Solo Exhibition | Canada House Gallery, Banff Alberta | Artist's Reception: April 16, 2016
An exploration of the architectural qualities of landscape, in terms of structure, strength, line, and geometry, and how architecture relates to its surroundings, the landscape. Our terminology of mountains especially uses architectural language ie. spire, castle, buttress, fortress, column, cathedral and so on, and it feels natural to use these terms when experiencing the mountains. The theory of Prospect and Refuge is a secondary theme of many of the works, that humans are most comfortable when they have the capacity to observe (prospect) without being seen (refuge,) - being protected while having a view. The exhibition will be comprised of both landscapes and architecture, and a small number of still lifes in architectural settings.
"Ascent" draws from our scramble up to Abbott Pass Hut near
Lake O'Hara Lodge in
Yoho National Park (The 2nd-highest permanently habitable structure in Canada At 9598 ft., straddling t
he Great divide between B.C. and Alberta Alpine Club of Canada.) The ascent up quartzite ledges and scree gullies is steep but the views are dizzying and well worth the effort. I hoped to capture the feeling of vertigo, looking down some 2100 ft. to the lake, with an impending autumn storm rolling in from the west - the precariousness of position and weather. From the emerald jewel of Lake Oesa at the bottom, the eye ascends the shoulders of Glacier & Ringrose Peaks to Mt. Biddle towering in the background. Fleeting shards of light contrast with shadowy pinnacles looming like gargoyles on a cathedral.
