John Porter
July 29 - August 26
Super 8 guru, John Porter, is temporarily relocating to Sackville, NB for the month of August during which time he will be Struts Gallery’s Open Studio artist.
John Porter is an artist who works with super 8 film. Porter has produced over 280 films on both super 8 and 16mm since 1968. He always shows his original film - never copies. Some of his well known works include “Toy Catalogue” (1981-1996) where he documents on super 8 thousands of toys he has collected over the years from such places as cereal boxes and garage sales, and “Camera Dances” (which began in 1979) where artist and projector perform together.
The Toronto born artist first discovered Sackville after learning that he had relatives from the town. This sparked his interest in performing and working in Sackville. His first show in Sackville occurred in 2000 when he performed “Remember Rings” at the 5th Annual Symposium of Art. During his time here he also became very interested in the Sackville Taxi Drivers of the 1940’s after finding some old 8mm footage his uncle had made showing his aunt being taken to the hospital, by taxi, to deliver a baby. This prompted him to find the taxi driver in the picture and created a great story and project for John Porter to work on.
During this visit to Sackville, John Porter has many events planned. “I like to demonstrate how simple filmmaking can be, and still be effective. I encourage people to make personal films themselves becuase that will strengthen this “marginal” practice for all of us.” -John Porter
ARTIST TALK, Thursday August 1 at 7:30pm
During the talk Porter will discuss his film making and super 8 experiences and also show a “best of” selection of his super 8 films. Some of his uncle’s home movie on 8mm may be shown as well.
|
