Temagami Jewels

Taken in the sublime interior wood of Temagami. This series is being painted in Golden Acrylics on Belgian linen stretchers that are 4' x 7"mimiking the shape of the Jewish mezuzah.

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These slivers of beauty will be shown together flanking a wider piece based on one of the photos shown below.

Underwater Dinosaurs

The submerged dinosaurs are haunting and sublime. Comforting, and timeless they appear as immortal fossils swimming in the dark holding the mystery of time. The awe experienced when standing in front of this diorama at the Royal Ontario Museum has been a comfort to me for many years. As many of you may be aware, the R.O.M. is re-inventing themselves in a post-modern way. They are in the process now of dismantling this diorama that has come to mean so much to so many people. I think it is important to preserve the idea of these beasts as the outdated way of connecting the public to museum items has changed.

The idea of museology has evolved from it’s simplistic beginnings as a curiosity box, to viewing items in their natural state, then being an inclusive hands on teaching environment, and currently a postmodern television. The public is treated as though they have an attention span of no more then a few seconds. We are now being given instant references to the past without making connections through the eyes of the aura of the time the item comes from.

It is my feeling that the natural state of the use of dioramas was more accessible to the public in that they became a part of the space in an environmental way. The renovation plans to project disjointed remnants from history floating in open concept spaces. For the museum to succeed in it’s transformation, it is my personal belief that it must remain true to itself, a place for an educational experience and not a place for just entertainment.

Reguardless of how the 'living museum' has changed over time, I think that I was fortunate enough to be invlolved in the museum at a very special moment of it's history.

This painting is 5' x 6', Golden heavy body acrylic on linen and will eventually have a few inches of Golden high gloss golden gel medium on top of it tinted in areas. The idea is that the painting is environmentaly scaled and emminates these creatures underwater, fluid and holding mystery. The curvalinar brushstrokes drawn from memory as a light filter used to project onto the diorama and move across the beasts.