Read about the greatly successful Migrations Silent Auction held in support of this project...

Harry Kiyooka Cutting the Ribbon in Tinos, Greece

It was in February of 2002 that Harry Kiyooka, Vice President of the Calgary Contemporary Art Society planted the seed for an artistic exchange that eventually became the “Migrations in the Third Dimension: Tradition and Innovation in Canada and the Cyclades” project. When we came to the Department of External Affairs with a grant application, we brought a dream and a promise. The dream: to organize an international cultural exchange celebrating tradition and innovation between members of two creatively active, aesthetically diverse, and historically comparable communities from the Canadian prairies and the Aegean Sea—Calgary, Alberta and Tinos, Greece. The promise: to organize two exhibits with Canadian and Greek sculptors, one on Tinos in October 2004, and the other in Calgary from November 2004 to January, 2005. We realized the dream and fulfilled the promise. As all ambitious and inaugural attempts go, it has not been without its surprises and tribulations. However, in its core objective to create an artistic bridge, and create new audiences and alliances, it has been a resounding success.

Dr. Cat discusses the show with an engaged audience.

On October 9, 2004, our show opened at The Cultural Foundation of Tinos with an exhibit that readily engaged both the Tiniot and Athenian visitors. Our audience came out of curiosity to see the works of totally unknown artists to them, and they revelled not only in the quality of the works but also in the commonalities that they found in them: how easy and pleasurable it was to make the connection! We were pleased to see that our theoretical assumptions in proposing the exchange and in choosing the art, i.e., that both communities share a common aesthetic history and common geographical topoi, topoi that are ruled by the presence of a relentless, unforgiving light, had paid off.

Our Greek audience connected with Ray Arnatt’s political, anti-war message and they connected with his social irony regarding the “Unswept floor”. Our audience got the point, as they got the point of Reinhard Skoracki’s anthropocentrism, and references to the complicated, contradictory, and at times futile attempts to do the socially expected, whatever that might be.

Participating Artists and the Curator (far left)

In Greece, the location of the Foundation’s exhibition space on Tinos, just a stone’s throw from the Aegean, the shape and size of the hall, the fact that we were visitors bringing works that resonated with each artist’s notion of Greece and personal histories, shaped my placement of the art. I had situated it within the hall in ways that told a story of both primordial and contemporary forces: upon entering, a visitor was engulfed by a feminine, curvaceous, welcoming aura, welcomed by Dellatolas’ “Oceanus,” Isla Burns’ “Snake Goddess,” and Reinhard’s “Curved Line.”

They responded well to Isla Burn’s willingness to tackle issues of spirituality and the miraculous, so present on an island like Tinos, an island whose fate has been marked by the presence of the church of The Megalohari. Katie Ohe’s offerings for celebrating life’s continuum, sculpture as metaphor, resonated equally well; Gallery directors and lay visitors alike dreamed of owning one of Honsun’s pieces; they loved and identified with Honsun’s “at homeness” with marble, the material that has sprung into the artistic consciousness of Greek art in general, and Tiniot art in particular.

On Tinos, the Curator’s guided tour happened right after the opening speeches and ribbon cutting, an opening attended by the who’s who of the Island (see below for details). After the guided tour, we were all treated to local delicacies accompanied by the island’s famous “raki”, a distilled drink that guarantees good spirits for all! We, the Canadian visitors, were then treated by the Board of The Cultural Foundation of Tinos to a feast that would make any Greek proud! During the artists’ presentation the next afternoon, artists had a chance to speak about their art, meet with the locals, and to partake in more sweets and raki, of course! (More on what we did in the itinerary below).

A Goodbye Group shot from Tinos, Greece.

That the exchange took root and the “migration” was successful is exemplified by another encounter during our stay on Tinos, an encounter that took place just before we got on the ferry for the return trip to Athens. Kostas Vafiadis, a local sculptor, architect, our most fervent fan, presented Reinhard Skoracki—the artist that most “touched his soul” with a ceramic sculpture, a dove that also looked more like a hawk – with a touch of blood dripping from its missing head. It was called “Hawk Pretending to be a Dove.”

A closer look at a sculpture on display in Tinos.

Kostas Vafiadis told us that the dove was a work by Lazaros Lameras (1913-1998), one of Tinos’ most important twentieth century sculptors and a teacher of Kostas at the Polytechnic School of Athens. In the mid seventies, Lameras—influenced maybe from the heydays of performance/happening art—created dozens of doves of various types and sizes that he placed all over his village of Triandaros—the village Kostas also calls home. One of these doves, the most eccentric of the lot, the one that he gave Reinhard, ended up in Kostas’ possession all these years. Kostas told us that he “always wanted this migratory bird to travel” and that now he felt “the time has come.” This bird was carried to Calgary by Reinhard, where it assumed a prominent place in our exhibition at the Triangle Gallery; it is the piece that will symbolize the first circle of our “migration.”

Migrations Exhibit opens at the Triangle Gallery in Calgary, Alberta.

The second exhibit opened in Calgary at the Triangle Gallery for Visual arts on November 12, 2004. The logistics of international exchanges kept the works we showed on Tinos…en route to Calgary, so we exhibited different works by the same artists, and the addition by Lameras of course. In Calgary a second story emerged, one dominated by Ray Arnatt’s presence. The Triangle’s physical space—the modernist grid made up of steel, glass, and concrete—seems to beg for artworks as singular objects, and they looked good! Visitors to the Gallery in Calgary came to both pay tribute to Ray and celebrate with the rest of the artists the successful “migration” to Greece and back. They loved Katie Ohe’s “brother pear,” thought that Honsun’s architectural pieces must have been done in Greece, and as always they marveled and smiled at Skoracki’s visually gorgeous mini-morality tales. Isla Burns’ piece “Raw Homage” , its intensity and grandeur was thought by many as the best “offering” for ray’s safe passage to the fourth dimension.

Creating a perfect musical atmosphere: The Rembetika Hipsters

The Triangle Gallery was packed with visitors for the Calgary opening, an event made more festive through the bouzouki sounds of the Rembetika Hipsters, and for the next day’s curator’s and artists’ talks. In order to share with our Calgary visitors the exchanges that took place on Tinos and other parts of Greece, we added a Tinos Documenta wall photo exhibit, an addition that was really enjoyed by all.

A sixty-four page, full colour, bilingual catalogue entitled “Migrations in the Third Dimension: Tradition and Innovation in Canada and the Cyclades has been produced and is available at both The Cultural Foundation of Tinos and the Triangle Gallery for Visual Arts.

Read more about how this intercontinental show formed on the previous Migrations Page.