{"id":18034,"date":"2017-08-09T17:42:07","date_gmt":"2017-08-09T21:42:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=18034"},"modified":"2017-08-09T17:42:07","modified_gmt":"2017-08-09T21:42:07","slug":"menard-scratches-well-below-the-surface-with-watershed-show","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/menard-scratches-well-below-the-surface-with-watershed-show\/","title":{"rendered":"Menard scratches well below the surface with \u201cWatershed\u201d show"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Brock Weir<\/strong><\/p>\n

Surface features are only a subtle hint on what\u2019s beneath when it comes to local watersheds \u2013 and sometimes the same thing can be said for art.
\nBut these two spheres are coming together in a new show by artist Liz Menard that is designed to allow viewers to dive in.
\n\u201cWatershed\u201d, a solo exhibition by Ms. Menard is a showcase of print and mixed media art focusing on our water system, the biodiversity it supports, and indigenous plant species. Its opening coincides with Call to Action #83, a touring show of Indigenous and non-Indigenous art designed to highlight Truth and Reconciliation.
\nFor Ms. Menard, there is a lot of common ground between her work and the Call to Action #83 Collective.
\n\u201cI think there is a lot of common ground,\u201d she says. \u201cThe native species I have delved into in my art also happen to be the ones that are respected by Indigenous people who, for millennia, have recognized the medicinal and aesthetic beauty of these plants.\u201d
\nThe beauty of these unique ecosystems was never lost on Ms. Menard. Born with what \u201ca profound love of nature,\u201d being around water, plants and animals, has always been a part of her from the time she could walk and talk.
\nDescribing her work as \u201cquiet, thoughtful and subtle,\u201d she found herself particularly drawn to the Don River watershed about four years ago, which unexpectedly became the focus of an exhibition she was working on at that time.
\n\u201cI really didn\u2019t know what I wanted to focus on, but all my life I\u2019ve driven down past the Don River and always found it so fascinating,\u201d she said. \u201cI just started wandering and collecting information and reading, and started going into the Toronto Archives. This body of work just emerged out of that study and it is ongoing.\u201d
\nFuelling her love is finding beauty in unexpected places.
\n\u201cOnce I was walking around the Lower Don River and took a path I wasn\u2019t expecting to take,\u201d she explains. \u201cI found a little pond down at the bottom of Riverdale Farm and I couldn\u2019t figure out why this little pond was there. It didn\u2019t make sense to me and I didn\u2019t even try to answer the question\u2026but it was an itch I needed to scratch.
\n\u201cAbout three months later, I woke up in the middle of the night and thought, \u2018Of course! It is one of the oxbows of the river from its original shape and trajectory. Although we have channelized, straightened and covered everything up, the river has a basic nature that it will not be ignored. That set me on a whole path that if the Don River has a memory, it will remember the time before pavement.\u201d
\nNature will never be ignored, nor will history and tradition and there too are some of the parallels.
\nShe never had any doubt, she said, that her art could be fused with a message but she realised it was hitting its mark when viewers began telling her that they were starting to look at things differently.
\n\u201cI am constantly humbled by what people tell me of my work,\u201d she says. \u201cThere is a whole conversation around where we have been, where we are and where we could go, but it is not evident, it is not obvious. I am really excited about this. I think it is a tremendous honour and a wonderful opportunity. There is only one artist out there I know, so I think this is going to be a marvellous opportunity. I am thrilled and honoured to be invited to present at the Aurora Cultural Centre and to be showing concurrently with the Call to Action exhibition.\u201d
\nWatershed opens this Saturday, August 12, at the Aurora Cultural Centre.<\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Surface features are only a subtle hint on what\u2019s beneath when it comes to local watersheds \u2013 and sometimes the same thing can be said for art.
\nBut these two spheres are coming together in a new show by artist Liz Menard that is designed to allow viewers to dive in. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18034","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general_news","category-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-4GS","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-29 15:33:18","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18034","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18034"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18034\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18034"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18034"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18034"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}