Scaling Up for an Installation

Several months ago I bought a lovely sketchbook and some new fountain pens and have filled it almost exclusively with line drawings of Wolfe and Simcoe Islands.

There was no plan, other than a sort of fixation with the islands and the village of Marysville in particular and faith that it would lead to something else.  Along the way, I joined the Wolfe Island Gallery, which is an artists co-operative in the village, again with no clear idea of just what I would display.  When word came through that the Gallery would not physically open this summer, a purpose for the drawings

occurred to me, as I had hoped it might.

In the absence of the Gallery, I decided to redraw the little sketches on 3' x 4' sheets of durable tyvek and lace those as banners along the main street of Marysville.  This is also the prompt I needed to do much larger, stand-alone pieces, which will be better suited to exhibition than my tiny little bound sketchbook, not to mention omit the seam of the 2 page spreads.

The photos are of my tiny 6" x 9" sketchbook,

selecting from photocopies which sketches to re-draw and a 3' x 4' test enlargement.

Portraitography on Wolfe Island

I heard about this interesting interactive art project by chance and really wanted to see it in action.  Besides that, it was a reason to ride the ferry from Kingston over to Marysville on Wolfe Island.

The project involves enlisting local people to interview others - the format is to have a conversation and make some transparent overlays profiling the person's photograph ...a a sort of portrait/biography in a nutshell.

The venue was the Wolfe Island Gallery, which was a good choice given both the space and the welcoming mix of old islanders and newer "creatives". When I showed up and started sketching, no one noticed as they were so engaged in their conversatations.

There are 3 other locations  planned which contrast highly urban and more traditional and remote communities.  There will a be a touring show of all of the locations and it will be a sociologist's dream to analyse the differences, but I'm guessing, the commonalities of those Canadians.