b cdn’s blog

I'm building a site at typepad so please check it out at brunocanadien.com. It will eventually host my blog, artwork albums, portfolio and storefront. For those of you in facebook it will also be fed to my fb page. If you have any suggestions for my new site please feel free to leave a comment, or email me!

Where has the time gone? This winter hasn't seen a lot of painting, you know, the usual excuses of having a job, family, small tiny house, etc etc. not leaving much time or will for art-making. ... but it still happens on a small scale. However, it's all good (especially with all the running, hiking and snowshoeing that got done). 

I've recently had the good fortune to have works bought for a couple of major collections. The Glenbow Museum purchased Big Rivers (2006) from its exhibition Honouring Tradition, and the Alberta Foundation for the Arts purchased Magpie (2006) and two paintings from the Constellations Series entitled Island and Mainland (2006), and Mini Sosa (2008).

Mini Sosa

Mini Sosa was completed last summer, featuring the Indigenous communities and populations of the upper Missouri River (Mini Sosa in Lakota).

How well do you know Indian Country today? Test your awareness with this Traveler IQ Challenge  ...

This game was customized by me with information gathered during research for the Constellations paintings.

find us on Facebook

Hey kids, I now have a facebook page with more photographs of work, a vox blog feed, events listing, etc. Check out bruno canadien on Facebook and become a fan to recieve updates on various  b cdn news and events.

Calgary 82-O

I've finally got some decent photographs of the work I did this summer, thanks to photographer John Dean. Please check out my flickr to view a couple of new paintings from the Constellations Series as well as new work inspired by northern First Nations and Metis floral patterns and designs.

I never did make it to Bob Boyer's exhibition at the McKenzie in Regina, but hopefully I will get to see it as it travels across country.

I did make it back to the Shurniak for the rock art "exhibition" (museum display), which served to at least point one in the direction of the main outdoor rock art gallery that is the Churchill River in northern Saskatchewan. There, hundreds of paintings in red ochre grace the cliff walls over the lakes and waterways, a visual legacy left by the old ones.

Foreal

I managed to get out of the studio this week to visit two very different art galleries in southern Saskatchewan, the McKenzie in Regina and the Shurniak in Assiniboia.

The McKenzie had much to offer with five simultaneous shows, including a portrait exhibition from their permanent collection, a Kent Monkman installation, and painting exhibitions featuring Wally Dion, Dorothy Knowles and Allen Sapp.

CAPTURED: Portraiture and the Permanent Collection was chock-a-block with drawings, paintings and photographs by regional and international artists. The works all vied for wall space, despite being hung in the largest gallery room. However, a few images stood out for me, including a piece by Carl Beam and a portrait in oils, of a northern Cree trapper (unfortunately I don’t remember the artist) which was handled without the usual romanticism. Happily, the other exhibitions were allowed to breathe, and Allen Sapp: Portraits of Community was rewarding in the sense that one does come away with a feeling for Sapp’s northern Saskatchewan community. His paintings are successful in large part because each one is a gentle reminder that native people are first and foremost just people living their lives, as a opposed to one dimensional characters or a political entity.

Wally Dion also addresses issues of identity with his fragmented portrait works. Betty stood out as an exception to the rule that no one does monumental portraits of their elder female relations. Well, Dion does, and he did it beautifully.

In Assiniboia, Bill Shurniak’s extensive private art collection is on public display at the gallery named after himself. There you have the opportunity to view works by the Group of Seven, Bill Reid, and other national and international artists. The Shurniak also hosts temporary and travelling exhibitions, all within the comfortable setting of the newly built gallery. I look forward to returning next month for Kiwetinohk, reproductions of Northern First Nation Rock Art from Northern Saskatchewan and Northern Manitoba. I’m also looking forward to returning to the McKenzie Gallery for Bob Boyer: His Life’s Work, opening September 19.

Floral #4

Dene Floral #4

Acrylic on acid-free canvas paper
11&3/4" x 9"

3 paintings in my studio ...

Studio view of (left to right) Calgary 82-O, a freedom fighter in-progress (for the Gwich'in) 12" x 12", and Just Completed And Not Yet Titled (36" x 30"). Unfortunately, this photo isn't picking up the heavily worked surface of the large painting, that's why professional photographers are so handy!

two recent works

Two recent works: Drumheller 82-P (24" x 36") on left, and unfinished piece on right. Both works are graphite and acrylic on board-mounted topographic maps.

Prickly Pear Cactus

This summer, my wife and I are in rural southern Saskatchewan, developing our practice as full-time artists. The prairie landscape, light, and relative isolation of the area are ideal for major studio work time. I'm continuing the themes begun in Alberta, with more emphasis on graphite, something never really explored in my major works before. I have so far completed a painting/drawing on masonite, incorporating graphite and acrylic roses, and several drawings. A second floral painting will begin immediately. I am also planning on an addition to the Constellation Series, focusing on the the southwest, i.e. Pueblo and Dine country.

studio, June 18, 2008

So, my studio is a mess, but it's a working mess right? This work in progress, tentatively entitled "Parked", incorporates drawing and painting techniques, using "northern" and "southern" imagery. The skull is done in pencil and conte, while the rest of it is pencil, acrylic and collage.