Organized by the MacKenzie Art Gallery and the National Gallery of Canada. This project has been made possible in part through a contribution from the Museums Assistance Program, Department of Canadian Heritage.
Over the past four decades, Joe Fafard has created a body of work that has found a permanent place in people’s hearts and minds. His work crosses the lines that typically divide our society: urban and rural, French and English, east and west, elite and popular. Regionally rooted yet universal, Fafard’s art has always advanced hand in hand with a serious engagement in the concerns of our community life. This exhibition and its accompanying publication are a celebration of the art, life and critical contribution of this influential artist.
A retrospective exhibition is an invitation to join with the ArtGallery, curators, collectors, viewers and especially the artist in celebrating a lifetime of creative work. It purports to give a perspective on significant works but it is only a small selection from hundreds, even thousands of pieces that the artist has produced over decades in the studio. It is a peephole into a vast room. Choosing significant pieces to represent a lifetime of work is always a highly subjective process, and each visitor will bring to it their own experiences, memories and reactions.
This exhibition of the works of Joe Fafard was based on two key guidelines: to show the development of the work and to marvel at its variety. These words, however, hide many unexpected complexities. There is, for example, the development of materials used—plaster, clay, bronze, steel. There is the development of scale, from less-than-life-size to over-life-size, (but never exactly life-size). There is the development of themes from the immediate to the universal, from the perceived to the imagined, from the statement to the revelation. The variety in the exhibition ranges from student work to large public commissions, from caricatures to portraits, from traditional to experimental, from functional to monumental. As curator, I could have multiplied every work in this exhibition by ten and the viewer would continue to find further subtleties of development and variety.
On another level, however, there is only one theme to this retrospective and that is Joe’s commitment to his vision of what life is and what it could be. This commitment was there at the beginning and it remains the touchstone of each piece he makes. Into this commitment he has poured his experiences, skills, and imagination and the work asks no less of the viewer.
Written by Terrence Heath, Curator of Joe Fafard
Joe Fafard Programming
Opening Reception and Performance
featuring Joël Fafard
Friday, September 28, 2007
Lobby, T.C. Douglas Building
7:30 p.m. Reception
8:00 p.m. Welcome and greetings
8:30 p.m. Feature performance by Joël Fafard with reception to follow. Cash bar. Everyone is welcome.
Award-winning roots guitarist Joël Fafard, son of Joe Fafard, capped off a banner year earning nominations for “Instrumental Album of the Year” at the Junos, Canadian Folk Music Awards and the Western Canadian Music Awards for his sophomore instrumental CD, “…and another thing… “ winning the WCMA. Joël Fafard is that rare breed of instrumentalist: the kind whose appeal reaches far beyond the realm of serious guitar enthusiasts. The gifted slide fingerstyle player writes stirring, melodic compositions.
Artist and Curator in Conversation
Saturday, September 29, 2007, 2:00-4:00 p.m.
Shumiatcher Theatre
Join Artist Joe Fafard and Curator Terrence Heath for a conversation that you won’t want to miss. Admission is free. A reception will follow with an opportunity to have Joe Fafard and Curator/Writer Terrence Heath sign your catalogue for the Joe Fafard exhibition . (Catalogues available for purchase in the MacKenzie Art Gallery Shop).
French Film Screenings
Shumiatcher Theatre
Join us for two evenings of French cinema, presented in collaboration with the Saskatchewan Film Pool. Admission is free.
Friday, October 12, 2007, 7:30 p.m.
Film: "L'Esprit des lieux"
2006-Catherine Martin-84mn.
Distr.: Films en vue.
Rural Identity
The link between rural landscape and national identity in Québec and Canada continues to find an expression in photography and film, media particularly suited to capturing the changing landscape and interpreting it as a loss. Photography's elegiac quality, particularly as described by Roland Barthes, ensures that film will continue to possess, perhaps especially in this digital age, the means of articulating the Romantic reaction against industrialization and urbanization which began in Europe in the late 18th century. It is ironic that cinema, a technological apparatus and full participant in the machine age, is called upon to voice this nostalgic longing for a life whose values, rooted in nature and community, are perceived as somehow more authentic than the impersonal and manufactured modern urban life.
Identité rurale
L'influence de la topographie rurale sur le concept d'identité nationale au Québec et au Canada continue d'être véhiculée à travers la photo et le cinéma, deux médias particulièrement aptes à capturer le paysage et à interpréter son évolution comme une perte. La qualité élégiaque de la photographie, telle que décrit par Roland Barthes en particulier, confirme que le cinéma continuera de posséder, peut-être surtout en cette ère numérique, les moyens d'articuler la réaction romantique contre l'industrialisation et l'urbanisation qui débuta en Europe vers la fin du 18ème siècle. Ironiquement, c'est une machine pleinement imbue de l'ère industrielle, soit le cinématographe, qui sert de porte-parole afin d'exprimer un sentiment de nostalgie pour un mode de vie dont les valeurs, basées sur la nature et la communauté, sont perçues comme davantage authentiques que celles de la vie urbaine moderne, impersonnelle et artificielle.
Dr. Philippe D. Mather, Assistant Professor of Media Studies, University of Regina
Friday, October 26, 2007, 7:30 p.m.
Films:
"Un homme à l'île de Sark"
2005-Isabelle Raynauld-52mn.
Dist.: Films en vue Inc.
"Sur la ligne"
2006-Frédéric Desager-15mn.
Dist.: Netima
La Francophonie
Film Festivals and organizations as diverse as the Namur (Belgium) International Festival of Francophone Film (FIFF) and the Alliance of Francophone Producers of Canada (AFPC) indicate the wide range of activities surrounding French-language film culture in Canada and abroad. Founded in 1999 in Ottawa, the AFPC's mission is to give a voice to francophone and Acadian communities outside Quebec, which should be of immediate interest to Fransaskois cinephiles. The main venue for French-Canadian cinema, however, remains the Rendez-vous du cinéma québécois (RVCQ) which has been held every year in February since 1982. A number of its featured films are also shown at the Namur festival, and include themes such as the relationship between France and its former colonies, the survival of the French language and culture outside France and Quebec, and the unique history and identity of places like Louisiana and the Channel Islands.
La Francophonie
La culture cinématographique de langue française au Canada et à l'étranger se manifeste par de nombreuses activités, y compris celles organisées par des festivals et organismes tels le Festival International du Film Francophone de Namur (Belgique), et l'Alliance des Producteurs Francophones du Canada (AFPC). Fondée en 1999 à Ottawa, la mission de l'AFPC consiste à "donner une voix aux
cummunautés francophones et acadienne à l'extérieur du Québec," mandat qui devrait intéresser les cinéphiles fransaskois. Cependant, le principal forum pour la promotion du cinéma canadien-français demeure les Rendez-vous du cinéma québécois (RVCQ), qui se déroule chaque année pendant le mois de février, et ce depuis 1982. Plusieurs films présentés aux Rendez-vous sont ensuite inscrits au programme du festival de Namur, et abordent des thèmes comme les rapports entre la France et ses anciennes colonies, la survie de la langue et de la culture françaises à l'extérieur de la France et du Québec, ainsi que l'histoire et l'identité singulières de lieux tels la Louisianne et les Îles de la Manche.
Dr. Philippe D. Mather, Assistant Professor of Media Studies, University of Regina
Joe Fafard Sculpture Bus Tour
(led by the artist himself!)
Saturday, October 13, 2007, 1:00 - 4:00 p.m.
Meet in the T.C. Douglas Building Lobby
Registration fee - $25
Meet the artist Joe Fafard during an inspiring bus tour of his local public artworks. Register by calling Selena at 584-4292 by Friday, October 4.
Francophone Cafe Discussion
Saturday, November 17, 2007, 7:30 p.m.
Agra Torchinsky Salon
Explore the contribution of French-speaking arts to the culture of Saskatchewan through an evening of performance and discussion. Joe Fafard will be participant. Admission is free. Cash bar.
Artist Studio Program
Saturday, November 24, 2007, 1:00 - 4:00 p.m.
MacKenzie Art Gallery Studios
Registration fee - $30 (non-members) $25 (members)
Spend an afternoon with Joe Fafard, exploring his work through hands-on activities and discussion. Space is limited, register early by calling Selena at 584-4292.
"Export, Eh?: Getting Canadian Art Out of Canada" Cafe Discussion
Saturday, December 1, 2007, 7:30 p.m.
Agra Torchinsky Salon
What does it take to get Canadian Art out of Canada? Hear the perspectives of two national museum directors, Wayne Baerwaldt (Illingworth Kerr Gallery, Calgary) and Marc Mayer (Director of the Musee d'art contemporain de Montreal) moderated by MacKenzie Art Gallery Director Kate Davis. Admission is free. Cash bar.
School Tour Program
To download The Legacy of Joe Fafard: A Teacher's Guide in English click here.
To download Les Legs deJoe Fafard: Guide de l'Enseignant in French click ici.
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