Drawing on Our History
Many conversations echo through major drawing show.
Ed Pien, “Medusa,” 2012
ink on cut 3M reflector film laminated on Shoji paper, 106" x 144" (Carleton University Art Gallery: the A.T. Tolley Art Collection; photo by Justin Wonnacott)
Toronto artist Ed Pien steals the show with his massive Medusa, one of his cut-paper masterpieces, displayed on the wall of its new owner, the Carleton University Art Gallery in Ottawa.
But wait. Isn’t Drawing on Our History, a 30th-anniversary exhibition for the campus gallery, supposed to be a drawing show? Well, Pien “draws” with a knife.
He crafted Medusa by cutting the outline of a bewitched tree on 3M reflector film laminated on Shoji paper. The coal black branches set against a snow-white background are as tangled as the living snakes comprising the hair of Medusa, the mythological Gorgon.
Small, coloured circles made of reflective material dot the branches like fireflies. And if you look closely, especially peering down from the gallery’s mezzanine, you may spot mysterious forms, both human and animal, hiding in the branches.
Jay Odjick, “Anishinàbewakì / Anishinabe Aki,” 2022
adhesive vinyl installation, approx. 13' x 23' (courtesy of the artist, photo by Justin Wonnacott)
So, how to top this captivating aesthetic experience? Nearby is an even larger billboard-sized digital drawing, Anishinàbewakì / Anishinabe Aki, by Jay Odjick, a writer, artist and television producer from the Kitigan Zibi Anishinabeg First Nation, a two-hour drive north of Ottawa.
Odjick gives us, not just one tree, but an entire forest. Silhouetted trees line the lower foreground. Behind them, other trees are bathed in misty morning light. A poem by Odjick spans the work. It begins: “Under a sky that hangs like a blue blanket above, an open canvas stretching as far as the eye can see, hear the rush of the rivers.”
Odjick’s drawing and poem entice you, like the Pied Piper, to enter the forest. By contrast, Pien’s Medusa is more foreboding.
Marigold Santos, “woven talisman (magic hour),” 2014
charcoal and pastel on Japanese paper, 55" x 31" (courtesy the artist and Norberg Hall, Calgary)
There definitely is a conversation between the various drawings of trees, including Emily Carr’s ethereal forested Glade and House, and the talisman series by Marigold Santos, a Calgary artist who creates magical charcoal and pastel drawings of woven materials that dangle from thin broken tree branches, seemingly hung by a sorcerer. Santos further expands the term “drawing” by offering plinths topped by ceramics: She has drawn on the plates and bowls.
Other dialogues abound between dozens of works by some of Canada’s most renowned artists and pieces by eight mostly BIPOC contemporary artists. As a text panel explains, the show is an experiment. But does it work?
Eight curators, including three from the gallery, each chose one contemporary Canadian artist to converse with drawings by a Who’s Who of 20th-century Canadian art harvested from the gallery’s collection, which holds some 13,720 drawings.
Artists selected from the collection include Ronald Bloore, David Milne, Takao Tanabe, Betty Goodwin, Ron Martin, Frederick Varley, Faye HeavyShield, Ken Lochhead, Norval Morrisseau and Alex Janvier.
Ronald Bloore, “Untitled, September 3-5, 1982,” 1982
sumi ink on paper, 18" x 24" (Carleton University Art Gallery, gift of the artist, 1996; photo by Justin Wonnacott)
The eight contemporary artists are a diverse group. Along with Santos and Odjick, they are Gayle Uyagaqi Kabloona, Kablusiak, Mélanie Myers, Nalakwsis, Sharon Norwood and Jagdeep Raina. The curators are equally diverse: Heather Igloliorte, Alice Ming Wai Jim, Anna Khimasia, Alexandra Kahsenni:io Nahwegahbow, Kosisochukwu Nnebe and, from the Carleton gallery, Danielle Printup, Heather Anderson and Sandra Dyck.
Sometimes the conversations on the gallery walls are humorous. Calgary-based Inuvialuk artist Kablusiak has fun with cultural stereotypes by presenting spare, black ink drawings of Garfield, the cartoon cat, engaged in such activities as exiting an iglu or acting like a bucking bronco topped by a whip-wielding Inuk man. Beside the drawings are a series of austere, black-inked circles by Quebec artist Claude Tousignant. It is like watching a rambunctious and mischievous child seated beside prim and humorless relatives.
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“Drawing on Our History,” 2023, installation view at Carleton University Art Gallery, Ottawa (photo by Justin Wonnacott)
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“Drawing on Our History,” 2023, installation view at Carleton University Art Gallery, Ottawa (photo by Justin Wonnacott)
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“Drawing on Our History,” 2023, installation view at Carleton University Art Gallery, Ottawa (photo by Justin Wonnacott)
Drawing on Our History is an exhibition for everyone. Some visitors will want to see the historical art. Others will be more interested in the new faces. And yet others will be intrigued by the dialogues between old and new.
But sometimes the conversations are simply noise. Eight curators and dozens of artists, each with their own viewpoints, are a lot to absorb. Think of an orchestra where most of the instruments play different tunes. For some quiet solace, turn to the dreamy trees of Pien and Odjick. ■
Drawing on Our History at the Carleton University Art Gallery in Ottawa from Jan. 29 to May 7, 2023.
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Carleton University Art Gallery
St. Patrick’s Building, Carleton University 1125 Colonel By Drive, Ottawa, Ontario K1S 5B6