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Espace Sculpture

Shore/lines Responding to Place Denis Longchamps

La conquête de l’espace The Conquest of Space Number 65, Fall 2003

URI: https://id.erudit.org/iderudit/9097ac

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Publisher(s) Le Centre de diffusion 3D

ISSN 0821-9222 (print) 1923-2551 (digital)

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Cite this review Longchamps, D. (2003). Review of [Shore/lines: Responding to Place]. Espace Sculpture, (65), 38–39.

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Shore/lines: responding to place

DENIS LONGCHAMPS

Stevenson's two sculptural forms, he concept of ArtCity — a city -="fl?*Sî*p f. Flame, and. Egg, co-habit with the T that is encompassed by and * •*• drawings. One black nylon mesh devoted to art in a multiplicity of piece reached from the floor toward the ceiling, the other, rested in a hori­ voices, expressions, and forms — is zontal position on the floor. The the vision of the MacLaren Art strong lines ofthe forms were shaped Centre's Director, William Moore. A by the yards of gridded mesh seamed together along its plastic rod arma­ city with a population of 120 thou­ tures. The transparency of the mesh sand, one hour north of Toronto, fabric allowed the gaze invisible and perceived as the gateway to the entry inside the forms. Insides became outsides, however, as the north, Barrie, Ontario, is the optimal emptiness of the gallery space was location for this transformation. echoed back when attempting to look The first major initiative under through the layers. The physical the umbrella of ArtCity is the envi­ space inside the sculptures was ronmental art biennial Shore/lines. therefore not separate from its out­ From May to October 2003, the first side, but rather appeared as a co­ edition of Shorelines (plans are extensive interior in relation to the already underway for 2005!) not outside. only offers its participants the A resounding strength of Between opportunity to explore the nature Line and Form was reflected in the theme and its relation to culture artists' intense encounters with their and humankind, but also refe­ materials. The way that inside-space rences Barrie's own historical deve­ works in Stevenson's pieces, reflects lopment as part ofthe city's tory itself and its position toward tory. Such lighthouses are still ALFIO BONANNO, her focused engagement with the sesquicentennial celebrations. the environment. Above all, each found in the region of Simcoe Between Land and limits of material and architectural Barrie embraces one end of Lake Water, Shorelines, boundaries. Not seeming to connect response stems from the premise County bordering Georgian Bay, the Simcoe, known as Kempenfelt Bay, 2003. MacLaren Art directly with the strict linearity of the that "nature is the art of which we earliest of which was built in 1834 and sits on what was the shore of Centre. Photo: are part,"2 consciously or not, in on Simcoe Island at Nine Mile white page or the sculpture's ribs, the ancient Lake Algonquin. Andre Beneteau. communion, in colonization, or in Point. In his work, Will Gill strives her imagery and shapes linger above Kempenfelt Bay is the starting point rebellion. While most ofthe mate­ not only to question, but also to their grids. Martha Townsend's sug­ ofthe historic Nine Mile Portage, rial used by the participating artists find a healthy balance between pro­ gestive shapes similarly occupy tran­ used long before colonization by is found in or around their chosen gress and nature — if such equili­ sitory and emergent spaces, as do the First Nations to reach Georgian site, some do include man-made brium exists at all. To create the Kai Chan's poetic constructions, and Bay, and the Bay also played an wooden lighthouse Gill used dead Ed Pien's graphic installations with materials to formulate a critical important role in the Fur Trade and pine trees removed from the local Chinese tissues. Approaching the contrast with the bounty of nature. the war of 1812. parkland in Barrie. The final trim­ limits of their chosen materials, these In environmental art, the natural On the basis of such a rich his­ ming was done with various electric artists replace the crossing lines of world is both the subject and the tory, Shorelines proposes to exa­ hand tools — a chainsaw, a sander, those limits and teach us about resis­ object. The ensuing installations mine the real and imagined and a grinder —, leaving marks on tance within contemporary experi­ are intended to be ephemeral in boundaries between land and the main body, the scars of indus­ ence. By re-drawing the limits, they order to emphasize the changing trialization on nature. Inspired in water as well as their relations to qualities of the real and imagined give shape to where limits define part by an oak tree twice as old as each other. ' Following the advice of boundaries between land and becomings. Barrie itself, the artist created a Montreal-based independent water, the core theme of protection device usually situated Between Line and Form is a curator and writer John K. Grande, Shore/lines. thoughtful and intelligent exploration on the physical boundaries of water the MacLaren invited sixteen artists Newfoundland artist Will Gill into the spaces «in-between.» and land. Traditionally a ligh­ from across Canada, the United has constructed a structure remi­ Reverberating between the lan­ States, and Europe — six of them thouse's purpose is to warn of niscent of the lighthouses that have nature's destructive force — to pro­ guages of drawing and sculpture, the working in teams of two — to guided boats for centuries on tect people from danger; Gill's ligh­ artworks shift disciplinary boundaries choose a site within Barrie and waterways around the world. thouse is intended to do the in order to generate endless spatial create a response to the social and Erected on Georgian College's pro­ opposite. His creation can be per­ and experiential becomings. geographical terrain. This summer, perty, his installation references ceived as a warning sign to protect Revealed in the moments of these fourteen such sites offer an equal these buildings with its tall and the old trees, a natural heritage, poetic unfoldings are a few ofthe infi­ number of responses. Some refe­ slender column covered with the against industrialization, as well as nite contemporary states of being, rence the impact of humankind on required warning stripes. It has no suggesting a historical link connec­ acting and living. <• the environment, while others light, however; instead, it is topped ting Simcoe County's past, its pre­ recreate what they envision to be with three radar-like dishes 3 Between Line and Form sent, and its future. idyllic, pre-civilization landscapes covered with straw. Gill's work Kai Chan, Ed Pien, Sarah Stevenson within the actual contemporary combines his personal experience Although incorporating a more and Martha Townsend topography; some explore spiritual ofthe rugged Atlantic coastline (in spiritual approach, similar links are Ottawa Art Gallery, Ottawa connections with nature, while Halifax and St. John's) and Barrie's found in the work of Alfio Bonanno. Founder of Tickon (Tranekaer January 16-March 16,2003 others question the concept of his- topographical and agricultural his­

38 ESPACE 65 AUTOMNE / FALL 2003 of comprehending our surroun­ dings. The context of Babylon acts as a possible model for defining the cultural envelope through which we view nature, an envelope with a language difficult to deci­ pher — a Tower of Babel lost in cacophony. The Shore/lines exhibition offers differing responses to the theme of water/land boundaries, as it does, in social and historical terms, to the Barrie community. Additional installations include a boat filled with metaphorical mea­ nings, by French artists Gilles Bruni and Marc Babarit, while First Nations artist Glenna Matoush, in collaboration with Jan Larson, constructed the Beaver Tree, or Amiskutuk in Crée, to pay tribute to an animal that once was source of food, clothing, and trade. Other participants in Shore/lines are Canadian artists lain Baxter, Lance Bélanger, Kitty Mykka, Mike BILL VAZAN, Belly MacDonald, and American artists International Centre for Art and Our general perception and thought to be in the city of Delphi, Button ofthe Betty Beaumont, Patrick Dougherty Nature, in Langeland, Denmark), recording of history is often linear, as well as by "the all too frequent World, Shorelines, and Alan Sonfist. This first edition 2003. MacLaren Art Bonanno chose a site on the south following a chronological order. human frailty to take ourselves too ofthe MacLaren's environmental Centre. Photo: shore of Kempenfelt Bay. He des­ Barrie artist Derek Martin, also wor­ seriously... pour le nombril du art biennial is about a community Andre Beneteau. cribes his work as "born of collabo­ king on Georgian College property, monde, "6 Quebec artist Bill Vazan — its geography, its history, its ration between man and place,"4 explores this linear notion and created Barrie's belly button. The social fabric — through which WILL GILL, and his participation in Shorelines raises our awareness ofthe uneven artist cut and removed the grass these nature-based art installa­ Lighthouse, is a fine example of the statement. progression and "development" of turf in Sunnidale Park to reveal a tions will force us to reconsider our Shorelines, 2003. His installation, Between Land and an urban environment, through a long umbilical cord-like design. The own relationship and response to MacLaren Art Water, includes five very large 150 foot walkway — one for every city's belly button — its life source the environment and our sense of Centre. Photo: organic forms inspired by milkweed year of Barrie's evolution. — relates to his series of stone Andre Beneteau. place. < pods found growing nearby. The Delineated by tall maple saplings, engravings. Vazan's earth-work is giant pods, measuring approxima­ creating expanding and contracting part of an on-going worldwide Shore/lines Biennial tely 1.5 to 2 metres in height and 4 spaces, the poles suggest both series. Here, metaphorically, he Barrie, Ontario boom times as well as more diffi­ refers to the heart of the city, which to 6 metres in length, are made of May to October 2003 maple, dogwood, and willow cult ones. In the context ofthe bien­ was historically by the water, the saplings tied onto a skeletal steel nial, this wave-like symmetrical highly navigated area contributing NOTES form and filled with river-bed construction references a shoreline, to the development and sustenance 1. Mary Reid, "Roughing it in the stones evocative ofthe seeds where water reflects land and flows ofthe community. It evokes also Bush", ArtCity, May/April/May found in real pods — the source of in, out, and in between without the crisscrossing paths ofthe First 2003, vol. 6, issue 1, p. 8. life. The large organic structures restraint, similar to the way history Nations and the pioneers that fed 2. John K. Grande, Balance: Art and are placed on the slope ofthe is "represented", lost and the embryonic city before its birth Nature (Montreal, New York, beach, across the shoreline and repeated. Hence Martin's work, in 1853. down into the lake,5 the weight of Reconstructing Provenance, speaks London: Black Rose Books, 1994) p. One planned installation is not the rocks keeping them in place. to the fact that the linear construc­ 36. specific to its Shore/lines site. The Their disposition emphasizes the tion of events in sequence is inhe­ 3. William Gill, Shorelines Proposal, work, Babylon (and the Tower of meeting point of water and land rently disruptive and emphasizes emailed to Mary Reid, March 26, Babel), by Canadian artist John and creates a dialogue with the the diversity of community by refe­ 2003. McEwen, was re-installed, on loan immediate surroundings. At dusk rencing various voices including 4. Alfio Bonanno, Where Lizards lose from the McMichael Canadian Art on the final day of completion of that of nature itself. their Tail-A Celebration of Place, Collection. Created in 1991, its title Bonanno's work, fires emanated artist statement, Denmark, May, For ages, even long before refers to the biblical story of from the openings ofthe large pods 2000. industrialization, societies have left Babylon, the dislocation of people, for a brief moment in a ritualistic traces of their existence on the and the multiplicity of languages. 5. Alfio Bonanno, Shorelines manner — traces of this ritual still landscape. Inspired by the ancient Not site-specific in nature, Babylon Proposal, January, 2003. remain on the rocks and charred Greek belief and ensuing ceremo­ is context-specific however. The 6. Bill Vazan, Shorelines Proposal: The saplings, symbols of the passage of nies revolving around the Centre of work deals with the idea of com­ Centre ofthe World, October 17, time and of history itself. the world — the omphalos —, long munication and with the difficulty 2002

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