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Robert Amos: Waterfront attracts diverse mix of artists

On a recent Saturday morning, I took a walk along the Inner Harbour.
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Happiness, painting on canvas by Daciana Dao.

robertamos.jpgOn a recent Saturday morning, I took a walk along the Inner Harbour. My first stop was Winchester Modern, where some of their abstract paintings were matched with a half-dozen carefully chosen chairs and tables, mostly from the collection of Allan Collier.

This is meant to remind us of the Abstraction at Home exhibition at Eaton’s department store in 1955, which introduced the good burghers of Toronto to the artists who became Painters Eleven. By now the Winchester artists (John Meredith, Rita Letendre, William Perehudoff) are old masters, and the show is retro rather than avant garde. With the passage of time and growth of reputations, these artworks have become surprisingly expensive.

winchestergalleriesltd.com

 

Why do some artifacts cost more than others? I suppose a serious art critic wouldn’t cross the street to see what’s for sale on the Causeway, but that’s where the people are.

I continue to be an admirer of Marty Machacek, whose warped and loopy renderings of Victoria landmarks demonstrate his considerable skill in drawing. Machacek’s wife, Dana, was minding the store, selling block-mounted views of Craigdarroch, the Empress and a Harbour Air plane while he was at home trying to catch up on his latest commissioned work.

By regulation, he’s only allowed to be away from his pitch on the waterfront for a few hours daily, and he’s a bit of a workaholic. Dana has already bought tickets to fly away with him at the end of the season, and wonders if she can trick him into leaving his art supplies at home.

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A little further along the waterfront, I was hailed by Dean Lewis, whose caricatures are a staple of the walk-by tourist trade. Gregarious, as all Causeway artists must be, he engaged me in a discussion of the artistic merits of the horse chestnut trees on Cook Street.

He now lives in James Bay, to be close to the Causeway, as does Kathleen Lynch. Lynch’s lightly brushed watercolours — in print form — have been sufficiently popular to keep her at her post all summer long, since 1999. Though she is now branching out into oil paint, she doesn’t paint on the spot. So mostly she just sits.

 

On the dock at Ship Point, a gauntlet of tents springs up each Saturday and Sunday. Bracketed by a few food stands and a couple of chair-massage practitioners, you’ll find evidence of people’s insatiable urge to adorn themselves — tables and tables of earrings, pendants and scarves.

Why do people gather to gawk at pet memorial stones made from broken glass (at the booth titled Shattered and In Pane) when a woman sits at the next table, dignified and ignored, with her fine stone carvings from Zimbabwe? Could it be that her prices are too low to command respect? At the other end of the row, Debbie Hunt, of noble Kwakwaka’wakw lineage, was patiently engraving silver with timeless designs.

debbiehuntdesigns.ca

 

Crossing the street, I strolled into the Fairmont Empress and up the marble staircase to meet Daciana Dao. Halfway through her six-month stint, Dao has made herself right at home, filling a small shop with things to lure passersby.

On the walls are patterned paintings large and small. Tables are set with hand-painted seashells, baskets brimming with knitted baby hats and original puzzle cubes. In this, her working studio, an atmosphere of industry prevails.

Dao has a natural talent with colour and line, and an eclectic education feeds her abundant creativity. Born in Brasov, Transylvania, in 1967, she studied mural painting, theology and social work, leading to a master’s degree in “semiotics and psychology of sign and symbols,” and a degree in fine art in Cluj Napoca, Romania.

Since coming to Canada in 2000, she has had considerable success in Sidney art shows. Her style reminded me of the legendary Austrian artist Friedrich Hundertwasser, and she happily reminisced about meeting him in her native Romania. Clearly, they shared the same abundant fount of inspiration, and that’s not a bad thing. She has the knack and, for the next few months, an impressive location to display it.

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But the competition is immense. Everywhere one looks, another giant public art gathering is vying for your attention. Today, I’ll be at the 10th annual Bowker Creek Brush Up, one of 32 Oak Bay artists set up in the pleasant riverside park from 11 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. to meet the people and paint a bit.

 

Opening throughout the town on the evening of Thursday, Aug. 14 is the eighth annual Integrate Arts Festival, an event linking just about every gallery in Victoria. Among the special events that night is the opening of Perpetual Salish, a selection of work from the Salish Weave Collection, at the University of Victoria’s Legacy Gallery, 630 Yates St. (legacy.uvic.ca). The festival, which is free and includes a shuttle bus and bike tour, continues Aug. 15 and 16. For information visit integratearts.ca

 

Also on Thursday, Aug. 14, is a kimono styling demonstration, presented at the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria by Hitomi Harama, curator of one of the two kimono exhibits currently at the gallery (aggv.ca). And while you are at the gallery, pick up your tickets for the 61st annual House Tour, being held this year on Sept. 7. The house tour — as old as the gallery — is certainly the original and longest-running arts event in Victoria.

 

Also long-running is Fired Up!, the ceramic extravaganza held in late May for the past 30 years in the community hall in Metchosin. Sounds like a folksy local event, yet Fired Up’s anniversary is the subject of a celebratory exhibition at the prestigious Bancroft-Snell Gallery in London, Ont. The artists who work here really are the best!