The Sunshine Coast Arts Council is pleased to present The Bride's Chamber, original drawings Kathryn Jacobi has done to illustrate the little-known and never-before-illustrated Charles Dickens' manuscript.
Vancouver artist Famous Empty Sky concurrently exhibits Nnots, a series of multimedia two-dimensional works on canvas. These exhibitions will be presented at the Sunshine Coast Arts Centre from Sept. 28 to Oct. 30. The celebration for the opening of these exhibits will be on Monday, Sept. 26 from 7 to 9 p.m.
Jacobi exhibits a selection of the 34 original drawings and one etching she created to illustrate the text of The Bride's Chamber by Charles Dickens, published in a limited first edition of 375 books. Signed copies will be available for purchase at the Arts Centre.
The story she interprets is quite harrowing and ugly, a Victorian ghost story that appeared as a serial episode in a London newspaper. The barely disguised persona of Dickens is quite apparent in the manuscript.
The story provided Jacobi, a painter and printmaker, the perfect material for artistic exploration of the subtle psychology of facial expression and the stance a body takes on during long periods of sustained cruelty. Her complex drawings convey universal truths, touching us with both pathos and repulsion for their profound depiction of the dark recesses of man's inhumanity.
Also on display is a series entitled Nnots. The images begin with a simple knotted piece of fine handmade paper; the incorporation of drawing, printing, collage, photography and painting simplify the compositions to abstraction, moving toward pure sensation. They are about capturing the moment of transition, that moment of stillness in the act of transformation.
