Nga Iwi o Nga Maue Wha (People of the Four Winds), Lewis Tamihana Gardiner, Maori, pounamu, Australian black jade, British Columbian jade, Siberian jade, paua, walrus ivory, pounamu base, 2007, 7" x 6" x 3" (incl. base), at Spirit Wrestler Gallery
works from January 26 to February 8. “Without the immediate visual impact of works on a larger scale, these pieces beg to be examined up close or, better still, turned in the hand to fully appreciate their beauty and power,” says gallery director Melanie Zavediuk. There’s something uniquely intimate about this work that larger monumental pieces don’t as readily elicit. Cree artist Gary Olver has created a piece called Eagle and Frog Pendant that is 1.5" by 1" by 1". At first glance, the piece looks like a tiny grass basket with a frog on its lid. The woven texture of the basket has been carved into catlanite stone with exquisite care and detail (catlanite is a fine-particled metamorphic claystone found throughout the midwest that was traditionally used for ceremonial tobacco pipes). The lid lifts up to reveal a sculpted eagle figure underneath. Both the frog and eagle figures have glowing eyes made of abalone shell. www.gallerieswest.ca
Coastal Peoples represents Olver, and included Eagle and Frog in their recent show Coastal Legacy: from Intricate to Monumental. “We like miniatures partly because of their size and their purpose,” Fouks says about the popular show. She adds that small pieces don’t mean that less time has been spent on the creation of the work. “It’s often more complicated to create a miniature. The pieces we select open your eyes to how much impact a miniature can have.” That the miniatures do double duty as works of art and as jewelry is undeniably one of the attractions of small artworks. Nigel Reading is co-director of Vancouver’s Spirit Wrestler Gallery, which is launching its second biannual show, called Mini-Masterworks II in March. He easily ties the function and presentation of miniature sculpture to jewellery and adornment. “A lot of this miniature show is wearable art. People like wearing beautiful things,” he says. But shows such as these also give galleries an opportunity to showcase Galleries West Spring 2008 59