Edith Heath and Emily Carr are unlikely companions in an exhibition and yet they shared our gallery space as if they were old friends with a wealth of mutual interests. Their individual commitments to the land and their recognition of its fundamental importance to all aspects of life on the West Coast is their most immediate and compelling point of intersection. For both artists the land was a real and tangible presence that deeply affected the subjects they chose, the tools they used, and the objects they made. Seen together in the same space, their works share a generous conversation where each acknowledges the other’s vision while articulately rendering the specificity of their own time and place.
The exhibition Edith Heath and Emily Carr: From the Earth (2021) was originally conceived as part of the Gallery’s ongoing commitment to the documentation and contextualization of the art of Emily Carr. Carr’s paintings and drawings are a highly respected and beloved part of our permanent collection, and the Gallery has maintained a longstanding program of exhibitions that offer new approaches and insights to her art. The opportunity to bring Carr’s paintings and works on paper into dialogue with Heath’s ceramics arose through a casual conversation with Jay Stewart (one of the exhibition’s co-curators) who has an intimate knowledge of the work of both artists. Stewart recalled a conversation she had with Heath about Carr’s life and work in which she mentioned Carr’s technique of tasting clay in order to determine its mineral content and, ultimately, its suitability for use in ceramics. Heath agreed that this was a reliable and pragmatic way of selecting clays in the local landscape. This simple affirmation of the primacy of the materials, intimately connected to the land, opened the door to further discussions on other shared values in their lives and work, and ultimately led to this exhibition. Heath had many links to Vancouver and this region, especially during the period of her annual visits in the early 1950s when she taught summer school at the University of British Columbia. Heath is renowned as a key figure in the emergence of mid-century ceramics on the West Coast, and we were delighted to have an opportunity to share her work with our visitors in Vancouver.
I would like to thank the exhibition co-curators—Jay Stewart, Jennifer M. Volland and Bruce Grenville—for bringing their unique perspectives on the art of Edith Heath and Emily Carr to this exhibition and publication. Both Jennifer M. Volland and Jay Stewart have had long-standing relationships with the Gallery, collaborating as guest curators on key exhibitions since the late-1990s. We were delighted to bring them together, with the Gallery’s now former senior curator Bruce Grenville, to realize this important exhibition. I am grateful for their many contributions that made this exhibition possible.
Michael Lis of Goodweather Studio played a key role in the exhibition’s design, producing a remarkable mise-en-scène that united the work of two great artists in a very pleasing and informative space. Gallery staff tracked the hundreds of individual and institutional loans that comprised the Heath component of the exhibition. This is the largest exhibition of Heath ceramics to date, and the Gallery registrars, Jenny Wilson and Amber McBride, and conservators, Tara Fraser and Beth Wolchock, applied their ever-rigorous methodology to this unique project. The Gallery’s graphics team led by Martin Chester produced and installed the many text and images in the exhibition, and Angie Milligan thoughtfully designed the Edith Heath timeline. The installation team, led by Jim Stamper, skillfully recreated the unique display cabinets (from the original 1959 design of Luther Conover) for the exhibition, built specialized mounts, and composed the lighting that brought the works to life.
This digital publication, which uses the open-source publishing platform Quire, was designed by Michael Lis and produced by Stephanie Rebick in her capacity as Director of Publishing and Content Strategy at the Gallery with support from Publications Assistant Natalia Camacho Henao. The excellent photography which documents the exhibition was produced by Ian Lefebvre, Blaine Campbell and Rachel Topham.
I am thankful for the many individual and institutional lenders to the exhibition who shared their love of Edith Heath’s ceramics with our members and visitors. The Brian and Edith Heath/Heath Ceramics Collection is an integral part of the Environmental Design Archives (EDA) at University of California, Berkeley. Extensive loans from its comprehensive collection of artifacts, ceramics and archival photographs made this exhibition possible. Former EDA curator Chris Marino’s oversight on these loans was essential and greatly appreciated. Reference archivist Katie Riddle and curator emerita Waverly Lowell were also instrumental in the process. Selected loans from the Brian & Edith Heath Foundation and Heath Ceramics allowed us to represent unique early pieces, and a wealth of loans from individual collectors, including Catherine Bailey and Robin Petravic; Allan Collier; Bill Janyk; Julie Muñiz; the Estate of Marion and Gordon Smith; Jay Stewart and Peter Macnair; Tasha Sutcliffe; Chris and Jody Vajda; and Joni and Stephen Vajda, allowed us to convey Heath’s vision for the abundance of ceramics in everyday life.
The Brian & Edith Heath Foundation manifests its commitment to scholarship and the dissemination of the art and ideas of Edith Heath through its generous support of this exhibition and publication. I am profoundly grateful for the vision and commitment of the Heath Foundation. I would also like to acknowledge our other Major Supporters, Kimberly Cudney and Fraser Phillips, who, together with our Major Sponsor, Mosaic Forest Management; Major Community Partner, Poly Culture North America; and the generous support of The McLean Foundation made this exhibition possible. This digital publication would have been impossible to realize without the ongoing support of The Richardson Family, our Visionary Partner for Scholarship and Publications.
Finally, I extend my deep appreciation to the Board of Trustees of the Vancouver Art Gallery for their continued commitment and support for our ambitious and interdisciplinary programming.
Anthony Kiendl, CEO & Director
Vancouver Art Gallery