This is the university in St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada where I did the MSc in Physics between September 1975 and March 1978 and is the source of the artefacts in my work. I am writing this post to the gallery (and maybe to the library as well) to gauge their interest in my work.
The Initial Post to VISA
I am a Brock alumnus ( 756627D), having graduated in 1978 with an MSc in Physics.
I was captain of the Brock rugby team in 1975 and 1977.
Currently I am halfway through a MA in Fine Arts at the Open College of the Arts in the UK, and the basis of my work there is the slice of my life during my MSc at Brock and how my memories of it were evoked and how they change with time and are filtered by life experiences.
Themes
The themes of my present work are:
- artefacts evoking and representing memories
- a collection of artefacts from a slice of time
- how memories change with the passage of time and life experience
- the close observation of ordinary artefacts (influenced by the work of Georges Perec)
My Practice
Composites
I scan and/or photograph the artefacts, so I have a digital representations of them and also some original analogue photos of that time. I make digital composites of chosen images, by taking selections of them, and the resulting composite represents a jumble of memories of that time period. Afterwards I may add acrylic paint, via a gel plate, and/or a collage of acrylic ink/paint on tissue paper.
Extraction Poetry
I use pages from my Brock MSc thesis, which is written in a formal scientific fashion, and try to extract new, interesting meanings from it. Again I use acrylic paint via a gel plate and collage paper to complete the image.
Cubism
I am also experimenting with a sort of cubism. Braque and Picasso sometimes combined views of a subject from different angles, or several scenes of a moving subject in one two-dimensional image. I’m trying to build on my composite work by bringing together several original composites into a single image, maybe representing how some parts of memories solidify, other parts are forgotten and others come into focus.
Origin of my MA work
At the beginning of my MA I was looking for something in my attic and found a shabby, old wallet inside a battered cardboard box.
I didn’t remember this slim wallet and at first I thought it was empty, but there were quite a few pieces of paper and other objects inside. I took out one piece of paper and casually looked at it. I didn’t initially recognise it, but then I saw the words “Glenridge Physics” and “Security Guard” and the memories came flooding back. Late nights in a windowless laboratory, tuna and onion sandwiches (and Herschey bars) from a vending machine, preparing gold single crystals (shades of alchemy), days spent punching cards for the mainframe computer, followed by rugby training …
Pandora’s Box
The cardboard box, affectionately called ‘Pandora’s Box’, held a lot more artefacts from that slice of my life, 1975-78, with short tails from before and after, mainly letters from family girlfriends, university correspondence, etc. I have some other objects relevant to Brock too around my home; a large beer stein, a ‘most outstanding’ rugby trophy, photos a moustache cup, various photos, etc.
Archiving
In my MA Fine Art work I have documented some of these artefacts, mainly by scanning or photography, and am still contemplating appropriate ways to archive them. At present most of them reside in drawers of a chest.
Use of Artefacts
I have used some of these photos and scans to make composites and collages. These composites represent my jumbled memories of a slice of my life at Brock, and how the memories distort, collapse and reform over time. Currently I’m experimenting with Cubism with the view to combining it with my composite work, since the cubist technique also fragments and distorts conventional images to have multiple views of a subject in one image.
Request
I wonder if your gallery or Brock library would be interested in my work and its relevance to life at Brock and the function of memory? I would be very interested in discussing some form of an exhibition and/or talk, if it were possible.
Department of Visual Arts location
Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts
15 Artists’ Common
St. Catharines, ON
Room: MW 328
Phone: 905 688 5550 x3214
Email: visualarts@brocku.ca
(message emailed on 18th October 2023)
