Camac gallery and studios
Looking into Camac gallery
Camac interior shot
Installation: Stan and Alex assist
Installation: paws and track table
Digital Anthropomorphisme
L 'ours qui cherchat la beauté
(Click on any Image to see a higher resolution version)
Camac, Marnay-sur-Seine
Charlie and I said good-bye to Matevz Lenarcic at Ljubljana Airport, Slovenia at 7:00AM on March 29. One hour later we were in Frankfurt. Charlie caught the noon flight for Calgary and I was off to Paris, arriving 60 minutes later. Europe is small and cultures vastly differ over a short distance. I couldn't believe I had arrived in France. My good friend Alexandra Keim, the founder and Director of the Marnay Art Centre, 110-KM from Paris thankfully met my plane. I had my entire travelling exhibition with me as checked luggage. It wasn't as cumbersome or as heavy as it sounds. The 20 digital images were packed in 2 plastic tubes and enclosed in a ski bag; with the 14 paintings on paper in one thin plywood carrying case!
Alex came to Marnay-sur-Seine in the fall of 1998 on the recommendation of a close friend whom she had met in Sweden while doing a Performance Art piece in a restaurant. Lilian Domec suggested that Alex visit Marnay and consider this beautiful French country village (population of 250) as a suitable location for the Artist's Residency and Gallery program of which she was dreaming. She arrived a cold autumn day. The buildings had not been lived in for years with the exception of the occupied apartment complex at one end. She was handed a down duvet, some wine and food and spent her first night in front of the fireplace - in a very dark and damp environment of the old county house. I imagine she could hear the pigeons and doves in the 17th century priory nearby. At the Marnay Art Centre, Alex and Damien's living quarters now join the Camac Gallery and one section of the studio and residency quarters. With the generous funding from Monsieur Frank Tenot, the Mayor of Marnay, the original barns and garages were also transformed into artist's studios and the Centre d'art Marnay opened May 29, 1999. There is accommodation for 10 resident artists.
The Marnay Art Centre's central mandate is to offer space for international residency programs for artists of any discipline who wish to collaborate with scientists or other professionals world-wide. "Connecting" ideas and people is the key to the opportunities for artistic production offered here. The concept is global and not isolated by region. It is a member of the International Association of Residential Arts Centers of which there is 80 members. UNESCO offers two bursaries for artists who wish to attend Artist Residencies. Of the 24 centers selected by UNESCO for a bursary in the visual arts, Camac is one. Interestingly the Banff Center for the Arts has been selected for a UNESCO bursary in the field of music.
Another Camac program is to organize exhibitions to promote contemporary visual arts. I felt lucky to be invited to exhibit a portion of Through the Eyes of the Bear here and take part in a residency for 12 days.
I cannot believe how we in America missed out on developing an appreciation for cheeses. This is the champagne region of France and on my first night here, after drinking lots with oysters in the half shell (my favorite), we finished the meal with a course of salad and about 8 cheeses. Every lunch and dinner since has drawn to a conclusion with this superb tradition.
While dinner was being prepared, I walked into the adjoining gallery and unpacked the digital photos. I decided not to determine how the exhibition should hang myself. Alex Keim is an artist who focuses on installation and I wanted to learn from her. Alex, Damien Rambure, and her assistant Marion Gentilhomme along with Stanislas Robin (an exciting young sculptor) all offered input on how to select and install my central themes of "Anthropomorphism" etc. The story telling aspect was automatically selected as the literal benchmarks with the digital photos hung to explain visually what co-existence with grizzlies (specifically 3 orphaned cubs) was all about at the southern tip of Kamchatka. The piece I title "Denning Site: A Drawing in Sound" conceptually developed the most. We used a darkened room with a very dim light shining on Charlie's photo of "Sitting Bear" (bear looking at the volcano) and played the 7 minute piece, a Drawing in Sound, which uses the sounds of our bears I recorded at Kambalnoe Lake. Alex set up two CD players and played two copies of my recording simultaneously, but with the beginning offset by about 3 seconds. Six speakers were used for surround sound. The room was ideally located with very little sound from the rest of the gallery entering the dimly lit room. People entered and listened with varying degrees of appreciation. I continue to wrestle with "Into the Deep" (the track sculpture) and how the large digital photo can set up entry to the travelling exhibition. Neither am I satisfied with the travelling rendition of "The Bear Who Looked For Beauty" I liked the way "Anthropomorphism" was centrally located between the didactic aspect of the digital photos showing Charlie and I and our cubs. What is exciting for me is that with each stop of the travelling show my ideas focus and grow.
I found the film "In Situ" good as light piece to offer a background and conclusion to the exhibition. I want to include stills with the "in situ" definitions and develop the sound bed so it says more is presented more abstractly and symbolically.
At this time, government officials are debating what to do with the remaining few brown bears that were re-located in the Pyrennees in Southern France. As is the case in Slovenia, the community of sheep and cattle farmers sit on two sides- on one, they want the bears killed or taken back to Slovenia; on the other, they want to live with these bears more peacefully as their forefathers were able to do. The debate was presented on a National radio station last night. I am now beginning to realize how timely is Charlie's and my research about co-existence. I am surprised. People continually ask us how can farmers and grizzly bears share the same community without loss of livestock and in a situation safe for humans. Having grown up in a ranching community in British Columbia, Canada, I realize how important this question is for the survival of bears worldwide. This is perhaps a more important question than bears and humans getting along in National Parks???
Camac
1, grande rue - 10400 Marnay-sur-Seine
France
tel/fax : +33 (0)3 25 39 20 61
www.camac.org