December 27, 2024 8:00 pm

Meeting Bench

MUSICALLY BORN IN HARVARD UNIVERSITY GREEN PASTURES – Eric von Schmidt, a wild-spirited musician

With Dylan and Baez, into musical American east coast Singer, guitarist and songwriter, but also a painter and illustrator, he became part of the Cambridge folk music scene. Born in 1931 and raised in Westport (Connecticut), after listening to Ledbelly radio, Eric von Schmidt http://www.bobdylanroots.com/schmidt.html bought himself a guitar and began to learn its secrets, letting himself be influence stylistically …

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IF SURREALISM IS THE ARTIST’S SELF IMAGE – Kay Sage, a painter between complex architectures and biomorphic forms

A surrealist, disturbing paradoxes and hallucinating qualities Among the many schools she attended, also Foxcroft School https://www.foxcroft.org/, in Virginia. In her paintings, you sometimes find a jumble of objects in the foreground contrasted by others in the distance. Her semi abstract paintings, permeated with a sense of stillness, took motifs and styles from both de Chirico and other surrealist painters, …

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THE SIX BEST GIFTS FROM CANADA – Creative people, looking for someone to charm

Creative people’s souvenirs you take home Something to take home https://www.ucanada.com/en/canadian-souvenirs as a memento of your trip to Canada? In souvenir shops, you will find bottles of maple syrup, a viscous molasses extracted from the sap of black maple. You could choose from excellent Inuit art made from semi-precious stones, or some gadget from a hockey team. There is not …

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A PIONEER OF COLOR PHOTOGRAPHY – Fred Herzog, a foreshadowing of 1970s New Color photographers

A pioneer of the first color street photography Like the characters painted by Jan Vermeer, those he photographed also perform gestures and actions of daily life. The publisher Hatje Cantz published Fred Herzog-Modern Color in 2017 https://www.amazon.com/Fred-Herzog-Modern-Color/dp/377574181X, a volume with over 230 of his color photographs. His first professional recognition came in 2007 with a retrospective exhibition at the Vancouver …

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LESS, BUT BETTER – Sid Neigum, the most exciting Canadian designer on the catwalk

Creating a wardrobe through intellectual research A relationship with the Beaufille stylist, in addition to her passion for the marathon, are the background to the creative world of Sid Neigum https://www.facebook.com/sidneigum. In 2019, his collection revolved around balancing things to find the best way of less, but better. His professional awards include the 2019 Canadian Arts and Fashion Awards Designer …

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CREATION, RESEARCH AND LITERARY PERFORMANCE – Marie-Claire Blais, a staunch Francophonist activist

The writer who explored violence, revolt and hatred Canadian writer Marie-Claire Blais https://www.writerstrust.com/authors/marie-claire-blais/ died at her home in Key West on a November day in 2021, yet, she was a native of Quebec, where she was encouraged to write at the Université Laval. In 1959, she published her first novel, La Belle bête https://www.amazon.it/Joualonais-sa-Joualonie-Marie-Claire-Blais/dp/2890524094, appreciated by critics, despite the roughness …

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THE CANADIAN WHO CONTINUES TO FLY OVER JAMES BAY – Gordon Downie, aka Wicapi Omani and a well-deserved eagle feather

Singing love for creativity of Native North Americans His awards and accolades include twice the nomination of Best Canadian Journalist of the Year, as well as an honorary degree from Queen’s University. Born in Amherstview in 1964 and raised in Kingston, Ontario, Gordon Downie https://www.facebook.com/GordDownie/ was the son of a traveling salesman. In the Kingston Collegiate and Vocational Institute, he …

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THE CARTOONIST WHO SPOKE LITTLE AND WRITE A LOT – Rand Holmes and the island of Lasqueti, between comics and oil painting

The Canadian illustrator known for his underground comics Artistically speaking, his story as a cartoonist began on Edmonton’s windy plateau, flourished between Vancouver and San Francisco, and ended in a backwater in the Strait of Georgia on Lasqueti Island. In his later years, on Lasqueti Island, Rand Holmes https://www.fantagraphics.com/products/the-artist-himself focused on surrealist oil painting, with a specific predilection for Magritte, …

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THE FASCINATING WORLD OF A METICULOUS DREAMER – Jean Philippe Dallaire and the wealth of imaginary creations

Pictorial artifacts that humanize an artist Feeaturing 128 paintings and drawings, until April 2000 – and fifty years after presenting its first Jean Philippe Dallaire exhibition – the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts https://www.absolutearts.com/artsnews/2000/03/02/26296.html showed its second retrospective of that remarkably talented artist and about his contribution to Canadian art history. Set up chronologically according to Discoveries of youth, The …

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LEAVE THE DOOR OPEN TO CREATIVITY – Where the artist has his entanglements, because they feed his creativity

Where creativity becomes innovation, if transformed into reality Journey into the creativity of France https://nz.ambafrance.org/Creativity-A-quintessentially-french-trait, where être means to be and where it indicates nationality and profession, but also where it describes people and things. One can be French by descent or by the battles waged, yet, already in conceiving a certain type of sail or handbag; in both cases, …

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