creative forces

 

Blog # 122…October 2021

Everyone knows the Group of Seven -  men who render our landscape of trees, rocks, lakes and skies…maybe contributing to the narrow and outdated view  people abroad have of what Canada looks like.  Not to put them down exactly, but the current exhibit at the McMichael Gallery in Kleinburg introduces another group of artists who present another wider and more complete view of our country and of us…women.

Uninvited, curated by Sarah Milroy is a captivating surprise, presenting a lively and complementary challenge to the Group of Seven’s centenary celebration show and, for me anyway, it not only expands, but trumps their familiar views. Indigenous, immigrant and settler women are all invited and we see two hundred pieces, wonderful objects from coast to coast to coast in both traditional and non traditional forms from the wide range of women artists creating in the time between the two world wars…roughly the same time as the Group of Seven were working.  And although some of them were supportive of women, they just didn’t invite them to exhibit in their shows, nor did they do anything to change the mindset that artists were men.

The McMichael always has a comfortable, homey feeling for me, maybe because my first visit in the 60’s was to the original house on the site where Robert and Signe lived surrounded by their collection of Canadian paintings. The location, then and now, complements the thoughtful mood of the place where the art reflects our history and identity surrounded by restful views of nature. This show adds dimension to our understanding of that history – adding the views from “the dark side of the moon” to quote Sarah Milroy.

The feeling I had entering the first gallery was “How come I’ve never heard of these artists?”  Sophisticated scenes of domesticity and urban street life as well as mountains and rural scenes, portraits, nudes, beautiful quillwork baskets and beadwork and photography -  all  giving us a glimpse of and making social comments on  the world inhabited by women as well as the larger world. The Group of Seven gave us the natural world, usually uninhabited, in a romantic way. 

Yvonne McCague Housser’s work shows the silver mining that was emerging in Cobalt to highlight the damage that resource extraction was doing to that world. 

A skilled painter, Pegi Nicol MacLeod’s radical and original work pushed representational art to its limit, when she died in her early 40’s she left us wondering what else she might have accomplished had she lived longer. 

Prudence Heward shared an aesthetic with the ten women who formed the Beaver Hall group in Montreal, although she never exhibited with them. Her portraits showed women as strong and athletic, as many were during those times. 

The intricate beading on animal
skins shows us how indigenous women worked with available materials, making ordinary household objects lovely to look at as well as to use everyday. Elizabeth Katt Petrant made this cradleboard to safely carry a baby

Sewinchelwit, a close friend of Emily Carr crafted coiled storage baskets decorated with porkupine quills, useful

and beautiful.

Anne Savage painted the Skeena Valley in BC as well as the mountains north of Montreal capturing the unusual quality of light and subtlety of colour that she also brought to her streetscapes. 

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Memories of her Russian background were incorporated by Paraskeva Clark into her views of Canada and its people. She shook up the art world a short time after arriving when she told landscape painters to "Come out from behind the Pre-Cambrian Shield".

Margaret Watkins captures the beauty of common objects - a bit like Mary Pratt, only with a camera rather than a paintbrush. She said that photographers were often shocking juries with subjects that were original and painful to the orthodox.

The last gallery brings a sigh of “Whew, at last an artist I know”.  Emily Carr’s work completes the show, but this collection of 33 artists were chosen to represent many others who came like a “battering ram to open the doors to women artists”  Sarah Milroy says in her eloquent talk about the exhibition. There are more - always someone is uninvited! 

I've chosen a very small number to highlight - I was enchanted by many more - and am now starting to read the catalogue, over 300 pages and weighing about as much as my stove. I wanted to extend the experience and to know more...and it doesn't disappoint, with photos and a wealth of material about not only the show and the artisrs but how they fit into the Canadian art space. All the photos I've used came from the catalogue and I hope I can coast along on their clearance of rights.

If I’ve whetted your appetite for more, listen to Sarah Milroy at     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=swkh1818qUE    

Wishing you a day to be thankful.                                                                                    Eat well and love your family and friends...Monday and other days too.