 Hi, art lovers! | | |  | Detail of Pink Moon by Lindsay Montgomery. (Lindsay Montgomery) | | | You know that feeling of running into an old friend on the street — a friend you actually want to see, that is? I’m a cornball, I guess, but I love when that happens. And I get a similar rush of surprise and delight when I stumble on art — IRL! — that I’ve only had the chance to see on Instagram. One recent example comes to mind. I was at the Art Gallery of Burlington in early March, and a few ceramic sculptures by Lindsay Montgomery were there at the time. FWIW, I felt a powerful kinship with this one: a hissing tea-drinking crone. But really, I was just thrilled to see something of Lindsay’s in the wild.
If you’re a longtime reader, you’ll recognize Lindsay’s stuff. She mostly works in ceramics, and her style riffs on a few of her favourite eras of Western art history. There are nods to Staffordshire figurines and the art of the Renaissance and Middle Ages. (On the latter point, I’d call her a trendsetter.) We’ve covered her a few times over the years, and I’ve always enjoyed chatting with her about her latest obsessions, from pandemic anxiety to the rise of Trump. So after that trip to the Art Gallery of Burlington, the team working on our studio-visit web series (In Process) gave her a call.
We wanted to catch up and hear what Lindsay’s been working on and, as it turned out, she was busy finishing a bunch of new works for a solo exhibition in Montreal. That show, In the Belly, is on now at Chiguer Art Contemporain in Montreal through June 7, and the centrepiece is a large glazed earthenware sculpture entitled Pink Moon.
We were lucky enough to capture the making of that work. And you can see it come to life in the newest episode of In Process.
“There's a lot of self-portraiture in these pieces,” Lindsay says in the episode, talking about Pink Moon and the rest of the work now appearing in Montreal. Lately, Lindsay’s been thinking about her upbringing in Washago, Ont., a rural community she describes as the “gateway to cottage country.” (For anyone who enjoyed Destination: Art, the village is about a 20-minute drive from the Tree Museum.) Pink Moon captures a memory from her “feral” girlhood: running through the woods with a pack of best friends. Read more about it here and watch In Process on the CBC Arts YouTube channel.
One more thing: remember how I was talking about the Canadian Screen Awards last week? The show will now air on CBC Television in addition to CBC Gem. (Watch it tonight at 8 p.m. ET.) Before the weekend, we interviewed this year’s host, Edmonton-born comic Lisa Gilroy. | | | | | Because we promised you eye candy ... | | | | |  | Natalie Hunter | | In Toronto, the Bentway has launched its summer exhibition (Sun/Shade). There’s plenty of free outdoor programming to check out, including this project by Hamilton-based artist Natalie Hunter, Bathed in Strange Light. Translucent prints of Natalie’s neon-hued photos have been installed on the windows of the Bentway Studio at Canoe Landing Park. If you walk past the building, you may literally find yourself bathed in a strange (and beautiful!) light. Commissioned by the Bentway in partnership with Contact Photography Festival, the work is up through Oct. 5. | | | | |  | Artwork: Caroline Cloutier; Photo: Jean-Michael Seminaro | | Emerging Light by Caroline Cloutier. See this painting and more of her work at Galerie Nicolas Robert in Montreal. The show is on through July 5. | | | | |  | Artwork: Holly Fedida; Photo: Hunt Gallery | | One last dreamy image packed with colour and light: The Omen by Holly Fedida. | | | | |  | Alan Parkinson | | | | | From dancers on icebergs to a giant hamster wheel, Toronto’s never seen art like this. Organizers give us the scoop on the festival’s must-see premieres. | | | | |  | Aleksandar Antonijevic/National Ballet of Canada | | | | | He’s about to retire from the National Ballet of Canada and ready for the next phase of his storied career. | | | | |  | Yuula Benivolski | | | | | | | Friend and collaborator Gabrielle Moser reflects on the late Toronto artist, who died last month at the age of 40. | | |  | Finn O'Hara | | That’s an iconic Canadian landscape right there — so what’s with the nightclub lasers? Finn’s working on a series of photographs called Southern Lights, and he stopped by Q to tell us all about it. | | | | | Share this newsletter | | or subscribe if this was
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I’m Leah Collins, senior writer at CBC Arts. Until next time! | | | | | |
