Diane Landry at the Art Gallery of Hamilton

Last week stumbled upon a most fantastic show at the Art Gallery of Hamilton as Pam and I were dropping off our artwork for the Gallery's Spring art sale this weekend.  We saw Rouault's Rhapsody to Suffering etchings and Matisse's Colour of Jazz stencil and lithographic prints... then we wandered into a dimly lit room with soft sounds like music but not music, melodic.  We were in Diane Landry's show the Defibrillators. 

The two of us stopped and were hushed by the gentle movements, sounds and projected light and shadow and drawn through the show in awe of the beauty we were experiencing, created out of household paraphernalia, plastic bottles, sand, bike wheels, harmonicas and salad spinners.  I am not a writer and definitely not an art critic but when I see and experience something that truly wows me, I think I should share it with anyone out there who might also be effected the way that we were.  It is truly a wonderful collection of work that inspired me hugely.  Much of my work, I feel, deals with moments of quiet and contemplation, and the environments that Landry has created conjure up some of the same with an added sense of wonder.

If you do get to Hamilton this weekend, you might want to go around to the West Hamilton Studio Tour and or just wander around James Street North whose famous art crawl is the second Friday evening of each month.  On James St. you can find lots of great places to visit like Mixed Media, The Print Studio, White Elephant and lots more.