Program Notes from the Red Deer and District Museum's Exhibition of Anna-Marie Ferguson's Original Art for Malory

Introduction to the Exhibit by Diana Anderson, Exhibits Coordinator

Anna has exhibited with the Museum twice before. In 1993, Bygone Age introduced our audience to this young illustrator with a hint of what was to come, as it contained 10 of the original illustrations for Legend: The Arthurian Tarot. In 1995, we were more than pleased to present the entire collection of Legend in an exhibit of the same name. Today, we are absolutely delighted to be able to host the black and white illustrations that bring us into the magical world of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. It took her over two agonizing years to complete the work for the book, which will come out in the new millennium, 2000! What an accomplishment for this young woman and what a coup for our museum!

I have known Anna-Marie personally since 1988 when she was a young graphic designer working at a local print company. I admired her work then and now I find it even more fascinating. What she has achieved in such a short time is nothing less than a miracle. i have watched her work improve, change and evolve into the exquisitely rendered illustrations she has produced for Le Morte d'Arthur.

I watched as Anna-Marie isolated herself from friends and colleagues. I watched as she became a pale ghost of herself, haunted by what was to be the biggest challenge of her life to date. I watched as she strove for perfection in every watercolour and black and white illustration.

When I talked to Anna-Marie, after she surfaced, she described the process she had gone through as her own personal 'Grail Quest' and she wasn't sure if she had achieved it. Looking at the body of work she produced for the book, I immersed in producing the paintings, but the background research, choosing just the right passages to illustrate to move the story forward, trying to bring her vision to the work but trying not to do what had been done before. She showed her incredible stamina, determination and a deep understanding of what the legend means to the world. As Anna-Marie says, "Every painting is like trying to swallow a huge meal in one bite - it's larger than life. The scale of it is unimaginable!"

Through the centuries, many great artists have struggled to illustrate Malory's text. She is in good company. Adjectives she uses to describe the project include: rich, ambitious, big meal, brutal, noisy, heartbreaking, humorous, - there is nowhere Malory won't send you. I can't imagine anyone more knowledgeable than Anna-Marie to illustrate the book today. Her upbringing and deep love of the Celtic lore and mythology , her knowledge of the art of the time period and her understanding of the emotions evoked in the text brings a freshness of vision as old as time to the text. Her fellow conspirators were the ghosts of the legendary Lancelot, Arthur, Morgan Le Fey and Guenevere and all the artists peering over her shoulder as the art was being produced. Who better to lead her down the correct path to the correct form of expression in each and ever watercolour? For they are truly alive! There is no question in my mind that she walked with Lancelot in the woods, went Maying with the Queen and watched as Arthur's dying body was placed on a barge and disappeared into legend!