The Clay and Glass Gallery Visit

Swounds Exhibition

On Monday, June 20 our class had the chance to visit the 'Canadian Clay and Glass Gallery'  in the City of Waterloo. We also had Christian Singer, who is the curator of gallery show us around and have him talk to us about the artists work.

We were introduced to Julie Oakes Swounds Exhibtion which featured over 100 glass sparrows being suspended from the Gallery's ceiling. There was another piece of art known as 'Noahs Ark' which consisted of 50 pairs of hand-painted clay feet. The 50 hand-painted clay feet are used to depict the various species that were taken onto Noahs Ark. According to our curator Christian, he explained to us that Julie's exhibition is based on life and death. Julie had 3 friends who passed away and she tries to explain how everyone is unique. On Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday a sparrow falls from the ceiling and shatters on the floor. Before each sparrow is shattered a song is played.

An ark and 50 pairs of hand-painted clay

The typical visitors to the gallery have been people from the region. When I saw the exhibition I was surprised because I suspected just pots and sculptures. Instead I was amazed by the detail of the glass design of the sparrows.

The current gallery space is architecturally sound. It is very important to know where to place each item, as well as color. I know that I have not been to many art galleries, but the Swounds Exhibition really amazed me because of all the thinking that went into the process of creating the gallery.





Below is a video of Julie Oakes Swounds Exhibition:
(video courtesy of Youtube)

(all images courtesy of the Canadian Clay & Glass Gallery)