The Wild West, Wearable Art and Photos with Pizzazz

By Gilbert Bouchard

GOING FOR BAROQUE WITH GUNS ABLAZIN': AGA SHOWS CAPTURE BEST OF THE WEST
The Frederic Remington and Charles Russell: Images of the West exhibit showing at the Art Gallery of Alberta is a selection of iconic historic paintings and bronze sculptures by two renowned American artists - Charles Russell and Frederic Remington - who worked in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. This particular duo specialized in depicting the recently departed Golden Age of the cowboy and the American West (roughly the 1840s to the early 1860s). A technically suburb and highly romantic body of work, these images of western 'final frontier' inspired much of the western genre of American film and TV as well as how city and country folk in Canada, the United States and the rest of the world sees the 'wild west.' (Both men travelled extensively to the Canadian west and produced work with specific western Canadian themes.) Views of history and progress aside, both shows do have one point in common: a highly developed sense of drama and human emotion. In fact, the two western artists are credited with having invented a slew of now well-trod western 'action' poses including images of cowboys taming rearing horses and bucking bulls. The show runs until November 26.

COATS OF MANY OPERAS: ALBERTA CRAFT COUNCIL PRESENTS THE OPERA COAT PROJECT
Costume designers for theatre productions and operas are talented visual artists, but understand that their work isn't going to be enjoyed the same way aficionados pour over paintings and sculptures. For starters, a costume designer for an opera knows that fans will never see their work from less than 20 yards away and have to temper their aesthetic desires with the practical demands of allowing singers and actors to move around in comfort on the stage. The Alberta Craft Council's Opera Coat Project seeks to rectify those shortfalls by teaming up leading Alberta costume designers with various visual and craft artists (i.e. traditional painters to artists who work with fabric and paper as well as one glass blower) to create opera-themed coats that minimize wearability to maximize artistic freedom. This exhibit of 16 one-of-a-kind 'wearable art' pieces is not only showing at the downtown Council exhibit space, but will also be making a guest appearance at Edmonton's Jubilee Auditorium during the run of Edmonton Opera's Don Giovanni, November 4, 7 and 9. Highlighting the multimedia and collaborative realities historically built into opera, the show revels in getting people from all kinds of visual art disciplines working together, ranging from internationally-recognized visual artists like Joane Cardinal-Schubert and master dyer Emily Park-Koll to paper maker Barb Pankratz and theatre designer/educator David Lovett. Designs range from highly abstracted references to symbols and traditions associated with the operas. This show runs until December 19.

Gilbert A. Bouchard is a Edmonton-based freelance journalist, cultural correspondent and broadcaster. For the past seven years, Bouchard has covered visual arts for a variety of publications including CBC Radio, the Globe and Mail, Canadian Art Magazine and the Edmonton Journal.