On exhibit: at Two Rivers


	On exhibit: at Two Rivers Prince George

by George Harris The Two Rivers Gallery most recent exhibitions are Figment, featuring the work of Alison Norlen, Minh Nguyen and Tania Kitchel, and A Permanent Collection, which features work from our collection. Both shows run until Feb. 9 and Jan. 12 respectively. Figment sets out to explore the creation of fictional realities in the drawings of Minh Nguyen and Alison Norlen and in the photographs and soft sculpture of Tania Kitchell. Norlen’s 6.5 by 25 foot drawing called Float XI represents a chaotic scene unfolding within the basin of Niagara Falls. Comprised of three separate panels, each one plays with perspective and scale as the artist reveals what appears to be a cross between a float and a theme park, incorporating fair ground rides, a giant wasp, air show dare-devilry, and too much more to note here. Minh Nguyen’s drawings of insects are arranged in a grid and hung on facing walls. Each one in the grid is comprised of layers of gestural drawings. They seem to project a sense of vitality and movement, which is all the more remarkable given that they were drawn from the desiccated husks of dead insects. The arrangement of Nguyen’s work into grids echos the multi-visioned way in which insects see the world. This arrangement hints at a change in perspective where the drawings themselves represent the eyes of the insects and the gallery viewer now becomes the subject of scrutiny by insects. Tania Kitchell’s work addresses the everyday and looks particularly at how we respond to winter. Her Snow White series of photographs represents a woman who is unsuitably dressed for the winter outdoors and appears to be wrestling a giant snowball, addressing questions of perception and experience. Other work by the artist seems to comment on the clothing industry and includes both sculpture and digital prints of gloves and sweaters that have been transformed by the artist into monster figures. The Gallery has published a catalogue of the exhibition that is available through the shop and has given the Galleria over to a series of activities relating to the show. Visitors are invited to contribute to a large community mural in the Galleria or to study and draw a collection of insects for themselves. There is an opportunity to explore the weather through Environment Canada’s website or to participate in the creation of a body sock using a giant ‘knitting machine’. A Permanent Collection features some of the newer acquisitions of the Two Rivers Gallery as well as some of its older paintings that have rarely been seen. Featuring work by Bruce Woycik, Leon Phillips, Phillipe Raphanel Lorenzo Dupuis, Tracy Kobus, Suzanne Bessette, Alice Park-Spurr, Eric Karjaluotto, David Thauberger, Trevor Lloyd Jones and Maud Lewis, the exhibition is an eclectic look at some of the larger paintings in the Gallery’ collection. Rather than focus on a particular curatorial premise to pull the exhibition together, the Gallery has created a brief survey exhibition that highlights the collecting practices of the Two Rivers Gallery over the years. Many of the paintings in the show stem from previous exhibitions and may be familiar to regular gallery goers. The majority of work in this exhibition is representative of the overall collection in as far as it is comprised predominantly of significant contemporary artists from western Canada. The one exception to this is the small but charming untitled painting by the late Maud Lewis formerly of Truro, Nova Scotia. Representing the lighthouse at the entrance to Digby Harbour, it is a great example of the work for which artist was known. Like most of the work in the exhibition, this painting was generously donated to the gallery, in this case by a Prince George family, in other cases, by the artists responsible for the work. The work in this exhibit articulates the collecting focus of the Gallery, which is to acquire primarily contemporary artwork stemming from exhibitions, private collections and other sources. Through this, the gallery hopes to build a sound resource that speaks to the history of the gallery, our community and its residents, and inevitably to the cultural identity of the central interior and the experience of life in northwestern Canada. The Two Rivers Gallery opens a new exhibition on Jan. 17, 2003, called A Secret Language, featuring the work of Vanderhoof artist Annerose Georgeson. The artist presents a body of work that compares written languages with marks and shapes derived from nature, using photocopy transfers and drawing techniques. As the title of the exhibit implies, the artist has found strong similarities between shapes that appear in the natural world and those employed in numerous writing systems. Her work not only explores the whimsical question of whether or not there is a secret language used in nature, but also illustrates how remarkably similar our written language can be to the random and chaotic orderings of pine needles, leaves and other material found in nature. A Secret Language continues until March 2. Sources, A Journey of Discovery, will open on Valentines Day. This exhibit by Yukon artist Joyce Majiski, like the work of Annerose Georgeson, makes strong references to nature, often integrating natural material like shells, musk-ox wool, and bones. Majiski, known for her print and bookmaking, often combines the two to produce artist’s books. These books can typically include journal entries, observations and other material that, rather than being read as a novel, challenges our conceptions of traditional books, and are used as a kind of source material for artistic exploration. Majiski suggests, in her work, a series of habitats through which viewers can wander, from oceans to forest to Tundra, incorporating both stand alone book-work and wall-mounted prints. Viewers soon become sensitized to the environmental issues with which Majiski’s work subtly engages, ranging from a consideration of driftnet fishing to the consequences of drilling for oil. Majiski’s work gives us pause to ponder the effects of human interaction with nature and the very real possibility that we might not understand entirely the consequences of our actions. Sources closes on April 27. (George Harris is curator at Two Rivers Gallery.) As a complement to these exhibits the Gallery also has a series of programs that include artist’s talks, art-making workshops, children, youth and adult classes and Family Sundays in the Gallery.
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