Art Gallery of Alberta

On my morning jog a phrase cycled through my head: Le vent, il suffis de te rendre fou. To satiate my nerves, and my long overdue curiosity, I decided to spend my Sunday afternoon at the newly opened Art Gallery of Alberta. Accessing the establishment was easily done via LRT. I made my way to the admissions desk and from foyer's adorning posters soon found out that on this particular Sunday one could part take in Edgar Degas: Figures in Motion interactive play. As a result of this swarms of little art connoisseurs were traipsing the hallway to the Degas exhibit and the BMO World of Creativity room. After having paid for my ticket, I decided to work from the ground level up. The first exhibit displayed Goya's The Disasters of War and Los Caprichos- a deeply disturbing series of pencil drawings depicting the brutal oppression and violence inflicted upon civilians by the Monarchy and the Catholic church in Spain circa 1810. So, a truly uplifting way to start the tour.
The second exhibit was also the primary one of the gallery: Degas. The only Degas I could recall before entering the exhibit was something about ballerinas. As it turns out, Degas was fascinated with the form and motion. The exhibit had numerous sculptures depicting ballerinas. My personal favourites were those of the arabesque poses.
Niveau deux held a Karsh exhibit and a storm room. Yousuf Karsh is one of Canada's most notable portrait photographers. Some of his most famous subjects include Albert Einstein, Nelson Mandela, Carl Jung, and Queen Elizabeth. He also photographed Ravi Shankar, a world renowned sitar played, who, evidently, is also the father of Norah Jones!
The Murder of Crows exhibit by Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller was a disturbing audible experience. My friend had recommended that I listen to the sound installation with my eyes closed as to fully appreciate the mastery of sound- and I suggest you do the same. The room consists of a circle of chairs where some chairs hold speakers and other chairs are intended for the listeners. The 30 minute installation is a compilation of a loose narrative told by a woman with an esoteric voice interspersed by musical interludes and accompanying soundtracks. I was literally scared at some points and as I heard the surround sound of army boots trampling beside me, I had to open my eyes to make sure it was just a recording!
As I stepped outside into the sunny and seemingly warm downtown, the phrase le vent, il suffis de te rendre fou still held true.

Russian Egg Painting

Working with a real-life Russian last year definitely exposed me to approaching life resourcefully (which, coincidentally, is also my favourite word in french 'debrouillard'). There's something truly rustic about the soviet way of doing things- colouring Easter eggs included. The eastern European way of colouring eggs is eco-friendly, artistic, resourceful (of course), cheap, easy, and tasty (afterwards).

What you will need:

Raw eggs (preferably white)
Onion skins from about 10 onions
Nylons, cut in sections, thicker is better
Leaves or other flat decorables found in nature
A large pot
Water

1) Begin by removing the onion skins and placing them in the large pot with water. Bring water to a boil and then let simmer for about twenty minutes. This allows the onion peels to colour the water.

2) While your onion skins are simmering, take an egg and a leaf, or whatever you want to imprint on the egg, and wrap it around the egg. Next, take a section of your nylon and place the egg and the leaf wrapped around it into the nylon casing. Tie the top and bottom ends of the nylon. This process is slightly arduous as the leaf won't easily stay on the egg while you're placing it in the nylon.

3) When all of your eggs are wrapped and in their nylon casing, transfer them into the onion dye. Bring the water back to a boil and boil the eggs for 10 minutes. If it is your intention to eat the eggs at some point, it is best not to over cook them. But if you want the imprint to really work, let the eggs boil for about 20 minutes. Turn element off and allow eggs to sit in the dye for an additional 10 minutes.

4) Remove eggs from water and allow them to cool. Remove nylon casing and examine how well the imprint worked. Some turn out better than others.