For Families - Kitchener-Waterloo Art Gallery

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DEC 9, 2011 TO FEB 3, 2012The Gallery would like to thank its sponsors and donors fortheir support. Your generosity ensures that great things cancontinue to happen at KW|AG.DIRECTOR’S CIRCLEMichael Barnstijn & LouiseMacCallumMurray & Terry Ann GambleBruce GordonRandall Howard & Judy McMullanWinifred ShantzJudith Stephens-Wells & Ross WellsCURATOR’S CIRCLEBob and Judy AstleyCarmen and James AustinMarina BarnstijnHermann and Anna BeckerDouglas and Aggie BeynonJim and Lorna BlairAnne BrydonManfred and Penny ConradRon Craigen and Margaret McCreeryCarl M. DareSandra and Graham DareRon and Betsy EydtRoger and Cathy FarwellDr. Arnold and Mrs. Mary AnnFlemingJoseph and Xiaopu FungLori and Peter GovePeggy JarvieDoug and Lynne KirtonBryce and Kelly KraekerHartman and Brenda KrugDr. Desta LeavineRon and Shirley LeveneShirley MadillJamie and Renée MartinFred and Susan MatherSteve MenichTom and Jocelyn MennillThomas and Elizabeth MotzCaroline Oliver and Jon FearDavid Paleczny and Mary ReynoldsJohn A. and Joyce PollockDwayne Priestman and Jeannie BoyesKenneth and Norah RaeDave and Sue ReibelPaul and Rita RossRob SchlegelMark and Kris SchumacherMr. Bill SeegmillerJim and Valerie StinsonTim and Carol SullivanJim and Erika TubbRick and Annemarie WeissNEW & RENEWED DONORSBob and Judy AstleyMarina BarnstijnAlf Bogusky and Ann PappertMary and Ted BroughJane Buyers and Don DruickIrene CamplingDr. Richard ChristyManfred and Penny ConradScot DaltonSandra and Graham DareDr. Shah and Donnita DeenElizabeth DellMargaret DicksonCathy and Roger FarwellMurray and Terry Ann GambleWill Gorlitz and Lesley HartleyBarbara and Jim HeldmannIvan and Carol HurlbutJ. Neil and Marilyn JonesJohn and Elizabeth KerrThe Kitchener and WaterlooCommunity Foundation - TheJim and Sandy Beingessner andFamily FundTheron and Joy KramerHartman and Brenda KrugJoyce MacCallumManulife FinancialSusan and Fred MatherIan McLeanThomas and Elizabeth MotzMarie and Frank NowakMary and Warren OberCaroline Oliver and Jon FearDavid Paleczny and Mary ReynoldsMary PappertGeorge and Dora PepallBill PooleRand Family FundEd and Brenda SchleimerHarold and Violet SeegmillerTricia Siemens and Chuck ErionAlbert and Marion SmithEdward and Mary SopkoDwight and Kathryn StorringMarilyn TruemnerAinslie WattDavid J. WestfallCameron YuleIMAGE: Rose Kallal, Green Tunnel, 1999, photography, 27 x 35 cm. Kitchener-Waterloo Art Gallery, Gift of the artist, 2000
IT’S OKAY NOT TO GET ITIn a 1965 performance, ‘How to Explain Pictures to a Dead Hare’, the German artistJoseph Beuys, his head covered in honey, cradled a dead hare lovingly in his arms forthree hours, walking it around, showing and explaining his drawings to the animal in aninaudible whisper. For Beuys the hare was symbolic of birth. The pictures surroundingBeuys and the hare were impossible to see all at once. This amusing yet profoundperformance is not so much about Beuys and a hare as it is about us, how we physicallyfind ourselves in the world and how we relate to it. The problem of understanding andexplaining is relevant to everyone. Beuys claimed he preferred to explain pictures toa dead hare because to him, the animal comprehends more than some human beingswho may bring a heavy dose of intellectualism to tasks and deaden the creative impulse.Human thinking can be lively.When encountering contemporary art, whether a painting, installation, video, orphotograph, visitors’ responses vary depending on each individual’s perception of whatis seen and experienced. Some like, others hate; there is puzzlement and indifference.Many want immediacy. In an attempt to understand a work of art, some becomefrustrated that they just don’t get it.Contemporary art is a means to facilitate communication visually about the world welive in, raising awareness of the issues prevalent in today’s civilization.Here are my pointers for engaging with contemporary art.Leave it behind. Leave behind any preconceived notions you have about what youthink art should be before you enter the exhibition space. Contemporary art is abouttoday. Enter in the present.Give it time. Stay with the work for awhile, look at it carefully. What are you looking at?What are the materials? Think about it. Leave it alone for awhile, look at something else,come back and look at it again. Read about it. Galleries often have didactics, labels andpamphlets. Think about what it means to you.Don’t give up. Stay with it and don’t stop looking at art even if one show does not rockyour world. Keep up the visual exercise just as you would physical exercise.Think of it as a journey rather than destination. It is not the “getting it” that mattersin the end. Rather it is the journey of discovery. Understanding contemporary art is howwe also find ourselves in this changing world and our relationship to it.Shirley MadillExecutive Director
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