Jack Jackowetz is the artist currently exhibiting “Remembering KW” in the gallery at The Princess Cinema in Uptown.
With grandparents who lived in the region, Jack spent much time in the area as a kid. Associating the place with pleasant memories of summer and family – he calls the exhibition “a sort of homecoming”. I sent a couple of questions that came to me from his work… I hope that you’ll go and have a look, it’s free and on display till July 31st.
rQ: You’ve said that the exhibit is like “a homecoming” – have you spent much time in KW as an adult? Where do you live now?
jJ: I have not spent a lot of time in K-W since I graduated from Laurier in 1981. My wife is from the area and we pass through on our way to her folks but we usually use the Conestoga Expressway rather than travel through town. On occasion over the years I have driven up King St or Weber St and noted the changes that have occurred. It is quite dramatic when you don't live with the changes as they occur but only see snapshots from time-to- time. It's as if time is not linear. I live in Brantford now, which is where I grew up.
rQ: It looks like most of the pieces at the Princess were done fairly recently – how long did it take you to put this exhibition together?
jJ: I planned the exhibition with John Tutt in the spring of this year when I was holding my most recent Brantford exhibition. Assembling the pieces for the show took about a month. Being familiar with the area and deciding to capture the memories of my boyhood helped me focus on areas of the twin cities; areas I spent a lot of time in. The images I used for the show are recent. Presenting local area images is important to me. Local images engage the audience. It is memories I am trying to help you reconnect with. I can spend as much time researching and writing a short paragraph about my images as I spend creating the image. In spite of the Internet I still have to do research locally at the site, the library and the local historical society. The write ups are an important part of my presentations as they provide context and little known information. They engage the viewer with the image
rQ: For those that haven’t seen your work before, can you describe it in a few words?
jJ: The style of my images are post-impressionism. The images are meant to be mistaken for paintings or water colours.
rQ: The piece featuring the Cornerstore from Water and Joseph near Victoria Park is one of my favourites, I live nearby and walk by it often… you capture the feeling and mystery of the shop so perfectly.
If you could take over the shop now, what you would do with it?
jJ: The Corner Store is a hidden gem. These images are not as well known locally but do resonate with a small portion of my audience because it is not an image you expect to see in a local exhibition. The building has great angles for a simple building; the flat roof is not a rectangle. What helped me compose the image was the poor window front along Water Street, this was not how remembered the store. I was sad to see the store was no longer an active, thriving place. I did not want the audience to know the store was no longer in business. I had second thoughts about including this image because I did not know if the audience could relate to it; if they knew where this location was. I thought it was only a relic of my past. Surprisingly, this location is much better known than I anticipated. If I took over the shop I would return it to its roots as a convenience store featuring scooped ice cream and candy floss and bulk candy. Not every treat is meant to be hermetically sealed in packaging.
rQ: You have a real mix of old architecture in the region, like the cornerstore and some of the bridges – then you cover off reclaimed properties like the windows at the Seagram Lofts and then newer, recent builds like The Perimeter Institute… what draws you to capture a place?
jJ: The heritage details of a building is the first thing that catches my eye. Heritage buildings are the buildings we tend to relate to the best because we grew up with them, so they are the most familiar. They are also often the most threatened. Kitchener has lost a lot of its heritage. When we demolish a heritage building it is lost forever, only it memory survives for a time. A building or landscape or scene captures my imagination because I have an inspired idea of how I am going to render it. This is what happened with the Perimeter Institute. The building is interesting, the colours (or lack of colours) the window sizes and placement, the modernist lines. I was thinking theoretical physics > math (numbers) > angles. I could really emphasize the modern design by removing curves and replacing them with straight lines - in the building, in the sky and in the landscaping. My images usually feature bright bold colours but this building is devoid of colour so I used that idea to strip most of the colour from the image. I left some green and brown. I am really satisfied with the result. This is how I imagined the image when I captured it and I was able to represent it exactly the way I pictured it in my mind. The School of Pharmacy is unlike anything I have ever seen before. Although it is a simple glass and steel building the window treatment is inspired, rather than ordinary. Dark glass panels would have been so much easier to use but the architect went to a lot of effort to give us something really interesting to look at. There is detail in each panel. The building stands in stark contrast to what was there before, it is built in the parking lot of the old Engineered Products Division building of BF Goodrich, which became Epton Industries.
rQ: Kitchener and Waterloo are really in growth mode… there’s a ton of new money and development happening… how do you feel about the changes in the city from when you were a kid ‘till now?
jJ: Kitchener and Waterloo have changed dramatically. They are not as I remember them. They are much bigger today. Kitchener aspires to be a grand, major city. It wants to distance itself from its quaint past. Kitchener has always been progressive and forward thinking. I trace to beginning of the new Kitchener to 1973 when City Hall and the Farmer's Market were demolished to make way for the Eaton's Market Square Development. There are some good examples of repurposing buildings, i.e. finding new uses for heritage buildings, e.g. Kaufman Lofts, Seagram Lofts, Waterloo Station (CNR), the Button Factory, Brick Brewery, Bauer Lofts and very good results have been achieved. We tend to lose the most when growth is explosive because change occurs at such a rapid pace and time is of the essence to get things built. What legacy are we leaving - inspired or ordinary?
The reception to my exhibit has been excellent, for that I am grateful. I appreciate your interest and support. I look forward to further exhibitions in the area that will feature more of my work regarding K-W. John and I are planning a return engagement for next year.
I am available for commissions. My work can be presented framed, plaqued, on canvas, on aluminum or back lit. I continually experiment with new ways to present my images.
Check this out people. seriously. before July 31. Princess Twin Cinemas... Art Gallery.
H.
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