SUSAN JEFFERIES: Guide to ceramics

Ceramics have been part of human history for millennia and are found in a variety of cultures around the globe. Their traditional use ranges from practical storage of goods to objects used in sacred rituals. We have learnt a lot about our past and the daily lives of our forebears from ceramic pieces uncovered from ancient sites in virtually all the continents. The clay which we ourselves are meant to be fashioned from has become a silent witness to our progress on this planet.

I spoke to Sue Jefferies, curator of modern and contemporary ceramics at the Gardiner Museum of Ceramics about her work at the museum and their exhibition of 23 pieces by the German artist, Gertraud Möhwald. This was a discovery for me, ceramics were not high up in my must-see-before-I-die list of art treasures. Now I am revising that list.

Sue Jefferies was a valuable guide in my journey of discovery. She herself began her journey in her native California where she studied at the University of California Berkley and University of California Davies. The latter was where she encountered the Funk Artist, Robert Anerson and his teaching assistant David Gilhooly. I never thought I would hear the words “funk” and “ceramic” so close together in a sentence. At this point, one’s brain may be tempted to conjure various George Brown statuettes, resist that urge, fight it and read further. According to Ceramics Today: “West Coast Funk is a movement associated with the western USA, notably California. Its roots date back to Pop Art and Dada.” The term was coined by art historian Peter Selz and defines the world Sue Jefferies grew up in, the beginning of her love affair with modern ceramics.

Jefferies spoke of the Gardiner Museum and her work there as curator. The museum is unique, perhaps the only one devoted to ceramics in North America. It was founded in 1984 by Toronto financier and businessman George Gardiner and his wife Helen. They donated the initial 2000 pieces that formed the core collection of the museum. The permanent collection now has over 2,900 pieces, including works from Ancient America, Italian Renaissance, English Delftware, Chinese and Japanese porcelain, European porcelain and a Contemporary gallery.

The museum re-opened in August 2006 after a $20 million renovation by KPMG Architects. The building was awarded a PUG Award (Toronto People Choice Award for Best Commercial Architecture in 2006).

The current exhibition, and something Jefferies was keen to spend time on, was the exhibition she has just put together, Clay Portraits: Gertraud Möhwald. According to Jefferies, Möhwald was one of the most significant ceramic artists working in postwar Europe. She brought a well-worn copy of a book chronicling the work of the artist to the studio. Jefferies clearly has a very personal attachment to this artist. She did meet with her in her studio in Germany, I sensed that this was a very meaningful encounter for Jefferies that had a profound impact on how she put together this exhibition.

Möhwald's work combines classical European sculptural traditions with her experiences as a young German who survived the bombing of Dresden and lived in East Germany after its separation from the West. Surrounded by baroque buildings and walls in various stages of decay and ruin, her work reflects this fragmentary environment. Her heads and torsos are composed of clay and commonplace ceramic fragments, and are sometimes combined with found objects and coloured paper.

This is the first time all these pieces have been exhibited together. The pieces are on loan from museums and private collections. It took Jeffries over 3 years to put the show together, before the tragic death of the artist.

The exhibition runs Oct 12, 2007 – Jan 20, 2008. The Gardiner also has a fabulous restaurant by chef Jamie Kennedy that serves lunch during the week and dinner on Fridays.

MORE INFO:
www.gardinermuseum.on.ca

LOIE FALLIS: The Harmony of Planning

While I was interviewing Loie Fallis on The Creative Exchange, I thought the clocks in the studio were going crazy, moving way too quickly. I think that’s what happens when you really get into something interesting -tempus fugit. I suspect that this is also the case in the professional life of Loie Fallis, who has spent close to 3 decades working behind the scenes at the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. She is now Director of Artistic Administration.

Loie Fallis is passionate about music, bringing order and harmony to the planning process of a major Canadian cultural institution. Her main role is working closely with the Music Director, Peter Oundjian, to put together programs for the TSO. She has to be sensitive to Maestro Oundjian’s vision, the needs of the orchestra’s musicians, visiting artists, her colleagues in management and, most importantly, build an audience for the orchestra. Current annual audience estimated at 400,000.

When asked about the most important part of her job apart from the obvious planning component she identified relationship building as a key component, especially in a large complex organization such as the TSO. The orchestra (like most orchestras around the world) has had some challenging times in the past, this led us to discuss her particular leadership role during that period. I asked her if she thought that women leaders tend to employ different tools in conflict resolution and crisis management than men? Her answer was very personal and honest, her experience as a mother played a huge factor in how she dealt with people in her efforts to resolve that crisis.

She was the first woman hired at management-level by the symphony in 1980. Over the years she has seen the organization transform with the employment of women in key posts. They now have elected their first woman as chair of the board.

Talk of childhood and home life brought a sparkle to her eye, her love of music came from her grandmother, Jennie Bouck, who was a choral conductor and also sang in the leading choirs of the day. She joked about her sister, the soprano Mary Lou Fallis, who, apart from serious musical roles, is known for comic performances as a Primadonna character.

Fallis studied French Horn at Queen’s University in Kingston. She was heavily involved in student governement and was part of a group of students that brought wellknown musicians to perform on campus. This started her on a career in arts administration.

She is passionate about her job, and in the radio interview describes in detail the means they employ at the TSO to bring in younger audiences, how every aspect of the concert experience (not only what’s on stage) is carefully planned and executed. Education and Outreach are an important part of their mandate, TSO rehearsals are open to schools participating in their Outreach and Education program.

The orchestra is an important part of Toronto’s cultural landscape. It is dedicated cultural leaders such as Fallis that bring strength and longevity to these institutions, bringing harmony to the humdrum of our daily grind.

ALEXINA LOUIE: Life, Music and yes, Burnt Toast!

Before the interview with Alexina Louie, I spent my morning wondering how I could distill nearly six decades from the life of an extraordinarily accomplished artist into a thirty minute conversation? The time would hardly be sufficient to discuss even one of her pieces. I had so many questions to ask: What inspires her? What does music mean to her? What is it like working with filmmakers? What is she working on now? How does she come up with such wonderful music?

These questions were still swirling in my mind during my walk through a busy city square to the studio. I needed more time to think, so I decided to take the stairs to the fourth floor where the interview was going to be recorded, avoiding the infamous elevator mention so much in this blog. As I made my way up the stairs, it occurred to me that Louie is probably tired of being asked the same old questions about her music and many accomplishments. I would try and get the audience to know more about the personal side of this astonishing composer.

Louie has received two Juno Awards (a decade apart), was named Canadian Composer of the Year in 1986, she is a member of the Order of Ontario, Order of Canada and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada.

We began our conversation with her childhood in Vancouver in the late 50’s. Her parents were second generation immigrants from China and encouraged her to take up the piano when she was about 7. When asked about the piano music she had dedicated to her piano teacher Jean Lyons, she spoke of the very special bond she shared with her. Lyons encouraged her to express herself through her piano playing, to put her feelings out there, to be vulnerable. In that vulnerability she found authenticity and her voice as an artist.

I asked about her move to San Diego in the 1970’s after her formative years in British Columbia. Her eyes lit up. San Diego was crazy –no one there was interested in music by dead people, it was a hot bed for radical experimentation in classical music. It was also a tough environment for her socially as she had to defend her ideas, her manner, even the way she dressed – everything. Here was this polite Canadian young woman who had been taught to say “please” and “thank you” thrust among weed-smoking hippies. Apparently they were amused by the politely Canadian letter she wrote accepting the fellowship there, they kept it on file for a good chuckle.

Looking at her official bio, something intuitively drew me to dwell on the decade in California it seemed as though something significant happened to her there, affecting her life journey. This was the period of her awakening to Chinese and Japanese music through a fellow student. She felt something intrinsically familiar with this music, it moved her deeply, it was part of her being and has since been an important component in her musical voice.

Alexina Louie is married to the composer and conductor Alex Pauk. They often collaborate on film scores. We talked about the demands of being a professional composer and raising two teenage daughters, a difficult juggling act. This turn to things domestic led to a discussion about her hilarious film collaboration Burnt Toast with Dan Redican (Kids in the Hall).

Burnt Toast is a set of eight short comic episodes tracing various love relationships –there is a dash of unrequited love, a pinch of divorce and a touch of murder (yes ladies, a toilet seat is the cause of the latter). I asked if any of the material was autobiographical?

Hmm... I could tell you, but best to find out from Alexina Louie herself on November 15th when the podcasts are launched on the online portal of The Women’s Post (http://www.womenspost.ca/).

YOU CAN GET COPIES OF:

Burnt Toast on DVD from http://www.amazon.ca/ (A much needed breadth of fresh air, I highly recommend it).

The music of Alexina Louie from the Canadian Music Centre www.musiccentre.ca