What is a Curatorial Smack Down?

The Challenge:
Using work from the Gallery Lambton Permanent Collection "out-curate" the opponents.

The Objectives:
1. To learn more about curating.
2. To learn more about the collection.
3. To de-mistify the curatorial process for our community.

The Questions:
1. How do collections produce meaning?
2. How do curators produce meaning?
3. How does meaning of the work and of the exhibition shift?

The Process:
1. The Smack Down will take place over two 3 day periods:
Round 1 - July 26, 27 & 28
Round 2 - August 3, 4 & 5.
2. Using work from the permanent collection; select, place, inform and defend your
choice.
3. In response to your opponent; select, place, inform and defend your choice.
4. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat.
5. On day 6, each contender, in addition to their final selection, has the option to
switch or replace one work from the exhibition.
6. Discuss, critique, share and enjoy the process and the exhibition.

DAY 1 - Round 1 - Preparing the space

The first thing we had to do today was finish preparing the walls. There was no time between the striking of the last exhibition and the start of the smack down so we find ourselves having to live with the existing wall color.

The karmic coffee tin

Work in the permanent collection is stored in map drawers, on racks, in solander boxes and on shelves. The gallery registrar put the locations of the work into a coffee tin and each contender selected (by chance) the location that would determine the body of work from which they would make their first selection. Coincidentally, Darryn and Lisa selected a map drawer and Cam a solander box meaning that all works in Round 1 would be works on paper.

Making the first selection

Cam begins his consideration of the prints that are stored in Solander box #6. It just so happens they are all by the same artist, Hugh Mackenzie.

Mackenzie is a Canadian artist, who's practice swings between figurative and industrial abstractions. This self described painter-etcher, also retired from a long career as an art educator. Mackenzie taught at Ontario Collage of Art, the Art Gallery of Ontario, H.B. Beal Secondary School, the London Public Library and Art Museum, and interestingly for the Sarnia Art Association, in 1966.

In a Curatorial Smackdown, the first choice is often the most difficult because there is no real framework within which to make your decision. Other than maybe the color of the walls, the other exhibition in the gallery or the piece you react to the most intensely, either positively or negatively.

Solander box #6 contained several small prints of differing examples of Mackenzie's reoccurring content. Two figurative prints stood out among the others, Cam chose a small aquatint (5 1/16" x 3 11/16") entitled Seated Figure, 2001. Seated Figure illustrates Mackenzie's use of contrast and ability to carve out a figure that embodies its own emotive abstraction, as the lines that make the image hold the emotion of the figures posture.

This relationship between image and process is described by Andrea Green, a student of Mackenzie's, who wrote the essay in our catalogue for a show titled The Etchings of Hugh Mackenzie in the Collection of Gallery Lambton. Unfortunately the catalogue contains no dates for the show, but Cam gathered from Gallery staff that it was somewhere between 2002 and 2005. In the catalogue essay, Green sources years of letter correspondence and presents it as a personal letter, addressed to her a mentor, Mackenzie. She admires,

“In your new affinity for light, you discovered energy and found the immateriality of matter and the ability to disolve substance. I can think of no more difficult alchemy than to coax light out of zinc, yet your action on the etching plate produces this transmutation.”

There's an irony, but also a logical progression, to hanging this first selection in the same gallery as the just closed ArtOP: Gallery Lambton's Instructors Show. Smack Down II is turning out to be a very educational experience.

Making the first selection

Darryn begins his consideration of the work available to him in map drawer #11.

After we each picked a location out of the karmic coffee tin, it was clear that we would all be selecting works on paper. There is nothing wrong with this... on a normal day. Today our gallery registrar and in-house framer, Shelly Mallon, was out of the office. This meant that the framing was up to us curators. Again, normally there is nothing wrong with this. However, after my top three picks from that location couldn't find a frame to fit with the matting that was with it, I decided that I would have to wait for Day 2 when Shelly would be able to cut me a new matte to fit a frame.

It is things like this little hiccup that most people don't think about once a show is finalized and opened for public viewing. By that time, everything that needs a frame will have one and these presentation concerns are less visible. It was a fitting start to the Smackdown though; these sort of things are issues to consider when a curator is going through any permanent collection. This initial experience, in my Smackdown debut, left me with a mixed impression. On one hand, I wanted to stick to my initial decision and choose the work that I felt was my strongest first choice. Weighing against that was the desire to have my work hung and properly displayed by the end of day one. In the end, I got to keep my initial choice.

Storage is obviously very important for an issue like this. It is not practical (or possible) to keep everything in its own dedicated frame. Because of this, much of the paper-based works are kept in these map drawers and solander bins. They are all maintained inside a matte (of better or worse condition) and they all have an archival (acid-free) piece of tissue paper on the surface of the image. These conditions are necessary to maintain paper-based artworks for long periods of time without deterioration or discoloration.

Anyways, as my two competitors waged on with fitting frames, I was left to wait until the next day. All that was left for Day 1 was to gather research on my choice, Donald Harvey.

Day 1: Don Harvey

Darryn settled on a serigraph (silkscreen print) by Don Harvey entitled Off Centre, 1966. The dimensions are 18" x 17".

Donald Harvey was born in Walthamstow, England in 1930. Harvey then taught in Wales, Sicily, and Spain before immigrating to Vancouver, Canada in 1958. He is now a Member of the Royal Canadian Academy and retired as a Professor of Fine Art at the University of Victoria, where he taught drawing, painting, and printmaking. He completed his National Diploma of Painting and Design at the West Sussex College of Art in 1950 and in 1951 he completed his Art Teacher's Diploma at the Brighton College of Art.

This print was purchased from The Print Gallery in Victoria which served as a vehicle for contemporary artists like Jack Shadbolt and Tony Onley who were also working in non- representational compositions. This is an interesting relationship for Gallery Lambton since we also have some work by Shadbolt in our collection. I also see a connection to artists like Guido Molinari who had a keen interest in the surface of a work of art. As the shapes overlap and intertwine with one another, a deep sense of surface is developed. This becomes filled with tension in certain areas of the print as the bottom layers optically fight their way back to the top.

In reference to English art critic Walter Pater, Harvey was quoted as saying that all the arts aspire to the condition of music. “Music comes to you, but you have to go to a painting. A painting requires imagination and involvement to make the body and intellect respond in a lively way.” [Vancouver Sun, April 11, 2010]. There seems to be a kinetic energy built into this print. The colours are very consistent in their value, so that when there is an edge between two colours, certain instability develops. Between this use of colour and the forms themselves, the image retains energy. In this way, we can think of the work of Wassily Kandinsky whose work tried to take us on a physical and mental trip.

As his later work attests to, Harvey gradually accepted a tendency toward landscape, and the role of nature in our lives. More accurately though, Harvey was interested in the effects of mans’ intrusion and intended control of that landscape, colliding the geometric with the organic.

Don Harvey is represented in many Canadian galleries including the National Gallery of Canada, Musee d'art contemporain de Montreal, Albright-Knox Art Gallery in Buffalo, Seattle Art Museum, and the Canada Council Art Bank along with many private collections. He has been actively exhibiting since 1951.

Discussing the placement

Lisa ended up choosing the first work she saw when she opened the drawer. The work is a serigraph (silkscreen print) by John Boyle entitled Northern Landscape, 1976 (17" x 24"). It's interesting to note that a different work by Boyle (a painting entitled Vincent) was Daniels first choice in the first curatorial smack down as well, although the reasons for making the choice are quite different.

Boyle is a London Ontario artist who was very involved in the artist run centre/London arts movement back in the 1960s. Boyle has an interesting tie to Sarnia. During his career he submitted a painting into a group show at the London Museum but his painting, that of himself, naked in a chair, was considered to risqué. Since he was denied admittance to the show, all of his friends pulled their pieces out of the show in protest. The shows next stop was in Sarnia where all of the pieces were displayed, including the Boyle.

The reason Daniels chose Boyle in the first Smack Down was because she had a lot of difficulty with his work and wanted to set up a situation where she was forced to consider it more seriously. As a curator in a public institution, one must often separate themselves from works that they are naturally drawn to and consider all works in the collection with equal rigor.

It was not a surprise to Daniels that when she opened the drawer this time round, the Boyle presented itself to her. Boyle is a strong nationalist, at times to the point of being almost anti-American. Questions regarding the Group of Seven, national identity, the Canadian landscape and national pride are inescapable if you're a curator in a Canadian public art gallery that has works by the Group in their collection.

The permanent collection exhibition currently up in the gallery next door includes work by the Group of Seven, so to have the opportunity to place Northern Landscape within close proximity to the work by the Group will, at least for awhile, allow us to consider how the influences of and mythologies created by the work of the Group have been addressed by other contemporary Canadian Artists.

The fact that the title is Northern Landscape, and the image is a portrait of a white male Cowboy and an Aboriginal male, sets up a number of questions and challenges for the viewer, particularly within the context of Canada's social and cultural histories, national identity, and the grip of the Group. It's too early to tell how this piece will relate within the overall exhibition as all the pieces are quite small, very different and have not been hung in relation to each other. We'll see what day 2 brings...

Day 1 - Visual re-cap

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Harvey, Donald
Off Centre, 1966
Serigraph, 27 3/4" x 21"
Purchased with funds from the Sarnia Industries, 1968

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MacKenzie, Hugh
Seated Figure, 2001
Aquatint, 5 1/16" x 3 11/16"
Gift of Artist, 2001

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Boyle, John
Northern Landscape, 1976
Serigraph, 17" x 24"
Gift from the collection of Jeffrey and Beverly Lipson, 2005

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The walls were still looking pretty bare after the first day. There didn't seem to be much happening between the works or in the space. Day 2 could prove to be challenging for our curatorial contenders.

DAY 2 - Shelly is Back !!

Day 2 starts off with a sigh of relief as Shelly, the gallery registrar and framer, returns to work. This was especially helpful since both Lisa and Darryn pull another map drawer out of the karmic coffee tin.







Shelly and Lisa discuss the framing options for her second selection.




Shelly keeps a close eye on Darryn.


Cam, although he got to choose from a rack, the piece he chose required some framing "touch ups".

Day 2 - The curse of the Map Drawers

I must say I was quite disappointed to have pulled another map drawer location out of the karmic coffee tin. I was feeling 'underwhelmed' by the overall results at the end of the first day and was hoping to be able to jumpstart the energy in the room with a nice big, juicy painting. No such luck!

There was not much that offered any inspiration on this particular morning until I got to the bottom of the drawer and saw Bob Bozak's Study for Paul Henderson for Firestone. I was a little shocked by feelings of nostalgia when I saw that hockey player's face starring back at me. (did i say that?!) I had limited time to make the selection and didn't want to overthink it so, because I could easily make connections to the obvious theme of Canadian identity and nationalism that linked to the Boyle from the previous day, I chose it. I decided to just ignore Cam and Darryn's selections at this point and follow my own "game plan".

I found it interesting to consider the theme of hockey and art and Canadianism, particularly given the recent exhibitions that deal with a hockey theme like the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia's Arena: The Art of Hockey and the artists who have been using hockey imagery in their work like Diana Thorneycroft and Brian Jungen (to name only two). Is it to try and loosen the 'grip of the Group' on Canadian contemporary artists whose practice includes working with questions of identity? Is it a strategy to attract the hockey crowd into the gallery? Questions to ponder.

Bozak studied at the Alberta College of Art in the 1960s and received his MFA from York University in the mid 1980s. Given the work that we have in our collection, I was surprised to discover that he is first and foremost an accomplished ceramic artist with a number of sculptural works addressing the hockey theme in public collections. I was further surprised to discover his connection to the 1960s London art scene and his more recent invovlement with Burst: Outward Sound and Vision Festival in London in 2006.

A gap in our collection policy and protocols revealed itself. The eight works in our collection by Bozak came to us through a gernerous gift from Dawn Johnson of London, Ontario in 1992. The works all date between 1972 and 1982 and consist of paintings and drawings as well as the finished Paul Henderson piece below.

Bolzak, Robert
Paul Henderson for Firestone, 1972
Mixed Media, 26 3/8 diameter
Gift of Dawn Johnston, London, Ontario, 1992

Other than a permanent collection file that documents the gift, we have no artist file, no information about the work, his practice or his contact information. A mechanism that would allow us to track an artists practice and stay engaged in the career developments of an 'artist of interest' is necessary - as is a mechanism to identify 'artists of interest'.

Lisa

Day 2: Jessie Oonark

Jessie Oonark (1906-1985)
Inuk Catching a Bird (1981)
No. 12, 1981 Baker Lake Catalogue
Lithograph, printed by Martha Noah
(26" x 35")
Gallery Lambton: Purchased 1987

With Day 2 comes a real beginning to the Smackdown, as we have each made our first selections and therefore have something to curate against. By this, I mean that there is space taken up on the walls so that our freedom to put our selections anywhere in the gallery is already shrinking. Additionally, different themes (content, colour, composition, etc.) are starting to emerge, giving a springboard to launch our second selections.

The mixed feelings that I felt going through map drawer 11 from yesterday turned to excitement as he looked through map drawer 12 for Day 2. Right away, two different possibilities jumped out at me: one in response to Cameron's initial pick and the other in response to Lisa's. In a situation like this, I turned to research to help ensure the best possible selection. This was not only considering formal aspects of the work, but how the work advances or alters some of the thematic qualities being picked up from Day 1.

One of these thematic concerns seems to be the idea of nationality, and in particular, what it means to be Canadian and how artists deal with representing that. In a gallery like ours, with an extensive Group of Seven catalogue in our permanent collection, this theme is a no-brainer to consider. However, I hope that this decision will throw a bit of a curve-ball at my two competitors as there is such a small contingency of Inuit artists being represented in our collection. Of these, we are lucky enough to have a Jessie Oonark, one of the most prolific and most respected of the Baker Lake artists to work in Canada's rugged north.

Oonark holds many accolades for her work. In 1973, she became a member of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts, a distinction that she shares with my first selection, Donald Harvey. She designed the stamp for the United Nations Habitat Conference in 1976, and in 1984, Oonark became an Officer of the Order of Canada. Her work can be found in the collections of: Musee d'art contemporain de Montreal, Art Gallery of Ontario, University of British Columbia, McMichael Canadian Art Collection, National Gallery of Canada, Edmonton Art Gallery, and many more.

The reason that I consider this decision to be a curve-ball is that with such a small contingency of Inuit artists in the collection, it is highly unlikely that a future selection will share a common history with Oonark. In this way, my selection stands to represent a piece of 'Canadianism' in stark contrast to the Northern Landscape offered by Lisa's first selection. Oonarks' work, like much of the Inuit art being produced, strove to represent everyday activities of life in Baker Lake. Her inclusion in a major exhibition at the Art Gallery of Ontario entitled "The People Within", focussing on Baker Lake artists, seems to indicate her place within Canada. While it is surely a foreign way of life to many Canadians, it is undoubtedly a part of Canada and what it would mean to be Canadian, at least in part.

Darryn

Positioning and Hanging

As Cam was considering the location for his 'Day 2' selection he noticed out of the corner of his eye that his first piece stood the risk of being overpowered by the Bob Bozak sketch Lisa chose as her second selection.
(note: Lisa uses the terminology- overpowered, to refer to her moving selection 1, almost off the wall to make room for her selection 2, not the fear that Mackenzie's Seated figure wont hold up against her choice of Bozaks sketch.)



Unwilling to change her mind so early in the match, Lisa agreed to enter into a negotiation with Cam to facilitate a better relationship between the two works - and to convey her good sense of sportsmanship!


A compromise was reached, but not without Cam getting in the last jab! (the measuring tape never lies - Cam)




Darryn helps Lisa hang her selection.

Day 2 - Tony Tascona, Quarter Cycle, 1968

Being the First to draw from a rack, there were, both paintings and framed prints to choose from, while Cam hesitated to choose the first work that engaged him, upon research it seemed to fit best. This was a painting by Tony Tascona entitled Quarter Cycle, 1968.

Tony Tascona was born in St. Boniface, Manitoba in 1926, and later studied at the Winnipeg School of Art as well as the University of Manitoba School of Fine Arts. His style, like that of Hugh Mackenzie, was informed by technique. Tascona worked as a metal processing technician for Air Canada, which began his attraction to industrial materials and process. Similarly Mackenzie worked as a technical artist working on the Avro Arrow, which informed his style on the side of his practice of depicting industrial themes. For both, technique is of the utmost importance, as their practice is heavily involved with the investigations of process.

Tascona's work developed into what we see in Quarter Cycle, only after his short stay in Montreal where he discovered an affinity to Neo-Plasticien artists such as Guido Molinari. Upon his return to Winnipeg, Tascona's work gradually surprised the textural, and like Darryn's first choice by Don Harvey entitled Off Centre,1966, started to deal with surface. It was not important to Tascona to represent anything, nor to inspire anything specific in the viewer; he wished his images to be seen as an "absolute shape". "With my paintings, I take a thought and make it into a physical reality. And if you want to add the metaphysical, that's your business. But I really feel this type of art doesn't have to be explained. It just has to be looked at and discovered." (Quoted by Patrick Flynn, "To Live Off Art is Not Easy," Winnipeg Tribrune, 4 October 1975)

There seems to be a lot of ties to the Up Close and Personal exhibits the Gallery has been doing over the past year. The influence of Molinari, who's Quantificateur, is showing now in Up Close and Personal III, but also that of the influence, of one's instructor, as Tascona studied under Joe Plaskett, whose Table at night was shown in the Up Close and Personal II Exhibition. Though, neither of these examples truly illustrates these influences as Plaskett's would have informed Tascona's earlier work, and Molinari's was created decades after his work would have influenced Tascona.

The curators discussed how these works related to each other within the collection, and whether there had been some intension in building a collection this way. It was considered that these coincidences might emerge out of Canadian art history because of its relatively small scope, and that rather than a tactical collecting mandate; our past has, luckily, been fortunate. It seems more likely that, similar to our acquisitions of group of seven works, we have been lucky enough in the past to purchase some contemporary work, affordably, in small steps, gaining examples of these artists. By no means is the collection developed enough to celebrate one artist's whole practice, but in their selected works from specific periods, the relations to each other could offer an exciting exhibition of the sentiment in different Canadian art movements.

Day 2 - Conversation & Rationale

Cam introducing his choice and defending it's placement and rationale for inclusion.

Darryn presenting the Oonark.

Careful consideration of the Oonark

Cam sharing insightful comments on how the impact of Darryn's first choice is changing in relation to the Bozak that was installed beside it.

More consideration of the Bozak wall in relation to the works on either side.

Lisa wonders what would happen if the Harvey was moved across the gallery and hung on the wall next to the Oonark, the Boyle and the Tascona. While Cam & Lisa feel the move supports the Harvey and pulls the wall together both aesthetically and conceptually, Darryn is not so sure. Too early to pull a switch. We'll wait and see what develops on Day 3.

By the end of Day 3 the room should begin to present one or two possible directions. There should be some evidence of an 'exhibition' forming. If not...Round 2 will be a grind!

Day 2 - Visual Re-Cap

Oonark, Jessie

Inuk Catching A Bird, 1981

Stencil, 44/50

41 5/16 x 29 5/8"

Gallery Lambton: Purchased, 1987

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Tascona, Tony

Quarter Cycle, 1968

Lacquer on Masonite

39 5/8" x 33 5/8"

Purchased with private funds and donations from the industries of Sarnia, 1968

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Bozak, Robert (Bob)

Study fo Paul Henderson for Firestone, 1972
Graphite on Paper
36 7/16" x 32 1/2"

Gift of Dawn Johnson, London, Ontario, 1992

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End of Day 2 and there a bit more of a realtionship between the works is developing...although, they are definitely two different walls. Almost like the curators are working on two separate exhibitions. It is still early in the bout, but there is no question that the curators have there work cut out for them.

Day 3: Karmic Coffee Tin Returns Some Love...

Today we all met in the gallery first thing in the morning to do our selections from the karmic coffee tin. Lisa drew yet another map drawer, Cam another solander case, and I got my wish to peruse the sculpture 1 storage area. It looks like another day of selecting works that have rarely (if ever) been in display at Gallery Lambton.

I am particularly interested to make this selection today. With a personal interest in sculpture, it is very exciting to be able to bring out a piece of art that many of us in the community have never seen before. To break into three dimensions will also be a good compliment with many of the other works chosen thus far that deal with different surface qualities and depth illusions.

It is good to remember that Gallery Lambton only has so much storage space at our current location! Sculpture takes up a lot of space, and because of that (and collecting directives of past curators) there is relatively few in the collection. As we gear up for our move up the street, it is interesting to think about what place sculpture has in our collection, how the mandate is defined with regards to future acquisitions of sculpture, and what role these pieces can play for/with the community. I would love to see a heightened energy toward the collection of more sculptural works, though practical space concerns alone might discourage that. (Besides, who am I to try and fight for more sculpture?!)

Darryn

Day 3-The Curse Continues

Day 3 and another Map drawer! By now I have resigned myself to my curatorial smackdown fate. Map drawer #5 is a drawer with about six John Boyle prints. My first choice in the first SmackDown was Boyle because I didn't like his work. Now I can't get away from him. So there was no other option but to face my fate head on and choose a Boyle. I thought it would also be an interesting opportunity to consider more than one work from the same artist in the show. We'll see.

Boyle is largely a self-taught artist. He is a painter, sculptor, film maker, teacher, lacrosse player and a member of the Nihilist Spasm Band. He was associated early on with Gret Curnoe and Jack Chambers as they initiated an artistic movement in London during the 1960s & 70s associated with one of Canada's first Artist Run Centres and the founding of CARFAC.


The print I chose was Shaganappi Point seen here in a mat and frame that are too small. Shelly will re-mat and re-frame it for me before I hang it. Shaganappi Point is referencing the Indians at the treaty signing at Shaganappi Point in Alberta, which is now located in downtown Calgary. Boyle commented to Gallery Lambton's previous curator, David Taylor that "I had done a series of works about Gabriel Dumont and the Riel Rebellion. In my research I found a pattern of the Black foot Indian's tepee. The fan shape is the pattern for the Blackfoot tepee. You can actually cut it out and fold it in to a tepee"

Shaganappi Point easily carried the Canadian identity and Aboriginal thread along (at least on the surface), as well as the aesthetic cohesiveness that was emerging in that end of the gallery. But now I'm inspired to do more research on Boyle and this particular time period and these specific prints. I will blog that research in as I am able.

It will be intersting to see the final layout of this wall and have the opportunity to really consider these works in relation to one another and within the context of the Gallery Lambton permanent collection.

Lisa

Day 3: Ronald Kustyniuk

Ronald Kostyniuk

Relief Structure, 1974

Paint on mixed substrate

50 ½ x 50 ½ x 8 in.

Gift of the Artist, 2006

Sculpture 1! It was great to see that location come my way from the karmic coffee tin. I have always seen these, a handful of three-dimensional works, waiting on the top shelf of the sculpture storage for their first exhibition. They were wrapped in plastic with bright, colorful, industrial looking forms growing out a solid square base. Even interesting in its bag on the shelf, it is great to now see one hanging on the wall.

The shapes remind me of crystalline growth in a cave: roughly rectangular volumes protruding at different angles from a stable base. The difference is that these shapes are colorful, immaculately painted, and animated through their placement on the base and their relationships to other colours around them. The impression of organic growth is suitable given the artists interest in the natural world. As Kostyniuk explains, “Color-form, as an extension into the real space of the viewer becomes a tangible entity – one which parallels, albeit crudely, the complexity and harmony of the colors and iridescences of nature’s infinitely beautiful world.” [University of Calgary exhibition catalogue, Feb. 24-Mar. 10, 1978]

This idea about the Color-form came up in an interesting way as we discussed each of our selections for the day. There is definitely a connection between the work of Kostyniuk and the more abstract canvasses that Lawren Harris was painting within the Group of Seven. The forms that Kostyniuk produced are directly influenced by natural forms, and informed by the colours and iridescences of that natural world. Harris was painting to relay a sense of place from these Canadian landscapes. The abstract forms that began to inhabit Harris’ later canvasses function in much the same way of Kostyniuks’ protruding shapes. The fact that Kostyniuk also holds a Masters degree in biology helps explain this deep connection with the natural world.

While at the University of Calgary, Kostyniuk came under the influence of Eli Bornstein, the main Canadian proponent of a new art movement known as Structuralism. Roughly, Structuralism was interested in systems of interrelated parts and believed that structures are the ‘real things’ that lie beneath the surface or appearance of meaning. In this mode of production, surfaces were highly polished and there was no sign of the artists’ hand to distract from the raw experiences of looking at the forms and being affected by the structure. Many of these considerations are similar to the print by Donald Harvey that I chose on Day 1. He too was influenced by the natural world around him, and had a very keen appreciation for the perceptual shifts of solid ‘Color-forms’ interacting with one another on the surface of the print.

This is a very strong work to include at this point of the exhibition, largely dominated by small to medium sized paper-based works thus far. I decided to try the work in the middle of the longest wall in the gallery space. On top of that, I made the decision to hang the work 6" higher than the 'standard' hanging height. There were a few reasons for this. One reason is that after day two, there were clearly two dominant themes emerging. The investigation into nationality was starting to take shape with a nice relationship developing amongst those works. These were starting to outweigh the abstract, color-dominated works, which I would like to see play-out further. By hanging this choice higher on the wall, it was a clear focal point. This work will hopefully rejuvenate the abstract portions of the exhibition while maintaining a tie to the organic, nationalistic works too.

Ronald Kostyniuk was born in Wakaw, Saskatchewan in 1941. He graduated in 1970 with a Master of Science in biology and in 1971 with a Master of Fine Arts degree from the University of Wisconsin. He has exhibited internationally and his work can be found in the collections of Gallery Lambton, Canada Council Art Bank, MacKenzie Art Gallery (Regina), Mendel Art Gallery (Saskatoon), numerous universities, and many corporate collections throughout North America. He was a faculty member at the University of Calgary for many years.

Darryn

Day 3 - The Match Heats Up!

Placing the works become more difficult for a number of reasons: the wall color is really strong and can either severely weaken or strengthen a piece; the spaces between the work are becoming more limited and awkward; and one contender (we won't mention names) places their incredibly strong selection smack dab in the middle of the largest wall, restricting everyones options moving forward.

Lisa looks for a spot for Shaganappi Point.

Cam decides his work by Kathleen Pepper, Old Eskimo, needs to squeeze right in between the Boyle and the Oonark.

Clearly, the discussion is becoming more intense as the stakes are rising and the options tightening.

Darryn and Lisa listen to Cam.

Maybe time to consider a new game plan? Everyone to their corners and let's take stock of where things are and what we have to do to bring the first Round to

a place where we feel we can move forward after the long weekend.

Maybe we consider a shuffle! At the end of the day the Curatorial SmackDown is more of a sparring match than a fight. Our ultimate goal is to support each other in some of the practical, hands on considerations of curating, learn about the collection and end up with an exhibition that has some sort of logic to it.

Happy again!

As long as we can all agree and can make our case, we decide to 'shuffle' until we feel good about the placement of the Round 1 works in relation to one another and within the space.

So at the end of Day 3, we reach a place where we can accept that some of our original ideas need to be scrapped for the good of the whole. We'll see what shapes up next week.