By J. Kathleen Thopson
“Yes, I built my kiln in Winlaw — all 72 cubic feet of it. The main fire box is in the largest chamber, and the fire shoots through tunnels leading to the other chambers and then ascends through a chimney, which at 1,400 degrees C, booms like a dragon awakened.”
Pamela Nagley Stevenson, author of one of gallery 2’s current exhibits: “Imbibe” Vessels of Illumination,” gives those in attendance at the opening reception on July 15, a sense of what it means to be impassioned about one’s work.
Prompted by a dream, Stevenson dedicated a year to the creative process of researching and re-imagining 108 iconic ceramic drinking vessels.
While her research unearthed the remarkable diversity in the handmade gourds, chalices, cups, bowls, goblets and calabashes found around the world, it was the unity of their purpose and the commonality of their visual language that Stevenson found the most exciting. And, given that all 108 vessels are a product of one dream, one year, one life, one single wood-kiln firing and one single liner glaze, the concept of ‘oneness’ is at the heart of Stevenson’s finished offering.
Scrolled out on the walls of the Richard & Beverley Reid Gallery, “Imbibe: Vessels of Illumination” is a stunning display of Stevenson’s exploration into this universal form. From potter’s wheel to dragon’s den to precise geometric arrangement on a gallery wall, each cup stands on pedestals against walls the colours of nascent and fired pottery.
Book-ending Stevenson’s exhibit, in the smaller gallery rooms to the left and right of the Reid gallery, is Nicola Tibbet’s “Arctic Sojourns” and Tiki Mulvihills’ “Landlocked.” Both artists, now stationed in the Lower Mainland, were also on hand for the opening reception to provide insight into their work.
A winter sojourn in Iqaluit for Tibbetts was the inspiration for a series of paintings which ‘unapologetically showcase the beauty’ of this region of Nunavet. Wanting to transcend the traditional concept of landscape painting in Canadian art, Tibbetts strove to capture the unedited reality of a northern landscape and a young territorial capital. Diversion from realistic portraits of the north was only allowed when Tibbetts ran out of white paint, which led to interesting mixtures of oil, water and gesso and snowy landscapes that shine with a blue iridescence.
Tiki Mulvihill, known for her inquiry into the contradictions inherent in place and belonging, the real and the imagined, inserts the ‘symbol’ of a mythical wooden fishing boat in her installation to problematize the lives of the landlocked. Mulvihill’s artist talk clearly indicated that her first venture into boat building was one of the most rewarding aspects to creating “Landlocked.”
While each exhibition is unique and stylistically disparate, the three artists’ work now on display at gallery 2 finds common ground in the perspicacity of their vision and exuberance of their expression.
The exhibits’ compatibility is a testament to the vision of the curator/director team of gallery 2. Visiting hours are Monday through Saturday 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. with exhibit running until Sept. 9.