Booking Catalogue September 2013 – August 2014 - Art Gallery of ...

In the Land of Magic Realism: Etchings by Garry Newton
Available March 2014 to August 2014
Garry Newton is known for his intricate etchings of exquisite plants,
birds and their environments. The laborious process of etching a design
from a copper plate has changed little since the 18th century but
Newton’s exacting standards of botanical accuracy combined with his
evidently profound engagement with nature infuse the painstakinglywrought
works with fresh enchantment.
Garry Newton
Year of the Comet, 1981
Etching
Collection of the Esplanade Arts and Heritage Centre
Exhibition Information
15 art works
1 artist
45 running feet
2 crates
A copy of the book, Bon à tirer: Garry Newton, is included
in each interpretive package for host venues
Collection of the Esplanade Arts and Heritage Centre
This exhibition features a body of Newton’s work inspired by the novel,
Autumn of the Patriarch, written in 1975 by Gabriel García Márquez. The
pieces, Newton once explained, “present certain themes from the book
in a two-dimensional, flat quality, almost as though they were staged
scenery. No foreground, no background, just a middle ground… They’re
not illustrations per se from the book but they attempt to capture the
mood and the atmosphere and some of the events that occurred in the
novel.”
Newton was born in York, England, in 1939 and his family moved to
Medicine Hat, Alberta, in 1948. He studied science at the University of
Melbourne, Australia, and at the University of Alberta where he received
a bachelor’s degree in zoology. As a young man, he travelled extensively
through Europe and the United States before returning to Medicine Hat
to pursue a full-time artistic practice. Garry Newton passed away in
Medicine Hat in 2008.
Curator Xanthe Isbister, Esplanade Arts and Heritage Centre, for the Alberta Foundation
for the Arts Travelling Exhibition Program
Memories of the Farm: Watercolour Paintings by Hazel Litzgus
Available March 2014 to August 2014
Imagine growing up on a farm in a small community during the 1930s.
Ceramic crocks from Medalta Potteries were used in every household,
food was kept cold in the ground and families ate only what the farm
could produce. It was a time of canning, milking, sleigh rides in the
snow and chopping wood for piles that always needed stocking.
Hazel Litzgus
The Cat’s Funeral, 2010
Watercolour on paper
Collection of Alberta Foundation for the Arts
Exhibition Information
14 art works
1 artist
50 running feet
2 crates
Now celebrated among leaders of the Canadian folk art genre, Hazel
Litzgus has always painted. The youngest of four children who lived
on a family farm in Lloydminster, Alberta, she drew on precious pieces
of paper her mother saved especially for her. Today, she constructs
paintings from memory to capture a way of life that is lost to most.
Each detailed watercolor begins with a sketch which was inspired by the
retelling of a handwritten story.
“When our daughter was born, I wanted to make a record for her of the
childhood that shaped me,” says Litzgus. “I wanted her to see that small,
simple, plain farm and love it as I did.”
Hazel Litzgus now has a home and studio in Calgary.
A copy of the book, Where the Meadowlark Sang, is included in
each interpretive package for host venues
Curator Xanthe Isbister, Esplanade Arts and Heritage Centre, for the Alberta Foundation for
the Arts Travelling Exhibition Program. Collection of the Alberta Foundation for the Arts.