If you're a dog lover, you might want to check out an exhibit by Suzanne McCrae that runs this month at Artists on Elgin.
The exhibit, entitled “Man's Best Friend,” explores the relationship between humans and dogs, and includes life-sized papier-mâché sculptures of dogs as well as a few paintings and pastel drawings of dogs.
The papier-mâché dogs, made from phone book pages and shredded wallpaper over an armature of wire or cardboard, range in size from a Great Dane to a little Chihuahua in a carrying bag.
McCrae even made a papier-mâché fire hydrant for the exhibit — she laughs that a woman brought her dog to the open house Dec. 8, and you could tell the animal was interested in “christening” the sculpture.
She said she wanted to create three-dimensional dogs (which, by the way, are for sale) because it gives people the feeling of interacting with them, as they would with a real dog.
McCrae said she's owned six dogs in her lifetime, including her current dog, a super-smart border collie named Clyde.
She said having a dog is part of her lifestyle, as she and a group of friends often bring their dogs to the bush to let them have a run.
“You can have a bond with dogs, I think, and a relationship as such with dogs,” McCrae said.
“You can work with them, and they're comforting. You can have empathy for them. They seem sometimes to have empathy for us. They seem to connect to us.
“I have had cats too. I love cats. It's just the dogs seem to be more connected, and I could be wrong on that.”
The exhibit runs until Dec. 28. Artists on Elgin is located at 168 Elgin St., and is open Monday to Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Visit artistsonelgin.ca and suzannemccrae.ca.
@heidi_ulrichsen
