Soft Passages: Marking 25 years of exhibitions at Oakville Galleries

23 June to 21 August 2005
Opening Thursday 23 June
7 pm at Centennial Square
8 pm reception in Gairloch Gardens

Curated by Shannon Anderson

Please join us for our opening reception on Thursday 23 June 2005 at 7pm

"Soft passages" is a term that generally refers to sound; they mark the opposite ends of the dynamic range from loud passages in a piece of music. Soft passages are the areas that are more difficult to record accurately, and their delicate resonances risk being overwhelmed by more pronounced, punchier areas.

For this 25th anniversary exhibition, the term acts as a metaphor to describe pieces from Oakville Galleries's past programming that possess a similar sense of delicacy and restraint. These pieces announce their presence with a quiet voice. Within the context of Oakville Galleries's programming and collections, many of them risk being overwhelmed by large-scale exhibitions and more dramatic installations, falling outside the archive of its developing history. Some are potentially overshadowed by more recent work in an artist's oeuvre. Others were part of temporary installations, employed ephemeral materials, or may become obsolete simply through changing technologies. In all cases, these are important works from Oakville Galleries 's past exhibitions, which for any of the reasons above are all the more deserving of a second visit.

Stephen Andrews, Doug Back, Bill Barrette, Jack Chambers, Panya Clark Espinal, Greg Curnoe, Colin Darke, Karilee Fuglem, Wyn Geleynse, Micah Lexier, Euan MacDonald, Gwen MacGregor, Al McWilliams, David Merritt, Tatsuo Miyajima, François Morelli, Regan Morris, Daniel Olson, Jennifer Stillwell, David Thomas

In the Gardens : May through November - Works on view outdoors in Gairloch Gardens by Liz Magor, PLANT, Janet Cardiff and Fastwürms:

Come to a place where concept meets conversation.
PLANT a collaborative architecture, landscape and design team from Toronto have created a temporary installation in an underused area where dog kennels and laundry were once kept from public view. Titled A Conversation of Views the architects have created a built environment using wood, flowering plants, vines, a copse of cedar and Victorian gazing globes to create new perceptions of the landscape. PLANT has transformed this place into a site for observation, contemplation, and of course, conversation.

Lazy summer days in the garden are a place where sound meets site (and sight).
Let internationally acclaimed artist Janet Cardiff take you on a audio walk. Borrow a discman from an attendant at the Gallery to be led on a venturesome journey throughout the garden. Cardiff's incredibly precise three-dimensional sound creates an experience of startling physical immediacy and complexity. She tells a story that interweaves time, sound and physicality to form a multilayered narrative.

A stroll to the swan pond will lead you to a place where fact meets fiction.
A Giant Beaver Charm surrounds an old gnarled willow tree. The research of the artistic team Fastwürms revealed an 1894 article describing a single chisel-shaped tooth from the "great giant beaver" in a stratum of the Don Valley Brickyard. Is this the tooth of the great Castoroides ohioensis that once built dams the size of shopping malls? You decide.

Our new acquisition is located at a place where strange meets familiar.
Liz Magor's Channel looks remarkably like a felled trunk of a Black Locust tree but look closely and you'll see it is made of bronze. It also watches you. Magor suggests an interior presence with two eye-like forms that peer out across the gardens in the direction of the lake. As with other recent work by Magor, this work explores the possibilities and oddities of wilderness and nature as a refuge from society. Is this a hide-out or a shelter concealing some unknown person?

Visit www.oakvillegalleries.com for the latest information.

Oakville Galleries
at Centennial Square
120 Navy Street
Tuesday to Thursday 12-9pm
Friday 12-5pm
Sunday 1-5pm

in Gairloch Gardens
1306 Lakeshore Road East
Tuesday to Sunday 1-5pm

Admission to both galleries is free