HOW TO SCORE POSITIVE PR: THE NORMA JEAN EFFECT

LOOK A-LIKE, MEDIA CELEBS, TWO NEW ART SHOWS AND CABBIE WHO REMEMBERS HELP KEEP THE MONROE WAVE WASHING OVER TORONTO




Touch of Strange - Marilyn Monroe Brings In The Fans

She has been dead longer than she lived. Most artists who paint her image were born after she died in 1962. Her fame grows, she is a worldwide icon be it as Norma Jean, Marilyn Monroe, or the Blond Bombshell. The young know her better than the Boomers who have first hand memory of her life, her times and her death. Name a building after her, hold an art show celebrating her, or simply write and post a story for a major newspaper, and your media campaign is bound to succeed. Warning: Be prepared to meet people whose 7-Year-Itch has long since graduated into a terminal case of Celeb fueled Poison Ivy.
Last summer I wrote a "how is it built" feature about the Marilyn Monroe condominium in Mississauga for the Toronto Star. To date the feature about the 54-story condo, is the third most viewed story in the history of the Star's website. It was the first time a Condo story has ranked that high. Congrats went around the Star, with only a brief mention of the writer - me - but that is okay because the reason readers were visiting the site wasn't because of who wrote the story but rather the use of Marilyn's name in the title, the meta tags and the picture of a condo shaped like a concrete Blond Bombshell! (probably why you are here isn't it?)
Read the story at: http://stephenweirarticles.blogspot.com/2010/09/marilyn-monre.html
Fast forward. This month the McMichael Canadian Art Collection opened two exhibitions featuring art based on Marilyn Monroe. One exhibition, curated in Germany includes photographs, sculptures and paintings by some of the best contemporary artists of the day including Antonio de Felipe, Andy Warhol,photographer Milton H. Greene and Bernard of Hollywood. The second exhibition, curated by Windsor University graduate Chris Finn looks at Marilyn in Canada - pictures and paintings -- surrounding two film shoots that brought Monroe to Niagara Falls, Ontario and Banff, Alberta.
No surprise the exhibitions have attracted the attention of the media. I was taken aback by how fascinated some reporters are to the Norma Jean legend, to the point of actually giving themselves Marilyn Monroe ink.
Let me explain.
I had a physio appointment Friday morning. I wasn't planning to go out to the gallery, I was very much looking forward to spending the afternoon on the couch nursing my sore back. While in therapy I got several calls from a TV station. They wanted to do a National Arts story on the show today. ASAP.
I left my physio and headed out to Kleinburg where the public gallery is located. It is a 40-minute drive when there is no Rush Hour traffic. God only knows how long when it is the Rush Hour Crawl is on.
I meet the news crew at 11.30 a.m. There was an experienced cameraman and a rather green reporter waiting for me. This was her third day on the job. She and I got to talking while the cameraman worked. She is 5ft 8, blond, cat walk thin, with a figure not unlike the actress we were looking at in the over 200 pictures and paintings. I mentioned seeing a Marilyn Monroe sculpture at the Key West art gallery and how Ink Parlours near the museum offer Marilyn Monroe tattoos.
She told me she already has Marilyn's signature inked across her back and that she has a Marilyn Monroe styled dress that shows it off well. "Oh yes and I have a tattoo that is in the shape of MM's lips."
The next day, media mogul (Zoomer Magazine, Vision Television, AM740 and Classical 96) Moses Znaimer came out. He is a super fan. A few years ago he bought MM's TV at auction for his Television Museum! He also owns film footage, photographs and a sculpture of Monroe.
He brought with him Ziggy Lorenc. She is currently heard on Moses' AM740, hosting a late night program devoted to romantic music. She was also the star/host of the series Life on Venus Ave that ran on Much Music TV in the 80's. In her day Ziggy Lorenc was known for having a Marilyn Monroe image -- a first for Toronto TV.
On Saturday the show opened to the public. Curators dressed like Monroe, movies were shown in the lobby and Seven, the gallery cafe had a special Monroe menu. The McMichael gallery offered free admission to anyone coming dressed as Monroe. Only one person did, and she admitted she was quite the fan. "Nothing would stop me from coming," she told me, with a Monroe like whisper.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKWw-6g_f0g
I met another follower, 81-year old Neville Bishop, came as a fan, but for a different reason than the MM look-alike.
"Back in 1953 I had been an employee of the Bank of Montreal and I resigned that position in order to go back to school," Neville Bishop said. "I had a summer job and drove a car out to the West for a Waterloo company. I decided to stay and took on a job up at the Banff Springs Hotel as a gas station employee and a cab driver."
" One of the interesting things was there was all sorts of activities going on with the movie families and one involved Marilyn Monroe," he continued. " I spent most of the time driving people back and forth (to the movie set) but on one evening I had an opportunity to have a little bit more time to spend talking with Marilyn Monroe."
"She spoke a great deal about their community of people who worked and travelled(together). It was a new experience for her and others to move up in the Canadian scene. The Rockies were an attraction for everybody."
" It was a wonderful experience sitting there listening to she and her compatriots on the male side of film industry as well. Some of it was very positive and other things were rather disturbing. She always shined!"

Mr Bishop said he stayed in Banff that summer because there was no room left in the hotel during the filming of River of No Return. In town Mr. Bishop spent time thinking about what he was going to do with his life once he returned to the Toronto area.
Mr. Bishop did not let his brush with Hollywood go to his head. At the end of the summer he entered university and in time became an ordained Anglican Minister.
Now retired, Reverend Bishop well remembers the summer of '53 and the "commotion" that Monroe caused where-ever she went in Banff. Still, he felt a little flustered and out of breath when he posed with a buxomy Marilyn Monroe look-alike by the entrance to the McMichael exhibitions.

CUTLINES:
Top - undated picture of Ziggy and Moses
Second from top - Reverend Bishop and a Marilyn Monroe look alike
Third from top - Mississauga's Marilyn Monroe Building (back) under construction
Second from bottom - Blogger / broadcaster Jody Glaze poses with his wife beside a Antonio de Felipe painting of Monroe.
Bottom - McMichael head curator Katerina Atanasova, came to the art-show opening dressed as Marilyn Monroe
Below - Seward's life-sized Marilyn 7-Year Itch statue. Photo taken by sweir in Key West Art Gallery 2010

Events and Shows at the McMichael Canadian Art Collection this winter

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Family Events and Show Listings at the McMichael in early 2011

February 13 Family Sunday Valentine’s Day
Celebrate the season of love and friendship by creating seasonal crafts,
engaging in a family performance by Washboard Hank and playing in the
discovery space.

February 21 Family Day
Family comes first at the McMichael. Drop in on February 21 to celebrate
Family Day and the opening of our new exhibitions. Take a family tour or
join a family silk screen workshop at 11:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m.
Participation for workshop will be on a fist come first serve basis, please
pick up tickets at the front desk.

March 13 Family Sunday
Illustration from Norman Rockwell to Michael Martchenko
Get a jump on March Break! Celebrate illustrations by Norman Rockwell and
meet one of Canada’s leading illustrators, Michael Martchenko, best known
for creating drawings that accompany author Robert Munch’s famous stories.
Create artwork based on the Norman Rockwell exhibition and illustrations by
Martchenko, and play in the discovery space.

March 15, 16, and 17 March Break Bonus Family Days
11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Make art, play in the discovery space and watch live performances at 12:30
p.m. and 2:30 p.m.
On March 15, celebrate the life and joy of making music with Cosima Grunsky
and create Andy Warhol inspired art. On March 16, splash into some fun with
popular musical group, Splash’N Boots, and create artwork inspired by our
special exhibition, In Search of Norman Rockwell’s America. On March 17,
celebrate St. Patrick’s Day with traditional Irish music and crafts.

March 20 Discovery Days
End March Break with a bang! Touch artwork and objects from the McMichael’s collection, play in the discovery space, and take a family tour of the collection.

COMING 2011 EXHIBITIONS
Maria Chapdelaine
December 18, 2010 to February 27, 2011
Experience the world of Clarence Gagnon’s Maria Chapdelaine. Fifty-four of Gagnon’s original works will be exhibited in a chapterby- chapter sequence conforming to the narrative presented in the book written by Louis Hémon in the winter of 1912-13, depicting life in rural Quebec.

Marilyn Monroe - Two Shows
February 19 to May 15, 2011
In February 2011, the McMichael Canadian Art Collection will bring its visitors an unexpected and thought-provoking array of exhibitions, featuring contemporary art and pop culture with two exhibitions of works based on the woman who personified Hollywood glamour in the twentieth century: Marilyn Monroe. Life as a Legend: Marilyn Monroe (curated by Artoma, Hamburg, Germany and is toured by International Arts & Artists, Washington, DC) and Marilyn in Canada (curated by McMichael Assistant Curator, Chris Finn, and organized by the McMichael Canadian Art Collection) will both be on display February 19 to May 15, 2011 at the Kleinburg gallery. A weekend of programs to celebrate the opening of the shows will take place Family Day long weekend, February 19 to 21,201.

George McLean: The Living Landscape
January 29 to May 22, 2011
George McLean has painted the landscape and animals around his home in Grey County, Ontario for over thirty years. Surveying the artist’s painting career, the exhibition draws in major works from private and public collections across North America and focuses on McLean’s prowess as an accomplished draughtsman and painter of the landscape. Although all of his paintings include an animal or bird, the artist takes great care to faithfully depict the dramatic light, colour and atmosphere of these wooded escarpment sites, not far from the shores of Georgian Bay.

George McLean: The Living Landscape has been organized and circulated by the Tom Thomson Art Gallery, Owen Sound. The exhibition George McLean: The Living Landscape is accompanied by a major publication consisting of almost 100 colour reproductions and curatorial texts that give McLean’s work its due attention and context in terms of contemporary Canadian painting. The book deepens the discourse around McLean’s practice, setting him apart from his wildlife art contemporaries as a painter of note. The book, by Andrew Duncan Harris and Virginia Eichhorn, is also entitled George McLean: The Living Landscape and is currently available in the McMichael Gallery Shop.

In Search of Norman Rockwell’s America
March 12 to April 25, 2011

Photojournalist Kevin Rivoli knows that the America painted by Norman Rockwell did, and still does, exist. He has spent the last twenty years documenting it. In Search of Norman Rockwell’s America juxtaposes Rockwell’s work with Rivoli’s photographs of spontaneously occurring moments of everyday life. These photographs are true to Rockwell’s form—storytelling in a single, spontaneous frame that captures and celebrates the ordinary. In Search of Norman Rockwell’s America was organized by Kevin and Michele Rivoli in collaboration with International Arts & Artists, Washington, DC.

ABOUT THE McMICHAEL CANADIAN ART COLLECTION

The McMichael Canadian Art Collection is an agency of the Government of Ontario and acknowledges the support of the Ministry of Tourism and Culture. It is the foremost venue in the country showcasing the Group of Seven and their contemporaries. In addition to touring exhibitions, its permanent collection consists of more than 5,500 artworks, including paintings by the Group of Seven and their contemporaries, First Nations and Inuit artists. The gallery is located on Islington Avenue, north of Major Mackenzie Drive in Kleinburg, and is open daily from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm. Admission is $15 for adults, $12 for seniors/students and $30 for families. There is a $5 fee for parking. For more information about the gallery, visit www.mcmichael.com .

Stephen Weir
McMichael Canadian Art Collection
stephenweir@mcmichael.com or sweir5492@rogers.com
Toronto Office:
2482 Yonge Street, Unit 45032, Toronto, ONT.
CANADA. M4P 3E3
Tel: 416-489-5868 | Gallery office: 905-893-1121
www.mcmichael.com

Marilyn Monroe Art Exhibition coming to the McMichael Canadian Art Collection in Kleinburg,Ontario,Canada in February 2011


The gallery curates its own Marilyn in Canada exhibit, plus the internationally acclaimed touring exhibition, Life as a Legend, makes its final stop of a successful tour at the McMichael!

November 23, 2010 Kleinburg, ON – In February 2011, the McMichael Canadian Art Collection will bring its visitors an unexpected and thought-provoking array of exhibitions, featuring contemporary art and pop culture with two exhibitions of works based on the woman who personified Hollywood glamour in the twentieth century: Marilyn Monroe. Life as a Legend: Marilyn Monroe (curated by Artoma, Hamburg, Germany and is toured by International Arts & Artists, Washington, DC) and Marilyn in Canada (curated by McMichael Assistant Curator, Chris Finn, and organized by the McMichael Canadian Art Collection) will both be on display February 19 to May 15, 2011 at the Kleinburg gallery. A weekend of programs to celebrate the opening of the shows will take place Family Day long weekend, February 19 to 21,201.
These exhibitions capture the making of a celebrity and the myth behind the woman the world knew as Marilyn Monroe. Nearly five decades after her death, Monroe remains undisputedly one of the most famous movie stars in the world. Her intriguing personality and the aura surrounding her tragic death continuously attracted many artists, who responded more acutely to the creation of a legend.
The internationally acclaimed touring exhibition, Life as a Legend: Marilyn Monroe, makes its final stop of a successful tour at the McMichael. The exhibition explores the incredibly diverse array of artistic responses to Marilyn’s image. An impressive grouping of paintings, photographs, and prints by world-renowned artists such as Andy Warhol, Robert Indiana, and Eduardo Paolozzi, along with unforgettable snapshots by the most famous photographers of the day such as Richard Avedon, Henri Cartier-Bresson, and Bernard of Hollywood make this exhibition a true revelation for Monroe’s fans.
Curated especially for the McMichael, Marilyn in Canada provides an intriguing glimpse into Marylin’s experiences while filming in Canada as well as her popularity among Canadian artists. Works by artists such as Shelley Niro, John Vachon, and George S. Zimbel are some of the highlights of this unique Canadian-content based exhibition. Both shows demonstrate the broad range of artists who responded creatively to Marilyn’s life – from a constellation of great fashion photographers of her day to the champions of the Pop Art movement in North America to well known artists in Canadian contemporary art.
Monroe’s popularity has not waned even half a century after her death and her mystique is an inspiration in many genres as currently sMonroe’s popularity has not waned even half a century after her death and her mystique is an inspiration in many genres as currently several projects are in the works, or have just recently been released, which feature the iconic actress. Two feature films are in production: My Week with Marilyn starring Oscar® nominated actress Michelle Williams (2011 scheduled release date) and Blonde, starring another Oscar® nominated actress, Naomi Watts (2012 scheduled release date). A collection of writings by the Hollywood icon was released in October 2010, published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux. The book, entitled Fragments, includes poems , letters, and other writings dating from Monroe’s teenage years to shortly before her death. In October 2008, the twenty-fifth anniversary issue of Vanity Fair featured Monroe on its cover and, once again, this month the actress graced its cover to promote the magazine’s worldwide exclusive feature article, “Marilyn and Her Monsters”.

ABOUT THE EXHIBITIONS

Life as a Legend: Marilyn Monroe

Born in Los Angeles, California in 1926, Norma Jeane Mortenson was baptized with her mother’s maiden name as Norma Jeane Baker. Like many girls who flocked to Hollywood with aspirations of becoming an actress, Norma Jeane visited the studio of Bruno Bernard (known as Bernard of Hollywood), asking him to make her look sexy. She was discovered during a government photo shoot at a munitions factory, and Bernard is credited with introducing Norma Jeane to Jimmy Hyde, the agent who helped her sign her first contract with Twentieth Century Fox. By the age of twenty, as she began her career in movies, she was renamed and recreated by the Hollywood studio as Marilyn Monroe.
The exhibition Life as a Legend: Marilyn Monroeroe contains a selection of approximately 150 works by artists Andy Warhol, Allen Jones, Robert Indiana, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Richard Avedon, Douglas Kirkland and many others. Having travelled in six countries in Europe prior to its American, and now Canadian tour, the exhibition’s primary appeal offers engaging interpretations of Marilyn, ranging from playful and intimate portraits to others that are bold, decorative, and even transformative. The subject of the artists’ work is nothing less than one of the most celebrated popular icons in history. With their images they capture the determination, innocence and vulnerability of Norma Jeane Baker, as well as the vibrant personality, femininity and sensuality that became Marilyn Monroe. The exhibition demonstrates that the longevity of her popularity stems, in part, from both the lessons (and myths) of her life and death as well as from the symbolic powers of her visual image.
The show challenges us to understand how and why these images have become part of our culture. Obviously beautiful, Marilyn was just one of many beautiful people in Hollywood. Perhaps the reason she remained so captivating was her life story: Monroe’s loveless childhood, her rise to stardom and equally spectacular slide, her unhappy affaThe show challenges us to understand how and why these images have become part of our culture. Obviously beautiful, Marilyn was just one of many beautiful people in Hollywood. Perhaps the reason she remained so captivating was her life story: Monroe’s loveless childhood, her rise to stardom and equally spectacular slide, her unhappy affairs and early death formed a necessary counterweight to the glamorous visuals. To most commentators, Monroe is a bundle of paradoxes. She’s sexual but innocent, that womanly body vying with that little-girl voice. She’s vulnerable but also driven and calculating in her pursuit of star status. Photographer Milton H. Greene, a glamour photographer who worked for Life, Look and Vogue and later became Monroe’s business partner, catches some of these contradictions in the so-called “Ballerina Sittings.”
The camera couldn’t get enough of Monroe. She was possibly the most photographed individual of the twentieth century. But her need for the camera was just as insatiable. That Marilyn Monroe is a carefully crafted persona as well as a legend is one of the show’s main themes – she herself said, “I’m an artificial product.” More than Monroe’s beauty and mystery is her story, emblematic of commodifying the individual. This is the interpretation in artist Andy Warhol’s famous, colourful images. He loved her whole essence, but wanted to show to the world, “Look, this is what we did to her.”
As Marilyn develops as a mature actress, she can be observed both behind the scenes and in the spotlight of high society, film and theatre. The most intimate and lasting images of Marilyn are taken in photograph sessions in the final months of her life. In her final magazine interview in 1962, she tells a reporter, “Please don’t make me a joke. End the interview with what I believe. I don’t mind making jokes, but I don’t want to look like one… I want to be an artist, an actress with integrity.”
Whether visitors to the exhibition lived during Marilyn’s lifetime or developed a fascination with her following her death, this exhibition offers an insight into the life of a woman who is firmly entrenched in North American and worldwide culture.

Marilyn in Canada

Marilyn Monroe’s iconic presence has been embraced by many cultures beyond her American birthplace. Her public image has served as a multifaceted symbolic muse representing a range of assigned roles and values providing inspiration for works created by a variety of artists who offer their ‘remembrances’ expressed through many artistic forms.
As an introductory and complementary component for the larger travelling show, Marilyn in Canada provides a Canadian connection to remembering and re-visioning this cultural figure. This exhibition includes works by John Vachon, George S. Zimbel and Shelley Niro.
George Zimbel, an American photographer who immigrated to Canada in 1971, participated in the original photo session with Marilyn Monroe that was staged in 1954 during the filming of The Seven Year Itch. Images from this filmed session have, through continuing appearance in reproductions, bolstered the iconic status of the actress while also inspiring artists to reinterpret this particular moment in popular culture history.
Canadian First Nations artist, Shelley Niro, has restaged her own version of this famous scene. Dressed in white with a fan blowing beneath her dress, the artist reveals the artifice behind the original pose. Her portrait as ‘Marilyn’ accompanied by images of family members emphasizes ideas of feminine beauty and notions of fame that have been embedded in media portrayals.
Marilyn in Canada features photographs, paintings, sculpture, and prints by artists who have inscribed Monroe’s public image with their own culturally-filtered interpretations which also serve as commentary on the influence of American popular culture in Canada.

ABOUT THE McMICHAEL CANADIAN ART COLLECTION

The McMichael Canadian Art Collection is an agency of the Government of Ontario and acknowledges the support of the Ministry of Tourism and Culture. It is the foremost venue in the country showcasing the Group of Seven and their contemporaries. In addition to touring exhibitions, its permanent collection consists of more than 5,500 artworks, including paintings by the Group of Seven and their contemporaries, First Nations and Inuit artists. The gallery is located on Islington Avenue, north of Major Mackenzie Drive in Kleinburg, and is open daily from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm. Admission is $15 for adults, $12 for seniors/students and $30 for families. There is a $5 fee for parking. For more information about the gallery, visit www.mcmichael.com .

CUTLINES:

Top:
Bert Stern, “Here’s to you” from The Last Sitting, 1962/1978, C-Print, © Bert Stern; Middle
Milton H. Greene, Marilyn Monroe, New York City, “Ballerina Sitting,” 1954, Inkjet print, © Joshua Greene www.legendslicensing.com;
Bottom
John Vachon (1914–1975), Untitled (Marilyn with Mountie), 1953, photographic reprint, 61 x 51 cm, Courtesy of the Estate of John Vachon and Dover Publications Inc.

For photos and information contact

Stephen Weir
stephen@stephenweir.com
or leave a message on this blog