The Douglas College Newsletter

  

INside ..

m@ New Westminster Campus, David Lam Campus & Thomas Haney Centre

Art show explores material as metaphor

“For beauty is nothing but the
beginning of terror we can just
barely endure, and we admire it
so because it calmly disdains to
destroy us. Every angel 1s
terrible.”

Rainer Maria Rilke

In Metaxu: Beauty is the
Beginning of Terror, a mixed-
media exhibit showing at the
Amelia Douglas Gallery until
April 18, Vancouver artist Erica
Grimm-Vance invites you to
explore the many thresholds
linking weight and fragility,
limits and transcendence, body

and soul.

“Metaxu” is a word originally
used by Plato to mean
something which separates but
which also serves as a means of
communication. One analogy is
a cell wall used to divide two
prisoners, which also provides a
medium for their tapped

messages.

In her writing, Simone Weil
used the term to describe the
transition through the corporeal
into the spiritual: “This world
is the closed door. It is a barrier.
And at the same time it is the
way through.”

 

In her work, Grimm-Vance uses
an intriguing mix of elements
to explore themes inspired by
Weil, German poet Rainer
Maria Rilke, and others
working with issues of
transition and transcendence.
In an approach combining
abstract planes with figurative
drawings, she works with
simple elements of paper,
graphite, beeswax, clay, gold,
wood, and lead. The result,
however, is anything but
simple—each piece offers a
dramatic combination of
gesture, texture, colour and
contrasting form.

To add even more complexity,
Grimm-Vance pours a layer of
encaustic (a mixture of beeswax
and resin) over her drawings.
This is a risky technique (one
false move and the underlying
piece can be ruined), but
integral to the effect she wants
to achieve. The encaustic
overlay lends a soft
translucency, warmth and depth
to the graphite drawings
underneath.

“Encaustic has a skin-like
presence, which does increase

the sense of vulnerability. And I

Aineen, greetings, welcome!

Circling the Arrows to Freedom drummers, a group of first peoples' youth, women, elders and
Aboriginal Veterans honors students "in their journey on the path of education. " The newly
expanded First Nations Centre at the New Westminster Campus was celebrated on March 18,
with opening ceremonies well attended by Douglas College students, staff, faculty, board
members, administrators, Qayqayt First Nation representatives and many other community
members. For more information on First Nations services, call Betsy Bruyere at 527-5565.

like that it obscures parts of the
drawing while heightening
others.”

Another important material is
22K gold, used sparingly but
dramatically as a transitional
element between contrasting
surfaces. Not only beautiful,
gold as a material is rich with
connotations of ceremony,
alchemy, joy—even terror. One
recent work, Open Hand
(beneath is shining like Gold),
inspired by the lyrics of Bruce
Cockburn, explores some of
these themes with strong yet
beautiful imagery of ‘going
through the fire.’

The seemingly fragile surfaces
and life-like drawings provide a
contrast to the hard-edged,
heavy planes of steel and wood
anchoring each piece. In the
first of a new series of three,
Threshold I (Spanning the Gap),
Grimm-Vance uses actual doors

as a base:

“The doors are appropriate for
a show dealing with themes of
passage or transition. In an
illusory sense, it’s the drawn
figures that allow us to ‘get
through." @

 

IN

Douglas College

  

 

Artist Erica Grimm-Vance adds the finishing touches to her
mixed-media piece Threshold | (Spanning the Gap). Metaxu:
Beauty is the Beginning of Terror runs until April 18 at the
Amelia Douglas Gallery. The next Amelia Douglas Gallery
show, Mythologies, starts Thursday, April 23, with an opening
reception to be held from 4-8pm.

 

Farewell Concert

featuring faculty, students, alumni and friends

for Tatsuo Hoshina

27-year member of Douglas College's Music Department

Sunday, May 3
3 PM
Performing Arts Theatre

Admission by donation *

* Funds from the concert will be used to establish a Tatsuo
Hoshina Voice Scholarship. Gifts of $20 or more will receive a
tax receipt; donations received by Monday, April 27 will be
acknowledged in the concert program.

A dinner in Tatsuo's honor will be held at a neighboring
restaurant after the concert; prior reservations are required.

For reservations or information, please call
the Performing Arts Office at 527-5495.

 

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Quote of the Month

A committee takes hours to put into minutes what can be done in seconds.

Judy Castrina