Fieldwork

I had time on the Thanksgiving weekend for an interesting observation.  Sitting at the edge of the field, I watched cars drive by the fieldwork site and slowdown to a crawl or stop completely on the road to view the work, but only a fraction of those people actually got out of their cars to walk around the field.

I have no idea why this was happening.  And what made it even stranger was that the majority of these drive by viewers were on the autumn artist studio tour in the area, so they had to have some interest in seeing art that day. 

Did they think it was private property?  Is roadside art like a billboard?  Is it a car culture thing?  Was everyone on a tight schedule touring studios? Did they see me lurking in the trees and get scared?

What do you think?  If you did the drive by thing, write me and tell me why.  Maybe it will inspire a future piece. - Chris G.

If you’ve never been to the Canadian arctic you might have the impression that it’s a barren land, and if you’ve only ever been in winter than you have reason to belive that’s true.  It’s certainly harsh in the winter, and the landscape is mostly white except for the few dots of black where the snow has been scoured off the rock by the wind.  However, in the summer the tundra comes to life, and throuh my work I’ve had the privledge of spending time on the land in July and August explaoring beautiful places like Southampton Island.

I decided to use Southampton Island as the conceptual location in my sculptures because during my travels I’ve seen so many different species of birds nesting and feeding there.  Whether it’s gulls, terns, or geese that you encounter in the summer months depends solely on what part of the island you visit.  Each species breeds in different landscapes, and the island is varied in topography and plant life  to offer many birds their ideal locations for raising their young.  The picture above, of snow geese, was taken near the town of Coral Harbour.

Click on these images to enlarge them.  Both of these photos were taken in an area called Duke of York Bay.  It’s a large bay by southern Ontario standards, but because the view is not blocked by trees it’s possible to see most of the bay from a single vantage point.  One the west side of the bay the land is flat and dominated by limestone beaches and sedge/grass vegitation.  This is where I saw huge flocks of geese - too numerous to even guess at the numbers.  On the eastern side of the bay the land rises up dramatically.  The rocks here are grey or red, and black and orange lichens cover the surfaces.  In the picture on the right you can see the nesting birds on the cliffs.

 Places like this have only a short season to give life to the birds and to take on the beauty of arctic plant life in full bloom.  Some of the local Inuit residents that I’ve worked with say that they’ve seen signs of change in these environments - the seasons are longer, the plants are growing larger and new plants are now seen here.  It’s such a beautiful place and it’s vital to understand the impacts that changing climate could have on the life cycles of people, plants, animals and birds. 

Next week I’m giving a talk on the plants and landscapes of the island to the horticulture society in Almonte Ontario.  The talk is under the theme "Inspired by arctic landscapes", but along with this message of beauty is the cautionary note that some of the plants that I have photographed my be under threat from changes in their environment.  But I enjoy the beauty too, and this place continues to inspire me. - Chris G.

Hello out there! I just wanted to let you all know that Chris Grosset will be present from 2-4pm on Monday in the Field in case anyone would like to take a lovely autumn drive to the FIELDwork site to see his work ‘migra-scoping‘ (see map in links page).  

Another reason to venture forth is to experience the Perth Autumn Studio Tour of which, yours truly (Susie) is part (studio 2, on the south side of the Fieldwork site).  The Studio Tour runs all of Thanksgiving Weekend (October 11, 12 & 13) between 10:00 am - 5:00 pm.  Hey, you can get to see what I do when I’m not a ‘fieldworker’!  

For more information about the artists and locations on the studio tour, check out www.perthstudiotour.com.  Hope to see you here in a few days!   - Susie O.

Photo by D. Richens

periscope is the last in the trio of sculptures set on the pathway at the fieldwork site.  The periscope viewing portal hangs down from a large green bowl resting on a trestle.  From a distance, the structure refrences the trees surrounding the field and structural foundations for buildings.  The bowl measures just over four feet diameter and the sloped sides of the bowl prevent you from seeing its contents from the ground.

The field that these sculptures occupy is large, and with this sculpture I wanted to transport you up to a bird sancutary on Southampton Island in Nunavut.  Looking in the periscope lense requires you to focus on the distant images of the world that is depicted in the bowl above your head.  The relationship to the field you’re standing in should change as you enter the intimate environment on display inside periscope.  In the photo above you can just see a faint image of what is visible inside the lense of the periscope.  In person, the image is much clearer, and the periscope turns 360 degrees to allow you to explore the entire landscape inside the bowl.  For those of you that can’t make it to the fieldwork site, I’m going to share some images from inside the bowl.

Using photos from my past trips on Southampton Island, I tried to capture the feeling of the landscape in the northern part of the island called Duke of York Bay.  This area around the bay has flat tundra with grey limstone rock running up against ancient precambrian hills that are reddish brown in colour.  The rocks here are covered in both orange and black lichens.  Many species of birds nest here, taking advantage of the variety of nesting sites to suit each species.

The landscape inside the bowl was carved by chainsaw to capture differing textures of this area, and then it was painted in muted colours.  The pictures capture a much wider image of the landscape inside the bowl than can be seen when viewing the piece through the periscope lense.  Although I’m happy to share this insiders view with you, it is only by looking at the piece in the field that the proper sense of distance between the eastern Ontario location of fieldwork and the world of the migratory birds in periscope is truly understood.  The sense of distance that is created by the lense is important to convey an understanding of the reach of climate change impacts in our environment, and how it may push species to places beyond our reach. 

Chris G.  

I’ve just returned from a quick trip up to Iqaluit Nunavut.  The day before my trip I took these pictures of microscope on a cool but sunny morning.  When I arrived in Iqaluit the next day there was snow already on the ground.  It shouldn’t have surprised me to see snow in the arctic in September, but it did.  Perhaps I’ve been thinking about climate change too much while working on these sculptures.

microscope was the last of the three sculptures to move from concept into a sculptural form.  I sketched and resketched this image of an elongated "S" curve, and then one day I added legs to one of the sketches and the image of a dinosaur skeleton emerged. 

It seemed appropriate to build on this form when thinking about a future of environmental change and adaptation/extinction scenerios for species of birds.  Museums are full of the reconstructed bones of ancient creatures.  To give the sculpture a structure, I found six dead cedar trees standing at the edge of a friends farm field.  I cut two of these tress into equal length sections, then I notched each log and bolted them back together to form the spine of the sculpture.  The other trees have gentle curves and were set aside for the legs.  For the head and tail of the creature, I carved two spheres from laminated cedar 4x4 using my chainsaw.  The spheres are oriented north/south in the field.  The sphere closest to the ground is on the south end and it contains the microscope lense.  This sphere represents eastern Ontario. 

The surface is a natural, lightly burnt finish.  Looking through the lense…well, I’m not going to tell you what you’ll see.  Maybe I’ll write about it later.  At the openning of migra-scopes several people wanted me to explain this piece, particularily what they saw through the lense.  I couldn’t answer their requests that day because the answer seemed so obvious to me.  If I explained it, would they be satisfied with my answer?

At the head of the great beast is a sphere painted in layers of blue.  This sphere, oriented to the north, represents the arctic (more specifically Southampton Island).  The surface of this globe is covered with small ceramic birds.  I pinched each bird from white clay (I made 250 in total for use in the three sculptures).  From a distance the birds are meant to give the impression of clouds (as if seeing our Earth from space).  Each bird is unique.  On Southampton Island I’ve seen huge flocks of snow geese, but I wasn’t thinking about any particular species of bird when I made these pieces.  These white birds represent all migratory birds.

This is a big sculpture.  I haven’t measured it’s height yet, but despite its narrow skeleton, it has a big presence in the field.  I’m looking forward to hearing what you think about this one - what did you see in the microscope lense?  What else do you think is going on in this piece?  Send me a comment.

I’ll write about periscope next time.  - Chris G.

(photo by D. Richens)

A telescope is a tool for exploration, and looking inside this sculpture takes you into a completely different world.  Looking inside telescope you’ll catch a glimpse of migratory birds heading into a northern sky.  Carved from cedar trees, the piece is an assemblage of parts that reference the public telescopes that you can see at tourist locations around Ontario, such as Niagara Falls. 

Telescopes offer you a glimspe of distant objects.  Inside telescope a flock of ceramic birds fly away from you.  The sculpture is pointing towards Southampton Island in Nunavut.  This island has two large migratory bird sanctuaries and it’s the location that inspired the interior landscape of telescope and periscope.  During a visit to Southampton Island one summer I spotted a huge flock of breeding snow geese on the tundra.  The flock was so large that at first glance I thought I was looking a a massive snow bank.  As we tried to move closer to the birds they kept moving away from us, drifting as a mass across the land. It was an impressive sight, and although we never got close enough to see the individual geese, the image of that flock hasn’t been forgotten.

 Susie O sets her sights on the flock

Each of the sculptures in the migra-scoping installation has been influenced  by my experiences in northern Canada, and by my enjoyment of visiting museums and tourist sites where dioramas depict scenes of far away places or historical events. 

telescope references these influences.  The sculpture places the viewer and birds at at opposite ends of the painted scene depicted in this diorama, giving the impression that this is the last glimpse the viewer will have of these birds before they fly noth and out of sight.  This expresses the loss that we in the southern part of Canada may experience if climate change results in some birds staying in the arctic year round.   But the north offers these birds a haven, and telescope is also intended to get us to think about the importance of protecting these northern breeding grounds.  Perhaps viewing these birds only at a distance will help them to adapt to the changing environment.

For another glimpse inside telescope, check out the photos under the blog entry "installing the migra-scopes".

That’s all for today - Chris G.

September 14th was a great day!  The installation of the three sculptures went smoothly, and we had a good turn out that afternoon for the viewing of the new work.  Let me introduce you to the three sculptures:

    telescope                   microscope                  periscope

I’m going to write about each sculpture individually on the blog, but the three pieces were concieved as a unit.  The concept behind the work is that each viewing contraption looks into a future in which climate change has warmed the arctic and migratory birds can stay in the north all year long.  The idea began when I read an article on how birds may adapt to climate change.  I have seen large flocks of birds breeding in the arctic during my summer travels in Nunavut.  I also enjoy seeing those flocks of birds travel through Ontario during spring and fall on the annual migration.  Each of the three sculptures investigate how our relationship to these migratory birds could change in the future. 

I’ve got some great photos of these sculptures to share with you.  These photos were taken by a visitor during the openning, Dominic Richens.  If you’ve visited the fieldwork site and have pictures of the migra-scopes, please send them to our email address - I’d love to see them.  -Chris G.