The Art of Mourning in Ottawa: ReVisioning Victorian Bereavement Artefacts

The following is a notice from the Bytown Museum

Saskatchewan-born, Ottawa-based artist and academic Cindy Stelmackowich will present the findings of her artist-in-residence project at the Bytown Museum. During the winter of 2011, Ms. Stelmackowich unearthed and researched a wide range of Victorian mourning artefacts from the Museum's collection. From her study of these artefacts she intends to create new artworks that will highlight the intimately-charged visual languages of mourning, mortality, beauty and death.

Mourning artefacts in the Bytown Museum's collection comprise a wide range of decorative, domestic and public memorabilia, and include hair wreaths, veils, clothing, jewelry such as lockets, bracelets and earrings which incorporate hair, and decorative items such as memory ware jugs.

The Bytown Museum's acting curator, Judith Parker, inaugurated the residency program in 2011 to facilitate access to the Museum's significant collection. The residency program supports innovative research and creative interpretation of this important cultural repository that reflects Ottawa's early history.

· Public talk given by artist Cindy Stelmackowich
· Saturday 30 April, 2011, from 2 - 3 pm
· In English
· Bytown Museum. Free admission