Munro
Ferguson:
June with Paintings and Drawings by Joyce Wieland
January
20 to February 27, 2005
Canadian animator Munro Ferguson made this hand-drawn stereoscopic animation titled June in memory of artist and filmmaker Joyce June Wieland who died in 1998. The film, produced by the National Film Board of Canada, represents Ferguson’s experience of knowing Joyce Wieland and her struggle with Alzheimer’s disease. June is 6:45 minutes in length and comprises two parts: part one is about the end of Wieland’s life and part two is about the artist during the height of her creative powers.
The accompanying exhibition of paintings and drawings by Wieland featured recent donations to the Art Centre’s collection by Kathy Dain and Betty Ferguson.
Shown here: Joyce Wieland, Angels with Cupid, c 1980 (Gift of Kathy Dain 2003, MSAC Collection)
Munro
Ferguson was born in New York City and is the son of filmmakers Graeme and Betty
Ferguson. The family moved to
Puslinch, Ontario when Ferguson was a child and he attended secondary school in
Guelph. Ferguson met Joyce Wieland
when he was just one year old; she later became his friend and first art
teacher, encouraging his interest in cartooning and filmmaking.
In 1983, Ferguson graduated from the University of Toronto with a degree
in the ‘philosophy of perception’, and in 1984, he created the comic strip Eureka!
which was later syndicated in over thirty newspapers around the world.
Ferguson joined the National Film Board in 1994, and in 1995, he began
writing, animating and consulting on the development of SANDDEÔ for film
pioneer Roman Kroitor at IMAX Corporation.
SANDDEÔ (Stereo Animation Drawing Device) enables artists to draw and
animate in space, freehand. The
resulting projected image immerses viewers in a spectacle of moving colour and
sound. Ferguson has created two
stereoscopic animations with this innovative technology: June and Falling
In Love Again, which won the 2004 Genie Award for ‘best animated short’.
June
was
presented with support from Betty Ferguson,
the Ontario Arts Council, and the
Canada Council for the Arts.
The
opening reception for Munro Ferguson: June with Paintings and Drawings by Joyce Wieland was
on Thursday, January 20 at 7:30 p.m. Munro
Ferguson discussed his career as a filmmaker and animator in an artist
talk on Tuesday, February 22 at noon.
A
production of the National Film Board of Canada/Une production de l’Office
national du film du Canada
© National Film Board of Canada/Office national du film du Canada, 2004
All rights reserved/Tous droits réservés
National Film Board Website: www.nfb.ca