Prominent Prince Albert painter George Glenn came to Prince Albert in 1975 and a new exhibit at the John V. Hicks Gallery in the Margo Fournier Arts Centre celebrates those years in Prince Albert.
The exhibit called “Looking Through Time” had its opening reception on Saturday. Jesse Campbell curated the collection in collaboration with Glenn.
“The idea may have come up about two years ago. We realized that there’s a special 50th anniversary happening and anniversaries are always an occasion to do something,” Campbell explained.
Campbell said she has visited Glenn’s on numerous occasions. The pair have done previous shows and Glenn has several works in the permanent collection at the Mann Art Gallery.
“There was a point that we started from, but there are certain kinds of thinking that comes into play when you’re planning a show that’s looking at a span of 50 years. (It’s) a little bit of research, the concepts, general ideas for the show, (and) then we get into the studio visits,” Campbell said.
This is a unique exhibition, as the artworks in the gallery will change seven times throughout the course of the show. The changes will illustrate the connections and developments throughout Glenn’s practice.
Each unique exhibit will be based around themes instead of a time period in Glenn’s life.
Glenn came to Prince Albert in 1975 and intended to be here for one year, but his residency has stretched to five decades. In that time he has had a significant impact on the visual arts community in north-central Saskatchewan.
“(I came for) a Saskatchewan Arts Board grant,” Glenn remembered. “It was a short term residency, It blossomed into 50 years, but I didn’t know at the time that I’d be here longer than a year.”
As part of the grant stipulations, Glenn was required to raise funds in the community to match the grant total.
“I started teaching classes and one thing led to another,” he said. “We left for about eight months to do a trip after I got married and we came back and we settled into exactly the same kind of patterns that we had. Our friends were here and studio space was still available in the basement of the Herald. I moved back into the studio that I vacated and we just continued from there.”
Glenn said Campbell worked as a conduit for remembering his past as they explored the art that was stored at his studio.
“It’s huge,” he said. “You look back and you remember all kinds of things that happened at that period. It’s like a visual diary. You remember a lot of things that were happening then at that time, things you’ve forgotten, things that I’ve forgotten.
“It does not seem like 50 years ago. It doesn’t even seem like 25. You keep thinking 25 is a big span of time, 50 is even bigger.”
Campbell said the concept of the exhibit is more about seeing what kinds of concepts and artistic approaches are underpinning work that was made in the 1970s and the 2010s,
“One major approach is a consideration of how different conditions affect how we see and experience the world, and that may come across overtly in the pieces. For example, there’s a work in here called Winter Raven and it’s got a vessel right in the middle that distorts the visuals around it, but then there’s other works where it’s a little bit of a pause and you realize that things move around it the entire time,” Campbell said.
“Sometimes these ideas come out quite clearly, but other times you dig a little bit more and find it in the work,” she added.
Glenn said his work has remained surprisingly consistent over the 50 years, but there have been a few changes.
“Every time I reinvestigate a theme it comes with a whole lot more experience,” he said. “It shifts, it’s changing, but there is a consistency.”
Glenn added that the art scene in Prince Albert has evolved with the times over his 50 years in the community
Campbell said that Glenn’s work is impactful.
“It’s also very distinct in the broader provincial art scene as well,” she said.
Campbell has seen the impact as both the former and current acting curator of the Mann Art Gallery.
“I think one’s job as a curator is to always be informed and curious about what’s going on in your local context,” she said. “You’re also always taking in what’s going on in Canada, so that of course is interesting to think about these 50 years in that broader context.”
Glenn said his work evolved over time as he built up certain skills and certain conceptual developments.
“All those things come together in the body of your work,” Glenn said.
The concept of the opening was a conversation between Campbell and Glenn focusing on four works, these included three different portraits of his studio spaces and the Winter Raven.
Following the discussion of the works there was a question and answer session.
The works in the exhibition will be changing every Monday beginning on March 10 until April 23 when the exhibition closes. There will also be a chance for discussions as each new work comes in on those Mondays.
“There will be installations in the space and every installation will be connected by a different artistic approach,” Campbell explained.
“That’s the idea of looking through time is that this space will also shift just as the practise has,” she added.
Please see the website LookingThroughTime.ca for all information.
“All of the information and images of the installations will be on the website lookingthroughtime.ca,” Campbell said.
michael.oleksyn@paherald.sk.ca
