0:04

It’s been an incredible year and to have finished
the wall drawing this afternoon has been quite

0:09

a thrill
It was sad and kind of exhilarating because

0:13

I’ve been really concerned about whether I
could finish or not

0:16

I’ve had a relationship with the Art Gallery
of Hamilton since I arrived in the area in

0:19

the early 80s
So, it’s been a really important place

0:24

The Gallery has supported me through the years
by a couple of solo exhibitions in 1989 and

0:30

then again one in 2002
And now, here we are in 2019/20, I’m back

0:36

to do something very, very different
It’s been an amazing adventure

0:41

It was at first a conversation that started
with the curators here probably the better

0:46

part of a year-and-a-half to two years ago
They had been thinking about a Residency program

0:50

and then approached me to see if that would
be something I would want to do

0:54

and of course I immediately said, “well, yeah!”
(laughs)

0:59

And of course, being really thrilled that
I could be the inaugural artist in residency

1:01

of a year-long program, which is highly unusual
in most institutions across the board

1:07

I don’t know of any institutions that are
doing that kind of a process with an artist

1:11

for that long a period of time.
That’s something I found really compelling

1:16

because it was such an open equation with
no real set of parameters other than what

1:24

I felt I could accomplish in the period of
a year, which led me to then think in terms

1:28

of creating a project based on community interaction
The more focused community action – where

1:33

people participate and collaborate with me
creating the work, which was pretty much a

1:39

fresh approach for me in the way we went about
it

1:43

So, when I was considering what to do, I had
been doing this series of drawings where I

1:48

create an image of a tree using only the name
of the tree itself and I write them in a milimeter

1:57

high with a very fine, fine tip pen
It would take me weeks to do each drawing

2:02

I thought, if I had a year – would I put myself
through that?writing words at that scale?

2:09

I adjusted the sizing a little bit, needless
to say

2:13

I thought “well okay, I’ve got a year – let’s
go for it.”

2:16

So, the first part of the equation was I really
wanted to do something with a tree because

2:21

that’s what I do.
So, approaching Aldershot Landscaping who

2:25

donated the maple tree for another project,
which basically consisted of a tree that was

2:32

going to be cut down removed for whatever
reason

2:35

I was able to select the tree, they were nice
enough to power wash it to make sure it was

2:39

clean and clear to bring into a museum
I had its sections cut into over 40 sections

2:46

and then we engineered a beam for each section
to be suspended from the ceiling in the atrium

2:52

here at the AGH
with a portion of the root system as well.

2:57

That then allowed me to invite people to come
and wet felt the entire structure with me

3:04

that’s sheep and alpaca wool being used to
create literally a second skin for the tree

3:11

It’s such an elegant installation with how
things were engineered and how impeccably

3:16

things were organized by Greg Dawe and Paula,
who impress me to this very day

3:22

We were able to get the solution in such a
way that we were able to begin felting early

3:27

in the residency
That meant we could work with community groups,

3:31

whether they be school children, high-school
students, college students, university students

3:36

we worked with a dementia group, with challenged
youth, with traumatized youth – a number of

3:41

communities including friends!
They all helped me wet felt the large portion

3:47

of this tree
While that was happening, I also began the

3:51

drawing of the parallel to the tree itself
I used white gel pens to write the word “maple”

4:03

or “tree”depending on the culture
Ultimately we ended up with 87 languages by

4:09

the end
By the time we finished this afternoon, I

4:13

wrote the 87th language
We did finish the final fissure in the drawing

4:19

using Mohawk language because that’s whose
land we’re on

4:26

Out of honouring and respect and gratitude
for being on this land, and working here,

4:34

I wanted to finish that way
I felt that was appropriate.

4:36

I did start with the English “maple”at the
beginning as a common language that brings

4:42

us all here
I finished with an Indigenous language which

4:47

for me was really significant
During the course of that time, I had a number

4:51

of people from many, many countries.
I’ve met people somewhere in the vicinity

4:56

of 18-20, possibly even more countries, some
of whom also contributed names, some of whom

5:05

participated with me to create the drawing
The collaboration was awesome and people got

5:10

really excited
A number of people said, like, “I don’t know

5:12

how you do this. I couldn’t last 5 minutes,
how can you do this for so many months?”

5:16

I’ve had practice. And I have OCD. (laughs)
Plus, I’m very, very stubborn.

5:22

I also had this vision and had to do it.
I wasn’t going to stop until it was done and

5:27

ultimately, with everyone’s help, it was possible
and today was the day.

5:31

So, I am thrilled and as I mentioned earlier,
equally saddened because that part is over,

5:37

which also starts to close off that period
of time in the residency.

5:41

In a quiet, removed fashion, the finishing
line was a hermetic act.

5:46

A lot of the work I do outdoors and in the
environment is a hermetic and quiet, personal

5:52

thing.
Going forward, I do have a solo show hopefully

5:56

opening in September where we will be moving
the tree with the felt to that Gallery.

6:01

I did start the conversation around how this
residency came to be, and as I had a very

6:07

deep attachment to what this place is, and
how much this place means to me, the community,

6:13

and to Canada in general I think and abroad.
Our collection does gather a lot of steam

6:20

moving around internationally.
This place is incredible and this program

6:23

is crazy wonderful.
Who would’ve thought that you invite somebody

6:26

to hangout for a year and first of all, I
never got bored. That was important.

6:31

I don’t think they did either and people are
still talking to me and so ultimately everybody’s

6:36

pretty happy with what happened and I am completely
and totally blown away, thrilled, and honoured.

6:41

Thank you!

No results found