By Nicole Findlay

Random objects – a pair of scissors, a tin can, a cell phone, a plastic Buddha, and a spatula are juxtaposed with the perennial Carleton query “what is a Gee Gee?” on a work in progress currently underway at CUAG.

The objects are all nailed to a sheet of plywood in the gallery’s display case in the lobby of St. Patrick’s building.

At first glance, the objects that comprise Painting Ritual are jarring for their lack of outward coherence. However the piece underscores a philosophy of what constitutes art.

“It’s about bringing art into people’s everyday lives,” says Molly Sigalet, art history student and lead organizer of Painting Ritual. “It’s fun, it makes you laugh and gets everyone involved.”

“There is also the ritualistic aspect of creating the piece,” adds Sandra Dyck, curator, CUAG.

Painting Ritual, honours a work of the same name by Japanese artist Sadaharu Horio. Based in Kobe, Japan, Horio began work on his piece, which is located outside his house, in 1985. Every day, Horio adds another object or paints the artwork a different colour.

The 15 student curators are participants of Ming Tiampo’s fourth and fifth-year seminar Resounding Spirit. Painting Ritual is one work in a full exhibit that showcases the Japanese Art from the 1960s, including works by the Gutai movement. Under Tiampo’s direction, the students organized the Ottawa leg of the touring exhibition from the Gibson Gallery, in Potsdam, New York. The CUAG exhibit, which includes approximately 50 works created in the 1950s to 1970s by 45 Japanese artists.

The exhibit Resounding Spirit challenges the accepted Western history of 20th-century art, presenting modern Japanese art as an innovative and independent force that included international collaboration,” said Ming Tiampo, professor, SSAC.

Painting Ritual will be modified daily. If you’d like to contribute or paint the objects email paintingritual@gmail.com.

The installation is located in the display case located in the tunnel-level lobby of St. Patrick’s building.

Resounding Spirit opened Monday, February 5, 2007 at CUAG. On Saturday, March 10 CUAG and Tiampo’s students have planned a day of performance art. Among the participants highlighted is the original creator of Painting Ritual – Sadaharu Horio.

Hana Bajric is a first-year student and is participating in Maureen Korp’s FYSM Special Studies in Art History – Visual Literacy. Throughout the term, students will seek out Ottawa’s arts scene and critique the good, the bad and the ugly according to a set of criteria they discuss in the classroom. The students identify and write about works of art displayed throughout Ottawa, which compliment the environment in which they have been placed.

Ribbons of Light is the first in a series of student submissions that examines the contributions of Ottawa-area public art to be included in This Week @ FASS.

Ribbons of Light
by Hana Bajric

Thomas Ewen’s tapestry entitled Ribbons of Light commanded my attention as soon as I entered the Sante Restaurant/Gallery located at 45 Rideau Street in downtown Ottawa. The tapestry, wool on cotton warp and approximately 1.75m x 1m in size, hangs against a red wall to the furthest left as I made my way into the restaurant from the entrance.

As a whole, the piece resembles an explosion or burst of light with the ribbons almost acting like beams of energy and warmth; it is as if the artist captured a moment of the sun’s glare on a piece of glass. A concentration of a deep red colour at the top-centre of the rectangular-shaped tapestry melts into orange, then yellow, and continues on as it spreads into turquoise-green and finally ends in a spill of dark blue. Ten yellow ribbons trail down from the concentration of red and follow the flow of the colours to the bottom edges of the piece. The more I looked at Ribbons of Light-even after reading its title-the more I thought of it as the march of elephants; their heavy bodies and thick legs in motion against a backdrop of a blazing sun.

Although the texture of the tapestry is coarse, rough and heavy, there is still a feeling of lightness and brightness to the work. The artist seems to be contrasting the colours of a ribbon in motion with the weight of the tapestry itself, as if to say: simplicity and clarity can be found in the midst of complexity and chaos. There is no specific intended audience; absolutely anyone, informed or uniformed about art can view the piece. The piece resembles a sort of burst of light-an explosion.

Although the gallery also serves as a restaurant, Sante has accommodated Ewen’s work well by giving it its own wall, a wall that both contrasts with and enhances the colours in the tapestry. Ewen’s tapestry stands out and does not blend in as a sort of “decoration”.

The curator’s name at Sante is Paula Zoubek. All of the artwork at the restaurant/gallery is for sale. Sante has been exhibiting work by area artists for approximately nineteen years. The work serves to enhance the restaurant’s atmosphere and to provide it with the earned claim of being both a very good restaurant and a very good gallery.

By Nicole Findlay

Fledgling curators hover around a table, plucking tiny images from a nearby pile and placing each on a giant floor plan. Like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle, the colourful chips are arranged and rearranged until a picture begins to emerge. Only this picture is the conceptualization of an art exhibit that will feature both two-dimensional works and performance art.

The prospective curators are 15 students that Ming Tiampo, a professor of art history, is leading as they prepare an exhibit, Resounding Spirit: Contemporary Japanese Art of the 1960s. Tiampo helped organize the original exhibit at the Gibson Art Gallery in 2004.

As the students navigate the CUAG floor plan, the size of the works and the dimensions of the room are weighed against the themes around which the art will be grouped. The selection of videos, calligraphy, oil paintings and even performance art spanning the 1950s and ’60s, features both the Japanese movement Gutai, (link to previous story) and the international work that was influenced by the emerging form.

Asato Ikeda, an art history MA student suggests grouping the various works by movement using subtitles.

“Since the Gibson collection encompasses a diverse variety of artists, I suggested that the show provide a more comprehensive perspective on the 60s by introducing various artistic movements,” said Asato.

A brief discussion ensues and the group votes in favour of Ikeda’s suggestion.

“It’s challenging to please a group of 16,” said Emily Fitzpatrick, a BA honors student in the Theory and History of Architecture. “Everyone has different opinions and desires, which you have to respect and work with, even if they contradict your own.”

Not only do the students grapple with the images on hand, equally perplexing is how to display the images they don’t have. Licensing fees that would permit the inclusion of certain works would decimate their budget. Tiampo suggests an alternative solution – purchase copies of books in which these same images are rendered and display them in glass cases.

The students also consider the exhibit visitors. Their instinct to juxtapose modern and traditional works must be weighed against the ease with which visitors unfamiliar with the subject matter, interpret the works.

These negotiations will continue throughout the term as piece together all the components necessary for the exhibit.

“It’s exciting to know that what you’re doing is actually going to be relevant in the future, outside the classroom,” said Fitzpatrick.

This is the second profile in a series to appear in This Week @ FASS, that follows a group of students as they put together a version of an exhibit entitled Resounding Spirit: Contemporary Japanese Art of the 1960s. The exhibit is based on an original exhibit of the same title mounted at the Gibson Art Gallery in 2004. The students’ version is scheduled to open at the Carleton University Art Gallery in February 2007.

Elizabeth Purchase is a first-year student and is participating in Maureen Korp’s FYSM Special Studies in Art History – Visual Literacy. Throughout the term, students will seek out Ottawa’s arts scene and critique the good, the bad and the ugly according to a set of criteria they discuss in the classroom. What students define as bad art, is not a reflection on the work itself, but a comment on the curatorial choices made in exhibiting the piece

Maman is the fifth in a series of student submissions that critique Ottawa-area public art to be included in This Week @ FASS. .
Maman
By Elizabeth Purchase

Ottawa displays many examples of public art in its downtown core. One of the most recognizable sculptures is Maman by Louise Bourgeois. It is sited on the plaza in front of the National Gallery of Canada at the corner of Confederation Blvd and St. Patrick St. Maman is an example of public art many would label “bad”.

Maman is a giant spider cast in bronze, and towering 30 feet tall. Her official dimensions are 927 x 891 x 1024cm . She has a sac of 26 marble eggs under her belly. The eight long legs look twisty like tree roots of different heights all landing on the ground at different angles. In Maman’s construction, the artist has combined several sculptural techniques: The carved eggs are an example of a subtractive technique; the body cast in bronze, and the whole (Maman and her eggs) is an example of assemblage technique. “Maman” was cast in 2003 and purchased by the National Gallery in 2004 to be installed in 2005 .

Maman does not have a near by identification plaque. Nor is there a base. Maman is just standing there, silent and mysterious. Looking at Maman, one cannot know exactly what purpose the work serves. Spiders are not welcoming creatures. They live in old, dusty, and abandoned buildings. The Parliament Buildings, the National Gallery, and Notre Dame are all visible from where Maman stands. Are these all abandoned buildings? The National Gallery’s web site acknowledges a visitor might feel both “a sense of security” as well as a sense of “entrapment, leading the viewer to question whether Maman is protector or predator.” Really? Not me. I do not have any questions about Maman. Its gigantic size does create a sense of entrapment. Maman is clearly more predator than protector.

As a work of art, Maman standing all alone is brilliant. However, in its present location, Maman is out of place. Maman might be more appreciated were it in a more natural setting. Some say a sculpture by someone so internationally renowned as Louise Bourgeois was intended to make the National Gallery’s plaza the place to be. If so, Maman fulfills her duty. People do know what you mean when you say “I’ll meet you by the spider at six.” Of course getting people to the entrance of the National Gallery does not get them inside the door.

Aleesha Mullen is a first-year student and is participating in Maureen Korp’s FYSM Special Studies in Art History – Visual Literacy. Throughout the term, students will seek out Ottawa’s arts scene and critique the good, the bad and the ugly according to a set of criteria they discuss in the classroom.

Deconstructed House is the fourth in a series of student submissions that critique Ottawa-area public art to be included in This Week @ FASS. What students define as bad art, is not a reflection on the work itself, but a comment on the curatorial choices made in exhibiting the piece.
Deconstructed house
By Aleesha Mullen

What defines art minimally might be said to be composition that creates a reaction or emotion. The monument in Majors Hill Park at the site of the residence of Lieutenant Colonel John By provokes none of these feelings. Although from the monument a beautiful view of Parliament can be seen, the monument does not however enhance the view or its historical significance. It is merely a place that was once the site of a house, what remains is the foundation.

Towering approximately fifteen feet in the air a polished stone representation of the original chimney stands. The artist has detailed the chimney by carving grooves in the stone, this use of the subtractive method of construction mimics the blocks of the chimney that was once there. The artist has also added an indented block, which represents where a fire would have been lit on the hearth. Although it is obvious the monument is meant to represent a chimney the scale appears awkward given the size of the site. Moreover the purpose of the chimney is lost given the other parts of the monument.

Bronze cast sculptures of everyday items that were found in the house have been displayed within the site. More of these items are shown with descriptions and narrative at the front of the monument. As a whole, they give the viewer more insight into the history of the location, by adding a sense of time past. Nonetheless the monument itself stands as a distraction.

I spent an afternoon at the site. This gave me the opportunity to witness the reactions of others at the site. Like myself, many enjoyed the site as a place, but they had trouble understanding why the monument was constructed in this manner. I overheard one lady say to her friend, “Oh, it looks like there was a house here, but what is that suppose to be?” as she motioned towards the monument of the chimney.

It is a shame that historical places of such significant value as Lieutenant Colonel John By and his home are presented to the public in the form of “bad public art”

Claire Cowling is a first-year student and is participating in Maureen Korp’s FYSM Special Studies in Art History – Visual Literacy. Throughout the term, students will seek out Ottawa’s arts scene and critique the good, the bad and the ugly according to a set of criteria they discuss in the classroom.

The Lost Spider is the third in a series of student submissions that critique Ottawa-area public art to be included in This Week @ FASS.
The Lost Spider
By Claire Cowling

Known to most people in Ottawa as “The Spider,” Maman by Louise Bourgeois, is a free-standing structure placed only meters from the entrance to the National Gallery of Canada on the plaza at the corner of Rue Saint Patrick and Sussex Drive.

Maman is a very open composition. People are able to walk underneath its underbelly, which contains a sac holding 26 pure white marble eggs. The work is cast in bronze, approximately 30 feet tall. Maman is realistically proportioned to resemble a daddy-long-legs spider. The eight bronze legs are placed four and four about the body in the middle (see Figure. 2). They were cast in separate pieces and welded together. The welding seams are quite evident, giving the legs depth and character.

There is no available identification plaque, so the purpose of the work is unclear. Its sheer size makes it unforgettable. Moreover, in its present site, it creates a barrier, which serves to keep young (or old) skateboarders off the plaza.

When I first saw Maman, I immediately thought of nature because a spider is a wild creature and its visible eggs in the egg sac indicate motherhood. However, because Maman was not made for the National Gallery’s plaza the sculpture becomes an example of bad art. Maman is the sixth and last in the series of environmental sculptures created by the artist.4

In Ottawa, Maman has been placed in the very center. The sculpture is surrounded by buildings with very square edges. This counters the effect of the sculpture’s rounded legs and body. There is no relationship of line or form of the sculpture to the buildings around it that form Maman’s environment because there are no 90 degree angles in nature.

Ottawa is a beautiful city, one comparable to some European cities. However, at the site where “The Spider” stands, the sculpture blocks the view of the magnificent church across the street, the National Gallery itself and even the Parliament buildings. A park would be a more suitable environment for this spider, like any spider.

Simon Robinson is a first-year student and is participating in Maureen Korp’s FYSM Special Studies in Art History – Visual Literacy. Throughout the term, students will seek out Ottawa’s arts scene and critique the good, the bad and the ugly according to a set of criteria they discuss in the classroom.

Balancing act is the first of a series of student submissions that critique Ottawa-area public art. Over the term, the students’ interpretations of both good and bad art will be included in This Week @ FASS.

Balancing Act

By Simon Robinson

When the National Capital Commission commissions a work of art to be fashioned for public display, several criteria must be met. Artists are back-checked, logistics are discussed, and a certain level of good taste must be maintained. After observing John Hooper’s Balancing, it is evident some of these criteria are valued more highly than others.

Standing alone, Balancing, and its “tongue-in-cheek commentary on some ‘Capital’ people” could be referred to as a quirky, poignant, insightful work designed to provoke thought and discussion amongst its many viewers. Balancing is a modern sculpture consisting of five hand-carved, mahogany figures. Each faces in an easterly direction, along a precarious perch of forked steel. But, placing the five wooden, eerily human figures, on a site just across from Parliament Hill, is akin to inviting Bill Maher to be the guest speaker at a White House function.

The sculptures’ identification plaque at the back of the figures touts the claim that this work was especially designed for its location, a sloping bank angling down towards a gentle canal alongside the National Arts Centre below the confederation square bridge. What the plaque fails to mention is the landmark immediately to the other side of the work, the National War Memorial, commemorating those soldiers fallen in combat defending our country. While Balancing brazenly downplays the actions of the Canadian government, the soldiers honoured by the memorial gave their lives to uphold these very same beliefs. Suddenly, the “tongue-in-cheek” humour of Balancing in this context seems less than amusing. A line has been crossed.

Perhaps it is the crossing of this line, which for me definitively identifies John Hooper’s Balancing as an example of “Bad Public Art”. While one might debate personal taste and preference, once any demographic of the viewing public becomes alienated, especially one as treasured as our veterans then there is a problem. The fragile process of placing a work of art can make or break the work, and in this instance, Balancing has been toppled by poor siting.

By Nicole Findlay

Banished are the days when students of art history settled in dark lecture halls illuminated by flickering slides projecting the works of long-dead masters.

This fall, students entering Maureen Korp’s First-Year Seminar will have direct exposure to Ottawa-based artists. They will learn by looking at works created by professional artists who live, work, and show their art in the Ottawa-Gatineau region

Korp, an instructor of Art History in the School for Studies in Art and Culture, developed the seminar, entitled Special Studies in Art History – Visual Literacy, around Ottawa’s art scene. This is the fourth year she has given it.

“One day when I was in grad school, I looked up from my books in the Rutgers library and realized it had been weeks, months maybe, since I’d talked to an artist or, for that matter, actually looked at art with my own eyes,” said Korp. “Yet, that was what had inspired me to study art history –conversations about art in an artist’s studio.”

Over the coming term, her students will interact directly with local artists either in their studios or through exhibits hosted in galleries and artist-run centres. Students are assigned to write a series of art critiques based on a number of themes. These include critiques of “bad public art,” good or bad art found in a gallery, and two, three and four-dimensional works found in galleries located throughout the city.

In their exploration of Ottawa, students learn the difference between public and private-for-profit galleries and exhibition spaces.

The seminar will help to bring art to life, while teaching students to think and write critically.

Over the next three months, This Week @ FASS and Carleton Now will publish a selection of these critiques, giving readers a look at Ottawa’s artists through the students’ eyes.

Meredith Inksetter obtained her BA Honours in art history. Inksetter entered the program to gain a comprehensive view of history through an examination of the “visual culture of the past.” During the course of her studies, Inksetter gained a perspective on the political, social, religious and cultural themes humans, throughout history, have rendered through visual mediums.

“The Bachelor of Arts degree in art history provided me with the ability to think about the world in a different way, to understand the important role played by art within the history of humanity, to understand history as a dynamic and ever-changing area and to develop ways of seeing and interpreting that can be applied not only with academic settings, but within the everyday world in which we live,” said Inksetter.

Inksetter will pursue her Masters in art history at Carleton. She will examine nineteenth century art and its depictions of the body to gain insight on the “medical and cultural understanding of disease, sexuality and abnormality.”

Catherine Marshall completes her BA Honours in art history and discovers a love of scholarship. Marshall initially returned to her studies with the intention of bolstering her career. Although she had studied art at the Ontario College of Art and Design in the ’80s and has maintained an interest in painting, she never intended to become a scholar.

Assisted by funding from Carleton and SSHRC, Marshall will continue her studies through the art history MA program. She is particularly interested in religious art produced in the medieval period.

“My BA experience – excellent professors, lots of hard work, and Carleton’s resulting recognition – has instilled confidence in me that I have the ability to pursue a future in scholarship,” said Marshall.

Chelsea Omel has taken her BA Honours in art history on the road. The recent alumna is currently traveling in Europe and North Africa.

During her undergrad years in art history, Omel developed an interest in the history of photography, multimedia art and performance art. Although she maintains that these areas might not fall within traditional art history definitions, it was the freedom to explore these mediums that attracted her to the program.

“My long-term plan is to pursue a career in the arts, perhaps something related to dance, photography or new media,” said Omel.

David Shea completed his BA in film studies with a minor in history. An emerging filmmaker, Shea was interested in both the theoretical and practical aspects of filmmaking. While he continued to work on his film career throughout his time at Carleton, he found the film studies program supplemented his technical abilties with an appreciation for the history of film, the industry and the “construction of film culture.” Shea credits the program with providing him a broader cultural and financial perspective of Canadian film and television production -knowledge that proved instrument in his work at the department of Canadian Heritage at the Canadian Audio-Visual Certification Office (CAVCO).

Although he is planning a hiatus from the academic world he anticipates he will return to further study historical representations in film and the challenges associated with this.

“I am currently putting the final touches on a short 16mm film that I wrote, produced and directed that will be screened in early August, and I am also working on a couple of articles on film for local publications.”

Other Senate Medalists Include:

Jessica Aylsworth, BA, Art History