G A L L E R Y
A R C T U R U S
The Daily News
Seen from Above...
...the world is very small
Not Too Far From the Maddening Crowd
Twenty minutes, give or take, from the city center is Riverdale Farm.
Learning from those who love winter
In the valley of Riverdale Hill
Full Moon Rising
and I'm in a tea-cup.
A Fish Out of Water...
might learn to fly
a seed fallen
between the cracks
might, against all odds
blossom
Imagination touches the edge of what is known and gives form to what is otherwise elusive.
Love is in the Eye of the Beholder
Happy Valentines Day
Continuing with the Momentum of Change
Ripping up and moving forward.
Order Invites Beauty
A space we want to work in.
Chaos Comes Before Order
Today was spent going through art storage and studio in an attempt to find and re-order space.
It is a daunting task which we had enormous success with (even if it does not appear so).
We will continue tomorrow...
The Poetry of Objects
...each one precariously supported by the other.
Windows of Ice
"Do you have something to say?"
"No."
Trying for Exactness
Working on invitations is exciting and very satisfying, when they are finally complete.
But the process takes time and there is an exhausting search for perfection.
Fine tuning the colour, the type, the composition to represent the artist's work.
The most difficult is getting the placement right for double-sided printing.
That is a bit crazy making.
'What Are We Waiting For?
The unexpected guest,
the weather to change,
inspiration, invitation, exhaltation.
The perfect circumstance
to surround us with abundance.
The strength to keep waiting.
This is part of the new exhibition showing five paintings by E.J. Gold from our permanent collection.
The Show Must Come Down
The process of taking down a show always allows for another seeing of it or seeing it anew.
There is both a sadness and an excitement. Sadness that what was will not be again and
excitement for the unexpected surprise of what comes next.
The Whole is More Than the Sum of Its Parts
These three collages were made into transparencies and placed one on top of the other, held over a light and photographed. There placement was not random. There were elements, curves, angles and perspectives in each which corresponded so perfectly as to make one wonder how such a thing is possible, considering that each was made independent of the other.
Winter Without Snow...
... shades of tarnished silver
Just in Time
Today was spent looking back in time,
using old photos to give us clues about the attitudes and experiences
of those who lived a very different reality than the one we know now.
The Little House that Could...
...be a shelter from the storm.
The Book of Eight
Today Sae received a book from a fellow artist and friend in Germany.
The above image is a page from the book entitled 'ACHT' translated it means EIGHT.
Below is Sae's collage response.
The Boiler Room
This was a busy week rehanging all the gallery spaces from top to bottom
including the studio in the basement
which was the special project of
Eron Boyd.
Visitors are most welcome to visit all
the spaces and the basement is the
hot house where much of the work
is created.
A reminder to come to the winter
reception this Saturday, today,
from 2 - 5pm.
Giddy-up and Whoa
A partnership of opposites.
The Hat Matters
Floyd Kuptana adapted new look.
Walking in a Winter Wonderland
This was the first gesture in the collage gallery
begun this morning when Sae arrived with branches.
The window scene created the atmosphere to complete the space
for a continuation of 'A Winter's Poem'.
Our Christmas reception will be held on
Saturday December 15th from 2 - 5 pm.
All are welcome.
Beneath the Stair Sculpture Studio
Now we can work a little warmer.
Winterized studio structure designed and installed by Lee Harris
Birds of a Feather...
Every visitor is somehow shaped by the space. Today the visitor was Maya.
All the World's a Stage...
...and we are merely players.
Interrogated by Light
There is a line in a Shakespeare Sonnet-
"Sometimes too hot the eye of heaven shines..."
which I am reminded of in this photo.
The brightness exposes all and leaves no place to hide,
inner definition is lost and the background becomes dark by contrast.
The shadow looks on from a distance.
A Winter Poem
This is the beginning of the new exhibit in the Genesis Gallery.
Good Will to All
"Soul Cake"
A soul cake, a soul cake,
Please, good missus, a soul cake,
An apple, a pear, a plum or a cherry,
Any good thing to make us all merry.
A soul cake, a soul cake,
Please, good missus, a soul cake,
One for Peter, two for Paul,
And three for Him that made us all.
God bless the master of this house
And the mistress also,
And all the little children
That round your table grow;
The cattle in your stable,
The dogs at your front door,
And all that dwell within your gates
We'll wish you ten times more.
A soul cake, a soul cake:
Go down into the cellar
And see what you can find;
If the barrels are not empty
We'll hope that you'll be kind;
We'll hope that you'll be kind
With your apple and your pear,
And we'll come no more a-soulin'
Till Christmas time next year.
A soul cake, a soul cake:
The streets are very dirty,
Me shoes are very thin,
I have a little pocket
To put a penny in;
If you haven't got a penny
A ha'penny will do;
If you haven't got a ha'penny
God bless you.
In and out of Focus
It is interesting to note that I can only truly focus on what is close to me.
What is more distant becomes blurred, less articulate, more open to interpretation.
Trying to fit a lot on our plate
and looking for a moment of empty
A Work in Process
Zan continues to make new pieces to add to the exhibition, here, in the collage gallery.
Visitors can view her extraordinary masks and also see the materials and way that she uses them.
A reception will be held this Saturday, November 10th from 2 - 5 pm.
Visit arcturus.ca to see more.
Holding Possibility
What is empty?
What is full?
Somewhere on an Island Far Away
The mystery plays on...
Discombobulated
Today
my head is somehow not connected to my body.
A giant puff ball with two little eyes looking out.
That is just how it is today.
Alive
Zan Redcrow takes us with her into the woods
and through her work introduces us
to those beings who dwell there.
Faces that look out at us
often without our knowing
hidden as they are
behind all that grows.
Work is on exhibit from today October 25 - November 24 in the Collage Gallery.
Feeding the pigeons
The figures in the west Genesis Gallery have taken a walk to the east side
where the pigeons gather and the sun shines brighter.
Corduroy
A corduroy day
small hills and valleys settled with chill
not familiar yet
this morning sharpness
snaps cold fingers
in a call to attention
cutting through pretense and falsehood
only an arms length away.
An epidemic of such proportion that it infiltrates my dreaming
stirs itself into my first bitter sip
I can sometimes hear it whispered in the periphery of listening
to your calm reasoning.
Insects are intensely scary when they are swarming
a plague of locusts
are not anything like the grasshopper you find and hold in your hand
spellbound by the fine precision of its creation.
Mobs are the wasps that sting
so better not to get too close
but their wings, like the butterflies a thousand miles away
are causing the winds to lift the edges of our smooth flat sheets.
They may soon resemble sails with us on boats
we no longer know to navigate.
A corduroy day
with nap and ridges
like fur on the back of a fearful dog
reading the morning news.
Choir
I am learning to sculpt soap stone from a master
my first attempts are from his cut offs
small twisted bits resembling cashews
but larger
each one fitting inside the palm.
Where the saw blade severed them from the whole
that flat is now vertical
seven heads standing in a row
small twisted mouths singing their hearts out
cashews don't sing
but they are compulsively delicious
and sculpting is quite compulsive
even more than cutting one's nails
filing the rough edges and a nose appears
or a forehead bevelled on the cusp
fingertips feel the smooth countenance appear
holding three dimensions in the hand.
An Excursion
Yellow door and a tailless black cat
we enter the day
striding up the slight incline
towards the car.
A purposeful departure towards coffee.
There are still puddles after the nights rain,
all else has been blown dry.
Autumn sun shines bright and rises late,
roses are still blooming at the café garden as we park.
No one is sitting outside.
We are on a mission
to pick up stone.
(notice the journey is not of one)
A highway destination
I navigate from the passengers seat,
turning my head to examine the pattern of balconies in the clouds,
reading the bill boards as they flash by.
An undulating fleet or army or troop all moving as one,
the Roman army on wheels peacefully invading Jerusalem
or the Spanish armada crossing the channel.
A cinematic view of the expressway.
On the return
the vehicle is heavy with purchase
five unfinished sculptures in the back
carried in strong arms and laid on the floor in the gallery
waiting for hands to shape them into life.
Living Stone
by Master Sculptor Floyd Kuptana
This piece was created in the 'beneath the stair' studio at Gallery Arcturus and was finished today. It is on view for a limited time in the upstairs Kuptana Gallery which features his most recent sculptures and drawings.
Singing the Japanese Blues
A little bit happy
a little bit sad
to be back
A Patch of Sun
I am sitting in a patch of sun
the only place I found today
to stop my pacing restlessness, from moving me around.
I don't need glasses
except to read signs and headlines
the fine print and ingredients
price tags at the local second hand.
Some five dozen pairs of magnifiers
stashed on every floor
all dollar store zoom lensers.
It's a gift of age not to see the details
the shock of loose skin and spots,
which fade and tighten
when seeing hangs from a string 'round the neck.
What are we all trying to do?
Sweeping up the butts outside
picking up the shit.
Overall,
trying to clean up the mess left behind
to create some semblance of beauty
some hint of order.
A lasoo or drawstring around what matters.
Sometimes hunger is demanding and insatiable
mostly it can be forgotten
lost in boredom or enthusiam
equally displaced.
Maybe we'll get a dog
I can't imagine what that will change
fear of complacency
barks on the inside and frightens what might be different away.
We are sitting on opposite sides
of a small table
or kitti corner
or lying like spoons in the bed
one end of the couch
or the other
driving fast forward
sometimes reverse.
It's a journey we are on, together.
the five faces of Floyd
Being your apprentice
I watch
what you had finished yesterday
disappear
in your fearless hands
soft agreements disagree
dangerous spinning blades
make time move faster
a lifetime
from birth to death
in minutes
and in the aftermath
something survives
with all its struggling
visible.
Journeys
Sae will be travelling to Japan and deborah will also go on a short trip at the same time.
We will continue to post our blogs but they may be somewhat erratic due to time differences.
Introducing our resident sculptor and rock star...
Floyd Kuptana occupying his studio under the front steps of the gallery,
where he is creating a new masterpiece while teaching me, his newest student, the tricks of the trade.
The Space Calls the Show
What began last week in the gallery as 'o v e r t u r n e d' has evolved to include 'Hortense and Hernan'
and has added the important quality of seriousness.
All the exhibits which take place in the gallery are a conversation, in the space, with the space and for the space.
It is the medium of the space which allows visitors to have an experience of something other.
Wondering which end is up?
Part of a new installation in the main gallery entitled;- 'o v e r t u r n e d'
A little bit scary, a little bit risky
This image is telling the story that humans are part angel and part donkey (the horse is just pretending)
Sometimes the donkey is wild and crazy.
Sometimes there is balance and agreement between the parts.
Inspiration is a well kept secret
it just happens
Robot or Puppet?
feeling mechanical
Staying Afloat
Learning from those who went before
how to focus on what's required,
pick up the oar and paddle.
It is the engagement with practical mundane tasks
that keep us independent and grounded.
Call to Duty
What side of the bars am I on at any given day?
And why, I wonder, must I feel cornered before I can even know what skill or effort
it is possible for me to make.
Life calls us to attend to life.
