What's Latest in Ornamentum
Illuminating Art
{CONTENT}
Article by Mark Raynes Roberts
I
ARRIVED IN TORONTO in 1982 as a newly minted gold and silversmith from Birmingham, England, with my specialty being the fine art of hand engraving. Although I still occasionally incorporate silver and gold into some of my creations, my focus and...
The Spirit of the Drum
{CONTENT}
Article by Paula Laing and Fred Roland (Hwiemtun)
S
HERIDAN COLLEGE’S Aboriginal Initiatives Office had the distinct privilege and honour of hosting Hwiemtun (English name, Fred Roland) Knowledge Carrier from the Cowichan First Nation, British Columbia, in February of 2015. Hwiemtun shared his craft of making traditional...
Holding Meaning
{CONTENT}
Article by Michael Prokopow
W
HILE THERE ARE times when the production of objects results in unprecedented achievements in form and materiality, more often than not most things of everyday life owe historical debts to significant and rarified objects that have been copied for emulative and commercial...
Crushing Beauty
{CONTENT}
Article by Elizabeth Semmelhack
T
HIS CLOG PRICKS the imagination. Was it an implement of medieval torture or was it perhaps a weapon? Its form does, in fact, follow its function, but first impressions are not always correct. The long, menacing-looking serrated tines were actually designed for the...
Georgia Baths: A Steamy History
{CONTENT}
Article by David R. Johnston
S
TEAM BATHS WERE ONCE A COMMON PART OF LIFE in Edmonton, popular with European immigrant groups and working men. Edmonton Turkish Baths Limited opened for business in October, 1913. Like today’s health and beauty spas, bath facilities were considered very luxurious....
Carving the City
{CONTENT}
Article by Wayne Reeves
W
HILE THREE-DIMENSIONAL depictions of buildings and towns date back to antiquity, terrain models (or raised-relief maps) became popular only from the 1890s onward. Laser-cut models based on digital vector files are now common, but hand-carved maps-such as John George Howard’s-are a rare...
Symbol of the Realm
{CONTENT}
Article by Michael Prokopow
G
IVEN THAT EVERY HUMAN-MADE OBJECT is a text born of context, the challenge of getting at the meaning of a thing necessarily becomes an exercise in history and analysis. Made in England during the reign of King George IV for official use in...
Documentary Calligraphy at Kings Landing
{CONTENT}
Article by Darrell Butler
A
CCORDING TO MR. WILLIAM GANONG, the collection donor, this is one of two pieces of calligraphy by George Bragg (1783-1859) in the Mary and Walter Ganong Collection at Kings Landing, New Brunswick. It centres on ‘The Eye of the Lord’ in the upper...
The Tale of the Three-Bladed Propeller
{CONTENT}
Article by Paul Balcaen
T
HERE IS AN INSIGNIFICANT-LOOKING grey wooden propeller on a hangar wall at the Royal Aviation Museum of Western Canada in Winnipeg.
It came off a garbage load in 1937 and was stored in a barn until its donation to the museum circa 1977. This...