A View from the Atlantic Sobey Art Award - Art Gallery of Nova Scotia

Lorenzen Bowl, 1967, Stoneware, 5.5 x18.5 x 19.0 cm, Gift of Barbara Nielson, Halifax, Nova Scotia, 2004Maria Morrisa Nova Scotian Garland10on view untilJanuary 17, 2010Botanical illustration is a specialisedart form demandingboth art and science. The sixtysmall watercolours in a recentlydiscovered album of botanicaldrawings by Maria Morris revealher tentative explorations of thegenre. In her later lithographs,published with text by TitusSmith, Alexander Forrester, andGeorge Lawson, she wouldrepresent the flowers life-sizedwithout the illusory effect ofcast shadows while maintainingan aesthetically pleasing presentationon the page. In theseearly watercolours the plants arereduced to a small format pageand four of them cast shadows.Perhaps she was able to accessissues of Curtis’s BotanicalMagazine for guidance or perhapsTitus Smith recommendedagainst the shadows, when headvised her about botanicalnomenclature.During his survey of the provincesinterior in 1801 and 1802,Smith had prepared a listing ofthe flowers and trees he found.Smith’s father, a Yale graduatewho had tutored him inmathematics, theology, botany,chemistry, medicine, and languages,may have broughtPhilip Miller’s The Gardener’sDictionary with him when thefamily came to Nova Scotia asSandemanian Loyalists in 1783.About 1790, John Wentworthgave them a complete set theSpecies Plantarum of Linnaeus.In the 1830s there was littleother counsel for Maria Morris inNova Scotia. Torrey’s and Eaton’srecently published studies maynot have been available. AsaGray’s Manual of the Botany ofthe Northern American Stateswould not appear until 1847.The Flora Boreali-Americanaof 1803, based on AndreMichaux’s botanical survey ofNorth America between 1785and 1796 with illustrations byPierre-Joseph Redouté, includedQuebec, but not the Maritimes,and William Jackson Hooker’stwo, very expensive, volumeswith the same title, which didinclude Nova Scotian examplescollected by Lady Dalhousie,would not appear until 1840.Cronquist, Thorne, and theAngiosperm Phylogeny Groupwere all far in the future! Sincebotanical nomenclature haschanged considerably in recenttime, Marian Munro, Curator ofBotany for the Nova Scotia Museum,has provided the modernnames for each of the flowersrepresented.Morris probably studied flowerpainting with JE Acres in Halifaxin 1826; these lessons, plus therecent publication of DorotheaDix’s The Garland of Flora, mayhave inspired Morris to approachTitus Smith about herproject to illustrate the flora ofNova Scotia. By 1840 when Morriswas publishing her first set oflithographs, Dix had discoveredthe poor conditions suffered bythe insane in Boston and, for theremainder of her life, devotedherself to the establishment ofhumane hospitals. This sharedconcern led her to work withHugh Bell of Halifax towardthe building of Mount HopeAsylum in Dartmouth, wheretending gardens was part of thetreatment. Morris’s lithographs,in turn, inspired Clotilda Jenningsto write a series of poemsabout the “Wild Flowers of NovaScotia” that were publishedin The Provincial, or HalifaxMonthly Magazine, publishedby Mary Jane Katzmann, whoalso included an article on thewell-being of the mentally-ill inone of her last issues. Jenningslater moved to Montreal whereshe continued to write. In 1866,Katzmann, now running theProvincial Bookstore, wouldpublish the third set of MariaMorris Miller’s lithographs.The 1830s were a period ofintellectual awakening in NovaScotia. The watercolours andrelated later lithographs inthis exhibition provide a pathinto that period when JosephHowe’s public letters in theNovascotian exhorted his fellowcitizens to acquaint themselveswith other areas of the province,the Mechanics’ Institute offeredlectures on a broad spectrum ofliterary, philosophical, historical,geographical, and scientificissues, and the arts and lettersthrived.Dr. Dianne O’Neill,Associate Curator, HistoricalPrints and Drawingson view untilDecember 13, 2009Maritime Modern showcasesexamples of 1950s and 1960scontemporary ceramics fromthe Art Gallery of Nova Scotia’spermanent collection. Theexhibition features work bythree famous Canadian ceramiccouples: Krystyna Sadowskaand Konrad Sadowski, Erica andKjeld Deichmann, and Ernstand Alma Lorenzen. FollowingWorld War II the Maritimes experiencedan influx of talentedcraftspeople trained at someof Europe’s top art schools.When they arrived in Canadathey brought with them a newaesthetic sensibility based onEuropean modernism with itsstreamlined shapes, symbolicdesigns, and elegant forms.Mary E. Black, who was hiredin 1943 to organize a provincialhandicrafts program forthe Nova Scotia Departmentof Industry and Publicity,recognized the importance ofthese European influencesand encouraged the newlyfounded Handicraft Centre toteach modern pottery. This isan important point, as Blackhas sometimes been malignedfor entrenching Nova Scotia’scrafts within an idealized folktradition. However, her encouragementof the innovativework of artists like KrystynaSadowska indicates that Blackwas certainly supportive ofmodernist aesthetics. In 1951Black praised Sadowska’s craftsmanshipand original designs,writing that Nova Scotiansshould study Sadowska’s “striking”work. She went on to creditSadowska with bringing to theprovince “…techniques anddesigns hitherto unused.”In 1935 the first couple toestablish themselves in theMaritimes (and it could be saidin Canada) as contemporarystudio ceramists were KjeldDeichmann who emigratedfrom Denmark, and his wifeErica. The National Film Boardfilmed their country pottery onseveral occasions and contributedto its becoming a populartourist destination in NewBrunswick. Although small, thetwo Deichmann dishes shownin this exhibition, with simplebut elegant forms, and minimaldecoration encapsulate theScandinavian modern style sopopular in Canada during the1950s and 1960s.Krystyna Sadowska and herhusband Konrad Sadowskistudied with Norah Billington atthe Central School of Arts andCrafts in London, England. In1949 they moved to Halifax toteach at the Handcraft Centreafter seeing a Polish travel bookentitled Pine-Scented Canada.Their work achieved considerableacclaim. The tablewareshown in this exhibition featuresfanciful maritime imageryand was made at the Sadowskis’Indian Harbour studio, whichthey kept as a summer retreatafter they moved to Toronto in1953.Ernst and Alma Lorenzen werepioneers in Nova Scotia studiopottery, although they openedtheir first pottery studio in 1946in New Brunswick. The Lorenzenshave a deep connectionto the Shaw Ceramic Gallery,as it was Lloyd Shaw, the wellknownowner of the brickworksin Lantz, Nova Scotia, who readabout the Lorenzens in a newspaperarticle and invited themto move near his Lantz factory,where he built them a houseand adjoining studio with aninterest-free mortgage. Ernst’sskill with wheel work, whichhe gained while studying inhis native Denmark, and Alma’swith sculpting, modelling, andsurface decoration allowedthem to create a range of functionalobjects from bowls tomushrooms used as study toolsby mycologists. The Lorenzensdeveloped their own array ofglazes using local minerals andwere dedicated to using NovaScotia clay.Each of the couples in theexhibition contributed greatlyto the craft community of theMaritimes, and helped establishthis region as a leader incontemporary ceramics.Dr. Sandra Alfoldy,Associate Curator of Fine CraftART GALLERY OF NOVA SCOTIA FALL JOURNAL 2009 ART GALLERY OF NOVA SCOTIA FALL JOURNAL 2009 11