{"id":18858,"date":"2016-01-19T14:57:09","date_gmt":"2016-01-19T19:57:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/fass\/?p=18858"},"modified":"2024-08-09T07:42:29","modified_gmt":"2024-08-09T11:42:29","slug":"alumni-beaver-hall-group-and-remembering-david-bowie","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/fass\/2016\/alumni-beaver-hall-group-and-remembering-david-bowie\/","title":{"rendered":"Dean's Blog: FASS Alumni, Beaver Hall Group and Remembering David Bowie by Catherine Khordoc"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n Dean's Blog: FASS Alumni, Beaver Hall Group and Remembering David Bowie by Catherine Khordoc\n <\/h1>\n \n \n <\/header>\n\n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n\n\n
\"Art
Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (Photo Credit: Anastazia Krneta)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Last Tuesday, my day started off in a rather unusual manner. Instead of heading to Carleton, as I do every morning, I was heading to Montreal. It was a beautiful day, and I was thinking about how little snow was lying in the fields that line the 417 eastbound. Well, that would soon change, but I\u2019ll come back to that a bit later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was driving to Montreal with Anastazia Krneta<\/a>, the FASS Senior Development Officer, who had organized an alumni event at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts<\/a>. Montreal-based alumni were invited to visit the current exhibition: \u201cColour of Jazz \u2013 1920s Modernism: The Beaver Hall Group<\/a>\u201d that was co-curated by our colleague, Dr. Brian Foss<\/a> (Director of the School for the Studies in Art and Culture, and Professor of Art History). Approximately 40 alumni and partners attended the event, along with Associate Dean Susan Whitney<\/a> and a few other Carleton representatives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brian, and his co-curator Jacques Des Rochers (Curator of Qu\u00e9bec and Canadian Art ((before 1945)), took us for a tour of the exhibit, which lasted well over an hour, but could easily have taken us three times longer, simply because there was so much to take in, and so many questions we could have asked Brian and Jacques. I regularly visit art galleries, but rarely take a tour or use the audio-guides. I sometimes eavesdrop on the docents giving a tour, but I don\u2019t like the idea of having a tour set for me (even if audio-guides are becoming less prescriptive in the way you visit an exhibit). What a privilege it was to visit an exhibit with its curators! Not only did our hosts tell us about the paintings, the artists, and the context in which they were working, but they also gave us a glimpse of the many and complicated logistics of putting together this exhibit. Because many of the works are held in private collections, it was a challenge just finding out where the paintings were, and the curators had to work with 42 private collectors to be able to borrow the paintings for the exhibit. I was especially struck when Brian actually asked our guests to let him know should they,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Exposition
Exposition Une modernit\u00e9 des ann\u00e9es 1920. Photo Credit: Pierre Longtin<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

per chance, have any of the works of these artists in their own family collections, as there are many works they still have not found! Putting together an exhibit is really quite a challenge and it was very special to hear not only about the exhibit itself but also all of the backstage details, and how, often, things do come together in part thanks to happenstance. I had first seen the exhibit a couple of months ago, but seeing it a second time was enriching and enlightening (a bit like reading an excellent novel for the second, or third, time\u2026).  It was also rather exciting to hear that some of the paintings that were among Brian\u2019s and Jacques\u2019 favourites were ones that had also stood out for me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The other part of the event that was especially memorable for me was the opportunity to meet so many of our alumni, who in some cases graduated in the 1950s and 60s, as well as some more recent alumni, who graduated less than two years ago. I was especially thrilled to meet one former student who holds not only a BA from Carleton<\/a> but also a Certificate in French as a Second Language Studies, granted by my home department of French<\/a>. I was excited to talk to so many of them and to hear about they had gone on to do, and to witness one of the things that I know is true about studying in the Arts and Social Sciences: the path between graduation and career may not be perfectly linear, but I didn\u2019t hear anyone saying they regretted the exciting and unpredictable meanders leading to fulfilling and rewarding careers and lives. That was, in fact, what their studies had prepared them for: the unexpected, the unknown, the innovative, the creative, the challenges life presents. I got the sense that they enjoyed the event just about as much as I did, and that they took some pride in knowing that a Carleton faculty member was taking the time to give them a personal and highly knowledgeable tour of the exhibit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As some of you know, I have been thinking quite a bit about the Public Humanities over the past few months, and the ways in which scholars in the humanities and in the social sciences can reach out to society at large to make connections, to help understand or experience, improve and enrich our lives and its various challenges This event was an excellent example of how an exhibit was created through the curiosity and the questions posed by a scholar of Canadian Art, and how visiting this exhibit with that very scholar is a nuanced and inspiring experience. A very big thank you to Brian and Jacques, and to Anastazia for organizing this delightful event, and for all those who braved the elements to make it to the Museum.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"David
David Bowie<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

On a final note, I do not think I can close this blog without mentioning how very sad I was last week, when hearing the news of David Bowie\u2019s death. As Susan Whitney and I drove back to Ottawa in sometimes heavy snow (the drive taking three hours \u2013 and now there is more snow in those aforementioned fields!), we shared memories of how Bowie\u2019s songs have touched our lives. In my own case, I felt like a part of my youth has disappeared. While I was never really a die-hard Bowie fan, listening to all the songs being played back on television and radio last week, I realized how so much of my youth was inflected by Bowie\u2019s music, his lyrics, his looks, and his persona. I was reminded of an article I\u2019d read, about a month ago, in the Globe and Mail<\/em>, about music icons and how the creativity and flamboyance of rock stars seems to have been fading over the last few decades<\/a>. \u201cAs David Bowie announces his retirement, why [have] outrageous male performers [\u2026] been replaced by relatable \u2013 dare we say bland \u2013 boys next door?\u201d asked Odessa Paloma Parker in the article*. I\u2019m glad that my youth was coloured, changed, by the turbulent, subversive, and transformative music and art of David Bowie.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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