Making her mark

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This article was published 21/07/2018 (2629 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Although images from her Jewish heritage form the basis of her recent work, Winnipeg artist Susan Turner knows her viewers may need to use a little effort and imagination to see that.

“I’m interested in looking closely at things and trying to reach what for me is the core or centre of the image,” says the printmaker and video artist, referring to her digitally altered prints now on display in the lobby and lounge area of Shaarey Zedek Synagogue.

“I’m looking for a sense of calm and a place of stability.”

Turner’s Tabernacle series — a set of seven large prints on vinyl — features manipulated photographs of textiles and objects used in Jewish worship, including a prayer shawl, the fringed fabric cover for an ark housing Torah scrolls and a decorative Torah scroll crown.

Turner plays with these images in Photoshop, spending hours enhancing or distorting their shape, colour and design to create multi-layered and mysterious images.

“It gives people an opportunity to think about these sacred objects in a different way,” she says of the prints displayed for the first time in a synagogue.

The exhibit also includes 21 small prints featuring spheres, reflecting Turner’s fascination with circles, light and motion.

“Some people have found those to be spiritual because I think they see their central focus and energy,” says the artist, who describes herself as Jewish, atheist, existentialist and humanist.

“I’m interested in finding some sort of focus and balance within the energy of the world because I think the world is absurd and incomprehensible and I think this work makes some sense of it.”

Pieces from the Tabernacle series and her sphere prints are scheduled to travel throughout Manitoba next year, and will also be displayed in a synagogue in Connecticut in 2020.

Turner’s exhibit is part of an ongoing effort to express spirituality in creative ways at the Wellington Crescent synagogue, says Rena Secter Elbaze, director of engagement and education.

“Art is also a beautiful way of expressing one’s spirituality and connecting people in the art milieu to our congregation,” she says, adding the opening nights of the exhibits attract many visitors.

That’s also the rationale for the Wednesday evening summer concert series at the Old St. James Anglican Church, located in the middle of a historic cemetery across from Polo Park.

“It’s to get more Winnipeggers inside our building,” says Rev. Murray Still, who conducts 9:30 a.m. Sunday morning worship services inside the 165-year-old log building throughout July and August.

“It’s an opportunity for people to come and sit inside for a concert and enjoy the history of the building.”

The concerts allow more people to experience the acoustics and feel of the heritage building, which is otherwise usually only open to the public by appointment.

“You step into this building and you’re stepping into a big part of the past,” says Still, referring to the 19th-century settlers who built the church and Métis people who used the church tower, since demolished, as a lookout during the Red River Rebellion.

Seeing her works inside a synagogue also makes Turner slightly nostalgic for days gone by. She knows her deceased parents would be thrilled to see her work inside the place they held sacred.

“They would feel their recalcitrant daughter who never wanted to go to synagogue has finally seen the light,” the River Heights artist says.

But more importantly, installing art in unexpected places adds another perspective for both the artist and the viewer, she says.

“I think more of these (religious) places should invite artists to their space,” Turner says.

“It adds to the experience of people going to their space.”

brenda@suderman.com

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