Directed and produced by Annette Mangaard
General Idea Films Inc
48:00 min. 2008 • closed captioned
Available on DVD and VHS
It’s 1969, the summer of love. In Toronto, three young Canadian artists come together to form a collective called GENERAL IDEA. They change their names and adopt new personas to become Jorge Zontal, AA Bronson and Felix Partz.
They are gay and irreverent, and they launch “The Miss General Idea Pageant” to investigate the nature of glamour and celebrity. Fully utilizing their ironic camp sensibility, the trio present themselves as “Art Stars.” They publish an art magazine called FILE, for which they gain -notoriety and prompt a lawsuit from LIFE magazine for “simulation of LIFE.” It isn’t until three years later that Andy Warhol publishes the like-minded INTERVIEW.
GENERAL IDEA achieves celebrity status in Europe in the 1970s. Treated like rock stars, they exhibit in major museums in Amsterdam, Berlin and Paris and are invited to make video-art for Dutch television.
The 1980s bring the first labeled cases of AIDS. GENERAL IDEA responds by making art that addresses the plague virus. In an unforgettable coup, it appropriates the well-known “LOVE” painting by Robert Indiana and replaces those four letters with AIDS, for the now world-famous logo. GENERAL IDEA continues to tour Europe and North America with massive political installation pieces that chronicle the devastating spread of the disease and its impact on their community, including an early end to the lives of two members of GENERAL IDEA.
AA Bronson, the sole survivor of GENERAL IDEA, narrates this documentary lending personal relevancy to a poignant story of art and sexual politics. GENERAL IDEA: Art, AIDS and the fin de siècle is a tale of love, fame, overwhelming loss and, ultimately, of renewal.
Subject(s): Artists–GENERAL IDEA, Gay, Health–AIDS, Installation art, Media studies, Public art, SexualityGeorge Murray
Part of The Writing Life
series
Michael Glassbourg
TickleScratch Productions
24 min. 2004
Also available on DVD
Raised in rural Ontario, George Murray has made a name for himself in Canada and the United States. In the last few years, at what might be seen as breakneck speed, George has generated three acclaimed books of poetry—Carousel (2000), The Cottage Builder's Letter (2001), and his powerful new book of poems, The Hunter (2003). He shares his work in the diverse settings of his study, a raucous Toronto bar and a quiet café in Guelph.
Subject(s): Artists–George Murray, Literature, Poetry/Performance
Alex Geng
7:30 min. 2002
Also available on DVD
As the lens captures the ephemeral essence of two souls lost in a transparent world, Ghostworld examines the choreographic nature of dance, sound and film itself. This dance film is choreographed and performed by Siôned Watkins and Sarah Williams. Michael Ondaatje calls this "wonderful dance and wonderful film."
Subject: Artists–Siôned Watkins, Artists–Sarah Williams , Dance
See Camilla Gibb (from The Writing Life series)
See Gretta Gibney (from The Artist's Life series)
GiiahlGalang: The State of the Haida Language
Part of the Ravens and Eagles:
Haida Art series
Jeff Bear/Marianne Jones
Ravens and Eagles Productions
24 min. 2003
Pre-contact, the Haida language flourished with as many different dialects as there were villages. Today, few fluent speakers remain. Some worry that the Haida people stand to lose a unique worldview that is embodied in their indigenous tongue. Diane Brown, coordinator of the Skidegate Haida Immersion Program, points out that one of the biggest challenges is a lack of interest on the part of young people, despite the fact that through her program they have the rare opportunity to study with fluent elders. Elementary school teachers try to remedy a waning interest in the Haida language by making it part of everyday lessons, bringing elders into the class to assist in teaching songs and prayer.
Subject(s): Community dynamics, Indigenous people–Haida, Language
See Candida Girling (from The Artist's Life series)
See Douglas Glover (from The Writing Life series)
See Sarah Jane Gorlitz (from The Artist's Life series)
Gretta Gibney
Part of The Artist's Life
series
Michael Glassbourg
TickleScratch Productions
24 min. 2004
Also available on DVD
Gretta Gibney is a Toronto portrait and collage artist who focuses her work on the effects of mass media. She is fascinated that even with thousands of images flashing before our eyes, we are still able to retain certain images and discard others. She relates these images back to us, freeze-framing them and providing another way to ponder their meaning. One way she does this is by isolating the peripheries and backgrounds in contemporary fashion magazines and bringing those elements into the foreground.
At work on portraits in her studio and attending a gallery opening of her paintings, she discusses the loneliness of an artist's routine, the stigma attached to painters working from photos, and her use of collage to develop ideas for paintings. One of the finest portrait artists working today, she shares her source material, detail sketches and paintings-in-progress.
Subject(s): Artists–Gretta Gibney, Painting, Women–artists
Guy Vanderhaeghe
Part of The Writing Life
series
Michael Glassbourg
TickleScratch Productions
24 min. 2004
Also available on DVD
Recent winner of CBC's Canada Reads contest and twice recipient of the Governor General's Literary Award for Fiction, Guy Vanderhaeghe lives in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. His novels, The Last Crossing and The Englishman's Boy, have both been international bestsellers. With intelligence, passion and self-deprecating wit, Vanderhaeghe explains his writing process in the Spartan surrounds of his office.
Subject(s): Literature, Saskatchewan
Barb Cranmer/Cari Green
Nimpkish Wind Productions
47 min. 2001
Also available on DVD
While art forms such as carved masks depicting mythic beings by Northwest coast native people have received worldwide recognition, little is known about Chilkat or Northern Geometric weaving also practiced traditionally by these people. Although the art form is thousands of years old, today there are only 15 weavers alive who practice it. Award-winning `Namgis filmmaker Barb Cranmer and producer Cari Green travelled to Alert Bay, British Columbia, the Yukon and Alaska to document the work of these six weavers.
Gwishalaayt, which in the Tsimshian language means The Spirit Wraps Around You, follows the work of these weavers and presents their woven regalia in cultural context at potlatches and other ceremonies. The weavers share their knowledge and personal experience of practicing an art form that has become a way of life for them, while addressing some of the misconceptions about the weaving that were presented by those who have written about it in the past.
Subject(s): Artists–Donna Cranmer, Artists–Ernestine Hanlon-Abel, Artists–Clarissa Hudson, Artists–Suzi Williams, Artists–Ann Smith, Artists–William White, Crafts, Indigenous people–West Coast, Weaving, Women–Artists
Haida Jewelers
Part of the Ravens and Eagles:
Haida Art series
Jeff Bear/Marianne Jones
Ravens and Eagles Productions
24 min. 2003
Carmen Goertzen and Frank Paulson are two contemporary carvers who specialize in silver and gold. Both are motivated to pursue jewelry making by a desire for independence. They discuss their own processes and inspirations, how Haida jewelry fits into the larger tradition of Haida art, and in a highly competitive marketplace, the need to maintain a profile with the city's galleries and private collectors.
Subject(s): Artists–Carmen Goertzen, Artists–Frank Paulson, Indigenous people–Haida
See Noel Harding (from The Artist's Life series)
Harold Klunder
Part of The Artist's Life
series
Michael Glassbourg
TickleScratch Productions
24 min. 2004
Also available on DVD
"Klunder makes paintings that are symphonies,
great masterworks of perfectly weighted color and form."
– National
Post
"Klunder's colour is unlike
anybody else's. What rushings of unashamed, full-throated hue are here set free!
And the leaner and more reduced the paintings become…the more the colour
becomes substance, and action, and presence all on its own."
–Globe and
Mail
Harold Klunder is one of Canada's most critically acclaimed artists. Elected to the Royal Canadian Academy in 1983, this pre-eminent artist teaches and lectures at universities and art schools across Canada, the U.S. and Southeast Asia.
At work in his studios in Montreal, Flesherton, Ontario and Pouch Cove, Newfoundland, this spellbinding speaker demonstrates his loose technique—working on the floor and mixing paint quite freely. He defines himself as an intuitive and very physical painter and discusses his lack of concern for the technical side of art.
Subject(s): Artists–Harold Klunder, Painting
Holly Farrell
Part of The Artist's Life
series
Michael Glassbourg
TickleScratch Productions
24 min. 2003
Born in North Bay, Ontario, Holly Farrell now lives in Toronto. She is a self-taught artist who burst onto the scene in 1995. Her work, which is mostly still life, has a familiar and universal appeal. She has won several awards and has had high acclaim from art critics.
Holly demonstrates her process step by step. Reminiscent of the diner where she grew up, her succinct and realistic paintings of common everyday items create an odd sense of déjà vu.
Subject(s): Artists–Holly Farrell, Painting, Women–artists
Ian Lazarus
Part of The Artist's Life
series
Michael Glassbourg
TickleScratch Productions
24 min. 2004
Also available on DVD
Ian Lazarus, a Toronto artist, started his career carving soapstone in the early 70s. As a young artist he travelled extensively, learning to carve marble in Mexico, stone in Greece and other materials in California, Italy and Canada.
He discusses his decision to move away from sculpture into more large-scale work—including a Land art project with artist Badanna Zack called Serpentine Mounds, a 300-foot-long installation at the Toronto Zoo composed of obsolete cars, earth and ground cover. Much of his current work involves taking the remnants of technology and burying them as though they were overgrown by time. On site at Serpentine Mounds and at Pop Can Corridor, another co-creation with Zack, he explains the political statements he's making with his "future fossils."
Subject(s): Artists–Ian Lazarus, Installation art, Sculpture
In Our Blood
Part of the Ravens and Eagles:
Haida Art series
Jeff Bear/Marianne Jones
Ravens and Eagles Productions
24 min. 2003
Geoff Green, Tony Green and Eric Olson are brothers who share a passion for art. Geoff is a student of design and would one day like to teach. Tony carves both wood and metal and paints, but his specialty is pencil drawing. Eric, the youngest, was motivated by his brothers and only recently began to carve. The three lived away from Haida Gwaii throughout their childhood but their mother Roberta Olsen, determined to preserve their cultural roots, raised them in Haida ways. They discuss their connection to their own work and the inspiration they receive from their culture, their traditional home and one another.
Subject(s): Artists–Geoff Green, Artists–Tony Green, Artists–Eric Olson, Indigenous people–Haida, Sculpture
John Thomson/ Sharon Bliss
Metro Productions
55 min. 2006
Also available on DVD
Westminster Abbey is a Benedictine monastery east of Vancouver. Like many monasteries, its walls are adorned with religious art. Reproductions of Fra Lippa, Piero della Francesca and other Renaissance artists are prominently displayed. But there's something different about this monastery. In addition to the reproductions, there are original, contemporary artworks created not by artist-priests of the 16th century, but by one of their own, William Harold Massey, or Father Dunstan by his religious name, now 79 years old.
In the Footsteps of Michelangelo follows a day in the life of Father Dunstan. His is a monk's existence—teaching, praying and reverence. At the centre of it all is his creation of "The Celestial Banquet," a huge fresco that will occupy one wall of the communal dining room. Representational yet stylized, it depicts The Last Supper in heaven. It will likely be Dunstan's last work, the crown jewel in a portfolio of murals, frescoes and sculptures which will remain in the abbey long after he's gone. It will be his Sistine Chapel.
This touching documentary is an intimate portrait of a priest who has devoted six decades of his life to God. Along the way, he offers frank insight into the monastic life, as well as faith, art and the relationship between the two.
Subject(s): Artists–Father Dunstan Massey, Painting, Religious studies
His contributions to theatre are discussed by leading Canadian stage artists and critics, including Urjo Kareda, Eric Peterson, John Gray, Martha Henry, Christopher Newton, John Murrell, Morris Panych, Nicola Cavendish, David Watmough, and Colin Thomas. This moving celebration of Lillo's approach to living and to the creative process reveals how the "moment to moment" essence of theatre becomes one with the ephemeral quality of life -- it will not last the night.
Awards: Silver Plaques (Arts/Humanities Category), Chicago Film Festival;
Bronze Apple Award, National Educational Media Festival , Oakland, California
Subject(s): Artists–Larry Lillo, Health–AIDS,
Theatre
Jean-Pierre Schoss
Part of The Artist's Life
series
Michael Glassbourg
TickleScratch Productions
24 min. 2003
Belgian-born and raised in southwestern Ontarios's tobacco country, Jean-Pierre Schoss resides in Uxbridge, Ontario. This thoroughly captivating artist recycles discarded toxic metals such as oil drums and propane tanks to make starkly beautiful sculptures. His sense of perspective, originality and technical execution result in a strong and unique expression. Schoss' work is primitive, balanced and often very humorous.
At his acreage in Uxbridge, Schoss shares his creative process as well as his outdoor art gallery and unique graveyard of materials.
Subject(s): Artists–Jean-Pierre Schoss, Sculpture
Jeff Winch
Part of The Artist's Life
series
Michael Glassbourg
TickleScratch Productions
24 min. 2004
Also available on DVD
Jeff Winch, award-winning photographer and filmmaker, is fascinated by the stories abandoned objects tell and often works on found locations. Overlapping genres, he sometimes borrows the lighting techniques of film for his photographs, giving a threatrical focus to the strange and mundane objects people leave behind. His photos have been described as being "like film sets devoid of actors."
Visiting one of the shoot sites for what will become his life-size photo-based installation, Habitat, he discusses the planning involved in such a monumental piece. He also walks through his Hound Project, a public space installation in which he used a slick ad campain to run his dog for mayor, then prime minister.
Subject(s): Artists–Jeff Winch, Filmmaking, Installation art, Photography
Michael Glassbourg
TickleScratch Productions
24 min.
2006
Also available on DVD
Jim Chambers is a photographer who combines humour with heartache, explores the underbelly of both his home town and cultures far from home as well as producing images of objects that range from the mundane to the magnificent. Following him at work in this documentary leads to Hamilton Ontario’s steel mills, a mental institution, an archeological sight, and North James Street.
Subject(s): Artists–Jim Chambers, Photography
Jonathan Bennett
Part of The Writing Life
series
Michael Glassbourg
TickleScratch Productions
24 min. 2004
Also available on DVD
Jonathan Bennett was born in Vancouver, raised in Sydney, Australia, and is now a resident of Port Hope, Ontario. He has published two works of fiction—After Battersea Park and Verandah People: Stories. His first collection of poetry, Here is my street, this tree I planted, will soon be available. He currently teaches writing at George Brown College. From his Port Hope lawn to a downtown Toronto bar to his office, he describes his road to becoming a published writer.
Subject(s): Artists–Jonathan Bennett, Literature
Journey
of Song
Part of the Ravens and Eagles:
Haida Art series
Jeff Bear/Marianne Jones
Ravens and Eagles Productions
22 min. 2002
Songs remain one of the strongest links to the nearly extinct Haida language. Three women explain how art is linked to songs and language and how all are intertwined with Haida culture. Terri Lynne Davidson is re-learning the ancestral songs once sung by her Nonnie ("grandmother" in Haida), an exploration that brings the singer closer to her heritage and to Haida art, history and lineage. Nika Collison and Irene Mills work together to learn their people's ancient and sacred songs. They delve into the meaning of Haida dances, highlighting the significance of crests on blankets and the songs to which they are connected. The pair also share the conviction that masks were not originally carved to hang on walls, but to be used in performance and ceremony. Together these three women reveal the vitality that can come from a journey of song.
Subject(s): Artists–Nika Collison, Artists–Terri Lynne Davidson, Artists–Irene Mills, Music, Indigenous people–Haida, Women–Artists
Karen Azoulay
Part of The Artist's Life
series
Michael Glassbourg
TickleScratch Productions
24 min. 2004
Also available on DVD
"Exquisite, unabashedly feminine wall paintings/installations
brimming with abstracted organic forms that mimic tropical flowers, garlands,
shrubs and gentle rains. Azoulay fashions pastel fantasylands out of delicate
fabrics, ribbons, pompoms, coffee filters, egg cartons and other cheap domestic
materials. One of a generation of emerging artists who reject stark modernism,
Azoulay possesses a sensibility that is ornate, Victorian and deliberately sentimental."
– Maclean's
Magazine, "Ten Artists Who Rock"
Karen Azoulay's work can only be described as a visual phantasmagoria that is a combination of romance and kitsch. She discusses her technique of submerging the viewer in an installation to make them part of it, the joy she gets out of collecting materials in hardware stores and discount bins, and the research and planning she puts into her seemingly playful work. She also comments on the insistent observation that she is a feminist or political artist.
Subject(s): Artists–Karen Azoulay, Installation art, Women–artists
Kathryn Kuitenbrouwer
Part of The Writing Life
series
Michael Glassbourg
TickleScratch Productions
24 min. 2004
Also available on DVD
Toronto writer Kathryn Kuitenbrouwer has been published in literary magazines such as Descant, Prairie Fire and Prism International. Her first book of short stories, Way Up, was released in 2003. A former fiction editor for The Literary Review of Canada, this one-time tree planter, lumberjack and baker is also well known for book reviews. She shares her thoughts on the juggling act of being a writer and a mother.
Subject(s): Artists–Kathryn Kuitenbrouwer, Literature, Women–Artists
Kathy Vatcher
Part of The Artist's Life
series
Michael Glassbourg
TickleScratch Productions
24 min. 2004
Also available on DVD
Kathy Vatcher's pastel works blend reality, dream, nightmare and fantasy to mine the unconscious. An artist who tries to avoid being pigeon-holed, this Windsor-born painter and illustrator graduated with a BFA in printmaking from Detroit's College of Creative Studies and has studied photography, sculpture, and jewelry-making, among other pursuits.
At work in her studio, she demonstrates her technique of putting down powdered chalk in several colours to create textured backgrounds that look like tanned leather. She also discusses the stigma attached to not exhibiting one's work, her constant need to branch out artistically, and the origins of her popular Keith-Haring inspired stick drawings—a project she began merely as a creative exercise exploring petroglyphs.
Subject(s): Artists–Kathy Vatcher, Painting, Women–artists
Michael Glassbourg
TickleScratch Productions
24 min.
2007
Also available on DVD
Ken Danby’s paintings are recognized all over the world. From the painting of hands reaching down to lace up a skate, to the portrait of Wayne Gretzsky on the occasion of his retirement, to a woman on horseback in the surf or the profoundly insightful portrait of Gordon Lightfoot, Danby’s work has left a lasting impression. A visit to his studio outside Guelph, Ontario provides an opportunity for Danby to explain in great detail the process of his work. Filmed just a month before he died prematurely of a heart attack, this documentary celebrates the work of an enigmatic man who is as impressive as his paintings.
Subject(s): Artists–Ken Danby, Painting
Peter C. Campbell and Arthur Holbrook
Gumboot Productions/Arthur Holbrook Productions
48:00 min. 2006
Available on DVD and VHS
Carvers from two of the world's great carving traditions come together, share each other's cultures and learn about the myths and legends that inform their art. Coast Salish carver John Marston travels to Papua New Guinea, with Elaine Monds of Alcheringa Gallery in Victoria. Elaine champions the work of Papua New Guinea and Northwest Coast carvers and has built up trust over the years with her commitment to fair trade practices through advising these Indigenous artists on the value of their work in the fine art market. Traveling by dugout canoe along the Sepik River, they visit carver Teddy Balangu and are welcomed into the rich culture of the carvers of Palembei, Teddy's home. Months later, Teddy leaves his home, at the invitation of Dr. Carol Mayer, to come to Canada as artist-in-residence at the University of British Columbia's Museum of Anthropology. While in Canada he and John renew their friendship and Teddy is welcomed by the Coast Salish people into their culture. A journey of great physical distance and lasting bonds, Killer Whale and Crocodile explores the soul of creativity and inspiration, in two cultures, half a world apart, but now bonded together through art.
Subject(s): Artists–Teddy Balangu, Artists–John Marston, Ethics, Fair trade, Coast Salish, Intercultural studies, Papua New Guinea, Sculpture, World cultures
See Harold Klunder (from The Artist's Life series)
See Dorothy Knowles (from The Artist's Life series)
Kristen den Hartog
Part of The Writing Life
series
Michael Glassbourg
TickleScratch Productions
24 min. 2004
Also available on DVD
Hailing from Deep River, Ontario, Kristen den Hartog now lives in Toronto. Her work has been published throughout Canada in literary magazines and anthologies, including the Journey Prize Anthology. Water Wings is her first novel. Although called an overnight sensation, she has been writing seriously for years and talks in great depth about her process.
Subject(s): Artists–Kristen den Hartog, Literature, Women–artists
See Kathryn Kuitenbrouwer (from The Writing Life series)
Mehdi Ali
Fountain Productions
46 min. 2004
Also available on DVD
Best known for moody landscapes of Canada's West Coast, Vancouver artist Toni Onley devoted his trademark vigor, passion and sensitivity not only to his celebrated paintings, but also to his philanthropic pursuits, high-profile activism, vast network of personal relationships and, of course, the flying of his beloved plane. Landscape Revealed: The Art of Toni Onley includes recent interviews with the late artist, at work on the BC shores he cherished. It brings to life not only Onley's contemplative artistic process but also his energetic and provocative public life.
An internationally acclaimed artist with works in London's Tate Gallery, NYC's Museum of Modern Art and the Library of Congress in Washington, DC, Onley gained notoriety in 1983 when he took on Revenue Canada and its unfair tax laws for artists. A very public battle saw him threaten to burn one million dollars' worth of his paintings on Wreck Beach, before an 11th-hour response from the federal government. He would again use his prominence for political ends when he joined the fight to save the Stein and Carmanah Valleys, two of BC's last stands of old-growth forest. His iconoclasm, though well publicized, did not stop him from receiving the Order of Canada in 1990.
This intimate documentary includes interviews with Onley's many friends, colleagues and admirers—including artists Alan Wood and David Lemon, critics Max Wyman and Susan M. Mertens, Vancouver Art Gallery senior curator Ian Thom, UBC art professor George Knox, National Gallery of Canada curator Denise Leclerc, and Western Canada Wilderness Committee activist Joe Foy. With archival footage of such Canadian luminaries as Jack Shadbolt, George Woodcock and Liona Boyd, as well as a rousing written correspondence with Pierre Trudeau, Landscape Revealed paints a picture of man whose abiding legacy is the zest he had for life.
Subject(s): Artists–Toni Onley, British Columbia, Painting, Vancouver
See Ian Lazarus (from The Artist's Life series)
Raoul McKay
First Voice Multimedia
46 min. 2003
Available in English, Mechif and Ojibway
Also available on DVD
In the 1970s, Potawatomi painter Daphne Odjig brought together a small group of native artists to collaborate and support one another. The group—Odjig, Norval Morrisseau, Jackson Beardy, Carl Ray, Joseph Sanchez, Eddy Cobiness and Alex Janvier—quickly gained attention for their spirited, stylized canvases that gave a visual interpretation to the First Nations oral tradition and challenged the establishment's perspective of aboriginal art as craft. The group's work covered the gamut from intensely spiritual to slyly humourous, deeply personal to fiercely political. It took Canada by storm, in both native and non-native communities. One journalist even coined them the "Indian Group of Seven," a tongue-in-cheek comparison that nonetheless pointed to the impact this group made both culturally and politically.
The Life and Work of the Woodland Artists paces this pivotal transition in Canadian and aboriginal consciousness through candid interviews with surviving members Odjig and Janvier, the group's family members and art critics, archival radio interviews with Jackson Beardy, as well as commentary from well-known Métis artists Duke Redbird and Bob Boyer of the Saskatchewan Indian Federated College.
Subject(s): Artists–Jackson Beardy, Artists–Eddy Cobiness, Artists–Alex Janvier, Artists–Norval Morrisseau, Artists–Daphne Odjig, Artists–Carl Ray, Artists–Joseph Sanchez, Indigenous people, Painting
See Tim Lilburn (from The Writing Life series)
Nick Orchard and Corby Coffin
Soapbox Productions
48:00 min. 2007
Available on DVD and VHS
At 6 foot 7, with a booming baritone voice, Long John Baldry had a presence that commanded the attention of audiences around the world. He was a founding member of the UK Blues and Rock movement in the 60s?an English Gentleman, a dandy; quietly, yet confidently, gay. His Blues revivalism inspired The Beatles, The Rolling Stones and a young Eric Clapton. Yet his gentle and trusting nature left him vulnerable to bad management that affected his career and relegated him to the status of a "secret legend."
Baldry made Vancouver his home in the 80s until his death in 2005. This documentary celebrates his long and influential career and features footage of early performances and commentary from a number of musicians for whom he was a great influence. They include Rod Stewart, whom Baldry discovered playing harmonica at a train station and a chubby young piano player named Reginald Dwight, who later changed his name to Elton John–the "John" part of his new name as a tribute to Baldry. Long John Baldry: In the Shadow of the Blues is a fitting tribute to a man whose generosity of spirit and musical influence will remain for some time to come.
Subject(s): Gay, Music
Kelvin Redvers
12:00 min.
2007 • close captioned
Available on DVD and VHS
Morgan Green is a young, female Tsimshian carver from Prince Rupert. She is also a young, female, Tsimshian fashion designer; a young female, Tsimshian knife maker, pottery maker, painter, art teacher, mask maker, and more. This 23-year-old Aboriginal artist leads a unique life in eastside Vancouver and is very passionate about every art form, whether it be traditional or contemporary. Her world is an amazingly inspiring one, told with a youthful charm and a deep love for all things artistic. This documentary follows a few days in her life, as she spends time being herself, followed by young Métis filmmaker Kelvin Redvers.
Subject(s): Artists–Morgan Green, Crafts, Indigenous people–Tsimshian Directed by Marcus Rogers
Produced by Mehdi Ali
Fountain Productions
48minutes • 2006
Available on DVD and VHS
The Lowdown On Lowbrow chronicles the evolution of an iconic alternative art scene and the relatively recent emergence of women artists at its forefront. With influences as diverse as comic books, B-movies, Polynesian culture, punk rock, Southern California's beach scene and the post-WWII atomic scare, Lowbrow art has been grabbing fans in its visceral grip for three decades. Bold, sexy and vibrant, it challenges the traditional world of fine art and takes no truck with any stuffy academic justifications for art.
Lowbrow pioneer Robert Williams relates his early resistance to the ascendancy of abstract expressionism, as well as his work alongside legends like Big Daddy Roth, Von Dutch and Robert Crumb. At first an outcropping of other pop culture scenes, Lowbrow gained prominence on customized hotrods, record covers and psychedelic rock posters.
Today, a new generation of Lowbrow artists are coming out from behind the flame jobs and Tiki heads to enjoy unprecedented fame. With monikers like I, Braineater, Shag, the Pop Tarts, 12Midnite and The Pizz, they largely resent being classified at all.
The Lowdown On Lowbrow, a veritable catalogue of the scene's best offerings, lets these subversive artists claim their rightful place in the history of western art.
Subject(s): Painting, Popular culture
The Many Faces of Arnaud Maggs
Annette Mangaard
50 min. 2002
Nearing his 80s, internationally acclaimed photographer Arnaud Maggs is one of Canada's senior living artists. He is best known for detailed, grid-like portrait studies that betray a stark intimacy. 64 Portrait Studies, Ledoyen and 48 Views, a series that included such Canadian notables as Northrop Frye, Irving Layton, Yousuf Karsh and Leonard Cohen…these just begin an accounting of his prolific output. In interviews, Maggs discusses his decision, at the age of 47, to become a visual artist and abandon early career success as a graphic designer and fashion photographer. He also touches on the motivation of his own mortality, an inevitability that keeps him working both to consolidate his massive body of work and yet to continue the search for fresh ideas. Whether it's death notices that once arrived on French doorsteps in black-edged envelopes, tickets recording child labour in textile factories, or the familiar vertical lettering of hotel signs, Maggs combs the streets and markets at home and abroad for inspiration. Meticulous and courageous in his approach, Maggs creates art that speaks of the universality of the human experience and yet demands an attention to the subtleties of each moment.
Subject(s): Artists–Arnaud Maggs, Careers, Photography
Margaret Vanderhaeghe
Part of The Artist's Life
series
Michael Glassbourg
TickleScratch Productions
24 min. 2003
Margaret Vanderhaeghe was born in Leader, Saskatchewan and lives and works in Saskatoon. She received a Bachelor of Arts in Art History and a Bachelor of Arts Honours, History from the University of Saskatchewan. Margaret has described her work in the past as strongly influenced by film. Working as an artist for close to 30 years, she has explored an impressive range of subjects and themes in her work, particularly those of identity, memory and gender.
Subject(s): Artists–Margaret Vanderhaeghe, Painting, Women–artists
Directed by Suzette Legacé
Produced by François Savoie and Suzette Legacé
MOZUS Productions/Connections Productions
60 min. 2006
Available on DVD and VHS
(Also available in French as Au-delà des apparences: portrait de Marie-Claire Blais)
Ever since she burst onto the literary scene at barely 20 years of age, Marie-Claire Blais has been a commanding presence on the literary scene both in Canada and internationally. An immediate sensation, she gained the attention of influential American critic Edmund Wilson, who declared "Mlle. Blais is a true phenomenon; she may possibly be a genius." With the 1965 publication of Une saison dans la vie d'Emmanuel, the literary world agreed whole-heartedly and Blais received the prestigious Prix Médicis, the Prix France-Québec and the first of three Governor General's awards.
Marie-Claire Blais: Illuminations is a rare glimpse into the private world of this enigmatic figure—from her formative years in Catholic Québec before the Quiet Revolution, her early success and heady creative days in Cambridge, Massachusetts, to her still prolific output 50 years into an astonishing career. With over 20 novels published, many of them focusing on the individual's struggle to come to terms with society's hostility and violence, Blais enjoys a broad readership in both French and English. Writers Margaret Atwood and Antonine Maillet, playwright Jacques Crête, critic Marie Couillard and many other artists testify to the power of her work and its enduring relevance. Blais herself comments on her motivations and concerns, as well as her commitment to supporting young writers.
Frequently compared to William Faulkner, Virginia Woolf and James Joyce for the discipline and vigour of her work, Blais continues to illuminate the darker side of human nature and the chaos of our times.
Original French version available: Au-dela des appances: portrait de Marie-Claire Blais
Subject(s): Canada, Literature, Québec, Storytelling
Produced by Pamela Millar / Sher Morgan / The May Street Group Ltd.
Directed by Moira Simpson
Shari Ulrich, composer
48 min. 1998
Closed captioning
“People think the women’s movement is dead, passé, irrelevant. They should watch this film.” – Francine Pelletier, journalist
On December 6, 1989, 14 young women at Montréal's Ecole Polytechnique were systematically hunted down and shot to death in what would become known as the Montréal Massacre. Within hours, the name of the man responsible was known across Canada and beyond, but who could remember the names of the murdered women?
As Canadians denied the connection between this crime and the larger problem of violence against women, a determined band of Vancouver feminists came together to build a monument and to educate Canadians on the widespread occurrence of such crimes. Marker of Change: The Story of the Women's Monument follows the seven-year struggle of the group to create "something loving, something permanent" that named and remembered women murdered by men.
From the moment of its inception, the project was dogged by controversies, the biggest of these when its dedication hit the media. The inscription, "for all women murdered by men" sparked a furor, as some charged that the monument labelled all men as murderers. Overcoming negative press, the group found many supporters, among them Suzanne LaPlante Edward, mother of murdered student Anne Marie Edward; feminist /activist Rosemary Brown; Québec feminist and Governor-General award-winning author Nicole Brossard; and Vancouver City Councillor Nancy Chiavario. Some 6,000 donors contributed to the monument before it was completed.
Toronto artist and instructor at Ontario College of Art & Design, Beth Alber, was selected from a national competition to create the monument. She talks about the process of its creation, intercut with footage of the installation.
Like the monument itself, this vital documentary is intended to provoke a shift in Canadian consciousness from denial to healing to societal change.
Award(s):Subject(s): Artists - Beth Alber, Gender equality, Healing, Public art, Sculpture, Violence against women, Women
Kelvin Redvers
16:30 min.
2007 • closed captioned
Available on DVD and VHS
“Totem poles do not have to be red and black, just because they were done that way 200 years ago.” — Don Yeomans
Totem poles have been made for many centuries. Don Yeomans is a contemporary Haida carver who was commissioned by the Vancouver Airport Art Foundation to make two 40 foot totem poles for the building linking domestic and international terminals at YVR. The poles are a mix of unique color, tradition and cultures. Métis filmmaker Kelvin Redvers portrays the making of these unique poles–from log to installation–and provides insight into the carver’s creative process, his relationship with family and culture, and his philosophy about art and tradition.
Subject(s): Artists–Don Yeomans, British Columbia, Indigenous people–Haida, Public art, SculptureMichael Crummey
Part of The Writing Life
series
Michael Glassbourg
TickleScratch Productions
24 min. 2004
Also available on DVD
Born in Buchans, a mining town in the interior of Newfoundland, Michael Crummey grew up there and in Labrador. He is the author of three books of poetry and a collection of short stories, Flesh and Blood. He is a winner of the Bronwen Wallace Award and was nominated for the 1998 Journey Prize. In 2001, his novel River Thieves was nominated for the prestigious Giller Prize.
Subject(s): Artists–Michael Crummey, Literature, Newfoundland
See Will Munro (from The Artist's Life series)
See George Murray (from The Writing Life series)
NaXine Weaver
Part of the Ravens and Eagles:
Haida Art series
Jeff Bear/Marianne Jones
Ravens and Eagles Productions
24 min. 2003
The granddaughter of weaver Selina Adams Peratrovich and daughter of Dolores Churchill, also a renowned weaver, Evelyn Vanderhoop creates the highly prized NaXine robe, or Chilkat blanket, a cedar bark and goat's wool textile that takes many years to complete. Traditionally, Chilkat blankets were a treasured item of First Nations nobility. While many assert that this weaving style is the domain of the Tsimshian and Tlingit people, Evelyn believes there is a strong connection between Tlingit, Tsimshian and Haida weaving. She details the history of this textile art and discusses her own process.
Subject(s): Artists–Evelyn Vanderhoop, Crafts, Indigenous people–Haida, Weaving, Women–Artists
Mehdi Ali
Fountain Productions
24 min. 2003
Gregg Simpson is an internationally recognized artist and musician who began his work during the west coast renaissance of the 1960s. This thoughtful documentary reveals how the rain forest in which he grew up influenced his work and how he felt a kinship with the imagery of west coast native artists. It features the new-surrealistic dreamscape paintings for which he was known in the 70s, followed by the cellular organic shapes of later work, the Mediterranean-influenced cloisonnist series of the 1990s and more recent free form abstractions. It also explores the hybrid style that Simpson developed by mixing west coast landscape with the Arcadian worlds of Tuscany and Provence. This innovation culminated in an exhibition of his work in the 14th-century Fortezza di Montalcino in Tuscany during May 2000. Writers, art historians and gallery directors discuss Simpson's place in the Vancouver, Canadian and international art scenes and illuminate the process by which he transmutes the influences of diverse cultures, landscapes and historical art movements.
Subject(s): Artists–Gregg Simpson, Painting
The New Collectors: Repatriation, Part 1
Part of the Ravens and Eagles:
Haida Art series
Jeff Bear/Marianne Jones
Ravens and Eagles Productions
24 min. 2003
Nika, Tanya and Vince Collison and 23 other Haida delegates travel 3,000 miles to New York City to reclaim their ancestors' remains from the American Museum of Natural History. As part of their pilgrimage, they are invited by the Smithsonian to view and handle precious Haida artifacts housed at the National Museum of the American Indian and have the opportunity to use these pieces in ceremonial dance. Their journey culminates with the return to Skidegate and burial of the centuries-old remains.
Subject(s): Indigenous people–Haida, Repatriation
The New Collectors: Repatriation, Part 2
Part of the Ravens and Eagles:
Haida Art series
Guest directed by Loretta Todd
Jeff Bear/Marianne Jones
Ravens and Eagles Productions
24 min. 2003
Nika and Vince Collison, Haida repatriation committee members, visit the British Museum in London to open a discussion on repatriating Haida artifacts. This vast historical museum, sticking to their mandate of delivering a "global story to an international audience," does not warm to the topic. Representatives point to the 1963 British Museum Act that prohibits the removal of artifacts from their collection. Although gracious, they are cautious even about letting the Haida visitors touch and photograph pieces. For Nika and Vince, it's all part of a process that has taught them to exercise patience and diplomacy.
Subject(s): Indigenous people–Haida, Repatriation
The
New Masters
Part of the Ravens and Eagles:
Haida Art series
Jeff Bear/Marianne Jones
Ravens and Eagles Productions
22:30 min. 2002
Haida art is in the hands of a new generation who are carrying on the traditions. Like their weaving counterparts, young carvers in Haida Gwaii have their predecessors' impressive legacy to match. The New Masters features three leading carvers from the new generation, some of the last apprentices that worked with the late Haida Master Bill Reid. Tim Boyko and Garner Moody work out of the same carvers' shed in Skidegate, British Columbia, a structure originally built by one of their elders. They discuss the part they played in a recent project that saw the completion of six totem poles. Working alone, Clayton Gladstone carves on wood and precious metals. He shares his views about contemporary and traditional art.
Subject(s): Artists–Tim Boyko, Artists–Clayton Gladstone, Artists–Garner Moody, Indigenous people–Haida, Sculpture
Valérie Tereszko
14 min. 1995
ASL is not English: it has a syntax of its own. Remaining true to e.e. cummings'
vision, this film transliterates the poem "nobody, not even the rain, has such
small hands" metaphorically into the syntax of ASL rather than Signed Exact
English (SEE). By doing so, the film expresses the poet's linguistic play in
words. The poetic hand movements of ASL/Art-Sign emphasize the dexterous quality
of cummings' perspective and give an innovative visual interpretation best suited
to this avant-gardist poem.
This film presents a penetrating, political-linguistic expression of humanity
in a twisting, intertwining multi-choreographed collaboration of several artists
in Art-Sign, cinematography, music and dance. Music by Kate Hammett-Vaughan,
Coate Cooke and Ron Samworth.
Subject(s): Dance, Deaf
and Hard of Hearing–American Sign Language (ASL), Poetry/Performance–Art
Sign Language
Noel Harding
Part of The Artist's Life
series
Michael Glassbourg
TickleScratch Productions
24 min. 2003
Noel Harding is difficult to define. He is a painter, sculptor and installations creator extraordinaire. As well, he is an international artist whose work can be found in numerous collections. He has been featured in more than 70 solo shows and over 100 group exhibitions. In 1982, he became the youngest artist ever to be honoured by a major retrospective at the Art Gallery of Ontario.
In this documentary, Harding installs a show at the Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art featuring hundreds of live goldfish in a tank made of plastic wrap. The piece spans three walls of the gallery for a total length of 45 feet. Harding also visits "Elevated Wetlands," his installation next to the Don Valley Expressway that takes toxic by-products from the plastics industry and uses them to clean the Don River's water. Articulate and engaging, Harding is always breaking new ground.
Subject(s): Artists–Noel Harding, Installation art, Public art, Sexuality
Patrick Jenkins
48:00 min. 2006
Available on DVD and VHS
Of Lines and Men: The Animation of Jonathan Amitay profiles the genius of animator Jonathan Amitay, a Toronto-based artist who uses his innovative stop motion animated films to explore issues such as ecology, nuclear war and human rights. His unique animation uses only gold chains and sand to create lively, opinionated characters, born out of his frustration at not being able to change the world.
Subject(s): Artists–Jonathan Amitay, Environmental issues, Media studies, Peace/War
Jeff Bear/Marianne Jones
Ravens and Eagles Productions
24 min. 2003
It's rare to find a female carver of monumental art, but in the 1960s, Freda Diesing was among the vanguard of Haida artists whose talents sparked a revival of her culture's artwork. At the age of 42, she took up carving and established herself as not only an exceptional carver, but also an enthusiastic teacher and mentor. Some of today's emerging masters like Dempsey Bob and Stan Bevan thank Freda for their success. In recognition of her achievement, she received a National Aboriginal Achievement Award in 2002.
Subject(s): Artists–Freda Diesing, Indigenous people–Haida, Sculpture, Women–Artists
Denise Kenney
24 min. 2003
Includes discussion guide
"An interesting and unusual look at the artistic
process between a painter and his subjects…. an excellent tool for senior-level
high school or adult classes."
– Associates: The Electronic Library Support Staff Journal
(read
full review)
Other Eyes examines what happens when five women take off their clothes and have their naked bodies rendered by artist Doug Jamha. The models, fully clothed, pose for the camera and speak directly to the viewer from within the abstract environment of the paintings themselves. Each grapples with her own self-image, as well as her concerns about being exposed to an artist—however professional the relationship. Several of the women find themselves liberated by the modeling experience. And Jamha, too, explores identity and sexuality issues from his side of the exchange.
Through the use of stop-frame animation, Jamha's paintings materialize on screen. The resulting animated portraits are interwoven into a colourful smorgasbord of image and thought. The film not only scrutinizes the exchange between model and painter during the still moments of a modeling session, but ultimately, reveals the mysterious complexity of honestly seeing and being seen.
Subject(s): Artists–Doug Jamha, Body image, Identity, Painting, Sexuality, Women
Paradox of Attribution
Part of the Ravens and Eagles:
Haida Art series
Jeff Bear/Marianne Jones
Ravens and Eagles Productions
24 min. 2002
Haida art had reached a very sophisticated stage of development by the time of the Haida people's first contact with Europeans. Nearly every household item was adorned with carved or painted crests. Missionaries saw the art as the work of the devil; but ethnologists were looking for material culture they could use in museum dioramas in New York and Chicago.
There has been debate in academic circles about who created turn of the century masterpieces of Haida art. In a discussion about the old Masters, Paradox of Attribution re-visits some of the artists in a final roundup of Haida artists defining Haida art. Many historical masterpieces are featured in this sweeping overview. Director Marianne Jones, herself a Haida eagle clan member, leads a tour of some of the old village sites where art once stood on the shores. She poses an interesting dilemma: Does attribution really matter? Or is it best left as a paradox?
Subject(s): Artists, Indigenous people–Haida
Directed and produced by Lynn Booth
Make Believe Media
48 minutes • 2006
Available on DVD and VHS
This documentary explores the force of fiction of the Paris-based short story master, Mavis Gallant, considered by both critics and her literary peers to be one of the most "talented women writing in the English language." Many of her works were published in the New Yorker magazine and are available in collections that include Montreal Stories, Across the Bridge and Paris Stories.
This film offers an intimate glimpse of a fiercely private woman devoted to the compact elegance of the short story. Robert Fulford, Margaret Atwood, Russell Banks and others offer insight into her influences and legacy, while selected readings, in-depth interviews and archival footage of a younger Gallant bring the author and her writing into deeper focus."Paris Stories: The Writing of Mavis Gallant is a lovely meditation on the place of art as created by one of literature's finest." The Gazette (Montreal)
Subject(s): Literature, StorytellingPaul Roorda
Part of The Artist's Life
series
Michael Glassbourg
TickleScratch Productions
24 min. 2004
Also available on DVD
Paul Roorda's mixed media portraits are created using natural and discarded materials such as snake skin, ash, earth, salt, brick dust, iron filings, egg shells, tea and hair. Spirituality informs Roorda's creative process; he focuses particularly on the modern approach to ritual given the rejection of traditional religion. Some of his best-known pieces have included family portraits that re-interpret biblical characters and a series of self-portraits as Samson, Lazarus, Adam, the Serpent and Jesus. Works by this Kitchener, Ontario artist also includes abstracts, still life and landscapes.
At work in his studio, he demonstrates the ritual involved in creating one his mixed media pieces, preserving rust filings in carefully tied paper parcels that are dipped in beeswax and painstakingly assembled.
Subject(s): Artists–Paul Roorda, Painting
Peter Rotter
Part of The Artist's Life
series
Michael Glassbourg
TickleScratch Productions
24 min. 2004
Also available on DVD
Peter Rotter's sparse landscapes of Northern Ontario are a perennial hit at the Toronto Outdoor Exhibition. When he graduated from the Ontario College of Art in 1995, painting the north was a natural homecoming for the artist given his many childhood summers spent there. He is a three-time recipient of the Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation Award.
In this documentary, Rotter visits the Kawartha Lakes where he finds both the inspiration and the geography for his landscapes. He discusses his love for oil paints, the focus on light in his work, and how he isolates and studies elements from multiple photographs to incorporate them into a single painting. An artist who makes a living off his work, he explains his preference for handling the business side of art on his own.
Subject(s): Artists–Peter Rotter, Painting
Mehdi Ali
Fountain Productions
24 min. 2005
Pnina Granirer: Portrait of an Artist explores the development of an art career spanning five decades. It follows Granirer's life in art, from Romania during the war, to Israel, the U.S., and finally Canada. The film reveals the breadth of her work, from figurative works to powerful interpretations of the BC landscape, to collaboration with dancers who become part of unusual life-size drawings on clear mylar. This film is a testimony to an artist's passionate and personal experience, sparkling experimentation, and daring association of form and ideas.
Subject(s): Artists–Pnina Granirer, Painting
Portrait
of a Mask Maker: Reg Davidson
Part of the Ravens and Eagles:
Haida Art series
Jeff Bear/Marianne Jones
Ravens and Eagles Productions
23 min. 2002
A maker of the most elaborate and sometimes outrageous masks, Reg Davidson is at the top of his class. Portrait of a Mask Maker joins him in his studio to watch him carve and share his views about Haida art. Reg does not consider himself an artist, though he has produced an impressive body of work and enjoyed a demand for his many masks.
A singer and dancer of Haida traditional compositions, he collaborates with his older brother Robert in the interpretation of stories and characters. His unique personality allows for a broad, often comical, theatrical presentation of dance.
Subject(s): Artists–Reg Davidson, Dance, Music, Indigenous people–Haida, Sculpture
See Robert Priest (from The Writing Life series)
See also:
Art A through F
Art R through Z
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