Bob and Doug McKenzie having a final brewski before being devoured by wolves. Santa Claus meeting a bad end. The Trailer Park Boys communing with nature. A bear aiming a pistol at Winnie the Pooh. In Group of Seven Awkward Moments, Winnipeg artist Diana Thorneycroft takes historical Canadian landscapes by the Group of Seven, Tom Thomson, and Emily Carr, and combines them with complex dioramas she has constructed using dolls, toys, and other found objects.

Thorneycroft then records her “awkward” compositions of miniature models and distorted background landscapes through the camera lens. The resulting photographs convey a clichéd representation of the unique Canadian experience. The Awkward Moments are images of everyday contemporary life and historical events familiar to many Canadians. They represent historical figures, celebrated personalities, pop culture characters, and the general public absorbed in social activities (such as fishing, camping, and skating) that tell the stories of Canada. Although the images appear to engage in harmless parody of a people focused on daily mundane pursuits, they also point to issues that are unpleasant, and uncover the “reality” that the Canadian condition is not that perfect. The very same images that boost national pride are also marred by references to identity crisis, social anxiety and apathy, existential absurdity, environmental destruction, and human propensity to violence.

The Vancouver Art Gallery has commissioned a large-scale site-specific installation by artist Ken Lum for display at the recently finished space, "Offsite" during the 2010 Winter Games. The artist's large sculptural work includes three scale replicas of squatters' shacks that once populated North Vancouver's shoreline.

Titled from shangri-la to shangri-la, Lum's rustic cabins resemble those of the Maplewood Mudflats squatters' community. Located along North Vancouver's intertidal zone from the early 20th century until 1971, this improvised village was home to a number of artists, writers and activists. For his project, Lum has recreated the homes of renowned writer Malcolm Lowry, artist Tom Burrows and Greenpeace leader Dr. Paul Spong. Propped up on stilts over the surface of the Offsite reflecting pool, the huts strike a sharp contrast with the surrounding downtown architecture. Located at the foot of the Shangri-La Hotel, Vancouver's tallest building at the busy intersection of Thurlow and West Georgia Streets, these dissimilar structures evoke the character of the mudflat community and draw attention to the rapid advance of urban development in the Lower Mainland.

The work of Vancouver artist Ken Lum questions the relationship between modernism, mass culture and everyday experience, often blurring the boundaries separating high art and popular culture. Over the past twenty years, Lum's work has been presented in solo exhibitions throughout North America, Europe and Asia. He has also represented Canada at the Istanbul Biennial, São Paulo Biennial, Shanghai Biennale, Gwangju Biennale and Documenta.

The daily lives of Japanese emperors, artists, actors, geisha and samurai are revealed through rare porcelain objects of the Edo Period (1603 - 1868).


Photo courtesy of Gardiner Museum

In addition to its reference to the rare Edo porcelain used by Japanese elites mainly in their private domestic lives and in intimate social situations such as the parties of the so-called “Floating World” of geishas and their patrons, the title of the show also refers to the fact that the majority of the objects in this exhibition come from a private collection, the Macdonald Collection, one of the largest and best collections of Edo-period Japanese porcelain in North America. Formed by Toronto residents Bill and Molly Anne Macdonald, the Macdonald Collection includes more than 100 fine and rare Edo-period porcelains, as well as a somewhat larger number of European ceramics that were influenced by Japanese forms and styles.

Private Pleasures is curated by Gardiner Museum Chief Curator Charles Mason. It is complemented by a 200-page catalogue of the Macdonald Collection published in 2009 by the Gardiner Museum in collaboration with Douglas & McIntyre.

Bach’s Sons: The Legacy of the Baroque
Chamber Music from the late Baroque and the Rococo

Marc Destrubé, violin
Julie Andrijeski, violin & viola
Wilbert Hazelzet, traverso
Jaap ter Linden, violoncello
Jacques Ogg, harpsichord

Johann Christian Bach (1735-1782): Quartett in A major for flute, violin, viola, cello and basso continuo

Wilhelm Friedemann Bach (1710-1784): Allegro moderato in a minor for flute, violin and basso continuo

Johann Christoph Friedrich Bach (1732-1795): Sonata in d minor HW VIII/3 for harpsichord and flute

Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach (1714-1788): Trio in c minor, “Sanguineus & Melancholicus” Wq.161/1 for two violins and basso continuo

Johann Christoph Friedrich Bach: Sonata in A major for cello and basso continuo

Johann Christian Bach: Quintett in D major for harpsichord, flute, violin, viola and cello

Monteverdi’s Vespers of 1610, The Vespro della Beata Vergine

This year marks the 400th anniversary of this highlight of sacred music from the early 17th century. It also marks the 40th anniversary for Early Music Vancouver.

Immense in scale, Monteverdi’s Vespers of 1610 was the most ambitious work of sacred music before Bach. Bridging the spiritual traditions of renaissance music with the more humanist values of the baroque age, the work is a marvel of creative genius. Monteverdi seamlessly integrates renaissance traditions of polyphonic music with new operatic ideals in a splendid musical architecture that includes polyphonic psalm settings, vocal concertos, hymns, motets, and a virtuosic instrumental sonata, all bound together by Gregorian chant, creating an enduring masterpiece of spiritual and emotional depth.
 

Suzie LeBlanc soprano
Ellen Hargis soprano
Matthew White alto
Debi Wong alto
Colin Balzer tenor
Charles Daniels tenor
Tyler Duncan baritone
Sumner Thompson baritone
Paul Grindlay bass
Tony Funk bass

with
The Whole Noyse (San Francisco)
& Early Music Vancouver’s Baroque Festival Players
Alexander Weimann music director & keyboard