Hana Bajric is a first-year student and is participating in Maureen Korp’s FYSM Special Studies in Art History – Visual Literacy. Throughout the term, students will seek out Ottawa’s arts scene and critique the good, the bad and the ugly according to a set of criteria they discuss in the classroom. The students identify and write about works of art displayed throughout Ottawa, which compliment the environment in which they have been placed.
Ribbons of Light is the first in a series of student submissions that examines the contributions of Ottawa-area public art to be included in This Week @ FASS.
Ribbons of Light
by Hana Bajric
Thomas Ewen’s tapestry entitled Ribbons of Light commanded my attention as soon as I entered the Sante Restaurant/Gallery located at 45 Rideau Street in downtown Ottawa. The tapestry, wool on cotton warp and approximately 1.75m x 1m in size, hangs against a red wall to the furthest left as I made my way into the restaurant from the entrance.
As a whole, the piece resembles an explosion or burst of light with the ribbons almost acting like beams of energy and warmth; it is as if the artist captured a moment of the sun’s glare on a piece of glass. A concentration of a deep red colour at the top-centre of the rectangular-shaped tapestry melts into orange, then yellow, and continues on as it spreads into turquoise-green and finally ends in a spill of dark blue. Ten yellow ribbons trail down from the concentration of red and follow the flow of the colours to the bottom edges of the piece. The more I looked at Ribbons of Light-even after reading its title-the more I thought of it as the march of elephants; their heavy bodies and thick legs in motion against a backdrop of a blazing sun.
Although the texture of the tapestry is coarse, rough and heavy, there is still a feeling of lightness and brightness to the work. The artist seems to be contrasting the colours of a ribbon in motion with the weight of the tapestry itself, as if to say: simplicity and clarity can be found in the midst of complexity and chaos. There is no specific intended audience; absolutely anyone, informed or uniformed about art can view the piece. The piece resembles a sort of burst of light-an explosion.
Although the gallery also serves as a restaurant, Sante has accommodated Ewen’s work well by giving it its own wall, a wall that both contrasts with and enhances the colours in the tapestry. Ewen’s tapestry stands out and does not blend in as a sort of “decoration”.
The curator’s name at Sante is Paula Zoubek. All of the artwork at the restaurant/gallery is for sale. Sante has been exhibiting work by area artists for approximately nineteen years. The work serves to enhance the restaurant’s atmosphere and to provide it with the earned claim of being both a very good restaurant and a very good gallery.