Star Power

January 28, 2011

One of the most rewarding aspects of my job is hearing the stories artists have to share. How did they come to be artists? What kind of twists and turns have their life paths taken and how have they intersected with other people’s journeys. Narrative is alive and well in contemporary visual culture. One artist’s story has captivated the country. Last Friday, Bowmanville-based artist Jane Eccles was featured on the front page of the Toronto Star. This was a first. You’d be hard pressed to find another instance of a living Canadian artist featured so prominently in the Canadian press. The article is immersive, even granular, detailing Jane’s “Dresses Project” in the Living Section (click here to read).

Toronto Star front page, January 21, 2011

Eccles’s series of portraits will premiere at Station Gallery in less than a month. I just love the spirit of her project; she refers to this body of work as emerging from the “closet of souls.”