SPAO News and Events

Exposure Gallery's recent SPAO exhibition of graduates of SPAO has been reviewed by Peter Simpson on his blog, The Big Beat. Sarai Strikefoot and Greg Zehna, graduates, are discussed by Simpson.

The article can be found here.

Guerilla Magazine's latest article features the work of Erin Molly Fitzpatrick, another SPAO grad.

Her work and the accompanying article can be found here.

Out of Site, Out of Mind: Reflections

The opening of the Out of Site, Out of Mind exhibition at St. Brigid's Centre for the Arts on June 21st was extremely interesting. The exhibition itself had great work; Laurence Butet-Roch and Magida El-Kassis, both SPAO grads of the 2009-2010 school year, had work up on the wall. However, the focus of the exhibition was a question of portraiture: while the site of the Canada Portrait Gallery is now non-existent because of certain political decisions, portraiture in Canada still exists, and will continue to exist and thrive. The exhibition itself proves this, with its exceptional showing of youth portraiture; with an excellent mix of painting and photography.

The discussion panel that occurred on the day of the vernissage featured Lily Koltun, the former director of the Portrait Gallery of Canada, and Michael Schreier, an artist and former director of the University of Ottawa visual arts program, as well as current teacher at SPAO. Penny Cousineau-Levine, current chair of visual arts at the University of Ottawa, moderated the discussion and added some points of her own. The panel discussion was very interesting; a discussion mainly on the state of portrait galleries and the future of Canadian portraiture as well as a kind of reassurance for future Canadian portrait artists; while portraiture may have been rejected by politicians, it is still very much at the forefront of the artistic world, and a portrait gallery has not been lost from the minds of Canadians.

Wednesday, June 23, 2010
5:00pm - 10:00pm
Saint Brigid's Centre for the Arts
310 St Patrick at Cumberland

Out of Site, Out of Mind:
a meditation on the state of contemporary canadian portraiture

Out of Site, Out of Mind is an exhibition comprised of Canadian portraits that will open on June 21st in downtown Ottawa. University of Ottawa student curators will explore Canadian identity and the vitality of Ottawa’s artistic community through an exhibition of local portraiture.

OPEN HOURS
June 21st - June 23rd
11:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.

VERNISSAGE
JUNE 23rd, 2010
Free admission / Cash bar

DISCUSSION PANEL
@ 5:30pm - 7:00 p.m.
Join Lilly Koltun, former director of the PGC, Michael Schreier, artist, and Penny Cousineau-Levine, chair of Visual Arts at the University of Ottawa as they discuss the future of Canadian portraiture and the tumultuous existence of the Portrait Gallery of Canada.

RECEPTION and artist performance by Theo Pelmus
@ 7:00 p.m. - 10 p.m.

A catalogue accompanies the exhibition Out of Site, Out of Mind, including reproductions of the art work and essays by Jason Neil, Alix Sutton-Lalani and Clare Brebner. Paperback $20.

FOR MORE INFO:
outofsiteoutofmind2010.blogspot.com
outofsiteoutofmind@live.com
Confirmed Guests

Secret Garden

Secret Garden by Angelina McCormick is, on the surface, a collection of flower photographs spanning 5 years of obsessive imaging of dying and artificial flora. Assembled for the first time in the Red Wall Gallery, the resulting array of images is much more than a botanical collection.

This exhibition reveals how McCormick’s practice has evolved over time. The formal elements of her photographs have changed with each collection; passing through several film formats, camera types and production approaches to the most recent iconic 8” X 10” shot, large, clean images.

More significantly, the expressive content of her work has also evolved. Each successive grouping, although always of either real or artificial flora, conveys a different aspect of the artist’s search for self.

Early work tackles aging, sickness and also death as transformation. Images of this ultimate of changes from life to death are made by someone who describes herself as “ruined and living in both worlds”, and pose important questions about our perceptions of both states of being. McCormick’s Holga series is playful and made with deliberate misdirection. These photos of fake flowers cloak gallows humour in a seductive surface of candy colours and soft edges. The most recent works become larger and more iconic. Crisp and bright, they induce awe sometimes at odds with their unpretentious look at human relationships, personalities and archetypes.

Vernissage: Friday June 18th, 2010, 17:00 - 20:00

On View: June 18th – August 28th, 2010

Mon - Fri 10:00 -18:00, Sat 10:00-15:00

The SPAO Motto Exhibition

This coming Thursday, June 10, Exposure Gallery at 1255 Wellington St. West will be hosting the newest SPAO exhibition from 18:30 - 21:00.

The motto of the School of the Photographic Arts: Ottawa is “Vision, Content, Craft”. Over the last 5 years, SPAO has become recognized as a place where individuals passionate about photography can pursue these ideals. Exposure Gallery has offered alumni and students of both the SPAO Part Time Studies Program and the SPAO Portfolio Program the opportunity to come together to exhibit work exemplifying this maxim.

The photographs will be on view from June 10th to July 27th. Please stop by and take a look!