Ceramic pottery and portraits of consumerism

> Sculptures and paintings in new Amelia Douglas Gallery exhibit

alll

,*

 

Caroline Ho
Arts Editor

 

he Amelia Douglas Gallery's
newest exhibit fire/water presents
a broad range of experiences, from
thousand-year-old clay given new life to
commentary on contemporary politics.
The exhibit opened on March 2, with
a reception attended by artists Marcus
Bowcott and Laura Wee Lay Laq.
fire/water contains seven pieces
by world-renowned ceramicist Wee
Lay Laq. The mastery of Wee Lay Laq
is evident in a single glance at her
beautifully-shaped vessels—but it
becomes even more apparent when you
realize that her pieces are hand-built,
rather than created with a pottery wheel.
To construct the pieces, she rolls
out coils of clay, then creates belts of
clay that she overlaps on the inside and
outside, smoothing out and blending the
clay together to create a solid form. With
this technique, she’s able to create pieces
that are perfectly smooth and round,
such as the three immaculate ollas in
this exhibit, as well as works that are as

complex and intricate as The Geometry
of Space, a 7.5” by 10” vessel with
breathtakingly sophisticated angles.

The title of The Geometry of Space
refers to how the piece challenges
a viewer to consider the space both
inside and outside the vessel.

“Tm dividing and creating that
geometry in order to bring your attention
to the inside and what it is holding [...]
It’s about considering interior space
and bringing that to the forefront, not
just the exterior,” said Wee Lay Laq.

Her process involves the steps of
burnishing the pieces with a smooth
stone before first bisque firing them,
then packing the pieces tightly with
sawdust all around and firing them a
second time. She doesn’t glaze her pieces,
so she never knows before firing exactly
how the pieces will turn out, because
when the sawdust is burned away, it
creates unique and unpredictable effects.

Raven Olia is one striking example
of an unexpected pattern emerging. The
areas of black and white on the surface
of the pot form the shape of a bird. Wee
Lay Laq said she often has whales, birds,
and other animals and people appear in

 

her work, spirits which are “very alive”
and “very much integral to the piece.”
“And that’s what I love about
it [...] it’s always a complete and
utter surprise to me, to open up
that kiln and go, ‘Look at that!”
Complementary to the fire-based
creation process of Wee Lay Laq’s
exquisite ceramics are the paintings
and sculptures by Marcus Bowcott. One
of these sculptures is a 24” maquette
of Bowcott’s Trans Am Totem—the full
version is a 10-meter-tall sculpture of
cars stacked upon a tree trunk that is
located near Science World, installed
as part of Vancouver Biennale in 2015.
Trans Am Totem conveys a message
about the relationship between
environment and consumerism. Most of
his works share a similar message, such
as On the Beach, an oil painting showing
a giant heap of cars against a long
stretch of water and horizon. However,
Bowcott said he doesn’t often go into
his paintings with a message already
in mind. “I just start painting,” he said,
usually working from the thousands and
thousands of photographs he takes.
One obvious exception to this—and

Surprises and mishaps at
the Academy Awards

> A recap of this year’s exceptional Oscars

Jerrison Oracion
Senior Columnist

 

Ihe Academy Awards is one of the

most talked-about entertainment
events of the year, and 2017's show was
the most exciting edition in avery long
time. For the past two months people
have been debating over whether
Moonlight or La La Land was going
to get Best Picture this year. Now the
winners have finally been announced,
and everyone is still talking about it.

Jimmy Kimmel hosted the Academy
Awards this year—his first time hosting
the event—after doing its after show for
the past decade on his show Jimmy Kimmel
Live. He did a great job hosting the Oscars
and it looked like watching his own show.

He surprised a tour group who
thought that they were going to see an

exhibit, and instead they got to go inside
the Dolby Theater and attend the Oscars.
The tour group got to talk to the stars
and touch an Academy Award. Denzel
Washington even agreed to be the best
man at a couple’s wedding. Also, Kimmel
gave the audience candies, cookies,

and doughnuts through parachutes,

and showed a special Oscars version of
his famous segment Mean Tweets.

Even he and Matt Damon disputed
during the ceremony (a long standing
gag between the two) including Kimmel
making jokes about Damon, Kimmel
talking about how he was inspired by We
Bought a Zoo, Damon tripping Kimmel,
and Kimmel playing Damon off the
stage when he and Ben Affleck were
presenting Best Original Screenplay.

With all this excitement, the biggest
moment of the ceremony was still when

Best Picture was announced. Warren
Beatty and Faye Dunaway presented the
award to celebrate the 50th anniversary of
Bonnie and Clyde’s release. They did not
know that they were handed the wrong
envelope—they got the backup envelope
for Best Actress, instead of the one for
Best Picture. When Beatty opened the
envelope, he hesitated and looked offstage
for clarification. Next, he gave the envelope
to Dunaway, who read “La La Land,” and
for a few minutes, we all thought that
La La Land had won Best Picture. Then,
during the acceptance speeches, one of
the producers of La La Land said that
Moonlight actually got Best Picture and
showed the correct envelope with the name
of the winning film. The envelope that
Beatty and Dunaway had received showed
the words: “Emma Stone - La La Land,”
With Moonlight getting Best Picture,

Image via Analyn Latt

a piece that stands out starkly from
his other works, which mostly depict
nature and the ocean—is Bowcott’s
Our Celebrity Entrepreneur of Holy
Virtue, a35” by 43” painting of TV star
businessman and Conservative Party
leadership candidate Kevin O'Leary.
Painted with oil on velvet and framed
by a thick ornate gold frame, the
portrait’s implication about affluence
is enhanced by the poem that hangs
below, a text by 14th-century Italian
writer Niccolé de Rossi commenting
on money’s place in society.

“[O’Leary] often presents making
money and pursuing money as a
virtue, and I just don’t see it that way,”
said Bowcott. The portrait shows the
businessman-turned-political candidate
in a cleric’s collar, demonstrating how
he preaches about money like a religious
authority. Bowcott wants to remind
us that this wealth-driven ideology
is only as real as we allow it to be.

The works of Bowcott and
Wee Lay Laq will be on display
at the Amelia Douglas Gallery,
on the fourth floor of the New
Westminster campus, until April 21.

it continues a trend of the Academy giving
Best Picture to a film that is a limited
release. It shows that the Academy Awards
are encouraging people to see art house
films, which is a great thing. Some people
think that the film that gets Best Picture
should be a movie that is widely available to
everyone, like La La Land. Jimmy Kimmel,
after the announcing mishap, said that he
wished they could give it to both films.

It is unusual that, while Moonlight
got Best Picture, La La Land got the most
awards. Many people are saying that
Moonlight is the best film of all time. Other
awards went to Emma Stone received
Best Actress, and Casey Affleck got Best
Actor for Manchester by the Sea. The
Academy Awards showed diversity this
year, with awards for supporting actor and
actress categories going to Fences’s Viola
Davis and Moonlight’s Mahershala Ali.