Artist's Statement

As a photographer and even as a painter, I hone-in on what seems to be familiar imagery despite not having a representational intention. This way, I see how light fills space and unravels and reveals shapes to provoke a mood that is often far removed from the literal sense of the subject within its composition. When I travelled to Siem Reap in Cambodia, I had dropped my camera and was unable to capture the rising sun at dawn. Yet, the recent rain that had formed a pond by Angkor Wat permitted a crystal clear replica of it in the silvery water. The mercury-like patina had dominated the space around the temple. Its luminosity evoked an eerie presence that seemed more compelling than the physical temple. I forever saved it in my mind while searching with my camera to re-capture the magic. It is more readily attained in black and white photographs and in all of its in-between tones. My photo, Patina 1, pays homage to the natural cropping that occurs in the mind’s eye and the serendipitous discoveries that emerge.

Nancy Gauvin Toronto March 7, 2021

Provocation

Art can serve as a source for inquiry, analysis, and creation in drama and dance. Here are a few drama and dance provocations based on Nancy Gauvin’s photograph, Patina 1, and a poem by Mary Oliver, The Journey.

Provocation 1: View and Respond

Study the photograph.

What thoughts, feelings, questions emerge for you?

What journey has already happened for the people in this photograph?

What journey is about to unfold?

Where have they been and where are they going?

What has been left behind and what awaits them?

What is outside of the frame? Create a tableau of what is behind the walkers in this image and what is ahead, outside of our view.

Provocation 2: Read and Respond

Read Mary Oliver's poem, The Journey.

What do you see? What do you feel? What do you wonder?

What connections can you make between the photo and the poem?

Provocation 3: Write and Create

Is there a piece of writing (e.g. monologue, letter, poem) you might craft as a response to this photo and poem?

Can you work with others to find common themes in what you have written?

Can you splice your writing together and use this piece as the basis of a short dance composition? What music might enhance the piece?

collaborative offering from Jan Buley, Jessie Kennedy, and Christine Jackson

Nan Gauvin is a native of Rimouski, Québec and came to Ontario as a child. She has lived in England, Italy and Japan.

As a very young child her drawings were of patterned images and mosaics where she filled graph paper squares with motifs and textures. Naturally she was eventually drawn to graphic design and further developed playful repeated motifs which appear in her prints and photographs.

She pursued Design studies at Ontario College of Art (now OCAD) and George Brown College. Her Bachelor’s degree is in Fine Arts from the University of Guelph with focus on painting and printmaking. As a young art student she had acquired a Pentax K1000 camera that initiated her fondness for capturing inanimate subject matter of smaller sections of larger subjects. While honing in on minute areas of an observed image, the literal interpretation disappears and conveys new meaning in itself.

After her undergraduate degree she worked as a graphic designer and then trained as a teacher of Art. While living in England she did a Master's degree in Linguistics. She currently teaches high school Art and French in Toronto. She has taught photography and most studio art and digital media. She now finds that digital photography is readily accessible as her medium of choice for her personal artwork.

Nan spends much time observing the environment of mostly city settings. She senses magical instances that may often get overlooked when surrounded by a plethora of details and information. Twisted shadows projected from humans innocuously promenading or grotty textures not intended to be observed vibrantly emerge when tucked inside a composition.

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