Canoes Floating through Canadian Consciousness
15 Feb
The canoe is making a splash in the art world on this side of the pond, as well as in the current Peter Doig show at London’s Tate Modern (see the Canoeing News post on Doig’s canoes HERE). Sally Thurlow, a Canadian sculptor, recently opened her exhibition “Canoe Dreamings” at the Tom Thomson Gallery in Owen Sound, Ontario, which will run until March 16.
The six canoes on display, made of such materials as truck tires (Tire Vessel 1 and 2) and translucent screening (Oh, Canada), have sparked comments HERE that Thurlow’s canoes “reference organic and biological formations.” The artist herself says in THIS article in the Owen Sound Sun Times, that these canoes “don’t float on water, some of them float in the air. They float in our psyche.”
Whether biological or psychological, Thurlow’s canoes sure are pretty. Check out images of them HERE.
“They’re part of who we are as Canadians,” Thurlow says, “The canoe as a Canadian icon is where the whole idea comes from.” Considering how the canoe has influenced Canadian history, it’s no wonder they conjure up thoughts of identity and environment, where we’re going, and how we’re going to get there.
For our part, we hope we’re getting there in a canoe.
Image courtesy of the Art Gallery of Algoma.
