ROW: Reflections on Water is a two-part exhibit of films, videos, installations, photographs, stories, drawings, paintings and sculpture. In Gallery A, artifacts from Touchstones Nelson's permanent collection, such as a baptismal gown, trilobite fossils and a vintage rowboat, are juxtaposed with contemporary artworks to set up narratives and metaphoric associations with water. Gallery B features the video work of pioneer video artist and SFU professor Chris Welsby.
Artists showing in Gallery A include Julie Castonguay, Boukje Elzinga, Patrick Field, Marilyn James, Tanya Pixie Johnson, Destanne Norris, Karen Rice and Nancy Rosenblum. In keeping with the exhibition metaphor, their artwork navigates symbolic associations with water, such as renewal, the fountain of life and the unconscious, in ways that go beyond literal meaning.
Chris Welsby's video installation entitled Waterfall brings the experience of viewing a waterfall into the gallery. His work, explores the relationship between experience and perception, and has been exhibited at the Tate Gallery, London; the Hayward Gallery, London; the Musée du Louvre and the Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris; the Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh; and the Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto.
Touchstones Nelson showcases work from contemporary art and pop culture to fine craft and design, local architecture and human history. Appropriately, ROW: Reflections on Water is made possible through a grant from the Columbia Basin Trust.
www.touchstonesnelson.ca
