Faces of Canmore reflect this mountain town's deep roots, great spirit and many talents
By Shari Bishop Bowes
Maybe there isn't such a thing as ordinary in Canmore.
"Faces of Canmore" is a black and white portraiture exhibit just mounted at the Canmore Civic Centre, and intended to provide a snapshot of an 'ordinary' cross-section of this community's residents. The exhibit, mounted by the Town of Canmore in commemoration of Alberta's centennial in 2005, features 60 individuals photographed by Canmore photographer Colin Ferguson.
The word 'ordinary', however, does not come to mind, especially when this exhibit is viewed from the perspective of my casual acquaintance with some of the people captured in this collection of photos taken against a stark white background.
Ferguson could not agree more that Canmore people are anything but ordinary - a fact solidified even further in his mind in the many hours of volunteer labour that led up to the exhibit's opening night March 3.
"These people were chosen almost as random," Ferguson tells me as we visit for a while in his downtown Canmore studio. "The exhibit shows a cross-section of people, and they are just so talented."
Cinematographer Roger Vernon travels extensively for his work, but calls Canmore home. He is shown here with the Gemini Award he won for his work.
My dentist, Dr. Lloyd Evans, is the first portrait I view in the airy halls of the new civic building. I can't help but remember the time he gave an emergency root canal to my husband the night before we left on a foreign vacation. I also know he is a dedicated family man, a big-time volunteer and an entrepreneur in his own right. He also drives a cool vintage Volkswagen Bug convertible, and runs on his lunch hours.
Then there's Laura Schlessinger, the exotically beautiful and supremely talented cellist who is as comfortable performing in the gilded concert halls of the world as she is playing with her two local ensembles, Music by Bellissima and Music Mosaic in St. Mike's Anglican Church Hall here in town. Pictured with her 100-year-old cello crafted in Cremona, Italy, Laura is one of those people who would leave you believing there is always room for a little bit of the big, bright, cultured city in Canmore.
Pictured with the long, sharp blades of their trade, and a large fish head for effect, are the three women you'll find behind the sushi bar at Canmore's Chef's Studio. Emi Miura, Aki Toshimitsui and Akiko Hama have taken the art of beautiful sushi to levels this sushi-mad valley had not seen the likes of before.
Perhaps some would find a schoolteacher ordinary, but the photo of Sophie Couture belies this fact, capturing this Grade 3 French Immersion teacher dressed in spandex with her mountain bike.
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Two of the "Faces of Canmore", Richard and Jan Hrabec are the creative force behind one of Canmore's hottest eateries, the Crazyweed Café.
She's almost an emblem of the work-life balance that Canmore people strive for. Couture's passion, beyond helping youngsters master Canada's second official language, is hitting Canmore's single track Nirvana every chance she gets.
Alika Autrom, a Montreal native, depicts another segment of Canmore society - the young person fulfilling a dream of living in the mountains while working a couple of jobs to make ends meet. Alika is a young, natural beauty who works as a barista in the summers, and a snowboarding instructor in the winters. "What could be more Canmore than that," the photo caption next to her image reads. Indeed.
Ferguson first approached the Town of Canmore in the late '90s with the idea of mounting a museum exhibit consisting of portraits of long-time Canmore residents, along with voice-overs of the subjects describing their feelings on how the community has changed over the years.
That exhibit, to be known as Voices of Canmore, will become the second installment of the Centennial exhibit.
Faces of Canmore is a more lighthearted depiction of Canmore's people in beautiful black and white portraits. In choosing a style, Ferguson says he was inspired by portraits by Richard Avedon in a collection titled The American West.
"The idea behind that is to reduce things to the simplest possible elements," says Ferguson. "I think black and white portraiture is always more powerful than colour."
And what of the future for this exhibit - or more of its kind in future years?
Ferguson says there is talk of exchanging the exhibit with Canmore's sister city in Japan, Higashikawa in the northern province of Hokkaido. Photographs taken of citizens in that city would in turn be exhibited in Canmore.
In future, it would be wonderful to see Faces of Canmore remounted every five to 10 years. Ferguson agrees: "It would be a fantastic archive for the town."
- Faces of Canmore is mounted in the public hallways of the Canmore Civic Centre at 902 7th Avenue. The exhibit runs to the fall of 2005.
- Voices of Canmore will be on exhibit in the Canmore Museum & Geoscience, located at the same address. Watch for an announcement of an opening date, likely sometime in May this year.
- To see more images from Faces of Canmore, go to www.canmore.ca.
- To learn more about Faces of Canmore photographer Colin Ferguson, see www.mountainlightstudio.com
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