The Sweetest Little Thing is back in person at the Owens Art Gallery for Valentine’s Day
Valentine’s Day is coming up next week, which in Sackville means it’s time for another edition of The Sweetest Little Thing, a fundraising event led by Struts Gallery and the Owens Art Gallery. The event has been happening since 1999, and features an art auction with donated works from artists from Sackville and beyond.
For the past two years, the Sweetest Little Thing has been virtual, but this year the event returns to an in-person gathering at the Owens Art Gallery, and a physical exhibition of the works up for auction at the gallery.
Hear Owens director-curator Emily Falvey talking about The Sweetest Little Thing on Tantramar Report:
Falvey says that in addition to being an important fundraiser for the Owens and Struts, The Sweetest Little Thing is also a community event, and, “a time to celebrate the artists who have contributed to our programming.”
For the past two years, the event was a virtual variety show, which Falvey says was what was needed at the time. “I know that there were a lot of people in particular, in 2021, who really appreciated that because we weren’t able to be together,” says Falvey. “We’ve worked really hard to keep that sense of community connection alive during the pandemic.… Continue
Local artist channels Alex Colville to re-create frame for original painting in his style
Local artist Robert Lyon started noticing and admiring the work of Alex Colville as a kid leafing through art books. These days he’s paying very close attention to Colville’s style and technique, but not so much when it comes to painting. Instead, Lyon has been interested in how Colville created the frames that surround his paintings. Lyon was commissioned by the Owens Art Gallery to re-create a frame for a Colville painting that has been missing its artist-created frame since sometime in the 1980s.
Emily Falvey says the Owens originally borrowed Alex Colville’s painting Nude and Dummy from the New Brunswick Museum for an exhibition that opens October 29 called Room for One. “When it came from the museum, it was in a frame that was added later,” says Falvey. “People don’t often think about preserving the frame on a work, but when it’s made by the artist, it’s very important.”
When they saw the non-original frame, Falvey and Owens conservator Jane Tisdale wondered if they could replace it with a frame that replicated one Colville would have made himself. Tisdale thought of local artist Robert Lyon for the job. “She knew he was an artist and that he made his own frames,” says Falvey, “and she thought that was a really nice parallel.”… Continue
Calling all Duck Decoy Paint Portraits: time to migrate home
As the Owens Art Gallery gets ready to show a retrospective of Sackville-based artist John Murchie’s work in January, they are putting out a call for help. The gallery is hoping to round up and reunite Murchies’ series of nearly 100 works known as Duck Decoy Paint Portraits.
Murchie started the series in 1998, says Owens director/curator Emily Falvey. “I’m not sure if he’s finished it yet,” she says. “He’s still making them.”
Falvey is excited to be putting together the Murchie retrospective for January. “Not that many people have seen his work because he’s very quiet about it,” says Falvey. “We’re really excited to finally have this retrospective show because he’s been making art for 50 plus years. So it’s gonna be good.”
All Duck Decoy Paint Portraits are “more or less the same,” says Falvey, with the same bright yellow colour and sculptural duck decoy silhouettes made from dried paint. The works stand alone, but are also part of a larger series concept. “The idea was that he would make these paintings and sort of put them out into the world. And then, at a time in the future, he would try to bring them all back together as a sort of a way to complete the work,” says Falvey. “So we’re trying to do that, to see how many we can get back.”… Continue
On at the Owens: student works from past and present, plus an impressive hanging of the historic founding collection
This weekend at the Owen’s Art Gallery viewers will have the chance to see new works by graduating fine arts students, and also a number of works created by faculty and students from the early years of the art department at the school. The latter collection features copies of the Owens Art Institute collection, which became the core collection of the new Owens Art Gallery in 1893.
“The Owens exists because a collection that was formed by the estate of John Owen moved from Saint John to Mount Allison in the late 19th century,” says gallery director Emily Falvey.
The collection of 388 pictures, 32 plaster casts, and a small library of art books is “one of the oldest of its kind in Canada,” says Falvey. “And it was used originally to teach students learning Fine Arts in the Mount Allison Ladies College.”
Owens preparator Roxie Ibbitson haș drawn from the collection to put together the Salon Hanging, which opens Saturday May 14 at the Owens.
“The Salon Hanging is basically floor to ceiling hanging of over 100 works from the core collection that Roxy [Ibbitson] does in the high wall gallery. So it’s quite impressive,” says Falvey. “It’s supported by another exhibition [School Effects] that has some historical documentation of the collection hanging in Saint John, but also paintings that students made from the works,” says Falvey.… Continue
Tantramar Report Year In Review: Sackville arts
We are joined by Owens Art Gallery director Emily Falvey and Struts Gallery director Paul Henderson for a conversation about the arts scene in Sackville and New Brunswick, touching on the impacts of the pandemic, and also New Brunswick’s low profile in the arts, and what it means for artists and audiences.… Continue