The Art of Mary Pratt

Yesterday we spent the afternoon at the National Gallery of Canada, viewing the Alex Colville, Chagall, and Mary Pratt exhibits. Until a few months ago, I had never heard of Mary Pratt, a Canadian artist living in Newfoundland. I learned of her when the Ottawa Citizen published an article this past April, called "The Erotic Jellies of Mary Pratt". Oh, the transparency, the light and shadow, the colour red, the joy of "Red Current Jelly", below. Pratt is the only living female artist ever to have a show of her work at the National Gallery while still alive (she is now 80). 

Red Current Jelly, 1972

I was especially taken by her comments about how photography informed her work and how it elevated her painting ability. I am quoting here from the Citizen article by Peter Simpson:
“This Little Painting,” as it is referred to by Pratt and in the exhibition title, is 45 by 45 centimetres (18 inches or so), but it was made just as she began to use photography as a reference for her painting. That moment was the big bang in her development as a painter." 

The article goes on to say that, "She took a photograph, and discovered that “photography is a great teacher.” Though she downplays her photographic skills — “I don’t know what an F-stop is” — she recognized how “photography stills everything, so you can look at things, and see how they work.” She describes how a photograph showed her how on the oval lip of a jelly jar, “every quarter inch, the colour changes. The colour is transient and beautiful, and just breath-taking.”

The discussion about photography as inspiration for artworks happens with regularity in some of the on-line art quilt groups I belong to. There is a significant contingent in those groups that looks down at the use of photography, and realistic art along with it.

Seeing the exhibits of Colville and Pratt brings me joy because of their success as artists using realism. While I am not overly fond of Colville's statue-like figures, I was moved by his story of success, which at the same time often brought harsh criticism. I think what the careers of Colville and Pratt highlight, for me, is that there will always be praise and criticism at the same time and we just have to keep trucking, making the art we need to and want to make.

Mary Pratt's work seems, to me, a celebration of the joy in the everyday. It captures ordinary moments in an ordinary life and elevates them to the extraordinary.

Jelly Shelf, 1999.

Smears of Jam, Lights of Jelly, 2007

Van Gogh: Up Close

What gorgeous weather we've been having here in Ottawa the past couple of weeks.  Check out the blue skies in the photos below!  So it was an absolute pleasure to head to the National Gallery of Canada with a friend yesterday to see the Van Gogh: Up Close exhibit, which runs until September 3.  You can enjoy beautiful weather even while inside this gallery, given the large number of windows and beautiful vistas from within.  It is always fun to walk past "Maman" the sculpture by Louise Bourgeois.  The National Gallery acquired this sculpture in 2005 at a cost of 3.2 million dollars.  It caused a lot of controversy at the time because it ate up 1/3 of the Gallery's budget for an entire year.

 

 

 

If you plan to see the Van Gogh exhibit, do get there early in the day as all the parking in the garage was taken when I got there at 11:30 a.m.  It did give me a reason to park in the Byward Market and enjoy a nice walk on a beautiful day.  You might also want to see if you can purchase tickets on-line ahead of time because the line-up yesterday was pretty sizable!  Inside, the exhibit itself was also crowded with people.  Waiting to see each painting gave my friend and I a chance to talk.

 

The paintings themselves seemed paler and duller than what I have seen on-line and in books.  I have to wonder if a lot of the works published on the web and in print have been enhanced.  Van Gogh's palette seemed to me quite drab, perhaps because of the limited pigments available in his time.  Even a poppy field seemed somehow drab, and yellow dandelions were outlined with black paint (in the hopes of making them stand out against yellow-green foliage?). 

 

It was great to see the show, but alas most of my favorite paintings were missing.  Such as these:

 

Wheat Field With Rising Sun may be my absolute favorite Van Gogh painting.  I have been thinking about how gorgeous that wheatfield would look recreated with long stitches of hand-dyed thread.  Just look at the texture in it! 

 

Of course I do also love Van Gogh's famous Starry Starry Night Painting, however, here is another less famous one that really attracts me!  This one is called Starry Night over the Rhone.

 

This one is called Wheat Fields Under Threatening Skies.  I seem to have a thing for wheat fields?  The colours in this one seem so dramatic, but I wonder if they really are that dramatic in real life? 

 

Now wouldn't Sower With Setting Sun look great in hand-dyed stitches as well?  If you research this painting on the web, you will find pictures where the field is blue as well as pictures where it is purple, like in the photo below. 

 

While I don't care at all for his sunflowers in vases, I think Van Gogh's close-up studies of sunflowers are just masterful! 

 

After seeing the show, we enjoyed lunch at the Gallery's cafeteria.  The outdoor tables provide a stunning view of Parliament Hill 

 

as well as the Supreme Court of Canada and the Ottawa River.

 

I've spent a good amount of time in the studio this week, and my new piece is coming along.  Still haven't started ironing the 120 meters of fabric I dyed.  Speaking of dyeing, Denise sent a photo of her results from last week's dyeing class at Dragonfly Fabrics.  She amazed herself at the results of both exercises, and plans to use many of the fabrics in the poppy quilt she started in a class with me a few months ago.

 

Hoping you are enjoying blue skies in your part of the world!