The VANCOUVER SUN
May. 21, 1970

Walk into world of domes at gallery

By CHARLOTTE TOWNSEND
Sun Art Critic

The Intermedia Exhibition, featuring geodesic domes, is probably one of the most beautiful transformations that the Vancouver Art Gallery has ever undertaken.

If you want a reason for the assorted geodesic domes which occupy all the galleries, large and small, you will find interest easily in their "mere" presence, their "lovely molecular structures."

It's true that more and more practical purposes are being found for domes, that are a fine environmental alternative to the cube and rectangle that they say are economical.

But the best thing about domes is their structural purity. Thats why the most successful of Intermedia's domes are the simplest, the ones where the aluminum or plywood struts, which both make the domes and support it, can be seen for what they are.

Al Hewit's 35 foot diameter aluminum rod dome is the largest thing ever seen in the gallery. Denis Vance has the entire room wired for sound to correspond with the intensity of the lighting. This gives the dome an entirely different atmosphere from, say, Doug Robinson,s plywood Tinker Toy and Meccano domes one inside the other.

Different again is Dave Rimmer's dome. This one is best if you lie inside and watch the endless blue movie of leaf and wave shadows playing over its white muslin walls. Yet another is made from curving and overlapping plywood sheets.

Enclosed within this backlit dome is Audrey dory's phosphorescent shadow print taker, a column against which you put your hand or your whole self and the imprint lasts for a few minutes.

In one gallery there are four small domes which, even if they aren't great are still nice:

One printed with poems by Maxine Gadd.

One made from triangles of foam by Martha Smith.

One from mylar, silver and transparent, by Joan Payne, with it's plexiglas walls.

One bonded with colors and real leaves, which the light can shine through, by Marsha Stone.

Domes are environmental objects containers, space-definers, light holders or diffusers - Intermedia proves their versatility, whether you are on the in or outside.
What's more, they prove Intermedia's own technical proficiency, something that has been dubious in the past.

All the domes have been constructed from basic materials by the people mentioned, with a supporting cast of 20 or more and a good deal of co-operation.

The Intermedia exhibition which ends May 31, includes poetry, music, theater and dance.