Safe Passages and Welcome Harbours: Works from the Permanent Collection

OPENING RECEPTION Thursday 20 May at 8 pm 2010 marks the 100th Anniversary of the Canadian Navy. During the spring and summer, Halifax will host a series of commemorative events including: the annual Sea Power and Maritime Security Conference organized by the Centre for Foreign Policy Studies; an international fleet review of visiting, foreign naval ships; and the Royal Nova Scotia International Tattoo whose program will honour the Navy’s place in Canadian history. Recognizing Nova Scotia’s complex relationship to the sea and its maritime history, this exhibition of works from the Permanent Collection considers the harbour as a functional contact zone between navigation routes and the ships and boats that call the coves, jetties and wharves “home”. With works in a variety of media by Jack Bush, Arthur Lismer, Alex Livingston, Aileen Meagher and Marguerite Zwicker, among others, Safe Passages and Welcome Harbours also features representational ship and boat portraits, images of ships at sea in their “work” environment and portrayals of the sea itself as subject matter. Whether defined by nearby edges of rock and sand or distant horizon lines, the sea is ever-present in these artworks that regard the ocean’s waters as a surface for both nautical transport and poetic contemplation.