Back to Home--->About Us--->PUBLISHER Brian Usher CEO & Publisher www.arabelladesign.com never realized that Canada had so many great artists!” We keep hearing that ARABELLA is helping Canadians and Americans realize the wealth of talent that has gone unnoticed for so many years. Gallery owners who promote and sell the magazine tell us they are constantly having customers remark on our coverage, noting the many fantastic artists from all parts of the country. We were particularly pleased to receive the following email from one of our feature artists upon receiving her copy of our new book (It Starts with a Dream), as it seemed to capture the feelings of so many: “Just a short note to thank you for a wonderful book and I’m honoured to have my work included. All the art magazine and art books we have in our home, come from the US. What a breath of fresh air to see fellow Canadians past and present in a Canadian magazine. Can't tell you how much this means to fellow artists and me that ARABELLA has given us a voice as well as pride and we don't need to go somewhere else to be validated.” “This alone is great service and education for many artists that have graced the pages of ARABELLA, as well as the general public. Perhaps one day more Canadians will celebrate their own artists who work in many fields and we can all take pride in our country and its people. You have shown them the way.” Thank you for all the exceptionally positive feedback. It’s great to know we are realizing our goal, but as we only publish ARABELLA four times a year, maybe it’s time to try to do more. The ARABELLA Canadian Landscape Contest While 2012 will include several new developments at ARABELLA, we think the most exciting one is our launch of a major art contest to showcase the best of contemporary Canadian landscape art. While there are contests at various local levels and with a few arts organizations, there are no major venues for profiling Canadian artists and their works at a national and international level in this genre. Landscape art, particularly as branded by the Algonquin School – Group of Seven, has played a major role in defining the Canadian identity but we think it’s time to re-examine the genre and the story being told in 2012. We think this is important because, as Tom Smart, curator and art historian, and past Director of the McMichael Canadian Art Collection has recently remarked: The Group of Seven “crowded the landscape to such an extent, that internationally through the ‘50s,’60s and ‘70s Canadian art really fell off the international perspective …They were good in their times, but didn’t get off the stage.” Without debating the merits of the Group of Seven in history, the question is whether we are missing the opportunity to forge a stronger Canadian identity in 2012 given all the changes that have taken place over the last 100 years. Times are now different and we think it’s time to start examining the changes and celebrate what we have become and what landscapes now move us emotionally when thinking about our communities, our provinces and our country. So for 2012, through our Canadian Landscape Contest, ARABELLA is looking to examine the emotional power of landscape art in shaping Canadian identity with a full sense of past, present and future. Consider the changes in cultural diversity, politics, communication, environment and technology that have taken place since the early 1900s when the Group of Seven artists produced their vision of Canada. Travel alone has become remarkably easier and less time consuming. Survival in our landscape of extremes is made much easier given our communications technology, modes of transportation and high-tech apparel, although it is still not without its perils. In terms of art production, our painting mediums, pigments, brushes and canvases have all dramatically changed and expanded the artistic range of possibilities. As our readers will clearly recognize, while ARABELLA acknowledges and praises historical art, we are not slaves to it. Contemporary art plays an important role in telling the Canadian story and we feel we need to invest more time in providing access to this art. ARABELLA aims to do that by launching what we hope will be the greatest adventure in chronicling the state of landscape painting in Canada in 2012. Now is the time to re-examine the country with an awareness of capturing the full breadth, depth and colour that exists and to be as inclusionary as we can with regard to all communities, all peoples and cultures. In addition to creating an outstanding collection of artistic works to represent the Canadian landscape genre in 2012, we will be offering extensive prizes for all those selected to be part of the collection, as well as significant prizes for top honours at the national and provincial levels. Details of all of the competition conditions and prizes will be detailed on the web site for the contest: www.arabellacanadianlandscape.com. Building our Social Media Presence To support the ARABELLA Canadian Landscape Contest, we have forged a partnership with Occasions Network Exchange (ONE), led by Pat McGoey and his partner Susan Warren. Pat’s career in database, loyalty and social marketing spans 25 years. He is an innovator and senior strategist in deploying relevant programs for clients with customer data, Point of Sale (POS) systems, the Internet and social media. While utilizing technology he always preserves the value of the individual and their communities. In Pat’s role as Senior VP Integrated Marketing with ARABELLA Publications Inc., he will be working with us to build advanced social media applications to support the ARABELLA Canadian Landscape Contest. This will involve creation of a virtual space in which to facilitate Canadian artist interaction and collaboration. Using the internet, artists (and art enthusiasts) from all regions of Canada will have the opportunity to interact with each other, share ideas and recognize interesting techniques or concepts being explored in the practices of others. Using the emerging power of social media, the ARABELLA Canadian Landscape project will provide an internet-based space for learning about artists in their communities and behind their doors; with a chance to get to know them in a more intimate, multi-faceted fashion. We feel that this activity, combined with the magazine and our upcoming Annual of Contemporary Canadian Art will truly put Canadian art on the world stage. Beyond inspiring dialogues, collaboration and unification, the social media site will also celebrate the diversity and individuality of Canadian artists from different regions and the works they produce. The site will seek to ‘unify’ Canadian artists according to common goals of healthy and constructive competition, the genre of landscape, and the desire for artistic collaboration and debate in Canada. But it will not seek to stamp out uniqueness or ask that competing artists agree upon a single definition of what the Canadian landscape means to them. We now have the opportunity to engage the widest possible range of artists and Canadian communities in mapping the present day Canadian landscape and discovering the feelings and emotions it evokes. We believe we are at a significant point in history wherein we can share, collaborate and celebrate Canadian landscape like never before. It’s now time to see how the country is portrayed and has changed through the eyes, the minds and the hearts of landscape artists. We welcome all to come and participate