http://www.simcoe.com/what%27s%20on/article/1267892--wallace-challenges-with-new-exhibit
BARRIE - Kelly Wallace’s new exhibition at the MacLaren Art Centre is here to challenge viewers.
Terminal has taken over the Janice Laking Gallery at the MacLaren Art Centre.
“I wanted the viewer to be as challenged looking at it as I was creating it,” said Wallace of his graphite sketches.
The pieces fuse memory and imagination in to a series of landscapes.
“There are 19 pieces in the show. That represents about a year’s worth of work. The entire collection has been about eight or nine year’s worth of work.”
Wallace still can’t believe he’s showing at the MacLaren.
“Museum London mounted the first exhibition of my drawings in 2010. I had an artist talk and Ben Portis (a MacLaren curator) showed up at it and asked an awful lot of questions during the talk and then approached me after and introduced himself and said that he’d like to bring me up here. It’s unusual because usually you are banging on doors to get a show,” Wallace said.
The artist was in town earlier this month to celebrate the opening. He also had the chance to meet Joanna McEwen who is also showing this month.
“It’s been the warmest opening yet. The staff there is exceptional. I’m always leery of who I’m going to show with and Joanna is just amazing. It’s an honour to show with her.”
Wallace hopes the exhibit will inspire people to care more about what they do and invest in what is not tangible.
“Art is about making things that you can’t see, seen. That’s an important part of life that is just fading,” he said. “If you bring the genuine nature of what you do to what you do and you take care of the craft, you are making for a better or more meaningful experience.”
For more information, visit www.maclarenart.com.