Posted inArts + Music

Speed dating for the arts

Wipe off those sweaty palms and steady yourself—this is the kind of speed dating that doesn’t require the freshest of breath (though it is appreciated). Head to the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia tonight to speed date arts organizations in the city that are looking for volunteers. You get a match form, they get a […]

Posted inBest of Halifax

Best Gallery

Taking back its crown, the big boy on Hollis Street is at the top of Coast readers’ minds again. Top of our mind is the Jean-Pierre Gauthier show opening December 20. The Sobey Art Award-winner is bringing his *Machines At Play* kinetic sculptural work to the AGNS, an installation that takes cables, wires and electrical […]

Posted inArts + Music

Sobey Art Award 101

Shary Boyle Right before the Sobey Art Award announcement a few weeks ago, I spoke to AGNS director Ray Cronin and Rob Sobey about their trip to London for the Turner Prize announcement. The Turner, which is presented annually to a British artist under 50, is as well known and discussed in the UK as the Oscars are in North America. Sure, a lot of the media attention is paid to notorious behaviour at the events themselves, and to “questionable” art (elephant dung, porn, blow-up dolls, etc., tend to get the public talking, especially as it somehow confirms many people’s

Posted inArts + Music

Patterson’s past

There’s something weird going on in Canadian art, easily evidenced by this year’s crop of Sobey Art Award nominees. Fantastic, dark, playful and pop-culture influenced, nominees David Altmejd, Shary Boyle, Marcel Dzama, Luanne Martineau and Graeme Patterson all share similar sensibilities and themes, making the award exhibition at the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia one […]

Posted inArts + Music

The rise of fall arts: performing arts

THEATRE A Beautiful View October 13-31 at Neptune Theatre, 1593 Argyle Street, $15-$35, 429-7070, neptunetheatre.com Love without labels. That’s what actor-writer-producer Jackie Torrens feels the two women in Daniel MacIvor’s A Beautiful View have spent 20 years working towards. “As humans, there seems to be a need for us to define something, to label it,” […]

Posted inArts + Music

Obama at the AGNS

Look out Maud Lewis, there’s some seriously famous company near your little house. The Art Gallery of Nova Scotia unveiled a new piece to its permanent collection on Monday, none other than “The Obama Family,” by beloved Nova Scotia folk artist Bradford Naugler. Naugler carved all four members of the Obama family: Barack and Michelle […]

Posted inLifestyle

Hot Summer Guide: Visual arts events

Will Gorlitz: nowhere if not here Through August 23 Guelph-based artist Will Gorlitz begins a painting by looking for the telling detail. “When determining the actual subjects I wish to paint, a crucial consideration is that the subjects present some acutely visual feature,” he explains in an email. “Commonly, this involves the tactile materiality of […]

Posted inBest of Halifax

Best Gallery

One of the coolest things going on currently at the AGNS is work by the Sobey Prize-winning Michel de Broin. The Montreal sculptor took the $50,000 award in October, and his spherical collection of boardroom chairs—called Black Whole Conference—is on display, along with work by the four other artists under 40 years old who were […]

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