INSIDE DOUGLAS COLLEGE / JANUARY 22, 1991

 

 

New AIDS Film Screening at Douglas College

i n reaction to hate literature that
was distributed on campus last
November, Douglas College will
present the new AIDS film Too
Close For Comfort, followed by a
discussion with its executive
producers and co-stars.

“In view of the recent
homophobic incident which oc-
curred at our school and our
workplace, we believe it is impor-
tant to show this film at this time,”
says Cathleen Smith, an instructor
in the Department of Early
Childhood Education.

Smith stresses that the event
has the support of the administra-
tion, student society and
employees’ union.

The 27-minute movie was shot
in Vancouver last year and fea-
tures local young actors. Events
follow a teenager named Nick
who is fired from his job at a video
store when it is discovered that he
is HIV-positive. The film inves-
tigates how young people justify
negative treatment of gays and les-
bians because they wrongly
believe it can isolate them from the

disease. While friends turn
against Nick because they assume
he is gay, the film investigates
some of the myths about AIDS
and its transmission.

The discussion group will fea-
ture producer Gay Hawley, execu-
tive producer Lezlie Wagman and
actors Rick Waines and Mike An-
daluz.

The screening begins 4:00 P.M.
ON JANUARY 24 IN ROOM 2201
at the college’s New Westminster
Campus. @

 

Dark Shadows In Local Artist’s

A cursory glance at Shirley
Currie’s oil series “The Green-
house and Other Paintings” is
deceiving.

Her art contains vivid scenes
of gardens and a greenhouse
presented in brighter-than-life
colours. But look closer and you
will find the idyllic perfection
marred by details like a broken
pot, an open door, or a lonely fig-
ure staring. Not everything, it
seems, is well in this garden.

“A lot of people first look at
the colours in these paintings and
say ‘they are pretty.’ Well, they are
not really pretty,” says the Coquit-
lam artist, whose work will be dis-
played at the Performing Arts
foyer in New Westminster’s
Douglas College campus from
January 28 to March 15. There will
be an opening reception on Wed-
nesday, January 30, from 7pm to
9pm in the Peforming Arts foyer.

Inspired by a greenhouse and
gardens on family-owned proper-
ty on Denman Island, Currie
views the disquieting scenes on
both personal and global levels.

“The paintings can be viewed
personally, environmentally or
morally,” says Currie. “It’s the gar-

den as it was, but we are no longer
there. There’s the feeling that now,
more than any other age, our
ethics have broken down. Then,
on the deepest level, I’m trying to
get at myself, to make order out of
the chaos of life."

Currie heightens the personal
exploration by painting family
members and artifacts into the
complex scenes. “It always turns
out to be the same figure, and
deep down I realize it’s probably
myself.”

Currie studied at Douglas Col-
lege in the 1970's, and currently
teaches art in Port Coquitlam. She
has also contributed to murals
which hang in the H.R. McMillan
Planetarium, the North Surrey
United Church and the Rodman
Hotel in Powell River. Another
more telling series of works, also
probing the intrusion of man on
nature’s “garden”, were pencil-
drawings chronicling the Van-
couver International Airport's
expansion and its effect on birds
nesting in Richmond. Ironically, a
private collector presented the
series to the airport which dis-
plays the works discretely in its
V.LP. lounge.

Garden

Still, despite her multi-faceted
artistic career, Currie is continual-
ly, almost spiritually, lured back
into the world of the greenhouse.
“Td still like to explore the garden
a bit further,” she muses. But does
she see any hope for her garden?
“I’m afraid we've passed the point
of no return. But then, I still have a
lingering hope we can still save
it.” Perhaps; but the fate of her
real-life sanctuary makes you
wonder. “Most of the garden and
the greenhouse no longer exist
now. Our family had to sell the
property a few years ago, and it
was torn down.”

 

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