Art
Alley art blossoms in the neighbourhood of Sunnyside – CBC.ca
Across Calgary’s alleyways, hundreds of thousands of garage doors sit blank and boring. It’s a different story in my inner-city neighbourhood of Sunnyside, where they’re considered to be blank canvases.
Stroll Sunnyside’s back lanes and you’ll see more than 20 bright garage door murals, depicting scenes including smiling bike riders, a cross-country skier, neighbourhood dogs and cats, the solar system and even a bathtub. Collectively, they transform monotonous alleyways into a vibrant outdoor art gallery. Let’s go explore.
The first alley art in my neighbourhood appeared about two decades ago, when a teenager who wanted to be a graffiti artist was given a garage door to paint. That mural by Aerosolic led to two other painted garages in the same alley.
Sunnysider Christie Page loved that original alley art. It made her want to paint her own garage door, but she worried what the neighbours would think.
Then new neighbours moved in, and a few weeks later, they had a friend paint their garage door.
“She just went and did it, and I thought that was really cool. And so that summer I painted mine,” Page tells me.
Now, in the back lane behind Page’s house, you’ll see black and white mountains beneath a clear blue sky on her neighbour’s garage, and a white bathtub filled to the brim on Page’s garage — a reflection on the June 2013 flood that affected hundreds of Sunnyside homes.
In the past five years, Page has become somewhat of an alley art evangelist. She encourages residents to paint their own garages or hire local artists, curates a Google map and Instagram page of Sunnyside’s growing outdoor gallery, and hosts Jane’s Walks touring garage art.
Why? Page says art adds joy to the neighbourhood, while also bringing more eyes to back alleys, thus making spaces safer.
In turn, residents have responded with growing imagination.
A large garage door was turned into a community chalk board in 2017, while a mural completed this summer includes art bursting above the garage door.
There’s also an alley art benefit particular to our times: back lanes provide more space for physical distancing than skinny sidewalks.
I’ve experienced this firsthand, as walking has become one of the few ways I socialize these days. Taking a friend on a wander down Sunnyside’s cheerful alleys is guaranteed to bring a smile.
The newest stop I’m making on such walks is Jennifer Blanchard’s garage door, which was painted in mid-October. Blanchard tells me she has long admired other artwork in Sunnyside, and long thought that garage doors are probably the ugliest aspect of any house.
She decided to improve her own garage after neighbours in her alley had their garage painted with a panda this summer.
“That was kind of the one that put me over the edge of, well, if they can do it, I’d like to contribute too,” Blanchard says.
So she commissioned local artist duo Nasarimba, who asked her to share colours she liked and any subject matter she had in mind. Blanchard suggested something inspired by the Alberta wilderness, as she’s been spending a lot more time outdoors during this pandemic year. The result is a stunning wolf, staring out from a stylized forest.
“On my way to work I’ve kind of ducked down my alley with no reason, just to look at it and admire it,” Blanchard says. “I like that it’s bright and it’s interesting.”
The situation in Blanchard’s alley, of one mural giving rise to another, is common.
“There’s definitely been a snowball effect: the more that get painted, the more that will be painted,” Page says.
Plus, it’s no longer just garage doors receiving a facelift.
“I ask people who don’t have a garage door to paint their fence or garbage bin,” Page says. “There are so many things that would be better with a mural.”
Neighbours have heeded such calls, including Richard and Buff Smith. Instead of painting their garage door, the Smiths enlisted their extended family’s help a few years ago to turn the large fence on their corner lot into an eye-catching mural.
“Christie Page has been instrumental in whipping up enthusiasm for this,” Buff Smith says.
The Smith’s fence mural started as a Christmas gift, with Richard promising Buff a painted fence that their out-of-town children and grandchildren would work on together.
Initially, the couple’s son-in-law, a graphic designer, was going to draft the piece, but then his 14-year-old son stepped in. Miró Esteban’s design includes mythical creatures in bold landscapes.
Over a chilly Easter weekend, the Smiths worked with seven family members to project the design onto the fence, trace it, then paint it.
The finished piece has attracted a lot of attention over the past few years, Buff says, with neighbourhood kids wanting to know the names of the characters, and people travelling from other communities to have their photo taken in front of the one-of-a-kind fence.
In addition to art on fences and garage doors, Sunnyside also has painted houses and a rainbow under an LRT bridge. This summer, five more public pieces were completed during the Sunnyside Murals Project, and in June, my community’s traditionally boisterous Neighbour Day Park Party was replaced with a physically distanced art crawl that featured live art on garage doors.
One of the artists involved was freelance illustrator Adrienne Tollas. Tollas says she was super excited, and a little intimidated, when Sunnysider Curtis Mah asked if he could commission her to paint his garage door.
“It’s a big painted piece that’s going to hopefully last for a long time,” Tollas says. “It’s a privilege to be a part of.”
The piece, titled Roots, reflects the house’s history. An early resident founded the longtime local business Sunnyside Greenhouses, and planted and nurtured the backyard plants that still grow today.
Mah, who rents the house, wanted to paint the garage as a way to contribute to his community. An unexpected benefit, he says, is the mural sparks conversation with neighbours and other passersby.
“A mural is one of the easiest ways to brighten up the space around your community,” he says. “I’m surprised more people don’t do it.”
As art continues to blossom in Sunnyside, I hope to be a part of it. The condo building where I live doesn’t have garage doors, but we do have a fence and shed. Like so many other spaces in our city, they’re just waiting for a splash of colour and creativity.
More Sunnyside alley art
|
|
A Scottish artist who uses cars, worship bells and Irn-Bru in her work is among the nominees for this year’s Turner Prize.
Glasgow-born Jasleen Kaur’s work reflects her life growing up in the city’s Sikh community.
She is up for the prestigious art award, now in its 40th year, alongside Pio Abad, Claudette Johnson and Delaine Le Bas.
Turner Prize jury chairman Alex Farquharson described it as a “fantastic shortlist of artists”
Works by the nominated artists will go on show at London’s Tate Britain gallery from 25 September.
They will receive £10,000 each, while the winner, to be announced on 3 December, will get £25,000.
In a statement, Farquharson said: “All four make work that is full of life.
“They show how contemporary art can fascinate, surprise and move us, and how it can speak powerfully of complex identities and memories, often through the subtlest of details.
“In the Turner Prize’s 40th year, this shortlist proves that British artistic talent is as rich and vibrant as ever.”
The shortlisted artists are:
Pio Abad
Manila-born Abad’s solo exhibition To Those Sitting in Darkness at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford included drawings, etchings and sculptures that combined to “ask questions of museums”, according to the jury.
The 40-year-old, who works in London, reflects on colonial history and growing up in the Philippines, where his parents struggled against authoritarianism.
The title of his exhibit is a nod to Mark Twain’s 1901 essay To the Person Sitting In Darkness, which hit out at imperialism.
Jasleen Kaur
Kaur is on the list for Alter Altar at Tramway, Glasgow, which included family photos, an Axminster carpet, a classic Ford Escort covered in a giant doily, Irn-Bru and kinetic handbells.
The 37-year-old, who lives in London, had previously showcased her work at the Victoria and Albert Museum by looking at popular Indian cinema.
Delaine Le Bas
Worthing-born Le Bas is nominated for an exhibition titled Incipit Vita Nova. Here Begins The New Life/A New Life Is Beginning. Staged at the Secession art institute in Vienna, Austria, it saw painted fabrics hung, with theatrical costumes and sculptures also part of the exhibit.
The 58-year-old artist was inspired by the death of her grandmother and the history of the Roma people.
The jury said they “were impressed by the energy and immediacy present in this exhibition, and its powerful expression of making art in a time of chaos”.
Claudette Johnson
Manchester-born Johnson has been given the nod for her solo exhibition Presence at the Courtauld Gallery in London, and Drawn Out at Ortuzar Projects, New York.
She uses portraits of black women and men in a combination of pastels, gouache and watercolour, and was praised by the judges for her “sensitive and dramatic use of line, colour, space and scale to express empathy and intimacy with her subjects”.
Johnson, 65, was appointed an MBE in 2022 after being named on the New Year Honours list for her services to the arts.
|
|
Turner Prize shortlist includes art showcasing Scottish Sikh community
A Scottish artist who uses cars, worship bells and Irn-Bru in her work is among the nominees for this year’s Turner Prize.
Glasgow-born Jasleen Kaur’s work reflects her life growing up in the city’s Sikh community.
She is up for the prestigious art award, now in its 40th year, alongside Pio Abad, Claudette Johnson and Delaine Le Bas.
Turner Prize jury chairman Alex Farquharson described it as a “fantastic shortlist of artists”
Works by the nominated artists will go on show at London’s Tate Britain gallery from 25 September.
They will receive £10,000 each, while the winner, to be announced on 3 December, will get £25,000.
In a statement, Farquharson said: “All four make work that is full of life.
“They show how contemporary art can fascinate, surprise and move us, and how it can speak powerfully of complex identities and memories, often through the subtlest of details.
“In the Turner Prize’s 40th year, this shortlist proves that British artistic talent is as rich and vibrant as ever.”
The shortlisted artists are:
Pio Abad
Manila-born Abad’s solo exhibition To Those Sitting in Darkness at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford included drawings, etchings and sculptures that combined to “ask questions of museums”, according to the jury.
The 40-year-old, who works in London, reflects on colonial history and growing up in the Philippines, where his parents struggled against authoritarianism.
The title of his exhibit is a nod to Mark Twain’s 1901 essay To the Person Sitting In Darkness, which hit out at imperialism.
Jasleen Kaur
Kaur is on the list for Alter Altar at Tramway, Glasgow, which included family photos, an Axminster carpet, a classic Ford Escort covered in a giant doily, Irn-Bru and kinetic handbells.
The 37-year-old, who lives in London, had previously showcased her work at the Victoria and Albert Museum by looking at popular Indian cinema.
Delaine Le Bas
Worthing-born Le Bas is nominated for an exhibition titled Incipit Vita Nova. Here Begins The New Life/A New Life Is Beginning. Staged at the Secession art institute in Vienna, Austria, it saw painted fabrics hung, with theatrical costumes and sculptures also part of the exhibit.
The 58-year-old artist was inspired by the death of her grandmother and the history of the Roma people.
The jury said they “were impressed by the energy and immediacy present in this exhibition, and its powerful expression of making art in a time of chaos”.
Claudette Johnson
Manchester-born Johnson has been given the nod for her solo exhibition Presence at the Courtauld Gallery in London, and Drawn Out at Ortuzar Projects, New York.
She uses portraits of black women and men in a combination of pastels, gouache and watercolour, and was praised by the judges for her “sensitive and dramatic use of line, colour, space and scale to express empathy and intimacy with her subjects”.
Johnson, 65, was appointed an MBE in 2022 after being named on the New Year Honours list for her services to the arts.
|
|
Claudette Johnson has been nominated for this year’s Turner prize for her work, which includes a portrait of the African-American slavery abolitionist Sarah Parker Remond commissioned as part of the Guardian’s award-winning Cotton Capital series.
Pio Abad, Johnson, Jasleen Kaur and Delaine Le Bas will compete for the £25,000 prize, while the nominated artists will each collect £10,000 as the prize returns to Tate Britain for the first time in six years.
Colonialism, migration, nationalism and identity politics are the key themes running through the 40th edition of the Turner prize, which the jury described as showing contemporary British art “is appealing and dynamic as ever”.
Alex Farquharson, the director of Tate Britain and chair of the Turner prize jury, said this year’s nominees were exploring ideas of identity and would be exhibited from 25 September, before the jury’s final choice.
He said: “This year’s shortlisted artists can be broadly characterised as exploring questions of identity, autobiography, community and the self in relation to memory, or history or myth.”
The Turner prize, regarded as one of the art world’s most prestigious awards, is presented to an artist born or working in Britain for an outstanding exhibition or presentation of their work over the previous year.
Abad was nominated for his solo exhibition To Those Sitting in Darkness at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, with the jury commenting on the “precision and elegance” of his work, which takes its title from a Mark Twain poem of a similar name that critiques American imperialism the Philippines, his homeland.
The show also contains references to the Benin Bronzes, after Abad discovered that the punitive expedition of 1897 – during which British troops sacked Benin City and looted thousands of objects, of which about 900 are in the British Museum’ – set off from his home, Woolwich, in south London.
Johnson was nominated for her solo Presence exhibition at the Courtauld Gallery, which the Guardian said “brilliantly questions depictions of non-white figures by such revered painters as Gauguin and Picasso”. She was also recognised for her New York show, Drawn Out, at Ortuzar Projects, which included her Redmond portrait.
She is the latest black female artist who emerged in the Black Art Movement of the 1980s to be recognised by the Turner prize, following in the footsteps of Lubaina Himid (2017 winner) and Veronica Ryan (2022), while Ingrid Pollard and Barbara Walker have both been nominated.
The jury said Johnson had been nominated because of the “renewal of her practice”, after she stopped making work in the 1990s, and the fact she was still “taking risks and trying new forms of practice”.
Kaur’s work in the exhibition Alter Altar, which was shown at Tramway in Glasgow, features sculptures and soundscapes, including a red Ford Escort covered in a huge doily, which references her father’s first car and ideas of migration and belonging in Britain.
Kaur grew up in Glasgow’s Sikh community in Pollokshields, and the jury said the exhibition was a breakout show that was “generous, celebratory, moving and alive to timely issues, speaking imaginatively to how we might live together in a world increasingly marked by nationalism, division and social control”.
Le Bas’s work, shown at the Vienna Secession exhibition, was described as a “response to social and political turmoil” and includes immersive performance art with theatrical costumes and sculptures.
Farquharson said there was a chance the show may travel to Bradford during its City of Culture year, following the precedent set by Coventry, which hosted the awards in 2021, although that was still “to be confirmed”.
Giant prehistoric salmon had tusk-like teeth for defence, building nests
Luxury Real Estate Prices Hit a Record High in the First Quarter
Calgary woman who neglected elderly father spared jail term
Silver investment demand jumped 12% in 2019
12 Bizarre Things People Did Just To Make Social Media Content
Global Media Markets, 2015-2020, 2020-2025F, 2030F – TV and Radio Broadcasting, Film and Music, Information Services, Web Content, Search Portals And Social Media, Print Media, & Cable – GlobeNewswire
-
Health22 hours agoRemnants of bird flu virus found in pasteurized milk, FDA says
-
News18 hours ago
Amid concerns over ‘collateral damage’ Trudeau, Freeland defend capital gains tax change
-
Art22 hours ago
Random: We’re In Awe of Metaphor: ReFantazio’s Box Art
-
Art16 hours ago
The unmissable events taking place during London’s Digital Art Week
-
Politics20 hours ago
How Michael Cohen and Trump went from friends to foes
-
Tech23 hours ago
Surprise Apple Event Hints at First New iPads in Years
-
Science21 hours ago
NASA hears from Voyager 1, the most distant spacecraft from Earth, after months of quiet
-
Media21 hours ago
Vaughn Palmer: B.C. premier gives social media giants another chance
