online galleries, museums and more
As a community based organization, we strive to bring great art to our Cowichan Valley Community. As we all deal with the Corona virus, CPAG will be doing this in a different context. On this webpage, we will be adding links to exciting international exhibitions for you to explore from the comfort of your own home, along with links to sites featuring great artists past and present.
- Should you wish to show your support by joining our group, you can do so here.
- Should you feel motivated to donate to our project, you can do so here.
Short films
– Dorian Melton, PR Chair, Cowichan Valley Public Art Gallery
Father and Daughter
“A father bids farewell to his young daughter; she grows up longing for his return.
This short film won 24 awards, including:
– Oscar / Best Short Film, Animated / Academy Awards, USA, 2001
– Cartoon d’Or / Cartoon Forum, Europe, 2001”
– source: https://youtu.be/Oo4KXZVApsQ
Volcano Island
“A young naive tigress’s awakening femininity is noticed by an older male tiger, and she is getting scared by his heated approach. With the help of nature, she can finally act upon her own will. ”
– source: https://youtu.be/KexOBnMJvR4
Negative Space
“Negative Space is an Oscar-nominated short film animation that depicts a father-and-son relationship through the art of packing a suitcase.”
– source: https://youtu.be/KI2lsdXJQ40
Addicted to your phone?
“Staring at the Smartphone all the time, people are gradually alienating themselves from normal life and others nearby. This film, Life Smartphone, with its satirical and humorous style, serves to depict the current social situation and give people a chance to be introspective.”
– source: https://youtu.be/V1jfFuduZXo
The Aroma of Tea
“This short film follows a small shape which travels purposefully and rhythmically through landscapes and which at the end merges into a large white sphere. Both the graphic brushstroke style and the music, with its almost haunting rhythm, are strikingly simple and direct.”
– source: https://youtu.be/TewvScBiBn4
Alternative Math
“A well meaning math teacher finds herself trumped by a post-fact America.”
– source: https://youtu.be/Zh3Yz3PiXZw
Musical Interlude
Chan Chan / Playing for Change
“This song reached the masses from the Buena Vista Social Club project and I have heard so many variations and versions performed around the world ever since. We decided to create our own version while on a trip recording and filming music in Cuba in 2015. The Legendary Pancho Amat on the Cuban tres along with the incredible piano playing of Roberto Carcasses set the framework for this song, and then once we heard Teté Garcia Caturla sing lead vocals we realized exactly why we do what we do. Listen to how well Cuba, the USA, and the Middle East all get along when the music plays.”
– Mark Johnson, PFC producer and co-founder
Jenny Lind – Never Enough
The Greatest Showman
‘Never Enough’ is sung by Loren Allred, best known for being on Adam Levine’s team in season three of The Voice US. Actress Rebecca Ferguson portrayed Jenny Lind in The Greatest Showman, but despite having a music background in Stockholm, felt she didn’t have the necessary experience to play an opera legend. Instead, Allred dubbed her voice for the movie.
Ferguson explained to Collider: “[Loren] is the most incredible singer. I’m an actress and that’s what I tried to do at least. There is a difference in being able to sing a tune and hold it and do a fairly good job.
“It is another thing playing the world’s best opera singer. If I would f*** that up, I would be quite embarrassed. So I thought, ‘Loren, you just go for it, girl!'”
Source: smoothradio.com
Wintergatan – Marble Machine
“My biggest question when watching the music video, aside from the astonishment at how beautifully the machine was engineered and how good it “sounded,” was exactly that latter point: How is Molin getting such produced, mixed, and mastered audio out of what must be the world’s largest wood-and-metal rattletrap of components? If you’ve ever recorded a band or your own instrument playing, you know how tricky it is to get a decent live sound in a room. It almost seems fake, like the music was produced somewhere else and the video was made to look like the machine was playing the various parts of the song when it wasn’t.”
Source: extremetech.com
As a director, cinematographer, and editor, his work has racked up millions of views online, been featured in numerous Vimeo Staff Picks, and was showcased globally as part of the Banff Film Festival world tour.
– source: https://www.scottsecco.com/about
Note of interest
“I came across Vancouver-based Cinematographer Scott Secco‘s work for the first time just recently and was absolutely stunned by the luscious quality of his camera work. I love a story that is well told and I found myself being willingly immersed in Scott’s work.
– Dorian Melton, PR Chair, Cowichan Valley Public Art Gallery
Since it was founded in 1870, The Met has always aspired to be more than a treasury of rare and beautiful objects. Every day, art comes alive in the Museum’s galleries and through its exhibitions and events, revealing both new ideas and unexpected connections across time and across cultures.
– Met mission statement
source: Metropolitan Museum of Art, N.Y.
The Artist Project
What artists see when they look at art.
In this online series, artists reflect on what art is, what inspires them from across 5,000 years of art, and in so doing, they reveal the power of a museum and The Met. Their unique and passionate ways of seeing and experiencing art encourage all museum visitors to look in a personal way.
http://artistproject.metmuseum.org/1/
Roz Chast
On early Italian Renaissance art
A cartoonist for The New Yorker Magazine, Roz tells us why she loves this particular period in Italian art.
Roz Chast
Review
“This series of videos gets to the very heart of what makes artists tick. They are not talking about their own art, but are giving voice to their personal reactions to the art of masters from other times and places. With 120 artists sharing their thoughts, this is a treasure trove of ideas and insights.”
Dorian Melton, PR Chair, Cowichan Valley Public Art Gallery
Note of interest: Tom Killion
“While growing up my time was divided between periods in West Vancouver and southern Marin County, just north of the Golden Gate Bridge. In Marin I spent a lot of time exploring the hills and coastal valleys, and in particular Mt. Tamalpais. Tom Killion’s wood block prints of coastal Northern California,
– Mark Hazell, CVPAG Treasurer and Board Member
On the other hand…
Animals
Just who do they think they are, anyway?
Brain teasers for Artists
Can you spot the differences?
Note of interest: Georgia O’Keeffe
“I have always admired Georgia O’Keefe both as an artist and as a person. She was independent, strong, and creative. When art critics tried to sexualize her flower imagery, she refused to let them. She insisted that she wanted to wake people to the magic of the ordinary.”
– Rebecca Hazell, Author, Illustrator, CVPAG PR Committee
Georgia O’Keeffe Museum
A link to the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum in New Mexico is here: https://www.okeeffemuseum.org/
An online platform designed to provide public access to gallery and museum collections across the globe, Google Arts & Culture uses the same technology developed for Google Maps Street View to enable users to ‘walk’ through world-famous galleries and museums and explore
source: Google Arts & Culture
“This is a very deep dive…consider having a friend promise to call you in a few hours (just to break the spell).”
– Dorian Melton, PR Chair, Cowichan Valley Public Art Gallery
- Learning Portal a collection of resources for kids
- Online Emily Carr Collection
- One Hundred objects of interest
– Dorian Melton, PR Chair, Cowichan Valley Public Art Gallery
- Shame and Prejudice an exhibit of work by Kent Monkman, Canadian First Nations artist of Cree ancestry.
- Online Collections
source: Frida Kahlo Museum
Biography: Frida Kahlo
Think you know Frida?
Frida Kahlo’s Construction of Identity
Note of interest:
“One of the most interesting characters in the arts world is Frida Kahlo. She contained an extraordinary spirit that would not be stifled. Her story fascinates me. After she lost a leg due to a carriage accident in 1953, she devoted herself to her painting. Kahlo created her own wonderfully unique style, immediately recognizable.”
– Jock Hildebrand, President Cowichan Valley Public Art Gallery
source: Henry Moore Foundation
Note of interest:
“As a young art student, fascinated with sculpture, I came across Henry Moore. It was immediately love at first sight with his Sculpture. Authenticity comes to mind when I view his work. There is solidarity of form, the innate sense of a brilliant mind creating original work that I find so appealing. He is in many ways the father of contemporary sculpture.”
– Jock Hildebrand, President Cowichan Valley Public Art Gallery
The Smithsonian Institution, of course, has its own array of virtual tours, experiences and educational resources. Among the other experiences on offer: Scroll through an extensive trove of 3-D photographs from the Minneapolis Institute of Art, explore online exhibits from the National Women’s History Museum in Virginia, or admire artistic masterpieces from the Dalí Theatre-Museum in Spain.
For those in search of armchair travel inspiration, Smithsonian magazine has compiled a list of ten museums that have found new ways to fulfill their critical mission of cultivating creativity and spreading knowledge.”
source: Smithsonian Magazine
Note of interest: National Gallery
This 100 year old (plus!) painting could appear to represent any number of locations here in B.C., on the West Coast of Canada. Timeless.
- Coastal scene – circa 1892 by Belgian artist, Théo van Rysselberghe.
Positive visitor review
- Tania Delgado – “I absolutely loved it. The on-site guides are knowledgeable and kind. I appreciated how they suggested additional works of art based on my particular interests. It was well worth my time to visit. There is so much material on the free access floors, but I would gladly make a donation on a regular basis or pay for the special exhibits. The description of the paintings was much more robust and engaging than other museums I visited.”
Negative visitor review
-
Azul – “Rude disgusting door person I didn’t realise there was a bag check I was shouted at by the bag checker I said “what” his response you need to learn some manners I don’t see a problem with saying what he was considerably irate and was talking whilst eating spitting food out absolutely revolting.
I left and will be cancelling my membership if there going to have bag checks they should be consistent and have them all the time some days they don’t have one absolutely ridiculous.”
source: The Art Institute of Chicago
Note of interest: Black Cross, New Mexico
“I saw the crosses so often—and often in unexpected places—like a thin dark veil of the Catholic Church spread over the New Mexico landscape,” said Georgia O’Keeffe about her first visit to Taos, New Mexico, in the summer of 1929.
- Black Cross, New Mexico – 1929, by American artist, Georgia O’Keeffe.
source: The Art Institute of Chicago
“As the Covid-19 pandemic currently sweeps the World, this image of a Black Cross grabbed me the instant I saw it. It reminds me that the “story” of any particular image is in constant flux, acquiring additional layers of meaning.”
– Dorian Melton, PR Chair, Cowichan Valley Public Art Gallery
Positive visitor review
- Shelley Aranas – “You could get lost for hours in this wonderful museum. The back of the map provides a great highlights guide so you can jump around to the more notable works. I recommend the audio tour.”
Negative visitor review
- Mikaela York – “Great exhibits. Like a maze to navigate. Extremely rude staff. Children literally running around like it was a playground. There were teenagers vaping marijuana inside the exhibits. The exhibit staff at some points were just speaking very loudly about their personal lives which really ruins the museum ambiance.”
⟨ Mark Rothko on art
- “The artist invites the spectator to take a journey within the realm of the canvas… Without taking the journey, the spectator has really missed the essential experience of the picture.”
- “I am here to make you think. . . . I am not here to make pretty pictures!”
- “There is only one thing I fear in life, my friend: One day, the black will swallow the red.”
Jackson Pollock on art ⟩
- on studying under Thomas Hart Benton at Manhattan’s Art Students League: “He drove his kind of realism at me so hard I bounced right into non-objective painting.”
- “There was a reviewer… who wrote that my pictures didn’t have any beginning or any end. He didn’t mean it as a compliment, but it was. It was a fine compliment.”
- “I want to express my feelings, not illustrate them.”
⟨ Love the art. Hate the artist.
Can you separate the art from the artist? This one’s In honor of all the art you used to love, and it’s creators who ruined it by behaving badly. We talk Picasso, Nanette, cats out of bags, and much more