If I Ruled the World!

What is good art, good urban design and good architecture? I am not using the word great because that would be too much to strive for. Houses and buildings are being build to minimum standard of good taste. We have a new Art Gallery which is dedicated more to a social space for weddings than for showing of art. And can you believe the "gobbledegook" of the exterior. Who honestly thinks this even good architecture? We are city that has allowed the mayor to come in with the desire for better urban design, saying no more crap. Right?
First I would look at the fabric of this city divided by a beautiful river. Urban design starts with how we use this city. Traffic is obviously how most of us travel about, so my wish is to get rid of the traffic department and put in place a urban design department. Educated planners who are there to make the population of the city happy and not just the cars. We would not have the renewed 99th street, with no attention paid to the communities.
There are style-less condos being build in this area around Whyte Avenue where no educated person would say this is great design. When talking to the design review members the answer is " You should have seen it before." My wish is that the Design Committee have a lot more power in the design of our buildings otherwise what good does it do.
They say that there are architects involved in the building of the apartments along Whyte Avenue by Bonnie Doon Shopping Center. If that is true it doesn't show. Buy into it because it is cheap and you do not understand the quality of the design. In Edmonton we honestly do not expect better, I wish it would change. If I ruled the world.
Education is where I would start. Educate the mayor and the citizens about good architecture so he and they recognize it. When we had the competition for the art gallery the talks of the contenders was very well attended. Our excitement was it would be great. The worlds best architects vied for an opportunity to design the new building. The jury of experts was deadlocked and in the end two non architects decided what was best for this city. This building will never win any architectural awards. It is in fact falling apart with damage ongoing to be repaired. Inside this gallery the art hangs in boxes with barely adequate lighting. Edmonton deserves better.

Five year and Ten!

The Red Gallery has been open for ten years. I have since that time build the Bergstrom Block, where we have lived for five years. Currently David and I are building a second home on our property at the Pembina
River. This building will be off the grid using solar panels. During the winter we will test if our electric oil heaters can function to warm the space. If this is successful we will instal plumbing. The process is slow but very exciting. The reason I bring this up on an art web site is to speak about the landscape. The natural landscape, of the river, the trees or the sky does not interest me as an artist. I am draws to the human interaction in the landscape. We have build a road and this I can paint. There was a small shack eight feet by twelve, this I can paint. The house with it's metal siding doesn't interest me yet I see it as a monolith in the landscape, so we will see.
This winter I am finishing some older paintings, a few erotic work and starting a new series Whyte avenue on July 1st.
There is a fun film about art in the 60's called "Who Gets To Call It Art?" Available at your local library. It is a question I always ask myself when I see some of the work at the AGA. I love mark making so watching installations is so trying. That is so old, but then again so is painting.
So if you get a chance, watch the movie and see some strange films and installations.

April in Edmonton

It is the middle of April in a city that seems to be stuck in winter. There is still snow on the ground. As an artist I appreciate the free time from other jobs to just paint. But I am looking at spring cleaning, not only in my house but all the projects that I started. One of my favourite efforts is to use my video camera to make a DVD of the photo albums. I can watch my childhood float by on the 52" High Definition T.V. My memories of my childhood are also enhanced by small drawings that I still have. These drawings were of wash hug on the washline, mermaids in the sea, donald duck and farmyards. My parents would take walks to the Castle Twickle in Delden, where we saw deer and swans. Holland is probably in full bloom today. Well, that was a lifetime ago. I started these nostalgia videos to entertain my mother who is in a care facility.