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Jeannie Mah
Born in 1952 in Regina, Saskatchewan Canada,
Jeannie Mah stayed in the city long enough to finish a
Bachelor of Education (Fine Arts) at the University of
Regina in 1976. Upon completing her degree, she moved
to Vancouver, British Colombia where she obtained an
Advanced Diploma (Ceramics) at the Emily Carr College
of Art. She started to exhibit her work publicly. In
1979 Mah participated in an exhibition called Diverse
Harmony at the Helen Pitt Gallery.
However, Jeannie Mah was growing restless in
Vancouver, so she began to tour the world. In 1982
Jeannie visited the Heraklion Museum in Crete, where
she made a discovery that would change the way
she made art. That discovery was a Kamares Ware Cup. Built
around the fourteenth century B.C., this ancient
artifact was to have a profound effect on Jeannie's
own work. The cup itself is "elegantly flared; its
walls give illusions of thinness and delicacy."
Adorned with backward C's its design is deceptively
simple. It was shortly after this discovery that
Jeannie left Greece and began a year of independant
research in London, England then back to Vancouver,
Canada. After four more years in Vancouver cravings
for France led to a study of French in Perpignan and
Paris. At the Musée National de Céramique à Sèvres,
Paris, Jeannie discovered the eighteenth century Sèvres
teacups. These ornately decorated and designed teacups
were employed by King Louis XIV as trophies of his
favoritism.
The two cups would have a profound
effect on her artwork. By combining them in her
work she explores concepts like the utilitarian
versus the decorative and craft versus "high art."
Throughout it all however, Jeannie looks at the
development of culture and the movement of people(s)
around the world. She often links these ideas back
to Canada and China.
Black Cup Photo: Ed Jones
In 1990 Jeannie Mah returned to her native Regina
and completed a degree in Visual Arts in 1993. She received
a commission for the City of Regina Civic Art Collection (History + Memory =) in 1992. With
this piece she explored her own sense of place within Regina
and Canada, especially that of her own family history. Her
family lived in a grocery store/house located where the current
City Hall stands. The commission reflects the history of the
site and compares it to the history of the cups, as it focuses
on her sense of home and travel, China and Canada, the History
of Ceramics as craft and as art.
In 1991 Jeannie had a solo exhibition of her work at
the Dunlop Art Gallery, Central Branch Vitrine, called Chiaroscuro. "Chiaroscuro is a
painters' term used to describe the treatment of light and
shade in a painting or a drawing to produce the illusion of
depth or a dramatic effect. Jeannie Mah's objects are
three-dimensional: the illusion of her tableau is that they
read, initially, as two - dimensional. Framed and glazed by
the display cases, they appear to be two carefully composed
paintings." Like other exhibitions by Jeannie Mah this work
represents more than meets the eye, especially in the area
of ceramics and the visual arts.
Jeannie Mah is currently working on another
exhibition at the Dunlop Art Gallery. Titled Ouvrez Les Guillemets, Jeannie
will "expose my long - time (but never before overtly
confessed) habit of quoting from historical sources."
Jeannie will be exploring the historical effects of
politics and culture on ceramics. Ouvrez les Guillemets
will open in the Dunlop Art Gallery, Central Branch,
on September 27 and continue through to November 12, 1997.
There will be an opening reception on Friday, September
26 at 7:00 pm and a panel discussion on Saturday,
September 27 at 2:00 pm. The panel is called "Intertextual
Strategies and the Material Object" and will be moderated
by Ruth Chambers, Instructor of Visual Arts at the University
of Regina. The panelists will consist of Adrienne Hood, a
former curator of the textiles department of the Royal
Ontario Museum in Toronto Ontario, and Amy Gogarty,
Calgary Artist/Writer and Instructor at the Alberta
College of Art in the Ceramics Department. The panel
itself will discuss the position of craft in the an
art context, especially through the work of Jeannie
Mah and her peers.
If you have any other questions concerning
Jeannie Mah or any other Saskatchewan
artist please contact us by email or:
Forward mail to:
Dunlop Art Gallery
Regina Public Library
P.O. Box 2311
Regina, Saskatchewan
Canada S4P 3Z5
Tel: 306-777-6040
Fax: 306-777-6221
Felipe Diaz
Gallery Facilitator |
