. FORMER VANCOUVER Sun art critic Ann Rosenberg opened her new Foto Base Gallery on June 24

in Gastown.

oosier

of alternative art scen

Ann Rosenberg’s Foto Base Gallery in Gastown |

Word Power, Foto Base Gallery, 237 Carrall St., Vancouver, to

July 6,

OR THOSE unaware of the event, June 24 marked

the official opening of Gastown’s Foto Base Gallery at

231 Carrall St., a venue devoted exclusively to
photography and other varieties of art generally created by
_photo-based reproductive processes.

It should be a matter of interest
to observe that this new gallery —
the real subject of this review — is
the creation of Ann Rosenberg, a
long-standing art critic for the
Vancouver Sun.

‘ Because Rosenberg frequently
championed the cause of emerg-
ing artists and alternative galleries
in her columns, itis entirely ap-
propriate that the inaugural exhibit
of her own essentially alternative
gallery be entitled Word Power
and feature the media-inspired
work of many relative newcomers
tothe local artscene.

The works of Michael De Cour-
cy and Anne Marie Slater are the
only exclusively photographic
pieces in this show.

De Courcy’s Witness Series of
18 color portraits depicting
Jehovah's Witnesses is more inter-
esting as a subtle representation of
honest piety and simple-hearted
tesolve than as an exposition of
what De Courcy admittedly
regards as harrassment and sensa-
tionalism perpetrated by salvation
mongers pushing Watch Tower
and Awake on public street cor-
ners.

Slater's two works employ con-
trast in their exploration of the
dichotomies inherent in contem-
porary urban existence.

In Fiction/Reality, the juxtaposi-
tion of blank TV screen and blank

ART REVIEW

jail cell provokes serious specula-
Hon in its dramatic evocation of
hopelessness and despair.

James Carl’s Redemption con-
sists of a life-size crucifix compos-
ed entirely of recycled beer cans
(and, of course, the cart in which
he transported the work across the
city).

It is essentially a conceptual per-
formance piece in which the
photos documenting the artist's
pilgrimage are a component of the
work itself.

Likewise, Joy Henley’s Bath
Idyll, an installation located in the
gallery’s washroom, is entirely
reliant on photography for its ef-
fect.

Here numerous black-and-white
close-ups of the artist’s mouth and
lips echo the humming and
splashing of Henley herself in a
recording that emanates from the

washroom’s concealed shower.

Michael Lawlor, Gary Ouimet
and Jucly Wapp all resort to mix-
ed-media collage in their exploita-
tion of images, proliferated by the
press for mass consumption.

Wapp uses a Canon color copier
to generate limited-edition multi-
ples for her technically competent
but otherwise conventional
photomontages.

Lawlor and Ouimet, on the
other hand, transfer their media-
derived artifacts directly onto the
works at hand.

Quimet produces a series of
8x10-inch painterly collages utiliz-
ing medical tape and a ‘30s medi-
cal text on childhood deformities.

Lawlor’s work is a Landscape
Series of pop-art photomontages in
which modular, pop-riveted
Cibachromes are adorned with a
diverse array of toys and other
appropriate artifacts.

In some of the pieces, where
outward form is reduced to mere
mimicry, we come full circle and,
ibsugh medium is still part of the
message, content reigns.

In ORAF's Self Portrait, Hell and
Two Obits (three hand-tinted
photos drawn from his Yellow
Journalism installation previously
seen at Gallery Fifty-Six), the famil-
iar format of the popular press is
directly aped with subversively
parodistic intent.

The only complaint that might
be voiced about this space is that
there is not enough of it. Ina
sense this first exhibit provides a
potent recommendation for
Rosenberg’s creation.

With Word Power she joins the
ranks of those who mould culture
at the grass roots in this city.

NVC reconsiders grant funding

A HANDFUL: of Vancouver arts
organizations may not receive
their annual arts assistance grants
from the North Shore
municipalities this year.

The City of North Vancouver has
decided it na Jonger wants to fund
arts groups outside the North
Shore area, which has left some
groups in limbo. They include: the
Vancouver Cantata Singers, the In-

ternational Writer's Festival, the
Vancouver Opera, Vancouver
Playhouse, and the Vancouver
Youth Symphony. Together, the
groups have requested a total of
$17,000.

(Applications to the arts
assistance grant program, —ad-
ministered since 1990 by the
North Shore Arts Commission,
must receive the unanimous sup-
port of all three North Shore

municipalities.)

The matter has since been turn-
ed over to the arts prant jury,
which will report back: te the
municipalities with recommenda-
tions.

This year the arts assistance pro-
gram received 32 applications.
The 27 that were approved re-
quested -a total of $131,400 —
almost twice the available funds.

Grouse giants

THE GIANTS are coming. To Grouse Mountain.

Grouse Mountain Resorts has commissioned Squarnish sculptor
Glenn Greensides to create eighteen 16-foot wood sculptures
depicting all aspects of forest life, :

Greensides has just finished his second sculpture, of a woman
hiker. At one per month, the entire project is expected to take him
three years to complete,

“The most difficult thing is finding the wood,” said Susan Dore,
director of sales and marketing. “We're sourcing naturally fallen
trees that are rotten,”

In conjuction with the sculpture exhibit, Grouse is developing a
network of interpretative trails as well as an interpretative centre,

Teacher honored

SHERWOOD PARK Elementary teacher Joe Berarducci has been
named the recipient of the 1993 Professional Music Educator
Award. °

Berarducci, who won the 1992 North Vancouver Music Educators
Professional Teacher of the Year award last year, is best known for:
his work in the Orff approach, named after German composer Karl
Orff (1895-1982), :

He co-authored the Windsong Series for recorder playing as well
as Playing Percussion Instruments,

Red back on radio

THE MAN who introduced rock and roll to Vancouver is back. .
On Aug. 3, North Vancouver's Red Robinson will join CISL 650 as —
morning host. ;
“Radio is more in my blood now than ever. I’ve watched what
has happened in the radio industry over the last few years and |
can’t wait to get back on the air to put some fun back,” said Robin-
son.
Robinson began his radio career at the age of 15. From 1952 to
1983, he broadcasted for C}JOR, CKWX, C-FUN and CKLG, while
taking the stage with entertainers including Elvis, the Everly Brothers
and The Beatles. ;
‘M's about time we got Red on CISL 650,” said program director
Brad Phillips. ‘Red is indentified with the oldies we play more than
anyone else in Canada.” ee

Bs os) ayes "

NEWS photo Terry Peters
DICKIE MOTHERWELL wanted to learn how te paint so she
spent over two years creating 78 large canvases based on a
deck of tarot cards. Motherwell says she wanted to approach
the cards in a positive, holistic way, giving them a more
modern fook, The cards are on display until July 11 at Park
Royal South Mall. ,