Halifax Chronicle Herald Review by Arts Reporter Elissa Barnard, December 6, 2012
Collins documentary explores life, work of Boucher
December 6, 2012
BY ELISSA BARNARD ARTS REPORTER
Filmmaker Alan Collins was initially drawn to abstract painter Wayne Boucher as “a political artist.” “I think that’s rare for abstract artists,” says Collins. When he saw Boucher’s mural Reveil, about the Acadian Expulsion, at the Grand Pre National Historic Site, “it reminded me of Guernica by Picasso because it’s a very powerful statement.”Reveil is a focal point in Drowning in Colour: The Art of Wayne Boucher, premiering tonight, 7 p.m., at King’s Theatre, Annapolis Royal, with a Q&A session with Boucher, Collins and his wife, artist Violet Rosengarten.
The 45-minute documentary opens with a re-enactment of Boucher’s childhood experience of slipping off rocks into water and nearl drowning. He remembers how the light filtered through the water, and continues to make abstract paintings noted for their depth, richness of colour and luminosity.Collins traces Boucher’s life and career through his paintings, starting with the black and white work in the 1970s and ending with th Blue Pools series influenced by the tsunami in Japan.Boucher’s social conscience is present in his art, his leadership in the Annapolis Royal arts community and a sojourn to Thailand to work with Burmese refugee artists.His story is told through specific paintings by people who love them, including Nat and Susan Tileston, of Granville Ferry; collector Richard Cobb; Dalhousie Art Gallery director Peter Dykhuis, curator of the 2006 show Wayne Boucher: Radiance and Counterpoint; and Acadians visiting the Grand Pre National Historic Site. “I discovered all the paintings have different meanings to different people,” said Collins.
He also shows how Boucher is inspired by nature, the sea and the history of Annapolis Royal. There are fantastic views of water an sea from his Parkers Cove studio, and a look at the mounds of Fort Anne where a staircase going up to the sky recalls Boucher’s ever-present ladder structures. “I wanted to make the work more accessible to a larger audience. When you first see it, it seems very abstract but then there are a l of things people see in the work. “I think he deserves more attention across Canada and I hope this film will help do that.” Collins, a filmmaker and producer, moved to Nova Scotia in 2006 to escape the pollution in Toronto.
He finds Nova Scotia’s arts community very exciting. “There’s so much talent here and different fields cross over. It’s very easy to meet people.”Nova Scotia singer Janice Jackson performs in the documentary, which features the avant-garde music of Canadian composer Joh Abram, who lived across the street from Collins before moving to Calgary. For the Acadian section, Collins uses the driving song Reveille by Ode a l’Acadie. Collins, who has made several films on Canadian artists and musicians, wants to make a documentary on Mi’kmaq artist Alan Syliboy. He and Syliboy worked together on Snapshot: East Coast Contemporary Aboriginal Art Exhibition, shown in Halifax in August.
He is making a short film about his adopted daughter Cassandre’s first visit back to Haiti last spring since leaving Port au Prince wh she was two. She is now 18 and studying at the University of Calgary. This February, he plans to shoot a personal documentary, Full Circle, about returning to the place where he was born in South IndiaCollins hopes Drowning in Colour will be screened around Nova Scotia and the communities of Wolfville and Antigonish are interested. The Acadia University Art Gallery exhibit Black and Blue: Don Pentz and Wayne Boucher, is now at the St. F.X. Art Gallery in Antigonish until Dec. 23.He’s not optimistic about getting it to TV. “It’s really hard to get a film about art broadcast because Bravo is not showing these types films now.”
(ebarnard@herald.ca)
By ELISSA BARNARD Arts Reporter
December 6, 2012
BY ELISSA BARNARD ARTS REPORTER
Filmmaker Alan Collins was initially drawn to abstract painter Wayne Boucher as “a political artist.” “I think that’s rare for abstract artists,” says Collins. When he saw Boucher’s mural Reveil, about the Acadian Expulsion, at the Grand Pre National Historic Site, “it reminded me of Guernica by Picasso because it’s a very powerful statement.”Reveil is a focal point in Drowning in Colour: The Art of Wayne Boucher, premiering tonight, 7 p.m., at King’s Theatre, Annapolis Royal, with a Q&A session with Boucher, Collins and his wife, artist Violet Rosengarten.
The 45-minute documentary opens with a re-enactment of Boucher’s childhood experience of slipping off rocks into water and nearl drowning. He remembers how the light filtered through the water, and continues to make abstract paintings noted for their depth, richness of colour and luminosity.Collins traces Boucher’s life and career through his paintings, starting with the black and white work in the 1970s and ending with th Blue Pools series influenced by the tsunami in Japan.Boucher’s social conscience is present in his art, his leadership in the Annapolis Royal arts community and a sojourn to Thailand to work with Burmese refugee artists.His story is told through specific paintings by people who love them, including Nat and Susan Tileston, of Granville Ferry; collector Richard Cobb; Dalhousie Art Gallery director Peter Dykhuis, curator of the 2006 show Wayne Boucher: Radiance and Counterpoint; and Acadians visiting the Grand Pre National Historic Site. “I discovered all the paintings have different meanings to different people,” said Collins.
He also shows how Boucher is inspired by nature, the sea and the history of Annapolis Royal. There are fantastic views of water an sea from his Parkers Cove studio, and a look at the mounds of Fort Anne where a staircase going up to the sky recalls Boucher’s ever-present ladder structures. “I wanted to make the work more accessible to a larger audience. When you first see it, it seems very abstract but then there are a l of things people see in the work. “I think he deserves more attention across Canada and I hope this film will help do that.” Collins, a filmmaker and producer, moved to Nova Scotia in 2006 to escape the pollution in Toronto.
He finds Nova Scotia’s arts community very exciting. “There’s so much talent here and different fields cross over. It’s very easy to meet people.”Nova Scotia singer Janice Jackson performs in the documentary, which features the avant-garde music of Canadian composer Joh Abram, who lived across the street from Collins before moving to Calgary. For the Acadian section, Collins uses the driving song Reveille by Ode a l’Acadie. Collins, who has made several films on Canadian artists and musicians, wants to make a documentary on Mi’kmaq artist Alan Syliboy. He and Syliboy worked together on Snapshot: East Coast Contemporary Aboriginal Art Exhibition, shown in Halifax in August.
He is making a short film about his adopted daughter Cassandre’s first visit back to Haiti last spring since leaving Port au Prince wh she was two. She is now 18 and studying at the University of Calgary. This February, he plans to shoot a personal documentary, Full Circle, about returning to the place where he was born in South IndiaCollins hopes Drowning in Colour will be screened around Nova Scotia and the communities of Wolfville and Antigonish are interested. The Acadia University Art Gallery exhibit Black and Blue: Don Pentz and Wayne Boucher, is now at the St. F.X. Art Gallery in Antigonish until Dec. 23.He’s not optimistic about getting it to TV. “It’s really hard to get a film about art broadcast because Bravo is not showing these types films now.”
(ebarnard@herald.ca)
By ELISSA BARNARD Arts Reporter