The Confederation Centre Art Gallery starts its fall programming this month with two new exhibitions, … and other stories: Troy Little, Charmaine Wheatley, Seth, Marc Gallant and Robert Harris and The Life and Art of a Country Painter: Anthony Flower (1792-1875).
On view from September 9 to December 2, … and other stories explores the art of the graphic novel and book illustrations with works by Troy Little, Charmaine Wheatley, Seth, Marc Gallant and Robert Harris.
The original artwork for two chapters of Island artist Troy Little’s serialized graphic novel Chiaroscuro is included in the exhibition. Little’s main character Steven Patch is an unemployed artist with a single blank canvas, who lives the introspective, angst-ridden life of an average 20-something. The novel will be released internationally in mid-October by San Diego-based IDW Publishing.
Watercolour studies and “diary” notations created by artist-in-residence Chairmaine Wheatley this summer are exhibited as a work in progress, as well as her first published comic book Beau Fleuve, The Heart of North America. During her residency at the PEI National Park, she interacted with the public and drew her impressions of Island life, which will be developed into a comic book of small and intimate stories of the everyday.
The exhibition also features More Fun with Dick and Jane (Penguin Books, 1986) by the late Marc Gallant, an Island environmental and heritage activist, designer, photographer and storyteller. Gallant updated the popular Dick and Jane children’s reading instruction books, written by American Zerna Sharp and published from the 1930s to the 1970s.
Five illustrations by Ontario-based artist Seth are included in the exhibition. An illustrator and graphic novelist, Seth edited, illustrated and designed Bannock, Beans and Black Tea, a book based on his father’s stories of growing up on PEI during the Depression.
In 1900, renowned Island portrait painter Robert Harris illustrated A semi-detached house… and other stories by John Try-Davies. Both were founding members of Montreal’s Pen and Pencil Club in 1890, which included many prominent Canadian writers, painters and musicians. On display are many of Harris’ original illustrations and copies of the original book.
A video interview with Little and Wheatley is included in the exhibition, and a book launch and book signing for Little’s Chiaroscuro will take place in mid-October. The exhibition is curated by curator Ihor Holubizky.
Curated by Laurie Glenn Norris, of the Beaverbrook Art Gallery, The Life and Art of a Country Painter: Anthony Flower (1792-1875) will be on display from September 23 to November 2.
Born in London, England, Flower (1792-1875) lived and worked in the province of New Brunswick for most of his life. He was a farmer who had a lifelong passion for art and who painted until his death at the age of 83. In his paintings, he recorded the life that he saw around him in rural Queens County, N.B., and events and scenes described in newspapers of the day. He was especially fond of the pictures he saw in the Illustrated London News, an early newspaper, as well as the prints of an artist named William Bartlett.
Other exhibitions on view are Speaking of Islands: Jean-Yves Vigneau, until September 21; Common Threads, until September 23; Annie Pootoogook, until October 7; and Yousuf Karsh: Industrial Images, until November 25.
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Media contact: Anna MacDonald, Publicist, confederationcentre.com, (902) 628-6135, www.confederationcentre.com