visual arts by John Sobol Art Forms in Nature in nature." To that end. Blossfeldt spent more Young rolled-up fronds, magnified 8 times, Korl 8/ossfeWt. Blossfeldt's early I900's photography will be exhibited ot Presentation House Gallery. May I8-July than three decades photographing plants in Germany and Italy. Blossfeldt's slides were used exclusively as teachin aids until 1925. when they were seen by K a r l Nierendorf. a prominent avant-garde gallery owner. Nierendorf was highly attuned to the currents of thought shaping artistic practice at that time and he intuited that Blossfeldt's studies of natural form and function would be of immense interest to the international art world. Nierendorf was right. Exhibitions and publications followed, including the seminal collection. Urformen der Kunst. in 1928. Virtually overnight the obscure professor became an artistic sensation. His work was even the catalyst for a 'green architecture" movement, which sought to design buildings using plants as models. Although Blossfeldt died in 1932, his work is still admired and studied today. The upcoming exhibition of Blossfeldt's work. Art Forms in Nature. May 18July 7 at Presentation House Gallery will be a very rare opportunity to see a selection of these photographs in person. The prints were borrowed from Malinda Wayt. of California, and were brought to Canada with the support of the Goethe Institute in Vancouver and the Canada Council. O n June 20 at 7:30 p.m.. Rod Slemmons. writer, independent curator and the former curator of photography at the Seattle Art Museum, will deliver a lecture on Karl Blossfeldt at the gallery, entitled "Type, Stereotype. Archetype: Karl Blossfeldt and the New Objectivity." This talk is free and open to the public. -- John Sobol is a writer and the education co-ordinator at Presentation House Gallery. Tip of a twig with buds, magnified 10 times. Karl Blossfeldt K .arl Blossfeldt's extraordinary images are the souvenirs of a visionary adventurer into the heart of the natural world. Taken in the early 1900s by a relatively unknown art school professor in Berlin, these blackand-white photographs remain as surprising today as they are beautiful. Transcending the artificiality of the still life. Blossfeldt created intimate plant portraits, each possessing a remarkable vitality, harmony and purity. And yet Blossfeldt simply photographed the world around him. without the use of specialized lenses, filters or processing techniques. A s a teacher of art and design in Germany, his aim was to demonstrate that "the best constructions for industrial design had already been anticipated 1 ; 1 maker? Suggestions? i You tell us who the winner is... There is a w i n n e r i n our midst. A musician? A sculptor? A n Actor? A Painter? A dancer? A f i l m O n e of the N o r t h Shore's m a n y outstanding, nationally renowned artists w i l l be honoured at h o m e in October. A n d we want y o u to tell us who. The F o u n d a t i o n for the A r t s on the N o r t h Shore invites y o u r nominations for its F A N S A w a r d to be presented at the F A N S N i g h t Premiere, October 1996. The foundation is an arm of the N o r t h Shore Arts Commission. For further information, or n o m i n a t i o n forms, please contact the N o r t h Shore A r t s C o m m i s s i o n at 980-3559 or fax u s at 984-3563 or e-mail us at aalive@wimsey.com. D e a d l i n e : J u n e 21, 1996.