Western Canada's art magazine since 2002
5 December 2017 Vol 2 No 25 ISSN 2561-3316 © 2017
From the Editor
Portia Priegert
I keep a small bronze acorn on the bookshelf beside my desk. It was a gift from a Chicago artist who exchanges them for stories about trees. I thought of that artist, Gabriel Akagawa – and his collection of tree stories – as I wrote this issue’s cover article about a show with a fascinating concept: Every item is made with wood from the same tree, a centenarian black walnut that likely has a few stories of its own. As I wrote, I also found myself pondering the recurring presence of trees in Canadian art history, from Tom Thomson’s Jack Pine to Rodney Graham’s mesmerizing photographs of inverted oaks, as well as shows we’ve written about previously in these pages, including Forestrial Brain and Overgrowth.
From trees we get paper – and the theme of our next issue – books. I’m not sure what I was thinking, but I now have a stack of art books, freelance writers with similar piles, and a computer clogged with digital images of book covers. It’s our first foray into a themed issue, so like anything new it’s both exciting and daunting. My head starts to ache when I think about how to organize it all, but I’m always pleased to share news about books, which I love as much as trees – and art.
If you’ve got your own stack of art books, there’s still time to choose a favourite and send me a quick email about why you like it. I’m collecting recommendations for a special “readers’ choice” story and have been getting great suggestions of books past and present. It would be good to hear from you!
In this issue, you can check out the roundup about Canadian auction sales that we publish twice a year. It's always a lot of work, not only for Doug Maclean, who travels to Toronto and painstakingly records his impressions, but for the editorial team as well. We posted 37 images, including some rarely seen works. Short of digging through the auction house websites, it's one of the most thorough auction reviews published in Canada.
Other highlights include fascinating stories about Vancouver architect John Patkau, who somehow finds time to make art, and Faye Heavyshield, whose show at the Art Gallery of Alberta sheds light on her Indigenous worldview. We also have a thoughtful review of an important show about Scandinavian design influences in Canada by Amy Gogarty, a Vancouver artist and former instructor at the Alberta College of Art and Design, who hopes to encourage more critical writing about craft.
Until next time,
CONTRIBUTORS THIS ISSUE: Amy Gogarty, Agnieszka Matejko, John Thomson
