Sunday 21 August 2011

Dark Ages Art Exhibit

This is an art exhibit that Tyra and I are co-curating. It is all about the 'applied art' concept, where everyday objects were ornamented to enhance their look or desirablity, but the function remains unchanged. For example, a comb is still a comb, with or without the art. It does not need the art to make it a comb. The exhibit is to showcase local artists whose art and craft is reproducing, or inspired by, actual historical examples from the Dark Ages. We could have made it encompass only the Viking Age but wanted to be more inclusive to some of the good art and craftsmanship out there, so we expanded the scope of the project.
Media includes bone, horn, metal, wood, soapstone, embroidery, card-weaving, manuscript illuminations and others. Our first exhibit date and venue was June 4th at the MSA museum in Abbotsford. A Call to Artists went out to RF members, SCA people and others who do exquisite work in that genre but by time we had our ducks in a row, so to speak, we ended up only giving a month's notice which, admittedly, is not much time.
The exhibit was happening at the same time as an event put on by the Optimist's Society of Abbotsford where RF was invited to put on a viking village demo. I'm not sure how many saw the exhibit but I got some feedback that it was good.
The day after, we had a venue at the Abbotsford Recreation Centre which I was unable to attend due to a confict in my schedule. Anyway, Tyra told me she had it all under control.
Anyway, we are working towards more venues and dates in the fall and winter.

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