ROBERT SIMMONDS / 51
MARION MCCAIN ATLANTIC ART EXHIBIT MEET BILLIE Marion McCain’s legacy and the Beaverbrook Art Gallery By Josh Healey | Photography: Contributed Deanna Musgrave (New Brunswick), A Conversation with Emma Kunz, 2019, Acrylic on canvas, 47” tondo, Collection of the artist t is fitting that the journal, which covers called the Marion McCain Atlantic Art Exhibit, The exhibit transformed into a curated display Atlantic Canadian artists and culture, continues on at the Beaverbrook Art Gallery in in the 1990s. is called Billie. Fredericton. Marion McCain was a giant in the regional However, Smart has since added his own twist. arts community, a patron of galleries and Tom Smart, the gallery’s director and CEO, “When I did the exhibition this time, I wanted supporter of societies, the daughter of a New said he had the privilege to work alongside to combine the two (styles),” he said. Brunswick premier. McCain but also to curate the exhibit bearing He estimated the exhibit received over 100 And she was known, affectionately, as Billie. her name. submissions from across Atlantic Canada before The journal, which is made possible through he cut that number in half; Smart then included the Harrison McCain Foundation and the “I’m really proud that the gallery has this a number of artists’ work he thought would McCain Foundation, isn’t afraid to honour her association with the McCain family so that we round out the submissions to create a cohesive impact on the regional arts community. can continue to do this and honour the legacy narrative. And it’s just one of several institutions to that Mrs. McCain set for us,” explained Smart. The result includes work from all four Atlantic showcase McCain’s contributions. provinces, including pieces by First Nations artists. For example, McCain’s first art exhibition — a “It’s an honour to work with her memory and And like many before him, Smart said was collection of works by New Brunswick artists — work with the family.” inspired by McCain’s artistic style. premiered in 1987 and has evolved to include “I wanted to put her aesthetic and sensibility pieces from across Atlantic Canada. But the exhibit, like the gallery, has trans- right into this exhibition,” he said, adding he McCain died in 1994 but the exhibition, now formed over the years. was intrigued by her use of materials to create functional objects. Smart said that earlier renditions of the exhibit were juried, meaning that a team of professional artists, curators and directors would sift through submissions. 52 / ROBERT SIMMONDS
CREATIVITY IS ALWAYS IN STYLE FASHIONED IN 1749 FIND INSPIRATION HERE Victoria Kynaston is shown in the style of 1749 as painted by Allan Ramsay. The Beaverbrook Canadian Foundation. beaverbrookartgallery.org 03 Queen St, Fredericton, NB E3B C YOUR • Construction • Debtor, Creditor, FULL-SERVICE • Family Bankruptcy & LAW FIRM • Municipal Insolvency • Real Estate SINCE 1969 • Estate, Wills • Corporate/Commercial and Trusts • Tax • Employment • Small/Medium Enterprises For more information, visit us at: EMHLAW.COM or call: 506.458.5959 ROBERT SIMMONDS / 53
MARION MCCAIN ATLANTIC ART EXHIBIT Luc Charette (New Brunswick), Abstraction 04:112017, 2017, acrylic on canvas , 360 x 240 cm, collection of the artist “I wanted to put Smart said the thought people entering the New Brunswick art community, that the her aesthetic and gallery would be struck by the eclectic nature of gallery and McCain’s legacy are inevitably sensibility right into the collection and that he enjoyed the challenge intertwined. this exhibition.” of creating a narrative from the individual works. From the exhibition to the journal bearing – TOM SMART For example, one of the first pieces on display her name — of which Smart works as publisher was created by artist Ann Manuel and combines — McCain’s contributions continue to be 54 / ROBERT SIMMONDS the hard metal of a ladder with natural materials. honoured today. Other works range from paintings to head- Smart added it’s been a pleasure to guide an dresses, creating a broad spectrum of textures, institution which meant so much to McCain. shapes and colours. “She was very much involved in the gallery Smart said the vast range of pieces is what as a patron,” he said. originally attracted him to Atlantic Canada after graduate school at the University of Toronto. He And that involvement hasn’t been lost, as first came to work at the gallery in 1989 and, various McCain foundations continue to after some time away, returned to the gallery support the regional arts community. two years ago. In a foreword for the journal bearing her “I was enormously taken with the deep level mother’s name, Ann McCain Evans highlighted of accomplishment and dynamism in the the importance of recognizing Atlantic Canadian community,” he said. “It’s a very rich environ- artists. ment for art and artistic creation.” Evans wrote that her family hoped to build off In fact, Smart noted, his life and the gallery her mother’s accomplishments and to shine a have come full circle. light on the region’s creativity. The Beaverbrook Art Gallery, which is New “We realize the challenges of taking on a Brunswick’s provincial art gallery, is celebrating project of this magnitude but we do so knowing 60 years since its opening. He has also returned that we are continuing the work Marion McCain to the gallery he loves and has curated a collection began almost thirty years ago,” she wrote. in honour of someone he admired. It’s a legacy that spans four provinces, the work Simply put, Smart has been thinking a lot of a woman who championed art and creativity about legacies. and local stories. And there’s no doubt, when it comes to the But you probably know this giant, simply, as Billie.
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