Reception July 18 – 6:30-9:00 pm
FRENCH LUNCH: This exhibit is the confluence of two recent events. In October 2018 I visited la Tourette a Dominican monastery, one of Corbusier’s last great buildings located in the Lyonnais region of France. There was on display a survey of French stained glass from early 20th cy to the present. The scale of inventiveness and exploration of the medium was impressive; having worked with glass periodically over the years I was moved by the creative range of this very ancient medium.
In January of 2019 I had the good fortune to purchase a 6 meter roll of 3001b Stonehenge paper 18 inches wide. The eighteen-inch width was the same width of the first eighteen windows I had the privilege to work on in the glass studio of Yvonne Williams after graduation from Ontario College of Art -1963.
The Challenge: The windows 18 inches x 13 feet in height for St Patrick’s church in St John’s NFL’d provided a confining space for interpreting the very large theme of the Passion and Death of Jesus Christ. Plus this theme by necessity of that era needed to be literal and illustrative in interpretation.
I wanted to return to this same format and discover a new freedom,open the space without abandoning the use of lead lines. Cane lead was the necessary element of construction – that which held all of the parts together.
Epilog: After the visit to La Tourette my friend Eric Lay Portier (who introduced me to the region) together we found a village near by with a family run restaurant. Mom was doing the cooking, her daughter serving tables.We had a delicious lunch and were offered second helpings ( fixed price)…it was a full day of – FRENCH LUNCH.