May 5 - June 24, 2018
Opening Reception - Saturday May 5 12-2pm
The two artists in Aura of the Land, photographer Blake Chorley (Calgary) and sound artist Ben Globerman (Ottawa), have exposed their creative practice to the energy of the wilderness; to see, hear and experience its gifts.
We can think of the hospital as a physical landscape, it is mapped with long hallways, lofty atriums, and hived-off clinics. But when we consider the people who work, visit, and are cared for within its walls, we understand the distinctive energy and life that generate the hospital’s atmosphere.
Blake Chorley – Artist Statement
These photographs depict pristine landscapes in national and provincial parks in Ontario, Alberta, and British Columbia. Starting with a digital capture, I have worked backwards in my processes; first editing the images in the computer, separating the layers, transferring them to film, and finally printing the foreground and background of each image on two different glass plates using the Ambrotype process from the 1850’s. The image layered on two glass plates gives a three dimensional aspect.
The ability to see and feel the aura is the ability to see and feel the life that makes the landscape. Adams described the landscape, not as geological forms, but rather as something that is living, always changing (Burns, 2002). It is this life that creates the aura of the land. When an artist takes the time to open them self to this life, to slow down, to see and feel it, they experience the aura of the land. It is at this point that they are no longer standing at a distance but rather have begun to collaborate with the land in image creation.
Ben Globerman – Artist Statement
“In every walk with Nature one receives far more than he seeks” -
John Muir
Between Mountains and Brooks is an exploration of the uniquely therapeutic and restorative powers of nature. Writers and activists, such as John Muir and Henry David Thoreau, understood those powers and their importance, influencing contemporary traditions of leaving cities to find refuge in the pastoral. Living by water beneath open skies and surrounded by trees can offer comfort and solace, quietude, a space for contemplation or elation. Nature provides all of these gifts. For myself, city-born and raised, a journey to the Ontario and Québec countryside provides a sense of rejuvenation more easily felt than expressed. It is one I have come to rely on. At the same time, having watched loved ones struggle for renewed health while in hospital, I recognize that the joy and healing powers of nature are beyond their grasp at exactly the time when they would benefit from them the most. This exhibition endeavours to address that by creating a sense of the outdoors, indoors.
Utilizing field recordings, textural compositions, and particular frequencies, Between Mountains and Brooks evokes the feelings of wonderment, harmony and peace created by expansive outdoor spaces. Presented as a multi-speaker audio installation, sounds emanate from the periphery of an inviting indoor space. Patients sit or stand in the centre, surrounded by the sounds of fields and forests on one side, and rivers and streams on the other. The piece is comprised of outdoor recordings that range from birds and insects to the rustling of grass and leaves, and the gentle splashing of brooks. These sounds in turn provide a sonic lattice to support ambient textural compositions. The compositions overtop complement the sounds of the natural environments; slow, peaceful textures that blend continuously into a series of movements. Additionally, low frequency sound waves, such as alpha waves (7.5-12.5 Hz) and theta waves (4-7 Hz) are entwined throughout the piece. The soothing and calming effects of these waves on listeners have been established through scientific study.1
The primary objective of the work is to provide a space for listeners to escape, relax and restore; whether they are patients or staff of the hospital, family or friends of those being cared for, or simply a passerby.
1 Jensen, Mark P. 2015. http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00029157.2014.976786?journalCode=ujhy20