July 30, 2016 to October 23, 2016
Curated by Jenelle Pasiechnik (UVic MA, 2015)
With supervision from Caroline Riedel (Legacy Art Galleries)
Legacy Maltwood (at the Mearns Centre – McPherson Library)
Glenn Howarth was a pillar in Victoria’s arts scene from the late 1970s until his death in 2009. He was an innovative creator and inspired teacher searching for ways to communicate the artistic process and the perceptual functions of the eye and brain that contribute to visual perception. He was also responsible for innovations in computer graphic art in the early 1980s working on the Telidon system as an artist in residence in the Engineering Department at the University of Victoria campus with Dr. Ernest Chang. In 1983 he represented Canada in the Sao Paulo Biennale with some of this work and also presented it locally at the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria and UVic’s Maltwood Art Museum and Gallery.
The Averted Eye Sees draws on UVic’s significant collection of Howarth paintings from the Michael C. Williams estate, as well as Howarth’s writing, sketches, ephemera, and digital archive, part of the regional artists archive initiative of UVic Libraries Special Collections and Archives. It also includes a fascinating case study on the challenges of ‘retro-computing’ in recreating Howarth’s early experiments in digital artwork.
Curator’s Tour + Reception
The Averted Eye Sees: The Life and Work of Glenn Howarth
October 7, 3:30-5pm
Free & open to the Public
Room 027 – Legacy Maltwood (at the Mearns Centre – McPherson Library)
Join us for a curator’s tour and special showing of archival materials to celebrate local artist and educator Glenn Howarth and his lifelong obsession with visual perception. The exhibition includes paintings, drawings, prints and Howarth’s pioneering work in digital art (recently restored by the UVic Libraries), for which he received international recognition at the 1983 Sao Paulo Biennale and at Expo 86. Highlights of Howarth’s extensive personal archive including journals, letters, sketches and photographs will be seen at this one-time event. Reception to follow.
Guest curator Jenelle M. Pasechnik was the recipient of the 2015 Margaret Russell Graduate Internship in Curatorial Studies, which supports the preservation of art created by BC artists.
