by Edith Cody-Rice
On Saturday, November 18, Sanjeev Sivarulrasa and his spouse, Angela Hui, hosted a 9th anniversary party at the gallery on Mill Street in Almonte combined with a vernissage for three artists, all with current exhibitions at the gallery. Angela baked one of her outstanding cakes which was a work of art in itself. The cake comprised two tiers featuring her signature flavour: vanilla sponge with coffee soak, dark chocolate ganache and coffee buttercream. It was covered in marbled fondant and adorned with her handmade sugar flowers.
A crowd of patrons quaffed wine and sampled cake while they admired the work of local metal sculptor Dale Dunning, as well as artists Greta Grip and Lee Jones and Wendy Robertson. Each artist gave a short talk about his or her artwork
Dale Dunning’s exhibition “Divination” featured his iconic bronze, steel, and aluminum masks in various sizes with works dating from the 1980’s to the present. Dale has been a resident of Mississippi Mills for many years and in addition to focusing on his own art, he has cast the work of many other artists faithfully executing their art. His artistic reputation has spread well beyond Mississippi Mills.
Greta Grip and Lee Jones’ intriguing installation “It Gives Me the Feels” is composed of highly interactive knitwork. The installation includes a knitting machine, The Life of a Party, and an Unraveling machine, both created by Lee Jones, that are triggered by sensors when a viewer is present. The artists want to create a moment of tension as people start to realize that their presence is unraveling the work. Some of the works allow for manual manipulation, allowing the viewer to actively take the works apart.
Wendy Robertson’s “Under Pressure” is an exhibition of stunning glacier inspired paintings. To create the paintings Wendy visited and hiked the Athabaska Glacier near the Columbia Ice Field, coming close, but not too close, as she recounted, to the deep fissures. Her work has a strong cold beauty and makes you realize that ice is not all white, but multifacted and multicoloured. The paintings reflect the radiance of sun on ice and explore the awe-inspiring grace and power of the natural world.
All three exhibitions run to December 22, 2023.
The afternoon was crowned by the cutting of the cake by artist Marina Raike, a past exhibitor with the gallery, who described it as a cornerstone of the artistic community in this region.
Sivarulrasa Gallery has been successful addition to Mississippi Mills and we look forward to many more years of excellent exhibitions on Mill Street.
