Let’s all take a deep breath…

As we continue to refine our storyline, I keep coming back to the working title of our exhibit – “A Breath of Fresh Air” – to help define our overarching theme. It’s finally starting to feel like spring in Calgary, and it feels like we are all emerging from our winter hibernation. I have the same feeling about the exhibit. It’s a slow process to bring together our different voices, thoughts and opinions and to also narrow our focus. It feels like we keep adding things in, rather than refining our ideas down. We also love the art we are looking at, and our artifact list is growing too large. However, I’m an optimist, and I think we are slowly and surely moving forward.

Our marketing people aren’t too keen on the title, since it is not immediately self explanatory. But to me, it explains many things. We are literally bringing many traditional art items out of the storage cupboards to be viewed for the first time in years. We are also featuring the art made by the Aboriginal peoples of the Northern Plains and the Subarctic regions – these areas are not often featured in art exhibits, so we are asking our audience to consider a new and fresh style of art. Many of these art pieces were made for daily use in the outdoors. Rather than a static display, we also hope to incorporate some movement within the exhibit, so the spirit of the artifact will be reawakened and its history renewed.

So I am taking a deep breath – enjoying the fresh air of spring, feeling the wind on my face, taking pleasure in our ongoing curatorial discussions, learning something new every day and loving looking at lots of art.