When Robert Bateman discusses the importance of nature, one thing comes to mind: a missed connection. With our increasingly hectic lifestyles, it is easy to ignore opportunities to connect with nature. Even it is just five minutes a day, walking from your home or work to a nearby park or stand of trees, the importance of this connection cannot be undervalued for our individual mental and physical wellbeing and for broader social health.
The Robert Bateman Centre, which opened in May 2013 in the historic Steamship building along Victoria’s Inner Harbour, is inspiring people – to re-connect with nature. The Centre features more than 100 works by Robert Bateman, spanning seven decades as one of Canada’s premier artists. The exhibit invites guests to explore their relationship with the environment and pay homage to the majesty of nature.
Tsitika and Her Son, ©Robert Bateman, 1995, 24 x 36″, acrylic on board
Supported by The Bateman Foundation, The Centre was created to house and preserve Robert Bateman’s legacy, as well as to be a multi-purpose meeting place for collaboration, creative thinking, and networking about in-nature education initiatives.
Guests of the Robert Bateman Centre explore a series of galleries, featuring cutting-edge interactive technology that, when paired with Bateman’s remarkable collection of art, bring you face to face with wild animals, and spectacular wilderness.
One of the most unique galleries within the Centre creates a sense of a beautiful Canadian forest , featuring the largest display of Bateman birds, which documents both the spread of his fascination, and his deep romance with winged species. To create a sense of walking along a forest floor, a collection of birdsongs were recorded by Salt Spring Islanders John and Heather Neville. By moving a hand in front of a painting, the song of the bird featured on the artwork will call out within the gallery. Multiple hands bring you deep into a forest of birdsong.
Have you been lucky enough to witness the lively lynx or the passing silence of a wolf pack? The gallery featuring these beautiful mammals and inspiring landscapes is also open to a visitor’s curatorial expression, where more than 30 additional paintings in the digital collection can be used to complete the circle on this important and inspiring subject. Guests have the opportunity to choose the mega fauna that surrounds them.
Other galleries within the Centre include pieces that range from large, almost abstract paintings to small intense landscapes. A special British Columbia section shows works inspired by Bateman’s 30 year home on the west coast of Canada. The gallery of African works features the time and spectrum of his romance with the continent from early works to recent favourites.
Tadpole Time, ©Robert Bateman, 1984, 12 x 17.5″, acrylic on board
One of Bateman’s favorite subjects is the human/nature interface. Heritage farms, dilapidated temples, patent rail fences, ploughed fields – often the natural experience most people associate with a strong nostalgia. A selection of images captures his Wyeth period – an outpouring of creativity based on a cathartic experience of the work of American realist Andrew Wyeth. Here you can participate in curating the last six images in the collection, using the same digital interactive technology featured in the mammals and landscapes galleries.
As a boy, Bateman drew images from his daily adventures up and down the urban ravines of central Toronto. Later, under the influence of celebrated artists such as the Group of Seven and Carl Schaefer, he adopted a big brush, eventually exploring abstract expressionism. Unknown to many, he was at the same time an exquisite portraitist, as this collection reveals. Bateman’s first work, a painting of an elk done at age 12, is featured in this gallery space.
With works that include a polar bear swimming in search for ice or land as well as the destruction of an old growth forest on the west coast of British Columbia, the social commentary gallery graphically documents the cost of big forestry, big mining, and big fisheries and invites visitors to pause and think about how these conditions affect them. Perhaps they will consider these images during their next interaction with nature, whether it’s a long, multi-day adventure, or a visit to their neighbourhood park for five minutes after a long day of work.
Photo Credits
Tsitika and Her Son, © Robert Bateman, 1995 – All Rights Reserved
Tadpole Time, ©Robert Bateman, 1984 – All Rights Reserved
Photo Of Robert Bateman – © Chad Hipolito – All Rights Reserved
Robert Bateman
This article was submitted by Aimee Ippersiel, Marketing & Media
On behalf of:
The Robert Bateman Centre
Steamship Terminal Building
470 Belleville Street
Victoria, B.C. V8V 1W9
Recent Guest Artist Articles:
- "Listen, I Have Something To Tell You"
- All The Art I Will Never Make
- From My Sketchbook
- When Machines Dream
- Why Did A Bored Call Center Rep Turn Her Art into TikTok Puzzles
Spectacular, I’ve long admired his works of art.
This is a wonderful description on the feeling one gets on being in the Robert Bateman Gallery of the talent and expression of the artist. It makes my upcoming trip of a lifetime traveling to the Galápagos Islands with Robert Bateman in November even more compelling. This article embodies the natural experience of the artist and his canvas found at the gallery. Thank you.
Thanks for introducing me to the work of Robert Bateman. It makes me want to visit Canada.
Beautiful.
Mr. Bateman has a unique ability to put us in touch with nature. Somehow he captures a realistic image and then etches it onto our unconscious with his use of context.
Thank you so much for this. I had no idea that such a center existed in Victoria, and I eagerly look forward to spending some time there on my next trip to Victoria.
The Bateman Centre is a favourite place to visit in Victoria – gorgeous works. And I really respect Robert Bateman’s message that we need to reconnect with the natural world (our own world). It’s great to see these images and ideas on Life As A Human.
Connecting with nature [in a high tech world] now takes an effort. We are constantly bombarded with information and all the distractions of living in a first world society. Nature has always been there willing to engage with us if we listen and speak it’s simple language. It’s the foundation upon which everything exists, so we had better stay connected or we will forget our path home.
Beautiful article. How true is it that some of us including me forget to connect with nature as much as we should. I am going to take a walk near the lake tomorrow, listen to the birds, the wind, the lake whistle during it’s ripples. Thank you for writing this piece. I will also check up further on Robert Batemans work.