Art Articles & Reviews

} In Her Shape By Robert Amos “Each time we act in service of our sacred intention, each time we align our energies and our actions with what we most truly love, we gain in personal power and ability, the path before us becomes clearer, and the help and allies we need come to us.” Starhawk, quoted by Ann-Rosemary Conway In the modern definition, art is no longer concerned with beauty. In its place we are offered art which is “a critique of society”. Heaven knows it doesn’t take much imagination to find something to criticize about society this week! Therefore, it was a distinct pleasure to discover an exhibit of art whose expressed purpose, beyond just looking good, is “healing”. In Her Shape is the title of a three-woman show timed to coincide with International Women’s Day (Martin Batchelor Gallery, 712 Cormorant Street, 385-7919, until March 31). Included are loving creations by Ann-Rosemary Conway, Marcia Stacy and Karen Gillmore. In their many ways these three honour the Divine Feminine, taking us on a journey to commune with the goddesses of many eras. Karen Gillmore’s canvases depict nude women, many in the role of Earth Mother. Her poetry on decorated papers elaborates on this themes. Marcia Stacy’s skills with many materials and painted finishes are everywhere evident. Her paintings are imbued with a fine graphic flair, and expand to include sculpted elements. Some are hung with copper talismans of her iconic “dancing woman” motif. A separate display of her necklaces, bracelets and earrings sparkle with crystals, beads and silver and each includes a talisman. The entire collection is created in the “secret” suffragette colours of violet, green and white. In the centre of the gallery are four of Stacy’s figurines. These diminuitive wise-women have tenderly modelled faces. They are richly apparelled with her miniature dressmaking and bespeak a symbolic situation or compelling characterization: The Storyteller, The Dreamweaver, and so on. The moving force behind this show is the indefatigable Ann-Rosemary Conway. Her home (on Emily Carr Drive!) is known around the world as The Goddess Museum. She has created thousands of evocations in many media of the Eternal Feminine, and I am pleased to acknowledge an increasing sophistication of artistic synthesis over the many years I have watched her work. In the beginning I noted her woodcuts and linocuts, which soon grew deeper with embossing. They were later glazed with colours and metallic touches, expressive of an unearthly light. The prints were eventually cut out and reassembled, and now are wrapped around larger shapes, inscribed and gilded and hung with votive objects of clay and crystal and silver, both ancient and new. These are devotional objects of an open cult. Thoughtful and prayerful, their making imbues each with a power of love. Shifting layers of reference remind us that what we know as time and space are artificial constructs - the echoes of ages in this show open us to something much larger than the here and now. Which brings me to Judith Fischer’s powerful collection of oil paintings, shown under the title of Myth and Human Destiny (now on show at the McPherson Library Gallery, University of Victoria, tel. 721-6673, until March 23.) Fischer’s 18 canvases are the hard-won result of a lifetime of craft and meditation, and are likely to take viewers into realms beyond those normally considered. Fischer (formerly known as Fisi) was born into a communist country and experienced an atheistic upbringing. Her maturity coincided with her daring escape from Hungary. To the wonders of a new land were added her careful education in the arts in Alberta. New life was later darkened by the tragic death of her eldest daughter. Despite undoubted skill and depth, Fischer’s paintings are mostly left unrecognized by both the buying public and the art institutions. Could this be because she aspires to a higher meaning? Fischer has studied every approach to an understanding of “the after life”. Quotations accompany each picture, drawn from the ideas of philosphers, mystics and thinkers of all sorts. With a basis of accomplished figure drawing, Fischer creates symbolic scenes in which the figures represent mystic and mythic beings - just as the “old masters” did. These figures relate to one another in dynamic, cubist spaces creating a visual analogy of philosophical - even theological - concepts. Of course, “the afterlife” doesn’t begin to describe the infinity in which these artworks operate. There is a lot more for each of us to experience in life than just this “vale of tears”. Beyond beauty and the critique of society are realms of art of which even the philosphers have never dreamed. ___________________________________________ Copyright © 2004Robert Amos Robert Amos is an artist and art writer who lives in Victoria, B.C.. He can be contacted by e-mail and you can view his paintings at www.robertamos.com