By paNOW

Rusty Owl cafe to host first art exhibition

Nov 20, 2016 | 5:00 AM

Saskatchewan artist James Korpan has been welding and sculpting for the last 48 years. 

This year one of his pieces became the inspiration for a café and restaurant in Prince Albert.

The Rusty Owl, located at 21 River St. W, was named after one of Korpan’s pieces which the owner of the café received as a gift. 

After much discussion with General Manager David Stewart, the name Rusty Owl was chosen for the restaurant.

The pair then reached out to Korpan to get his permission to use the owl as their logo.

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“I was quite pleased and honoured, so I wrote back and said ‘sure, no problem, as long as you treat it with respect,’” Korpan said.

This fall Korpan and the director of artists in Canada.com, Paul Constable, made a stop at the café to check it out.

Artists in Canada.com is a national directory of Canadian artists, galleries and art resources that helps artists connect to the world around them.

After a discussion between Korpan, Constable and Stewart, the café will now be hosting an art exhibition of new works by Korpan starting on Nov. 24 and running until the last week of December.

Korpan said he’s pleased and honored to be holding a show at an establishment that was inspired by one of his pieces.

The show is called Raptors 2017.

“It’s a show of owls, raptors in bird form and welded steel,” Korpan said.

The first night of the exhibition will run from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m.

Constable said the show will feature wall mounted pieces that look like they’re coming right out of a wall.

“I was quite captured by it. It was a new vision for me,” Constable said.

Constable said there’s something about Korpan’s work that resonates with people.

“[Korpan] does a lot of domestic birds, raptors and animals … owls, hawks and some of those things. But they’re all done with reclaimed metals and they’re quite unique. There’s a lot of other artists that really look up to him for how he’s kind of pushed the recycling of materials back into animal forms,” Constable said.

He said people on the prairies can relate to these birds because they see them daily and watch them change throughout the seasons.

“[Korpan] has a way of capturing little nuances in those animals, just the way they fly, each one that’s done is very, very unique in that it’s little gesture can be so subtle, it’s head movement, and to think he can do it all with gears and sawblades, it’s amazing,” Constable said.

He said it means a lot to artists to be able to have exhibitions at local establishments.

“[People go] there to get coffee, they didn’t go there to see art work, but when they get there they have these conversations that are on the wall, I just think it really broadens that vision and conversation within the community,” Constable said.

There is also added benefit for local establishments who host exhibitions or display art on their walls.

“It’s value added, it truly is. When a business really embraces the arts community it’s richer for everybody. It expands [art] and it’s great for artists because so many cannot get into art gallery situations, like commercial or even a public showing, you need to set up a record of showing before you can even apply,” Constable explained.

What’s in a name?

General Manager of the Rusty Owl, David Stewart, explained in more detail how the café received its name.

Stewart said the founder of the Rusty Owl was given the Titular Rusty Owl as a gift after explaining his vision of a steampunk themed café.

“It wasn’t until quite a bit later that the connection came to be anything to do with our name. We were going through all kinds of names and we were looking down, trying to exhaust every little rabbit hole we could think of trying to come up with a name,” he said.

During discussion about the name, the owl art piece triggered a memory for the owner from when he was in South Africa.

It reminded him of a retreat he attended and counselled a man.

While the two were talking and the owner was trying to bring hope to the man, a little sparrow-like bird who was a little haggard, landed on the hand of the man the owner was counselling.

The man then took care of the bird and after sometime the bird was revitalized and went on its way.

Between the owl piece and the experience in South Africa a connection was made and the name Rusty Owl was created.

“That’s really what we want to do. We want to inspire, we want to give hope, revitalize people. We want [to give] that type of experience that that little bird was able to get,” Stewart said.

He said hosting an art exhibition may be something they look at doing again in the future.

swallace@panow.com

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