At the Orange Gallery

Back in April (April 25th) I discovered part of Ottawa I hadn't been to before, a previously run down place for industrial warehouses that I'd only ridden past in a bus or car. "Suddenly it's hot," the Ottawa Citizen tells us. As a member of the CFUW-Ottawa's Diplomatic Hospitality group I was invited to see an art show at the Orange Art Gallery, which is located there. (A century ago this building used to house the Canadian National Railway's bank.)

The pianist and crowd in the gallery

This Spanish / Latin American themed event proved popular, with a large crowd of people turning up. At the piano a Cuban jazz musician––Miguel de Armas––entertained us, his wife wearing a dress that looked like a keyboard. He played brilliantly, although most people were talking too avidly to listen, most of the time. We were served tapas prepared by a handsome chef, Rene Rodrigas, who has a restaurant in the Byward Market called Navarra.

The vibrant paintings on display in the main room were by an artist from Córdoba, Argentina, Carmen Buteler. She spoke to us in Spanish during the speeches, saying how grateful she was for the opportunity to show us what she does. She doesn't speak much English but knows "a number of visual languages ... travels the world and paints life. The real and the imaginary. The figurative and the abstract." She spent ten years of her life living in "barren and desolated Patagonia."