Artists leave their mark
The McMaster Museum of Art is presenting its latest exhibit “Leaving Their Mark” by Shelly Bahl, Yael Brotman and Libby Hague from Feb. 13 to May 15, 2005.
A public reception will take place Sunday March 6, from 2 – 4 p.m. with a lunchtime talk by Alison McQueen on Thursday, March 17 at 12:30 p.m.
A curator's talk, by Ingrid Mayrhofer, entitled “Making a Mark: Agency and Contemporary Art Practices” will be held Thursday, March 31 at 12:30 p.m.
Leaving their mark comprises work in video, installation, painting and printmaking. Three contemporary artists were invited to select work from the Museum's permanent collection for inclusion in their group exhibition. Their choices of masters reflect personal influences as well as the legacy of diverse movements in art history. Every advance in printmaking has created an opening for future generations of artists to explore new ground. Bahl, Brotman and Hague share with the masters a dedication to craftsmanship and to extracting the highest aesthetic potential from their materials and tools. Traditional qualities of printmaking not only inform new hybrid practices, they remain central to continued exploration in visual art.
Libby Hague has selected prints by Georges Rouault. Hague has an Honours BFA from Concordia (S.G.W.U.) and taught printmaking for 15 years at Sheridan College. Solo and group exhibitions include public galleries and artist-run centres across Canada and abroad. In 2003 Hague exhibited “How to forget” at the Forest City Gallery, London, ON and “How to remember (paradise)” at Harbourfront in Toronto.
Excerpts from the series “Children see everything” were shown in 2003 at Snap in Edmonton, AB, and as part of “Good Medicine” (Torontoniensis Collective) at the University of Waterloo Art Gallery. The video our town was the winner of the Marion MacMahon Award at the 2002 Images Festival.
Shelly Bahl has selected prints by General Idea from the collections of McMaster University and the National Gallery of Canada. Bahl is a visual artist based in New York City and Toronto. She holds a B.F.A. (Visual Art and Art History) from York University, Toronto and an M.A. (Studio Art) from New York University. Her interdisciplinary work in drawing, painting, sculpture/ installation and video has appeared in a number of solo and group exhibitions in North America and internationally over the past 10 years. She has taught studio art courses at Alfred University, The Pratt Institute, Vermont College and the Ontario College of Art and Design.
Yael Brotman has selected prints by Kuniyoshi, Kunichika and anonymous Japanese printmakers. Brotman was born in Israel. She studied English literature, visual arts, art history and education at the Universities of Manitoba and Toronto. Brotman's artwork has been exhibited most recently at Forest City Gallery [London ON], Instituto Cultural Peruano Norteamericano [Lima, Peru], ODD Public Gallery [Dawson City, Yukon] and Loop Gallery [Toronto]. She currently teaches Visual Arts at the University of Toronto (SC) and Ancient Civilizations at the Royal Ontario Museum. Thank you to the Ontario Arts Council for their generous support with this project.
