Diana Thorneycroft

Diana Thorneycroft is a Canadian artist who re-imagines and creates dioramas of Canadian history. I love her work as it is not only brilliant in its conception but is also simultaneously hilarious and heartbreaking. Her work is like laughing as the love of your life stabs you to death.

Her series The Group of Seven Awkward Moments are little gems of wit and Canadian culture each staged in front of a different Group of Seven Painting. She describes her work as follows:

It is through the use of the collective's iconic northern landscapes, which have come to symbolize Canada as a nation, combined with scenes of accidents, disasters, and bad weather that gives the work its edge. By pairing the tranquility of traditional landscape painting with black humour, the work conjures up topical and universally familiar landscapes fraught with anxiety and contradictions.

Her series that follwed The awkward moments was much darker and effectively opens the skeletal closet of the Canadian collective consciousness. The content for A People's History relates directly to a current or historical event and exposes the dark evils that lurk at the periphery of our history books. I may have been much more interested in learning history while in school if discussions about the issues found in Thorneycroft's work were introduced and even more interested if we'd udes her work to initiate discussion. While it is fine to read about the "facts" as we all know history is written by the victor and therefore many stories go unrecorded. She describes the ongoing series:

With some of the research however, it became apparent the word “awkward” was not applicable. The horrors that took place in First Nations residential schools and orphanages like Mount St. Cashel, Newfoundland, speak of atrocities that eradicate all humour. 

I am in the process of completing the “atrocities” and working towards an exhibition entitled “A People’s History”. The series is about horrific events committed in Canada against our most vulnerable citizens; the disadvantaged, the uneducated and the young. At the time of each violation the victims were either ignored, disbelieved, or considered expendable.

Thorneycroft's work is an interesting form of documentary, capturing imagined events with dolls as if recreating the events for a therapist. Perhaps her work is a therapeutic form in which we all can participate as each of these events leaves an indelible impression on us as Canadians and how we see ourselves.

Janice Wright Cheney

 

If you have only recently discovered this little gem of a blog then you may not know the affinity I have for coyotes and taxidermy. Any time I see an artist using coyotes or coyote forms or any taxidermy "ephemera" really, I sometimes develop a little art crush. I usually end up spending a couple hours exploring an artists website and making notes and then in most cases, they end up posted here. and again, I have stumbled or linked my way to the amazing and incredible Janice Wright Cheney. 

I think I have mentioned my affinity for coyotes and animals and taxidermy. Janet's work is interesting because while her wolves/coyotes sometimes look more like weimaraners than wild animals I think it is intentional because her work blurs the lines between wild and domestic, as well as gender.Much of Janet's work involves combining a traditionally female craft (embroidery, tatting, knitting) with a form that suggests masculinity: the taxidermy form. The foam "carcass" is dressed up in "female" attire complete with jewellry and false eyelashes. The wild animals seem far more domestic in their lacy scarves and fur which appears more of a fashion statement than as a representation of them in thier "natural" state.

It is interesting too that the ladies (which is a total assumption since we can't see all of their anatomy) are only half dressed either half skinned or half covered depending and when juxtaposed with the bones of the actual animals in small boxes much like museum specimens the question really does become about what remains. Placing these creatures out in a natural environment makes the question even more haunting.

The felted flower covered bears are titled Widow and represent loss, grief and survival. A taxidermied bear is often posed in an aggressive stance speaking with some suggestion tot he prowess of the hunter who killed it. I have never seen a bear trophy mounted to depict a bear lost in thought or simply sitting and admiring its surroundings. These bears simultaneously represent the trophy, the monument, the conquer and yet something more delicate- a sadness, a memorial, a burial ritual. The flower covering the bears is a rose, hundreds of hand felted red, pink, and burgundy roses the flower of love. Generally the red rose is  symbol of romantic love and the title hints at this loss as well "widow" suggesting the loss of a husband. What fascinates me even more is that bears do not mate for life – they do not marry, they do not have the matrimonial bond of humans nor do they even co-habitate yet there is no questioning the love and bond between a bear and her cubs. And that leaves me wondering if there is a subtext at play that perhaps the bear has suffered a loss and is more than simply a momunment to the fear and conquer human trophy.

 

 

Ted Hiebert- Unbecomings

"Werewolf Stories" is the most recent iteration of the Self-portrait Chronicles project, an ongoing interrogation of the ways in which selves outrun their own self-representations, disappearing into the image as a form of metaphysical promise. The images are self-portraits taken while interacting with a wolf skin, illuminated predominantly with black light. Situated somewhere between enlightenment myths of personal transformation and nightmares of postnatural living, these images are werewolf stories, confronting the awkward conflations of technology and the imagination. 

Personally, I find these photos very meaningful. I am intrigued by the notion of "outrunning" oneself and the sharp edge of existence where humans and animals are indistinguishable. The other work featured here is titled "unbecomings" which suggests to me a transformation of becoming less of one thing and more of another. In this case is it less wolf or less man?

Betty Spackman: Found Wanting

Recently I had the opportunity to meet Canadian artist Betty Spackman and watch a presentation on her latest work Found Wanting.

This particular installation work is incredibly moving, extraordinarily well crafted and holds layer upon layer of meaning. I won't go and analyze it for you because it is apparent what the show is about, plus there is a video in the artists own voice so you can interpret the work for yourself.

It is such a tragedy that it has only be exhibited twice. So friends and fellow bloggers, if you know any curators or gallery owners/operators looking for incredible interactive work, this show really needs to be exhibited instead of sitting in storage. It is incredible and timely and will wow audiences so let's see what we can do to make this happen.

I wish I could see it in person but for now we will have to enjoy some photos and the short vimeo preview of a documentary being shot by Kate Bradford.

FOUND WANTING from kate bradford on Vimeo.