Down on the Farm - Art Gallery of Alberta

The Alberta Foundation for the Arts Travelling Exhibition ProgramThe Interpretive GuideThe Art Gallery of Alberta is pleased to present your community with a selection from its TravellingExhibition Program. This is one of several exhibitions distributed by The Art Gallery of Alberta as partof the Alberta Foundation for the Arts Travelling Exhibition Program. This Interpretive Guide has beenspecifically designed to complement the exhibition you are now hosting. The suggested topics fordiscussion and accompanying activities can act as a guide to increase your viewers’ enjoyment and toassist you in developing programs to complement the exhibition. Questions and activities have beenincluded at both elementary and advanced levels for younger and older visitors.At the Elementary School Level the Alberta Art Curriculum includes four components to providestudents with a variety of experiences. These are:Reflection: Responses to visual forms in nature, designed objects and artworksDepiction: Development of imagery based on notions of realismComposition: Organization of images and their qualities in the creation of visual artExpression: Use of art materials as a vehicle for expressing statementsThe Secondary Level focuses on three major components of visual learning. These are:Drawings: Examining the ways we record visual information and discoveriesEncounters: Meeting and responding to visual imageryComposition: Analyzing the ways images are put together to create meaningThe activities in the Interpretive Guide address one or more of the above components and are generallysuited for adaptation to a range of grade levels. As well, this guide contains coloured images of theartworks in the exhibition which can be used for review and discussion at any time. Please be awarethat copyright restrictions apply to unauthorized use or reproduction of artists’ images.The Travelling Exhibition Program, funded by the Alberta Foundation for the Arts, is designed to bringyou closer to Alberta’s artists and collections. We welcome your comments and suggestions and inviteyou to contact:Shane Golby, Manager/CuratorTravelling Exhibition ProgramPh: 780.428.3830; Fax: 780.421.0479Email: shane.golby@youraga.caAFA Travelling Exhibition Program, Edmonton, AB. Ph: 780.428.3830 Fax: 780.421.0479youraga.ca

The Alberta Foundation for the Arts Travelling Exhibition ProgramCuratorial Statement<strong>Down</strong> on the FarmI think that a stalwart peasant in a sheepskincoat, born to the soil, whose forefathers havebeen farmers for ten generations, with a stoutwife and a half dozen children, is good quality.Clifford SiftonCanadian Minister of the Interior1896-1905The history of Canada as a nation, whetherpolitical, economic, or social, is largely anarrative intimately connected to its naturalresources. On the east coast Euro-Canadianexploration and settlement centered on thefisheries; in the far west the focus was onresources such as furs, timber, and mining; andin the prairies the story focused on the fur tradeand, for the first half of the twentieth century, onfarming.Over the last sixty years, however, much ofthis story has changed. While rural life on theprairies has often been glorified as an imageof purity, productivity and national prosperity,and while agriculture is still listed as the secondmost important economic activity in Alberta,since World War II there has been a steady anddramatic decrease in the number of farms anda depopulation of rural Alberta. Why have thesechanges occurred, and what affect do thesechanges have on Alberta, and Canada as awhole, in the present and in the future?Featuring the art work of contemporaryartists whose creative expressions have beeninspired, for a variety of reasons, by the ‘familyfarm’, the exhibition <strong>Down</strong> of the Farm invitesthe viewer to consider the history andimportance of agriculture to Alberta andcontemplate how and why life ‘down on thefarm’ has changed over time. By extensionthese works encourage reflection on issues ofresource management, industrialization,urbanization, and globalization and the affectsthese trends have on the social, political andeconomic fabric of Alberta.While introducing the viewer to some ofthe people, places and landscapes of ruralAlberta, the exhibition <strong>Down</strong> of the Farm isalso a vehicle for investigating photographyas a means of artistic expression. Since theearly 1970s photography has increasinglybeen accorded a place in fine artgalleries and exhibitions but what, exactly, isthis medium? How and why did photographydevelop, how is photography related to otherartistic pursuits, specifically painting, andwhat makes a fine-art photograph differentfrom the ‘snapshots’ virtually everyone takeswith their digital cameras or cell phones?The exhibition <strong>Down</strong> of the Farm featuresthe photographic work of artists DavidBowering, Aaron Falkenberg and DawnSaunders Dahl. Through their works theseartists not only explore Alberta’s farmingcommunity but also take the viewer on ajourney through the history of photography,capturing through the camera’s lens thisprovince’s past, its present, and its possiblefuture.A photographer without a magazine behindhim is like a farmer without fields.Norman ParkinsonAmerican photographer1913-1990<strong>Down</strong> on the Farm was curated by Shane Golbyand organized by the Art Gallery of Alberta for theAlberta Foundation for the Arts TravellingExhibition Program. The AFA Travelling Exhibitionprogram is supported by the Alberta Foundationfor the Arts.AFA Travelling Exhibition Program, Edmonton, AB. Ph: 780.428.3830 Fax: 780.421.0479youraga.ca

The Alberta Foundation for the Arts Travelling Exhibition ProgramVisual Inventory - List of WorksDavid BoweringPink House, 2009/201116 inches x 24 inchesDigital photographCollection of the artistDavid BoweringBlue Roof House, 2009/201116 inches x 24 inchesDigital photographCollection of the artistDavid BoweringSunset House, 2009/201116 inches x 24 inchesDigital photographCollection of the artistDavid BoweringAerial House, 2009/201116 inches x 24 inchesDigital photographCollection of the artistDavid BoweringAttic Room, 2009/201116 inches x 24 inchesDigital photographCollection of the artistDavid BoweringRoom with a View, 2009/201116 inches x 24 inchesDigital photographCollection of the artistAaron FalkenbergAfter the Blizzard, 200915 inches x 15 inchesPigment printCollection of the artistAaron FalkenbergWheatland, 200815 inches x 15 inchesPigment printCollection of the artistAaron FalkenbergBales at sunset, 200813 inches x 20 inchesPigment printCollection of the artistAaron FalkenbergCut hay and bale, 200816 inches x 20 inchesPigment printCollection of the artistAaron FalkenbergFurrows, 201113 inches x 20 inchesPigment printCollection of the artistAaron FalkenbergSeven, 201116 inches x 20 inchesPigment printCollection of the artistAFA Travelling Exhibition Program, Edmonton, AB. Ph: 780.428.3830 Fax: 780.421.0479youraga.ca

The Alberta Foundation for the Arts Travelling Exhibition ProgramVisual Inventory - List of WorksDawn Saunders DahlAnne, 201122 inches x 28 inchesDigital photographCollection of the artistDawn Saunders DahlMaureen, 201122 inches x 28 inchesDigital photographCollection of the artistDawn Saunders DahlRuth, 200822 inches x 28 inchesDigital photographCollection of the artistDawn Saunders DahlSawtie, 201122 inches x 28 inchesDigital photographCollection of the artistDawn Saunders DahlLynn, 200822 inches x 28 inchesDigital photographCollection of the artistDawn Saunders DahlPauline, 200622 inches x 28 inchesDigital photographCollection of the artistTotal Works:18 framed 2D worksAFA Travelling Exhibition Program, Edmonton, AB. Ph: 780.428.3830 Fax: 780.421.0479youraga.ca

The Alberta Foundation for the Arts Travelling Exhibition ProgramVisual Inventory - ImagesDavid BoweringBlue Roof House, 2009/201116 inches x 24 inchesDigital photographCollection of the artistDavid BoweringAttic Room, 2009/201116 inches x 24 inchesDigital photographCollection of the artistDavid BoweringRoom with a View, 2009/201116 inches x 24 inchesDigital photographCollection of the artistDavid BoweringPink House, 2009/201116 inches x 24 inchesDigtal photographCollection of the artistAFA Travelling Exhibition Program, Edmonton, AB. Ph: 780.428.3830 Fax: 780.421.0479youraga.ca

The Alberta Foundation for the Arts Travelling Exhibition ProgramVisual Inventory - ImagesDavid BoweringSunset House, 2009/201116 inches x 24 inchesDigital photographCollection of the artistDavid BoweringAerial House, 2009/201116 inches x 24 inchesDigital photographCollection of the artistAFA Travelling Exhibition Program, Edmonton, AB. Ph: 780.428.3830 Fax: 780.421.0479youraga.ca

The Alberta Foundation for the Arts Travelling Exhibition ProgramVisual Inventory - ImagesAaron FalkenbergAfter the Blizzard, 200915 inches high x 15 inches widePigment printCollection of the artistAaron FalkenbergWheatland, 200815 inches high x 15 inches widePigment printCollection of the artistAaron FalkenbergBales at sunset, 200813 inches high x 20 inches widePigment printCollection of the artistAaron FalkenbergCut hay and bale, 200816 inches high x 20 inches widePigment printCollection of the artistAFA Travelling Exhibition Program, Edmonton, AB. Ph: 780.428.3830 Fax: 780.421.0479youraga.ca

The Alberta Foundation for the Arts Travelling Exhibition ProgramVisual Inventory - ImagesAaron FalkenbergFurrows, 201113 inches high x 20 inches widePigment printCollection of the artistAaron FalkenbergSeven, 201116 inches high x 20 inches widePigment printCollection of the artistAFA Travelling Exhibition Program, Edmonton, AB. Ph: 780.428.3830 Fax: 780.421.0479youraga.ca

The Alberta Foundation for the Arts Travelling Exhibition ProgramVisual Inventory - ImagesDawn Saunders DahlAnne, 201122 inches x 28 inchesDigital photographCollection of the artistDawn Saunders DahlMaureen, 201122 inches x 28 inchesDigital photographCollection of the artistDawn Saunders DahlRuth, 200822 inches x 28 inchesDigital photographCollection of the artistDawn Saunders DahlSawtie, 201122 inches x 28 inchesDigital photographCollection of the artistAFA Travelling Exhibition Program, Edmonton, AB. Ph: 780.428.3830 Fax: 780.421.0479youraga.ca

The Alberta Foundation for the Arts Travelling Exhibition ProgramVisual Inventory - ImagesDawn Saunders DahlLynn, 200822 inches x 28 inchesDigital photographCollection of the artistDawn Saunders DahlPauline, 200622 inches x 28 inchesDigital photographCollection of the artistAFA Travelling Exhibition Program, Edmonton, AB. Ph: 780.428.3830 Fax: 780.421.0479youraga.ca

The Alberta Foundation for the Arts Travelling Exhibition ProgramArtist Biographies/StatementsDavid BoweringArtist StatementAs an artist this quote from Steven Wilson, a musician, resonates with me:“I think in a way, if you’re … a serious artist, I think you have to completely disconnect from anythought for how what you’re doing might be perceived by other people. The thing about art isthat art is actually by definition quite a selfish act. It’s quite a self-indulgent act. If you startthinking about making your art to cater to the market or to please other people, you’ve stoppedbeing an artist; you’ve become an entertainer. I’m not saying it’s not possible to be both, but Ithink the moment you start thinking of yourself as an entertainer, you start to create your art toplease other people and not yourself. And I don’t believe that is what artists should do.”- Steven WilsonHow much of your soul are you willing to sell? People ask why I am so stubborn about my art,this is why. It has to please me before anyone else.- David BoweringCurriculum VitaeDavid Boweringstudio@hauntingimagery.comwww.hauntingimagery.comwww.afghanistanthroughmylens.comExhibitions2012 Group Show/ TREX Program / Art Gallery of Alberta / Edmonton, AB2011 Group Show/ Becoming the Story: Giles Duley/ KK Outlet Gallery / London, UK(Upcoming)2011 Solo Show/ Afghanistan Through My Lens / Art Gallery of St. Albert, AB2011 Group Show/ Open Photo Exhibition / Kasa Gallery Edmonton, AB2011 Group Show/ Re Energize / Harcourt House / Edmonton, AB2011 Group Show/ Energize / Visual Arts Alberta Association/ Edmonton, AB2011 Evening Feature/ Satellite Studio Feature Artist / Satellite Studio: Art Gallery ofSt. Albert / AB2010 An Evening of Haunting Imagery / Moda Boho Boutique / Edmonton, AB2009 Group Show / Past Artists / Arden Theatre / St Albert, ABCommissionsCanadian Forces Lord Strathcona’s Horse Royal Canadian/Calendar/2012Airborne Solutions Co / Marketing Photos / Sept, 2011.North American Construction Co/ Pipeline /Photo Documentary / 2007-2008North American Construction Co/ Oil Sands /Photo Documentary / 2007-2008AFA Travelling Exhibition Program, Edmonton, AB. Ph: 780.428.3830 Fax: 780.421.0479youraga.ca

The Alberta Foundation for the Arts Travelling Exhibition ProgramArtist Biographies/StatementsGallery Representation2008 – Present - Rental and Sales Gallery, Art Gallery of St. AlbertCollections2011 - Art for Acquisition / Alberta Foundation for the Arts / Edmonton, ABPublications- Esquire Magazine, June 2012 (Upcoming)- Mail on Sunday UK Newspaper/March 2012- Scott Hayes. “Local photographer captures humanity of Afghanistan”. St. Albert Gazette.Nov 2, 2011.- Glenn Cook. “Local Photog in the Line of Fire”. St. Albert Leaer Oct 20, 2011- Exposure “Worlds Deadliest ARms race”/ITV UK/TV/ Nov 2011- BBC “Injured photographer Giles Duley wants Afghanistan return” / TV Video / Oct 9,2011.- C. J. Chivers “The Gun” / Feb 2011 / Web publication- C. J. Chivers. “British Photographer Is Wounded in Afghanistan”. New York Times Feb11, 2012.- NPPA. “Photographer Giles Duley Gravely Injured By Mine Blast In Afghanistan”. NationalPress Photographers Association, Feb 12, 2011. Web publication.- “Friends Show Support for Freelance Photographer Giles Duley Injured in Afghanistan”.Frontline Club. Feb14, 2011. Web publication.- Sarah Hasash. “Photographer Maimed by Landmine”. Sunday Times UK, Feb 19, 2011.- Kevin Ma. “Afghanistan Through His Lens”. St Albert Gazette. Mar 09, 2011.- Kevin Ma. “Local Photog Heads to Kandahar” Saint City News. Oct 06, 2010.- Glenn Cook. “Local Photog in the Line of Fire”. St Albert Leader. Oct 20, 2011.- IDive Sharks.com. IDive Sharks Calendar 2011.- David Bowering. “Governor General Visits Afghanistan”. Western Sentinel, Vol 12, No 23.Dec 9, 2010.- David Bowering. “Padre Nikkel Shares his Story”. Western Sentinel, Vol 12, No 23. Dec9, 2010.- David Bowering. “Female Medic on Patrol”. Western Sentinel, Vol 12, No 23. Dec 9,2010.- David Bowering. “Tank Maintainers Remain Hard at Work”. Western Sentinel, Vol 12, No23. Dec 9, 2010.Related Working TravelExposure Worlds Deadliest Arms Race / Video footage / 2011Great White Sharks Guadalupe Mexico / 2009Hoodoos Goblin National Park, USA / 2009Afghanistan Through My Lens Afghanistan / 2010 - 2011AFA Travelling Exhibition Program, Edmonton, AB. Ph: 780.428.3830 Fax: 780.421.0479youraga.ca

The Alberta Foundation for the Arts Travelling Exhibition ProgramArtist Biographies/StatementsAaron FalkenbergThe Photographer:Aaron Falkenberg is a photographer with numerous influences shaping his growth and vision.Inspired by the works of masters like Ansel Adams and Edward Weston, Aaron brings to thetradition his own unique and powerful renderings of the luminosity of place. Simple form andsubtle tonality complement intricate compositions. Aaron is immediately drawn to bold patternsand the rhythms of the spaces that surround him. Feeling a deep resonance with thetopography, Aaron scouts locales, revisiting some frequently, watching and waiting for theconditions and the elements to come together in just the right way.Statement:My first real strides towards an artistic understanding of my work and what I feel the landscapesaround me express came after reading Margaret Atwood’s Survival. Many representations ofthe Canadian landscape are either ridiculously bleak, or holdovers of a Romantic perspective,neither of which correlated with my experiences and perceptions of it. Growing up on a farmduring my formative years gave me a unique perspective that is neither naïvely romantic, norlimited entirely by the necessities of the everyday. Conveyed through the lens of a camera, Ihope to express a beauty that is neither pristine nature, nor the utility of traditional humanincursions, but rather the space between the two: the rural. In highlighting these landscapes, myphotography can be construed as a means of displaying nature’s beauty as it continually existsalong side us. Though we may shape the land and indeed change the very essences of a placeitself, nature is always ready to reclaim.Aaron FalkenbergAFA Travelling Exhibition Program, Edmonton, AB. Ph: 780.428.3830 Fax: 780.421.0479youraga.ca

The Alberta Foundation for the Arts Travelling Exhibition ProgramArtist Biographies/StatementsDawn Saunders DahlDawn Saunders Dahl attended Red Deer College (1993-96) and the Alberta College of Art andDesign in Calgary where she received her BFA in painting in 1998, and in ceramics in 1999.Dahl has volunteered extensively in the artist-run community as a Gallery Coordinator duringher schooling at Red Deer College, and at Untitled Art Society in Calgary until 2006, and as acurator of various group exhibitions within public exhibition spaces. Dahl has exhibited her worknationally and internationally since 1996, has participated in the National Portrait Competition,and was the recipient of the Royal Bank sponsored farm photography award. In 2010 sheexhibited her project “Alberta Farm Women” at the Red Deer and District Museum - a portraitexhibit honoring today’s Farm Women of Central Alberta, and has recently been invited toparticipate in The Farm Show in the summer of 2011 at the Red Deer Museum. Dahl currentlyholds the position of Director of Programs and Marketing with The Works Art & Design Festivalin Edmonton.Dawn Saunders Dahl - Artist Statement re: Alberta Farm WomenA recurring image of rural Alberta today cropping up between perfectly successful farmsteads, isdeserted barns and crumbling farm buildings - an image that Grant MacEwan likened to‘neglected headstones in a cemetery...trying to tell something of the glories of other years whchare so quickly forgotten.’Geo TakashI hope there’s an Alberta for the next generation.Doris Daley, cowboy poetI recognize that agriculture is a vital industry to Alberta and rural women have beenindispensable to its development. These women meet opportunity with passion, face theirchallenges with initiative and the unwavering desire to build something better for their familiesand community. My concerns about farm life have been intensified as I realized how important ajob it is to be a farmer, and how incredibly unpredictable it is. Alberta Farm Womencommemorates the present time by documenting Alberta’s determined women and examinesthe uncertain future of our rural culture. Focusing on Alberta’s rural women by acknowledgingtheir influence on my own experiences, I strive to create an awareness of their courage andstrength. Recording current, critical moments in rural life through paint, sound, video andphotography, an extraordinary intimacy and rich reference to Alberta’s rural and agriculturalhistory is portrayed.This project would not exist without the influence of my great grandmothers, Agnes Saunders(Carnwood, Alberta) and Florence Dahl (Camrose, Alberta). Agnes emigrated from England in1927 to meet my great-grandfather, who immigrated to Canada 7 years earlier, to begin a newlife farming in the wilds of Alberta. Florence was one of the first women to own and operate herown business, Camrose Draperies, until her retirement in 1976. Although they have passed on,I have often thought about their challenges, their joys, if they would have chosen different pathsand ultimatley how would they feel about farming and life today. Photographs are precious,besides our memories and the re-telling of stories, photographs link us to family and history.AFA Travelling Exhibition Program, Edmonton, AB. Ph: 780.428.3830 Fax: 780.421.0479youraga.ca

The Alberta Foundation for the Arts Travelling Exhibition ProgramArtist Biographies/StatementsThere are very few photos of my great grandmothers and little documentation about their lives.The lost opportunity to document their stories led me to the realization that I should record thelives of rural women in the province I was born and raised in.As this project progressed I recognized that agriculture is a vital industry to Alberta and ruralwomen have been indispensable to its development. My concerns about farm life have alsobeen intensified with the realization of how important a job it is to be a farmer, and howincredibly unpredictable it is. What will the future hold for farming and for all these women andtheir families? No longer can the farmer alone sustain a family as husbands and wives mustfind work elsewhere to supplement the farm. In the future what kind of farming will there be andhow will it be regulated? How will these changes affect the cost of food and how it is obtained?Are farmers looking towards sustainable farming and are they thinking about how to implementalternative farming practices to keep their farms?Farmers and rural towns face many challenges to remain prosperous, which is reflected in theincredibly fast development of box stores that have invaded the picturesque, rural landscapesacross the province. Can Alberta’s identity be refined? Is there a future for Alberta’s farms andranches? Will Alberta’s unwavering Pioneering Spirit continue? Growing up in the farmingcommunities of Camrose and Stettler, I was surrounded by independent women with strongwork ethics. Rural Albertan women continue to face various hardships and challenges due to theisolation, the wildlife, the harsh climate, unpredictable weather and vast landscape, elementsthat are crucial in showcasing all aspects of Alberta rural life. My dialogues with these womeninquire how they feel about the changes in their community and how they would like to seethemselves portrayed in place and appearance. “These are not famous women, but womenwhose daily work and sacrifice have contributed to the well being of our lives.” (Rogers, p.10)To these women of foresight, determination and action we all owe a debt of gratitude andrecognition. It is my sincere hope that through the exploration and documentation of farmingculture today via portraiture and sound recordings, that a moment can be taken to reflect uponthe future of farming, the changing landscape, and discover what makes us unique as Albertansand as Canadians. By unearthing these stories we are reminded of how easily the erasure ofhistory can occur, how important it is to record these pieces of Canadian history, and how historycan influence the future.Takach, Geo. Will the Real Alberta Please Stand Up? (2010) University of Alberta Press,Edmonton, Alberta, p. 353Rogers, Susan. Alberta’s Unsung Heroines (2005), Artiza Ltd., Edmonton, Alberta, pg. 10AFA Travelling Exhibition Program, Edmonton, AB. Ph: 780.428.3830 Fax: 780.421.0479youraga.ca

The Alberta Foundation for the Arts Travelling Exhibition ProgramFarm Women Stories byDawn Saunders DahlAnne StevickIt was a brisk spring day when I visited Anne outside of Pincher Creek. It was my first visit to thearea and I was awestruck at the beauty of the land. The mountains were bright and I found ithard to not comment on the amazing landscape that surrounded her ranch. Anne gave me a tourof the property, where I discovered that she was one of the people interviewed for a book thatI acquired about Alberta’s farm and ranch women. As we chatted about the history of the area,she talked about how she and her husband hoped that who ever buys their ranch wouldcontinue their legacy. With great pride, she showed me the pens, the barns and equipment, andshe stated that at the end of the week they would be shipping their last 3 bulls to a Hutteritecolony. We went out towards the pen that held the 3 bulls and I took photos of one of the lasttimes that Anne would feed them.Lynn MacNeillLynn plays the lead role in the running of her farm south of Stettler, as her husband had beenvery sick for a number of years, and has passed away since I came to visit. Keeping up with herwas a challenge, as she quickly drove around from grain bins to fields, unwavered by the fact Iwas there to take photos of her. We climbed into a golf cart that took us to where the grain binswere located and where a truck had arrived to be unloaded. I was lucky to be there at this time,and it struck me that this was one of those moments on the farm that would get missed due tothe hecticness of the day. As I took photos of her and of the way the light captured the grain, Ifound myself wondering if farmers miss these moments within their daily routine or do they alsosecretly notice and find delight in the way the light hits the landscape at certain times of the day?Maureen EnnsMaureen was a former instructor of mine at ACAD, and for a number of summers I used tohouse sit for her while she was in Kamchatka studying Kodiak Grizzlies. It is always a great treatto go back to my “second home” outside of Cochrane and be able to spend time with her. I amawestruck with her ability to emit such a presence of calmness around animals. As we walkedtowards the pen that held her horses, I pulled out my camera and took a number of shots of herinstinctively reaching out and carefully pulling the ticks off of their backs, all while continuing totalk to me about her life growing up on ranches, art and the landscape.AFA Travelling Exhibition Program, Edmonton, AB. Ph: 780.428.3830 Fax: 780.421.0479youraga.ca

The Alberta Foundation for the Arts Travelling Exhibition ProgramFarm Women Stories byDawn Saunders DahlPauline ScheerschmidtPauline was one of the first women that I interviewed, who lived a short distance from myparents’ farm outside of Stettler. She is a very quiet woman, which was a challenge for me tofind a way to offer her an opportunity to talk openly in a relaxed manner. This was animportant moment in the development of the project, as I realized that in order to achievesuccess I would have to find a way for the subject to comfortably respond to the conversation,as well obtain natural photos that would reflect farm life. I came to the conclusion that I wouldhave to bring someone with me (who usually was my mom) to talk and distract the ladies. Thismethod worked and the ladies were able to relax and not feel self conscious to have their picturetaken. These photos are examples of these moments where some guard was let down in orderfor me to shoot her routine.Ruth WedmanA beautiful autumn day was spent deep in the trees, out side of Rocky Mountain House,visiting with Ruth. What I remember the most about this day was how open and calm Ruth wasin sharing her memories, and how eloquent of a story-teller she is. I enjoyed listening to the wayshe spoke, using her hands and recognizing her thoughtful comments about life and farming inAlberta. Her intense interest in the project was wonderful, as most of the women I had alreadyinterviewed were taken aback with my interest in their lives, but Ruth understood the importanceof documenting her story as well as others.Isault (Sawtie) KreyThis was one the coldest days I have ever spent outside. It was -35 degrees (not including thewind chill) at 6AM at Sawtie’s farm located north of Valleyview, up the road from my aunt’s farm.I was afraid that my camera was going to freeze! My aunt and I stayed with her for about anhour as she fed her sheep, and they gradually became at ease with me while I determined thebest angles to shoot from. It was at this point in the project where I began to notice the uniquerelationship these women had with their animals, whether they were cows, horses, dogs orsheep. Trust and understanding develops between owners and the animals. Sawtie’s sheepwere drawn to her, demonstrated in the way they followed her around and in the way shestroked them in just the right place.AFA Travelling Exhibition Program, Edmonton, AB. Ph: 780.428.3830 Fax: 780.421.0479youraga.ca

The Alberta Foundation for the Arts Travelling Exhibition ProgramTalking ArtDavid BoweringSunset House, 2009/2011Digital photographCollection of the artistCONTENTS:- Curriculum Connections- The History of Agriculture - A Brief Survey- Agriculture in Alberta - A Historical Survey- Agricultural Mechanization: Tractors, Ploughs, Combines and More- Agriculture in Canada - Globe and Mail article- Agriculture in Alberta: The History of a Prairie Town - Edmonton Journalarticle- Art History: The Development and Art of Photography- Photography: A Brief History- Photography as Art: The Landscape Tradition: Realism and Romanticismin the Visual Arts- The Sublime and the Picturesque in Painting- The Picturesque in Photography- Photography and the Documentary Eye- Photography: The Modern View- What is Abstract Art?- Modernism and Abstraction in Painting- Modernism in PhotographyAFA Travelling Exhibition Program, Edmonton, AB. Ph: 780.428.3830 Fax: 780.421.0479youraga.ca

The Alberta Foundation for the Arts Travelling Exhibition ProgramCurriculum Connections continued4.3.3 Students will examine, critically, Alberta’s changing cultural and social dynamicsby exploring and reflecting upon how buildings, historic sites and institutions reflect theestablishment and cultural diversity of communities in Alberta.5.1.1 Students will value Canada’s physical geography and natural environment:• appreciate the variety and abundance of natural resources in Canada.• appreciate the diversity of geographic phenomena in Canada.- appreciate how the land sustains communities and the diverse ways that people have of livingwith the land• appreciate the influence of the natural environment on the growth and development of Canada• demonstrate care and concern for the environment through their choices and actions5.1.3 Students will analyze how people in Canada interact with the environment by exploringand reflecting upon the following questions and issues:• In what ways do natural resources and the physical geography of a region determine theestablishment of communities?• How are natural resources used, exchanged and conserved in Canada?5.2.1 appreciate the complexity of identity in the Canadian context:• recognize how an understanding of Canadian history and the stories of its peoples contributesto their sense of identity• acknowledge the contributions made by diverse cultural groups to the evolution of Canada5.3 Shaping an Identity: Students will demonstrate an understanding of the events andfactors that have changed the ways of life in Canada over time and appreciate the impact ofthese changes on citizenship and identity.7.2 Following Confederation: Canadian Expansions: Students will demonstrate anunderstanding and appreciation of how the political, demographic, economic and social changesthat have occurred since Confederation have presented challenges and opportunities forindividuals and communities.Students will:• recognize the positive and negative aspects of immigration and migration• recognize the positive and negative consequences of political decisions• appreciate the challenges that individuals and communities face when confronted with rapidchange7.2.5 Students will evaluate the impact of Confederation and of subsequent immigration onCanada from 1867 to the First World War by exploring and reflecting upon the followingquestions and issues:• How did immigrants from eastern Europe contribute to the development of western Canada(i.e., health, education, churches, commerce, politics, journalism, agriculture)?• To what extent was agricultural activity a key factor in the population growth of westernCanada?AFA Travelling Exhibition Program, Edmonton, AB. Ph: 780.428.3830 Fax: 780.421.0479youraga.ca

The Alberta Foundation for the Arts Travelling Exhibition ProgramThe History of Agriculture - A Brief SurveyAgriculture has played a major role in human history, as agricultural progress has beena crucial factor in worldwide socio-economic change. As societies adopted farmingand were capable of producing food beyond the needs of their own families, this freedothers and allowed them to devote themselves to projects other than food production.Historians and anthropologists have long argued that the development of agriculturemade civilization possible.Agriculture was developed at least 10,000years ago. Evidence points to the FertileCrescent of the Middle East as the site ofthe earliest planned sowing and harvestingof plants that had previously been gatheredin the wild. Independent development ofagriculture is also believed to have occurredin northern and southern China, Africa’sSahel, New Guinea and several regions ofthe Americas.Map of the Fertile CrescentScholars have proposed a number oftheories to explain the historicaldevelopment of farming. Most likely, therewas a gradual transition from huntergathererto agricultural societies after alengthy period during which some cropswere deliberately planted and other foodswere gathered in the wild. It was not untilafter 9500 BC that the eight so-called founder cropsof agriculture appear: first emmer and einkornwheat, then hulled barley, peas, lentils, bitter vetch,chick peas and flax. These 8 crops occur more orless simultaneously on sites in the Levant, althoughthe consensus is that wheat was the first to begrown and harvested on a significant scale.By 7000 BC sowing and harvesting reachedMesopotamia and there, in the fertile soil just northof the Persian Gulf, Sumerians systematized it andscaled it up. By 6000 BC farming was entrenchedon the banks of the Nile River. About this timeagriculture was developed independently in the FarEast, probably in China, with rice rather than wheatas the primary crop. Maize was first domesticatedin the Americas around 3000-2700 BC. The potato,the tomato, the pepper, squash, several varieties ofbean, and several other plants were alsodeveloped in the New World.Tomb of Nakht, EgyptEighteenth DynastyAFA Travelling Exhibition Program, Edmonton, AB. Ph: 780.428.3830 Fax: 780.421.0479youraga.ca

The Alberta Foundation for the Arts Travelling Exhibition ProgramThe History of Agriculture continuedIn Europe there is evidence of emmer and einkorn wheat, barley, sheep, goats and pigs thatsuggest a food producing economy in Greece and the Aegean by 7000 BC. Archaeologicalevidence for various sites on the Iberian Peninsula suggest the domestication of plants andanimals between 6000 and 4500 BC. The horse was domesticated in Ukraine around 4000 BC.By the Bronze Age (beginning between 3150 and 2900 BCE), wild food contributed anutritionally insignificant component to the usual diet.During the Middle Ages European agricultureunderwent a number of significant changes.Tools including the scythe and plow wereimproved from classical versions, a three fieldsystem of crop rotation was invented, and themoldboard plow and wheeled plow wereincreasingly used. Draft horses were bred andincreasingly used as a working animal whileoxen continued to be used for this purpose.In the late Middle Ages the use of manure asfertilizer increased, which in turn decreased thenecessity of regular fallowing of fields. Betweenthe 16th century and mid-19th century GreatBritain saw a massive increase in agriculturalproductivity and net output. New agriculturalpractices like enclosure, mechanization,four-field crop rotation and selective breedingenabled an unprecedented population growth,freeing up a significant percentage of the workforce, and thereby helped drive the IndustrialRevolution. By the early 19th centuryagricultural practices, particularly carefulselection of hardy strains and cultivars, hadso improved that yield per land unit was manytimes that seen in the Middle Ages. At this timethere were also experiments on planthybridization and advances in theunderstanding of plant genetics and,subsequently, the development of hybrid crops.Storage silos and grain elevators also appearedin the 19th century.October, from Les Très Riches Heures du Ducde Berry, 1413-1416The Limbourg BrothersMusée Condé, Chantilly, FranceThe history of agriculture in the Age of Discovery and Early modern era was closely tied to theprocesses of European exploration and colonization. After 1492 the world’s agricultural patternswere shuffled in the widespread exchange of plants and animals known as the ColumbianExchange. Crops and animals that were previously only known in the Old World were nowtransplanted to the New and vice versa.AFA Travelling Exhibition Program, Edmonton, AB. Ph: 780.428.3830 Fax: 780.421.0479youraga.ca

The Alberta Foundation for the Arts Travelling Exhibition ProgramThe History of Agriculture continuedUntil the 17th century, agriculture had been much the same across Europe until the BritishAgricultural Revolution. This period of development in Britain, from about the 17th century tothe end of the 19th century, saw an increase in agricultural productivity. For instance, Jethro Tullmade early advancements in agricultural technology with his seed drill in 1701, a mechanicalseeder which distributed seeds efficiently across a plot of land. This in turn supportedunprecedented population growth, freeing up a significant percentage of the workforce, andthereby helped drive the Industrial Revolution which led to further advances in agriculturaltechnology. Since the 18th century, farming and farm machinery have continued to evolveallowing farmers to cultivate many more acres of land than the machines of the past. Examplesof these innovations include the plough, tractors and combine.With the rapid rise of mechanization in the late 19th century and 20th century, particularly inthe form of the tractor (United States, 1892), and the Combine harvester (United States, 1834),farming tasks could be done with a speed and on a scale previously impossible. Thedevelopment of rail and highway networks and the increasing use of container shipping andrefrigeration in developed nations have also been essential to the growth of mechanizedagriculture, allowing for the economical long distance shipping of produce. While chemicalfertilizer and pesticides have existed since the 19th century, their use grew significantly in theearly 20th century.Maxwell BatesEroded Land, n.d.Collection of the Art Gallery of AlbertaThough the intensive farming practicespioneered and extended in recent historygenerally led to increased outputs, they havealso led to the destruction of farmland, mostnotably in the dust bowl area of the UnitedStates following World War 1. As globalpopulation increases, agriculture continues toreplace natural ecosystems with monoculturecrops. Since the 1970s western farmers andconsumers have become increasingly aware of,and in some cases critical of, widely usedintensive agriculture practices. This growingawareness has led to increased interest in suchareas of agriculture as organic farming,permaculture, Heirloom plants and biodiversity,the growth of the Slow Food movement, and anongoing discussion surrounding the potential forsustainable agriculture.AFA Travelling Exhibition Program, Edmonton, AB. Ph: 780.428.3830 Fax: 780.421.0479youraga.ca

The Alberta Foundation for the Arts Travelling Exhibition ProgramAgriculture in Alberta - A Surveyhttp://www.alberapcf.org/natural_regons.htmAFA Travelling Exhibition Program, Edmonton, AB. Ph: 780.428.3830 Fax: 780.421.0479youraga.ca

The Alberta Foundation for the Arts Travelling Exhibition ProgramAgriculture in Alberta - A SurveyAFA Travelling Exhibition Program, Edmonton, AB. Ph: 780.428.3830 Fax: 780.421.0479youraga.ca

The Alberta Foundation for the Arts Travelling Exhibition ProgramAgriculture in Alberta - A SurveyAFA Travelling Exhibition Program, Edmonton, AB. Ph: 780.428.3830 Fax: 780.421.0479youraga.ca

The Alberta Foundation for the Arts Travelling Exhibition ProgramAgriculture in Alberta continuedPhysical Geography and ClimatePhysiography, climate, soil and vegetation combine to delineate four biophysical regions withinAlberta. The prairie region includes most of southern Alberta, more precisely the land south andeast of an arc stretching from Waterton in the southwest corner to a point along theSaskatchewan border east of Red Deer. This rolling grassland is relatively dry and mostlytreeless.The parkland region predominates in central Alberta, forming a crescent to the west and northof the prairie region and including most of the North Saskatchewan River drainage basin. Thisarea varies from the flatland of old lake bottoms to rolling landscape with numerous lakes anddepressions. It contains both treed and grassy terrain, with soil and climatic factors favourable toagriculture.The Boreal Forest region covers the northern half of the province. Here great rivers and lakesdominate the landscape, draining northward to the Arctic Ocean. Soil and climatic factorsdo not favor agriculture, except in the Peace River region of the northwest where parklandconditions create the world’s most northerly grain-growing area.The prairie region of southern Alberta includes both short-grass and mixed-grasscharacteristics. The short-grass area of the southeastern corner features short, drought-resistantgrasses such as blue grama, growing on light brown soil deficient in nitrogen and phosphorus,and about 12 cm deep. Annual water deficiency and wind erosion cause considerable soildrifting. The mixed-grass area, forming an arc to the west and north of the short-grass region,contains more fertile, dark brown soil, while western wheat grass and other taller grassesprovide the natural vegetation. The parkland region of central Alberta and the Peace Rivercountry are characterized by a natural vegetation cover of tall grasses and aspen trees. Thecentral parkland contains fertile black soils, while the dark grey and grey soils of the PeaceRiver area are slightly less fertile. The province possesses an estimated 2,661 million ha of landsuitable for agriculture.Low annual precipitation, high evaporation rates and fast runoff produce chronic water deficits insouthern Alberta, varying from a moderate deficiency in the parkland region to a severeshortage in the short-grass prairie area. Irrigation has been used in the latter area since the late19th century, yet the amount of water available for irrigation is itself limited by the water flow inthe South Saskatchewan River basin.Alberta’s northerly latitude, stretching between latitude 49 degrees north and 60 degrees northputs the province in the northern cool-temperate zone. Thus cold winters and relatively short,cool summers are to be expected. The growing season lasts about 120 days in southernAlberta, decreasing to 60 days in the north. In the north the shorter season is offset by longerdays and lower altitudes and wheat is grown as far north as the Peace River.AFA Travelling Exhibition Program, Edmonton, AB. Ph: 780.428.3830 Fax: 780.421.0479youraga.ca

The Alberta Foundation for the Arts Travelling Exhibition ProgramAgriculture in Alberta continuedAgricultural SettlementAlberta’s economy has followed a pattern of primary resource exploitation and dependence onexternal markets with prices and revenues largely determined by outside economic and politicalforces. This pattern was established with the fur trade of the 18th century and continued in the19th century with ranching and then grain growing.In 1778 Peter Pond, an aggressive Nor’Wester trapper, travelled down the Athabasca River andestablished the first fur trading post in what became the province of Alberta. Throughout the 18thand 19th centuries the fur trade was the dominant economic activity in the region. Thepersistent advance of the European frontier challenged the Hudson Bay Company’scontinued control over the territory and so, anticipating the termination of the company’s licenseand curious about the suitability of the area for general settlement, both the British andCanadian governments commissioned expeditions in 1857 to explore and report on the prairies.Captain John Palliser headed the British expedition while the Canadian party was led by HenryYoule Hind. Palliser pronounced the land and climate unsuitable for agriculture. Hind’s reportswere more optimistic than Palliser’s, however, and ultimately influenced Britain to refuse renewalof the Hudson Bay Company’s license.In 1870 the Canadian government took control of the territory formerly controlled by the HudsonBay Company, a huge area which included the future provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan.The national policy of John A. Macdonald was built upon an agrarian vision in which the Westwould be populated with productive farmers who supplied the East with food and boughteastern goods. In 1871 the government surveyed the land into townships. This was followedby the Dominion Lands Policy of 1872 which laid the basis for the quarter-section homesteadsurvey.It was not until the Canadian Pacific Railway reached the area in 1883, however, thatsettlement of any consequence began. The frontier land of southwest Alberta was opened toranching in the 19th century. With the development of fast-maturing varieties of hard springwheat, the exhaustion of good available land in the American west, and a vigorousimmigration policy on the part of the Canadian government under the direction of Clifford Sifton,there was a huge increase in immigration to the prairies beginning with the 20th century. From1896 to WW 1 Alberta and other parts of the Canadian Prairies were the beneficiaries of one ofthe most important and dramatic population migrations in modern North American history.Settlers poured onto the open prairie farmlands and into its bustling towns and cities. Manycame from Ontario and other parts of eastern Canada, others from the US and Great Britain,and others from continental Europe. Between 1901 and 1905, 40,000 homesteads were grantedand Alberta’s population rose from 73,022 in 1901 to 373,943 in 1911 and 584,454 in 1921.Wheat became a staple crop in the prairies. To help homesteaders attain an abundant harvestin a foreshortened growing season, varieties of wheat were developed at the beginning of the20th century. Red Fife was the first strain: it was wheat which could be seeded in the fall andsprout in the early spring. Red Fife ripened nearly two weeks sooner and was a hardier wheatthan other spring varieties. Dr. C. Saunders experimented further with Red Fife and developedMarquis Wheat in 1907, which was resistant to rust and came to maturity within 100 days.AFA Travelling Exhibition Program, Edmonton, AB. Ph: 780.428.3830 Fax: 780.421.0479youraga.ca

The Alberta Foundation for the Arts Travelling Exhibition ProgramAgriculture in Alberta continuedThere are three easy ways of losing money - racing is the quickest, women the most pleasant, and farming the mostcertain.Lord AmherstRoland GissingAutumn in the Foothills, n.d.Oil on canvasCollection of the Art Gallery of AlbertaDuring the first decade of its existence, theprovince of Alberta was blessed. Immigrationaccelerated, grain harvests were bountiful, newcommunities sprang up, and a network ofrailway lines rapidly expanded. During this periodnewspapers and magazines glorified rural life asan image of purity, productivity and nationalprosperity. Mechanization of farming wastaking hold and the earliest recognizable versionsof modern implements were appearing on farmfields.During World War 1 the price of wheat soared.Wheat production increased, with Alberta’s wheatacreage doubling from 1914 to 1916. Increasedprosperity, however, also increased the costs forlabour, land and machinery.Most farmers used their profits for expansion, but high wartime interest rates created adangerous situation. When the bumper crops of 1915 and 1916 were followed by a series of dryyears, wheat yields fell dramatically. With farmland highly mortgaged and credit overextendedthe banks began to pressure for payments. In reaction the farmers turned to the United Farmersof Alberta (UFA) association which, in 1921, became the province’s government.The situation for farmers worsened, however, with the depression of the 1930s which wasaccompanied by prairie drought, soil drifting and grasshopper plagues. In the eastern dry beltfarmers left the land, and entire rural communities were abandoned.World War II had a number of important effects on Alberta agriculture. With the end of thedrought and the Second World War, prosperity returned to Alberta farms. Once again farmproducts were in demand, especially livestock. The process of mechanization resumed full-tiltwith the labor shortage, strong demand, and increased industrial capability that accompaniedthe war. The tractor replaced the horse forever and the threshing crew gave way to the swatherand combine, which could reduce harvesting to a two-person operation. These changes werealso accompanied by a move to larger, yet fewer farms which had the affect of draining ruralcommunities. This, coupled with the discovery of oil at Leduc in 1947, began the process oftransforming Alberta’s economic base from agriculture to petroleum and led to a population shiftin the province. Rural population figures reached their peak in the late 1930s with 530,000people accounting for two-thirds of the provincial total. By 1951 the rural figure had fallen to490,000 and the proportion to 61 %. By 1961 70% of Alberta’s population was urban while by2001 this had increased to 80.9%.AFA Travelling Exhibition Program, Edmonton, AB. Ph: 780.428.3830 Fax: 780.421.0479youraga.ca

The Alberta Foundation for the Arts Travelling Exhibition ProgramAgriculture in Alberta continuedDespite the decline in the rural population, Alberta’s agricultural industry remains of majorimportance to the province and is listed as the second most important activity in Alberta’seconomy after the oil and natural gas industry. Between 1975 and 1980 the value of farm cashreceipts increased by 65% and has since increased steadily. Cereal crops led by wheat, canolaand barley, totaled $2.3 billion in receipts in 1999. Other crops, such as sugar beets, potatoesand vegetables, are also grown. Receipts from livestock and their products reached $3.9billion in 1999. Meat and poultry processing is worth another $4.8 billion. Around themetropolitan areas of Edmonton and Calgary, and in the corridor between the two cities, aredairy and poultry operations, cattle and hog and sheep farms. Wheat and small grain farmersare located particularly in the Peace River region, the Edmonton, Camrose and Lloydminsterareas, and in a belt from Red Deer southeast to the US boundary. Mixed enterprises are againfound in the crescent sweeping northwest from Lethbridge to Calgary and Red Deer, thennortheast to Camrose and Lloydminster, plus the counties north of Edmonton. Away from thisfertile crescent, especially in the southeast, lie the more specialized ranching and wheatoperations, which compensate for their marginal soils with larger size. Irrigated farming,centered in Lethbridge, produces sugar beets, potatoes and vegetables.Since World War II farming has become more specialized and the investment required isgreater. Contemporary farmers tend to be better educated than their homesteading forebears,often with specialized agricultural education from one of the province’s three agriculturalcolleges or the Faculty of Agriculture at the University of Alberta. There has also been thedevelopment of ‘high technology’ innovations such as automated feeding systems, embryotransplantation in livestock, electronic monitoring devices on farm equipment, and the use ofmicro-computers.Albertahttp://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm+TCE&Params+alARTA000...Canada - the history of farming http://www.meattradenewsdaily.co.uk/news/270910/canada_the_history_of_farming_Agriculturehttp://www.ucalgary.ca/applied_history/tutor/calgary/agriculture.htmlAgriculture in Alberta: The History of Agriculture in Alberta http://www1.agric.gov.ab.ca/$department/deptdocs.nsf/all/agdex2AFA Travelling Exhibition Program, Edmonton, AB. Ph: 780.428.3830 Fax: 780.421.0479youraga.ca

The Alberta Foundation for the Arts Travelling Exhibition ProgramAgriculture in Alberta continuedThe United Farming Association & Social Credit PartyThe United Farmers of Alberta (UFA) is an agricultural supply cooperative headquarteredin Calgary, Alberta. UFA operates 36 farm and ranch supply stores in Alberta, and over100 cardlock and bulk fuel stations in British Columbia, Alberta and Saskatchewan.Formerly it was a farmers’ lobby group, and a political party which formed thegovernment of Alberta from 1921 to 1935.UFA was founded in 1909 as a governmentlobby group whose aim was to promote theinterests of farmers in the province. In 1913it was able to pressure Alberta’s Liberalgovernment to organize the Alberta Farmers’Cooperative Elevator Company whicheventually became the United Grain Growers.Illingworth KerrYesterday, 1977Silkscreen on paperCollection of the Art Gallery of AlbertaThe UFA was a believer in the co-operativemovement, and supported women’s suffrage.In 1912 women were permitted to becomemembers of the parallel United Farm Women’sAssociation, and in 1914 women were grantedfull membership rights in the UFA itself.By 1920, UFA had become the most influentiallobby group in Alberta with over 30,000registered members.The United Farming Association entered the political arena in 1919. Later that year UFA won aby-election in a Cochrane area riding. Encouraged by this UFA ran in 45 of Alberta’s 61 ridingsin the 1921 provincial election. To the surprise of nearly everyone, including themselves, UFAtook 38 seats in the election, winning a majority government and sweeping the Liberals out ofpower after 17 years.The UFA won its first election unexpectedly and without a leader. Forced to form a governmentthey went outside the legislature to recruit a Premier. Ultimately, Herbert Greenfield was namedthe first United Farmers Premier, while Irene Parlby became the first female cabinet ministerin Canada. Despite the party’s inexperience, the United Farmers government initiated severalreforms. In 1923, the government formed the Alberta Wheat Pool.AFA Travelling Exhibition Program, Edmonton, AB. Ph: 780.428.3830 Fax: 780.421.0479youraga.ca

The Alberta Foundation for the Arts Travelling Exhibition ProgramAgriculture in Alberta continuedIn 1925, John E. Brownlee, who was already widely believedto be the “true” leader of the United Farmers, agreed tosucceed Greenfield as Premier. Brownlee led the party toa second majority government in the 1926 election. Heis credited with securing provincial control over Alberta’snatural resources. In 1929, following years of negotiations,he signed an historic agreement with the federal governmenttransferring to Alberta this long-awaited responsibility.Despite having alienated socialists within his party (theUnited Farmers of Alberta) and labour interests, Brownleewon much popularity for these achievements and led hisparty to another victory in the 1930 provincial election.John E. BrownleeThe years between the elections of 1926 and 1930 were a fairly prosperous time forAlbertans. High grain prices and a buoyant economy overshadowed years of drought andfarm foreclosures. However, with the onset of the Great Depression, these existing economicproblems became more pronounced. People who had questioned the United Farmers of Alberta(UFA) government’s ability to deal with these problems quickly became more numerous andoutspoken.The Brownlee government was not well-prepared when depression struck. Many Albertanssoon became frustrated with the government’s conservatism, tentative assistance programs andfiscal restraint. As the Depression deepened the UFA government was forced to further cut itsspending. It laid off staff and disbanded the Alberta Provincial Police in the early 1930s.The final blow to the Premier Brownlee and the UFA came with widely publicized scandalsresulting in Brownlee’s resignation in 1934. Richard Reid replaced him as premier but couldnot regain the party’s popularity. In the 1935 provincial election the upstart Social Credit Partysoundly defeated the faltering UFA, ending their 14-year reign.AFA Travelling Exhibition Program, Edmonton, AB. Ph: 780.428.3830 Fax: 780.421.0479youraga.ca

The Alberta Foundation for the Arts Travelling Exhibition ProgramAgriculture in Alberta continuedThe Social Credit Party of Alberta was a provincialpolitical party founded in 1934 by William Aberhart,a Baptist pastor and evangelist in Calgary. The basicpremise of social credit, that all citizens have the rightto the wealth they jointly produce, was especiallyattractive to farmers sinking under the weight of theGreat Depression. From 1932 to 1935 Aberhart tried toget the governing United Farmers of Alberta to adoptsocial credit.Aberhart’s party swept the UFA party from provincial officein the summer of 1935, and took all Alberta seats in thefall 1935 federal election. Social Credit ran Alberta for 36years. In 1943, Premier Aberhart died, and hisright-hand man Ernest C. Manning took over the party andgovernment. Manning remained Premier through to 1968,leading one of Canada’s most conservative provincialgovernments.William Aberhart7th Premier of AlbertaErnest C. Manning8th Premier of AlbertaAFA Travelling Exhibition Program, Edmonton, AB. Ph: 780.428.3830 Fax: 780.421.0479youraga.ca

The Alberta Foundation for the Arts Travelling Exhibition ProgramAgriculture in Alberta continuedThe Canadian Wheat BoardControlled by western Canadian farmers, the CWB is the largest wheat and barleymarketer in the world. As one of Canada’s biggest exporters, the Winnipeg-basedorganization sells grain to over 70 countries and returns all sales revenue, lessmarketing costs, to farmers.In 1923 the United Farmers of Alberta metwith then Attorney General John Brownleeto consider setting up a Wheat Pool inAlberta. They created a non-share,non-profit organization responsible forselling wheat for the best advantage. UnitedGrain Growers grain company and theAlberta Pacific Elevator company agreed toaccept Pool deliveries in their facilities. With26.000 farmers joining the Pool, The AlbertaWheat Pool started making direct sales toflour milling companies.Joe AcsEgremont, AB, 1977Acrylic on masoniteCollection of the Art Gallery of AlbertaMuch of the unforested part of Alberta is given over either to grain or to dairy farming,with mixed farming more common in the north and central Alberta. Wheat and canolaare primary farm crops, with Alberta leading the provinces in spring wheat production.Much of the farming is dryland farming, often with fallow seasons interspersed with cultivation.Continuous cropping (in which there is no fallow season) is gradually becoming a more commonmode of production because of increased profits and a reduction of soil erosion. Across theprovince the once common grain elevator is slowly being lost as rail lines are decreasing;farmers typically truck the grain to central points.The Canadian Wheat Board (CWB) is one of the world’s largest graintrading companies, marketing 22 to 24 million tonnes of wheat and barleyannually. Annual sales revenues average between $3 to $4 billion US.The Canadian Wheat Board Act gives the CWB sole marketing authorityfor wheat and barley produced by the 75,000 grain farmers of westernCanada for export and domestic human consumption.July 5, 2010, marked the 75th anniversary of the CWB working withfarmers and caring for Prairie wheat and barley through the process fromthe family farm, to a grain elevator, a rail car and a ship, Canadian WheatBoard connects international customers with Prairie farmers.AFA Travelling Exhibition Program, Edmonton, AB. Ph: 780.428.3830 Fax: 780.421.0479youraga.ca

The Alberta Foundation for the Arts Travelling Exhibition ProgramAgriculture in Alberta continuedRanching in Alberta: a brief historyRanching is the raising of cattle or sheep on rangeland, although one might also speakof ranching with regard to less common livestock such as elk, bison or emu. Ranchingand irrigated agriculture predominate in southern Alberta.Historically, during a period on the frontier in North America after the removal of the AmericanBison and the Native Americans and before the coming of the homesteaders, ranchingdominated economic activity. The public lands on the Great Plains consisted of “open range”and anyone could turn cattle loose on them. Barbed wire, invented in 1869, gradually madeinroads in fencing off privately-owned land, especially for homesteads, and ranching becamelimited to lands of little use for cultivable farming.The first herd of breeding cattle (eleven cows and one bull) wasbrought into southern Alberta in 1873 by Methodist MissionaryJohn McDougall. When the Northwest Mounted Police came tothe area from Manitoba in 1874 they brought 235 head of cattlewith them. Over the following years the increased market broughteven more herds from Montana into the Canadian west. Alongwith the animals came their drivers from the United States; famouscowmen like George Emerson and Tom Lynch by 1879 had beguntheir own ranching business and with it a small cattle industrywas born in the foothills region. In eastern Canada and Britain thegrowing interest in beef and its potential profits gave the CanadianGovernment reason to endorse larger-scale ranching in the west.John McDougallFall roundup: lead man John Thompson herding cattle backto ranches, Alberta, October 1975 (photo byTed Grant/courtesy Library and Archives Canada/PA-142584).Not only would this local industry bebeneficial to the Native peoples, whoselivelihood had been destroyed with thedemise of the buffalo herds, it would alsoprovide added impetus for the building ofthe Canadian Pacific Railroad across theprairies. In 1881 regulations were amendedto allow the leasing of large tracts of landfor the purpose of ranching. According toan Order-in-Council, any individual or anyranch company could lease up to 100,000acres for the cost of one cent per acre peryear. In exchange they would have threeyears to stock their ranch with a minimumof one head of cattle for every ten acres ofland.AFA Travelling Exhibition Program, Edmonton, AB. Ph: 780.428.3830 Fax: 780.421.0479youraga.ca

The Alberta Foundation for the Arts Travelling Exhibition ProgramAgriculture in Alberta continuedRanching in Alberta: a brief history continuedToday, agriculture has a significantposition in the province’s economy.The province has over three million headof cattle, and Alberta beef has a healthyworldwide market. Nearly one half of allCanadian beef is produced in Alberta.Alberta is one of the prime producers ofplains buffalo (bison) for the consumermarket. Sheep for wool and mutton are alsoraised.Alex ColvillePrize Cow, 1977Silkscreen on paperCollection of the Art Gallery of AlbertaAbout 1.2 million people visit the of CalgaryStampede, a celebration of Canada’s ownWild West and the cattle ranching industry.AFA Travelling Exhibition Program, Edmonton, AB. Ph: 780.428.3830 Fax: 780.421.0479youraga.ca

The Alberta Foundation for the Arts Travelling Exhibition ProgramAgricultural MechanizationA plough is a farming tool used for the cultivationof soil in preparation for sowing seeds orplanting. Joseph Foljambe’s Rotherham plough of1730, while not the first iron plough, was the first ironplough to have any commercial success in Europe.The primary purpose of ploughing is to turn over theupper layer of the soil, bringing fresh nutrients to thesurface while at the same time burying weeds andprevious crops. It also aerates the soil, allowing itto hold moisture. Ploughs were originally pulled byoxen and later by horse or mules. In industrialisedcountries the first mechanical means of pulling aplow used steam power and later internal combustionpowered tractors.A farmer works the land with horses and plough.Steam powered plow engineTractors are used today commonly foragricultural purposes. They are largepowered vehicles that drive at slow speedsbut produce a lot of power. There arevarious agricultural implements that can betowed behind the tractor to do various jobson the farm. The most commmon use of theterm “tractor” is for the vehicles used on farmsthat are used for pulling or pushing agriculturalmachinery or trailers, for plowing, tilling, disking,harrowing, planting and similar tasks. A varietyof specialty farm tractors have been developedfor particular uses. These include “row crop”tractors with adjustable tread width to allow thetractor to pass down rows of corn, tomatoes orother crops without crushing the plants.“Wheatland” or “standard” tractors with non-adjustable fixed wheels and a lower centre of gravityare used for plowing and other heavy field work. “Utility” tractors are typically smaller with a lowcentre of gravity and short turning radius and used for general purpose around the farmstead.The earliest tractors, developed around 1850, were made of steam engines that drove amechanical belt. These steam-powered agricultural engines were used until the early 1900’swhen more reliable tractors were developed. The first gasoline powered tractor was built in 1892by John Froelich in Iowa, USA. Only two were sold, and this did not occur until 1911. Henry Fordwas the first to mass produce tractors when he introduced the Fordson in 1917. The Fordsonwas a gasoline-powered internal combustion engine tractor. While unpopular at first, thesegasoline powered machines began to catch on when they became smaller and more affordable.Ford Tractors began the widespread popularity of tractors and by the 1920’s tractors with agasoline powered internal combustion engine had become the norm. They were built in theU.S., Ireland, England and Russia and by 1923 Fordson had 77% of the U.S. market.AFA Travelling Exhibition Program, Edmonton, AB. Ph: 780.428.3830 Fax: 780.421.0479youraga.ca

The Alberta Foundation for the Arts Travelling Exhibition ProgramAgricultural Mechanization continuedIn 1897 Charles Walter Hart and Charles H. Parrformed the Hart-Parr Gasoline Engine Company inCharles City, Iowa. W.H. Williams, Sales Manager in1906, decided the words “traction engine” were vagueand too long to be used in press releases, so he coinedthe word “Tractor”, a combination of the words tractionand power, instead. For this reason, and becausethe Charles City plant was the first to be continuouslyand exclusively used for tractor production, Hart-Parrhas been given the title of “Founders of the TractorIndustry”.Fordson tractorProduction 1917—1964A conventional tractor consists of a driver’s seat between two large wheels. The engine islocated in front of the driver. There are two small steerable tires below the engine compartment.This design has remained the same for almost the whole existence of the tractor. The onlyexceptions are the modern tractors with an enclosed cab for driver comfort and safety. Mostclosed in cabs come with air conditioning and heating. This makes it easier to farm in comfort.Closed in cabs also brought the idea of computers in tractors, since they can be protected.Farm Machinery has made many new advances over the past century. There are now manydifferent brands of mass produced tractors, the most popular over the past century being JohnDeere, Massey-Ferguson, New Holland, and Case IH Tractors.A row-crop tractor is a tractor designed to helpcultivate crops after they have sprouted and beforethey are harvested.There are 5 pedals within a modern tractor. Thereis the clutch, to disengage the transmission. Thereis a left rear wheel brake and a right rear wheelbrake. These help the driver control the tractorduring turns. There is a differential lock pedal. Thisassures that the same amount of power is givento both back wheels, thus preventing slipping. Thedifferential lock has to be taken off during turns sothat the wheels can operate separately. The lastpedal is the throttle. The throttle works much likethat of a car throttle. In tractors, there is also a handoperated throttle that ensures that the tractor goesthe same speed up and down the different rows.AFA Travelling Exhibition Program, Edmonton, AB. Ph: 780.428.3830 Fax: 780.421.0479youraga.ca

The Alberta Foundation for the Arts Travelling Exhibition ProgramAgriculture in Canada - an updateAFA Travelling Exhibition Program, Edmonton, AB. Ph: 780.428.3830 Fax: 780.421.0479youraga.ca

The Alberta Foundation for the Arts Travelling Exhibition ProgramAgriculture in Canada - an updateAFA Travelling Exhibition Program, Edmonton, AB. Ph: 780.428.3830 Fax: 780.421.0479youraga.ca

The Alberta Foundation for the Arts Travelling Exhibition ProgramAgriculture in Canada - an updateAFA Travelling Exhibition Program, Edmonton, AB. Ph: 780.428.3830 Fax: 780.421.0479youraga.ca

The Alberta Foundation for the Arts Travelling Exhibition ProgramAgriculture in Canada - an updateAFA Travelling Exhibition Program, Edmonton, AB. Ph: 780.428.3830 Fax: 780.421.0479youraga.ca

The Alberta Foundation for the Arts Travelling Exhibition ProgramThe History of a Prairie TownHairy Hill tells a sad rural taleAFA Travelling Exhibition Program, Edmonton, AB. Ph: 780.428.3830 Fax: 780.421.0479youraga.ca

The Alberta Foundation for the Arts Travelling Exhibition ProgramArt History: The Development and Artof PhotographyThe exhibition <strong>Down</strong> on the Farm asks the viewer to contemplate aspects of the Albertafarming community. The works in this exhibition are photographic in nature and thisexhibition is thus an excellent vehicle for understanding photography as a medium ofartistic expression. Since the early 1970s photography has increasingly been accordeda place in fine art galleries and exhibitions, but what is this medium? How and why didphotography develop; how is photography related to artistic pursuits such as painting;and what makes a fine-art photograph different than the ‘snapshots’ virtually everyonetakes with their digital cameras or cell phones?The following pages briefly examine the history of photography and photographic genresin order to answer the above questions and provide an entry into the works in theexhibition <strong>Down</strong> on the Farm.Photography: A brief historyWhile there is perhaps a province in which the photograph can tell us nothing more than whatwe see with our own eyes, there is another in which it proves to us how little our eyes permit usto see.Dorothea LangeThe word photography derives from the Greek wordsphōs meaning light, and gráphein meaning ‘to write’.The word was coined by Sir John Herschel in 1839.Image credit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CameraArtists and scientists have been interested in theproperties of light, chemistry and optics for over 1000years. In the tenth century the Arab mathematician andscientist Alhazen of Basra invented the first ‘cameraobscura’, a device which demonstrated the behavior oflight to create an inverted image in a darkened room.Artists turned to mathematics and optics to solveproblems in perspective.The development of the camera obscura allowed artists to faithfully record the external world.The principle of this device involved light entering a minute hole in a darkened room whichformed, on the opposite wall, an inverted image of whatever was outside the room.The camera obscura, at first actually a room big enough for a man to enter, gradually grewsmaller and by the 17th and 18th centuries it was the size of a two foot box which had a lensfitted into one end. By the mid 18th century the camera obscura had become standardequipment for artists.AFA Travelling Exhibition Program, Edmonton, AB. Ph: 780.428.3830 Fax: 780.421.0479youraga.ca

The Alberta Foundation for the Arts Travelling Exhibition ProgramArt History: Photography: A Brief HistorycontinuedImage credits: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camera_obscuraIn the early 1700s it was discoverd that light not only formed images, but also changed thenature of many substances. The light sensitivity of silver salts, discovered in 1727, opened theway to discover a method to trap the ‘elusive image of the camera’ (The History of Photography,Beaumont Newhall, pg. 11)Developments in optics, and the incentive to find a practical means to capture images producedby the camera obscura, were stimulated by the growth of the middle class in the 18th centurywhich created a demand for portraits at reasonable prices. By the 1800s a number of inventorswere working towards a means to obtain an image using light and to fix the image making itpermanent.The first inventor to create a permanent photographicimage was Nicéphone Niepce of France in 1826. In1829 Niepce signed a contract with Louis JacquesMande Daguerre who, while ‘...he did not inventphotography, made it work, made it popular, and madeit his own’ (The Picture History of Photography, PeterPollack, pg. 19) In partnership with Louis Daguerre,Niépce refined his silver process and, after his deathin 1833, his experiments were furthered by Daguerre.In 1839 Daguerre announded the invention of thedaguerreotype, which was immediately patented bythe French government and the era of the camerabegan.Louis DaguerreL’ Atelier de l’ artiste, 1837DaguerreotypeThe daguerreotype proved popular in responding to the demand for portraiture emerging fromthe middle classes during the Industrial Revolution. This demand, which could not be met by oilpaintings, added to the push for the development of photography. This push was also the resultof the limitations of the daguerreotype, which was a fragile and expensive process and could notbe duplicated. Photographers and inventors, then, continued to look for other methods ofcreating photographs. Ultimately the modern photographic process came about from a series ofrefinements and improvements in the first 20 years. In 1884 George Eastman of Rochester, NewYork, developed dry gel on paper, or film, to replace the photographic plate. This was followedin 1888 by his Kodak camera, with the result that anyone could take a photograph. Photographybecame readily available for the mass-market in 1901 with the introduction of the KodakBrownie.AFA Travelling Exhibition Program, Edmonton, AB. Ph: 780.428.3830 Fax: 780.421.0479youraga.ca

The Alberta Foundation for the Arts Travelling Exhibition ProgramArt History: Photography as an Art - TheLandscape Tradition: Realism andRomanticism in the Visual ArtsPhotography’s potential for full and accurate documentation was early recognized.Although straightforward documentation was photography’s major purpose and function,as it is today, there was recognition by the art and science communities that there werenumerous possibilities to be explored and exploited. Photography as conscious art, from1860-1890 in Europe, was ‘art photography’. In style and spirit it was dominated by theconservatism and heavy sentimentaltity of academic painting.Academic painting in the 19th century was dominated by two styles, Realism ornaturalism, and Romanticism. The differences between these two styles is clearlyexpressed through an examination of the genre of landscape painting of the time.In the 16th century landscapes were not particularly realistic in nature but by the 17th centurythis had changed and ‘real’ Dutch landscapes became prevalent. Drawings were made on siteand horizons were lowered in order to emphasize the impressive cloud formations of the regionand to capture the quality of light.The paintings of the French painter ClaudeLorrain and Dutch artists such as Jacob vanRuisdael found a ready market in Englandand had a profound influence on Englishpainters of the 1700s. One of the mostimportant British painters influenced by theseartists was John Constable (1776-1837).Constable combined objective studies of naturewith a deeply personal vision of the countrysidearound him. He rejected the accepted hierarchyof art genres, which ranked idealizedlandscapes that told historical ormythological tales above views observed innature, and sought recognition for humblerscenes of cultivated land and agricultural labour.John ConstableThe Hay Wain, 1821Oil on canvasNational Gallery of London, U.K.In 1824 Constable exhibited The Hay Wain at the Paris Salon. His strikingly fresh, apparentlyspontaneous transcription of the landscape, caused a sensation among French painters andinfluenced some of the younger artists of the time to abandon formalism and to draw inspirationdirectly from nature.One artist inspired by Constable’s work was Jean-Francois Millet, who extended Constable’sfocus on nature to include peasant figures, scenes of peasant life and work in the fields. Milletsettled in the Barbizon region of France in 1849 and his new works marked a transition from thedepiction of symbolic imagery of peasant life to a depiction of contemporary social conditions.AFA Travelling Exhibition Program, Edmonton, AB. Ph: 780.428.3830 Fax: 780.421.0479youraga.ca

The Alberta Foundation for the Arts Travelling Exhibition ProgramArt History: Photography as an ArtcontinuedJean-Francois MilletThe Gleaners, 1857Oil on canvasMusée d’Orsay, ParisOne of the most famous of Millet’s works was TheGleaners, submitted to the Salon in 1857. Thispainting portrays the ancient right of poor womenand children to remove the bits of grain left in thefields following the harvest.The work was receivedwith hostility as the middle and upper classesviewed it as an unpleasant reminder that Frenchsociety was built on the labor of the workingclasses. Despite initial rejection, however, Milletlater achieved financial success, was even electedto the Salon jury, and was an important source ofinspiration for other artists such as Vincent vanGogh.Robert GallonWelsh Hills, n.d.Oil on canvasCollection of the Art Gallery of AlbertaThe second major trend in the visual arts (and also in architecture, literature and music)during the 18th and 19th centuries was that of Romanticism. Romanticism refers not to aspecific style but to an attitude of mind. The declared aim of the Romantics was to tear down theartifices baring the way to a ‘return to Nature’ - nature the unbounded, wild and ever-changing;nature the sublime and picturesque.Romanticism in the visual arts incorporated both the imaginative and the ideal, ratherthan the real, and embraced concepts of nobility, grandeur, virtue and superiority. InBritish painting of the late 18th and 19th centuries, Romanticism was most clearly expressed inlandscape gardening and in the development and elevation of landscape painting whereartists came to emphasize the sublime or the picturesque in their rendering of the landscape.To achieve these ends artists used vibrant colours and loose, gestural brushstrokes and often‘sacrificed’ reality for the sake of emotion.AFA Travelling Exhibition Program, Edmonton, AB. Ph: 780.428.3830 Fax: 780.421.0479youraga.ca

The Alberta Foundation for the Arts Travelling Exhibition ProgramArt History: Photography as an Artcontinued: The Sublime and thePicturesque in Painting continuedBy the 18th century the treatment of the landscape in painting had been formalized andtwo of the most important aesthetic ideals of the 18th and 19th centuries were those ofthe beautiful and the sublime. According to the philosopher Immanuel Kant (1724-1804),beauty was inherent in a form. The sublime, in contrast, was a characteristic which attached toobjects an impression of limitlessness, and involved developing a sensibility for the wild,awe-inspiring and stupendous aspects of natural scenery. Edmund Burke (1757), who restrictedthe nature of the word to the emotion of ‘terror’, stated that for a painting to be sublime...a judicious obscurity in some things contributes to the effect of the picture, because ‘...in all artas in nature, dark, confused, uncertain images have a greater power on the fancy to form thegrander passions that those which are more clear and determinate.’According to Burke, beauty creates joy through being well formed, smooth and perfect, whereasthe sublime is the experience of fear and awe which produces an emotion far more intensethan the experience of beauty. Such sentiments had been voiced earlier by the French artist andart critic Roger de Piles (1635-1709) who stated...in Painting there must be something Great and Extraordinary to surprise, please and instruct...Tis by this that ordinary things are made beautiful and the beautiful sublime and wonderful...(Oxford Companion to Art, Oxford University Press, pg. 1113)Adolphe VogtThe Approaching Storm, 1869Oil on canvasCollection of the Art Gallery of AlbertaAdolphe Vogt’s painting The Approaching Storm admirably capures the emotion of ‘terror’ aselucidated by Burke. The artist’s use of harsh contrast between the sun-drenched foregroundand dark stormy background, and the vague hint of the town in the distance, serve to heightenthe awesome ferocity of the storm which is about to engulf the group of farmers. The dangerthey are in is further emphasized by the terrified expressions of the running boy and the horseriderwho furiously whips his horses in an effort to reach refuge before they are caught in thefury of nature.AFA Travelling Exhibition Program, Edmonton, AB. Ph: 780.428.3830 Fax: 780.421.0479youraga.ca

The Alberta Foundation for the Arts Travelling Exhibition ProgramArt History: Photography as Artcontinued: The Sublime and thePicturesque in Painting continuedAn aesthetic category which existed between beauty and the sublime was that of thepicturesque. The picturesque came to represent the standard of taste, especialy asconcerns landscape painting, design and architecture, during the second half of the 18thand early 19th centuries. One of the earliest proponents of this philosophy was the British artistand clergyman William Gilpin (1724-1804). Gilpin believed that Claude Lorrain’s paintings weresynonymous with picturesque painting and encouraged artists to emulate the 17th centurymaster in their treatment of the landscape. In his writings Gilpin spoke of the necessity of theartist to supply ‘composition’ to the raw material of nature to produce a harmonious design.According to Gilpin, for a painting to be ‘properly picturesque’, artists should follow fourmain specifications:1/ The scene should be divided into three distinct zones: a dark foreground containing a frontscreen of foliage or rocks or side screens; a brighter middle ground; and at least one further,less distinctly rendered distance.2/ The composition should be planned with a low viewpoint which emphasized thesublime nature of the scene portrayed.3/ The artist could include a ruined building as this would add ‘consequence’ to the scene.4/ Ruggedness of texture and the distribution of light and dark within the image wereessential considerations.Gilpin’s ideas on landscape composition were adapted by later writers, such as JohnRuskin, and became the standards against which landscape paintings and artists weremeasured. These ideas were transported from Britain to Canada during the mid to late19th century and determined the approach of artists to the Canadian landscape. In orderto be accepted by the Royal Canadian Academy of Art and to be collected by the NationalGallery of Canada, artists had to conform to the rules of landscape composition that hadbeen devised by Gilpin and others.AFA Travelling Exhibition Program, Edmonton, AB. Ph: 780.428.3830 Fax: 780.421.0479youraga.ca

The Alberta Foundation for the Arts Travelling Exhibition ProgramArt History: Photography as Artcontinued: The Sublime and thePicturesque in Painting continuedAaron Allan EdsonLake Massiwippi, n.d.Oil on canvasCollection of the Art Gallery of AlbertaAnonymousOlevano, 1845Pencil, watercolour on paperCollection of the Art Gallery of AlbertaAaron Allan Edson’s glowing painting, Lake Massiwippi, is an instructive example of thepicturesque as described by Gilpin. The composition is divided into three zones: a darkforeground with side screens of foliage dominated by spruce trees; a middle ground with a patchof bright blue water; and hazy pink mountains in the far distance. The artist has also created alow viewpoint in the composition so that the viewer can fully appreciate the breathtaking beautyof this scene. The drawing and wash rendering of Olevano fulfils other rules set forth by Gilpin.In this work the ruined hill-top castle, which gives ‘consequence’ to the scene, and the rough,rugged rocks of the cliff, ‘stimulate the imagination’ and create a romantic narrative for this sitein the viewer’s mind.AFA Travelling Exhibition Program, Edmonton, AB. Ph: 780.428.3830 Fax: 780.421.0479youraga.ca

The Alberta Foundation for the Arts Travelling Exhibition ProgramArt History: Photography as Artcontinued: The Picturesque in PhotographyLike all genre in the visual arts, photography can be divided amongst various modes ofexpression. Almost from the beginnings of its invention a philosophical debateconcerning the use of photography came to the fore amongst the mediums earliestpractitioners. On the one hand, certain photographers believed that photography shouldaspire to the artistic and the ’exercise of individual genius’. Those who believed in thismode of photographic expression took their inspiration from the Picturesque LandscapeTradition in painting. In the exhibition <strong>Down</strong> on the Farm, this pictorial approach is bestexemplified in the work of David Bowering.In the early days of photography, many photographers believed that if their work was tobe taken seriously as a new art form the medium had to compete with painting and, to doso, adopt the methodology of the painting styles of the period. In painting the conceps ofthe sublime and the picturesque were dominant and so photographers began tomanipulate images, to retouch negatives, and even to paint over the prints to create apictorial effect. Many also used soft focus, special filters, gel and later combination printing -using several negatives to make one picture - to create allegorical compositions. Suchmanipulations, which were major tools in the genre of Pictorial Photography or Pictorialism,were meant to allow photographers to achieve ‘personal artistic expression’ and ‘atmosphere’ intheir works.David BoweringAttic Room, 2009/2011Digital photographCollection of the artistAFA Travelling Exhibition Program, Edmonton, AB. Ph: 780.428.3830 Fax: 780.421.0479youraga.ca

The Alberta Foundation for the Arts Travelling Exhibition ProgramArt History: Photography as Artcontinued: The Picturesque in PhotographycontinuedAs expressed by Henry Peach Robinson in1869:Any ‘dodge, trick, and conjuration’ of anykind is open to the photographer’s use.... Itis his imperative duty to avoid the mean, thebase and the ugly, and to aim to elevate hissubject, to avoid awkward forms, and tocorrect the unpicturesque.... A great dealcan be done and very beautiful picturesmade, by a mixture of the real and theartificial in a picture.(The History of Photography, BeaumontNewhall, pg. 61)Socttish landscapephotographer and date unknownGioacchino Altobelli (1825-1878)Forum, 1875http://photographyhistory.blogspot.com/2010/10/landscapephotography-documentary-andAFA Travelling Exhibition Program, Edmonton, AB. Ph: 780.428.3830 Fax: 780.421.0479youraga.ca

The Alberta Foundation for the Arts Travelling Exhibition ProgramPhotography and the Documentary EyeThere is a terrible truthfulness about photography.George Bernard ShawWhlle some photographers believed that photography should emulate painting, on theother side of the debate were those who believed that photography was primarliy apopular means of reproducing the material world. For all their ambitions, the artistphotographersremained a tiny group within the body photographic whereas it wasphotography’s capacity for recording fact, giving evidence, and presenting a documentthat practitioners and their public valued most. This aim of photographers to create a‘real’ document, which derived from the genre of realism in painting, resulted in the genreof DOCUMENTARY PHOTOGRAPHY and is most fully expressed in the exhibition <strong>Down</strong>on the Farm in the work of Dawn Saunders Dahl.Documentary photography has been defined as ‘...adepiction of the real world by a photographer whose intentis to communicate something of importance - to make acomment - that will be understood by the viewer.’ (Time LifeLibrary of Photography, pg. 12) In such photography thephotographer attempts to produce truthful, objective, andusually candid photography of a particular subject, mostoften pictures of people.Dawn Saunders DahlLynn, 2008Digital photographCollection of the artistAs a genre of photography, documentary photographydeveloped in three general stages. While the actual term‘documentary photography’ was coined in the 1930s todescribe a category of photography which comments onreality, photographs meant to accurately describe otherwiseunknown, hidden, forbidden, or difficult-to-access places orcircumstance date to the earliest daguerreotypes andcalotype surveys of the ruins of the Near East, Egypt, thehistoric architecture of Europe, and the Americanwilderness. This desire to create a permanent record offamiliar and exotic scenes and the appearance offriends and family marked the first stage ofdocumentary photography.As expressed by photographer John Thomson in the 1860s...the photograph affords the nearest approach that can be made toward placing (the reader)actually before the scene which is represented’Documentary Photography, Time Life Library of Photography, pg. 16At this early stage in photography’s development, photographs were seen as miraculous,enabling the human eye to see things it did not always notice or would never see. Photographytook over the concerns with realism that had been developing in painting and the camerawas used mainly as a copier of nature. This faith in the camera as a literal recorder gave rise tothe belief that the camera does not lie.AFA Travelling Exhibition Program, Edmonton, AB. Ph: 780.428.3830 Fax: 780.421.0479youraga.ca

The Alberta Foundation for the Arts Travelling Exhibition ProgramPhotography and the Documentary EyecontinuedThe development of new reproduction methods for photography provided impetus for the nextera of documentary photography in the the late 1880s and reaching into the early decades ofthe 20th century. This period saw a decisive shift in documentary from antiquarian andlandscape subjects to that of the city and its crises. Once the camera had proven itself as a toolfor showing things as they were, it was inevitably thought of as a device for changing thingsto the way they ought to be. In this second stage photographers discovered the camera’spower to hold up a mirror to society and photographs could thus become socialdocuments. This visual comment on the joys and pains of society has, to a great extent,occupied documentary photographers ever since.The photographer most directly associated with the birth of this new form of documentary wasthe jouranlist and urban social reformer Jacob Riis who documented the slums of New York inhis historic book How the Other Half Lives in 1890. Riis’s documentary photography waspassionately devoted to changing the inhumane conditions under which the poor lived in therapidly-expanding urban-industrial centers.In the 1930s the Great Depression brought a new wave ofdocumentary, both of rural and urban conditions. During thisperiod the Farm Security Administration in the United Statesenlisted a band of young photographers to document thestate of the nation during the depression. Among these wereWalker Evans, Ben Shahn, Dorothea Lange, Russell Lee,and Carl Mydens. This generation of documentaryphotographers is generally credited for codifying thedocumentary code of accuracy mixed with impassionedadvocacy, with the goal of arousing public commitment tosocial change. The photographers in the FSA project werethe first ever to be called documentary photographers andtheir work wrote the idea of documentary photography as ameans of examining society large in peoples minds.Dorothea LangeMigrant Mother, 1936During the Second World War and postwar eras, documentary photography increasinglybecame subsumed under the rubric of photojournalism. This led to the development of adifferent attitude among documentary photographers in the 1950s, a new generation which didnot feel bound by any mission except to see life clearly. As expressed by the photographerGary Winogrand:The true business of photography is to capture a bit of reality (whatever that is) on film.Time Life Library of Photography, pg. 164According to photographers in this group, their work made no effort to judge but insteadto express, and they were committed not to social change but to formal andiconographical investigation of the social experience of modernity.AFA Travelling Exhibition Program, Edmonton, AB. Ph: 780.428.3830 Fax: 780.421.0479youraga.ca

The Alberta Foundation for the Arts Travelling Exhibition ProgramPhotography: The Modern View: A SurveyA third approach to photography expressed in the exhibition <strong>Down</strong> on the Farm is that ofphotography that is most concerned with FORMAL matters. This approach is mostclearly demonstrated in the photographs of Aaron Falkenberg and, like the otherapproaches to photography examined, has its roots in movements first expressed in thefield of painting. In order to understand the formal concerns of photography it isbeneficial to comprehend the development of modernism and abstraction in the visualarts as a whole.What is Abstract Art? An IntroductionOf all the arts, abstract painting is the most difficult. It demands that you know how to draw well,that you have a heightened sensitivity for composition and for colours, and that you be a truepoet. This last is essential.Wassily Kandinsky (1866-1944)Abstract Art is a term applied to 20th century styles in reaction against the traditional Europeanview of art as the imitation of nature. Abstraction stresses the formal or elemental structureof a work.Like all painting, abstract painting is not a unified practice. Rather, the term ‘abstraction’covers two main, distinct tendencies. The first involves the reduction of natural appearancesto simplified forms. Reduction may lead to the depiction of the essential or generic forms ofthings by eliminating particular and accidental variations. Reduction can also involve the creationof art which works away from the individual and particular with a view to creating an independentconstruct of shapes and colours having aesthetic appeal in their own right.The second tendency in abstraction involves the construction of art objects from nonrepresentationalbasic forms. These objects are not created by abstracting from naturalappearances but by building up with non-representational shapes and patterns. In otherwords, in this mode abstract works are ones without a recognisable subject and do not relateto anything external or try to ‘look like something’. Instead, the colour and form (and often thematerials and support) are the subject of the abstract painting. As expressed by the artist Theovan Doesburg in 1930:...nothing is more real than a line, a colour, a surface.Whatever the tendency in abstraction, it is characteristic of most modes of abstractionthat they abandon or subordinate the traditional function of art to portray perceptiblereality and emphasize its function to create a new reality for the viewer’s perception.AFA Travelling Exhibition Program, Edmonton, AB. Ph: 780.428.3830 Fax: 780.421.0479youraga.ca

The Alberta Foundation for the Arts Travelling Exhibition ProgramPhotography: The Modern View: A SurveycontinuedModernism and Abstraction in Painting:European BeginningsWassily KandinskyComposition VII, 1913The Tretyalov Gallery, MoscowWassily Kandinsky (1866-1944) is usually creditedwith making the first entirely non-representationalpainting in 1910. The history of abstraction in thevisual arts, however, begins before Kandinskyin the later decades of the 19th century with thework of French Impressionist artists such asClaude Monet, Paul Cézanne and Georges Seurat.While the work of these artists was grounded invisible reality, their methods of working and artisticconcerns began the process of breaking down theacademic restrictions concerning what wasacceptable subject matter in art, how art workswere produced and, most importantly, challengedthe perception of what a painting actually was.Historians have suggested various dates as starting points for modernism. Accordingto the American art critic Clement Greenberg, Modernism emerged in the middle of the 19thcentury in France. Definitely, from the 1870s onward, the ideas that history and civilization wereinherently progressive and that progress was always good, beliefs prevalent in society since theRenaissance, came under increasing attack. At the same time social, political, and economicforces were at work that became the basis to argue for a radically different kind of art andthinking. Industrialization, which produced buildings that combined art and engineering in newindustrial materials, rapid urbanization and the miseries of industrial urbanism, and scientificexaminations brought changes which shook European civilization. In the 1890s a strand ofthinking began to assert that it was necessary to push aside previous norms entirely and it wasargued that, if the nature of reality itself was in question, and if restrictions which had been inplace around human activity were falling, then art, too, would have to radically change.The first group of visual artists to radically change the way the world was perceived werethe French Impressionists.AFA Travelling Exhibition Program, Edmonton, AB. Ph: 780.428.3830 Fax: 780.421.0479youraga.ca

The Alberta Foundation for the Arts Travelling Exhibition ProgramPhotography: The Modern View: A SurveycontinuedPaul CézanneMaison Arbies, 1890-1894The Tretyalov Gallery, MoscowClaude MonetHaystacks (sunset), 1890-1891Museum of Fine Arts, BostonGeorge SeuratA Sunday Afternoon on the Island of LaGrande Jatte, 1884-1886Radicals in their time, early Impressionists broke the rules of academic painting. They beganby giving colours, freely brushed, primacy over line. They also took the act of painting out of thestudio and into the modern world. Painting realistic scenes of modern life, they portrayed overallvisual effects instead of details. They used short “broken” brush strokes of mixed and pureunmixed colour, not smoothly blended or shades as was customary, in order to achieve theeffect of intense colour vibration.The vibrant colour used by the Impressionist artists was adopted by their successors,the Fauve artists. The Fauves were modern artists whose works emphasized painterly qualitiesand strong colour over the representational or realistic values retained by the Impressionists.This group, which basically operated from 1905 to 1907, was led by Henri Matisse and AndréDerain.Henri MatisseHarmony in Red, 1908André DerainCharing Cross Bridge, London 1906National Gallery of Art, WashingtonThe paintings of the Fauve artists were characterised by seemingly wild brush work and stridentcolours and, in their focus on colour over line and drawing, the subjects of their paintings cameto be characterized by a high degree of simplification and abstraction.AFA Travelling Exhibition Program, Edmonton, AB. Ph: 780.428.3830 Fax: 780.421.0479youraga.ca

The Alberta Foundation for the Arts Travelling Exhibition ProgramPhotography: The Modern View: A SurveycontinuedPablo PicassoLes Demoiselles d/ Avignon, 1907Museum of Modern ArtNew York, New YorkPablo PicassoPortrait of Ambroise Vollard,1910While the Impressionists and Fauve artists are the direct ancestors of the abstractmovement in 20th century art, the real ancestor of modern abstraction was PabloPicasso. Picasso used primative art from Africa and Oceania as a ‘battering ram’ against theclassical conception of beauty.’ Picasso made his first cubist paintings, such as LesDemoiselles d’Avignon, based on Cézanne’s idea that all depiction of nature can be reducedto three solids: cube, sphere and cone. Together with Georges Braque, Picasso continued hisexperiments and invented facet or analytical cubism. As expressed in the Portrait of AmbroiseVollard, Picasso created works which can no longer be read as images of the external world butas worlds of their own. Facet cubism, however, was still not pure abstraction as, thoughfragmented and redefined, the images preserved remnants of Renaissance principles ofperspective as space lies behind the picture plane and has no visible limits. By 1911 Picassoand Georges Braque developed what is known as Synthetic Cubism which introduced collageinto art making. Through this process these artists introduced a whole new concept of spaceinto art making.AFA Travelling Exhibition Program, Edmonton, AB. Ph: 780.428.3830 Fax: 780.421.0479youraga.ca

The Alberta Foundation for the Arts Travelling Exhibition ProgramPhotography: The Modern View: A SurveycontinuedPablo PicassoStill Life with Bowl of Fruit, 1912Philadelphia Museum of ArtPablo PicassoPortrait of a Girl 1914Musee National d’Art ModerneCentre Georges Pompidou, ParisIn synthetic cubism, the picture plane lies in front of the picture plane. This re-definition ofspace, so different from the Renaissance principle of three-dimensional illusion that haddominated academic teaching for centuries, would have a profound effect on the development ofabstraction in art and was a true landmark in the history of painting.Influenced by the practices of Impressionism, Fauvism and Cubism, artists graduallydeveloped the idea that colour, line, form and texture could be the actual subjects of apainting and form the essential characteristics of art. Adhering to this, WassilyKandinsky and Piet Mondrian developed the first pure abstract works in 20th century art.For both Kandinsky and Mondrian, abstraction was a search for truths behindappearances, expressed in a pure visual vocabulary stripped of representationalreferences.Wassily Kandinsky (1866-1944) was born in Moscow. Originally trained in law and economics,Kandinsky started painting at the age of 30 and, in 1896, moved to Germany to study artfull-time. After a brief return to Russia (1914-1921) Kandinsky returned to Germany where hetaught at the Bauhaus school of art and architecture until it was closed by the Nazis in 1933. Hethen moved to France where he remained for the rest of his life.Kandinsky’s creation of purely abstract work followed a long period of development andmaturation of theoretical thought based on his personal artistic experience. At first influenced byboth pointillism and the Fauve artists, by 1922 geometrical elements had taken on increasingimportance in his paintings. Kandinsky was also extremely influenced by music as heAFA Travelling Exhibition Program, Edmonton, AB. Ph: 780.428.3830 Fax: 780.421.0479youraga.ca

The Alberta Foundation for the Arts Travelling Exhibition ProgramPhotography: The Modern View: A Surveycontinuedconsidered music abstract by nature as it does not try to represent the exterior world but ratherto express in an immediate way the inner feelings of the human soul. He was also influenced bythe theories of Theosophy expressed by H.P. Blavatsky. These theories, which had atremendous influence on many artists during the 1920s, postulated that creation was ageometrical progression beginning with a single point. Kandinsky’s mature paintings focus ongeometric forms and the use of colour as something autonomous and apart from a visualdescription of an object or other form and through relinquishing outer appearances he hoped tomore directly communicate feelings to the viewer.The most radical abstractionist of the early 20thcentury was Piet Mondrian (1872-1944). Born inAmersfoort, the Netherlands, Mondrian began hiscareer as a primary teacher. While teaching he alsopracticed painting and these early works, whiledefinitely representational in nature, show theinfluence various artistic movements such aspointillism and fauvism had on him. Mondrian’s art,like Kandinsky’s, was also strongly influenced by thetheosophical movement and his work from 1908 to theend of his life involved a search for the spiritualknowledge expressed by theosophist theory.Piet MondrianComposition with Yellow Patch, 1930Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, DusseldorfIn 1911 Mondrian moved to Paris and came under the influence of Picasso’s cubism. Whilecubist influences can be seen in his works from 1911 to 1914, however, unlike the CubistsMondrian attempted to reconcile his painting with his spiritual pursuits. In this pursuit he beganto simplify elements in his paintings further than the cubists had done until he had developed acompletely non-representational, geometric style. In this work Mondrian did not strive for purelyrical emotion as Kandinsky did. Rather, his goal was pure reality defined as equilibriumachieved through the balance of unequal but equivalent oppositions. By 1919 Mondrian beganproducing the grid-based paintings for which he became renowned and this subject motivatedhis art practice for the rest of his life.AFA Travelling Exhibition Program, Edmonton, AB. Ph: 780.428.3830 Fax: 780.421.0479youraga.ca

The Alberta Foundation for the Arts Travelling Exhibition ProgramPhotography: The Modern View:Modernism in PhotographyIn the early days of photography, many photographic artists,concerned with ‘picturesque imaginings’ and trying to makephotographs appear like paintings, focused their attention onviews of nature where mood and soft atmosphereprevailed. After World War 1, however, the modernism thatwas being expressed in painting began to influencephotographic artists. By 1916 the view amongphotographers had shifted to exchange pictorialist charmfor a more sharply focused view bringng elements ofcubist abstraction, stark formality, geometry andmetaphysical concerns to work. Photographic artists,working towards a consciously aesthetic end, attempted fromWW1 to the early 1970s to invest their works withtimelessness: to transcend any ‘sense of place’ and toconcentrate attention on formal issues of line, shape, toneand texture. This was the establishment of photographybased first on how things looked, their shape and theirform, then on their meaning both real and metaphoric.Modernist photographs came to characterized by sharplydefined ‘straight’ photographs rather than the soft-focus‘romantic’ images of the nineteenth century.Paul StrandNew YorkThe most important early practitioners of this approach were Alfred Stieglitz (1864-1946), PaulStrand (1890-1976), Edward Weston (1886-1958) and Ansel Adams (1902-1984). Strand, whowas a follower of Stieglitz, believed that the photographic artist was a ‘researcher usingmaterials and techniques to dig into the turth and meaning of the world.’ (History ofPhotography, pg. 132) In his work Strand looked to the commonplace as his subject matter,seeking in everyday scenes and objects a purity of form. Edward Weston echoed this approach,viewing the world as a source of objects that might give of themselves profoundly whenphotographed, believing that his pictures ‘should be the thing itself and yet more than the thing’.(History of Photography, pg. 134)Paul StrandWall Street, 1915Edward WestonPepper No. 30, 1930AFA Travelling Exhibition Program, Edmonton, AB. Ph: 780.428.3830 Fax: 780.421.0479youraga.ca

The Alberta Foundation for the Arts Travelling Exhibition ProgramPhotography: The Modern View: Modernismin Photography continuedMany of these early modernist photographers believed in andpracticed what has been termed ‘straight’ photography which refersto the creation of an unmanipulated image. As expressed by EdwardWeston in 1923:(The camera) should be used for a recording of life, for rendering thevery substance and quintessence of the thing itself, whether it bepolished steel or palpitating flesh...I feel definite in my belief that theapproach to photography is through realism.Later photographers such as Ansel Adams, however, devoted a greatdeal of time and energy in both recording and developing theirimagery to achieve the desired affect.Edward WestonNautilus, 1927As early as 1922 Weston developed a techniquecalled ‘previsualizing’ where he worked with a viewcamera to conceive the final result and thencontrolled tones and textures through exposuresand development. This technique was advanced toa finely tuned and scientific means of technical andaesthetic control by Ansel Adams. By 1942 Adamshad developed previsualization into a means offormal control called the ‘zone system’. This methodof adjusting exposure and development allowedphotographers to replace the intuition Weston hadused with measurable and controllable values thatwere expressive and subjective rather than actualand allowed for a personal interpretation whichrealized the early pictorialists dream of having apainter’s finesse combined with the perfectionalistdesire to celebrate technology.Ansel AdamsThe Tetons and the Snake River, 1942Conscious formalism - a knowing wish to make aphotograph rather than record a time or hold amemory - is still a prime force in photographytoday.Aaron FalkenbergCut hay and bale, 2008Pigment printCollection of the artistAFA Travelling Exhibition Program, Edmonton, AB. Ph: 780.428.3830 Fax: 780.421.0479youraga.ca

The Alberta Foundation for the Arts Travelling Exhibition ProgramVisual Learningand Hands-OnActivitiesDawn Saunders DahlMaureen, 2011Digital photographCollection of the artistI think a photography class should be a requirement in all educational programs because itmakes you see the world rather than just look at it.Author unknownAFA Travelling Exhibition Program, Edmonton, AB. Ph: 780.428.3830 Fax: 780.421.0479youraga.ca

The Alberta Foundation for the Arts Travelling Exhibition ProgramWhat is Visual Learning?All art has many sides to it. The artist makes the works for people to experience. They in turncan make discoveries about both the work and the artist that help them learn and give thempleasure for a long time.How we look at an object determines what we come to know about it. We remember informationabout an object far better when we are able to see (and handle) objects rather than by onlyreading about them. This investigation through observation (looking) is very important toundertanding how objects fit into our world in the past and in the present and will help viewersreach a considered response to what they see. The following is a six-step method to lookingat, and understanding, a work of art.STEP 1: INITIAL, INTUITIVE RESPONSE The first ‘gut level’ response to a visual presentation.What do you see and what do you think of it?STEP 2: DESCRIPTION Naming facts - a visual inventory of the elements of design.Questions to Guide Inquiry:What colours do you see? What shapes are most noticeable?What objects are most apparent? Describe the lines in the work.STEP 3: ANALYSIS Exploring how the parts relate to each other.Questions to Guide Inquiry:What proportions can you see? eg. What percentage of the work is background? Foreground?Land? Sky? Why are there these differences? What effect do these differences create?What parts seem closest to you? Farthest away? How does the artist give this impression?STEP 4: INTERPRETATION Exploring what the work might mean or be about.Questions to Guide Inquiry:How does this work make you feel? Why?What word would best describe the mood of this work?What is this painting/photograph/sculpture about?Is the artist trying to tell a story? What might be the story in this work?STEP 5: INFORMATION Looking beyond the work for information that may furtherunderstanding.Questions to Guide Inquiry:What is the artist’s name? When did he/she live?What art style and medium does the artist use?What artist’s work is this artist interested in?What art was being made at the same time as this artist was working?What was happening in history at the time this artist was working?What social/political/economic/cultural issues is this artist interested in?STEP 6: PERSONALIZATION What do I think about this work? (Reaching a consideredresponse).© Virginia StephenAFA Travelling Exhibition Program, Edmonton, AB. Ph: 780.428.3830 Fax: 780.421.0479youraga.ca

The Alberta Foundation for the Arts Travelling Exhibition ProgramIntroduction to the Elements of Design TourThe following pages provide definitions and examples of the elements and principles of art thatare used by artists in the images found in the exhibition. The elements of art are componentsof a work of art that can be isolated and defined. They are the building blocks used to create awork of art.*Use this tour to better understand the purpose of the artist’s choices!LINE !SHAPE!COLOUR!TEXTURE!SPACE!AFA Travelling Exhibition Program Edmonton, AB Ph: 780.428.3830 Fax:780.421.0479youraga.ca

The Alberta Foundation for the Arts Travelling Exhibition ProgramElements and Principles of Design TourLINE: An element of art that is used to define shape, contours and outlines. It is also usedto suggest mass and volume.See: Cut hay and bale, 2008 by Aaron FalkenbergWhat types of lines are there? How can you describe a line? What are some of thecharacteristics of a line?Width: thick, thin, tapering, uneven Length: long, short, continuous, brokenFeeling: sharp, jagged, graceful, smooth Focus: sharp, blurry, fuzzy, choppyDirection: horizontal, vertical, diagonal, curving, perpendicular, oblique, parallel, radial, zigzagNow, descibe the lines you see in this image. Follow the lines in the air with your finger.What quality do the lines have? Are they thick or thin?The image is mainly composed of thick and thin curving lines and ‘vertical’ lines that taper asthey move into the distance. The sky could be composed of thick and thin/dark and light brokenhorizontal lines.What direction do lines appear to be going? How are the lines similar and different fromeach other?The curvy lines take our eye into the middle ground of the composition and then change to‘vertical’ lines which taper to the horizon.The ‘horizontal’ lines in the sky move our eyes acrossthe picture from left to right.The three main types of lines used in this composition create visual interest in the work, create asense of depth in the work, and move the viewer’s eye throughout the work.COLOUR: Colour comes from light that is reflected off objects. Colour has three maincharacteristics: Hue, or its name (red, blue, etc.) Value: (how light or dark the colour is)and Intensity (how bright or dull the colour is)See: Pauline, 2006 by Dawn Saunders DahlWhat are primary colours? Do you see any? Point to them in the photograph. Whatsecondary colours do you see?Colour is made of primary colours, red, blue and yellow. Secondary colours are created fromprimary colours and include green, orange and purple. The figure’s sweater is the primary colour‘red’ while the vegetation at her feet is the secondary colour ‘green’.What is your eye directed to first in this image? Why? Are there any colours that standout more than others? What are complementary colours? How have they been used todraw attention?We see the warmer, more intense colours first. Looking at this image, our eye is directed to thewarm red of Pauline’s sweater which makes her stand out against the pale greenvegetation around her. Red and green are complementary colours - opposite each other on thecolour wheel - and in this image their use draws attention to Pauline, the subject of this work.- Colour also can create mood - in this work the fading of colours in the sunlight may have adeeper meaning and may relate to the overall theme of the exhibition.AFA Travelling Exhibition Program, Edmonton, AB. Ph: 780.428.3830 Fax: 780.421.0479youraga.ca

The Alberta Foundation for the Arts Travelling Exhibition ProgramElements of Composition continuedSHAPE: When a line crosses itself or intersects with another line to enclose a space itcreates a shape. Shape is two-dimensional. It has height and width but no depth.See: Room with a View, 2009/2011 by David BoweringWhat kind of shapes can you think of?Geometric: circles, squares, rectangles and triangles. We see them in architecture andmanufactured items.Organic shapes: a leaf, seashell, flower. We see them in nature with characteristics that arefreeflowing, informal and irregular.Static shapes: shapes that appear stable and resting.Dynamic shapes: Shapes that appear moving and active.What shapes do you see in this image?We see a large vertical rectangle which forms the doorway and smaller vertical rectangles whichform the windows. The viewpoint creates a large triangular shape for the floor which is repeatedfor the ceiling. Both the floor and the ceiling are made up of thin rectangular shapes (boards)There is also a small rectangular form/hole on the floor.Outside the room there are geometric forms which create the granaries and then organic shapeswhich create the trees and hay bales.Would you describe these shapes as organic or geometric?Most of the shapes shown are geometric in nature while there are some organic forms as well.What quality do the shapes have? Does the quality of the shapes contribute to themeaning or story suggested in the work?The shapes appear frail and imperfect. Looking closely at the shapes and recognizing theirfragile quality may help us to think of possible interpretations and stories behind the shapes andimages within the work and relate to the overall theme of the exhibition.TEXTURE: Texture is the surface quality of an object that can be seen or felt. Texturecan also be implied on a two-dimensional surface.See: Pink House, 2009/2011 by David BoweringWhat is texture? How do you describe how something feels? What are the two kinds oftexture you can think of in artwork?Texture can be real, like the actual texture of an object. Texture can be rough, smooth, hard,soft, glossy, etc. Texture can also be implied. This happens when a two-dimensional piece of artis made to look like a certain texture.Look at the work by David Bowering. What do you see in these images?We see a bright pink geometric shape which we recognize as a house. It is hidden behind whatwe recognize as grasses and trees.AFA Travelling Exhibition Program, Edmonton, AB. Ph: 780.428.3830 Fax: 780.421.0479youraga.ca

The Alberta Foundation for the Arts Travelling Exhibition ProgramElements of Composition continuedIf you could touch this work how would the different areas feel? Why do you think this?The house looks like it would be made of some sort of stucco, and appears like it would berough to the touch. The trees are without leaves and the branches appear like they would besharp or scratchy. The grass looks dead and dry, and so would be rough to the touch.SPACE: The area between and around objects. It can also refer to the feeling of depth ina two-dimensional artwork.See: Bales at Sunset, 2008 by Aaron FalkenbergWhat creates space? What do you see in the photograph by Aaron Falkenberg?Space is the three-dimensionality of an object. Space in a two-dimensional drawing or paintingor photograph refers to the arrangement of objects on the picture plane. In this photograph wesee a landcape. We see a number of hay bales,a hay field, and a very dark stormy sky.Describe the materials and techniques. Describe how the space is created in thisphotograph? What are the areas within the work that create a sense of space.Space is created in this image using perspective. This is the technique used to have your picturelook like it is moving into the distance. Within the photograph depth is created in a number ofways. There is a definate foreground which is the area that appears closest to the viewer. This isshown by the large hay bale close to the bottom of the picture plane. Other bales that are seenare much smaller in size and so are much farther away.How does your eye travel through this landscape? Describe how the contrast of light anddark help us envision this space.Because of its size and the light shining on it, we notice the large hay bale first. The dark lines tothe left of the bale direct our eye straight back to the very dark area of sky on the horizon. Theshadow of the large hay bale, meanwhile, directs our eye in a diagonal line back to the otherbales in the scene.AFA Travelling Exhibition Program, Edmonton, AB. Ph: 780.428.3830 Fax: 780.421.0479youraga.ca

The Alberta Foundation for the Arts Travelling Exhibition ProgramReading Pictures ProgramGrades 4-12/adultsObjectives:The purposes of this program are to:1/ Introduce participants to Art and what artists do – this includes examinations of art styles; artelements; the possible aims and meaning(s) in an art work and how to deduce those meaningsand aims.2/ Introduce visitors to the current exhibition – the aim of the exhibition and the kind of exhibition/artwork found. - the artist (s) - his/her background(s)- his/her place in art history3/ Engage participants in a deeper investigation of artworks.Teacher/Facilitator Introduction to Program:This program is called Reading Pictures. What do you think this might involve?-generate as many ideas as possible concerning what viewers might think ‘Reading Pictures’might involve or what this phrase might mean.Before we can ‘read’ art, however, we should have some understanding what we’re talkingabout.What is Art? If you had to define this term, how would you define it?Art can be defined as creative expression - and artistic practice is an aspect and expression of apeoples’ culture or the artist’s identity.The discipline of Art, or the creation of a piece of art, however, is much more than simple ‘creativeexpression’ by an ‘artist’ or an isolated component of culture.How many of you would describe yourselves as artists?You may not believe it, but everyday you engage in some sort of artistic endeavor.How many of you got up this morning and thought about what you were going to wear today?Why did you choose the clothes you did? Why do you wear your hair that way? How manyof you have tattoos or plan to get a tattoo some day? What kind of tattoo would you choose?Why.....? How many of you own digital cameras or have cameras on cell phones? How many ofyou take pictures and e-mail them to other people?AFA Travelling Exhibition Program, Edmonton, AB. Ph: 780.428.3830 Fax: 780.421.0479youraga.ca

The Alberta Foundation for the Arts Travelling Exhibition ProgramReading Pictures Program continuedArt is all around us and we are all involved in artistic endeavors to some degree. Thephotographs we take, the colour and styles of the clothes we wear, the ways we build anddecorate our homes, gardens and public buildings, the style of our cell phones or the vehicleswe drive, the images we see and are attracted to in advertising or the text or symbols on ourbumper stickers – all of these things (and 9 billion others) utilize artistic principles. They saysomething about our personal selves and reflect upon and influence the economic, political,cultural, historical and geographic concerns of our society.Art, therefore, is not just something some people in a society do – it is something that affectsand informs everyone within a society.Today we’re going to look at art - paintings, prints, drawings, sculptures – and see what art cantell us about the world we live in – both the past, the present and possibly the future – and whatart can tell us about ourselves.Art is a language like any other and it can be read.Art can be read in two ways. It can be looked at intuitively – what do you see? What do you likeor not like? How does it make you feel and why? – or it can be read formally by looking at whatare called the Elements of Design – the tools artists use or consider when creating a piece ofwork.What do you think is meant by the elements of design? What does an artist use to create a workof art?Today we’re going to examine how to read art – we’re going to see how art can affect usemotionally... and how an artist can inform us about our world, and ourselves, through what heor she creates.Tour Program:–Proceed to one of the works in the exhibition and discuss the following:a) The nature of the work - what kind of work is it and what exhibition is it a part of?b) Examine the work itself – What do visitors see?– How do you initially feel about what you see? Why do you feelthis way? What do you like? What don’t you like? Why?–What is the work made of?–How would you describe the style? What does this mean?AFA Travelling Exhibition Program, Edmonton, AB. Ph: 780.428.3830 Fax: 780.421.0479youraga.ca

The Alberta Foundation for the Arts Travelling Exhibition ProgramReading Pictures Program continued–What is the compositional structure? How are the shapes and colours etc. arranged? Why arethey arranged this way?–How does the work make them feel? What is the mood of the work? What gives them thisidea? Discuss the element(s) of design which are emphasized in the work in question.–What might the artist be trying to do in the work? What might the artist be saying or what mightthe work ‘mean’?c) Summarize the information.• At each work chosen, go through the same or similar process, linking the work to thetype of exhibition it is a part of. Also, with each stop, discuss a different Element ofDesign and develop participants visual learning skills.At the 1st stop, determine with the participants the most important Element of Designused and focus the discussion on how this element works within the art work. Do thesame with each subsequent art work and make sure to cover all the elements of designon the tour.Stop #1: LINEStop #2: SHAPEStop #3: COLOURStop #4: TEXTUREStop #5: SPACEStop #6: ALL TOGETHER – How do the elements work together to create a certain moodor story? What would you say is the mood of this work? Why? What is the story ormeaning or meaning of this work? Why?Work sheet activity – 30 minutes•Divide participants into groups of two or three to each do this activity. Give them 30 minutes tocomplete the questions then bring them all together and have each group present one of theirpieces to the entire group.Presentations – 30 minutes•Each group to present on one of their chosen works.Visual Learning Activity Worksheet * Photocopy the following worksheet so eachparticipant has their own copy.AFA Travelling Exhibition Program, Edmonton, AB. Ph: 780.428.3830 Fax: 780.421.0479youraga.ca

The Alberta Foundation for the Arts Travelling Exhibition ProgramReading Pictures Program continuedVisual Learning WorksheetInstructions: Choose two very different pieces of artwork in the exhibition and answerthe following questions in as much detail as you can.1. What is the title of the work and who created it?____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________2. What do you see and what do you think of it? (What is your initial reaction to thework?) Why do you feel this way?______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________3. What colours do you see and how does the use of colour affect the way you ‘read’the work? Why do you think the artist chose these colours – or lack of colour – for thispresentation?_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________4. What shapes and objects do you notice most? Why?_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________AFA Travelling Exhibition Program, Edmonton, AB. Ph: 780.428.3830 Fax: 780.421.0479youraga.ca

The Alberta Foundation for the Arts Travelling Exhibition ProgramReading Pictures Program continued5. How are the shapes/objects arranged or composed? How does this affect your feelingstowards or about the work? What feeling does this composition give to the work?______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________6. How would you describe the mood of this work? (How does it make you feel?) Whatdo you see that makes you describe the mood in this way?_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________7. What do you think the artist’s purpose was in creating this work? What ‘story’ might heor she be telling? What aspects of the artwork give you this idea?___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________8. What do you think about this work after answering the above questions? Has youropinion of the work changed in any way? Why do you feel this way?_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________9. How might this work relate to your own life experiences? Have you ever been in asimilar situation/place and how did being there make you feel?___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________AFA Travelling Exhibition Program, Edmonton, AB. Ph: 780.428.3830 Fax: 780.421.0479youraga.ca

The Alberta Foundation for the Arts Travelling Exhibition ProgramPerusing Paintings: An Art-full Scavenger HuntIn teaching art, game-playing can enhance learning. If students are engaged in learning, througha variety of methods, then it goes beyond game-playing. Through game-playing we are trying toget students to use higher-order thinking skills by getting them to be active participants inlearning. Blooms’s Taxonomy of Educational Objectives, which follows, is as applicable toteaching art as any other discipline.1. knowledge: recall of facts2. comprehension: participation in a discussion3. application: applying abstract information in practical situations4. analysis: separating an entity into its parts5. synthesis: creating a new whole from many parts, as in developing a complex work of art6. evaluation: making judgements on criteriaA scavenger hunt based on artworks is a fun and engaging way to get students of any age toreally look at the artworks and begin to discern what the artist(s) is/are doing in the works. Thesimple template provided, however, would be most suitable for grade 1-3 students.Instruction:Using the exhibition works provided, give students a list of things they should search for that arein the particular works of art. The students could work with a partner or in teams. Include a blankfor the name of the artwork, the name of the artist, and the year the work was created. Followingthe hunt, gather students together in the exhibition area and check the answers and discuss theparticular works in more detail.Sample List:Scavenger Hunt Item Title of Artwork Name of Artist Year Work Createdsomeone wearing a hata specific animallandscapea bright red objecta night scenea house*This activity was adapted from A Survival Kit for the Elementary/Middle School Art Teacher by Helen D. Hume.AFA Travelling Exhibition Program, Edmonton, AB. Ph: 780.428.3830 Fax: 780.421.0479youraga.ca

The Alberta Foundation for the Arts Travelling Exhibition ProgramAn Art-full Scavenger Hunt TemplateScavenger Hunt Item Title of Artwork Name of Artist Year WorkCreatedAFA Travelling Exhibition Program, Edmonton, AB. Ph: 780.428.3830 Fax: 780.421.0479youraga.ca

The Alberta Foundation for the Arts Travelling Exhibition ProgramThe Blueprint Photogram K-6BackgroundOne of the earliest photographic processes that did not require a darkroom was that ofcyanotype. A modern day version of this process is the blueprint. The blueprint process wasused in Victorian times to make what Victorians called Sun Gardens. Although professionalswere using cameras by that time, this process was used to make scientific photographic recordsof plant life. Objects such as ferns or leaves were laid on light sensitized paper and held in placewith glass.Your students can make photograms by using opaque objects such as photographic negatives,lace, shells, leaves, sticks, feathers, raffia or designs cut from black construction paper that willblock out the light. They could also draw onto overhead transparencies with black permanentmarker to place over the blueprint paper. When the paper is exposed to sunlight, images aremade, then developed in the fumes of the ammonia.Materials• diazo black-line positive dry reproductionpaper (available by the roll or cut paper atblueprint supply houses such as:For information and ordering contact SharplineImaging Inc. e-mail us at sales@sharplineinc.com Or in Edmonton, AB call 413-9660 and inCalgary, AB call 243-3418• ammonia• several 1 gallon plastic jars• small plastic bottle caps• 11 x 14 inch plexiglass• 8.5 x 11 inch copy paper• black construction paper• scissorsProcedure1. In dim light, cut the paper into usable sheets. Keep inside a black plastic bag until needed.2. Plan your arrangement before removing the copy paper from the bag because it will quicklychange colour when exposed to light. For practice, arrange the images you will use to blockout light on newsprint or copy paper of the same size. Black construction paper can be cut intoalmost any shape and combined with objects you have brought from home.3. Remove blueprint paper from the bag and work very quickly on your arrangement. The actualexposure time may be from 10 seconds to 3 minutes depending on the time of year and howclose the sun is to the earth where you live. Cover the design with a piece of plexiglass to holdeveryting flat and place it in the sunlight. The surface will turn from yellow to white when theexposure is complete.AFA Travelling Exhibition Program, Edmonton, AB. Ph: 780.428.3830 Fax: 780.421.0479youraga.ca

The Alberta Foundation for the Arts Travelling Exhibition ProgramThe Blueprint Photogram K-6 continued4. The blueprint may be developed in large upside down plastic jars filled with ammonia fumes.These inverted jars will be on a work surface with the fresh ammonia in small bottle caps sittingin the centre of the jar opening. Keep the jar upside down to prevent the fumes from escapingand quickly put your blueprint paper inside with the exposed (yellow) side facing inwards.Quickly replace the gallon jar over the bottle cap to allow the ammonia fumes to develop theblueprint.Source: A Survival Kit for the Elementary/Middle School Art Teacher, Helen D. Hume, copyright 2000 by John Wiley &Sons, Inc.AFA Travelling Exhibition Program, Edmonton, AB. Ph: 780.428.3830 Fax: 780.421.0479youraga.ca

The Alberta Foundation for the Arts Travelling Exhibition ProgramPeople at Work K-6Objectives:Students will observe artworks from the exhibition <strong>Down</strong> on the Farm and discuss what hardwork means and the physical labour required to cultivate the land. Students will create a workof art that tells a story and express in writing the thoughts of a character in their story. They willdraw their hands and hand tools from observation as well express in writing how their hand is atool.Procedure:1. Students observe and discuss artworks from theexhibition <strong>Down</strong> on the Farm and answer thequestions: What is hard work? What physical workmay be required to cultivate the land?2. Ask students about a time when they did hardphysical work.3. Engage students with the artwork by DawnSaunders Dahl and give background about the artist.4. Students will make a gesture drawing of a personholding a tool. It may be helpful for students to warmup by practicing gesture drawing first. Have studentstake turns modelling and drawing one another.5. Bring examples of hand tools into the classroomand discuss how they are used.6. Have students sketch a tool as well as their ownhands holding that tool.7. Complete drawing by having students questionwhat the surrounding landscape would look likehaving just used their tool. What other objectsmight be present? How would the characters in thedrawing be thinking/feeling or saying?8. Display and share artworks and stories in theclassroom.Additional ideas:Student example, I Worked HardDavid Ochoa, Education at the Getty1. Compare two works of art in the exhibition by examining similarities or differences in mood,time of day, location, etc.2. Have students create an image or story by thinking about how the character in the imagemight have changed in 5 years?3. Have students discuss the medium of photography and think about why it was chosen for theworks included in the exhibition <strong>Down</strong> on the Farm. In partners, students may want to decidehow to pose and take their own photographs of their hands holding a tool.4. Develop a topic sentence about their hands as tools.5. Students write a two paragraph essay about their hands as tools to illustrate theirphotographs.AFA Travelling Exhibition Program, Edmonton, AB. Ph: 780.428.3830 Fax: 780.421.0479youraga.ca

The Alberta Foundation for the Arts Travelling Exhibition ProgramPeople at Work K-6 continuedMaterials:Works from the exhibition <strong>Down</strong> on the Farmdrawing tools: pencils, charcoalpapercoloured media may include pencil crayons or watercolourcamerasDawn Saunders DahlSawtie, 2011Digital photographCollection of the artistAFA Travelling Exhibition Program, Edmonton, AB. Ph: 780.428.3830 Fax: 780.421.0479youraga.ca

The Alberta Foundation for the Arts Travelling Exhibition ProgramCyanotype Printing 7-12BackgroundThe cyanotype (blue image on a white ground) is an old photographic process using chemicalsavailable from scientific chemical companies. It works well on paper and natural fibers likecotton, silk and canvas. Most familiar from timeless botanical prints, architectural drafts knownas “blue prints” or kindergarten science experiments, the cyanotype printing process deservesto be taken out of the dark ages. This is a fun cyanotype project using limited dollars, time,facilities and experience.Cyanotype printing is essentially printing with shadows. Weuse black paint to create dark shapes that block the sunlightfrom hitting the fabric. Images we paint will appear as whiteon the fabric because the blue sensitizer cannot turn bluebecause of the image shadow. Exposure times will varyaccording to geographical location, season and time of day,usually from 8-30 minutes.Unlike traditional print photography development, there is noneed for a real “dark room.” The cyanotype sensitizer is notnearly as light sensitive, so any room lit only with regular lightbulbs will be fine. We call this the “dim room.” You will alsoneed a “light room”. This is an outdoor space large enoughfor the fabric to lay flat outside without intruding shadows. Wemake the “film positive” larger than the fabric to lay over theedges for seamless printing and then use small straight pins topress the film positive on to the fabric with sensitizer and theblack cloth.Woodland Horsetail(Equisetum sylvaticum)Anna Atkins (1799-1871)Materials• 2 yards x 36” black canvas• Clear Acetate Roll .003” 25” × 12 fthttp://www.dickblick.com/1/1/60262-25-12-ft-003-grafix-clear-acetate-rolls.html• Measuring tape• Scissors• Drafting tape (optional)• Liquid black acrylic paint or India ink• ¼ “ paint brush or bamboo calligraphy brush• Printing paper or fabric with sensitizer http://www.blueprintsonfabric.com/store.php?cat=8• (20-30) 3/4” flat head straight pins• 4 weights or ink cans• Wash basin• 4 oz hydrogen peroxide (optional)AFA Travelling Exhibition Program, Edmonton, AB. Ph: 780.428.3830 Fax: 780.421.0479youraga.ca

The Alberta Foundation for the Arts Travelling Exhibition ProgramCyanotype Printing continued 7-12Procedure1. Measure and cut fabric to 25” x 72” and acetate to 20” x 65” with measuring tape andscissors. The fabric and the acetate are your contact printer.2. Lay acetate on clean work surface. Use drafting tape to secure edges of acetate if it is rollingup.3. Dip brush in black acrylic paint and paint on letters or design of your choosing. This will beyour film positive. When paint is dry remove drafting tape.4. Dim Room: remove wrinkles from fabric with sensitizer with a dry iron on low setting.5. Dim Room: place fabric on work surface and lay fabric with sensitizer flat on center of fabric.Lay film positive, paint facing up over fabric.6. Dim Room: locate a painted portion of film positive and slide a straight pin through theacetate, both pieces of fabric and then back though the acetate.7. Dim Room: Repeat step 6 until the pins secure the film, acetate and cloth together to form aflat surface. Loosely roll up contact printer so fabric is on the outside.8. Light Room: Walk to a flat sunlit area and unroll contact printer with film positive and fabricfacing up.9. Light Room: Place weights on each of four corners of fabric to weigh contact printer down.10. Light Room: Expose in sunlight in desired time. Gently roll up contact printer with the fabricon the outside.11. Dim Room: Return contact printer to dark room and remove pins.12. Rinse fabric in washbasin with cool running water until the water runs clear. About 3minutes.13.Dim Room: Pour hydrogen peroxide over fabric and rinse in washbasin. Wring out water.14.Dim Room: Lay fabric flat until dry.* Straight pins will form shadows so try to keep them to darkly painted portions of the filmpositive.• Try to place pins in painted portions of film positive because the paint will conceal the shadowfrom the pin.• If print is too light repeat and create another print and increase exposure time by a few moreminutes. If the print it too dark, decrease exposure time.• The hydrogen peroxide from the drugstore (diluted 3-8%) immediately deepens the blue colourof the scarf. Do not use it if you prefer to keep a light colour.• Use your own design! You could place a design drawn on paper underneath acetate and traceimage with paintbrush.AFA Travelling Exhibition Program, Edmonton, AB. Ph: 780.428.3830 Fax: 780.421.0479youraga.ca

The Alberta Foundation for the Arts Travelling Exhibition ProgramAnsel Adams and the Elements of Art K-6SummaryIn this one-session lesson, students will be introduced to the works of Ansel Adams whilelearning about the Elements of Art. This lesson is related to the work of Aaron Falkenberg inthe exhibition <strong>Down</strong> on the Farm. By viewing selected images from the works of Ansel Adams,students will recognize and describe patterns found in the environment and in works of art tocreate their own interpretation and piece of original artwork.MaterialsPaperColored pencils, crayons, markers, or paintElements of Art reviewGlossary terms: colour, elements of art, line, pattern, photography, shape, textureSelected works by Ansel Easton Adams including: Roots, Foster Gardens, Honolulu, Trailside,Near Juneau, Alaska, Saguaro Cactus, Sunrise Arizona, Vine and Rock, Island of HawaiiTeachers PreparationFamiliarize yourself with the life and works of Ansel Adams and the Elements of Art.Print the images listed above onto overhead transparencies, download images or photocopyones provided.Write the vocabulary words (without the definitions) on the board, poster, or overheadtransparency. You will refer to this throughout the lesson.Ansel Easton Adams (February 20, 1902 – April22, 1984) was an American photographer andenvironmentalist, best known for his blackand-whitephotographs of the American West,especially in Yosemite National Park.Ansel Easton Adams in 1947Ansel Adams stands as one of America’s greatestlandscape photographers. Born in San Francisco,Adams was trained as a concert pianist. Hisfirst photographs were made at the age of 14using a Kodak Brownie camera during a visit toYosemite Valley with his parents. This visit stronglyinfluenced the course of Adams’ life. By age 30he had changed his path and chosen a career inphotography. Adams’ photographs are elegantlycomposed and technically flawless. Ansel Adamsproved a tireless investigator of the methods ofphotography, pioneering a method called The ZoneSystem, a technique which allows photographers totranslate the light they see into specific densities onnegatives and paper, thus giving better control overfinished images.AFA Travelling Exhibition Program, Edmonton, AB. Ph: 780.428.3830 Fax: 780.421.0479youraga.ca

The Alberta Foundation for the Arts Travelling Exhibition ProgramAnsel Adams and the Elements of Art K-6continuedThroughout his career, Ansel Adams became well known for the clarity of his instruction and hishands-on workshop approach to the medium. Ansel Adams advocated the role of photographyas a fine art, inspiring new ways of seeing and communicating. He influenced generationsof photographers though his teaching, practice, and publishing endeavors, and has gainedstanding as one of America’s best-known photographers.Procedures1. Begin a discussion with the students about photography: What is photography? Where haveyou seen photographs? Who has used a camera before? What do you like to take pictures of?Why do people take photographs? Define the term ‘Photography’ and write it on the board.2. Show the students one of the photographs. Use the following questions to guide thediscussion:What’s going on in this picture?What do you see that makes you say that?What more can you find?Where do you think this photograph was taken? Why?Have you ever seen a place that is similar to the one in the photograph? Where was that place?Were you actually there or did you see it in a photograph, TV, movie, etc.?What does this photograph remind you of? Why?Would you like to visit the place in the photograph? Why or why not?3. Introduce the phrase ‘Elements of Art’ to the students. Explain the definition. Have thestudents read aloud the different Elements of Art. Show the students the same image oncemore. Use the following questions to guide the discussion:Do you see any lines in this photograph? Where? Which types of lines do you see?Do you see any shapes in this photograph? Where? What is the name of that shape?What colours do you see in this photograph? What colors do you think the artist saw when hephotographed this scene?There are many different textures in this photograph? What do you see in the photograph thathas texture? What do you think it would feel like if you touched it?How can you tell what is far away in the photograph? How can you tell what is close up? Do yousee any overlapping shapes?Do you notice any patterns in the photograph? Where do you see them?AFA Travelling Exhibition Program, Edmonton, AB. Ph: 780.428.3830 Fax: 780.421.0479youraga.ca

The Alberta Foundation for the Arts Travelling Exhibition ProgramAnsel Adams and the Elements of Art K-6continued4. Use the discussion questions with one or more or the photographs.5. Explain to the students that they are going to create a landscape similar to one they sawin the photographs. This photograph can be an interpretation of one of the photographs, alandscape they have seen in real life, or an imaginary landscape.6. Hand out the paper and art materials.7. Once the students have finished their landscapes, have each write a sentence/paragraphdescribing the landscape.Discussion Questions: Look at: Roots, Foster Gardens, Honolulu(For Grades K-2)What type of animal do the roots look like?How many different types of plants do you see around the tree’s roots?What lines do you see in this photograph? Which shapes?What do you think the roots would feel like if you could touch them?Have you ever seen anything like these roots before? If so, where?Adams took Roots, Foster Gardens, Honolulu, on a visit in 1948. Foster Gardens wasestablished in 1853 and expands over 13 acres, making it the oldest garden in Hawaii. Morethan 75,000 visitors walk through these gardens annually, decorated with exotic and tropicalplant species.Discussion Questions: Look at: Saguaro Cactus, Sunrise Arizona(For Grades K-2)Where do you think the artist took this photograph? Where do you think he was standing?Does it seem like this was taken on a sunny day? How can you tell?Have you ever seen a cactus before? Where?Which lines can you find in this photograph? Which shapes?Saguaro Cactus, made in 1946, is the state flower of Arizona, a tall and slow-growing cactusable to store much water and usually living up to 200 years. The cactus is quite vulnerableto environmental damage, possibly being blown down or broken by strong storm winds orlightning. The cactus buds flowers at the top in the spring months and provides habitat for manydesert animals. Ansel Adams was fascinated with the beauty and magnificence of the cactus, asubject of the desert west of which he treasured.Resource: http://www.carearts.orgAFA Travelling Exhibition Program, Edmonton, AB. Ph: 780.428.3830 Fax: 780.421.0479youraga.ca

AFA Travelling Exhibition Program, Edmonton, AB. Ph: 780.428.3830 Fax: 780.421.0479youraga.ca

The Alberta Foundation for the Arts Travelling Exhibition ProgramDocumentary Portraits - High SchoolThis project is based on the portrait work of Dawn Saunders Dahl in the exhibition <strong>Down</strong> on theFarm and the work of Dorthea Lange for the FAS project in the 1930s.ObjectivesStudents will determine what information is unnecessary to a photograph for it to portray themost powerful image.Students will tell how they feel when seeing Dawn Saunders Dahl’s work and Dorthea Lange’sMigrant Mother series and talk about their own lives in relation to those images.Students will use a computer to crop an image.MaterialsDigital Camera(s) (one per student if possible)Magazines with images of news going on today for look and talk sessionsImages from Dorthea Lange’s Migrant Mother series for discussion purposesMat board for cropping and displaying imagesProcedure1. Discuss with students the idea of portraiture and social documentary. Study images byDawn Saunders Dahl from the exhibition <strong>Down</strong> on the Farm and by Dorthea Lange to facilitatediscussion.Focus Questions: What is a portrait? What is social documentary? In studying these images,what factors do you think might go into a photographer’s decision to crop or not to crop anoriginal image? Does cropping an image make a difference in how we read/feel about theimage?note* Dorthea Lange’s work: Lange happened upon this family by their tent in a pea pickers’camp in California. She took six photographs of the family, starting from forty feet away, movingcloser and closer to them with each photograph. Do you think seeing this family from forty feetaway would be different from how you see them up close? Why or why not?2. Students will take this issue of capturing social commentary and translate that into acontemporary photograph. They will- choose a photograph from a magazine- have to present their photograph with information on who/what it is, why they chose it, andwhat speaks to them in the piece. They will also explain how the photographer may havedecided to crop the piece and what makes it a strong/weak composition.3. Students will then have one week to find and produce their own photograph that speaks to‘us’ today. In their work they will explore ideas of cropping, composition, and elimination ofunnecessary information as both Saunders Dahl and Dorthea Lange did in their works.credit: http://www.lessonplanspage.com/ArtSSCIPhotography-DortheaLangeMigrantMother912.htmrevision of above: Shane GolbyAFA Travelling Exhibition Program, Edmonton, AB. Ph: 780.428.3830 Fax: 780.421.0479youraga.ca

The Alberta Foundation for the Arts Travelling Exhibition ProgramDocumentary Portraits - continuedDorthea Lange, Migrant MotherDorthea Lange, Migrant MotherAFA Travelling Exhibition Program, Edmonton, AB. Ph: 780.428.3830 Fax: 780.421.0479youraga.ca

The Alberta Foundation for the Arts Travelling Exhibition ProgramDocumentary Portraits - continuedDorthea Lange, Migrant MotherDorthea Lange, Migrant Mother (published image)AFA Travelling Exhibition Program, Edmonton, AB. Ph: 780.428.3830 Fax: 780.421.0479youraga.ca

The Alberta Foundation for the Arts Travelling Exhibition ProgramThe Medium is the Message - Gr. 9-12Dawn Saunders DahlGladys, 2010Digital photographCollection of the artistDawn Saunders DahlGladys, 2010Acrylic on canvasPaintings (1 and 2)Collection of the artistObjectivesThrough the studio activity students will:1/ Analyse the importance of medium choice in the creation of art images2/ Gain experience using digital cameras and paint in the creation of imagery3/ Consider such art elements and principles as composition, focus, emphasis, unity and colourin the creation of art imageryMaterials- Digital cameras - one per student- still life arrangements and/or portrait studies- acrylic paints- paper/canvas/board for painted work- brushes/water containers/paint palletsAFA Travelling Exhibition Program, Edmonton, AB. Ph: 780.428.3830 Fax: 780.421.0479youraga.ca

The Alberta Foundation for the Arts Travelling Exhibition ProgramThe Medium is the Message continuedProcedure1/ Introduction - DiscussionIn the creation of any form of art work, an artist’s choice of medium is a very importantconsideration as the medium used carries messages or information of its own beyondthe subject being rendered. In other words, what can be done in one medium may not beable to be accomplished with another, or the use of one kind of medium may allow theartist to do certain things/create certain impressions, that are different from what can bedone in another medium. In the creation of her Alberta Farm Women series, forexample, artist Dawn Saunders Dahl first created her portraits using digital photographyand then, for some of her subjects, created acrylic portraits as well. Such an approach isseen in the work Gladys seen on the previous page. With students examine these works,focusing on the following questions:1/ Why would an artist create the same work in two different mediums?2/ How does the rendering of an image photographically compare to the rendering of the sameimage using a paint medium? (* in this example, photographic imagery appears more ‘truthful’and specific while the painted versions are much more expressive and, as a result, moreuniversal. The photograph, for example, is perceived as ‘Gladys’ while the paintings couldalmost be of any woman).3/ How has the artist altered the compositional structure of the images and what affect does thishave on the viewer’s ‘reading’ of the subject?4/ How has the artist altered the colour treatment in these images and what affect does this haveon the viewer’s ‘reading’ of the subject? How does this affect the mood of the work? How doesthis affect the actual rendering of the subject (ie: More detailed; less detailed etc.)?2/ Lesson- Have students create a still-life arrangement using a variety of objects ( or have studentschoose a classmate or family member to create a portrait)- Using digital cameras, have students create a number of photographs of their still life/portraitsubject- Have students choose one of their photographs to use as the basis for a painted composition- distribute paint supplies (paper/board/canvas; paints/ paint pallets/ brushes and watercontainers)- Using their chosen photograph as inspiration, have students render their subject using paint- Once paintings are completed have students display both their photographic work and thepainted work and discuss using the questions in the above introduction as a guide.AFA Travelling Exhibition Program, Edmonton, AB. Ph: 780.428.3830 Fax: 780.421.0479youraga.ca

The Alberta Foundation for the Arts Travelling Exhibition ProgramFabric LandscapesGrades 4-12ObjectivesThrough the studio activity, students will- use a variety of fabrics to represent the elements in a postcard-sized landscape- become familiar with parts of landscape composition: foreground, midground, background- create depth in their landscapes through the use of overlapping- use coloured and patterned fabric pieces to facilitate the creation of depth in their images- become familiaer with the appliqué method in fabric art- using needle and thread practice stitching techniquesMaterials- a variety of fabric pieces, both patterned and solid, running through the colour wheel - a goodvariety of light, medium, and dark fabrics- base fabric pieces - 4 inches x 6 inches - one piece per student- freezer paper - 4 inches X 6 inches - one piece per student- post ard paper pieces - 5 inches x 7 inches - use a firm paper like waer colour paper or Mayfairone piece per student- glue sticks - one per student- pencil, eraser, and paper for landscape sketch - one of each per student- fabric scissors - one pair per student- paper scissors- iron, ironing board, and pressing cloth- needles and thread- sample fabric landscape to scaleMethodology1. Before class, prepare post card pieces - one per student2. In class distribute post card pieces and drawing paper and materials to students3. Have students trace post card size on to drawing paper4. Have students on paper draw a simple landscape. This should contain between two to fiveelements (ie: a tree, hills, clouds, water etc. up to five parts)5. Have students re-draw their sketch on to the freezer paper* make sure students draw on the dull/paper side of the freezer paper or else their imagewill be in reverse and not fit together as plannedAFA Travelling Exhibition Program, Edmonton, AB. Ph: 780.428.3830 Fax: 780.421.0479youraga.ca

The Alberta Foundation for the Arts Travelling Exhibition Program6. Have students label their landscape based on what is farthest away in order on the freezerpaper. For example, the sky might be labelled #1 because it is most likely the farthest away. Dothis for all elements within the landscape.7. Have students choose fabric pieces which correspond to the elements of their image.8. Have students cut out shape #1 of their freezer paper using scissors and iron this on to thefront side (the good side) of fabric #1. The shiny side of the freezer paper is laid on the fabric asthis is the sticky side.9. Next, cut fabric shape #1 preferably with fabric scissors.10. With the freezer paper still attached, apply glue to the reverse side of the fabric.11. Peel off the freezer paper and centre shape #1 on to the foundation fabric and press it down.12. Repeat this process for the remaining elements of the composition. Pieces may overlap orbe placed on top of each other to create a greater sense of depth, perspective and interest.13. Once elements are glued to the foundation fabric, apply glue to the post card piece and gluethe flundation fabric to this backing.Additional hints–In gathering fabrics for this project, do not use stretchy, elastic or shiny fabrics like silk or rayonas these may be too difficult to work with. Cottons and cotton-poly blends will provide the bestresults.–For a body of water, place the fabric parallel to the top and bottom of the work with any patternrunning horizontally.–Make the sky and water relate to each other. Generally in nature, the water reflects the colourof the sky.–Place foreground objects or shapes that overlap (trees, sun, moon, clouds) on top at the end.Do the landscape behind the shape first and then applique the shape on top. This makesworking much easier.AFA Travelling Exhibition Program, Edmonton, AB. Ph: 780.428.3830 Fax: 780.421.0479youraga.ca

The Alberta Foundation for the Arts Travelling Exhibition ProgramFabric Landscape CollageObjectivesStudents will use a variety of materials and simplify basic shapes and spaces. Overlappingfigures or objects create an illusion of space in two-dimensional works. Repetition of shape innature can suggest patterns and motifs.VocabularyforegroundintensitytextureProceduremidgroundbackgroundhorizon line1. Make some preliminary sketches of a landscape creating a foreground, midground and background.Define where your horizon line will be located within your landscape.2. Cut out your fabrics and lay them out and arrange them on your board. Think about creatinga definite foreground, midground and background. Use brighter, more intense colour and texturefor the foreground and duller, less detailed fabric for the background in order to create an illusionof space in your landscape.3. Glue down your fabric collage – putting glue on top of the fabric helps to keep the fabric flat.4. Use the yarn or rope to create outlines around your shapes as linear elements to create moredetail within your landscape collage.Materials–board (cardboard, masonite, plywood) 8 x 10 in.*note* –a lot of glue makes the cardboard puckerand bend–a variety of fabric scraps – heavy and light weightfabrics–patterned fabric–yarn–rope–cord–white glue–popsicle sticks for glue–scissorshttp://bkids.typepad.com/bookhoucraftprojects/page/2/AFA Travelling Exhibition Program, Edmonton, AB. Ph: 780.428.3830 Fax: 780.421.0479youraga.ca

The Alberta Foundation for the Arts Travelling Exhibition ProgramAaron FalkenbergFurrows, 2011Pigment printCollection of the artistGlossaryAFA Travelling Exhibition Program, Edmonton, AB. Ph: 780.428.3830 Fax: 780.421.0479youraga.ca

The Alberta Foundation for the Arts Travelling Exhibition ProgramGlossarycamera obscura Latin, meaning “dark room, camera obscura refers to a system of mirrors andlenses created during the 16th and 17th centuries, used as a primitive camera for artists. Usinga camera obscura, a painter could project an image on a 2D surface to use it as a preliminarysketch. Light entering through a small hole in one wall forms on the opposite wall an image ofthe scene outside.daguerreotype The first commercial photographic process. A daguerreotype is a finely detailedimage formed on a sheet of silver-plated copper. It is fragile and non-reproducible.documentary photography refers to a popular form of photography used to chroniclesignificant and historical events. It is typically covered in professional photojournalismattempting to produce truthful, objective, and usually candid photography of a particular subject,most often pictures of people.exposure The amount of light that falls on a film or negative. In a camera, exposure isdetermined by the length of time the shutter is open, and the size of the opening through whichthe light passes.perspective creates the feeling of depth through the use of lines that make an image appear tobe three dimensionalphotography The art or process of producing images of objects on photosensitive surfaces.pictorial photography an approach to photography that emphasizes beauty of subject matter,tonality, and composition rather than the documentation of reality.picturesque defined as an aesthetic quality marked by pleasing variety, irregularity, asymmetryand interesting textures; for example, medieval ruins in a natural landscapepictorialism A movement of the late 19th and early 20th centuries that sought to havephotography recognized as a fine art. Pictorialist photographers manipulated their prints toachieve a variety of effects. Romantic subjects in soft focus were common.pinhole camera The simplest camera you can use to take a photograph. A pinhole camera isa closed light-tight box with a pinhole on one side. Light enters through the hole and projects aninverted and reversed image on photographic film or paper placed inside the box, opposite thehole.realism a movement in the late 19th century representing objects, actions or social conditionsas they actually are, without idealization or presentation in abstract formAFA Travelling Exhibition Program, Edmonton, AB. Ph: 780.428.3830 Fax: 780.421.0479youraga.ca

The Alberta Foundation for the Arts Travelling Exhibition ProgramGlossary continuedromanticism, 18th C.-19th C. a style of art filled with feelings for nature, emotion andimagination instead of realism or reason.still-life A picture of inanimate objects. Still-lifes appear throughout the history of art andphotography. Common subjects include food, flowers, tableware, books, and dead animals.straight photography A movement of the first half of the 20th century that returnedphotography to its pure form. Straight photographs are direct - unposed, unmanipulated andunsentimental. Their power comes through a technical mastery of the medium, includingframing, light and shade, line, and texture.AFA Travelling Exhibition Program, Edmonton, AB. Ph: 780.428.3830 Fax: 780.421.0479youraga.ca

The Alberta Foundation for the Arts Travelling Exhibition ProgramCreditsSPECIAL THANKS TO:The artists - David Bowering, Aaron Falkenberg, Dawn Saunders DahlThe Alberta Foundation for the ArtsArt Gallery of AlbertaSOURCE MATERIALS:History of Agriculture from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_agricultureThe United Farming Association - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Farmers_of_AlbertaRanching in Alberta - http://www.abheritage.ca/pasttopresent, http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.comSocial Credit Party of Alberta - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_Credit_Party_of_AlbertaAgriculture in Alberta - http://www1.agric.gov.ab.caThe plough and tractor, a brief history - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Agricultural_Revolution,http://www.historyforkids.org/learn/economy/farming/Canadian Wheat Board - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alberta_Wheat_Pool, http://www.cwb.ca/public/en/John Constable - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_ConstableJean-Francois Millet - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Fran%C3%A7ois_MilletBarbizon School - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbizon_schoolH.W. Janson: History of Art, 2nd Edition, pp.605-614History of Photography - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_photographyDocumentary Photography - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Documentary_photographyHIstory of Photography, Peter Turner, Brompton Books Corporation, Greenwich, CT., USA, 1987Documentary Photography, Time Life Library of Photography, Time Life Books, New York, 1972Pictorial Photography - http://www.answers.com/topic/pictorial-photography-2Pictorialism - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PictorialismRobert Demachy - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_DemachyAnsel Adams - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ansel_Adams_GalleryThe Picture History of Photography, Peter Pollack, harry N. Abrams, inc., New York, 1977300 Lessons in Art, Robert Henkes, J. Weston Walch, Publisher, Portland, Maine, 1981A Survival Kit for the Elementary/Middle School Art Teacher, Helen D. Hume, John Wiley &Sons, Inc., 2000The History of Photography, Beaumont Newhall, Secker & Warburg Publishers, London, 1972Oxford Companion to Art, Oxford University Press, Ely House, London, 1970Landscape Photography: The Influence of Romanticism and the Sublime, http://www.standrews.ac.uk/~romantic/LandscapesIntroduction to the History of Photography, http://photographyhistory.blogspot.com/2010/10/landscape-photography-documentary-and...Modernism - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ModernismAFA Travelling Exhibition Program, Edmonton, AB. Ph: 780.428.3830 Fax: 780.421.0479youraga.ca

The Alberta Foundation for the Arts Travelling Exhibition ProgramCreditsThis exhibition was developed and managed by the Art Gallery of Albertafor The Alberta Foundation for the Arts Travelling Exhibition ProgramFunding provided by the Alberta Foundation for the Arts.Shane Golby – Program Manager/CuratorAFA Travelling Exhibition Program, Region 2Jordan Rule/Sherisse Burke –TREX TechnicianAlix Walsh – TREX Administrative AssistantFront Cover Images:Top Left: Aaron Falkenberg, Wheatland, 2008, Pigment print, Collection of the artistTop Right: Dawn Saunders Dahl, Pauline, 2006, Digital photograph, Collection of the artistBottom Right: David Bowering, Room with a View, 2009-2011, Digital photograph, Collection ofthe artistAFA Travelling Exhibition Program, Edmonton, AB. Ph: 780.428.3830 Fax: 780.421.0479youraga.ca