What is art anyway?

July 17, 2014 / edebock / 4 Comments

A cool rainy afternoon was a perfect time to visit the Art Gallery of Alberta in downtown Edmonton. We had never been inside the unusual building composed mostly of windows and a winding ribbon of steel before and I was as interested in the architecture as the art inside.

As we wandered through the exhibits, we saw pieces that we liked, pieces that we didn’t care much for and others that simply made us shake our heads. I couldn’t help wondering what makes something art. What makes one thing worthy of display in a prestigious art gallery and another not? For example, take a look at this:

Whether or not they’re to our taste, I’m sure we’d all agree that the paintings on the wall are art, but what about the pile of hammers on the table? Yes, that’s what that is, a pile of hammers! What makes this pile of hammers a work of art and not simply a mess on someone’s workshop floor? I’m afraid I really don’t get it.

Perhaps Richard was right when he looked at the photo of two of our grandchildren that our daughter posted on Facebook yesterday.

Photo: Melaina Graham

“All it needs is a frame and you could sell it for big bucks!” he said. Yes, that looks like art to me!

Why in the world did they keep THAT?

October 24, 2013 / edebock / 2 Comments

This is without a doubt the funniest thing we’ve found while cleaning out my parents’ apartment! Do you have any idea what it is?

In the winter of 1975-76, my father fell on the ice and broke his hip resulting in a partial hip replacement. The surgery wasn’t entirely successful and he endured many years of chronic pain before it was redone. This was his first prosthetic implant! I have absolutely no idea why he kept it but like many people of his generation, he had a hard time throwing things away. When my sister and brother were here a couple of weeks ago, they found income tax receipts dating back to 1948, the year my parents were married!

Needless to say, sorting through everything our parents accumulated over nine decades of life and 65 years of marriage has been somewhat overwhelming. It’s difficult not to get sidetracked as we sift through the memories. Dad’s extensive collection of Inuit art, purchased directly from the artists in the various northern communities that he traveled to during his years of working for the government of the Northwest Territories, already went back to Alberta with my siblings but we’ve found other bits of art that they obviously treasured too; cards and drawings made for them by now grown grandchildren and carefully kept all these years!

Reminders of their world travels are scattered throughout the apartment. Today I came across a list of the 66 countries that they visited written on the back of an envelope. I also found the itinerary for their tour of China taken almost 30 years ago, so similar to the trip we took just 3 months ago. The old slide projector and boxes full of slides also went home with my sister. I look forward to looking at their pictures and comparing their experience to our own.

Yes, it’s easy to become nostalgic and to get caught up in reminiscing but we’re working against a deadline here and I’m beginning to panic! The apartment has to be completely cleaned out by the end of the month and I have to be back in Alberta for a medical appointment on November 1. I also have a huge urge to clean out my own stuff when I get there! Otherwise, someday our children will be doing exactly what we’re doing now and asking the very same question:

Why in the world did they keep THAT?

Statues by the sea

April 22, 2013April 22, 2013 / edebock / 1 Comment

After figuring out where we went wrong trying to find our way last week, we did Dalian’s seaside walk today. Though it was misty over the ocean, it was a comfortable day for walking and according to my pedometer, we covered about 7.5 km.

Dalian is a city of statues. I couldn’t begin to photograph all the ones we saw today but there were a few that stood out to me so I thought I’d share my favourites with you. We got off the bus and started our walk at the giant seashell at the entrance to Fujiazhuang Beach. Though a few hardy souls were swimming and a couple of wedding parties were having photos taken, most of the people on the beach were fishing or gathering seaweed and a few, like us, were just out for a stroll.

From Fujiazhuang, we followed a boardwalk that wandered along the coastline. At times, it offered great views of the ocean but some of the time it followed a busy road and the views were often blocked by construction. Along the way, I fell in love with the two white statues. They both captured the carefree feeling of a day by the sea.

The inline skating statues near the end of our walk were by far the most fun though. Being a Monday, most of the city was at work and we shared the day with many seniors, some of them with young grandchildren in tow. I waited my turn while a group of older Chinese women took turns having their "skating" photos taken. They were clearly delighted to see that I was going to have mine taken too. In fact, they lingered to watch and offer advice on my pose! As foreigners, we’re a bit of an oddity here. People often take a second look when they see us and it isn’t unusual to notice someone taking our picture. They usually do it somewhat surreptitiously but these women were quite open about it. We couldn’t speak with one another but laughter is the same in any language!

: img 1230

: img 1252

: img 1255

: img 1257

Nativity

December 6, 2012December 6, 2012 / edebock / 10 Comments

When I hear of controversies and lawsuits in various places in the United States over the public display of nativity scenes at Christmas time, I’m glad I live in rural Alberta where we’re still free to say Merry Christmas to one another and to portray the real reason for the season! As I mentioned in yesterday’s post, our hand carved olive wood nativity from old Jerusalem is my most treasured Christmas decoration. It’s the first one to come out of storage each year and the last to be put away again.

This year, there’s also a nativity scene on display in front of our church and it’s the reason that a lot of things on my Christmas To Do list haven’t been done yet. For many years it sat in storage too badly weathered to be used; so many years, in fact, that many of us had forgotten that it even existed. Over the past couple of weeks, I spent many peaceful hours in the basement of the church repainting the nine almost life sized figures.