Riding the Ion

If there’s anything that gets people’s dander up, it’s change. And we’ve had massive change in our twin cities over the Ion, the light rail, first whether it should be built and then upheaval on our roads for months and months while tracks and roads were under construction.

Canada Day was the last day for a free ride. Our youngest daughter and her husband were talking their two-year-old son on the Ion, and we decided to join them. I was interested and had thought of doing it. This seemed like the perfect opportunity.

close to the universities

The ride was smooth, with nary a bump or shudder on stopping or starting. As the driver of our family vehicle, I don’t have the privilege of just looking around me. I need to focus on my job of driving, watching for lights, pedestrians and other drivers. This ride would offer the opportunity to just look out the windows and enjoy the ride.

We were fortunate to get seats when we boarded and it wasn’t long before there were people standing in the aisle holding on to the straps or a seat.

Apparently the changes are not over (Reality, things never stay the same). More property is being bought along the main street that runs from one city to the next. According to a passenger I spoke with briefly, people in her neighbourhood are not pleased with the additional changes that are coming—tall condos or other buildings that will rise along the main street. They’d even gone to city hall and signed a petition against the change. It got me thinking about low income housing close to that route and how it would affect them. Where will they go?

One the other hand, the Ion will convey a large number of passengers from Point A to Point B, along the main street that has schools, hospital, doctors’ offices and businesses on or close to the route.

As citizens, we’re being encouraged to step out of our cars and take the public transit. Drivers of cars and trucks honour traffic lights, but the Ion doesn’t stop for those things, only at their stations where passengers are waiting.

Thing is from our neighbourhood, we still have to take other transportation to the Ion and park at a lot, or find a bus close to it that connects to the light rail. Not as convenient for people in the outlying areas, but it would definitely be a boon to those living close to the main line, and it could work well for attending a festival uptown.

clean and quiet ride

Our city is changing, that’s for certain. The powers that be had decided on intensification of the core, and while we are certainly not at the size of TO or Mississauga, it seems our population is growing. The building will go on and people will need to adapt to it, even when there are bumps in the road along the way.

 

 

A Homer Watson Tradition and a New Display

The Homer Watson Gallery in Kitchener is bursting with new exhibits again. This month and until early November, artists Deborah Pryce, Diane Young and Anita Kunz have their work displayed in the various rooms. Deborah’s work is hung in the Calley room, Diane’s in the adjoining room, and Anita’s in the Homer Watson Gallery.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In Sacred Cows, Anita looks at social situations in which we give far more prominence to people in society than perhaps they are worth.

Anita

In an article in Waterloo Region Record, we learn that Anita’s art work has been printed in many “prominent magazines such as Time, Rolling Stone, Vanity Fair, GQ, New Yorker, Sports Illustrated, Newsweek and Atlantic Monthly, among others. Or you have on your personal library shelf one of the 50 book jackets she has illustrated.
In addition to magazines and book publishers, the acclaimed freelancer has worked for record companies, design firms and advertising agencies.”

From Anita’s artist statement:

I’ve always been fascinated by social issues and how we react to certain people in our culture. The subject of celebrity is endlessly fascinating to me, especially how we elevate some arguably questionable people to a higher status…

 

 

Another of Anita’s works of social commentary, Elvis’s Sneer, but after all  he’s only flossing his teeth just like we’re meant to do.

The Waterloo Region Record’s article in the Saturday paper,  titled “International Illustrator Returns Home with Exhibition at Homer Watson Gallery,” focuses on Anita’s work but also mentioned the other two artists.

 

 

 

 

Diane’s  interactive display of busts invites the visitor to try to figure out what the expression says, then to flip up the small sign and see what the artist was thinking. I loved that feature of her exhibit.

 

 

Dianne with one of her expressive creations, but I will let you go there and figure it out for yourself

In her display, Robert Reid of the Record says,

Diane Young’s 11 bronze-coloured, naturalist, clay busts are commissioned portraits, encompassing male and female, spanning the spectrum of ages from young to old and bridging cultures.

 

 

From Diane’s artist statement:

From the moment I first held clay in my hands, I knew that I had found my life’s passion. I have always been fascinated by the human face and it has become the sole source of my inspiration…

 

                                                                                                  Another of Diane’s creations and I didn’t guess what she was thinking. I had an entirely different idea.

 

 

An interesting juxtaposition that Deborah noticed when we looked around the gallery a separate day from the opening. We can see into the Calley Room and view one of her pieces.

 

 

 

Deborah arranging a bouquet of flowers that were delivered for her on opening day.

 

A more abstract look at how change affects people.

 

 

 

 

Opening of her artist’s statement “There’s a crack in everything; that’s how the light gets in.” -Leonard Cohen, Anthem. And more:

The difficult stuff in life has a way of tarnishing our lustre, hardening us or pulling us into our cocoons. So, too, the creative spirit easily gets crusted over from neglect, fear of failing, disappointments, or even by the safety of the tried and true.

 

 

 

At the opening reception, Deborah talks with Darlene. Supporters included family, friends, fellow choir members and others from the church community.

 

 

 

Introductions at the opening reception. Stephen Woodworth, Conservative MP for Kitchener Centre (Ontario), congratulating the artists and offering a few words to guests

 

 

Faith Heiplinger, Executive Director at the gallery, introduces each of the artists and asks them to describe the focus and meaning of their works in the exhibit

 

My friends Deb and Lorraine, and I went out to lunch a few days after the opening, then at the gallery afterwards we  had more opportunity to look around and ask Deb about the work involved in her exhibits and the meaning that went into those creations.

 

I am so proud of  you, Deb, and the incredible display of your artistic expression. And I was pleased to meet Diane and Anita and see their amazing work as well.

 

 

 

 

Photos by L. and C. Wilker, and this last one by L. Ballard.

Saturday Snapshot–Celebration of Community

 

Waterloo Region Museum, a celebration of community and the many people who make up Waterloo Region

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Conestoga Wagon, pulled by horses, brought many people to our community from the USA, Mennonites, and more

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Arrival at Pier 21 in Halifax, and then across country to Ontario and other provinces

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Grand Trunk Railway Line. The intersection in the middle of the hallway, but of course the train does not run through that line anymore.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Travelling trunks from many countries around the world

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Let’s not forget the Home Children, who were sent here—not by their own choice—but who also make up a  section of our community.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

People settled here and worked together to build a community with those who were already here.

 

The Storytelling Series at the Museum, this winter and spring, feature stories of immigrants coming to any part of Canada

 

This meme hosted by At Home With Books. To participate in the Saturday Snapshot meme post a photo that you (or a friend or family member) have taken, then go to the site and connect with the page by our host, Alyce. Happy Saturday, travelling from one blog to another.