The Chalk and the Easel: The Life and Work of Stanford Perrott by Maxwell L. Foran (review)

humanities 531 university of toronto quarterly, volume 72, number 1, winter 2002/3 >non-progressive: tremblings in place= is an insight that encourages readers to go back and study the poems again B just what a good essay ought to do. What is missing from the essays is any study of Page=s use of irony, ambiguity, paradox, and the like. What often adds dimension and depth to the poems is Page=s way of seeing in opposing directions at once so that she does pretend to mystical fervour. She remains very grounded for all that. This collection might have emphasized this aspect of her work a little more. For all the limitations of the collection, it is useful as an introductory study for readers who are just beginning to read Page=s poems. They will pick up an approach to understanding the themes, and to some extent the styles, in her work. Biographical essays are included, although they are curiously placed towards the end of the collection rather than at the beginning. The tone of the essays is relaxed and conversational. The interview with Page shows, once again, just how gracious and thoughtful she is, but the questions seem somewhat random, so that just as one interesting topic is opened, it is shunted off in favour of another question that is trivial or banal. However, any genuine study of Page=s poems is a welcome sight, since she has emerged as one of Canada=s best poets. That the United Nations chose her glosa >Planet Earth= to go hurtling into space beyond all time seems particularly fitting. (JOHN ORANGE) Maxwell L. Foran. The Chalk and the Easel: The Life and Work of Stanford Perrott University of Calgary Press. x, 102. $39.95 The late Stanford Perrott was affiliated with the Alberta College of Art for a period that spanned six decades; his informal connections with the institution lasted longer. In this colourfully illustrated biography, Maxwell Foran traces Stan Perrott=s life, emphasizing his subject=s role as an art educator instrumental in the development of the history of Calgary=s art college. Foran=s writing reveals his personal association with and admiration for Perrott, a connection that was forged by means of interviews conducted for about ten years. In addition to interviewing Perrott, Foran was given access during his research to his subject=s extensive files, photographs, and works of art. As well, a number of Perrott=s friends, former students, colleagues, and family were also consulted as the book was being prepared. The result is a highly personal and somewhat informal biography presented in a non-traditional way. Although the author follows chronology, he divides his treatment of Perrott=s life into three sections, addressing the subject as >The Teacher,= >The Painter,= and >The Man.= Appendices add information about his student days, his employment and exhibition history, his awards and recognitions, and his place in various collections. Foran is particularly interested to explain how Perrott=s personality shaped him into an outstanding teacher. Perrott attended the then Pro- 532 letters in canada 2001 university of toronto quarterly, volume 72, number 1, winter 2002/3 vincial Institute of Technology and Art in the 1930s before studying at the Provincial Normal School, where he received teaching certificates in education with a specialty in art. After employment in primary and secondary teaching and as a draughtsman, Perrott returned to his alma mater in 1946. He was a gifted educator who through his empathy and sensitivity towards students was able to achieve major success in inspiring them. Foran believes that Perrott consistently gave much of his energies to teaching and that his own artistic production suffered as a result, despite the fact that he had the opportunity to avail himself of additional formal training as an artist (especially by taking a leave of absence in the United States to study with Hans Hofmann and Will Barnet). Although primarily a watercolourist, Perrott experimented with oils, etchings, and engravings and produced actively in the late 1950s and early 1960s, but his own work was sacrificed for his teaching during a very demanding period at the College of Art. In 1960B61, Perrott became acting head...