Bearing Witness exhibition

The Bearing Witness art exhibition opening on Friday, 3 November 2006, is the second group show in Fredericton this autumn to which I’m a contributing artist. It feels more that a little odd that I won’t be at the opening or affiliated activities, and won’t see it hung in the gallery. Maybe ironic is a better word. Guess it keeps me somewhat invisible, or just another reclusive artist.

[Just though this morning that the “cold” room in my Senta flat—with it’s bare walls, not finished cement floor, and an absence of direct sunlight except in mid-late afternoon—might make a good painting studio. But do I want to try and commit paintings here?]

My contributions to the Bearing Witness include the contents of five-cartons of my art journals from 1983 to 2006. I will be surprised to see how they get installed (presented, displayed) outside-of-the-box by lori p morse but I am looking forward to it.

Several “casemate poems” wall pieces written and created during my 2005 Fredericton Arts Alliance short-term artist residency and the Art Trek weekend will also be installed.

At one point I had created a group blog for Bearing Witness. Some of us though that it would be a useful thing, instead of daisy-chained emails, to use to share communication, images, thoughts, and planning. Would have been great since we are a geographically-scattered collective based in Fredericton, New Brunswick. Vita teaches in North Carolina, Paula was with her husband on his sabbatical for half of this year in Sweden, Scotland and elsewhere (17 different places in northwestern Europe) and I came to Eastern Europe in late August. We could post from wherever we had internet access. Didn’t work that way because of different levels of computer savvy (not that blogging needs much knowhow), pop-ups blocking on gov. school Macs, time, etc. . . . The Bearing Witness blog it didn’t come together as anticipated so I reluctantly scrapped that potential collective documentation contribution.

Emails, a few lunchtime meetings at NBCCD, and potluck planning and sharing meetings for those of us in Fredericton, were what we used to create this mostly installation-based art exhibition. During the almost yearlong process, the seven of us were physically together only once . . . on 16 August of this year . . . for another potluck get-together. At one point, I seriously thought that I was going to need to bow out of participating because I wouldn’t be in Fredericton. Turns out that I’m not the only one in the collective who will not be there.

Best wishes to one and all artists in Bearing Witness. Thanks to Maria Maltais and her staff for having us and this art exhibit in the gallery of the University of New Brunswick Arts Centre. Thanks also to Jennifer Pazienza for her contribution to next week’s panel discussion. I would love to know what she says about our varied arts practices and the work in the show. I so want to see how everything by everyone has come together. Can’t wait to see the catalogue, and photographs.

T-shirt: Joe Canada
loc: Topartska 23A
temp: 3 C
sound: barking dogs, a rooster, a train whistle