Stephen Weir articles, editorials and popular social media weir postings

  I’m An Archaeologist of Muriel Ahmarani Jaouich’s Difficult Life and Exhibition by Stephen Weir I spent much of the morning rooting through every box in the attic storeroom of my 100-year-old office in Toronto. I was searching for two papyrus pieces of artwork that I had purchased late one night in Cairo from a small street urchin. What set me on the search was the guest lecture that Muriel Ahmarani Jaouich gave in our Wednesday morning class. Her emotional and riveting discussion about her exhibition,   An Archaeology of Echoes , gave me insights I wish I had had when I first toured the show. One of the artist’s paintings hanging in the exhibition—and appearing in a slide during her lecture—triggered my quest. Quoting from a description posted online on Britannica’s social media page: “Geb, her painting posted above, is depicted as ‘Shu (standing, centre) supporting the sky goddess Nut arched above him, with the earth god Geb lying at his feet, detail.’”   Well, I did ...

  What came first, the Chicken or the Dog? In the case of Canadian art expert Chris Finn and myself, it was the pigeon. It was 1970—way back in my second year at the University of Windsor. I picked up a gig to pose for a sculpture class for a whole semester. I needed the money. The class of about 12 undergraduate Fine Arts students had a choice: sculpt me or a live pigeon (I lied about the chicken). Everyone picked me. Only Chris Finn picked the bird. Probably a wise choice. The next year, my wife and I moved to Toronto. I got my degree in Journalism and didn’t see Chris again until I got some part-time work at the McMichael Canadian Art Collection. It was 1999, and I kept the gig for 16 years. Small world—Chris was the resident expert there on Canadian Art. I promoted a number of shows he was involved in. No end of fun, no end of pigeon jokes. I moved on and took on some work with the Brampton Art Gallery after that. Chris eventually retired from the McMichael and moved back to hi...