Special to The Morning Star
Art too is cyclical, rejuvenating and refreshing.
It is fitting that the exhibition INTERwoven New Canadian Perspectives in Textile and Printmaking — Mark Bovey Davida Kidd, Walter Jules, Karen Dugan, Liz Ingram and Bernd Hildebrandt, Derek Besant, Julie Oakes, Sean Caulfield, Tracy Templeton, Guy Langevin, and Alexandra Haeseker — opens at Headbones Gallery April 26 as the trees bud and leafy bloom engulfs the Okanagan.
The exhibition shows works that originate from Canadian coast to coast.
Thirteen artists were “invited to challenge their personal practices to produce new works for an exhibition at Kobro Gallery in Lodz, Poland that somehow looked to both textile and print references in creative ways,” said Besant, the curator and also one of the artists.
Furthering a long standing liaison between Poland and Canada, most of the artists, including Oakes of Vernon attended the opening in Lodz. Headbones Gallery’s presentation of Interwoven extends the exposure to touch ground in Vernon.
Besant is no stranger to Vernon. He has already had an exhibition at the Vernon Public Art Gallery and another is opening May 24 to July 18, Dark Woods Revisited.
With an engaging perspective on life in general, he encourages connection. Because there was an enthusiastic reception of the works in Lodz in the springtime of 2017, INTERwoven traveled that fall to The National Cultural Center Art Gallery in Warsaw with the support of the Canadian Embassy.
Bovey, of Nova Scotia, has also had an exhibition at the Vernon Public Art Gallery and this new work develops his long standing themes and use of digital technology.
Currently with a solo show at The Reach Gallery in Abbotsford, Kidd’s poignant, intimate photographs of marginalized people in alternative spaces caps off the west coast.
From Edmonton, Jules, Dugan and the artist team of Ingram and Hildebrandt have pushed the boundaries of textile and printmaking.
Caulfield’s current exhibition at the Vernon Public Art Gallery, Active Workings, March 8 – May 16, an eloquent and extensive exploration, opens the possibilities of printmaking to grand dimensions.
Templeton is now based in Indianapolis but hails from the Canadian prairies and her works bring the chill of winter back into view.
Langevin from Quebec brings a sensual sensibility – subtle, visionary and toned by his expertise.
Haeseker and Besant (Calgary) both who have an artistic history of expanding the methods and imagery of art making bring the best of Alberta onto B.C. walls, with a slant inclusion and un-jaded by politics.
Oakes brought a Canadian’s perspective on the rights of women to both Lodz and Warsaw where she marched in two Women’s Marches, with the good wishes of the Canadian Embassy, to support the causes of Polish women. One of her Interwoven pieces, a flag titled Striving in the Pink Lane sports the image of a woman swimming “in the pink lane” depicting the masters class Olympic swimmer Hella Versfeld who lives and trains in Vernon. The large banners, Half Full Half Empty also depict a pool race suggesting the competition that man imposes upon the environment — a race to the finish that animals have been unwittingly drawn into.
To keep the Polish Canadian connection open, on June 15, Headbones will be hosting INTERlacing — Oscar Gozkiewicz, Tomasz Matczak, Alicia Habisiak-Matczak and Jolanta Rudzka Habisiak. And in March 2020, an exhibition opens at KOBRO Gallery in Lodz focusing on women’s rights — Julie Oakes and Jolanta Rudzka Habisiak.
As the artistic relationship between Canada and Poland deepens, Headbones Gallery, 6700 Old Kamloops Road, Vernon, invites the public to the opening reception on April 26 between 6 and 8 p.m.
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