ART at MRU...

 

Art at MRU, originally uploaded by whistlepunch.

After watching a video tour of art on campus yesterday, I planned to visit a few of the pieces I didn't realize we had today at lunch. I've been at this campus for 8 years and I don't think I've ever been in the O wing corridor before today. My goal was to see the work of Chris Cran and Wendy Toogood - favourite artists of mine and until now I had no idea we had their work on display at MRU.
The Chris Cran piece, Grey Green Crowd #2, is quite large (the picture above doesn't give you a sense of the size) and is placed outside of Communication Studies in O.

Just a ways down the hall - across the outside patio and into the upper level of T wing, you can see the work by Wendy Toogood.  It is applique textile and very vibrant. It is located in my favourite study room on campus - with windows looking out onto the Arts Courtyard. From the second level you can look over into the study room and see the art or you can go down the staircase there and see it in the room.

I'm glad to see Mount Royal is including some great art pieces on campus. Bissett School of Business has begun featuring different artists in their 2nd floor gallery in the hallway.  I'll be paying attention to what they do there - the current exhibition is finishing on Feb 4.

I remember the great art we had everywhere at the University of Lethbridge. We were so spoiled! There was even a Chagall hanging in one of the women's washrooms!

And remember the game Masterpiece? It was one of my favourite board games as a kid and I've been lucky to see some of these amazing works of art as I've visited museums and galleries both in touring exhibitions or on my travels.I still have the set of cards - I have my favourites and I'm sure they've influenced my love of art.

I also know my parents had an influence.  My mom was making her own modern art for our walls - attaching blocks of packing styrofoam and taking a blow torch to them to make a piece that hung in our living room.  My dad took art classes with me when I was in Junior High and enjoyed working with oils. And my favourite art in our house was a wild modern art piece with bright colours that hung above the ironing board and since that was my chore, I spent a lot of time looking at it.

My next art adventure is to get over to the Glenbow Museum to see the exhibit by Brian Eno, 77 Million Paintings. I have until March 20 - so if you are there on March 19 - you'll probably see me there!

NEVERMORE: The Imaginary Life & Mysterious Death of Edgar Allan Poe




Just got home from the performance of Nevermore at Vertigo Theatre in partnership with the High Performance Rodeo. Wow!! Okay as Jill said, it isn't necessarily for everyone, and Ingrid was still talking about how good the last show, The 39 Steps, was, but I loved it. If you are a fan of Tim Burton's work, and enjoy live performance and music... (all those things apply for me) then this is one to see. It's certainly dark - no quirky happy ending like Nightmare Before Christmas or calypso dancing to Harry Belafonte to lighten the mood, Edgar's life is quite tragic - although I think the number when he meets his first love - Elmira - was a sweet moment. The six members of the cast were amazing - strong singers all and it really proceeds at a breakneck pace - with pauses only occasionally and definitely for effect. Usually one sentence leads directly into the next - barely a chance to breathe. It was developed and debuted by Catalyst Theatre out of Edmonton as a commissioned work for the Magnetic North Theatre Festival in 2009. Since then it has gone on to performances in Vancouver, Toronto, London and just finished a run in New York. I was glad to find the videos below - no soundtrack available, so this way I can enjoy it again. It runs until February 6 so there is still a chance to catch it here.

Next show - Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None!!

Ran into a friend on the way out and was reminded that The Drowsy Chaperone (NOT Drowning as I misquoted - too much of the macabre still lingering?) is coming up at Theatre Calgary. Anyone want to catch that with me??

Edgar Allan Poe

Off to see Nevermore tonight, a play/musical at Vertigo Theatre about Edgar Allan Poe. So I checked out a Qwiki on him before going. Just testing out how the embedding code for this works.

Sunset under a chinook arch

Sunset under a chinook arch, originally uploaded by whistlepunch.

Don't the mountains look so close? This was the view Monday evening from the windows of our office at Mount Royal University. I was working a bit late and a coworker called me over saying that I had to see this. An amazing glow descended on the mountain peaks reflected off of a very welcome chinook arch.