i think this is UPDATE #9

I'm trying out a purple font in honour of spring which is, strictly calendar-ly speaking, upon us.

Gee... so much has been happening at the Art Gallery i'm not really sure where to start first.
On St. Pat's Day, nostalgia & longing opened to a rather small but appreciative audience. Those of you on our mailing list will have noticed that invites arrived much later than usual and i have no doubt that a lot of you regulars didn't make it because of that late notice. My apologies... snafus happen that are beyond my control and i don't like it either. Anyway... the feedback has been really, really good (if i say so myself) and the exhibit does look darn good thanks to everyone's efforts (thank you Michele, Saul, and Shirley). The exhibit ends April 7 so make sure you come see it before it ends. I'm hatching a plan to document this exhibit in a posthumous catalogue. We need some practice with this medium before we can produce them well for future exhibits.

The next three exhibitions are developing very nicely. Michael McLeod's invites are being prepared for Geography is Killing Me (up April 13, official opening reception April 21, 7:00 pm) and all i need now for his talk (April 20, McConnell Memorial Library, 7:00 pm) is an LCD projector. Can anyone help me with this? The Library will not allow their projector to be used and I'm trying to get the University to lend me one. Is anyone out there feeling generous?
Jan Gyorfi-West has also showed me the portraits she created for My Friends, the Artists - The Many Faces of Art. I was blown away by her skill and dedication. This is opening on May 12 and should be a very busy one (if 37 artists come and bring one person each....hmm...).
I've recently sent a grant application off for Cape Breton Scenes which will open June 23. If approved, the funding will assist in the proper framing of these incredible historical pieces.

Also, the intrepid Lori-Anne who has been so kind as to keep the Art Gallery open on Wednesday evenings has retired the post for this year. She will be heading home to Alberta after her exams are over. She will be missed, not only by myself, but by those of you who took advantage of our extended hours. Thank you Lori-Anne!!! Have a good summer and we all hope to see you Wednesday evenings again come autumn.

Not all hope is lost, though. We hope to continue with extended hours Wednesday evenings or Sunday afternoons April through June. Which would you prefer? Let me know what you want so i can try to make it happen!

That's it for now. I'm heading home for the day.
Wishing you much early-spring-creativity,
Suzanne

Update #8

Hello All,
It feels like ages since i've updated the blog. I've been sick with the flu *twice* in the past month and feel like my brain has been affected by the fevers! Anyway... I'm back in the Art Gallery now.
The current exhibitions will be coming down soon, in a few days in fact. The in-between time is always a little weird.... you feel like you're just getting used to what's on the walls and are getting into a nice groove with non-exhibition work, then it's time for the next show again. Of course, at least half of the work done at the gallery is exhibition related! I have a nagging feeling that i'm behind in my planning for nostalgia & longing (opening March 17 at 7:00 pm) since i missed so much time being sick, but almost all of the the work had already been chosen before my last bout with the flu.
The official material says that this exhibition will draw on the Art Gallery's permanent collection to examine the concepts of yearning, desire, and need, and the reconciliation or elusion of these states of being. My hope is that the art presented will lead the veiwer on a self-guided tour through which they can look for elements of nostalgia and longing in the work on display. The longing and nostalgia referenced in the art will be for a place, a time, a person, or a long-lost intangible feeling. The visual triggers for these feelings will be highly varied. This will be an exhibit for lingering in front of, for moving past the literal and delving into the veiwer's imagination and the past.
I'm promising a lot, huh? Hopefully i can deliver this as promised! Send me your good curatorial energies, please!
While I'm on a roll here, I'd like to thank Beverly Niven for her time and interest in the Art Gallery. Beverly was in yesterday interveiwing me for In Conversation, the series she has coming up on Eastlink cable. We had a wonderful time talking about the gallery and art and we could have gone on longer. I will let everyone know when it will air (maybe someone will invite me to their place to watch it?).
So if you haven't seen the 10th Annual Student, Faculty, Staff & Alumni Art Exhibition or Drawing on the Permanent Collection you better get yourself down to the Art Gallery before Friday! And you really must hang out in "the reading room" for a little while too... it looks great down there.
Suzanne

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