Recordings of Past Art & Ideas

Did you miss our previous lecture? Here are the Zoom recordings of our lecture series

Artist Talk with Lee Henderson

An Abridged Sonic History of Global Conflict questions the intentions behind (and subsequent effects of) band names that use war-related themes and vocabulary. Join artist Lee Henderson for an in depth conversation about the exhibition and where his art practice is heading.

Lee Henderson is a contemporary artist whose practice includes video, photography, installation, sculpture, performance, and text. His work moves in constant contemplation of death, in senses grand and minute, somewhere between the persistence of collective histories and the brevity of individual lives. Henderson has studied art in Canada and Germany, holding a BFA from the Alberta College of Art and Design (2003) and an MFA from the University of Regina (2005). Recent and upcoming projects include the CONTACT Feature Exhibition To Step From Shadow Into the Warmth of the Sun at Gallery 44 Centre for Contemporary Photography (Toronto, 2018); A Hand That Points Aligns the Air at Open Studio (Toronto, 2017); and solo exhibitions at The Judith & Norman Alix Art Gallery (Sarnia, 2020), Gallery 101 (Ottawa, 2018), and Latitude 53 Contemporary Visual Culture (Edmonton, 2016). Henderson represented Canada as the 2017 Glenfiddich Artist in Residence, and is a winner of the Gattuso Prize for his 2016 CONTACT exhibition Never Letting Us Take Breath. He teaches photography and new media at two Toronto universities, OCAD and Ryerson.

Artist Talk with Susan Dobson

The exhibition Focus Finder features photographs of Lake Huron that are visually interrupted by the
viewfinders of cameras. Artist Susan Dobson discusses how her work aims to operate not just as transcription, but also as metaphor and poetry, framed within the anxiety of the present moment.

Susan Dobson has been photographing urban and rural landscapes for more than twenty years, and in recent years has expressly become interested in the ontological, technological, and material aspects of the photographic medium. Dobson’s photographs have been exhibited internationally at galleries and festivals, including CONTACT (Toronto, Canada), Fotoseptiembre (Mexico City, Mexico), Le Mois de la Photo à Montréal (Montreal, Canada), Images Festival (Vevey, Switzerland), Bitume/Bitumen (Brussels, Belgium), and Fotonoviembre (Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain). Dobson’s photographs can be found in numerous collections across the world, including in Canada (National Gallery of Canada, Oakville Galleries, Toronto Archives, Art Gallery of Windsor); Switzerland (Musée suisse de l'appareil photographique); Spain (Tenerife Espacio de las Artes); and the United States (Portland Art Museum). Susan Dobson lives in Guelph, Ontario, where she is a professor at the University of Guelph.

Enthusiasm and Understanding: Lawren S. Harris and connections beyond the "Group"

The Group of Seven had incredible influence over artists of their time and were in ongoing contact with artists that would not gain as much fame as them, especially their female contemporaries. This lecture, presented by Alec Blair, will focus on Lawren Harris' influence on female artists like Anne Savage and Doris Mills with special attention to the correspondence between Harris and Emily Carr. Rare surviving letters, generously provided by Harris' grandson Stew Sheppard, and references from Carr's journals form the basis of this exploration of how Harris may have shifted Carr's focus and methodology.

Alec Blair is the director and lead researcher for the Lawren S. Harris Inventory Project. Working with Stew Sheppard of the Harris estate, he has consulted for private and public galleries, documentary films and auction houses on the work of the artist, and is working to catalogue and produce a database of his work, intended to be available to the public in the future. The project has amassed the most complete existing inventory of Harris works to date, with images and information for more than 1,300 pieces. Blair is also a landscape painter and works as a lecturer in the University of British Columbia Geography department, teaching courses on environment and sustainability.

Towards the Universal: The evolution of Lawren S. Harris' work and methods with Alec Blair

Join lecturer Alec Blair for a conversation about the dramatic evolution of Lawren Harris' paintings, from his landscape period to abstraction. Major paintings from the JNAAG permanent collection will be placed into the context of Harris' career and compared to relevant sketches and drawing which expose compositional changes and provide hints towards his changing style.

Alec Blair is the director and lead researcher for the Lawren S. Harris Inventory Project. Working with Stew Sheppard of the Harris estate, he has consulted for private and public galleries, documentary films and auction houses on the work of the artist, and is working to catalogue and produce a database of his work, intended to be available to the public in the future. The project has amassed the most complete existing inventory of Harris works to date, with images and information for more than 1,300 pieces. Blair is also a landscape painter and works as a lecturer in the University of British Columbia Geography department, teaching courses on environment and sustainability.

Close to Home with William Heartwell

 

The historic homes and streets of Sarnia act as the roadmap for this lecture focusing on some of the 20th century figures that impacted the culture of the community. Presenter William Heartwell will discuss how the lives of Norman Gurd, Frances Flintoft and members of the Sarnia Women's Conservation Art Association entwine with famous artists like members of the Group of Seven and beyond.
Heartwell is a retired architect living in Toronto and has spent the last six years researching and writing about Fairholme, the Gurd family home. The mansion was built in 1874 and was located at the south-west corner of London Road and Christina Street in Sarnia. His grandfather, Fraser Heartwell, bought Fairholme in 1944 and it was William’s childhood home. Little did he know how complex a story that history would reveal and how that story had been quietly woven throughout his personal and professional life as an architect. The book, due to be released soon, is titled Fairholme: Recollections of the Gurd Mansion 1874 ● 1964.

Please note that there are amendments to this presentation from W. F. Heartwell:
Slide 25: Gifts of the Estate of Mabel Gurd Wilkinson
- Mabel Gurd Wilkinson’s son, Dr. Frederick R. Wilkinson married Anne C. Gibbons, a Canadian poet. I had previously stated her name was Anne Crockrane.

Slide 33 Mrs. R. V. (Rosa) LeSueur
- I have been informed that I mispronounced LeSueur. I said “le soor” and it may be pronounced “le swar.”
- At one point I referred to Rosa’s daughter name as being “Rosita” and I was correct, then I changed it to Rosa which is wrong.
- I referred to Massey Harrison as a company. It should have been Massey Harris Limited.

Slide 44 Lowrie Lyle Warrener
- I stated the backyard Norman’s Gurd home on Christina Street backed onto the backyard of Happy Cottage. I misspoke– that should have been Robert Gurd’s home at 346 Christina Street North backed onto the backyard of Happy Cottage.

Indigenous Art in Canada Now with Matthew Ryan Smith

This lecture discusses how the efforts of artist collective “Professional Native Indian Artists Inc.” influences the work of contemporary Indigenous artists today. Special focus is given to the way that artists engage tradition, philosophy, and worldview to create new meanings.

Matthew Ryan Smith, Ph.D. is the Curator & Head of Collections of Glenhyrst Art Gallery in Brantford, Ontario and is also the literary editor of First American Art Magazine, the largest Indigenous Arts Magazine in North America. Matthew is an editorial board member of the Moving Image Science Research Group at Kiel University, Germany. He has taught art history at the University of Toronto, OCAD University, and Western University. His writings on art and culture have appeared in academic journals, books, exhibition catalogues, and magazines including Canadian Art, Border Crossings, and Blackflash.