Stephenson, Gamble present Norton's work in one-of-a-kind gallery opening

BY SHAWN LOUGHLIN

On Saturday night, as patrons streamed out of Memorial Hall’s theatre after another uproarious performance of The Wind Coming Over The Sea, the Blyth Festival’s breakaway success this season, many found their way into the Bainton Gallery and were rewarded for taking the right turn.

 

The Blyth Festival Art Gallery officially opened its second professional show of its 50th anniversary season, courtesy of The Citizen’s Scott Stephenson and his wife Chelsea Gamble, who presented “The Apocryphal Photography of Jutland Norton” in as unique and creative a manner as the gallery as seen, which is to be expected by anyone who knows them.

 

The story goes like this. Jutland Norton was a Lucknow-based artist, gracing the town with his presence from 1952 until 1974, when he disappeared under mysterious circumstances. More recently, Stephenson and Gamble discovered a secret room - during a basement renovation in 2016 - that was home to “dozens of hand-written journals, hundreds of paintings, thousands of photographs, and a list of questions that only grows longer as time passes,” according to a scroll of lore that greets patrons as they enter the gallery.

 

The subject of all of the photography in the exhibit, attributed to Norton, is, “a tri-coloured, or calico cat, small in stature, with white feet and a white tip on the end of its tail.” The photography spans many styles and eras, sectioned out in the show by era and by locations, such as the wild west, Hollywood and at home in Lucknow. 

 

Norton’s story then ends abruptly, as he is said to have been seen for the last time in Walkerton in December of 1973, leaving behind his final journal entry on Feb. 3, 1974. After this two-page screed, a jarring emergency-red frame informs the reader that, “it is unknown what became of the cat.”

 

The show, officially dubbed as selections from The Jutland Norton Collection, 1952-1974, features dozens of photographs of differing styles and sizes, displayed in a hodge-podge of frames along the gallery’s walls. Complementing the photography is an array of old photographic equipment, mostly cameras, said to be from Norton’s collection, as well as some period-specific bric-a-brac and even an old salon chair complete with a tiny cigarette holder and ashtray in one of its arms.

 

For readers of The Citizen, the mythmaking of the show is like an installment of The Chaff come to life, complete with merch (t-shirts of the cat’s likeness - created by the great Steve Dawe - may be purchased from the Blyth Festival box office).

 

Back to opening night on Saturday, Gamble and Stephenson were both in attendance and addressed the group after a brief introduction from Gallery President Carl Stevenson and a warm welcome from Blyth Festival General Manager Rachael King and Artistic Director Gil Garratt, daughter Gloria in his arms. Garratt praised the exhibition and its unique and singular tone, opining that it should be the first of many exhibits from the pair.

 

Gamble spoke first, familiarizing those in attendance with the story of Norton and the legend behind his work, walking the walls with patrons, explaining the eras and what can be found within the photographs. She would trade the floor with Stephenson, who, in between chapters of her presentation, would perform songs with his acoustic guitar, to much acclaim. First was “The Soldiering Life” by The Decemberists as a tribute to the fallen and as an ode to Memorial Hall standing as a living cenotaph, followed by two “offerings” to the cat memorialized in the show in the form of “Time, as a Symptom” by Joanna Newsom and ending with “Pink Pony Club” by Chapell Roan that had some singing and dancing along with the song.

 

A portion of the proceeds from the show’s sales will be donated by Stephenson and Gamble to Adopt-a-Pet Pet Rescue in Lucknow, it should also be noted.

 

While the opening night will be remembered by those in attendance as being unlike any other opening in the gallery’s history, the exhibition will remain in the gallery space until Aug. 16, at which time it will give way to Amanda Baron’s “Body Doubles”, which opens on Aug. 23 and closes out the professional season, ending on Sept. 20. 

 

Next week, the Poetry in the Gallery series continues as well with a reading from Tom Cull on Aug. 9 at 7 p.m., followed by the final engagement in the series with Mark Hertzberger on Sept. 6, also at 7 p.m.