All posts by Kristen Scholfield-Sweet

Arts

Review of ‘My Life in Three Chapters’

Four ways to read three chapters

Vijen Vijendren’s exhibition: My Life in Three Chapters, now showing at the Old Schoolhouse Gallery, is as richly varied as the story of his travels.  But how to look at art pieces that are so dramatically different in size, in materials used, and in ways of applying those materials?

Vijen’s work creates a whole from craft, technology, philosophy and imagination.  These four aspects come together to make something wonderful, and are ways to see his body of work.

Continue reading Review of ‘My Life in Three Chapters’ →
Arts

Art Review of A Show of Gratitude: in praise of going the distance

The current exhibition by Hannes Grosse at the Old Schoolhouse Gallery finally explains an answer I received in 1984. I was an uppity puppy of a new faculty member at the Nova Scotia College of Design, and I asked the head of the Studio Division, Ron Shuebrook,  “Why make art?”  He turned slowly, held my gaze, and said, “to go the distance.  Just go the distance.” 

Go the distance to where?

Hannes Grosse knows the distance, and how to get there. 

A Show of Gratitude is more than a history of a life with art, it is a revelation of the depth of perseverance and the height of commitment required for the journey.  

Here are three ways you might look at the distance traveled in Hannes’ art.

Continue reading Art Review of A Show of Gratitude: in praise of going the distance →
Arts

A review of Island Time: Finding Time

I learned there were five kinds of time nestled within our usual sense of “time.”  The current exhibition at the Old Schoolhouse Gallery, called Island Time by artists Ester Strijbos, Janny Thompson and Monica Nawrocki, seems like a good opportunity to find these in art.

Continue reading A review of Island Time: Finding Time →
Uncategorized

A Review of ‘Waterscapes’ at the Old Schoolhouse Gallery

Art is not simple. It is rife with contradictions and has a mandate to baffle. This seems especially true when the artist has the ability to make the familiar unfamiliar. Naomi Carins is such an artist. Waterscapes, a solo exhibition of large representational paintings of island shorelines, continuing this coming weekend at the Old Schoolhouse Gallery, forces the viewer to reconsider what is realism, and what is abstraction.

Continue reading A Review of ‘Waterscapes’ at the Old Schoolhouse Gallery →