Artist-in-Residence AGNS Yarmouth Anselm Kiefer - Art Gallery of ...

IN THe LAST ISSue of THe JouRNAL I wRoTe ABouT CHANGe, and I’m
going to continue that theme, though with a bit of a twist: I want to talk about
transformation. It’s a cliché that change is difficult, of course, but clichés are
what they are because of the grain of truth at their core. Change is hard, and
transformation, from one state to another, is certainly the hardest change of
all. Just ask an alchemist, if you can find one.
As the Director of the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia I have no instant solutions
to our challenges and our aspirations I don’t possess a philosopher’s stone to
magically transform lead to gold, but nevertheless, transformation is steadily
happening at your art gallery.
It’s apparent in our new staff complement: as I write this the hiring process is undergoing it’s
steady progress, but by the time you read this note there will be at least four new staff members
of the AGNS: a new Chief financial officer, Director of Development, executive Secretary to the
Director and Ceo, and Curator of Programs (Yarmouth). The only position filled at this writing is
the Curator of Programs, Yarmouth. It is my very great pleasure to welcome David Diviney back to Nova Scotia, and to fulfill what has been a long-time
promise to the people of Southwest Nova Scotia: to bring a curator to the AGNS western Branch. There is also a significant departure. After 21 years
at the AGNS as Manager of finance and operations, Sue Tingley will be retiring as of June 30. Sue has contributed much to the Gallery over her career
and I want to acknowledge her contribution and wish her the best for what will be, I am sure, a busy and rewarding new phase in her life.
Transformation is apparent as well in the exhibitions this spring and summer. In
Passing Through: Iain BaxTer& Photographs, we see the transformative power of
photography as it is used to document the spaces in between destinations. In this
case, the trip is definitely all about the journey. other exhibitions too speak to the
inexorableness of change, and to the artist’s power to transform mere materials
into compelling ideas and objects of often staggering beauty.
Transformation is also evident in some of our setbacks. This spring we had to
cancel a major exhibition from the National Gallery of Canada: Lord Dalhousie
and the arts. This difficult decision was arrived at in consultation with our
colleagues at the NGC, and is in response to ongoing issues the gallery is having
with leaks into our lower level. we simply could not guarantee a safe and secure
environment for this exhibition of fragile 18th century material. we are attempting
to reschedule this exhibition. Please watch our website for more details. we
replaced this project with an exhibition of contemporary video art drawn
primarily from our collection, named, appropriately, Forces of Nature by the
exhibition’s curator Sarah fillmore, our Acting Chief Curator and Curator
of exhibitions. This show, made up as it is of video projections, is less susceptible to water damages. At this writing every effort is being made to
ameliorate our water problems and I am hopeful that by the time we publish this edition of the Journal the major issues will have been resolved.
Lastly, there is another sort of transformation underway at AGNS, a re-visioning of the Gallery focussed on our collection, and on providing rewarding
experiences with the art of the world. Recent visitors will have noted the renewed commitment to permanent collection exhibitions, and I can assume
the best is yet to come. Another example of our commitment to change is the hanging of a long-term loan to the gallery: German artist Anselm
Kiefer’s monumental masterpiece, Der Brennende Dornbusch, or, The Burning Bush, on loan from the private collection of françois odermatt courtesy
of Galerie Samuel Lallouz (Montréal). In its scope, scale, ambition and sheer power this work is truly awe inspiring. It is a privilege to have it here in
Nova Scotia, and I cannot over emphasize our gratitude to the lender, and to the sponsors who made its exhibition possible. This work, too, is the
subject of an article further on in the Journal.
I began this piece by suggesting that you might have a hard time finding an alchemist with
whom to discuss transformation, but of course I was wrong: artists are our day’s alchemists,
and they excel at turning base materials into the finest “gold.” Come by your Gallery if you
need evidence, or just a bracing shot of transformative change. �
Clive Murphy, Never Gonna Be Alone,
(detail), 2007, mixed media
from Sometimes, Always p. 14
Message from the Director
Installation shot of the exhbition ARENA: Road Game,
currently on view in AGNS Yarmouth until April, 2009
Iain BAXTER&, 3 Minute Photos, Pacific National Exhibtion, Vancouver,
British Columbia, 1967, Chromira print, 106.7 x 148.0 cm
ART GALLERY OF NOVA SCOTIA
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