Hutterli imagines life as a Swiss elf

Oliver artist Kurt Hutterli is exhibiting an enchanting collection of his “found object” creations in a museum in Bosco Gurin, Switzerland this summer. The exhibit is called “The World of the Weltu”, the Weltu being a race of wood elves popular in the folklore  of this canton near the Italian border.

The   Walserhaus  Museum is purposely blurring the distinction between reality and fantasy by placing Kurt’s whimsical creations alongside historical objects. Kurt’s “found object” artwork uses vintage tools and natural items to create the superficial appearance of historical artefacts. Sometimes only a closer examination (or reading Kurt’s title for each piece) reveals the object is more fantastical than real!

In this exhibit, Kurt proposes these artefacts once belonged to the Weltu (elves) , for magical purposes one can only guess at. See if you can match thre titles to the art displayed here:  a birdcage to hold a magical egg, a boat to bring you pleasant dreams, a place to grow crystals, a story catcher, a moolight collector.

From the museum`s website:

The exhibition is inspired by the world of the Bosco Gurin legends. Each object finds the ideal location between the objects of everyday use that tell the traditional life of the past. This reminds us of how labile the borderline between reality and fantasy — between the apprehensible and the elusive — really is. It constituted the bridge between generations: during centuries, the tales and legends were passed down orally from generation to generation.

 

Because the use of many historical objects is no longer known, it is not easy to distinguish them from Kurt Hutterli’s creations.

A visit to the museum during the period of this very special exhibition is worthwhile and offers not only the possibility to experience ethnography, but also to plunge into the past in a magically pleasant way.

And Kurt says:

Since my childhood I feel very much linked to the Ticino canton thanks to my grandparents who in 1946 bought a house in Centovalli where they used to spend the period between spring and autumn. Even after my wife and I emigrated to Canada in 1996, we maintained a deep connectedness with Ticino.

 

In 2003 I started to [work on]an installation project entitled ‘The Museum of Unknown Civilizations’. When I visited the Museum Walserhaus in 2006, my friend and former curator asked me whether I could be inspired to enlarge my MUC collection [for inclusion in the Bosco Gurin exhibit]…. I started to work for this special ‘Bosco Gurin Collection’, also taking inspiration from Emily Gerstner-Hirzel’s book ‘Aus der Volksüberlieferung von Bosco Gurin’, and created the little archaic, mysterious, poetical, funny and sometimes weird objects.

 

 

For more stories and photos: http://dieweltderweltu.ch/?lang=en

Kurt Hutterli has a REvision

Oliver’s Kurt Hutterli, a 3-D artist specializing in found objects or recycled art, has had three pieces accepted into a juried art show titled “ReVision: The Art of Recycling” at Granville Island’s Creekhouse Gallery in Vancouver this July 8 – 17.

Hutterli is well-known among local artists for his whimsical works, whether as a solo artist or as a member of the collective RipOff Artists, who have their own studio demonstration and exhibit in Oliver this July.  Kurt recrafts rusted metal scraps, broken tools, and appliance parts into mythical archaeological artefacts. His designs are often deceptively simple, leaving much room for interpretation.  Using a question mark after many of his artwork titles, Hutterli invites viewers to decide for themselves what purpose a mysterious “artefact” once served.

At left is “Royal Insignia?”. Below is “A Twin Soul Catcher?”. At the bottom is “A Cosmic Sensor?” All three are entered into the Granville Island exhibit, competition, and sale.

Revision – the Art of Recycling held its first show in October 2007 to celebrate Canada-wide Waste Reduction Week and to provide a showcase for artists using recycled materials as a major component of their work. The Society continues to dedicate itself to advancing public awareness in issues of sustainability by featuring art of high quality by artists who embrace recycling in their creative process.

Revision at Creekhouse is a 10 day juried exhibit, sale, and festival featuring art made from recycled, salvaged, scrounged or found materials, be it useful, beautiful, odd, playful, or thought provoking. On the final two days of the show (July 16-17) additional artwork will be on view as well as a creation station and an interactive sound station by SWARM member Bill Wallace. On July 17th a wearable art fashion parade is scheduled for the afternoon.

Check out the ReVision website here:  Revision: What is Recycled Art and here:  ReVision Gallery

The Creekhouse complex is a popular, high profile venue that will be showcasing many large and small scale works in both an indoor and outdoor setting. During the month of July visitors to Granville Island are estimated to be 35,000 per day.

Can’t get to Vancouver? Prefer the sunny, relaxing Okanagan? See Kurt at work on the RipOff Artists’ “American Gothic” Challenge, July 4 – 9 at the Quail’s Nest Arts Centre, 34274 – 95th St,. Oliver, BC. Scroll down for full details!

RipOff Artists “Stick It” to American Gothic

“All the really good ideas I’d ever had came to me while I was milking a cow,” declared Grant Wood whose American Gothic painting of the dour-faced pitchfork wielding farmer and his sister is famous worldwide.  Wood’s masterpiece became a national symbol; a vision of hope during the Depression that still resonates today. “Because American Gothic is so iconic, it was the perfect mark for this year’s RipOff challenge,” raves fiber artist, Terry Irvine.

This July the RipOff Artists stick it to American Gothic at the Quail’s Nest Arts Centre in Oliver, BC. This multi-media collective includes artists working in fibre (quilting, felting, weaving), photography, mixed media collage, oils and acrylics, 3-D installations, and encaustic (hot beeswax).  For the fifth year in a row, this nefarious group has dared to take on the grand masters of art. To mark such an auspicious occasion, they added a twist to the proceedings. Each artist has chosen another artist through which to interpret American Gothic. It’s double the ripoff and double the fun!

The public is welcome to watch the RipOff Artists assume the styles of  Picasso, Klimt, and Degas, along with seven other famous artists, and reinterpret Wood.  

American Gothic Challenge
Monday July 4 – Saturday July 9
Opening Reception:
Monday July 4, 
6 – 8 pm
Daily Hours:
Tuesday July 5 – Saturday July 9
9 am to 3 pm 

You are encouraged to come frequently during the week to get a true sense of how their artwork progresses from rough idea to finished creation.  Be sure to see the completed project on the Saturday! It will be left to you to decide: Is Wood’s masterpiece a celebration of America’s stoic determination during the Depression? Or is the finished product a critique of those same American values? Come view the action and decide for yourself.

Incidentally, the treasures from the four previous “RipOff raids” are currently on display at Leir House Cultural Centre in Penticton until June 23. You can view their “stolen” interpretations of Gustav Klimt’s Emilie Floge, Goergia O’Keeffe’s Pink Tulip, Van Gogh’s Wheatfield with Cypresses, and Lawren Harris’ Mount Lefroy in a variety of artistic media.

For more information about the RipOff Artists, click on their link under “Member Groups” in the column at right.  Or use the search bar on our website (type in “RipOffs”) for photos and articles from their past shows.

RipOff Artists "Stick It" to American Gothic

“All the really good ideas I’d ever had came to me while I was milking a cow,” declared Grant Wood whose American Gothic painting of the dour-faced pitchfork wielding farmer and his sister is famous worldwide.  Wood’s masterpiece became a national symbol; a vision of hope during the Depression that still resonates today. “Because American Gothic is so iconic, it was the perfect mark for this year’s RipOff challenge,” raves fiber artist, Terry Irvine.

This July the RipOff Artists stick it to American Gothic at the Quail’s Nest Arts Centre in Oliver, BC. This multi-media collective includes artists working in fibre (quilting, felting, weaving), photography, mixed media collage, oils and acrylics, 3-D installations, and encaustic (hot beeswax).  For the fifth year in a row, this nefarious group has dared to take on the grand masters of art. To mark such an auspicious occasion, they added a twist to the proceedings. Each artist has chosen another artist through which to interpret American Gothic. It’s double the ripoff and double the fun!

The public is welcome to watch the RipOff Artists assume the styles of  Picasso, Klimt, and Degas, along with seven other famous artists, and reinterpret Wood.  

American Gothic Challenge
Monday July 4 – Saturday July 9
Opening Reception:
Monday July 4, 
6 – 8 pm
Daily Hours:
Tuesday July 5 – Saturday July 9
9 am to 3 pm 

You are encouraged to come frequently during the week to get a true sense of how their artwork progresses from rough idea to finished creation.  Be sure to see the completed project on the Saturday! It will be left to you to decide: Is Wood’s masterpiece a celebration of America’s stoic determination during the Depression? Or is the finished product a critique of those same American values? Come view the action and decide for yourself.

Incidentally, the treasures from the four previous “RipOff raids” are currently on display at Leir House Cultural Centre in Penticton until June 23. You can view their “stolen” interpretations of Gustav Klimt’s Emilie Floge, Goergia O’Keeffe’s Pink Tulip, Van Gogh’s Wheatfield with Cypresses, and Lawren Harris’ Mount Lefroy in a variety of artistic media.

For more information about the RipOff Artists, click on their link under “Member Groups” in the column at right.  Or use the search bar on our website (type in “RipOffs”) for photos and articles from their past shows.

RipOff Artists make it official

It’s official: the RipOff Artists are the newest group to join the Oliver Community Arts Council. In their own words, the RipOff Artists are “a group of talented artists in many media who join forces every summer to interpret a masterpiece by a famous artist in their own way, to learn new skills and have a lot of fun. ” Pictured at left, they are: Terry Irvine (fibre), Kurt Hutterli (3D, found objects), Barb Levant (weaving), Thea Haubrich (encaustic), Enid Baker (fine art, quilting), JoAnn Turner (fine art on objects), Marion Trimble (fine art, collage, mixed media),  Russell Work (photography) and — not pictured — Dianne Birnie (quilting).

Nearly all its members have also been  individual members of the council, with a few serving as executive officers of the OCAC over the years. All this had given the group a long and affectionate association with the council. Group status, however, confers added benefits to the collective.  The group is now able to apply to the OCAC for financial aid (a “contracted service agreement”) for any public event such as a workshop, performance, class, or exhibit, which reflects the mandates of the arts council.  The group also benefits from publicity (like this!).

Need to catch up on all four of the RipOff challenges over the years? Missed any of the following exhibits: Wheatfield with Cypresses by Vincent van Gogh (2007), Emilie Floge by Gustav Klimt (2008), Pink Tulip by Georgia O’Keeffe (2009), or Mount Lefroy by Lawren Harris (2010)?  You can see them all at once at the

RipOff Retrospective
May 12 – June 23, 2011
Leir House, Penticton, BC
Opening reception: May 12, 7 – 9 p.m.

The RipOffs have chosen their fifth annual challenge: American Gothic by Grant Wood.  You know it: the dour looking farmer with a pitchfork and his spinster daughter in an apron (not a couple, as many assume). The title of the painting refers to the architecture of the farmhouse behind them:  a gothic style window is visible in the second storey.  The image is iconic, and much parodied, so it will indeed be a challenge for these nine creative people to really “stick it to Wood” as the RipOffs say on their website.  watch them in action during the

Fifth RipOff Challenge!
“American Gothic” by Grant Wood
July 4 – July 9, 2011
Quail’s Nest Art Centre, Oliver, BC
Opening reception: July 4, 6 – 8 PM

Take a look at the wonderful retrospective of their art at their very own website:  http://www.ripoffartists.ca/index.html

RipOff Artists’ Mount Lefroy at Handworks Gallery

The multimedia collective has conquered another peak with their interpretation of Lawren Harris’ “Mount Lefroy”.  The RipOff Artists reached their first summit after a week of intense creation, demonstration and exhibit during  Summer at the Quail’s Nest. They reached another pinnacle with a feature on CHBC TV news.  They attracted attention during their guest exhibit at the Oliver Community Arts Council’s Fall Art Show and Sale on the weekend of October 2 -3 . Now the RipOff Artists have set their flag  atop Handworks Gallery for their latest show:

Handworks Gallery presents
The RipOff Artists: Lawren Harris’ Mount LeFroy
Opening Reception
Wednesday October 6
2 – 4 p.m.
Refreshments ~ Door Prize
Continuing:
October 5 – 29
9:30 – 5:00 Monday to Friday
10:00 – 4:00 Saturday
Handworks Gallery
35648 – 97 St. Oliver
250-498-6388

Oil painting, watercolours, photography, woodwork, 3-D, quilting, weaving, knitting, collage, encaustic (wax) — all media interpret this Group of Seven classic in their own way.

For more photographs and stories about the Mount Lefroy exhibit, see the July article on this website: http://oliverartscouncil.org/?p=1763

For a fantastic video of the RipOff Artists with Mike Roberts of CHBC, take a look at http://www.chbcnews.ca/video/index.html?releasePID=f5794obragGwCKDQACQpmpfwc7SlVcJm

RipOff Artists' Mount Lefroy at Handworks Gallery

The multimedia collective has conquered another peak with their interpretation of Lawren Harris’ “Mount Lefroy”.  The RipOff Artists reached their first summit after a week of intense creation, demonstration and exhibit during  Summer at the Quail’s Nest. They reached another pinnacle with a feature on CHBC TV news.  They attracted attention during their guest exhibit at the Oliver Community Arts Council’s Fall Art Show and Sale on the weekend of October 2 -3 . Now the RipOff Artists have set their flag  atop Handworks Gallery for their latest show:

Handworks Gallery presents
The RipOff Artists: Lawren Harris’ Mount LeFroy
Opening Reception
Wednesday October 6
2 – 4 p.m.
Refreshments ~ Door Prize
Continuing:
October 5 – 29
9:30 – 5:00 Monday to Friday
10:00 – 4:00 Saturday
Handworks Gallery
35648 – 97 St. Oliver
250-498-6388

Oil painting, watercolours, photography, woodwork, 3-D, quilting, weaving, knitting, collage, encaustic (wax) — all media interpret this Group of Seven classic in their own way.

For more photographs and stories about the Mount Lefroy exhibit, see the July article on this website: http://oliverartscouncil.org/?p=1763

For a fantastic video of the RipOff Artists with Mike Roberts of CHBC, take a look at http://www.chbcnews.ca/video/index.html?releasePID=f5794obragGwCKDQACQpmpfwc7SlVcJm

Hutterli Creates Magical Works

Kurt Hutterli is an Oliver artist known for his whimsical three-dimensional installations created from found objects. His artwork brings smiles of delight, such as his light and breezy “Falling Leaves”  submission to the 2009 Fall Art Show and Sale and his reinterpretation of Lauren Harris’ Mount Lefroy as a rusted car hood. Now Hutterli has submitted a collection entitled “Three Objects Suggesting the Presence of Woodelves” to the Re-Vision juried show at the  Granville Island Hotel, Vancouver,  October 2 – 3. 

Is that just an antler stuck in a piece of wood? Or might it be an elf’s ear or hand or horn peeking out from behind a tree? Or a playful arrangement of objects left by some sprite to amaze or confuse a wayfarer in the woods?

Here is what the organizers of the Revision exhibit have to say:

“Revision – the art of recycling is a two day juried show featuring artwork made from recycled materials: anything reused, recycled, salvaged, scrounged or found – be it useful, beautiful, odd, playful, or thought provoking.

We hosted our first show in October 2007 to celebrate the Canada-wide Waste Reduction Week, and to provide a showcase for British Columbia artists using recycled materials as a major component in their work. We are dedicated to advancing public awareness in issues of sustainability by featuring art of high quality by artists who embrace recycling in their creative process. We hope you will come and enjoy the show.” (www.revision-theartofrecycling.com)

ReVision – the Art of Recycling
Granville Island Hotel,
1253 Johnston Street, Vancouver, BC
Saturday & Sunday, October 2 & 3, 2010
11:00 am to 5:00 pm

 The Oliver Community Arts Council wishes Kurt the best at the ReVision exhibit. But your best chance to meet Hutterli is by attending the OCAC Fall Art Show and Sale in Oliver this weekend. See articles elsewhere in this website about the Fall Art Show and Sale!

Have comments or questions about Hutterli’s work? Submit them to olivercac@gmail.com and we’ll pass them on to the artist.

Want to see more of Kurt’s work? Take a look at The RipOffs Artists article in August 2010 on this website about their Lawren Harris “Mount LeFroy” multimedia exhibit. Scroll down to see photos, or search the archives list under “Hutterli” or “RipOff”. Good work, Kurt!

 Photo Credits: Kurt Hutterli (art) and Penelope Johnson (portrait)