Culture and the Critic's Role / Frye Festival

  

Northrup Frye (July 14, 1912 - January 23, 1991) was a Canadian literary critic and literary theorist, considered one of the most influential of the 20th century. 

For an overview of his career, go to:

http://www.frye.ca/content/eng/northrop-frye  

The Frye Festival is Canada's only bilingual international literary festival and the largest literary event in Atlantic Canada.

Last Friday evening my husband and I attended a reception for U of Toronto graduates followed by a panel discussion during the Frye Festival of the role of the literary critic in contemporary culture. The discussion was titled "Culture and the Critic: How the age of media affects the role of the critic today."

Participants were John Doyle, writer for the Globe and Mail, author Terry Fallis, CBC host, producer and author Nora Young, along with novelist and television journalist David Gilmour. The discussion was lively and entertaining as well as insightful.

The panel has recognized a shift in the way cultural criticism is delivered and received in the digital age. Critics may not be totally enthusiastic about a literary, musical or artistic production, but they attempt to express a reasoned opinion. They have plenty of feedback from their audiences via the internet from those who agree and those who disagree with them.

Some of the comments were as follows:

Should the critic be expected to act as a publicist? Generally, no.The critic's loyalty is to the readership of his/her publication. Will they benefit from or enjoy the offering under consideration? (John Doyle)

The danger in being a critic for too long is that one has an uncontested arena for his/her opinions and the critic can become lost in self-importance. (David Gilmour contributed these thoughts.)

Critics are often phrase-makers, where exaggeration sounds good in the text, but the comments may be hurtful to the author/ artist / creator.

The digital age has allowed for immediate dialog with a critic's readers. It is easier to stay in touch and write criticism where the audience is engaged in collaborative filtering. (I have paraphrased John Doyle's comments here.)

The critic's role is to curate, to inform and to influence, to teach us how to assess so that we may make informed choices. (Terry Fallis added this.)

The critic's role is to articulate what is good and what is important, rather than to negate and suppress.

Northrup Frye said this, although I have paraphrased it somewhat. David contributed this quotation.

John added that the digital age creates a broad band of criticism.

Nora Young described her reticence to read the reviews and the criticism of her recently published book The Virtual Self: How Our Lives are Altering the World Around Us. 

I bought a copy of Nora's book and she kindly autographed it for me. We had a conversation about distance education and particularly the AIB Low Residency MFA program. I have been reading her book and it is very interesting how people become caught up in tracking the details of their lives on-line and playing with the data. Nora explores the implications of all of this data being deposited in cyberspace. There are ways we can utilize it to better our lives, or we can overlook the ways that other people can exploit it. I haven't finished it yet, but it is well worth a careful read!

Plexi Project

Vision 9  Hardboard and carved Plexiglass 12" x 24".

One of the suggestions from my critiques during the January Residency at AIB was to experiment with Plexiglass. I picked up a few scraps last week and began to try painting and carving them. The Dremel tool with a cutting bit creates etched lines without too much difficulty. I like the way the light catches the grooves and casts some interesting shadows. I'm not sure about the subject matter. The waterfall could be simplified further. The two panels are not attached together yet, so I can make a few changes if I want to.

Vision 9 - Stage 1 Hardboard panel in progress.

I began with the idea of creating a design for a wall mural. Early on, I realized that I don't have the technical skills necessary to create a 3-D wall relief more than 25' wide. However, it is an interesting exercise and I am glad that I tried it. The transition from Photoshop design to a physical work was challenging. I found that I fell back on my past painting approaches when faced with a frustrating problem. I had to put the Photoshop enlargement away in order to simplify the image further. Originally I had planned for three panels. I had cut out and painted a partial panel of plants for the foreground which just did not add anything to the piece in the final analysis.


The Plexiglass needs a space between it and the hardboard, so I picked up some mirror fasteners at the hardware store. I think I can create a space by screwing them two-deep to the hardboard. I plan to drill holes in the Plexiglass for the screws so I can install it and remove it later to clean it. The Plexi picks up all kinds of fluff and dust once it is charged with static electricity. This is a disadvantage. The plus side is that it is readily available, lightweight and easy to use.


My next project may be an abstract design using a board and a carved Plexi panel. I have to do some serious thinking about the direction I want to take with my work. There are a number of contemporary artists who work with abstraction and representation, so it is not an impossible idea. I want to find some way to reference nature in a contemporary way which will seem relevant and not be seen as a throwback to past ideas of romanticism and the sublime. The waterfall in Vision 9 is verging on this, so I think the piece needs more development.

Ellsworth Kelly's Works at the MFA Boston

Ellsworth Kelly, Curve XXI (1978-80) San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.
The New York Times. November 27, 2011

Ellsworth Kelly’s wood sculptures, recently on display at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts[1], seem exceptional in their elegance and simplicity. The subtle curves, the patterns in natural wood grains and the transparency of cast shadows evoke calm contemplation in the viewer. It seems as if one is being drawn towards an ideal monolith or relief, where the interplay of shadow and shape creates a refined and aesthetic ambiguity. Visiting this extraordinary exhibition of nineteen of Kelly’s thirty wood sculptures is like finding « . . .some profound silence amid the hubbub of daily urban life. . .”[2]

Although the wood sculptures have impressed me as the highlight of Ellsworth Kelly’s artistic range, he is known primarily for his other works. Sebastian Smee comments,” Most people associate his mature work with flat, carefully shaped planes of rich, unmodulated color, each plane placed subtly in relation to another. His “Blue Green Orange Yellow Red” was recently acquired by the MFA and now graces a handsome gallery in the Linde Family Wing.”[3] 

What interests me about this painting is Kelly’s use of panels and his skillful handling of pure color. From my own experience as an artist, I know how challenging it can be to work with vivid hues placed side by side, where they can vie for the viewer’s attention in an unpleasant visual cacophony of intensity. Kelly’s huge piece is refreshing to look at, showing us the joyful expanse of a simplified spectrum.

Ellsworth Kelly, Blue Green Yellow Orange Red, 1968.
Boston Museum of Fine Arts. Personal Photo.

After contemplating Kelly's works, I feel the need to simplify and streamline the shapes I am working with. The last few panels I have been working on have become very busy, with layers of dripping paint and curling lines, almost 'baroque' as my mentor has commented.

---

[1]      Ellsworth Kelly: Wood Sculpture. Foster Gallery 158. Boston Museum of Fine

           Arts, September 18, 2011- March 4, 2012

[2]      Plagens, Peter. “Beautiful, Quiet and Spare.” The Wall Street Journal: Arts and

           Entertainment. October 6, 2011. Web. 29 Feb. 2012.

[3]      Smee, Sebastian. “Ellsworth Kelly on Boston.” Culture Desk. Boston Globe.

          September 23, 2010. Web. 1 March 2012. <http://www.boston.com/>

          Five Panels: Blue Green Yellow Orange Red, gift from the Bank of America,

          September, 2010.

Les Richesses des Terres Humides / Riches of the Wetlands, watercolors

Le coucher du soleil, Memramcook Sunset watercolor 22" x 40" 2011

Guests at the opening.

"I know where this is!"

Saturday, February 4 was the last opening for Les Richesses des Terres Humides, my series of watercolors of waterways and marshes in southeastern New Brunswick, Canada. The show has travelled to three other venues in New Brunswick since July, 2011, in conjunction with the Regard Parallèle program of the Conseil provincial des sociétés culturelles. The project began with the controversial Restoration Project of the Petitcodiac River and expanded to include other wetlands. Painted on location and in the studio between July 2009 and February 2011, the series has been well-received by the local media and the public around the province. The exhibition is open until March 14 at the Salon Hélène Grant-Guerrette gallery in the Centre Communautaire Samuel de Champlain, Saint John, New Brunswick.

When the weather improves I plan to return to sketching outdoors. However, the focus of my work has changed from depicting a specific scene to more simplified and evocative forms. Perhaps I will develop new ways to combine watercolor, acrylic, and textural materials while sketching.