 MEDIA RELEASE |
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MEDIA RELEASE |
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
First Descent:
art and artifacts from snowboard culture
An Exhibition at the Walter Phillips Gallery
December 3, 1999 - January 23, 2000
Curator: Sarah Cook
BANFF, ALBERTA, November 12, 1999 -- First Descent is a group exhibition of work in all media by local and international snowboarders and artists from the Northwest United States. Within snowboarding culture more than in any other sport, it is the creative talents of the participants that have shaped and motivated the style and look of the industry. This exhibition examines the role aesthetics plays in the athletics of the sport while probing the creation of culture with a behind-the-scenes look at the snowboarding industry.
The most widely known art production in snowboard culture is its photography. The work ranges from portraits to end-of-the-day shots by internationally known photographers from Canada and the US, such as Mark Gallup, Trevor Graves and Dano Pendygrasse and emerging photographers, Craig Douce and Mike McPhee, from Calgary.
It is often the art made by the riders themselves that ends up on the base of the snowboards we buy. Tina Basich's paintings for her pro model boards as well as recent art commissioned for snowboards by Caia Koopman will be on exhibition. Dan Hudson and other snowboarders have been invited to show their works inspired by the time they spend travelling and riding.
The graphic design of the snowboarding industry will be represented by a glance into the process of creating and marketing boards and gear -- the style and functionality of which has always been motivated by the riders themselves. Tom Sims' original snowboards from the early days of the sport will be on display. Other snowboarding companies have been invited to contribute examples of the designs for their latest projects.
This exhibition is drawn together by guest curator Sarah Cook, an independent curator who has trained at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, the National Gallery of Canada and The Banff Centre for the Arts. She has a Master of Arts degree from Bard College's Center for Curatorial Studies and in January will begin a Ph.D. in new media curation at the University of Sunderland in conjunction with The Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art.
Following its showing at the Walter Phillips Gallery First Descent will travel to the Bellevue Art Museum in Washington state.
Please join us for the Opening Reception
on Friday, December 3 at 7:00 pm
All are invited to a Curator's Discussion on Saturday, December 4 at 2:00
pm
Both events are free to the public.
Images are available at ftp.banffcentre.ab.ca/pub/incoming/brendan_french
For more information:
Brendan French
Public Program Coordinator/Publicist
Phone: 403-762-6377