nonsite

I can remember a moment as an art student, that I saw myself as an artist. It was December 1975, I was in Richards Jarden’s Projects class and we were each making an artwork for an end of semester exhibition in the Anna Leonowens Gallery and probably only up for a few days. I remember my intentions were to make work using bought materials from unusual but common sources.

I bought a ten inch, rawhide dog ‘chew’ from a pet store that I attached to the top of a thin, four foot dowel (purchased at a hardware store in Scotia Square) with a narrow length of electricians tape. The dog chew was painted grey and the dowel was white. I leaned it against the wall and looked a bit like a fireworks flare. I was very pleased with how it was made, my choice of materials and how it was finished and installed. I knew it was a smart object. It related to a desire to make art new again using unassuming materials at a modest scale in new configurations for the viewer to apprehend as fresh. I knew this work had an audience of peers and I now see how those values related to an imagined community of artists as a part of the contemporary artworld.

In 1976 I intuitively felt that I knew enough to make a contribution to the field. I was making work that were not only unique, but original and they were recognized as such. By 1977 I was being asked to exhibit in a number of different galleries in a few different cities. The work was getting recognition and press- it was of its time, yet also timeless; part of a larger history of artwork that not only was being made then, but referred to a larger history of contemporary art. That was a defining moment when I realized that I was an artist. I knew that I could make a contribution.