My great great grandfather, John Moors, is somewhat elusive on my ancestral search. I am having a difficult time finding his parents. Through a number of links, I have his birthplace as Yeovil, Somerset, England. It may be that he is the son of a Jane Moors, resident of the Swan Inn at the time. Jane disappears soon afterward, so I am also going to make the assumption that John ended up lost in the struggles of the community at the time, likely orphaned…dunno. I put this research ‘out there’ in the hopes that other researchers might confirm or add to my information. I also hope that my research makes the search for others less taxing.
He married a Grace Rebecca Porter and together, they had four girls and one son, also named John. It was this lad who ended up on a ship at the age of 13, a home child to Canada, working on a piece of land in the Arthur area until 1898, when his father, mother and family also immigrated to Canada.
This watch was presented to my Great Great before he immigrated to Canada in 1898. It, in turn, was passed on to my Great Grandfather who passed it to my Grandfather. Unfortunately, it fell under disrepair before it found its way into my father’s hands. Still, the historical inscription remains.
“My Grandfather Moors was a red-headed man with the most beautiful blue eyes that you ever did look at! He was a very quiet man. And Grandma Moors was a very short lady, especially when compared with my father who was 6’2″. When we went down to visit Grandma and Grandpa, just as a joke, Father would pick Grandma up by the elbows, right up off the floor, and give her a great big kiss. He’d put her down and we’d all laugh. Of course, Grandma rather enjoyed it too, I’m sure!
Interesting that on Rose Margaret’s marriage to Harry Clayton, on the marriage certificate, John is listed as being a Stencil Maker. See on the far left side of the document.
John Moors was laid to rest in 1914 in an unmarked grave in the Hamilton Cemetery, sharing the space with my great Uncle Robert A. Moors. His only son (Canadian home child), John Moors, is at rest in Etaples, France, having died as the result of a German bombing raid on Canadian Hospitals in Etaples on May 19, 1918.
The spot where Robert rests is well marked. His wife, Jessie Maclean, has also slipped beneath my genealogy radar.
I hopped on the train after Esker and Max and stopped at City Hall. The CPL is right there on the opposite corner and as is always the story about the library, great things were happening last night. An Artist in Residency program is under way!
The New Gallery has partnered with the Calgary Public Library to implement a special residency program. Beginning in the fall of 2013, this collaboration encourages social practices and public engagement. Lea Bucknell, the inaugural artist-in-residence, will be building a wooden structure, Graphite Mountain, at the Library’s Central Branch (616 Macleod Trail SE) to act as a place for public gathering and a venue for cartographic and drawing-based workshops.
Both poetic and playful, Graphite Mountain resembles an idealized mountain form and provides a unique and unexpected experience for library-goers. Clad in old wooden fence boards that have been cut and arranged to mimic mountain stratigraphy, the structure’s interior cavity becomes a studio for the artist during her residency. A curiosity in the library, this mountain environment collapses notions of picturesque landscapes and retreat spaces into one stand-alone structure.
I treasured conversation with former student, Tim Belliveau and his Bee-Kingdom buddy and mine, Phillip Bandura. I also learned some new things from Lea’s talk and look forward to learning more about ‘the follies’ and participating in the various related workshops happening with the library during her residency.
I didn’t even bring my camera…so, no images except the scratches I made into my journal. I attended an artist talk by Jeffrey Gibson at the Esker Foundation yesterday afternoon and learned so much about the context of his work/beliefs. I am so grateful for having the time in such a magical environment, to hear Jeffrey speak. Thank you.
The exhibit Fiction/ Non-fiction is shouting out for your attendance. My readers will be floored! I am consistently amazed by the arts events happening in Calgary, but this particular collection breaths a different sort of air into our city.
“If you’d told me five years ago that this was where my work was going to lead,” said Mr. Gibson, gesturing to other pieces, including two beaded punching bags and a cluster of painted drums, “I never would have believed it.” Now 41, he is a member of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians and half-Cherokee. But for years, he said, he resisted the impulse to quote traditional Indian art, just as he had rejected the pressure he’d felt in art school to make work that reflected his so-called identity.
On exhibit at the Esker Foundation, a fascinating and challenging exhibit of installation work and paintings, a show co-produced with the Illingworth Kerr Gallery of ACAD. The curators are Wayne Baerwaldt, Steven Loft and Naomi Potter.
Several different programs, both hands-on and curatorial talks/tours, will be given up until the end of December. These programs, based on my experience, are consistently engaging and a source for new questions and knowledge.
Not to confuse my readers, but this painting by Brenda Draney caught my gaze and held it…so I wanted to post it here.
Brenda Draney. Tent, 2013, oil on canvas, 3′ x 4′. Photo credit Sarah Fuller.
Phones were busy at cSPACE last night, snappin’ pictures of pretty much everything! I’m feeling as though the internet is already swamped with images of the fantastical Phantom Wing, but who cares…here are a few more!
I go to these things alone…I know…it’s pathetic…but I’m really the driver of my own ship these days and find that my sails take me into the most magical places. Sometimes my voice collides with another voice…sometimes not…it’s all fairly wonderful. I DO thank the two gentlemen who seemed to have some interesting interactions with me about various spaces when we bumped into one another…and thank you for grabbing a photo of me at the wings!
By the way, I’ve recently started a writing residency with the CPL, delivered by Barb Howard (I was intrigued by one of her published titles…Embedded on the Home Front : Where Military and Civilian Lives Converge) and have learned from one of the library books being passed about, on the topic of learning to be a writer, that a writing ‘rule’ is to avoid using adjectives. My eyes were opened! I am a freak who uses MANY adjectives. Try to overlook them.
I thought about how redundant things must seem/be sometimes in schools.
Cliques are destructive. I believe in being a person ‘on the fringe’.
I didn’t ‘belong’ to the girls’ group in school…any school…so, in the second floor bathrooms, where Melinda Topilko and Lindsay Joy had prepared for a Girl Gang Dance Party, re-inventing the all-lady bathroom space as a vehicle for girl talk in all its many forms, I felt very uncomfortable. I exited as soon as there was talk about writing down your confessions…assuming that you did mean things in school. Ah, but I remember being ‘the nice girl’.
Because of my preoccupation with feeding and watching birds these days, the Winged Apocalypse piece left the deepest impression with me. I mean, things have gotten so bad that I’ve actually visited my neighbour and talked to her reasonably about the cat Bylaw because she has a mouse/bird-tossing-cat that she watches each morning while drinking back her coffee and smoking her cigarette. In summary, this particular installation was meaningful.
Some of what I saw and experienced just gave me a good feeling…re-purposing materials, the inventiveness and genius of people and their facility to expand upon their initial concepts into creativity. Some of the work was thought-provoking around many different topics…construction, architecture, reuse, resources, friendship, community.
Part of a glowing room of installations by the Prototype Lab collective: a pre-demolition project at King Edward School.
A performance by Sarah Smalik, Sara Tilley, and Jamie Tea inside their Gut-workshipping installation.
Viewers in Jennifer Crighton’s scary fairy tales installation.
Part of the Waterways installation by Alia Shahab, Ivan Ostapenko, and Lane Shordee, in collaboration with Antyx Youth :a predemolition project at King Edward School.
The Bells built a bell-installation. Leslie and Chris Bell collected over 50 fire bells over the past few years. The couple re-purposed the fire bells to create a (relatively) zen, hand-powered sound installation. The evening at Phantom Wing was spectacular.
Where are you, Valerie Jean?
Thoughts of David Carlin…and a bit of writing…caught me missing my sister. Everyone should be so blessed as I have been in my life…to have one sister…or to have a friend who has somehow become as close as a sister. I remember going to sleep the night she was born. I know a person shouldn’t make deals with God…but after all, I already had three brothers! Maybe it isn’t right to ask God for signs or wonders. But even as a wee thing, I had a deep and abiding faith. I already knew the mystery of God.
It was a humid April night in North Bay. I stared at the sheer drapery that hung motionless over my open window. I said, “Dear God, If you are going to give me a sister…please move the curtain.” I fell asleep staring at the drapery…motionless…but, with tremendous belief that it would move.
In North Bay, after David Carlin’s art exhibit in Callander, Val and I enjoyed silence in our air-conditioned Super 8 room and then went down to Trout Lake for a picnic dinner. This photo sort of says it all for our family. We had good times at the lake…squealing and laughing…swimming and leaping off the docks. It was a wonderful thing to share a picnic and to think of our childhood years…and our mother.
Where are you David Carlin?
I painted on a Masonite board while in Mr. Carlin’s class…I still have the original sketches for the painting, “Adam”, that I worked on independently through his grade nine class in 1969. They were tucked away in my portfolio. The oil painting has long since disappeared; likely on one of our military moves it didn’t make it onto a truck. A muscular Adam had his leg wound up tight by a serpent…a very symbolic piece for such a young girl. It makes me smile today, to remember.
It wasn’t long ago that I re-connected with ‘Mr.’ Carlin (amazing how we find difficulty attaching first names to our forever-teachers) through social media and was very excited to acquire one of his amazing pieces, ‘Jester Trickster’, through a 2011 exhibit/fund raiser where he sold his collection in order to generously support his daughter, Sarah, in a new treatment protocol offered in Albany, New York.
Mr. Carlin was such an inspiring mentor! I will never forget him and his ways. Particularly, I will always remember his sense of humour! He was so encouraging. As I journey back in blog-time to the visit with Dad in Ontario (wanted to blog away the poignant moments that held so many lessons while home…but Dad’s computer was too darned slow at the time!), I find myself remembering the decision to miss my 40th high school reunion in Great Falls, Montana and focus, instead, on what it was my Dad and I had to learn together through our grief. That didn’t mean there weren’t going to be a couple of side trips though. The trip to Hamilton had been such a blessing later in June.
I knew that my sister was a health nurse at Camp Tawingo again this past summer. One of the joyful memories of my life was the magic of bumping into Val some years ago at a hotel parking lot in North Bay. I was on my fourth night of driving east, pulling in from Thunder Bay and she was having her 48 hour break from camp. It was a fortunate and very serendipitous moment.
Why not repeat it? We decided to combine the opportunity to enjoy an exhibit, Intransit, of David Carlin’s new works with a reunion at the same Super 8 Hotel. It was a dream to step into the Alex Dufresne Gallery in Callander and have the art work sing out the way it did. It was spectacular, as was the feeling of excitement that was going on inside me.
As I signed the guest book, Mr. Carlin stepped up behind me, recognizing me immediately. What a spark of magic that was! I will never forget it…A drum ceremony opened the event and I felt washed over by good will and creativity. It was an event I will not soon forget. It was very quick…very spontaneous…but I needed Mr. Carlin to know that I have never forgotten him. I also needed to see his work up close. If ever my readers have the chance to see his art, please do! Thank you, dear Mr. Carlin, for having been my teacher.
PLEASE read this interview for a true sense of who David Carlin is!
Quick…before I go tuck in, I wish to complete the series around my recent Love Art in Calgary tour arranged by Wendy Lees. The Artistic Director, Jeffrey Spalding, welcomed us to MOCA, as is his style, with warmth and enthusiasm. The hospitality received was exceptional, given that on that very evening, MOCA was to celebrate their Grand re-opening. Due to June floods and some related infrastructure concerns around connected buildings, MOCA was forced to close for a period of time, affording them the opportunity to make some changes and ‘really’ move in to the existing venue. It was fun to receive insights into these changes up close and also to enjoy the sorts of activities buzzing around the evening opening. It’s not often that one witnesses beautiful white sofas being washed down and arranged out on a city patio by a glassy pool. Fantastic!
Close by, Dave Dyment’s Mirror Ball installation was coming to life and all sorts of interesting things were appearing both outdoors and inside the gallery. If you have not had the chance to enjoy similar openings and events in the open plaza downtown, hop the C Train and take advantage. Great location…typically, good food and wonderful people!
My readers are invited to view the Made in Calgary: 1980s exhibit, as well as see Danish artist Jesper Just’s “A Vicious Undertow” in the upstairs gallery. There will be more festivities in the plaza and outdoor spaces, given that MOCA is a part of the launch Party for Calgary Culture days.
I’m certain that, as you mingle with friends, you may find yourselves in delightful proximity to Evan Penny’s sculpture, ‘Janet’ or capture her looking with tremendous intensity in the same direction that you are.
News I received via the MOCA mailing list is included here for your perusal.
MOCA Calgary is pleased to be a part of the launch Party for Calgary Culture days, taking place this Friday 7:00pm-11:00pm. Lots to do from a series of concerts, hosted by the city, across the way in Olympic Plaza, to food trucks, outdoor installations, animation screenings, fashion show featuring creations made of light and cash bar lounge at MOCA Calgary. If you missed our Grand re opening last Saturday not to worry because Dave Dyment’s Mirror Ball installation along with Max Streicher’s horse are back for one more night. Quickdraw Animation Society is also joining in the fun by screening “The best of the Giraffe Festival” projected onto the side of the MOCA building. Our gallery will remain open late so check out our Made in Calgary: 1980s exhibition along with the screening of Jesper Just’s “ A Vicious Undertow” in the upper gallery, on loan from the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. Come down, enjoy the fun and help us support the City of Calgary Culture Days!
Jeffrey shared with us the background on the Made In Calgary: 1980s exhibit and it never fails to disappoint as far as his knowledge of art history. I am proud that he is with us here in Calgary because he makes us so much more rich for his knowledge. If given a chance, please participate in a Love Art in Calgary tour when you see MOCA on the menu! There is an awesome write up on the Made In Calgary: 1980s show HERE!
Love Art in Calgary: Axis Contemporary Art and The Kite Unfurls!
Director, Rob Mabee, is warm, good humoured and smart! Stepping into the intimate world of Axis Contemporary Art Gallery is like stepping into a place of discovery. Welcome to explore and ask questions, a person can always learn things from Rob. As Art Central winds down in its vibrant life and its unique vision, Axis continues to open its doors and educate the public. I am so grateful for the opportunity to share in another unique opportunity for the sake of loving art! Thanks, Rob.
On this visit, there were a couple of things I really noticed and enjoyed. Norah Borden’s piece, The Kite Unfurls was beautiful! I captured a quick photo of my friend, Lauraine, in front of the piece…for me both the art and the person describe the very same thing. Tell me if I’m wrong.
The thing is…on a Love Art in Calgary Tour, we stop midway through the tour and enjoy a lovely lunch together and given that friend, Jennifer, was not there to enjoy a La Fleur, Lauraine stepped in and shared in a celebratory martini with me at Murrieta’s this time around. Wendy Lees strategically plans the order of our day so that we can walk to the next location. And this weekend in Calgary, the weather was extraordinary!
I enjoyed learning about Lisa Brawn’s work…her technique and subject matter. As Rob talked about her prolific practice and the pleasure she has in carving, I felt I understood and appreciated the act of making art, through her experience. I encourage my readers to spend some time exploring her website and reading Lisa’s blog! Some very ‘yummy’ projects and inspirations are archived there.
Of course, I am always drawn to one painting in particular when I check out the ‘stuff’ at Axis…that being a painting by Audrey Mabee. Conversation with Diva is both full of fun and vibrant with colour. I like both!
We were blessed with this time together…rich…full of conversation…and saturated with wonderful art!
The Kite Unfurls! A tremendous celebration of art and human interest!
I’ve got to say, leaving cSPACE and entering into Newzones created a huge contrast for me! It goes to show what a variety of opportunities we have in the Calgary art scene. Director, Tamar Zenith, gave us a quick introduction to the work and an entry point into the current exhibit of Franco DeFrancesca’s works.
The tour group members (quickly becoming friends), wandered independently, reacting to the works, the light and residual thinking around cSPACE. I liked how the DeFrancesca works reflected the environment and also how the clean surfaces of the space reflected the works. I think this is what I tried to capture in these few photographs.
Most appealing to me in this space, though, were the works created by artist Sophie Jodoin…an intimate exhibit titled Open Letters. Lovely, while at the same time, somewhat unnerving the perfectly executed drawings (conte on mylar and in altered proportion), immediately stirred up recollections of correspondence…exchanges of words…nostalgia…mystery…boundaries…human interactions and connection. I walked away saying, “I still write Christmas cards,” as though the art somehow communicated that that was important. An interesting bit of writing about Sophie can be found here.
She includes these thoughts on drawing…to begin, in reference to an exhibit in Vancouver titled, Small Dramas & Little Nothings.
“I see them as chambers of our lives. You wander through it and each body of work makes you question how you live your own life and the kinds of struggles you might be going through,” she said.
Jodoin is referring to close your eyes, an exhibition from an artist dedicated to the medium of drawing and known to explore themes rich with emotion. Four years of artwork is included in the show, including a video and three bodies of work comprising mostly drawings and collages: Small Dramas & Little Nothings, a series of 90 small drawings; Charred, five larger works; and Vigils, four large unframed drawings.
For Jodoin, drawing is more of an attitude than a medium.
Jodoin earned her fine arts degree from Concordia University nearly 25 years ago, and since 2003, her drawings have been exclusively in black and white, on paper and mylar, usually completed over the course of one day.
Thank you to Newzones and to Wendy Lees of Love Art In Calgary.