This year, spring’s earliest days aren’t quite winter and not fully summer either. They are fragile, in-between moments that invite people to slow down and notice the world shifting.
“There’s this real love of that very transitional period of spring that makes you feel connected to earth again.” says Sonya Jones, the interim senior curator at the Robert McLaughlin Art Gallery (RMG).
That heartfelt spring sentiment is behind the exhibit ‘Natural Curiosities’, now on at the RMG.
Jones wanted the exhibit to be released in the wintertime to remind people that this darkness will not last forever.
“I really took spring for granted. I feel like because in Ontario we have such harsher winters, I have a special appreciation for spring,” Jones says.
She explains how she used a variety of mediums from different artists. Some artists portrayed how a plant made them feel and some were more of an observational study.
Brigitte Sampogna, the visitor engagement assistant, says that she has been feeling particularly “uncurious” this winter and has used that time to rest.
Since this exhibition has opened, she has felt a desire to look more closely at many things.
Sampogna says Yvonne McKague Housser created a personal interpretation based on Georgia O’Keeffe’s painting of ‘Jack and the Pulpit,’ and through artistic techniques the different colours pop, glow and create an intricate contrast that gives each stroke importance.
Robert Bordeau, a 20th century photographer, took a photo of an Ontario cabbage that became Jones’ favourite.
The photo, shot from a low position with light capturing the veins of the leaves, sparked a special kind of curiosity in her.
“I just thought, how do you make a cabbage a beautiful object?”
Looking at it more closely, she saw how it was the artist’s personal touch that captured the cabbage so perfectly.
She has advice for people who visit the exhibition.
“Look at it a little more closely, pause and take the time to actually see what you’re seeing,” says Jones.
Take the time to let curiosity bloom as we wait for Mother Nature to catch up.
‘Natural Curiosities’ runs until June 7.