Vol. 15 No. 1
Spring / Summer 2020
When I joined Studio last autumn, I was excited to find out that the theme of the first issue I would be editing was LAND. The call for submissions was all-encompassing and invited a geographical approach to exploring craft and design. Prior to coming onboard, I taught a second-year university course called Writing Geography and loved teaching and reading writing that explored the relationships between places, objects and people.
In his 2018 article “Material Intelligence,” curator and author Glenn Adamson writes:
“[H]ow much do you know about the chair that’s holding you off the ground—what it’s made from, and what its production process looked like? Where it was made, and by whom? Or go deeper: how were the materials used to make the chair extracted from the planet?”
Craft and design produce objects that reflect very specific times and places—and geography is reflected in process, technique, material as well as the maker, collector and owner. In this issue, we look at how what is taken from the land can produce something else that leaves traces; Kathryn Walsh Kuitenbrouwer writes about the travelling vibrancy produced from the landscape by Beam Paints.
Craft and land are associated quite intimately in the work of ceramicists, when land is transmuted into object, and Rea McNamara examines the extractive politics of clay through Dana Prieto’s work. For this issue, I had the privilege of conducting an in-depth interview with Wanda Nanibush, the Art Gallery of Ontario’s Indigenous Art Curator, who spoke about the relationships between artist—land—object in intriguing and thoughtful ways.
As this issue goes to print, it is important to note that we are entering an unanticipated, unprecedented and unpredictable transformation. At the time of writing, the current isolation measures are being acutely felt by members of the Canadian craft and design community; here at Studio we’re looking at ways of developing and delivering content both in print and online that will speak to this urgent moment. Some of us no longer have access to the land while others are reconnecting to the land in new ways. These new experiences of deprivation and connection will produce new ways of considering how we are in relation with each other, the places we claim and the objects we encounter. I look forward to exploring these conversations in future issues of Studio.
Nehal El-Hadi Editor-In-Chief
CONTENTS:
Editor’s Note
Focal Point: The Toronto Ink Company Jessica Sharples considers how Jason Logan dissolves Death Valley into ink.
Making Sense of the World Michael Prokopow identifies naming as a colonial endeavour and finds hope in reclamation practises.
As If Painting The Land Were A Way of Knowing Anong Beam’s paint stones have developed a devoted following and author Kathryn Walsh Kuitenbrouwer explores the joyful process of making them. read article
Saidye Bronfman Award Winner: Anna Torma Anna Torma’s accomplished career is reviewed by curator Sarah Quinton.
River Lot 11∞ Christine Sokaymoh Frederick and Dawn Saunders Dahl write about the history of Edmonton’s Indigenous Art Park. read excerpt
The Things That We Build And Place There Nehal El-Hadi speaks with curator, author and activist Wanda Nanibush. read excerpt
Portfolio Quin Cheung (Calgary, Alta.) Ande Brown (Winnipeg, Man.) Mathew Nuqingaq (Iqaluit, Nunavut)
Review Essay: The Politics Of Extraction Writer and curator Rea McNamara explores the environmental accountability demanded by artist Dana Prieto’s work.
Inquiries: Laura Lipcsei The conservator describes her work at the Royal Ontario Museum. read article
