Q & A: Tate Modern director marvels at Saskatchewan's 'all-encompassing sky' ahead of Remai Modern appearance

The director of the Tate Modern art gallery in London, England, Frances Morris, is scheduled to speak to a sold out crowd in Saskatoon Tuesday evening.

She'll give the inaugural Mendel International Lecture at the Remai Modern Art Gallery. She spoke with Leisha Grebinski, host of CBC's Saskatoon Morning, Tuesday.

Here are excerpts from their conversation:

Before tonight's lecture, you made a point of going to visit Macklin, home town of (deceased abstract artist) Agnes Martin. Why did you do that?

I've been obsessed with Agnes Martin for many years. I worked on a big show of her work for Tate Modern.

People always said, "You have to visit Saskatchewan. You have to go back to her hometown." So when I got this invitation, of course I was delighted to see the new museum. But the idea of having the opportunity to drive through this flat land to her hometown and have a sense of her belonging and where she came form was very compelling.

So we made this road trip. And it was extraordinary. This unrelenting flatness, the striations of the landscape, the sense of this all-encompassing sky meant a lot to me. I kind of feel that there's something complete about my research into Agnes Martin.

What do you think you learned from that drive?

I learned the deep relationship between what seems like pure abstraction and the landscape. When you look at an Agnes Martin painting, there's kind of nothing there.

You look at it in the way you can look at a sky — very compelling but the sky changes very slowly. It's almost mesmerizing. And I had that sensation in that landscape.

You are here to give a talk at the Remai Modern. It's not even been a year since it's been open. It's received fairly positive reviews. What advice would you give to the people here who are running this gallery?

I think the day you open is just day one of a very long process of getting to know your building, getting to know your audience.

It's like a musical instrument. You have to learn how to play it. And so far, what I've seen, they're playing the building really beautifully.

They have huge potential to work with the building and with communities. I think it has potential to punch above its weight. It's world class.