Halifax: Art & Artifacts
One of the things that impressed me most about Halifax was that there was interesting art and artifacts everywhere - often in the most unexpected places.
I thought it would be fun to share them with you and in the process hopefully give you a feel for Halifax’s unique “sense of place.”
In Halifax telephone poles often became mini art galleries with their layers of weathered posters. I found this one particularly provocative.
The Kent Monkman exhibition at the Nova Scotia Art Gallery exhibition titled, “Shame and Prejudice” A Story of Resilience, was a very clever and thoughtful exhibition. Titled “The Scream,”this painting speaks to the pain and trauma caused by the Canadian government’s removal of children from their indigenous families to go to residential schools.
It was the best exhibition I have seen in 2018 and one of the most powerful and political I have seen in a long time. The use of symbolism, surrealism and realism to create contemporary narratives and commentary is very successful. The size of the paintings (approximately 10 ft by 6 ft) make them seem like billboards. I love the ambiguity of the Picasso’s cubist figure in this piece titled “Struggle For Balance,” is she being robbed or helped.
The Daddies, 2016, 60” x 112”, acrylic on canvas, Kent Monkman is a play on Robert Harris’ famous group portrait of the Fathers of Confederation. The nude in the foreground is Miss Chief Eagle Testickle, Monkman’s alter ego.
It was interesting to compare the Monkman depiction of early Canadian family life with the innocence and romanticism of the Tom Forrestall painting that I found in the lobby of the Children’s Hospital.
Found these guys in the lobby of an older office building, with the words “Brave New World” over the doorway - of course I had to go in. I was surprise to find a mini-exhibition of goalie masks. Turns out they are from 2008, when artists were given a goalie mask modelled after Jacque Plante’s famous 1959 design and asked to create an original piece of art. There were two cases of masks like this one. It was a lovely hidden gem.
I was most impressed with the windows of Dugger’s Menswear shop, they could have easily of been an art installation in a contemporary art gallery.
Dugger window 2
Dugger window 3
Widow licking along Quinpool Road was fun.
Why do most eye wear shops have great windows?
The art of knot tying with the Citadel in the background.
Live, Laugh, Lick….words to live by?
I am just guessing…the Seahorse Tavern has/has some wild parties.
A tangled web of wires along the side of an old houses was common in Halifax.
Loved these doors with fantasy figures painting on the doors.
I was surprise at the number of Asian grocery stores in Halifax. I am always impressed at how artful they are inside.
Loved this traffic circle artwork along a quiet residential street. Would like to see more of this in Calgary and other cities.
Titled “Lace Up” this artwork by Ilan Sandler was created 2013 next to the outdoor Emera Oval created for the Canada Games. Love that the City offers free rental of ice skates in the winter and rollerblades and bikes in the summer for anyone who wants to use the oval.
The iron work at the back of Saint Antonios Antiochian Orthodox Church was a beautiful work of art.
The ornamental entrance to the Halifax Public Gardens was exquisite.
More telephone pole art.
Found this well weathered, faceless, wooden fire fighter monument next to downtown fire station.
The Army & Navy Store on Agricola Street was fun to explore. Again this display of “War & Piece” could easily be an art installation in an contemporary gallery.
There wasn’t a lot of contemporary architecture in Halifax but their new central library certainly makes a contemporary statement. I am not sure if it was the intent of the architects to create what looks like a shipping container balancing precariously on the roof - but that is what it look like to me. I am thinking the “shipping container” motif is appropriate given Halifax is a major port and has thousands of shipping containers stacked up along its waterfront at any given time. The architects for this building were the Danish architecture firm Schmidt Hammer Lassen, with the local office Fowler Bauld & Mitchell.
At the opposite end of the architectural spectrum is the minimalist and forboding new athletic centre at Dalhousie University. It shares the same container-like aesthetics as the downtown library - perhaps some futuristic cargo ship. The Dalplex was designed by FBM and MJMA Architects.
While flaneuring the campus of Dalhousie University we found this phallic piece by Robert Hedrick titled “Marine Venus” standing proudly in the boulevard of University Drive. Obviously, Dal (as locals call the university) is not afraid of a little controversial art.
Inside Dal’s Art Centre we found these stately aboriginal sticks from Australia was tucked behind the staircase.
The old post office which is now the Nova Scotia Art Gallery has some menacing looking figures.
No trip to Halifax is complete without seeing Maud Lewis’ house that it at the Nova Scotia Art Gallery. If you get a chance you should see the movie “Maudie,” or check out the National Film Board documentary Link: Maud Lewis: A Word Without Shadows
Lewis painted her entire house with colourful and cheerful images. It became a work of art. There are lots of other colourful houses in Halifax that made for charming and cheerful streetscapes, but nothing like this.
You would never know that there is an art gallery at the Nova Scotia School of Art and Design at the waterfront as their is no signage and even though it is right along the sidewalk you can’t see in as the building is literally a huge blank wall. What a shame? What were they thinking? Luckily we like to explore even when it looks like there is nothing there. The security guard was more like a gallery docent, willing to chat about the art, his thoughts on it and those of visitors.
There were not a lot of murals in Halifax, but there were a few and they were not just decoration or upscale graffiti.
Loved how this mural literally glowed in the dark.
Cliff Eyland’s huge mural titled “Library Cards” located in the lobby of the Halifax Central Library consists of hundreds of small artworks the size of a library card. The paintings cover a spectrum of subjects and styles that are fun to look at. There is even a window in the middle where you get a glimpse of librarians working behind the wall.
Eyland has a similar piece in the lobby of the Winnipeg’s Central Library that is 24 ft by 28 ft. In order to see the pieces at top binoculars are available to borrow, or you can bring your own.
Close up view of Eyland’s “Library Cards.”
The recycling bins at St. Mary’s University have a pop-art element to them.
Last Word
Hope you have enjoyed this photo tour of Halifax’s art and artifacts. If you like this blog, you will like these links:
Berlin Wall Artifact: Best Flaneur Find Ever!