journey. The exhibition that results, 'Touch Wood', illustrates the diverse ways in which an artist investigates a theme; pulling together threads of writing, drawing, printmaking, cast paper and book works, new media and sculpture in works that explore themes of loss and recovery through words, images and memories of trees.
Marianne Reim's steel book works evoke a sense of history, memory and a
dream-like longing for something lost. Working with materials that she finds
in the scrap yards of the steel mills of Hamilton, she welds and assembles these
volumes into functioning book objects, incorporating text and assemblage to
make works that carry a narrative rich in personal history. Enigmatic, yet so
physically present, they are compelling in their quality of presence/absence.
Originated by the Burlington Art Centre.
Publication
Karen Trask's
Website
West
Coast Potters
July 7 - September 15, AIC Gallery
Artists: Robin Hopper, ceramist, Victoria B.C.; Judi Dyelle, ceramist, Victoria
B.C; Gordon Hutchens, ceramist, Denman Island B.C.: Laurie Rolland, ceramist,
Sunshine Coast, B.C.
Curator: Jonathan Smith
Four classically trained functional ceramists, having moved to the British Columbia
countryside, having succumbed to the effects of the landscape and/or the native
culture, have created their personal visions of the land. The issues not only
involve the representation of landscape are one of the primary characteristics
of Canadian clay work, but the fundamental question of form within the clay
context.
Originated by Burlington Art Centre
Publication Guest Writer TBA
Artists'
workshops and artists' illustrated lecture
Curator's tour and talk
Process
and Presence: Paintings by Robert Cadotte and Peter Kirkland
September 29 - November 10
These artists are possessed by their painting processes … they are
simultaneously immersed within, and transported beyond, the mental and physical
actions of applying and removing paint.
When in the presence of these paintings we are drawn into their realities -
we make them whole through our perception and subsequent search for meaning.
We are compelled to find meaning in these works of art. The colours, shapes,
spaces, lines, and textures stimulate thoughts and emotions and call forth our
memories as we, the observers, construct our interpretations. Cadotte and Kirkland
present rich and suggestive sources for us to pursue our compulsion.
Robert Cadotte lives in Simcoe, Ontario. Peter Kirkland lives in Hamilton, Ontariol
Originated by the Burlington Art Centre.
Publication. Guest writer.
Artists' tour and talk and curator's tour.
(un)
natural selection:
Jean Maddison and Peggy Taylor Reid
December 1, 2002 - February 10, 2003, AIC Gallery
Curator: Dawn White Beatty
Maddison and Taylor-Reid consider scientific ideas through aesthetic and moral
filters.
"My current work comprises a series of photo etchings which explore notions
of 'family', hereditary traits, DNA; via the juxtaposition and manipulation
of botanical and scientific imagery." J.Maddison, artist statement.
"In my work I explore the possiblity of transcendence in a world dominated
by science, technology and a Darwinian attitude. … I want to show the figure
as both a biological form connected to its environment and as a spiritual enigmatic
energy." P.Taylor-Reid, artist statement.
Originated by Burlington Art Centre
Artists' talk
Curator's tour
Publication with guest writer
Transcendent
Beauty
Karen Schreiber and Steven Toth
December 1, 2002 - February 10, 2003, AIC Gallery
Curator: George Wale
The artists' imagery, colours, and compositions transcend our reality and approach
a metaphysical beauty. Schreiber's works are based on photographs of the real
world and are manipulated into abstractions with less and less obvious connection
to the world as we perceive it. Toth's works are non-objective. The source of
his imagery is the interaction of his ideas/inquisitiveness … the electronic
software and hardware … and chance.
Originated by Burlington Art Centre
Artists' tour and talk
Curator's tour
Publication with guest writer
TOURING
Captain
Canuck
At Cambridge Public Art Galleries - Preston Branch
January 5, - February 17, 2002.
Artist: Richard Comely, Cambridge, illustrator
Curator: George Wale
Original drawings and inked works from the Captain Canuck comic book series.
Features the comic's creator, Richard Comely from Cambridge, Ontario. The exhibition
was first shown at the Art Centre in 1998. It has been reborn for the inaugral
exhibition in the newly renovated Preston Branch gallery space.
Originated by Burlington Art Centre
FIRE+EARTH
Curator: Jonathan Smith
Thunder Bay Art Gallery, January 7 - March 1, 2002
Selections from the BAC Permanent Collection, originally exhibited at the Art Centre and Itabashi, Japan.
PERMANENT COLLECTION
From
the Vaults - Almost Useless
January 13 - April 5, Permanent Collection Corridor
Guest Curator: Regina Haggo
Third in a series of exhibitions (the first and second were curated by Bruce
Cochrane and the second by Helen Beswick) this exhibition focuses on issues
of particular interest to the curator. Regina Haggo is well known as an art
historian, teacher and art writer for the Hamilton Spectator and Fusion Magazine
brings a feminist outlook to the interpretation of ceramics.
Originated by Burlington Art Centre
Curator's tour and talk
Publication with guest curator
Japanese
Pottery in Traditional Styles by Modern Potters
May 5 June 23, Permanent Collection Corridor
Travelling Exhibition from the Japan Foundation
A travelling exhibition highlighting the work of 65 modern Japanese ceramists.
This exhibition reveals the debt that modern ceramics owes to Japanese methods
and aesthetics.
Publication
Makers'
Choice "2"
July 7 - September 8, Permanent Collection Corridor
Guest Curators: Susan Card, Judith Graham, Louise Macnab, Jutta Spengemann,
Danuta Weizenbluth
Co-ordinator: Jonathan Smith
The second in a series of exhibitions where five working ceramists are given
access to the Permanent Collection of Canadian Ceramics at the Centre to curate
a selection of work on a theme of personal interest. This selection of work
will be displayed along with a written description articulating the reasons
for this selection. The curators choices directly reflect the spirit of the
work with a balanced comprehension of the intimate nature of the construction
process, opening a unique perspective in the relationship between conception
and realization for the viewer. This group of makers has worked and exhibited
in collaboration previously.
Originated by the BAC
Publication with statements by Guest Curators
Enid
Le Gros-Wise,
September 22, 2001 - April 20, 2003.
Permanent Collection Corridor
Curator: Jonathan Smith
Enid Le Gros-Wise is known as a master of small fragile porcelain forms. This
twenty five year retrospective, drawn form over a collection of 2000 works marks
the end of one period and the beginning of a new one with one completion of
a large scale installation done especially for this exhibition.
Originated by the BAC
Publication
Artist's talk
Ann
Roberts
June 3 - September 22
Centre Courtyard
Curator: Jonathan Smith
Ann Roberts, one of Canada's leading ceramic sculptors, has over the last quarter
century produced work that has examined the goddess myth in feminist terms.
This exhibition of new work is an opportunity to expand her themes in a site-specific,
outdoor exhibition area allowing for the exploration of the elements of time
and growth as an integral part of the installation.
Originated by the BAC
Publication: Poster
Artist's talk
Recent
Acquisitions 2001
January 7 - December 15
Herbert O. Bunt Collection Area
Co-ordinator: Jonathan Smith
A review exhibition of the work donated in 2001 to the Art Centre's Permanent
Collection of Contemporary Canadian ceramics.
Originated by the Burlington Art Centre
FIREWORKS
Dates to be determined
Originated by The Ontario Clay and Glass Association
"Fireworks" is the biennial juried travelling exhibition of FUSION:
The Ontario Clay & Glass Association.
GUILD EXHIBITIONS
Built in 1978, the Burlington Art Centre was developed as an
ideal home for the many visual art and craft guilds that had been active in
Burlington since the 1950s. There are seven guilds that have fully-equipped
studios at the Centre. The guilds include Quilting, Photography, Handweavers
and Spinners, Potters, Fine Arts, Sculptors and Woodcarvers, and Hooking Craft.
Each guild runs a varied program to promote a greater understanding of their
specific art form and to involve people as creators. The guilds represent an
important point of access to the Centre as a whole. Typical guild participants
will enter as beginners and, through classes, critiques, discussions and exhibitions,
they develop themselves to a serious amateur or professional level.
Each juried exhibition includes a feedback session / critique with the juror
and all artists who have submitted work(s). These are well-attended, provocative,
and important educational events.
Originated by the Burlington Art Centre
Publication for each exhibition and juror's critique for each exhibition
Quilters' Society Juried Exhibition
January 27 - February 24
F.R.Perry Gallery
Woodcarvers' Group Juried Exhibition
March 3 - 31 Mar 10 - Apr 7 ?
F.R.Perry Gallery
Latow Photographers' Juried Exhibition
April 21 - May 19
F.R.Perry Gallery
Handweavers' and Spinners' Annual Juried Exhibition
May 26 - June 23
F.R.Perry Gallery
Hooking Craft Juried Exhibition
Sepember 1 - 29
F.R.Perry Gallery
The Burlington Potters Guild Juried Exhibition
October 6 - November 3
F.R.Perry Gallery
Burlington Fine Arts Association Annual Juried Exhibition
F.R.Perry Gallery
November 17 - December 15
C
o n n e c t i o n s
Special Project: 25th Anniversary Exhibition
AIC Gallery
To celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Burlington Art Centre and to recognize the important role of the guilds in founding the Centre we are initiating an eighteen month project, June 2001 - December 2002. Guild members will be invited to participate in a series of seminars and workshops with visiting artists and curators, investigating the concepts and processes of collaboration, with the ultimate goal of developing a series of collaborative artworks for exhibit in our Main Gallery during May - July, 2003.
The following proposal was submitted to the BAC Curatorial Group by representatives of the seven resident guilds and Arts Burlington Council:
Connections: a proposed juried show open to members of all guilds in the Burlington Art Centre, to celebrate the BAC 25th anniversary in 2003.
The Burlington Art Centre is a special place with its 7 resident guilds. The connections between guild members are an import part of life at the centre, as we work together educating, fundraising, and generally keeping the arts in the public eye. We have artistic connections, too, as we see and are inspired by exhibitions of work by other artists.
"Connections" would be a show to challenge and strengthen those
artistic connections. All works, or groups of works, would have to be submitted
by two or more artists from two or more guilds.
Examples:
o a collaborative work that combines different art forms in a single piece.
o two pieces designed to be shown as a single unit.
o two pieces where one was inspired by the other.
o a group of artists working to create harmonious group of individual pieces
from a single source of inspiration.
To ensure a show with a broad range of work representing the best of all the work done in the centre, the juror, or jury panel, would have to have a broad range of experience and knowledge in all areas of art and craft.
A guest writer will be contracted in 2001 to research and write a history
of guild activities at the Art Centre - highlighting key people, significant
events, and milestones for the guilds and their federation, Arts Burlington
Council, and for the Art Centre. We hope to publish the results in various formats
- an exhibition publication, video summary, and slide presentation.