ABOUT THE EXHIBITION

We are children of the stars - literally.
All the molecules that make up humans - in fact, the entire planet and everything on it - were created by an ancient exploding star, billions of years ago. This is expressed in astronomer Carl Sagan’s famous quote “We are all made of star stuff”, which is the inspiration for artist Bettina Forget’s latest series of works.

The lost woman
A mysterious silhouette appears over and over in the “We are Stardust” series - sometimes a shadowy tint, sometimes an outline filled with stars, and sometimes a silhouette-shaped hole cut right into the stretched canvas! It is the silouette of the (in)famous female aviator Amelia Earhart, who mysteriously disappeared during her attempt to circumnavigate the globe in 1937. Speculations abound regarding this “lost woman”, and Earhart has attained an iconic status in the worlds of aviation, science fiction and general pop culture. Bettina Forget uses her silhouette as a symbol for all humankind, for our impermanence, and our connection to the stars.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Bettina Forget is a visual artist living and working in Montreal, Quebec. Born in Germany, she has studied art at Central St-Martins School of Art in London, England and at Curtin University in Perth, Australia and Singapore.
Bettina's work deals with the subjects of astronomy and meteorology, establishing a link between art and science. Pushing traditional painting techniques to their limits, she subjects her canvases to being frozen into ice, pummeled by rain and scorched by fire. She also invented a technique of cutting holes into stretched canvas and suspending smaller pieces of canvas in the voids, therefore turning paintings into three-dimensional objects.
Bettina is member of the International Association of Astronomical Artists (IAAA) and is on the board of directors of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada (RASC) Montreal Centre.

FOR MORE INFO
go to the artist's website at
www.bettinaforget.com

Exhibition Dates:
1 - 16 June and 4 July - 25 August 2007