Exhibition
27 Aug 1996 - 21 Sep 1996
Illingworth Kerr GalleryDON MABIE/CHUCK STAKE Aspects of Practice:1969-1996
DON MABIE/CHUCK STAKE: ASPECTS OF PRACTICE: 1969-1996 will showcase the broad spectrum of Mabie/Stake's creative process since 1969 and will include: drawings, correspondence/mail-art, rubberworks, artist bookworks, copyworks, photography, collaboration (both local and international), performance, bodyworks, installation, buttonworks, art administrative activities, and {most recently) computerworks.
A primary focus of the exhibition will be Mabie's pen and ink drawings. These densely layered autobiographical drawings form a cohesive body of work which has been developing for two decades. The drawings along with Mabie's Correspondence/Mail Art activity are the most continuous of his practice.
The exhibition will also document the broader range of Mabie/Stake's creative activity, including over a decade initiation and management of Artist-Run Centres and other artist centered organizations. It will reflect the artist's attempt to integrate art and life into a continuous stream - all being equal... aspects of practice.
"Born in Calgary in 1947, Don Mabie grew up in Calgary during the 50s and 60s. This was a time of liberalization and experimentation; anything was possible. An important early influence on Mabie was his father, who was a sign painter. Mabie still vividly remembers how when he was a pre-schooler, he would watch with intrigue and excitement while his father created strange shapes and patterns at the kitchen table.
Mabie attended the Alberta College of Art from 1964 to 1969. While at the Alberta College of Art, he first enrolled in the advertising art program, but after 2 years he decided he wanted to move into the fine arts painting and printmaking program. His talent for more individual work was quickly recognized and in 1969 he received two awards: the Art Auction Scholarship and the Tuition Scholarship to the Institute Allende, in Mexico. However, it was not the classroom teachings that influenced Mabie the most. Like most of us, Mabie was a doodler at college, often filling up the covers of his sketch books with words and images. Mabie still has two of the covers from that time, which he still refers to as reference points.
From 1978 to 1988, Mabie held various administrative positions with Calgary's first artist- run centre, originally Clouds 'n' Water, then OFF CENTRE CENTRE and now called the New Gallery. In these positions, he influenced Calgary artists' careers. In addition, he brought many artists from across Canada and around the world to Calgary. During this time, Mabie was responsible for writing numerous grant applications, catalogues, curatorial statements and press releases which required him to articulate his ideas about the visual arts in words, not images.
I believe the early experiences of watching his father making signs, his fascination with doodling and his experience in writing about art, were all key factors in the development of Mabie's vision of the importance for humans to communicate, both visually and verbally. I can't help but think that on one level Mabie's drawings are satirical statements about the absurd dependency of contemporary visual arts on words as the means of interpreting a visual experience. On another level, his work could be a tongue-in-cheek statement about man's obsession with the abstract word as a means of communication."
Excerpt from exhibition catalogue, written by Richard L. White, February, 1990
