Jenny McMaster

This Fall in Studio Magazine...

This fall Studio Magazine features my article on Helen Konek and Nanisiniq (the Arviat History project).

The idea for the article began during a chat Beth Greenhorn about Project Naming, a cooperative initiative involving the identification of anonymous photos of Inuit men and women at the Library and Archives of Canada. Beth tipped me off about the Nanisiniq's arrival in Ottawa and their visit to the Archives, the Museum of Civilization and the National Gallery. The Inuit youth and Elder not only discovered photographs of fellow community members but art by their family members as well. 

A big thank you to Beth Greenhorn of the LAC, Christine Lalonde, Candice Hopkins of the NGC, April Dutheil, Frank Tester, Kurtis and Jordan Konek, Amy Owingayak, Martha Otokala and Patrick Pingashat of Nanisiniq, and of course Helen Konek.

(Below: grandsons Jordan and Kurtis Konek, and cousin Martha Otakala admire Helen's wall hanging.Photo credit Frank Tester)

 

 

 

"Migrating Soundscapes" in Fuse Magazine

   

Check out my article on Dipna Horra's sound installation Avaaz in this months issue of Fuse Magazine.

Avaaz was on display at the Ottawa Art Gallery from August through October 2010. "Simple furniture, understated architectural features and fine china are the conduits through which the sound artefacts, that tell the artist’s story are emitted. Horra’s kitchen installation is a theatrical space in which the continuity of ancestral memory both reassures and unsettles."

The article is free for anyone to read...just follow the link: Fuse

Above is any image of me listening to the subtle voice recordings emitted through the Tea Trolley, one of several elements of Avaaz. This photo was taken by the artist at Galerie Donald Browne in Montreal, during the Ottawa U MFA group show Vestiges, back in March. The tea set rattled mysteriously as if disturbed by seismic activity, a nearby train or perhaps a poltergiest. Events of great significance were afoot...

Catalog Launch for Play Between/Entre Deux

On November 24th the catalog for a very cool undergraduate art show entitled "Play Between/Entre Deux" will launch at  le Cagibi at 5490 St. Laurent in Montreal. The exhibition, which employed Nicholas Bourriaud's relational aesthetic, featured performances, shared meals, music and trebuchet launches. The show took place back in the spring and I penned the catalog in the following weeks. It will be great to see it in print at last! Good things come to those who wait...

 

Fiberarts September/October

 

 

Hey ladies and gents, check out my article on Karina Bergmans' work in next month's issue of Fiberarts, on magazine rack's now!

The article is subtitled "Have You Hugged Your Lexicon Today?" and explores Karina's Texting series which will be on view at the Mississippi Vallery Textile Museum this October.

Sanattiaqsimajut

 

Carleton University Art Gallery announces "Sanattiaqsimajut" - the book! Featuring a short essay by your's truly on the portrayal of the human face in Inuit Sculpture. It is available at CUAG and at ABC ArtBooks Canada. The link to their website is here:

http://www.facebook.com/l/89274;www.abcartbookscanada.com/ordiindiv.html

“Sanattiaqsimajut: Inuit Art from the Carleton University Art Gallery Collection”  accompanies an exhibition of the same name, curated by Ingo Hessel and presented at CUAG this past autumn. “Sanattiaqsimajut” – Inuktitut for “these things that are finely made” – is a full-colour, richly-illustrated, 232-page hardcover catalogue.

Hessel’s essay discusses the works in terms of several important narrative threads that recur throughout Inuit art. The artworks are then grouped into 37 smaller topics that manifest a diverse range of approaches, such as thematic, biographical, and formal. Each topic is accompanied by a 500-word essay written by 33 invited experts in the field of Inuit art, including CUAG’s former curators of Inuit art.  The book’s guest writers are:

Drew Armour, Shannon Bagg, Jennifer Cartwright, Mary-Louise Davis, Dorothy Harley Eber, Bernadette Driscoll Engelstad, Patricia Feheley, Jennifer Gibson, Linda Grussani, Anna Hudson, Heather Igloliorte, Marion Jackson, Robert Kardosh, Christine Lalonde, Kenneth Lister, Jenny McMaster, Melania Medd, Krystina Mierins, Marybelle Mitchell, Wendy Moir, Judith Nasby, Crystal Parsons, Marie Routledge, Leslie Boyd Ryan, Terrence Ryan, Pitaloosie Saila, Laura Schneider, Lucy Tasseor Tutsweetok, Norman Vorano, Cynthia Waye, Sally Qimmiunaaq Webster, Darlene Coward Wight, Norman Zepp.