Art Show: Savage Beauty

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Last night I headed out to Exchange Community Church, to take in an art show entitled Savage Beauty. This was not a church show, but was a reflection of Exchange’s commitment to nurturing artists living and working in the community, or sometimes just needing a place to show their work.

My interest came about because two of the featured artists. Gabrielle Funk and Athena Dorning used to work at Twist Cafe.  Which, if you’ve read much of my work, or know me at all, is one of my favourite hangout places (think of me as a caffeinated Cliff Clavin)

The show itself also included the works of two other main artists, Megan Diamond and Gillian Toothill.  It appeared that one or two other artists may have had a couple of items as well, but these four artists produced the bulk of the work.  Diamond’s work was photographic in nature, with several of the works consisting of one picture superimposed on another to give new perspectives.

Toothill’s work consisted largely of paintings and drawings.  Most of the works were of caricatures of phases, but occasionally of whole bodies.  One of the things I found interesting in the works, is that in many of the canvases, the faces, have exaggerated features particularly features such as bags under the eyes, which leads to a sense of sadness about the characters.
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I wasn’t able to take any photos of Ms. Dorning’s work, but I’ll try my best to describe it. Thematically it seems to invoke a mystical feminine sensibility. The images are bold with colours to match. Along with these were a few items of clothing that captured both the sense mentioned above along with an added sense of whimsy. Ms Morning’s presentations was completed by her arranging her works in such a way as to suggest you were being invited into her parlour to view them.

Finally, there was the work of Ms. Funk, which was the most mature of the group. One set of her paintings was called Modern Myth, that was built on ideas from a fashion designer who was using animal bones among other materials to create organic dresses. These paintings contain a great deal of detail and vibrant colours.

Along with these there were a couple of paintings that showed wildlife in conflict, but when viewed closely there are streams of small hearts being emitted. Gabrielle Funk is an artist to keep your eyes open for.
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George Beverly Shea

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I grew up in a setting where Billy Graham was a household name.  Some of the earliest movies that I saw, were movies that were put out by the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. As well I would also, on occasion, watch the Billy Graham crusades on TV.

Even as years went past, I would still try to catch some of the televised events.  Except, I never tuned in for Mr. Graham, I would always tune in for just a few minutes before the sermon.  That would be the time that George Beverly Shea would take the stage to sing.

I always enjoyed Shea’s singing.  He sang with a natural and largely unaffected manner, allowing the song lyrics to speak for themselves without a great deal of histrionics on his part.

Tonight the news came that, at the age of 104, George Beverly Shea has died and entered into his eternal rest.  R.I.P. Mr. Shea.  Well done thou good and faithful servant.

 

Book Review – A Year of Biblical Womanhood

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I recently finished reading the book “A Year of Biblical Womanhood“, by Rachel Held Evans, a young writer in the Emergent Church stream of the Christian Church who is primarily known for here blogging, although this was not her first book.  I’m an occasional reader of her blog, as it is frequently referred to by my friend and fellow Winnipegger Jamie Arpin-Ricci.

Along the way to publication Ms. Held Evans book created a little sensation when the publishers decided they wanted to exercise an inane bit of censorship and remove from the book a single use of the word vagina.  You can read a summary of the issue at Red Letter Christians.  Fortunately cooler heads prevailed and ultimately the book was published with the original reference intact.  While I found it ridiculous that such a controversy had arisen in the first place I hadn’t exactly rushed out to pick up a copy of the book as soon as it hit the stands.

Some of that has to do with where I come from.  I grew up in the Salvation Army and women in leadership seemed to be as natural and normal as could be.  Of course, later years observation and distance from that setting showed me that much of that leadership was designed to conform to the more broadly accepted gender roles in the wider community.  Some of it had to do with budget.  At the time it came out I had to limit my book buying, and some of it was simply the fact that I had too many other books I still hadn’t read.

Nonetheless, when a really cheap or perhaps free (I don’t really remember the circumstances around my making this acquisition) copy was offered for my Kindle e-reader I jumped at the chance to get a copy and am very glad that I did. Continue reading →