0:12

it has to be about the area

0:14

i think it i mean like if it’s if i’m

0:16

being at all respectful to the building

0:18

into the place into my upbringing

0:20

it has to be about the area and that

0:23

sort of put in motion this this

0:26

a series of exhibitions that had to do

0:28

with land use

0:30

i viewed this piece that i was making

0:32

for this particular show

0:33

has one element in

0:37

a fourth installment it had to do with

0:40

the ranch that i grew up on

0:42

boarded the military reserve the

0:45

suffield block

0:47

uh they annexed half of our ranch this

0:50

was long before my time

0:52

and the fence actually was on the north

0:56

side of our property and i thought what

0:59

about a border

1:00

like this is this is the border between

1:02

between

1:03

what had been in the family and then

1:05

wasn’t

1:06

and not only that this parcel of land

1:09

once you start

1:10

thinking about this parcel of land um

1:14

it had been annexed before as soon as it

1:16

was cleared

1:18

of of indigenous groups for to make way

1:20

for the cpr

1:22

it had already been annexed

1:25

um at about 14 i was invited to

1:29

help out on an archaeological dig just

1:31

north of the ranch

1:32

in the british block and doing some of

1:35

the drawings

1:36

from cultural zones that were 3000 years

1:39

old

1:41

now you don’t think of your ranch as

1:42

such an old ranch anymore

1:44

there wasn’t any clear understanding of

1:47

the value of the property

1:49

or the indigenous groups that were on

1:51

that piece of property

1:52

and then all of a sudden it had some

1:54

worth because it was connected to the

1:55

cpr and then all of a sudden didn’t have

1:57

any worse

1:58

and they annexed it in the 40s to start

2:01

working on

2:02

uh mustard gas tests to begin with well

2:05

you know i started out thinking about

2:06

that border that surrounds the

2:08

the british block uh suffield block

2:12

and then i thought it started thinking

2:13

about what it contained

2:15

and all of the the kind of uh

2:17

information that it contained

2:18

and for me the border then became how do

2:21

you get back to that information

2:23

that barrier that exists between what we

2:26

see when we drive by it

2:28

and what had happened there

2:33

there was a park that a national park

2:36

that was that’s included in what the

2:40

suffield british block is now and it was

2:44

uh established in 1922 and existed until

2:48

1938 and it was to preserve

2:51

um the pronghorn angelo so the name of

2:54

it was

2:55

i think it was wawasky

2:58

that park now exists within

3:02

the british bloc and and because it’s a

3:05

buffer zone between the live fire

3:07

exercises they do

3:09

and the branches on the other side it’s

3:12

basically untouched

3:14

so there’s this fantastic piece of

3:16

property that

3:18

that’s uh sort of incidentally become

3:21

this preserve a wildlife preserve

3:25

unlike most anywhere else in western

3:27

canada

3:28

i like that that the military has been

3:31

respectful

3:32

enough above that area to

3:35

keep it as clean and pristine pristine

3:38

as possible

3:39

and we’re moving into a time when when

3:42

there’s a real possibility

3:44

that you judge a culture by what it

3:46

doesn’t leave behind

3:48

rather than what it leaves behind and so

3:50

our thinking

3:51

maybe is changing to the point where we

3:53

can look at that piece of property

3:55

with different eyes and all pieces of

3:58

property and we’re at a time when we’re

4:00

losing national

4:01

or we’re losing provincial parks like

4:02

like

4:04

we have to think about what we want to

4:06

leave in the next hundred years

4:08

and we have to think about what kind of

4:10

value are we going to put on these

4:12

pieces of property

4:14

i’ve always thought about about the idea

4:16

of

4:17

my simple approach to thinking about art

4:19

is usually what

4:22

what you see is what you see that that’s

4:23

it and it’s been a it’s a quote from

4:26

a number of people that i respect and

4:28

believe in as art makers

4:30

this one what i’ve liked about the

4:32

public exhibitions is you get a chance

4:34

to

4:35

make something that you look at but this

4:38

is a place marker

4:39

there’s a place marker that has other

4:41

notes attached to it

4:43

and so if there was anything just

4:46

anyone who happens to do any little bit

4:49

of research

4:50

into this piece of property

4:53

i think it’s going to be a bit of an

4:54

eye-opener and i think it

4:56

provides a sense of where we can go from

4:59

here at some point

5:01

again it’s neither it’s just just look

5:04

at the facts

5:05

look at the information think about

5:07

where we’re going to go from here on and

5:10

that’s that’s what i’d like and i i’m

5:13

thinking there’s going to be

5:14

if if what if possible links to sites

5:18

that that you can look up online but

5:21

seriously it’s simple enough

5:23

just look up suffield block southern

5:26

alberta

5:27

and it will lead you down a little

5:29

rabbit hole

5:30

that goes so deep and just covers so

5:33

much

5:33

oh it’s brilliant

5:55

you

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