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Ruth Abernethy -- Book Launch

Wednesday May 24 2017 7:30 pm, Winnipeg, Grant Park in the Travel Alcove
NOTE: This event has already taken place. Please visit this page to see our upcoming events.

Winnipeg launch of Life and Bronze: A Sculptor’s Journal (Granville Island Publishing).

Part history, part autobiography, part the story of the sculptor’s craft, this book about Ruth Abernethy’s career shows what the public wants to commemorate, what a sculptor wishes to express, and how it fits around family life. Whether Ruth uses her droll humour to ruminate about feminist themes, explains how public sculptures came to be or respectfully casts loss into bronze, she tells her stories within the context of family life. Through Ruth’s endeavours the reader meets Prime Ministers, musicians, medical men, people in sports, theatre and books--heck, even a big bear. Most importantly, however, the reader meets the people who care about history, sculpture and commemoration.

Ruth Abernethy overlaid her early mastery of needlework and lace making with woodworking skills she acquired at her grand-father’s side. Then as a teen, the many hours she played on stage with her musically gifted family bridged her into imaginative theatre workshops across the country. In theatre Ruth used all her hand skills to develop new structures and illusions. Ruth’s inventiveness found a further outlet in a collaborative home design with her husband Mark Smyth. In Wellesley, Ontario they built a home with a studio. While nurturing two sons at “The Flats”, Ruth created sculptures that present droll commentary on the human condition. The bronze portraits she developed are iconic figures in streetscapes across Canada.

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