You never know what you’ll encounter at Winnipeg’s New Music Festival, and this year the festival organizers incorporated visual art in some unexpected ways. For instance, in the lobby there was a table where concert-goers could sit down and make a collage. There was a bin full of old record album covers and drawers full of materials … Continue reading A great big Collage Party
Category: Art
The art of looking and writing
How do you write about another art form? Can you really convey the visual in words? Poets use language to evoke a visual image for the reader all the time. But somehow, writing in response to another art form has always seemed a little problematic to me. I was not sure why one would do it. If … Continue reading The art of looking and writing
Getting a handle on the abstract
Russell Smith’s latest column in The Globe and Mail describes a documentary called How To Explain It To My Parents, in which nine Dutch artists sit down with their parents and try to explain what they do. Not surprisingly, some of the parents don’t get it. While they take a benign interest in their children’s … Continue reading Getting a handle on the abstract
Cows, horses, people
I recently saw an exhibit of work by Joe Fafard at the Winnipeg Art Gallery (the day before it ended, naturally). It was truly delightful, and I wondered what it is that makes his work so attractive. It might be a romantic thing city-dwellers have for farm animals, but then again, there’s nothing romanticized about … Continue reading Cows, horses, people
Poetry as compassion
A couple of months ago, to mark World Poetry Day, I went to hear Don Domanski give a reading and interview. He had strong opinions about why so few people read poetry these days (more about that in another post), and also had some things to say about writing poetry. It’s important, he said, to … Continue reading Poetry as compassion
Irritating art
I enjoy modern art, with its profusion of styles and techniques. Some abstract art is a bit of a stretch, like monochrome painting, but other works are fascinating plays of color, texture, line and movement. Then again, some art is simply irritating. Well, to be more accurate, what’s irritating are the descriptions attached to works … Continue reading Irritating art