Landscape as Muse, Season IV (2008)
(Documentary Series, Seasons I-V, 51x30 minutes)
The Gemini Award-winning Landscape as Muse showcases both the world-class artists and spectacular landscapes that are found in Canada. Following the artist's gaze, this beautiful cinematic program examines the inspirational relationship that exists between art and landscape.
Shot in nine provinces, two territories, and two countries; and featuring major Canadian artists, Landscape as Muse has established itself as one of the most comprehensive documentary programs of contemporary Canadian visual arts that exists.
Gemini Award Winner
(Best Arts Documentary Program or Series)
S4E440: "The Rock to the Rockies with David Alexander"
David Alexander draws inspiration for his art by traveling through places—experiencing them first hand, feeling his boots on the rocks, inhaling the mountain air, tasting the salt-spray. From the shores of Newfoundland’s Irish Loop to a glacier in the Rockies, David sketches his impressions of these rugged lands. Later, in his Kelowna studio, he uses his notebook of drawings to create large-scale canvases in acrylic.
S4E441: "The Beaver with Mary Anne Barkhouse"
Mary Anne Barkhouse is a sculptor and installation artist living in the wetlands of Ontario’s Haliburton Highlands. Here, she has closely observed the beaver in its natural habitat—a figure that has appeared prominently in many of her artworks. Sculpting first in wax, she later casts the beaver in bronze. The finished sculpture shows the beaver, poised in an everyday position, commemorated as a worker and builder.
S4E442: "In the Pines with Robert Wiens"
Traveling through the old-growth forests of Ontario’s Temagami region, Robert Wiens begins with close-up photographs of ancient pines. A carver, sculptor, and woodworker by trade, Wiens disavows the horizon line in his landscape, focusing his attention instead on details in these trees. From the photographs he paints large watercolours in one-to-one perspective.
S4E443: "Faces in the Land with Dempsey Bob"
Tahltan-Tlingit artist Dempsey Bob has devoted a lifetime to the craft of woodcarving. His work arises from a northwest coast carving tradition that stretches back for centuries. A contemporary master, Dempsey has advanced this form – creating sculptural works that expand on traditional designs. In the BC rainforest near the Skeena River, Dempsey Bob creates masks for our camera. For him the great trees, giant mountains, and mighty rivers are his inspiration. We are, as he puts it, "in sculpture country."
S4E444: "The Tolt, The Droke, and the Blasthole Pond River with Marlene Creates"
Marlene Creates lives just outside St. John’s, Newfoundland. Her home backs onto an expansive natural forest and a river that originates in the Blasthole Pond. With Marlene we survey this land from (to use Newfoundland vernacular) ”the top of the tolt, down through the droke, and into Blasthole Pond River.” Marlene's art is woven into this landscape: a mixture of poetry, photography, installation, and observation -- it meticulously analyses our connection to nature. By paying attention, by collecting images and stories, and by seeing, Marlene elucidates personal moments in the natural world.
S4E445: "Boggy Creek with Joe Fafard"
Chronicling our past, and giving shape to our cultural identity, sculptor Joe Fafard is a prominent figure in Canadian art. Working at his Saskatchewan farm near Boggy Creek, Fafard creates iconic sculptures. As common-place as cows, dogs, sheep, and horses might seem, these domesticated animals speak volumes about our human connection to land. We join Joe in the winter as he constructs a massive wolf figure made from logs found on his land. Later we accompany him to the National Gallery of Canada where his achievements are celebrated with an impressive retrospective.
