First dusting of snow 14 November 2014

Well today was one of those days where nothing is quite as it should be. It started with a false Fire Alarm in our building triggered by a workmen who bang into the wall alarm and triggered it. So walked downstairs with 2 puppies in tow who have to be carried because they cannot manage the stairs. The lobby was mayhem with people and firemen milling about, obviously there was no fire but the noise of the sirens had set the dogs off and Nora got into a fight with one other dog. She may be small only 5Kg but she is tough. I was not happy with her behaviour in front of all the old ladies of the building. I also forgot I should have been at the Museum at 10am and was now late, but it did not matter because the activity was cancelled. Then I got an emergency email telling me that the scheduled tour of the Jack Bush retrospective was now today and not on the 20th. So I quickly made my way to the National Gallery to attend it. Luckily coffee and cookies were on offer prior to the tour.

Glass dome of the Great Hall, National Gallery of Canada.

The weather has been progressively getting colder but still some days are warmish. However today with a mix of bright Sun and grey snow clouds swirling above the City, you knew snow was on the way. The clouds just have that colour, not rain obviously because they are taking on a blue grey hue. Then suddenly light snow flakes fall, the wind is wiping them around like white sugar falling on a pound cake, just a dusting, just to make things look wintery as in the Flemish paintings by Pieter Brueghel the Elder.

This week has been quite interesting artistically. We went to a concert with the Cantata Singer of Ottawa, they are considering a new maestro and Christopher Hossfeld is one of the candidates. Hossfeld has a Master in Choral Conducting from the Yale Music School and a Bachelor from Harvard in Music Composition, he is the recipient of many Academic awards and he is an accomplished composer.

Christopher Hossfeld

I had met him this past Summer at the Canadian War Museum when he came to see the Exhibit of Canadian War Paintings, Transformations AY Jackson & Otto Dix. He was at the time composing his new piece In Pace and I gave him the tour of the exhibit, he's a charming fellow. He later told me that seeing this exhibit with me giving the background context had helped him along.

We went to hear the Cantata Singers of Ottawa and Hossfeld was directing In Pace.
I was very impress with his composition, the beauty of the music and words, a moving and thoughtful piece.

Then we went to the National Arts Centre of Canada, as it is now called, the hear the NAC Orchestra and their new Conductor Maestro Alexander Shelley. He is a very urbane and elegant young man, he has that European Conductor look, think Pappano or Muti. He currently works with the Orchestra of Nuremberg, Liepzig and DSO Berlin among others and he has also worked with many other orchestras.

Maestro Alexander Shelley

Shelley surprised the audience when at the beginning he made a short introduction to the pieces in French and then in English. It was flawless and very well done. He is a much anticipated and welcome change to Pinchas Zuckerman who frankly had discouraged me from going to the concerts. The black Kmer Rouge pyjama shuffling along look was not inspiring and the program was usually what you can hear any day on the radio, in other words lots of easy listening music, you can hum along.

The program started with a piece of music by Otto Nicolai, Ouverture to the Merry Wives of Windsor, then Korngold Suite from Much ado About Nothing. The main piece was Mendelssohn
Incidental Music for A midsummer Night Dream with actor Colm Feore providing the narration of the text from the play using both French and English as he went along.

It was a delightful evening and I simply loved Shelley's elegant and fluid conducting style.

Then the next day I went to the Vernissage of the Jack Bush retrospective at the National Gallery of Canada. It is a very well put together exhibition and it was not an easy one to mount, Bush died in 1977 in Toronto of heart failure and his paintings are in a large part in private collection, like the one of David Mirvish.  What I like about this exhibit is that it speaks of all the aspects of his life, we have his diaries which he kept for 30 years of this life (1930-1977), they are not open to the public and are with the E.P.Taylor Library at the Art Gallery of Ontario. In this exhibit the Curator Marc Mayer and his collaborators brought together the diaries and the paintings. It was Bush's psychiatrist Dr. Allan Walters who suggested he keep a diary and paint in the abstract style to relieve his chronic anxiety.
Bush would then read out loud to his doctor his diary entry and discuss his paintings as a way to reduce or get rid up his anxiety. Bush was also for 40 years a very successful commercial draftsmen and artist. He was part of the Group of 11 for some years and was involved with many other arts groups, an over achiever in other words. He is known today as one of the best Canadian Artist of the 20th Century.

Chopsticks 1977, his last canvas.

Tall Spread 1966

Bush exhibited in New-York and elsewhere and his agent was Clement Greenberg one of the great art critic of his time and a close friend of Bush. I was also privilege the next day, to get as a Volunteer of the NGC, a tour open only to employees and volunteer of the Exhibit and given by the Gallery director Marc Mayer who is not only knowledgeable but also loves the subject.

Jack Bush 1909-1977

Le Jour du Souvenir

Today 11 November is Remembrance Day in Canada.

Here are some photos of the day in Ottawa. This year the Princess Royal, H.H. Princess Anne and her husband Admiral Tim Laurence were presiding the ceremony at the National War Memorial with
H.E. the Right Honourable the Governor General David Johnstone, Commander in Chief. The crowds are said to have been the largest in living memory for an 11 November, no doubt a response to the events of 22 October in Ottawa and 21 October in Quebec.

May 21, 1939 The National War Memorial is inaugurated by King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother.

November 11, 2014 very large crowds at the Remembrance Day Ceremonies at the National War Memorial in Ottawa

The Governor General as Commander in Chief shaking hands with Veterans at the National War Memorial in Ottawa.

Soldiers of the Princess Patricia Canadian Light Infantry Regiment, wearing their Afghanistan Campaign Medal.

The Princess Royal, H.H. Princess Anne with the Governor General at Rideau Hall in Ottawa. She is examining a military medal she has just received.

This evening the tomb of the Unknown Soldier at the National War Memorial covered with poppies and flowers from Canadians as is the tradition each year. 

Museum volunteer work

I finished by assignment at the Canadian War Museum and have now returned to the National Gallery of Canada to start a new Season of Lectures and school work with visiting schools and introducing children to art, age group 6 to 12 years old. I am also a docent-guide and give small lectures 10 minutes or more on a specific works of art in the Gallery. All this is volunteer work and requires a lot of preparation and reading, you simply cannot do it cold turkey, not possible and very dangerous since there is always someone lurking about with that clever question or observation.

So preparation is everything and it also has to be entertaining. The Mercredis Culturels lectures is a 54 year old program and I have been the convenor for the last 2 years organizing lectures with various experts on an Art Topic of their choice. I had prepared a lecture just in case of an emergency if a lecturer cancelled and this did happen last week. I re-wrote the lecture in 48 hours and re-arranged my slides. My topic was the Hermitage Museum it's history from 1764 to 1936. This year is the 250th Anniversary of its foundation by Catherine II of Russia. It went very well and got a standing ovation and many compliments from the audience which surprised me no end.

The School program is just as complicated they may be in the 6 to 12 year old range they know what is of interest to them. Usually abstract, modern, contemporary art is a hit, kids understand that easily, it appeals to them. Classical, Academic, old Masters, Renaissance gets a big yawn, unless there are children or animals in the painting.

Maman by Louise Bourgeois at the NGC

So this year I will do tours inside the Museum and at local schools in the region of the National Capital. At the museum the tours are 50 minutes total and you take the kids around the galleries and present chosen selected paintings, at least you get a break after your tour is done and can have a coffee. Not so in local schools, this is a free program and since the Provincial Government cut all Art programs in schools some years ago, we are the only free outlet for them and you spend all day in school without as much as a pee break. This year again I am presenting a program on the Renaissance because one school asked for it. As for the other schools it will be about Abstract and Surrealism, Kandinsky and Magritte. The goal is to give the kids a first appreciation for Art, they often have no exposure what so ever in their lives unless a relative is an artist. I engage them by asking what they see in a painting or what attracts their attention, getting them to talk about a painting and playing a game of discovery works well. I also try to challenge what they may have been told about art or how to interpret it. I talk about the painter, the history behind the making of the painting, the people in it, who they are, etc.

It can be very challenging because they do not know why they should even be interested. It is also important to get the teachers into the act, many have never set foot in a Museum. My goal is to reach the kids if one person is happy and engaged then it is all worthwhile.

As for the public at the Museum who come for the talks and presentations, the goal is to make their visit worthwhile and hope that they will come back regularly. Unfortunately in Ottawa going to a museum is not an activity anyone considers. Many people I have spoken to have been in a museum once in 30 years, usually for an hour. It is a challenge to get them to come and stop to look. This is all part of the job and I take it to heart. Again I find that if you give visitors background on a painting and the artist, a bit of history and compare one artist to another to highlight differences or similarities people respond well to that, they can connect and it is no longer just a painting on the wall. We even get into conversations about framing, often people will ask how we got that frame or why this type of frame, they may not like it and think it is ugly. The whole idea is to make Art approachable and easy to assimilate.

It did work fairly well this summer when comparing the painters Otto Dix and AY Jackson. In the end despite the fact that Jackson is well known to Canadians many preferred Dix. The reason was that they had discovered a painter who was complex and controversial and was not afraid to explore difficult themes. He was a puzzle for viewers whereas Jackson was just plain.

All this to say that I do enjoy what I am doing as a Volunteer.

Fifty years ago today.

A little bit of music on this Thursday 6 November, Feast day of the creation of the Canadian Flag.
Some 50 years ago today on a stormy night in 1964 a young woman by the name of Joan O'Malley got a call from her father Ken Donovan telling her that he had just gotten a call from the Prime Minister's Office about the new Canadian Flag which was being debated in Parliament. Nobel Peace Prize laureate Lester B.Pearson had promised the country during the election that if he became Prime Minister he would see to it that we would have a new Canadian Flag. Some 6,000 designs had been studied by various committees in Parliament. We were down to 3 prototypes and Joan's father who worked at the Exhibition Commission of the then Department of Trade and Commerce was told to get  the 3 prototypes ready for Saturday morning so they could be flown at Harrington Lake, the Country Estate of the Prime Minister outside Ottawa in the Gatineau Hills. The design under final consideration was the single Red Maple Leaf on a white background, was to be tried out to see if it would make it as a flag on a flagpole.

Joan was a young newlywed, seamstress so her father Ken got her to come down to his office with her Singer Sewing Machine to sow the prototypes together. It was not an easy task since the material was thick and difficult to sow together, she worked until almost midnight and got the job done. Her father then drove from his Government Office to 24 Sussex Drive to hand deliver the final product to the Prime Minister who was waiting. The new Canadian Flag was Proclaimed in February 1965.

Ken Donovan and his daughter Joan O'Malley did make history that night. Donovan was one of 100,000 home children (orphans) who were sent to Canada from Britain between 1860-1930. These children were indentured servants in Canada, he was one of the lucky ones, he became a senior Public  Servant in the Federal Government and coming to Canada gave him a better life. His daughter Joan says this is why my father was so excited about the flag because it represented opportunity for him and a new life.

Avoir et être, to have and to be

Voici un très beau petit poème sur les verbes Avoir et Être.

L'auteur de ce beau poème est " Yves Duteil " Loin des vieux livres de grammaire, Écoutez comment un beau soir, Ma mère m'enseigna les mystères Du verbe être et du verbe avoir. Parmi mes meilleurs auxiliaires, Il est deux verbes originaux. Avoir et Être étaient deux frères Que j'ai connus dès le berceau. Bien qu'opposés de caractère, On pouvait les croire jumeaux, Tant leur histoire est singulière. Mais ces deux frères étaient rivaux. Ce qu'Avoir aurait voulu être Être voulait toujours l'avoir. À ne vouloir ni dieu ni maître, Le verbe Être s'est fait avoir. Son frère Avoir était en banque Et faisait un grand numéro, Alors qu'Être, toujours en manque. Souffrait beaucoup dans son ego. Pendant qu'Être apprenait à lire Et faisait ses humanités, De son côté sans rien lui dire Avoir apprenait à compter. Et il amassait des fortunes En avoirs, en liquidités, Pendant qu'Être, un peu dans la lune S'était laissé déposséder. Avoir était ostentatoire Lorsqu'il se montrait généreux, Être en revanche, et c'est notoire, Est bien souvent présomptueux. Avoir voyage en classe Affaires. Il met tous ses titres à l'abri. Alors qu'Être est plus débonnaire, Il ne gardera rien pour lui. Sa richesse est tout intérieure, Ce sont les choses de l'esprit. Le verbe Être est tout en pudeur, Et sa noblesse est à ce prix. Un jour à force de chimères Pour parvenir à un accord, Entre verbes ça peut se faire, Ils conjuguèrent leurs efforts. Et pour ne pas perdre la face Au milieu des mots rassemblés, Ils se sont répartis les tâches Pour enfin se réconcilier. Le verbe Avoir a besoin d'Être Parce qu'être, c'est exister. Le verbe Être a besoin d'avoirs Pour enrichir ses bons côtés. Et de palabres interminables En arguties alambiquées, Nos deux frères inséparables Ont pu être et avoir été.

Halloween 2014, Tutti i Santi, Festa dei Morti.

This year for Halloween I got a nice pumpkin well several really and carved the big one.
I have been doing this since I was a little kid 50 odd years. I put the pumpkins on the balcony, we are not expecting any kids at all, since our building is mostly older adults with no kids. There are some kids but I do not know if they are around tonight. Of course tomorrow is the Dia de los Muertos, the day of the dead 1 November, a big tradition in Mexico and in many countries like Poland. Two countries where I have lived and saw their traditions. Very interesting, in Mexico people who got married on November 1 put skeletons and coffins on their wedding cakes. Tombs in cemeteries were ornately decorated with a multitude of flowers and candles. In Poland thousands of flickering lights would decorate family tombs and everyone went to visit the dead in the day time and also at night, the Cemeteries would be ablaze with candle light, quite lovely and a little spooky because of the many big old trees everywhere casting shadows. There was no Halloween in China or in Italy too foreign a concept, same for Egypt or Jordan. The concept of Halloween is very North American.

Here are some photos of the season.

Citrouilles 2014 

By the way for those who might wonder how do you say Halloween in French, well you say 

L'Halloween, simple yes?

Here are other photos of our neighbourhood

Our neighbours pumpkins 

Here is our pumpkin for this year, next to the Chicago Drake Hotel ceramic pumpkin I bought in 1994 with the 3 little pumpkin of this year, including the blue gray one called Sweetmeat pumpkin.

How to react to this event

When tragedy strikes as it did this week in Ottawa it is difficult to know how to react clearly to such horrendous situations. We live in an open society where people do what they want, say what they feel and pretty much go about their lives as they please. Canada is known for it's openness and for being accommodating and generous to a fault.

Though many young people have real trouble understanding notions of sacrifice and hardship because they are indulged and sheltered. Many schools went into a lockdown in Ottawa so did public buildings, hotels, Parliament where the attack took place, Embassies and numerous other public places, including shopping malls. Many complained about the inconvenience of such a measure and those who complained did not appear to be thinking as to why this was happening. Most only thought, it has nothing to do with me, so why should I be inconvenienced. Would it be useful to try to explain why security measures are required or how serious the matter at hand is in reality. We do live in a very narcissistic society, look at the reporter of SUN News who wanted a selfie with a US News personality at the scene of the crime, how inappropriate and thoughtless is that.

Maybe it is time to return to an era where everyone enjoys the same rights and freedoms as long as it does not step on the rights and freedoms of your neighbour or society at large. A world where respect is an important value. This would have to be taught in our schools with so many other topics which are not part of the curriculum at the moment.

As for the National War Memorial and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Ottawa, like Parliament, maybe it is time to teach people how to behave and what is appropriate behaviour is such places I have seen far to many people behave in disrespectful ways because they were more concern with having fun that bothered to think where they were.

As for the measures now envisaged by the Government on how to contain extreme violent behaviour and those who would visit violence on us as a society, I do not know what is appropriate but at the same time cool heads must prevail and strike the right balance.

The late Cpl Nathan Cirillo is on the left of this photo.