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  #61  
Old Posted Jul 1, 2008, 10:31 PM
Crazy4Calgary Crazy4Calgary is offline
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I'll be the first to admit Calgary has ignored the arts/culture scene in the past...but again thats the past! I've been quite blown away by all the major culture/art announcements & events we've had this year...From simple pieces like the Upside Down Church, The Arriva Scribble, the yet to be announced piece at the Bow and even those hiddeous flags on the Centre Street bridge...Lets also not forget the HUGE events like Virgin Fest, Sled Island, CIFF etc and also the fact we have a bid in for the National Portrait Gallery... I think the problem here is people figure this should just happen overnight but it won't! I also think its quite pathetic for people from other cities to come into our Calgary forum and trash our scene...They have no real taste as to what Calgary offers and they cannot witness firsthand the changes that are happening in the city. Why does everything have to be a effin' competion on here??
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  #62  
Old Posted Jul 1, 2008, 10:34 PM
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Originally Posted by jeffwhit View Post

Could you please give an example in Toronto, Vancouver, Winnipeg that is an example of this, because I am at a loss. And why are you arbitrarily excluding Flames Central, who despite having tasteless decor, has done an excellent job of bringing shows in. I agree, we need a large ballroom type space in the inner city, but Mac Hall's location, in the mean time, does not negate it's existance, or the fact it is well used. (I agree, it sucks, but it's not keeping bands away from Calgary.) You seem to have very rigid criteria for "what counts."
Toronto-The Government, Lee's Palace, the Dakota Tavern, Rivioli, The Horseshoe Tavern, the Phoenix, Molson amplitheater just off the top of my head.

Vancouver-The Commodore Ball Room, Richards on Richards. the media club just the ones I've been to.

Winnipeg-I believe it's also called the Phoenix (many years since I was there last) but they do have at least one downtown.


maybe I have it wrong in terms of Flames Central. The reason why I would exclude Flames Central is because first and foremost it is a sports bar, secondly a restaurant, and then probably a place to go see a band. Having not lived in Calgary for a few years, it seems to me there was a hole left in the music scene when the Republik closed, has it ever been filled? Is the Republik open again? Cowboys was able to handle these sorts of events, I'd assume they will be able to again.
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  #63  
Old Posted Jul 2, 2008, 1:17 AM
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Which of these is the 2000 seater?

We have the grand, hi-fi, underground/warehouse, broken city, soda, the Marquee Room, and the return of the Republik, (the space at Victoria's,) and sadly, until recently, the late great Bar Named Sue.

This is a city less than half the size of Vancouver.

Plus for the Bigtime**/meathead crowd - the new coyboys, the whiskey, tequila.

**I apologize in advance.
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  #64  
Old Posted Jul 2, 2008, 1:48 AM
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Flames Central has become the primary mid sized concert venue in Calgary. It is booked really frequently. It is the Palace Theatre after all, a great concert venue in a great location. Here's the link to there list of upcoming concerts, which includes among others Metric (perfect kind of place to see a band like that). Seems to be taking over concerts that might have gone to Mac Hall.

http://www.flamescentral.com/concerts.php

And yes, the Republik is back. I remember it hosted a bunch of Juno week concerts. I suppose Broken City kind of replaces the Night Gallery for that size of venue. I miss the Night Gallery for night life.
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  #65  
Old Posted Jul 2, 2008, 2:24 AM
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Originally Posted by brentwood View Post
The communities surrounding Calgary really have to be considered part of Calgary and its art scene. Labelling the artist community in Southern Alberta as just into the cowboy scene is a real oversimplification.
No kidding. I challenge anyone who says that the Calgary area is only about cowboys, to try visiting Banff sometime. The place is practically a mecca for outdoors painting, photography, and sculpture. Canmore and Cochrane also have their contingent. And it's usually nothing to do with cowboys. That being said, the cowboy component does add a bit of charm to it.

I'm really starting to wonder if many folks in this forum have ever been out of the concrete jungle, at all. Well, at least we've narrowed it down to only art galleries and medium sized concerts that Calgary is lacking.
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  #66  
Old Posted Jul 2, 2008, 2:37 AM
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I challenge anyone who says that the Calgary area is only about cowboys, to try visiting Banff sometime.

I'm really starting to wonder if many folks in this forum have ever been out of the concrete jungle, at all.
Why should Banff be valid in a discussion on Calgary's arts scene in the first place? That's like trying to include arts development in Niagara Falls as part of the Toronto Arts Scene.

To people such as myself who make it out to Banff rarely, it's so distant that it's not even worth mentioning. Canmore is in the same boat.

Not to say that these places don't have their particular merits. Just saying that I think they have little to do with Calgary's own arts scene.
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  #67  
Old Posted Jul 2, 2008, 3:48 AM
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Why should Banff be valid in a discussion on Calgary's arts scene in the first place?
Because no city exists in pure isolation by itself? Like it or not, Banff is an extended part of Calgary's cultural scene. A huge one at that.

Sure, if you only venture 5 minutes from home, it's irrelevant. But you're missing out on one hell of a big world if that's all you ever see.

And yes, I consider Niagara part of the Toronto region. Maybe I'm insane that way, but most tourists (and locals) do too. It's all a part of the "local" experience. Not something that your average Torontonian experiences every day, but certainly highly influential. Vancouver still has fresh fruit stands everywhere, but I'm pretty sure I've never seen an orchard in downtown Van.
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  #68  
Old Posted Jul 2, 2008, 7:12 PM
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-----------------------------------------------------------------
CITYBEAT - CITY OF CALGARY PRESS RELEASE
-----------------------------------------------------------------


Alderman Druh Farrell, Calgary Transit and the Public Art Program/Civic Art Collection will today unveil one of two new sculptures that will be located on the 7th Avenue Transit corridor as part of the city’s downtown beautification initiative and 7th Avenue LRT refurbishment project.

7th Avenue is located near the geographic centre of downtown Calgary and has functioned for many years as the central east -west spine for Calgary Transit service.
I figured thats what those things were, I spotted one sitting on the corner of 7th and 9th on Monday wrapped up.
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  #69  
Old Posted Jul 3, 2008, 12:54 AM
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You would think with all of the money we have in this province, that would be the case. I like your idea of the endowment fund.

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Originally Posted by josh white View Post
... trying to move the arts and cultural discussion over to this thread.

I really think that Alberta ought to use its wealth to its advantage in cultivating strong cultural activity. It really should be thought of not only as part of improving quality of life, but also as an economic development and diversification plan. Creative industries should become a key cog in Alberta's economy. It creates jobs, has different multiplier effects in the economy in areas like tourism. Beyond that, it has a huge intrinsic value.

I still stand behind my idea that surplus money should go to a large cultural endowment that would help make cultural institutions financially independent. Something like a $1 billion endowment.

Also adjusting tax laws to encourage more donations from Alberta's substantial corporate community.
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  #70  
Old Posted Jul 3, 2008, 3:40 AM
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You would think with all of the money we have in this province, that would be the case. I like your idea of the endowment fund.
It was one of the many Alberta Liberal Party policy proposals, however at $500 million not a billion. The revenue of a $500 million dollar fund was about double the current budgetary supports if my mind serves me well.
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  #71  
Old Posted Jul 3, 2008, 7:46 AM
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One of the new pieces of public art on 7th avenue:
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  #72  
Old Posted Jul 3, 2008, 7:53 AM
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^ Not a particularly interesting or innovative piece, but who besides Stephen Colbert doesn't love Bears?
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  #73  
Old Posted Jul 3, 2008, 7:58 AM
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Heres the full media release on the new art:

Quote:
-----------------------------------------------------------------
CITYBEAT - CITY OF CALGARY PRESS RELEASE
-----------------------------------------------------------------


Alderman Druh Farrell, Calgary Transit and the Public Art Program/Civic Art Collection today unveiled two new bronze bear sculptures located on the 7th Avenue Transit corridor.

The sculptures, located on 7th Avenue at 3rd Street East and 9th Street West, add a playful feel to the prominent transit corridor and are part of The City of Calgary’s goal to enhance and beautify Downtown Calgary.

“As part of the 7th Avenue LRT Refurbishment and Beautification project, this is a positive step towards having a more visually-appealing, pedestrian-friendly transit corridor,” states Alderman Farrell. “These are stunning pieces of art and will certainly add to the beauty of our city.”

Created by Canadian artist Leo Mol, the “Playful Cubs” sculpture measures 28” h x 57” w x 36”d and the “Twin Bears” sculpture measures 54” h x 65” w x 51” d. Mol is the only Canadian artist inducted into the National Sculpture Society of America and has carried out commissions of world figures such as Pope John Paul II, Dwight D. Eisenhower and John Diefenbaker. Mol’s work can be found in permanent collections around the world. He was awarded the Order of Manitoba and was made an Officer of the Order of Canada.

“Leo Mol is no longer actively producing work so we are pleased to be able to acquire these pieces,” says Sheila Perry, superintendent of The City of Calgary's Public Art Program. “He is one of Canada’s most prominent realist
sculptors and the addition of these sculptures into The City of Calgary’s Civic Art Collection will enable Calgarians to experience the work of this outstanding Canadian artist on their daily commute.”

7th Avenue is located near the geographic centre of Downtown Calgary and has functioned for many years as the central east-west spine for transit services.
I'll have to see if I can grab a shot of the other on my way down to the beltline offices tomorrow.
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  #74  
Old Posted Jul 3, 2008, 11:24 AM
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There are no bears in Calgary itself!
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  #75  
Old Posted Jul 3, 2008, 2:10 PM
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it sort of feels like those bears are the animal versions of these guys:
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  #76  
Old Posted Jul 23, 2008, 3:25 AM
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Originally Posted by mersar View Post
One of the new pieces of public art on 7th avenue:
I just saw this today while doing my stroll. And I hadn't looked at this thread since my last comments, so it was a bit of a surprise.

Don't really think much of it though... there isn't much detail in the carving, and the stone base just looks plain awkward (not to mention that there isn't much space to move around it in the first place).


On a different note, I'm looking forward to the Water Sculpture designed for The Bow by Jaume Plensa. It's supposed to be revealed by the end of 2008.
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  #77  
Old Posted Jul 23, 2008, 4:32 AM
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There's another, similar bear sculpture at the other end of 7th, by City Hall. I just noticed it last week.

Some art is better than no art, but they're pretty bland and do a better job at obstructing the sidewalk than anything else. They're almost as bad as those ubiquitous newspaper boxes.
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  #78  
Old Posted Jul 23, 2008, 2:29 PM
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Hopefully they'll find a better location as part of the rejuvination of the streetscape on 7th ave, perhaps integrated into a planter or something. It just seems plopped there for the moment.
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  #79  
Old Posted Jul 26, 2008, 6:09 PM
MalcolmTucker MalcolmTucker is offline
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One visionary + 21 days + 650 works of art = a Big Gift for Calgary




MARSHA LEDERMAN
Globe and Mail Update
July 26, 2008 at 8:28 AM EDT

CALGARY — On Dec. 10, 2007, Jeffrey Spalding began a new job at the Glenbow Museum in Calgary, where he was once the art curator. This time he would be running the place as president and CEO.
That same day, Spalding was contacted by several people offering donations to the Glenbow's collection. The calls kept coming from collectors, artists and philanthropists. Over the course of 21 days at the height of the holiday season, 70 separate donors promised the museum more than 650 works of art valued at more than $2-million.
"I was overwhelmed," Spalding said during an interview in his museum office this week. "I knew something would happen, but I think it was a bit surprising, to say the least, that it would be to this degree."
Among the donations: a six-foot fibreglass green soldier created by Douglas Coupland; Food and Shelter by celebrated native Canadian artist Carl Beam; and a four-panel work, Bones, by Attila Richard Lukacs, whose collectors include Sir Elton John.
Within three or four days of his arrival, Spalding had an idea: an exhibition that would showcase the donated works.
He made it happen - The Big Gift opens to the public at the Glenbow today. It is the third, and largest, of three Big Gift components, two of which opened earlier this summer at the Nickle Arts Museum at the University of Calgary, and at the Illingworth Kerr Gallery (IKG) at the Alberta College of Art and Design (ACAD).
Spalding has worked as a director and curator at several institutions (most recently at the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia) and is an artist himself. His connections in Canadian art are enviable, and his return to Calgary (he left in a huff in 1982 after the Glenbow cancelled a Gerhard Richter show) was seen as both an indication of a cultural explosion accompanying the city's economic boom, and a promise that his presence would push forward an arts agenda.
"Jeffrey is both a confirmation and a catalyst," says Christine Sowiak, curator of art at the Nickle. "He has a belief in Calgary as a real centre for arts and for big things."
The involvement of the Nickle and IKG was as much about promoting a spirit of collaboration within the city's tightly knit arts community as it was about finding the space to display as many of the works as possible.
"You want to say thanks as quickly as you can and as big as you can, because that's a pretty phenomenal outpouring. And the best way to do that is to use the work," says Sowiak.
"Of course, I thought it would be next year," she adds with a laugh, "but it was perfect to have it done for this year and have it so immediate and fresh."
The three-pronged exhibition came together with lightning speed. The first major collaborative meeting was held at the Glenbow in March, and the first part of the show was installed at the Nickle in June.
"If you think you can do it, don't wait two years," says IKG director/curator Wayne Baerwaldt. "Now's the time you should have people enthused about contemporary culture here."
The Glenbow portion of the exhibition features donated works by Canadian artists such as Ed Burtynsky, Ken Lum and Kim Adams, and international artists including David Hockney and Marcel van Eeden. Quyen Hoang, the Glenbow's art curator, says she wanted to reflect the diversity of both the gifts and the donors - as well as present some of the merging ideas and issues explored in the works. For example, she has installed Nils Udo's Red Boy in Forest - a photographic exploration of utopia - next to Dan Kopp's apocalyptic-feeling work, Orange Divide.
At the IKG, Baerwaldt has created a single-room exhibition of just over 40 works that came primarily from two Toronto donors and also borrowed heavily from the Glenbow's historical collection. The show offers the unlikely combination of a Paul P. portrait and a Robert Bateman bird painting hung next to a Lynne Cohen photograph.
"I wanted to be very playful, especially for the students here," Baerwaldt said this week at the gallery on ACAD's campus. "I wanted [them] to know there are other ways of putting together a show."
At the Nickle, only the East Gallery portion of the show will continue through the summer. Consisting wholly of works by Alberta artist Peter von Tiesenhausen, the gallery is dominated by his massive (approximately 18 metres long by four metres high) Wall of Water - a pending acquisition tied to a number of other donated works by the same artist.
"I knew from the description on paper exactly where it should go and that I wanted it in the show, because it's the kind of piece that's kind of made for our space," Sowiak said this week.
The Nickle was given the first pick, so Sowiak studied the 80-plus-page list of Glenbow donations and then spent time hunting through the vault. "It was just really fun going shopping with a list of 650 works," she says. "It was like being given a grocery cart and told 'okay you have five minutes to spend $10,000 in this store.'"
While the volume of donations may be "stunning" as several of those involved describe it, it is not entirely a surprise to anyone who has followed Spalding's career. He has made it a goal to increase the collections at the various institutions where he has worked. Take the University of Lethbridge Art Gallery: when Spalding arrived in 1982, the collection totalled just over 200 works. When he left in 1999, it had increased to 13,000.
"I actually don't collect art," he says. "I collect collectors." Spalding also collects artists. Shortly after his appointment at the Glenbow, he sent out an e-mail to artists, soliciting donations. Among those who responded was Richard Prince. The Vancouver artist offered his installation Northern Lights - Magic Lantern. "If artists have work that they want to be seen, they do what they can to make sure that others can see it," Prince says. "You don't make work to put it in the closet."
Beyond thanking the donors for their gifts and offering a big gift to the city of Calgary, this show is also very much about sending a signal: the Glenbow is serious about collecting and exhibiting visual art, and Spalding has proposed a satellite location in which to do that.
"I would do anything to help Jeffrey make the Glenbow part of the [contemporary art] community again," says Baerwaldt. "A lot of us wanted to make sure that we could do something to support this idea that contemporary art is on the agenda again."
The gift keeps getting bigger. By this week, the number of donations accepted by the Glenbow (not every offer is approved) has reached more than 920, and the museum will consider another 50 or 60 offers at its next meeting in September. "Every day feels like Christmas," Spalding says.
"I think that people have waited for a long time to see Calgary, which is one of our major cities, participate equally with other major cities in the country," he adds. "So in a sense I think the floodgates opened and it really is about confirming the obvious: Calgary is a centre that matters to the country."
The Big Gift is on at the Glenbow Museum until Sept. 14, at the Illingworth Kerr Gallery until Aug. 30 and at the Nickle Arts Museum (East Gallery portion only) until Sept. 27.

Big things happening at the Glenbow!
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  #80  
Old Posted Jul 26, 2008, 8:49 PM
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That is great news about the Glenbow. Now all they need is a bigger and better building to properly display more of their collections.
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