Hovering between this year and the next  

one eye open, one eye closed

murmuration a halo of movement and sound surrounding

The Sae half of our collaboration is going to her other home in Japan for a visit and will send us photos from there beginning next week on the third of January. We look forward to starting the new year with you.

Painting by Eric McConnachie  done while visiting the gallery.

and this is what we wish for you this holiday season.

Christmas is all well and good...

but it's a bit of a hard climb.

Yesterday both Sae and I discovered the evidence of mouse quite independent of each other,

in places close to where we work, behind the computer and the toaster oven and coffee maker at home.

So, I wondered what that might be pointing at. Every creature has a very particular perspective

based on their size, physical body, the way they move in their environment.

The mouse sees things close up but does not have much of an overview.

It's the details that I seem to have been overlooking of late and not looking behind what is most obvious.

Any reminder to challenge our habitual way of looking is good.  

Today the books arrived

and hopefully the mice (just discovered by unsanitary evidence) will depart. 

We are asking them politely to pack their bags and leave.

Mouse portrait by Daniel Hanequand.

Please visit 80 Gerrard East for an Open House
from noon to five p.m. tomorrow.

Refreshments will be served and all the galleries will be open.
The new exhibit: "what is necessity?"

We have changed the exhibit in the collage and ascending galleries to respond to the title 'higher up and further in'.

The E.J. Gold gallery continues to show Daniel Hanequand's 'a human landscape'
and all of his work from previous shows can be viewed in video format in the Gold library.

Daniel Hanequand's original drawings can be seen at the gallery and purchased from the artist's estate.

Sometimes being sick is like standing still, spinning in place
wondering when can I get off this not so merry go'round.
When we're sick it's hard to remember what it feels like to be well
and when we are well it's hard to remember (thank goodness) being sick.


Please get well Miss Sae.
It's much more fun doing the blog with you.

We are building a new show, singing bowls, and honey all of a golden hue looking to find 'what is necessity' 

What does it look like when two friends share questions

questions without easy answers

that ask us to look inside to what we know,

   in the body and in the shadows that stretch out from us.

The same questions take on such different appearances

when we let them enter,

like looking at an elephant from different sides of the same room. 

This sculpture has a strong quiet presence that invites me also to be quiet,

respectful not to intrude upon the space he occupies.

I am reminded that such a space exists within each of us.

A private space, self contained  and precious.  

Sculpture by Floyd Kuptana

(our in-residence rock star)

Sculpture by Floyd Kuptana

Table set by Eron Boyd

plates washed after by Sae Kimura. 

Treat eaten by all.

a metal gate

a twisted rope

a pile of rocks 

on the right path but walking backwards

How do I remember what I have never known?

I will remember this field of flags 

blowing in the wind 

a thousand gestures and one gesture 

I can receive.

and me...

being seen.

Today walking through the valley

everything alive and breathing

everything  colour and fragrance

that sense when taste and smell combine

to describe the earth as somewhere we inhabit

up and down and side to side  

we are surrounded

 so many things are supposed to be done by now

but so many things have not been done yet

straight lines are twisted

things I remembered are forgotten

I want to know how I got so lost

and how I got back to somewhere that I know

...I followed the thread home.

A word calls what it means to itself.  The word is the perfect container for its meaning.

A line is a movement, a gesture

a line has direction, and energy and the possibility of reminding us of something that we know

not only as an image in our head 

but as a sensation in our body.

the 'right' hat

a place to stand

a way in and a way out

perspective

the proximity of others

a reminder of flight

red shoes

a measure of comfort and space between

something round

the play of colour

art.

 Watching something being constructed  is very different than simply seeing the finished construction.

I get a sense of the weight and largeness of it and of how it could fall and break .

My work is done with pencil and paper.

It takes time and concentration too but I am not wrestling physically with my materials.

Today we made alterations in this installation to accommodate the new work of Daniel Hanequand.

It is exciting being witness to change. 

These plaster pillars were created by Ramona Zoladek in November 2014.

They were installed in this configuration by Lee Harris.  (shown above)

Sometimes our conversation leads us to wonder

and what is usually kept small and contained explodes

sending seeds flying in every direction.

Maybe it is possible to travel to a new place

holding a seed

carried by the wind.

carefully wrapped and stamped and carried 

from hand to hand

on truck and boat and plane

A package sent

and delivered

to you.

...and seeing with too many I's

The harvest moon will rise on the horizon tonight around 7:30. 

what I want myself to be 

what I think myself to be 

what I think others want me to be

the layers are between me and my clear reflection

Is it possible to find who or what I am?

The day started something like this...

going up, going down, 

turning this corner and that ,

spinning in place.

A kind of efficiency but also feeling like being squeezed through a tube.

The day ended like this...

a quiet exhale,

the satisfaction of completion.

an umbrella to carry

a hat to wear

a friend to meet

and go home with

Deborah started making sculptures just like she is making collage, in response to Daniel's drawings.

It seemed they are having joyful conversation through their work.

Deborah's talent is that she can actually go into art work and find the truth of what the artist saw.

It seems that she can enter from behind, from the inside out. 

Now showing in the collage gallery, Daniel Hanequand's series 'b e c o m i n g   w h a t   w e   d o'.

Possibility exists in whatever is happening in the present moment.

Creativity is the act of making use of that possibility. 

These photos are today's landscape in front of the gallery.

Eleven miniature collages by Vivian Felsen.

This drawing by Daniel Hanequand is one of eight in a series entitled 'b e c o m i n g   w h a t   w e    d o'

showing in the upper collage gallery at Gallery Arcturus and is part of an ongoing reveal of Hanequand's work. 

The cactus is growing in the adjoining E.J.Gold Gallery.

They seem to have a symbiotic relationship.

construction and deconstruction

fast forward and skillful reverse (safety net required).

It seems we spend the first half of life constructing an identity

and the last half trying to be free of all we have accumulated.

Each direction is a journey to be taken.

Sails hanging waiting for the wind.

Finally, we, Vivian Felsen, Sae Kimura and deborah harris,  agreed to let the sculptures in the gallery space be the subject for our painting. It is always somewhat intimidating to begin to paint but once started it is hard to stop.

The more you look, the more you see. 

A day that has been washed with rain

and clouds still full with promise of more

looking through the bars of the back window 

the outside reflections enter and become the inside space   

When we say yes to something we are committing to it often without giving it much consideration.

 What is perfect?

This building on the corner of Parliament and Queen was a used furniture business for as long as I can remember. It's empty now and will probably be torn down for a condo which they will not paint turquoise. There seems to be construction on every downtown street this summer forcing many small businesses to close. In this photo the red sign and blue deserted store front are a treat for the eye. Sometimes art can tell a difficult story beautifully. 

Today we had the privilege of seeing a small fraction of the collected works of Daniel Hanequand (deceased) at his wife's home here in Toronto. There is nothing to compare with seeing an artist's original works, up close, uninterrupted by glass, not just one isolated piece but a whole lifetime of drawings and paintings. Some of his finest work was done using pencil, (as is shown above), also pen and ink, pencil crayon and paint. It is truly a staggering body of work. Over the next year, we at the gallery with the generous assistance of his wife Maria-Carla Carrara, look forward to exhibiting his work in the five gallery spaces. Please check our website to follow its unfolding. 

what is the difference between a ball and a bowl

it's almost as though the ball was carved out from the bowl

that the bowl is the shell of the ball

and is balancing something that is carried and moves with us 

different from balancing something that stays still?

These pieces in the upper collage gallery seem to bring the human element to the current exploration of

'a tenuous balance' returning to the original description of how balance must be found within movement.

A room of one's own

has the perfect chair, with just the right amount of red,

a window or two,

screen door,

book shelf, with a favorite book,

a pen and sheaves of paper.

small enough to be quiet,

close enough to be far away

and not much else... except the agreement to go there. 

We believe art inspires questions that cannot easily be answered.

Sculpture is by Floyd Kuptana and is viewable in the collage gallery on the second floor.

Walking into the library, the E.J. Gold Gallery, this is the figure that meets you.

She is looking at you looking at her, a mutual regarding.

It is an expression known from the inside,

 recognized and appreciated this morning by Sae who took this picture.

Then looking at this picture we realized that the message, 'Don't Make Any Sudden Moves'

is what we need to say to viewers visiting the current exhibit 'a  t e n u o u s   b a l a n c e'.

All of the sculptures in the gallery space have been carefully assembled using 

weight, gravity and tension to achieve a stable but precarious balance and must therefore

be approached with stillness and attention.     (no glue, screws or nails have been used)

Today begins the last long weekend of the summer.

Some travel north to lakes and cottages and others head south to the beaches of our lake here.

Either way we are all looking to get a cooling break from the hot city.

two figures 

close

side by side

back to back

turning they face each direction

finally,  they face each other

then part.

Art has always been a way of telling the story of being human, life and death, struggle and joy.

Art lets us transform our experience into a form that we can see and digest.

Our individual lives seem such a complexity of detail,

woven so tightly that it is difficult to see the one string that ties it all together.    

This is a favorite painting of Jamie's by Vivian Felsen.

PART I

You're sick of hangin' around and you'd like to travel

Get tired of travelin' and you want to settle down

I guess they can't revoke your soul for tryin'

Get out of the door and light out and look all around

PART II

Sometimes the light's all shinin' on me

Other times I can barely see

Lately it occurs to me what a  long, strange trip it's been

PART III

PART IV

A very dear friend of ours, Jamie LaTrobe is moving quickly towards departing from this earth. Jamie took this photo and posted it on his blog as 'What's New'. We are hoping with all our hearts that this is a premonition of his own taking flight.

Jamie has shared with us the richness of his seeing, the kindness and compassion of his being. His photographic work is a celebration of life.

Please give yourself the pleasure of meeting Jamie and his work by visiting dragonwhistle.ca

what is perfect?

a feather and the bird it came from

each petal  and leaf  and blade of grass

a bee,  an ant,  the bark of a tree

Maybe what we draw   or paint   or sing   or dance

is our attempt to know what is perfect,

an attempt which inspires us  humbles us  and brings us into a relationship with perfection.

A shadow is not the same as a reflection. There are no details or colors in a shadow,

just the form slightly stretched or twisted but always recognizable.

It seems somewhat magical to see this thin film of myself easily sliding upon the wall

or on the ground in front of me as I walk or sometimes following behind.

An almost perfect formless form, inseparable from the form it echoes.

Plants are always moving 

turning towards the sun

catching the slightest movement in the air.

 They find their balance being rooted in the earth.

This is where we invite visitors to sit and rest.

This old Japanese wood print, overlayed with collage figure and balls,

seems to perfectly represent how balance must be found within movement.

As life is constantly in motion finding balance is a continuous challenge.

When everything is off the walls and installations dismembered there are paintings and materials piled up in the corners and hallways waiting to find storage space. But what is most surprising and exciting is seeing the bare space again. Windows that have been covered are now opened up. A plant came upstairs from the studio and set a whole series of changes in motion. It all happened so fast, so fluidly. It is a space that we have never been in before. Collage sculptures have materialized almost magically. It  is an experiment and a discovery, seeing materials that are in the gallery and finding ways of bringing them together in a new and dynamic relationship. It seems that it is all about balance, 'a tenuous balance'. A sensation and a reality that each of us lives with.  

no words at the table

A human has the capacity to know itself

an animal has the capacity to be itself

but animals know how to live on the earth 

and we have mostly forgotten

Sae and I are making books

translating our conversations

into images and objects

gestures twisting and turning 

and coming together in space. 

An experience we are recording 

to share.

These are two collages, the one on the left is by Eron Boyd and the one on the right is by deborah harris. They were made at the same time in different rooms of the studio, each was using a duplicate copy of the same image (unbeknownst to them).  Eron kept only the body and deborah kept only the head. The resulting images are uncanny self portraits of their posture and attitude while making visual sound poetry together. They use this image as an end page on many of the videos to represent their collaboration: E B O H A

E B O H A has made over 120 visual sound poetry videos which you can see on:

  www.youtube.com/GalleryArcturus

Today Floyd Kuptana visited the gallery after being away for a while.

He started on a new piece, another Sedna. It's always exciting to see a stone take shape.

The piece in the photo above is whale bone and soap stone, finished in 2015.

This little guy is in the studio window, also by Floyd.

Sedna is a stone sculpture by Inuit artist Floyd Kuptana and is part of the gallery's permanent collection.

What am I looking at?

Miniature cutout figures are placed within a photographic Midway installation

transforming it into a magical and expansive world.

This a part of a photographic installation 'Along for the Ride', 

a feature of the exhibition C I R C U S at Gallery Arcturus

showing til June 18 2016.

The Midway photos are by Simeon Posen and the installation is by deborah harris.

The above photos are taken by Sae Kimura.