From the Editor - July 18, 2023 Issue

July 17, 2023

9:30 PM

Western Canada’s art magazine since 2002

Portia Priegert

From the Editor

When I first moved to Victoria and discovered flowers blooming in early January, I idly wondered if it would be possible to photograph a different type of flower every day for a year. During the pandemic, on my daily walks around the neighbourhood, I resurrected that idea. At the start of 2021, I began taking daily photos of whatever blossoms were out.

As the months passed, my photographic skills improved, I learned about botany and my walks grew longer. But, mostly, I fed my soul through that time of solitude, developing a stronger sense of place as I revelled in the joy of small and precious things.

The project lasted 365 days and I can say, categorically, that, yes it is possible, at least in this small corner of Canada, to find a new flower outdoors every day of the year. And, after taking a year off, and missing the succour of that daily pleasure, I’m back at it again, closing in on 200 days and still discovering new species with the help of my favourite plant identification apps.

Thus, it was great to read a story by Paul Gessell about a Tom Thomson exhibition now underway at the McMichael Canadian Art Collection near Toronto that includes several floral oil sketches Thomson made in 1915. Paul quotes Saskatchewan-born contemporary artist Zachari Logan, whose residency at the McMichael prompted a particular fondness for one of those sketches, Wildflowers, a tangled mass of blossoms that became our story’s lead image. A large X is scratched into the paint, presumably by the artist, perhaps to remind him to discard the work. And then, this poignant observation: “Yet, it survives. The mystery of the X makes Logan love the sketch even more.”

It was easy to choose that article as this issue’s top pick, a digital equivalent to the cover of a print magazine. Paul, an industrious veteran journalist, also wrote a second article, continuing to break news about a curatorial battle over a work by Montreal artist Deanna Bowen now installed on the exterior wall of the National Gallery of Canada. He details how Charles Hill, the Ottawa gallery’s respected former curator of Canadian art, took the unusual step of circulating a text arguing that Bowen’s work besmirches the reputation of the Group of Seven. The saga highlights the tensions greeting the gallery’s new director, Jean-François Bélisle, as he starts work this week.

This issue also includes stories about the Canadian première in Vancouver of Phase Shifting Index, a seven-channel video installation Jeremy Shaw launched in 2020 at the Centre Pompidou in Paris, as well as a look at a Calgary show by asmaa al-issa, an Iraqi-born emerging artist inspired by stories about her homeland.

Our final article, Big Art, Big Smiles, is a seasonal tribute to the summer road trip. Edmonton writer Agnieszka Matejko undertook this project as a labour of love prompted by her affection for quirky roadside attractions across the Prairies, finding in them a lesson about the necessity for humour in art, especially during difficult times.

Speaking of summer, Galleries West will be taking a first-ever break from publishing for the first two weeks of August so I can recharge my batteries. This is the 172nd consecutive biweekly online issue that publisher Tom Tait and I have produced since we moved to a uniquely digital format in 2016. We have one more issue, on Aug. 1, before I start my break. During this two weeks, any major news will be posted and the exhibition calendar will be updated regularly. Please continue to post exhibitions on the listings page and send news announcements to editor@gallerieswest.ca as we’ll be looking for stories for the fall once we resume posting editorial articles on Aug. 17.

We have one more issue before our hiatus so, we will be posting stories over the next the two weeks. Watch for reviews of exhibitions by Calgary artist Bill Rodgers, Winnipeg ceramic artist Grace Nickel and Parviz Tanavoli, who splits his time between Vancouver and Iran.

I can hardly wait to unchain myself from my desk for long bike rides and languorous beach days. And yes, I'll keep my camera close at hand for any flowers I see.

Until next time,