Current Issue – Ornamentum

ContentsCurrent Issue

Fall/Winter 2015 Issue

October 1, 2015November 25, 2015 Ornam3ntumAdm1n

EDITORIAL – Personal Encounters with Decorative Objects – John Fleming
Natural History on Display – Suzanne Moase
Collecting Treen – John Adams
Arcs of Colour – Rosalind Pepall
The Tale of the Three-Bladed Propeller – Paul Balcaen
Documentary Calligraphy at Kings Landing, New Brunswick – Darrell Butler
Symbol of the Realm – Michael Prokopow
Carving the City – Wayne Reeves

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Current IssueEditorial

Personal Encounters with Decorative Objects

October 1, 2015November 26, 2015 Ornam3ntumAdm1n

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A 10th-Anniversary Collection

Editorial by John Fleming

THIS ISSUE OF ORNAMENTUM follows the technique of mosaic construction through the material history of the decorative arts in the production of objects. The picture it provides leads in many directions into the imaginative and creative things we make, collect, preserve, discard, and destroy. Each of these objects opens upon multiple perspectives …

Current IssueFeature Articles

Arcs of Colour

October 1, 2015November 25, 2015 Ornam3ntumAdm1n

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A stained glass window by Quebec artist Marcelle Ferron

Article by Rosalind Pepall

HERE ARE MANY stained glass windows in the collection of the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts-Gothic, Renaissance, William Morris, and Tiffany examples-but it was unusual for a museum to be offered an entire coloured glass wall of a living room from a modest but uniquely …

Tagged Montreal,stained glass

Current IssueFeature Articles

The Tale of the Three-Bladed Propeller

October 1, 2015November 25, 2015 Ornam3ntumAdm1n

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Article by Paul Balcaen

HERE IS AN INSIGNIFICANT-LOOKING grey wooden propeller on a hangar wall at the Royal Aviation Museum of Western Canada in Winnipeg.

It came off a garbage load in 1937 and was stored in a barn until its donation to the museum circa 1977. This unusual propeller of uncertain origin has three 56-inch- [142-cm-] long …

Tagged aviation,Winnipeg,wood

Current IssueFeature Articles

Documentary Calligraphy at Kings Landing

October 1, 2015November 25, 2015 Ornam3ntumAdm1n

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Article by Darrell Butler

CCORDING TO MR. WILLIAM GANONG, the collection donor, this is one of two pieces of calligraphy by George Bragg (1783-1859) in the Mary and Walter Ganong Collection at Kings Landing, New Brunswick. It centres on ‘The Eye of the Lord’ in the upper left-hand corner looking down upon the Ten Commandments in the centre, …

Tagged Bible,calligraphy,New Brunswick

Current IssueFeature Articles

Symbol of the Realm

October 1, 2015November 25, 2015 Ornam3ntumAdm1n

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Article by Michael Prokopow

IVEN THAT EVERY HUMAN-MADE OBJECT is a text born of context, the challenge of getting at the meaning of a thing necessarily becomes an exercise in history and analysis. Made in England during the reign of King George IV for official use in the colony of New Brunswick in British North America, the two-sided, …

Tagged coat of arms,New Brunswick,seal

Current IssueFeature Articles

Carving the City

October 1, 2015November 25, 2015 Ornam3ntumAdm1n

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Article by Wayne Reeves

HILE THREE-DIMENSIONAL depictions of buildings and towns date back to antiquity, terrain models (or raised-relief maps) became popular only from the 1890s onward. Laser-cut models based on digital vector files are now common, but hand-carved maps-such as John George Howard’s-are a rare thing. …

Tagged carving,High Park,maps,Toronto

Current IssueFeature Articles

Georgia Baths: A Steamy History

October 1, 2015November 25, 2015 Ornam3ntumAdm1n

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Article by David R. Johnston

TEAM BATHS WERE ONCE A COMMON PART OF LIFE in Edmonton, popular with European immigrant groups and working men. Edmonton Turkish Baths Limited opened for business in October, 1913. Like today’s health and beauty spas, bath facilities were considered very luxurious. Edmonton Turkish Baths boasted 13 large sleeping rooms, two large hot rooms …

Tagged bath,Edmonton,neon,signage,Turkish

Current IssueFeature Articles

Crushing Beauty

October 1, 2015November 25, 2015 Ornam3ntumAdm1n

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Article by Elizabeth Semmelhack

HIS CLOG PRICKS the imagination. Was it an implement of medieval torture or was it perhaps a weapon? Its form does, in fact, follow its function, but first impressions are not always correct. The long, menacing-looking serrated tines were actually designed for the innocent task of crushing chestnuts and acorns in the Haute ArdËches …

Tagged shoes,wood