Artists in a Floating World: The Marion McCain Atlantic Art Exhibition 2000

Curator Tom Smart describes the purpose of Artists in a Floating World as exploring "strange worlds and allusive meanings in the work of a selection of artists living in Atlantic Canada." Taking Alex Colville's painting Embarkation and Christopher Pratt's painting Big Cigarette as starting points, Smart selected artworks whose pictorial composition suggests other worlds -- "floating worlds" in which the sea itself often plays a determining role. A condensed version of this exhibition was organized for a cross-Canada tour by the Beaverbrook Art Gallery. For its appearance at the Dalhousie Art Gallery, the exhibition was augmented with works by the original Nova Scotian participants. Over 50 artists from all four Atlantic provinces were represented, including, to name just a few, Brian Burke, Rick Burns, Marlene Creates, Tom Forrestall, Yvon Gallant, Angel Gomez, Alex Livingston, Sarah Maloney, Jane Mothersell, Mary Pratt, Susan Wood and Carl Zimmerman. The exhibition was sponsored by the New Brunswick-based McCain family in memory of Marion McCain.