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Airborne art
A plane descends, mere moments to landing. Another flight climbs, its ascent just beginning.
At the University of Guelph-Humber campus, this happens up-close. From this vantage point, an aircraft’s size, contour and sound are immediately apparent. It’s a dramatic, exhilarating sight.
Lorna Livey’s series of mixed-media paintings offer a different perspective on flight, but with no less drama and exhilaration. Her exhibition, Taking Flight, opened at the university’s art gallery earlier this week and continues through Thursday October 6th.
“I’m mesmerized by the view from airplanes,” offered Livey. “There’s an ethereal quality in the compressed bands of colours and the views instill in me a sense of quiet spirituality.”
An artist whose career spans 35 years, Livey has worked mainly in printmaking. For these paintings, she blended and layered acrylics, as a printmaker would, “to produce a subtle blended gradation of tones and colours on paper,” or to get the portion of airplane wing or fuselage just right. She then mounts the paper on hard-board.
“I sometimes roll ink on textured wallpaper or sponges and press them against the blended sky background to produce clouds,” explained Livey.
She took hundreds of pictures during her own travels to use as reference points. But Livey didn’t just paint what she saw: “I hope by painting what I see and feel viewers will experience some of my sense of awe and beauty.”
Samantha Dolan, a fourth-year business student, had just such an experience.
“They tell a story,” said Dolan, looking around the first-floor space. “This makes me want to go on a trip.”
With fellow fourth-year students Amanda Galati and Joe Gatto, Dolan organized Taking Flight as an assignment in Events Management II, a course taught by John Riccio. (The students took part one in winter semester.)
“You get to learn a completely different set of skills,” said Dolan.
The students received a $1500 budget to use on every element of planning and opening an exhibition, from installation to promotion to catering.
“We had a very clear vision from the get-go,” said Dolan.
During the reception, two servers dressed as flight attendants served “airline-inspired” snacks and drinks from carts. The students also created invitations designed as boarding passes.
“[Livey] gave us a lot of creative freedom to implement it however we wanted,” said Dolan.
The artist enjoyed working with the students and was impressed by the gallery’s “well-planned hanging system,” professional lighting and visible location next to the building’s main entrance. Livey herself ran Fifth Street Gallery in Etobicoke, where she showed her and other artists’ work.
Windows in the gallery let in natural light and give views to the skyline – planes arriving and departing. The viewer becomes aware of the connection between the interior and exterior environments. Her paintings create a similar awareness, as though you’re sitting in your window seat looking out at the sky, somewhere between takeoff and landing.
Lorna Livey - Taking Flight, through Thursday October 6th, University of Guelph-Humber Art Gallery (GH128, 207 Humber College Blvd.). Gallery hours:
- Mon-Wed: 12-5pm
- Thurs: 3-8pm
- Fri: 12-5pm
See more work by Lorna Livey online.
Sean Flinn, Web Communications Specialist, 416-798-1331, ext. 6299