2007-2008

News Release

REF NO.: 0

SUBJECT: Grenfell - Grenfell Art Gallery partners in Collecting Culture Workshop in McIvers

DATE: October 11, 2007

Why collect? It’s something many of us do. Often it is an unconscious habit. At other times it is intentional. Either way, the act of collecting objects is an interesting human behaviour, whether those objects are leaves and stones or action figures!  
Sir Wilfred Grenfell College Art Gallery and Full Tilt Creative Centre, located in McIvers, NL, invites members of the community to get involved in the art of collecting. Collette Urban, local artist and director of the creative centre, is hosting a Collecting Culture Workshop from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 20. The workshop will provide an opportunity for participants to explore new and creative methods of installation, as well as to discuss the fascinating act of collecting.  
Ms. Urban is a collector herself. She began to amass representations of elephants in 2002, and has continued to build her collection to this day. These objects are reminders of past experiences, people, places and events. Grenfell College visual arts instructor Barb Hunt, also a collector, maintains that collected objects provide a physical connection to the past, and allow one to spiritually or emotionally “own” an experience. Artists and writers have used collections to examine the ways we remember.
The famous writer and philosopher Walter Benjamin wrote: “Every passion borders on the chaotic, but the collector’s passion borders on the chaos of memories.” What does your collection mean to you? Why do you collect and how do you display your collection?  
Share your answers and your collections with others at the Full Tilt Creative Centre workshop. Take advantage of the opportunity to work together and learn from other collectors. Participants in the workshop are invited to exhibit their collection at Full Tilt Centre Gallery for two weeks following the workshop. To register for the Collecting Culture Workshop, please call the Grenfell Art Gallery at 637-6209. 

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