Sept-October 2010 - Preview

www.touchstonesnelson.caAngelika Werth: Ladies in TentsTOUCHSTONES NELSON: MUSEUM OF ART AND HISTORY, NELSON BC – Aug 7-Oct 17, 2010German-born Angelika Werth is a fascinating British Columbia artist with a passion for costumedesign. She creates what she calls “wearable constructed fibre works” that include dresses, waistcoats,wraps and jackets with the convoluted detail and elaborate decoration of the Rococo period.Fashioning her pieces from rustic canvas tents, nylon tents, mattress covers and the vinyl “house wrap”used in the building industry, she applies herformidable experience and training to thebeautifully tailored gowns and jackets.Refined elements include antique buckles,silver tassels, and buttons and beads scouredfrom Paris flea markets.Werth’s dresses are ultra-feminine yetdecidedly feminist and political, much likethe 18th-century Robe Français, a doll-likestructure with hoops and petticoats thatenabled women to take up three times asmuch space as men and to appear moreimposing. Her Madeleines, costumes for historicalfigures like Joan of Arc, Josephine,Coco Chanel and Gertrude Stein, incorporateelements of imaginary engagement inphysical sports and activities. The currentAngelika Werth and some of her costumes [Touchstones Nelson: Museum ofArt and History, Nelson BC, Aug 7-Oct 17]exhibit explores the idea of the dress as a shelter or dwelling, and the costumes have hand embroideredlines of poetry taken from the 16th-century writer Christopher Marlowe.Werth started her practice with a three-year dress-making apprenticeship then worked forYves Saint Laurent in Paris. She received a degree as Master dressmaker-designer before movingto Australia and eventually Canada. Mia Johnsonception; “Permanent Collection”,focus on a series of recently acquireddrawings and works on paper featuringB.C. Binning, Peter von Tiesenhausenand Pnina Granirer.PRINCE RUPERTMuseum of Northern B.C.100 First Ave W ✆250-624-3207www.museumofnorthernbc.comtues-sat 9am-5pm. Admission:adults $6, students $2, childrenunder 12 $1, children under 5 free,members free. Sep Dawn Germyn,“Trees Green and Gold”, celebrationand tribute to trees inspired by therecent collapse of the logging industryand the tragedy of the GoldenSpruce, a rare yellow-coloured SitkaSpruce tree in Haida Gwaii that wasillegally cut down in 1997 as aprotest against industrial loggingpractices; Oct The World of Puppets,features puppets from North America,Southeast Asia and Europe, aswell as text and images illustratingthe use and cultural importance ofpuppets.QUALICUM BEACHThe Old School HouseArts Centre122 Fern Rd W ✆250-752-6133www.theoldschoolhouse.orgmon-sat 10am-4:30pm. Thru Sep 11Naomi Cairns, Ken Faulks and BrianBuckrell, paintings; Sep 13-Oct 9Cecile van Woensel, paintings; RustyJoerin, photography; Kees Luchs,wood carvings celebrating trees; Oct12-Nov 7 Mosaic, an art centre is amosaic of artists, with many partsmaking a whole, 200 artists/200 smallcanvases raise funds for the educationprogram; Mila Kostic and PeterKohut, paintings.RICHMONDRichmond Art Gallery7700 Minoru Gate ✆604-247-8300www.richmondartgallery.orgmon-fri 10am-9pm sat & sun 10am-5pm. Sep 17-Nov 14 Gu Xiong,“Waterscapes”, this installation withvideo, drawings and paper boats referencesthe migration of Chineselabourers to the Fraser River for thegold rush of 1858 and the late 19th C.and the migration of Canadian missionariesto the Yangtze River region.Rufus Lin Galleryof Japanese Art415-5811 Cooney Rd ✆604-303-6330www.rufuslingallery.common-fri 10am-5pm, closed holidays.Admission free. Sep “Japanese WomenExhibition”, diverse aspects of Japanesewomen by modern Japanesepainters including Miho Ogawa, Kumi,34 PREVIEW ■ SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2010 ★ OPEN LATE ON FIRST THURSDAYS