Local artist Barbara Gamble discusses her art at a recent exhibit.
A colourful new exhibit at the Canadian Museum of Nature combines the artwork of two artists driven by a passion for the natural environment around them.
Catharine Parr Traill, a Canadian pioneer, writer and amateur botanist, created scrapbooks of pressed plants, flowers and insects over 100 years ago in addition to her writings.
They are included in an exhibition featuring art by Barbara Gamble, a local artist who explores her connections to nature and the environment by painting landscapes in the Ottawa area.
The exhibit, Natural Affinities, is on display at the Canadian Museum of Nature until January.
In 2003, Gamble discovered the Museum of Nature had a collection of Traill’s scrapbooks of pressed plants. She says when she first saw the scrapbooks she thought they were beautiful.
“I felt a connection to what she was doing with the plants she had in the books, and also the comments she wrote about concerns she had for the environment,” says Gamble. “She was interested in preserving the environment then just like I am today.”
When the museum approached Gamble about having her work showcased, she asked if some of the Traill collection could be a part of the exhibit.
“They gave that much consideration, because they’ve never shown it before, and because in order to display the fragile collection, a lot of preparation was required” she says.
Jennifer Doubt, chief collection manager in the botany section of the Museum of Nature says the main concerns were the fragility of the scrapbooks.
“Once [Gamble] indicated which pages she wanted the books to be open to, [they] were sent to a laboratory at the Canadian Conservation Institute, where micro-fading analysis was used to determine which pages were the most vulnerable to fading,” says Doubt.
Despite the meticulous preparation required, curators at the museum agreed that the artifacts should be on display because it connected Gamble’s work to the museum’s existing collection.
“Rather than just placing my work there, the scrapbooks made the exhibition feel much more complete,” says Gamble.
Natural Affinities began Oct. 10.
It features more than 50 pieces of Gamble’s work from 1995 to 2008, collected by Petra Halkes, the curator for the exhibit.
As the curator, Halkes’ job is to display Gamble’s paintings so as to establish themes and contextualize the pieces.
"It’s such a good opportunity for the artifacts to be displayed and it fits in perfectly with Gamble’s work,” she says.
Gamble says she hopes people will understand the importance of preserving the environment when they look at her paintings.