36 — Friday, Septernber 17, 1999 — North Shore News

Art in context:

Layne Christensen

News Reporter
layne@usnews.com

GENERATIONS: Five
Decades of Art in West
Vanceuver is more than
just paint on walls.

The exhibit, which opened
Thursday at Gertrude Lawson
House, offers insight into the
lives of 20 artists, who honed
theiz craft and helped shape,
West Van's thriving arts scene

in the years 1912 to 1962.
The show continues to Dec.
18.

Deborah Tuvttens, curator
at Gertrude Lawson House,
home to the West Vancouver
Muscum and Archives, says
she saw the museum show as
a way to add context to art.

“Galleries only provide ‘oil
on canvas: 1954,’” by way of
explanation of an artists work,
she says. “A museum is about
history.” Tuyttens sees
Geverations as a history of
West Vancouver through the
eyes of the arts community.

Early in the planning
stages, the show’s curator,
West Van art consultant
Ingunn Kemble, met with
Gordon and Marion Smith.

The Smiths were part of a
growing group of artist
Triends that chose to make
West Vancouver their home in
the 740s and °50s.

These included Bert (B.C.)
Binning and his wife Jessic,
Alistair and Betty Bell, Geoff
and Ruth Massey.

“T knew there was very fine art created by
these people,” says Kemble during a preview of
the show. “What I wanted to know abour was
their lives.”

‘What she discovered, she says, was “an
absolute treasure trove ef the early clays.”

In choosing Arthur Erickson and Geoff
Masscy to design their first home in 1953, the
Smiths “exposed an emerging community to
‘the possibilities of modern architecture and its
sensitivity to site.” Their current home, com-
pleted in 1966, is one of Erickson’s finest.

By 1940, Binning had designed and built
his ground-breaking house on Mathers
Crescent, the first flat-rooted house to be built
on the West Coast.

Ruth Killam bought her lot on Arbutus
Place in 1954 and asked friends Geofirey
Massey and Arthur Erickson to design a house
tor $15,000. With the house nearing comple-

- tion, she and Geoffrey Massey

_ wed. In their home they host-
ed many distinguished visitors
through the years.

To accompany the exhibit,
Kemble has recorded the

NEWS photos Terry Patera:

ARTISTS Gordon Smith, with wife Marion (left), and Unity Bainbridge take part in Generations: Five Decades of Art in West Vancouver. The
show at Gertrude Lawson House highlighis the life and work of 20 artists, including Ruth Massey, whose 1890 oi! painting is pictured below.|

jazz Series .
aive/Bill Coon Project

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Octoher 1,1999

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Qctober 29, 1999

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Directed by Ryan Crocker
Also starring ~ Lhesa Forbes « Kerrie Givens « Esme Lambert
+ KellyAnne Scott * Campbell Massie « Cameron McDonald
+ Barry Duffus « Carole-Lee Palidor + Al Simpson * Rob Bruner

Sept. 16 ~ Oct. 2

Wednesdays through Saturdays at 8:00 p.m.

Deep Cove Shaw Theatre

4360 Gallant Avenue (at Panorama Drive) in North Vantnuver

Tickets:929-9456

gy
$12 adults, $11 seniors & students. Reserve using a
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