Jillian McDonald: Valley of the Deer – Squeaky Wheel Film & Media Art Center

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Jillian McDonald: Valley of the Deer

May 8, 2015 @ 6:00 pmJune 8, 2015 @ 7:00 pm EDT

Following the opening reception on May 8 is an after-party at Coco Le Metro (888 Main Street) featuring a complimentary and casual screening of Wickerman (1973) to celebrate the coming of May! 

This multi-media exhibition features work by canadian-born artist Jillian McDonald and includes video, paintings, and drawings across Squeaky Wheel’s gallery and storefront space that respond to the landscape and cultural mythology of Duffton, Scotland. A true community collaboration, the works were created during the Glenfiddich International Artist Residency and features town residents as masked predators and prey in modified highland dress, along with apparitions of live animals. A hunting narrative ensues amidst romantic landscapes. Each scene is a separate composition and a nearly still image where little movement, save hair in wind or an animal moving its head, betrays the stillness. There will be an artist talk at 7pm during the opening reception on May 8. Exhibition on view until June 8.

“I take inspiration from horror film archetypes, narratives, and cautionary tales. Masked characters appears frequently in horror – at once anonymous, uncanny, hybrid, terrifying, and disarmingly naïve.

Filming across Northeastern Scotland, I cast local residents in costumes and masks that reflect the landscape, traditional highland dress, and folklore – both real and imagined. The landscape figures prominently in this hunting narrative, and the masked actors appear in majestic views amid fairy knolls, lochs, mossy glens, and fog. Crystals break from rock, rainbows charge the skies, and live animals such as reindeer and wolves appear as spectres. Magical realism and live action reveal ghostly presences and there is a suggestion that this valley has many hidden tales. The soundtrack features sounds recorded on location as well as a local drum and pipe band and the mournful Loch Tay Boat Song.”

– Jillian McDonald

YouTube video

Details

Start:
May 8, 2015 @ 6:00 pm EDT
End:
June 8, 2015 @ 7:00 pm EDT
Event Category:

Organizer

Squeaky Wheel
Phone
7168847172
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Venue

Squeaky Wheel
2495 Main Street, Suite 310
Buffalo, NY 14214 United States
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Phone
7168847172
View Venue Website