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14/9/2004

Beyond Words

Art Gallery Bishop, Lennoxville, QC

Artists: Gilbert Boyer, Ruth Cuthand & Elizabeth MacKenzie, Paul de Guzman, Nelson Henricks, Kelly Mark. Nadia Myre, Sylvia Ptak, Rober Racine
Curators: Ingrid Jenkner & Gaëtane Verna

Born from a collaboration between the Art Gallery of Bishop’s University and Mount Saint Vincent University Art Gallery, Beyond Words brings together 9 Canadian artists from coast to coast. This newest exhibition promises to offer a number of visually and intellectually stunning works created with and from words. The contributing artists have reclaimed ownership of words by transcending their functionality as tools and presenting them in ways that challenge the viewer to look, beyond reading. They are inviting viewers to re-evaluate their perception of letters, words, definitions and language.

Some artists utilize language to impart a social or political message. Native Canadian Nadia Myre has hidden every single letter on the 56 pages of the Indian act, a document which she detests, behind a white bead. The remainder of each sheet is covered in rows of red beads. In Word for Word, Elizabeth MacKenzie and Ruth Cuthand comment on the assimilation of culture through language, with a media display that show two mouths simultaneously speaking. While one voice speaks in French, the other translates into Cree as English subtitles appear in their phonetic spelling at the bottom of the screen.

The show will also exhibit works that have rendered sentences illegible. Toronto based artist, Sylvia Ptak takes her inspiration from old texts and documents by reproducing them with string and ink on gauze. By weaving the string through the holes of the gauze, she mimics the curls and loops of the original letters. Vancouver artist, Paul de Guzman carves books architecturally by meticulously removing sections from each page, leaving layers of empty spaces with the occasional word or phrase emerging to the surface. Montreal artist Rober Racine allows us to hear the sound of words by recording the act of signatures being written repeatedly. He displays the scraps of paper that bear the signatures as if to entice us to match the letters to their sound. In her Letraset collages, multi-media artist, Kelly Mark, assembles letters, numbers and symbols into incoherent patterns and shapes, using them conceptually rather than literally.

Focusing on the ephemeral nature of the spoken word, Gilbert Boyer engraves words and phrases onto glass. By choosing to ignore the conformity of straight lines, his words seem to float off of the piece accentuating their lack of material weight. Montreal artist Neslon Henricks takes his inspiration from Virgina Woolf’s writings. In his video piece, Time Passes, Henricks explores the impermanence of meaning in the written word by incorporating it into images of time moving forward.

Though approaching it with different intentions and ideas, each of these artists presents the viewer with an innovative perception of words and language. We invite you to explore these works with us.

Special thanks to the Canada Council for the Arts, le Conseil des arts et des letters du Quebec and the Interdepartmental Partnership with Official Language Communities (IPOLC) for their support.

Image: Kelly Mark, Copyright 1972 Face, 2001

Vernissage : 15th, from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.

The curator will be available for interviews throughout the exhibition.

special activities:

-Informal guided tour of the exhibition with curator Gaëtane Verna: September 15th at 4 p.m.

Hours: Tuesday to Saturday, 12 p.m. to 5 p.m., and all evenings of performances at Centennial Theatre

-Beading Workshop with Nadia Myre: Saturday September 18th, 2004 – 1p.m. to 5p.m.

Meeting Place: AGBU Cost: 4$

Native Canadian artist, Nadia Myre will help participants create their own beaded pages from documents or notes that they dislike or which make them unhappy. Inspired by her work, Indian Act.

-Artist Talk by Kelly Mark : Wednesday 29, - 1 p.m.

Meeting Place: AGBU Cost: Free Details: in English

Toronto based multi-media artist Kelly Mark will present her work and answer questions.

-AGBU Cine-Club: The Wild Child (l’Enfant Sauvage) (François Truffaut, 1969)

Tuesday, September 21st, - 7 p.m.

To compliment a collection of works that allow us to see our dependence on words and language, the AGBU has chosen to show the film, The Wild Child. Based on the true story of a young boy who was found living in the forests of France in the 1700s.
Meeting Place: Centennial Theatre Cost: $2/person or by donation Details: French with English subtitles

Art Gallery Bishop's University/ Galerie d'art de l'Université Bishop's
rue College Street
Lennoxville, QC J1M1Z7

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