Is it Art

Is it Art, a photo by susanvg on Flickr.

This installation is in place for the summer as part of the museums outdoor sculpture exhibit. As a result the street is closed to traffic. Is it art? What makes something art? I can't say it does anything for me. What about you?




This piece can be found further up the street. I like its form and the spaces. I find it whimsical, playful... We appreciate art with our emotions, our eyes and our experiences.

Ben Franklin

Ben Franklin, a photo by susanvg on Flickr.

Thought I would share some of the public art in Philadelphia. Benjamin Franklin gets around - he can be found in many places in the city, including his grave. I love his lightning hair!

This temporary mural covers work. It certainly makes strolling through a pleasant experience.

This is part of a mural on the side of a pub. You have to look a while to find all the whimsical details - a flavour of Philadelphia.

This was in a store window - part of a village built by children. The "slate" roof was beautifully done. Some buildings even had graffiti - so much part of our modern cities.

Metro Art

Metro Art, originally uploaded by susanvg.

When this art work was first created, it stretched the length of the station, unprotected by this reflective glass cover. Then the vandals got to it. The whole thing had to be dismantled, cleaned and then those parts that were salvageable were remounted under glass. The vandals are at it again.
I am all for good graffiti artists who create art in the city, but spray painting tags on someone's property, whether it be a piece of art, a monument, a building or whatever is not creative, is not art and is not cool!

Sept 6/10: Time to Sit

Sept 6/10: Time to Sit, originally uploaded by susanvg.

The Secret Bench by sculptor, Lea Vivot always makes me smile. One thing I love about art in public spaces is the way people interact with it. While I was enjoying a public photography exhibit, a couple of people sat down on the bench and posed for photographs. Meanwhile across the street, someone was posing with another sculpture. Instead of the "do not touch" mentality of museums there is a sense of touch, enjoy and participate.

July 20/10: Subway Art

July 20/10: Subway Art, originally uploaded by susanvg.

We took the subway up to meet Paul's father for dinner. At the Bayview station we came upon some interesting art work. At first it looked like splotches of black on the tiles. Viewed from the right spot the splotches formed images – a dog, an insect, a ladder.... The work is by Panya Clark Espinal. According to a plaque, 24 images were projected onto the architecture. Viewed from the spot at which they were originally projected, you can see the form; viewed from another angle – just playful splotches.

The distorted image on the right is the dog.

Perspective is everything.

City smells – traffic and smog and other malodours. The sky wears a hazy coat. The fresh Arctic air is beckoning – not long now.

Day 288: Studio Du Verre

Day 288: Studio Du Verre, originally uploaded by susanvg.

As I was walking from my car to a concert in my favourite church in Old Montreal, I passed this shop selling stained glass objects. I love the intensity of colour in stained glass as well as its luminosity as the light shines through. I thought of a conversation I had earlier in the day with one of my colleagues about art and craft. She directed me to the PBS web site Craft in America and the incredible objects that people create. When is something art and when is it craft - and are we using craft in a pejorative sense? Is an artist a craftsperson? Is a craftsperson an artist? Surely the stained glass windows in Chartres are more than craft - they demonstrate incredible artistry. A beautiful piece of pottery, a hand-blown piece of class can certainly be works of art.

I guess to me - craft is the set of skills we need to produce something - we even refer to the writer's craft. Art is that intangible that enters the piece making it unique. We each look with our own eyes and appreciate and understand based on our aesthetic sense, our background, our culture etc. We may each draw the line in a different place. Much of what you see in this window would be more a demonstration of a craftsperson's skill. It becomes art when it touches a person's soul.

Day 249: Art in the Metro

Day 249: Art in the Metro, originally uploaded by susanvg.

I often travel on the metro (our subway system) and am struck by the lovely art in some of the stations. What this photograph doesn't show is that on the adjacent wall there is a huge advertisement for iPods. I wonder which attracts more attention. The stations, like stations in cities I have travelled in, have a succession of ads plastered around. Montreal has limited them a little more than some places. Does it devalue the work to have it juxtaposed beside advertising? I don't think all art work should be in museums; I love to see art in urban settings. I just wonder what other people see.

If you want to learn more about the art in Montreal's metro, visit this link. There I learned that this piece is called Hommage aux fondateurs de la ville de Montréal and is by artists Gaboriau and Osterrath. It is located in the Berri-UQAM station.

Day 181: Public Art

Day 181: Public Art, originally uploaded by susanvg.

I was really impressed with the art in the Washington Convention Center. This is only one example. There were lovely paintings, photographs, installations - some more traditional, others quite quirky - a circle of guitars hung from the ceiling, large painted animals. What is important is that art is valued. In Quebec there is a requirement that public buildings spend a percentage of the budget (I think it is 1%) on art. It says something about a city when it displays its culture and honours its artists.

Being in this large building, with thousands of people, it was nice to stop occasionally and enjoy - to escape, for a moment, the hum, the hype and the crowds.

Day 167: Stained Glass

Day 167: Stained Glass, originally uploaded by susanvg.

When I bought my house over twenty years ago, it was really by fluke. I wasn't looking for a house just in this area. However, my brother-in-law, who was 25 years older than I, was a friend of the owner and had always raved about it. Coincidentally, I had gone to high school with the owner's son. When my real estate agent suggested seeing the house, I jumped on the chance, more out of curiousity than because I thought I would buy it. When I saw it, it just seemed right. The owner was thrilled that someone he knew was acquiring his beloved home.

Mr. E. had an extensive art collection. This piece of stained glass hung on the wall in the dining room. He left it for me, saying that the dining-room would just not be right without it.

I subsequently learned more about the artist, Eric Wesselow, an innovative glass artist, whose technique of layering glass instead of using lead became known as the Eric Wesselow System. He phoned me once, wanting to come and photograph the work, but unfortunately, he passed away before this could be arranged. Lovely as this looks in my dining room, I don't think I'll be leaving it behind when I move.

If you are interested in learning more about Eric Wesselow, read this article.

Day 156: AGO-Frank Gehry

Day 156: AGO-Frank Gehry, originally uploaded by susanvg.

I spent much of the day at the Art Gallery of Ontario admiring both the art and the architecture. The original structure was enlarged by Toronto born architect, Frank Gehry and I was curious to see what he had done. I am not crazy about what it looks like on the outside - too much mirror and steel, but inside was full of the warmth of wood, with an organic staircase spiraling up, beautiful flowing wood benches where you could sit and admire the work (and they were comfortable too). This galleria was beautiful. It felt a bit like being in the hull of a ship under construction. The only art in there were wood pieces of sculpture.

I loved the way Gehry incorporated windows into some of the galleries. It was almost like looking at an ever changing piece of art.

As to the art, I lingered over the Impressionists and spent a lot of time in the Canadian art galleries. The Group of Seven is extremely well represented. Their landscapes speak to me. There were discoveries, some contemporary art that puzzled me and some conversations with other visitors to the gallery. And finally, in a state of visual overload, I went back out onto the street.

Day 86: Hand Blown Glass

Day 86: Hand Blown Glass, originally uploaded by susanvg.

I love good craftmanship. Some years ago I went to Vancouver and a friend of mine took me to Robert Held's glass studio. It was a fascinating experience. In the area where the glass is blown, there were a couple of furnaces with fires blazing inside. Rock music blasted from speakers trying to drown out the roar of the fires. At each furnace a skilled glassblower carefully formed the shapes of the objects and meticulously added the layers of coloured glass. Turning and blowing, the object took shape. I was told that some young street people had been trained to be glass blowers. Working in this environment seemed to suit their temperament. They must have felt enormous satisfaction and pride turning out such beautiful objects.

The pieces in the gallery were magnificent and so were the prices. This bowl sat among the seconds - pieces with slight flaws that did not meet the exacting standards of a master glass blower. I love to look at the colours in the glass and marvel at its intricacy. Despite having seen the process, it still seems like magic to me that someone can control the placement of the colours with such precision. It is quite a gift to be an artist.