Last chance! Don McCullin: A Retrospective at the National Gallery of Canada

Don McCullin’s work will be featured at the National Gallery of Canada until April 14

Mike Cullen (Twitter) is a young public servant who is also a regular contributor to (Cult)ure Magazine as a music editorialist. His passions include music, coffee, writing, travel and comic books. 

This special exhibition of U.K.-based photojournalist Don McCullin is his first ever solo exhibition, and its provocative imagery provides Ottawa and the National Gallery of Canada a unique opportunity to see a somewhat unknown photographer’s work shine to new audiences.

McCullin’s work spans nearly six decades and a variety of environments; from war-torn Africa, to gangs in London, England to elephant festivals in India back to the Glastonbury area of the United Kingdom.  

His work is both stunning in its simplicity, yet thought-provoking in its content and context.

US marine, Vietnam, February 1968.

In recent years, McCullin has pulled himself away from photographing conflict zones, instead taking up landscape, travel and food photography, but regardless of his topic matter, his eye for composition and subject matter is something to truly experience.

That National Gallery has been running this solo exhibition of over 130 photographs (all black and white) since February, and it closes April 14, 2013, so there is not much time left to take in these incredible works. For anyone interested in photography, journalism or world issues, this exhibition is a must see.

Thanks Mike! Did you see the exhibit? What did you think?

Timeraiser – Capital Style

Kimberly Senf (Twitter) is a displaced Montrealer living in Ottawa, by way of Halifax. She’s a librarian by trade,  currently working for the government as an information manager, organizing and categorizing data and information by day. An avid bookworm, she loves to visit the library and roam the aisles, lugging all-too-many books home each time. Dedicated knitter, coffee lover and garage sale enthusiast, she enjoys wandering around Ottawa neighbourhoods to find previously undiscovered pockets of the city. She’s also one of the co-founders of the retired Montreal blog, The Tragically Unhip.

Imagine bringing home an enticing, brand new piece of art you didn’t spend a penny on. If you’ve ever been to a Timeraiser event and won artwork, you’ll know exactly what this feels like. Saturday night in Ottawa marked Timeraiser’s fifth event in our capital city and, like in years prior, it brought people out in spades to enjoy local artwork and spirited conversations with non-profit agencies. It got people bidding their time in order to have their favourite art pieces living atop their mantles for years to come.

Via @Stuart_Buist on Twitter

In case you don’t know, Timeraiser functions as a volunteer fair and a silent art auction – with an intriguing twist: volunteer hours are used to bid on artwork, rather than money. Asking attendees to volunteer their time rather than open their wallets levels the playing field of interested art aficionados. Purchasing art is an experience not everyone can afford, and volunteering time to a cause of your choice is certainly a unique way to open up the bidding (and the artwork) to anyone with an interest in volunteerism.

One of the volunteer tables at the Timeraiser event (via @HDelphine on Twitter)

The event works as follows: over the course of several months, a variety of artwork is purchased from local artists. Non-profit agencies are approached to participate in the event. On the night of the event, a smattering of these agencies invite attendees into conversation regarding the type of volunteer for which they are looking, and ideally an excellent match is made. After a couple of drinks and a handful of coversations, anyone with the aim of bidding on art surely has their eye on a couple of pieces. Once it’s announced that bidding is open, everyone can bid to their heart’s content on any of the artwork available, but in the spirt of fairness they will only be able to win one piece. Each artwork has a maximum number of 100 volunteer hours that particpants can bid, in order to give winners enough time over the course of the year to complete the volunteer pledge they’ve made to an organization. At the end of the year, each successful art winner/volunteer is presented with the piece they won at the previous Timeraiser, and the fun starts all over again. Sound intruiging? It surely takes the excitement of the silent art auction up a notch or two.

One of the pieces of art up for bid (via @CharityVillage on Twitter)

After hearing about Timeraiser through a friend, I was immediately entranced by the innovative idea and got in touch with the organizers to volunteer. The entire process of setting up for the event is transparent and available to any interested party on the Timeraiser planning site for each city, which is an aspect of the organization that drew my interest. From the moment I met with Amanda, the communications manager for Timeraiser, I was enveloped into the fold and given the go-ahead to tweet, poster and spread the word for the event as far and wide as possible. On the night of the event, getting to work with such an engaged group of people and volunteers was a fantastic introduction to the Timeraiser experience. The goal of the evening was to raise 5,000 volunteer hours for Ottawa, and we came in just shy of the total, at approximately 4,400 hours pledged.

As a volunteer I was encouraged to let other participants bid on artwork, rather than bidding on it myself, so I must admit my new challenge is the dilemma between volunteering with Timeraiser or bidding on next year’s selection of artwork. If the pieces that were on offer this year by Paul Sharp, Tony Taylor, Norah Taylor and Dylan Farrell were any indication of what’s to come, it’s going to be a difficult choice.

Did any of you attend last weekend’s Timeraiser event? We want to hear what you bid on (because this sounds like such a neat experience!)

You had better van Gogh to this exhibit

Mike Cullen (Twitter) is a young public servant who is also a regular contributor to (Cult)ure Magazine as a music editorialist. His passions include music, coffee, writing, travel and comic books.

The National Gallery of Canada opened its Van Gogh: Up Close exhibit this past week to critical and popular acclaim.

Featuring dozens of Vincent van Gogh’s paintings, covering nearly his entire career, the gallery has arranged with the assistance of galleries and museums both in North America and Europe a spectacular showcase of the man’s work; a man whom received only limited recognition in his lifetime for his contributions to the art world.

People looking for “Starry Night” or “Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear” are not going to find these universally recognized pieces.

Instead, Van Gogh: Up Close provides viewers the opportunity to see the technical artist behind the man. Painstakingly organized and labelled, what the National Gallery provides is an intimate analysis of van Gogh’s landscapes and still-life work; explaining how the painter worked with microcosms and macrocosms, contrast and colour to create what are now considered some of the most beautiful works in the world. Van Gogh painted as many as 2,100 pieces in a career that only lasted some seven years.

This exhibit was not simply restricted to works by van Gogh, and the National Gallery has pulled works that not only inspired the painter, but greatly influenced his work as well. The inspirations and influences were displayed in a rather ingenious way: rooms featuring van Gogh’s work were painted in pale yellow, works that influenced van Gogh were in rooms painted in pale blue, giving a subconscious clue to the viewer as to what they were about to view.

Two main areas of influences on van Gogh’s work included the emerging use of photography in the 19th Century, and Japanese ink drawings, and are exquisitely displayed in this exhibit.

Van Gogh: Up Close runs from 25 May – 3 Sep, 2012. Crowds for opening weekend were substantial, with line-ups to view the exhibit. This will prove to be a very popular exhibit, so patience is required, but well rewarded for art lovers who take the time to see this fantastic collection of works!

You had better Van Gogh to this exhibit!

Thanks for this great snapshot, Mike! We’re already on our way…

‘Drawn to Art’: A morning out at the National Gallery of Canada

La Piazza Navona by Jean-Baptiste Lallemand is one of 100 works at the National Gallery's 'Drawn to Art'

Mike Cullen (Twitter) is a young public servant who is also a regular contributor to (Cult)ure Magazine as a music editorialist. His passions include music, coffee, writing, travel and comic books.

Armed with a cup of coffee, I braved Ottawa’s unusually unseasonal October with my mother to check out the latest exhibition at the National Gallery of Canada, “Drawn to Art: French Artists and Art Lovers in 18th-Century Rome”. This international exhibition highlights the influence and artistry of French artists living in Rome during the 18th century.

St. Jerome by Jacques-Louis David

To be called to the Eternal City to study architecture, statuary and paintings was considered a great honour, and one that few artists managed to achieve during their lifetime. For them, the opportunity to sketch, paint and emulate the great masters before them, both Classical and during the Renaissance meant that they had managed a major achievement in their own artistry.

With over 100 works on display, there’s certainly a lot to take in at this exhibit, but it’s all worth it. Part history lesson, part art lesson, we see some fantastic works by the likes of Hubert Robert, Jean-Honore Fragonand and Jacques-Louis David. (It’s okay if you don’t recognize any of these names — I didn’t, and I thought I knew a lot more about the art world!)

The Sheperd Paris by Jean-Baptiste Frederic Desmarais

Many of the pieces in this exhibit are in North America for the first time, making this a very important exhibit for those who can’t get around internationally to see what’s out there (though by looking at the placards with the paintings, most of the collection has remained in France). Definitely worth the cost of admission, if only to be exposed to artists you might not otherwise have known about.

An amazing European art history lesson right here in the capital! Drawn to Art opened Friday and runs until January 2, 2012 — so there’s lots of time to check it out!

Caravaggio and His Followers in Rome (in Ottawa!)

The National Gallery of Canada

Mike Cullen is a young public servant who is also a regular contributor to (Cult)ure Magazine as a music editorialist. His passions include music, coffee, writing, travel and comic books.

Following up on a fantastic exhibit on Raphael last year, the National Gallery of Canada  is now showcasing a new exhibit entitled “Caravaggio and His Followers in Rome”, which recently opened with much fanfare.

The exhibit takes a fascinating look at the work of Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, and how his stylistic interpretation of the real world and the profane dramatically changed how renaissance art was not only produced, but also viewed.

The National Gallery says this exhibit is “five years in the making” and that it encompasses not only the career of Caravaggio, but some thirty-one of his followers/imitators. I have no critical eye when it comes to art, but this exhibit was beyond fantastic. Curators and staff at the gallery have done a fantastic job of not only laying out the art in the space provided, but also an excellent analysis on his impact on the art world.

There was a mix of reality and fantastical in his work, such as his piece “The Musicians” where one can see the inclusion of Cupid in the upper left-hand corner of the painting.

The Musicians, Caravaggio

Caravaggio was also the master of subtlety. In “The Gypsy Fortune Teller”, one can observe a young man having his palm read, but if you look closely, the man is so transfixed by the woman, that he doesn’t even notice that she has begun to slip the ring off his finger.

The Gypsy Fortune Teller, Caravaggio

Caravaggio’s followers were also well displayed, and two of my favourite pieces in the exhibit included “The Lute Player” by Rombouts, and “Fortune Teller With Soldier” by Valentin de Boulogne.

The Lute Player, Rombouts

The “Fortune Teller With Soldier” depicts a man who is trying to pick-pocket a fortune teller while he in turn is pick-pocketed by a young child; the kind of slice of life depiction that Caravaggio himself was constantly trying to illustrate during his short career.

Fortune Teller With Soldier, Boulogne

This fantastic special exhibition is at the National Gallery until September 11, 2011 and I highly encourage anyone to go see it. You do not have to be an art snob to truly appreciate the beauty of this work; in fact, it’s humour and life make it easily accessible to anyone wishing to see some great works of art.

Thanks for the great post Mike! Interested in checking out the Caravaggio exhibit? Click here for more details.

Kelly-Anne Maddox takes her family to the National Gallery of Canada’s giftshop

 

Photo credit: The National Gallery of Canada

Kelly-Anne Maddox relocated to Ottawa from BC in 2010 and is busy being a mom to her one-year old daughter.

When I moved to Ottawa last fall I left behind a ridiculously well paying job to become a stay at home mom.

The shift from our former financial status to a single income household was a dramatic one and for the first time since grad school we had to pay close attention to our spending habits; no more spontaneously eating out because we felt like it, gone were full price movies and, with heavy hearts, we even agreed to sacrifice full cable. Reluctant to take such a dent in our lifestyle lying down, I decided to embrace our circumstances not as an exercise in frugality, but as an experiment in creativiy. I subscribed to Groupon, took up free activities like Strollercise, skating on the Canal, and my husband and Baby started going to free museums on Thursdays.

On a blustery Sunday afternoon during Winterlude my husband and I were delighted to read in the festival guide that entrance to the National Gallery of Canada was free that day. After packing up baby, diaper bag, stroller and schlepping the lot off to the gallery we were told at the ticket counter that we had read wrong (our bad!) and that regular entrance rates were indeed in effect. Doing a quick mental calculation of our budget I balked at dipping into our reserves and instead suggested that we entertain Baby in the gallery giftshop.

National Gallery of Canada

We spent an hour browsing through the store. Baby was captivated by the bold First Nations prints emblazoned on bright tea towels, gazed with rapt attention at the Totem Tree puzzle, squished Elmer the Patchwork Elephant in her little paws, squealed in delight at the board books, and had a blast as we flipped through the poster display. On the drive home I realized that our excursion to the giftshop had made a trip to the Gallery a tangible experience for my one year old; works that she normally couldn’t see up close or touch were transformed into an interactive adventure.

I did, however, draw the line when she decided to move from tangible to edible, making sure that no giftshop items were harmed in the researching of this post.

Thanks for the great post Kelly-Anne! Do you have a frugal adventure in Ottawa that you’d like to share? Send us a note or leave a comment below!

More on “It is what it is” at the National Gallery of Canada

Chris Millar Bejeweled Double Festooned Plus Skull for Girls. Purchased 2010. National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa. Photo: John Dean

Melodie Cardin is the Special Events and Communications Coordinator for the ByWard Market Business Improvement Area.

I had sort of middling expectations of It Is What It Is: Recent Acquisitions of New Canadian Art, since the National Gallery of Canada show opened in Ottawa with very little fanfare, especially compared to the summer’s Pop Life exhibit.

Surprise, surprise! As I walked from piece to piece in this exhibit, I kept thinking, “This is my favourite! No, wait a minute, this is my favourite. Nope, this is!”

After a few days of reflection and thinking about what has really stuck in my head, here are my top three:

“The Holes” by David Altmejd: A massive, jungle-like garden with crystals made of mirrors and huge brightly coloured flowers intertwines with intricate vein structures and overstated organs strewn helter-skelter. Feet, heart, liver and veins of a very human-like werewolf lie in a crystal garden. This sculpture, which took up an entire room, just fascinated me.

“Bejeweled Double Festooned Plus Skull for Girls” by Chris Millar: This sculpture sort of reminded me of Never Never Land crossed with a dollhouse. It’s a dream-like vacation resort rich with details which comment on the roles of materialism and advertising in our lives, particularly for girls.

“Tacet” by Antonia Hirsch: This piece is made up of three silent videos. In each video, a person is filmed silently reading music. The three pieces of music are the national anthems of Canada, the United States, and Mexico. From just the facial expressions of the three readers, you can tell which is which.

There were many more fantastic pieces, so go discover them yourself. The show runs until April 24, 2011.

What is your favourite part of the National Gallery of Canada?

Amanda visits the National Gallery of Canada

 

National Gallery of Canada. Photo courtesy of: http://www.charlesearl.com

Amanda Earl is the managing editor of Bywords.ca, the Bywords Quarterly Journal.  On odd days, she tries to write poetry. On even days, she edits.

One of my favourite places to go in the city is the National Gallery of Canada. As a writer, I find that the works in the gallery fire my creativity. I ache with nostalgia for the days when it used to be free, but this doesn’t prohibit me from visiting the gallery with a dear friend when I get the chance.

A recent trip took us to It Is What It Is: Recent Acquisitions of New Canadian Art, which is on until April 2011. My friend and I mused over the pieces, contemplating which would make great covers for poetry books. I was particularly drawn to Chris Millar’s “Bejeweled Double Festooned Plus Skull for Girls” with its precariously placed collection of miniature accoutrements and skulls, the whole piece being like a doll house furnished by a mad child.

In the general collection and also exciting were Marcel Duchamp’s “Readymades”, pieces of art from ordinary objects. I had no idea the gallery’s collection included this work. Duchamp is someone who I’m keen on because I have a poetry manuscript which plays with works and personalities from the 20s and 30s in Montparnasse and he is a profound influence.

There are some pieces that I will always return to, such as Hieronymus Bosch’s “The Temptation of St. Anthony” from 1490, my first experience of Bosch and so reminiscent of surrealist works from a much later period, which it turns out he influenced.

Beyond inspiring us to hit up the gallery, Amanda also wanted to share a book recommendation for those exploring Ottawa: Ottawa, the Unknown City by local writer and publisher rob mclennan.

She says: “In this book mclennan reveals hidden landmarks and concentrates on the people who have made Ottawa the city, rather than the government town, a great place to live, work and play.”

Thanks Amanda!

Do you want to tell us about one of your favourite places in Ottawa? Send us a note!