Who likes a party? Well, maybe that depends on what kind of party! For Megan Morman and her current solo show at Stride, Art Party is a fun and rich platform from which to launch myriad forms of partaking and partying. She makes both a departure from convention yet also creates a new one. Taking Perler Beads – coloured plastic beads that you can arrange on pegboards into patterns and then fuse together with an iron – Morman has created a crowd of life-size characters from the art world. Beyond this circle of acquaintance are cats whose names (like the depicted artists) are acknowledged in the titles, all of which are consolidated in the installation by an array of beaded handkerchiefs or bandanas.
Megan Morman
At a real party it's often the conversation and carousing that shapes meaning and new memories, and there was plenty of that at the opening, including discussion of Lucas Crawfords's lucid and informative essay. And of course, as can make for excitement, there's also the suggestion of an assignation or tryst. Thematically here we find coded narratives within the patterns of the kerchiefs reflective of sexual preferences within queer culture and quite likely beyond. Could this means of unspoken conversation, I wonder, be the origins of hanky panky?
From here, I can't help but wonder about other desired connotations that flow from these materials. Apart from the more obvious connection between pearls and beads, such as pearl necklace, the practice of pearling also comes to mind. But as I don't actually know all the "hanky codes", I'll leave it for gallery-goers and readers to make the next move.
In conclusion, there's one more move afoot to share: the welcoming of Andrea Williamson as the new Akimbo Calgary correspondent. My five years of reviewing the Calgary art scene has been a party I feel privileged to have attended. And as with Megan's compelling show, there's always new ways to put the art in party.
Stride Gallery: http://www.stride.ab.ca/main.html
Megan Morman: Art Party continues until January 30.
Dick Averns is an interdisciplinary artist and writer whose exhibitions and performances have been presented internationally. He teaches at the Alberta College of Art + Design, and his writing has appeared in Canadian Art, Front, On Site Review, and many catalogues. He is Akimblog's Calgary correspondent and can be followed @DickAverns on Twitter.
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Megan Morman at Stride Gallery
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