Blog # 176..April, 2026
I started this blog thinking it was a one of, but then kept going as there I kept noticing how art enriches and reflects our lives. It's sort of taken on a life of its own, veering into hope...the two things have much in common.
Panya Clark Espinal encourages us through her art to look at our surroundings more carefully and feel differently about them. Her installations enhance many corners of Toronto, including the Bayview TTC station on the Sheppard line. She's an artist to watch as she honours both the present and the past with inventiveness. In,I Am Your Window, her current exhibition at the MKG127 127 gallery, she's ventured int weaving, referencing the art of her grandmother Paraskeva Clark, The actual tablecloth that appears in one of Paraskeva's canvases is placed beside the painting. both of which form part of Panya's childhood memories. Different renderings of the pattern form the centre of this small but stunning show, full of craft, memory and love.
My cousin Billy gets a shout out for sending me a clipping from a Georgian Bay magazine that featured a cousin of our grandmother's. Jay Blairwas a well loved and eccentric figure from our childhoods as well as those of our fathers. He lived well into his 90's without having conventional work, but was always totally occupied with his passions. He was well known as an amateur archeologist, devoting himself to searching for relics of previous inhabitants of the area around his home in Duntroon and reaching as far as Midland and Penetang. The Royal Ontario Museum has several of his finds on display As a side hustle,he created new varieties of fruit by grafting plum branches onto apple trees, coming u[ with some pretty weird results that he delighted in showing us when we'd visit.
March brought the paralympics which always engage me more than the big show. The games that feature people with a range of disabilities have slowly entered the public sphere much as people themselves have done. In one of my many lives, I made documentary films, focusing on my experience with people with disabilities. The first one, FREE DIVE, was about a group of kids in wheelchairs who had started a snorkel and scuba club. I learned many things from them, including how important it is to engage in something where they can be just one of the gang. The short version had a theatrical release across Canada in 1981, if you're interested and have 7 minutes to spare, you can view it at https://youtu.be/
What a mix of joy and sadness to see Joni Mitchell, that incredible genius of poetic expression struggling with the language to express her gratitude at being honoured with Juno's Lifetime Achievement award. An aneurysm robbed her of some of her physical ability but her spirit and courage brought a lift to my heart and a tear to my eye.
Despite the balmy weather that's arrived, visions of the art that we saw in the bleak midwinter at the National Gallery in Ottawa occasionally pass across my screen, especially the wall with the many inuit words for snow. A psychiatrist friend who spent time working in Iqaluit discovered that they had no word for depression, called it, thinking a lot and crying.
After the April showers, we'll have May flowers, see you the.
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