“Three sisters” create a diverse photo medley

May 20, 2010

“The Three Sisters” l-r: Kim Ondaatje, Susan Tunnicliffe and Louise Day

Three area photographers joined forces this past weekend at Blueroof Farm near Verona for a group show titled, “The Three Sisters: Squash, Corn and an old Bean“.

Kim Ondaatje, the self-proclaimed “old bean“ of the bunch and owner and creator of Blueroof Farm, hosted the event and named the show to honour an old planting practice she was taught years ago by an Ojibwa elder- the practice of planting the three sister vegetables - corn, squash and beans. The vegetables are planted on an earthen mound encircling a buried fish, which acts as a fertilizer and allows each vegetable to encourage the others’ growth.

The show carried out that theme- the three artists’ individual works complementing each other’s while taking nourishment and inspiration from the world that surrounds them.

Sister squash, Louise Day of Verona, was taught photography by Kim years ago and her subjects for this show included feet, fungi, frost and flowers. Her most interesting works were her studies of frost – close-up colour images of frost patterns as she found them forming before her eyes on various windows around her home. The most interesting were the free-floating formations, so other-worldly in their delicate intricacies that they seem to exist in another place and time.

Showing alongside Day’s work was Sister corn, Susan Tunnicliffe, a Master of Photographic Arts who started her photography business in 1994 and whose images won her Photographer of the Year in Ontario in 2000 and 2002, and Canadian Photographer of the Year runner-up in 2003.

Highlighted for this show was a selection of Susan’s most popular images like “Tales of the North”, a portrait of RCMP officer in an environment she constructed using the artifacts belonging to the subject.

Also on display were some of her current experimental works in which she utilizes various computer programs to highlight detail and explore colour. One such program, called LUCIS Pro, was developed by Barbara Williams, a fellow artist with whom Susan has been collaborating for years. The program allows Susan to highlight and enhance details in the images she shoots, transforming them into works that are both photographic and painterly and are difficult to categorize as purely one or the other.

Some of her most dramatic works are the images of faraway places like “The Grand Canal” of Venice, in which details are enhanced with LUCIS Pro and then colours added with Corel Painter 11. The results are explosive images that depict actual places but with such vibrant colour that they seem surreal.

Last was the work of Kim Ondaatje. Kim’s current photographic work is comprised of a number of series of small, framed images that focus mainly on the nature that surrounds her at Blueroof. The first series titled “Aerial and Land Scapes” included single images of close up shots of patterns created by nature, including pine needles. The biggest part of her display, the series titled “Ice Formations”, was comprised of images that captured the subtle colours and patterns created by frozen waters and the layers that lie beneath.

Also included in Kim’s display were a number of litho-serigraph prints based on earlier original paintings, which now hang in various museums throughout the country and come from her “Piccadilly” and “Factory” Series.

Hung throughout the room were photographs of Kim as a young artist and written descriptions of the works, which added interest and gave viewers a hint of the diversity of high quality work this legendary artist has created throughout her life.

The show will be on display until June 21 and can be viewed by appointment only. For more details visit www.bluerooffarm.com