Climbing Inside The Sound

The Rideau Chapel is an architectural marvel, and preserving it in the setting of the National Gallery was the right thing to do.

Traditional statues of church art are in here, angels and saints, an odd contrast with the speakers. Crossing amongst the speakers, one hears a single voice out of the choir distinctly coming from it, with the overall sound of the choir resonating through the rest of the space. As the display panel says, it's like climbing into the music, an invisible sculpture that you can nonetheless feel.

The adornments of the altar are still here.

The Courtyard And The Chapel

There are two large interior courtyards inside the National Gallery that one can view from any side or from the upper level. One contains a garden, one that often seems to evolve, a living and changing work of art.

Off this courtyard is an entrance to a space that is art in and of itself. The Rideau Chapel is the preserved chapel of a convent, carefully brought over when the place was to be demolished. Often when I visit, it is the sound of the interior that draws me in. 

That sound is The Forty Part Motet, a sound sculpture concept by Janet Cardiff that deploys speakers around the chapel with choral music. The effect has to be experienced in person, but to sum it up, it feels like you're inside the music, that you can feel the sound. This time the speakers were set up inside.

An Experience With First Nations

Here we have two more views of Tepkik, which I left off yesterday. The sculpture suits the interior of the Gallery's glass tower quite well.

My purpose for the visit was to see the permanent galleries again. The Gallery hosts Canadian and world art on two levels, in a chronological order, generally speaking. Going through the doors gives us a view of First Nations sculptures and works. In 2017 the Canadian galleries were reorganized, blending together works by First Nations artists with the European influenced art of white artists. It works remarkably well, and a number of artifacts are the first thing that crosses our eyes.

This contemporary work hangs nearby, the work of a Coast Salish artist called lessLIE. It has the evocative title wHOLE w(((h)))orl(((d))). The accompanying panel explains its influences in the words of the artist.

A Long Overdue Visit To The Gallery

In August I paid a visit to the National Gallery of Canada, one of our national museums in the capital area. Like so much else, it had been closed down because of Covid, but in July the institution started a re-opening with the logistics of current restrictions in mind. I approached from Major's Hill Park and photographed it from here.

Then I headed towards the entrance. The artist Louise Bourgeois was known for her spiders, and Maman stands out here in full view. This is one of several castings of the sculpture, with others around the world. It stands over nine metres in height.

Inside, I headed up the long ramp to the exhibit space. Something colourful was hanging in the glass tower, which I mentioned in a post last month.

I paused to photograph out from the tower to Parliament Hill and the Supreme Court.

And then up. This installation is called Tepkik, by the Mi'kmaq artist Jordan Bennett. It's part of a temporary exhibit of worldwide indigenous art called Abadakone (Continuous Fire). The exhibit, which had been meant to end in April, was extended into October because of the Covid closure. I did go through the exhibit after going through the permanent galleries- though at this point in the visit my batteries were low. More of this visit tomorrow, and for some time to come.

A Call To Duty: Salute To A Brotherhood

I mentioned before the end of the month that I'd come down to the Lebreton Flats area to photograph two monuments. This is the other one, across the street from the National Holocaust Monument. The Canadian Firefighters Memorial commemorates fallen firefighters from across the country. Also titled We Were There, it features a large statue of a firefighter beside a pole, pointing to a wall adorned with names of Canadian firefighters who have given their lives in the line of duty or through workplace related illnesses. Landscaping around the memorial includes plants, shrubs, and trees that tend to flourish following forest fires.

Names are inscribed by province and territory, where the firefighter was serving at the time of their death. Each year more names are added. A ceremony is usually held each September on the second Sunday. This year because of Covid, the ceremony has been postponed, and so the new names of this year and next year will all be commemorated during the 2021 ceremony. Family members of fallen firefighters are included in what is an emotional service of remembrance. I've attended several times now.

At another site entrance, the Firefighters Prayer is included on a plaque.

I finish with these two views.

City Daily Photo Theme Day: Favourites

For the last theme day for City Daily Photo, the theme is Favourites, and you can see other interpretations of the theme right here. 

I decided to select several from over the years. This first one was the first shot I featured in the blog back in 2013. The Peace Tower on Parliament Hill is nicely framed from within the entrance of East Block. It's not possible to take this shot right now, what with restoration work being done on Centre Block and in East Block; this entrance is presently fenced off.

Parliament Hill in a different manner: each year during the summer a multimedia show is projected onto Centre Block (not this year, but Covid might have a lot to do with that). This shot is from near the end of one such show.

This shot is from September of 2015. For several years Ottawa featured an all night event on a given Saturday night called Nuit Blanche (which I wish they'd bring back). I was out and about that night taking in arts events at various spots, including Arts Court, where Allison Blakley, a member of a local dance group, was putting on an audience participation performance mixing together the pinata and Beethoven's Sixth Symphony. After the performance, I got this shot of her, with a marvelous expression.

One of the big festivals each year is Winterlude, held both in Ottawa and Gatineau, and this shot features a large snow sculpture in Jacques Cartier Park over in Gatineau.

Another festival is of course the Tulip Festival, and this shot is taken in Major's Hill Park here in Ottawa during a previous year.

2017 was the year of Canada's 150th anniversary of Confederation, and there were multiple events that year. One of the biggest weekends featured La Machine, a street performance company that  held this event over several days with giant machine animals moving through the city streets towards an inevitable confrontation. This was the first time the company performed in North America, and one of the two beasties was a spider.

The other was a dragon horse. This shot was taken as it passed Parliament Hill.

Another event that year was MosaiCanada, a display of giant topiaries over in Jacques Cartier Park. They included my favourite, a First Nations take on Mother Earth, surrounded by animals. She was huge.

Another of the events usually held each year is Doors Open, which brings visitors into over a hundred different buildings and facilities over a weekend in June. This year it wasn't held, but this shot from last year stuck with me. I was in the National Arts Centre on stage, and happened to take this shot of a woman holding up the conductor's baton. Her smile made the shot.

This shot is from 2017 before Christmas, a vintage shop not far from where I live. This cat was sitting in the window at the time. It's the same cat I featured in a post a few days back, dozing in the same window.

Here we have a shot from last year, taken at the University of Guelph while I was visiting southern Ontario. The gryphon in the background is the school symbol. My brother and I are both miscreants, scoundrels, rogues, and rascals. And proud of it.

I finish with two shots taken in the fall of 2018, on the same day in the Gatineau Hills. The Mackenzie King Estate is in the heart of Gatineau Park, gifted by Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King to the country. Along with the homes on the estate are several follies that King had erected, using parts of other buildings. This one is called the Abbey.

Not far away is the Champlain Lookout, where the Hills have a dramatic overlook of the Ottawa River Valley as the river comes from places further west and north.