No strangers to the Haliburton Highlands, internationally-renowned Annette Blady and Al Van Mil’s collaboration, 2 Part Harmony, is residing in the Corner Gallery until Aug. 10.
Gallery manager, Val Wallin, said she is excited to have Blady and Van Mil showing their work in Haliburton.
“It is an amazing show, the collaboration between the two has produced something completely new.”
Both have been individually creating their own styles of art for a very long time, but for their 40th anniversary decided to do something together. “We didn’t know what it was going to be, so we decided to play and experiment and have fun,” said Blady. “We had some parameters, we wanted something that would be different, something we’ve never seen before.”
That was in 2020, and Blady explained that with so much craziness going on, politically, environmentally, and with COVID, that she and Van Mil thought people had to start, “looking at things in different ways, different angles, different viewpoints.”
Moulding and manipulating fabric, combined with collage work, they co-invented the moulage technique and created 40 pieces for the 40 years they’d been together.
Van Mil said when they decided on the collaboration, they had to think about who they were. “Which led to, we are our paintings. So, we decided, as an experiment, to take a couple of our paintings and cut them up.” Both agreed it was a bit scary, and panicky to begin with, but once they got started and it was going well, “it became somewhat cathartic.”
Blady is known for her style of using texture, fabrics, cut glass and metallic acrylic, as well as her 3D encaustic work that incorporates paper, fabric, and wax. Van Mil leans towards landscapes and portraits as abstracted expressions in acrylics and oils. The combination of such diverse mediums comes together in 2 Part Harmony.
The gallery is at 123 Maple Ave. in Haliburton. It showcases works that provide a new, modern and abstract way of looking at the world around us. Provocative and innovative, part of their mission is to lead the growing recognition of Haliburton village as a destination for fine art.
