'Gaia, 2009' Unveiled in Haines Junction
November 21, 2009 Filed in: Shows and Unveilings
LINK: Watch Shane's Artist Talk about Gaia
Text:
Mike Crawshay, Haines Junction Art Acquisition Committee
I don't know if everybody is here but we are six people: Julie Bauer, Patti Moore, Bridget Gatsby, Wolf Reidl, Eric Stinson and myself. It's one of the most fun committees I've ever been on because we just get to pic what we like. It really is fun. Lots of committees are all sorts of hard work but we give all the hard work to Darlene Sillery - she does all that stuff for us, and we basically get to pic what we like and we hope you like it too.
Say when! (Unveiling ... Applause)
Mike Crawshay and Wolf Riedl unveil 'Gaia' (photo by Steve Osborne)
Come on out Shane. On behalf of the Art Acquisition Committee and the Community of Haines Junction, thank you! (Applause)
Would you like to say something about the work?
'Gaia' receives a warm welcome upon its unveiling in Haines Junction (photo by Steve Osborne)
Shane Wilson, Sculptor
It's an abstract piece, as you can see, with carved moose antlers and the skull is made out of bronze and the base is bronze as well. The antlers just attach onto the skull.
Before I go any further, though, I just want to thank the Art Acquisition Committee and Council for having the foresight to support the Arts.
Shane Wilson, Sculptor, explains some of the meaning of 'Gaia' during his artist's talk (photo by Steve Osborne)
It says so much about the community and it says so much about the community to the world, as well, that people here think art is important. I think that will bode well for the future of your community. People will want to be part of this community because of its interest in art and culture.
Text:
Mike Crawshay, Haines Junction Art Acquisition Committee
I don't know if everybody is here but we are six people: Julie Bauer, Patti Moore, Bridget Gatsby, Wolf Reidl, Eric Stinson and myself. It's one of the most fun committees I've ever been on because we just get to pic what we like. It really is fun. Lots of committees are all sorts of hard work but we give all the hard work to Darlene Sillery - she does all that stuff for us, and we basically get to pic what we like and we hope you like it too.
Say when! (Unveiling ... Applause)
Mike Crawshay and Wolf Riedl unveil 'Gaia' (photo by Steve Osborne)
Come on out Shane. On behalf of the Art Acquisition Committee and the Community of Haines Junction, thank you! (Applause)
Would you like to say something about the work?
'Gaia' receives a warm welcome upon its unveiling in Haines Junction (photo by Steve Osborne)
Shane Wilson, Sculptor
It's an abstract piece, as you can see, with carved moose antlers and the skull is made out of bronze and the base is bronze as well. The antlers just attach onto the skull.
Before I go any further, though, I just want to thank the Art Acquisition Committee and Council for having the foresight to support the Arts.
Shane Wilson, Sculptor, explains some of the meaning of 'Gaia' during his artist's talk (photo by Steve Osborne)
It says so much about the community and it says so much about the community to the world, as well, that people here think art is important. I think that will bode well for the future of your community. People will want to be part of this community because of its interest in art and culture.
I should also thank Ken Anderson, for the building of these marvelous cases. I mean, the craftsmanship is incredible. They make my work look good. So part of those ooohs and aaahs are also for Ken and I'd like a round of applause for Ken. (Applause)
And a special thank you to Darlene. She called me in June and she said, "We're having this commemoration of our 25th anniversary of our incorporation and wouldn't it be nice if you could have that final sculpture done for us to put in that case!"
Darlene Sillery, Financial Officer, Haines Junction
And then I told him I'd fly him up here. (Laughter)
Shane Wilson, Sculptor
And the carrot she held out was that she would approach Council to see if they would pay to bring me up with the piece. So I said, well, okay, I'll try. You have her to thank for the fact that this is here tonight. (Applause)
Two more thank yous:
The antlers themselves came from Carcross, from Harold Gatensby. They were a gift, Harold Gatensby gave these antlers to me. They were very special in his mind. He was out walking on one of the lakes around Carcross and found these on the shore, side by side, just lying there. So he said that a moose must have been walking along and gave his head a shake and both antlers fell of and that's where he found them. They were the perfect antlers for this commission, this carving. So I'd like to thank Harold.
And I'd also like to thank Libby Dulac, who most of you know. When I came to the Yukon in 1985, we visited the Junction for work and I saw her studio. Now I was doing something else at the time, but she inspired me to think that it was possible to make a living - to be an artist and I'd like to thank her. (Applause)
A closer look at 'Gaia' following the unveiling at the St Elias Convention Centre (photo by Steve Osborne)
What I realized when I was making this sculpture was that the right brain gives you ideas and they come in the form of art, they come in the form of images. And then the left brain has to struggle to try to understand what in heaven's name it is that it's trying to tell you.
So when I first started this sculpture, I followed the veins to get these shapes and the one on this side (left) was curvy and swirly and the one on this side (right) did have angley kind of veins. So I had these largish planes worked into it and then as I carved it these images started coming out, as fish, plants, eggs, whales, and I was wondering what it was telling me? What's it trying to say?
I saw on George Stroumboulopoulos' 'The Hour' an interview with James Lovelock. He developed, what he calls, the theory of Gaia. Which is a theory that the earth is alive, it's a living organism and self regulating. He has a lot of things to say, but essentially, his hope is that humans don't die off, because they (we) are the first evidence of self consciousness on the planet. He sees that, if we survive, we can use our technologies, ideas and traditions to evolve into a state where we are able to be symbiotic with the earth, to become the consciousness of Gaia. That's a heavy concept, I know, and you'll have lots of time to think about it, I'm sure.
But what this is, this piece became that idea. So if you look at the base, it's a blue, spherical shape. That's the oceans, the earth with the water moving up the sides of the sculpture, you can see it's kind of blue on the sides. In the middle the patina is a silvery, steely kind of colour which (represent) the minerals of the earth. There is a green, mossy patina on the forehead which (represent) the organisms that live in the earth and produce oxygen and other kinds of things (essential to life).
This antler (left) is of course, life: all the plants, the animals, the fish, the whales and the seeds (found in nature).
Shane Wilson, Sculptor, discusses the 'Skullpture Series' with Debbie Osborne, Elaine Hurlburt, Ken Anderson (builder of the display cases) and Steve Osborne (photo by Julie Bauer)
The right side is more angular and technical: this is us. This is us in all our strengths, in all our abilities. You've got what could be an abstract bookshelf, which to me, symbolizes all of our learning, all of our culture, all of our technology which is stored and we have access to all of it.
You have what looks like a highway, a ribbon with which we are all connected now. Not only do we all know stuff, different stuff, but we can share it. So we have the unique ability for perhaps the first time ever in the human history of civilization to communicate across all cultures, all peoples and all space, so we can really use our energy and work together.
You've got something that looks like a triangle with crisscrosses and that's an abstract DNA. We know how DNA works now. We've unlocked the secrets of the genome for pretty much every species. What are we going to do with that knowledge? Let's say, hopefully, we're going to do good stuff with it. We're going to adapt and change and grow as is needed and who knows, I have no idea what that may mean, but I'm sure it's going to mean something.
There's a little thing like this (V shape) with circle patterns and a hole in it. That's energy; trapping carbon; whether we use nuclear energy and he suggests that as a possibility; whether we use solar, who knows? It's about energy, about how we decide to manage energy and keep ourselves warm in the winter.
And a few other things: there's a great big eye up there too and that symbolizes consciousness itself. We are, we'll become the consciousness of the planet.
So that's pretty heavy and pretty far out but essentially that was kind of going through my mind as a way of trying to explain what was happening in the piece.
Thank you very much. (Applause)
Haines Junction Art Acquisition Committee: Eric Stinson, Mike Crawshay, Shane Wilson (Sculptor), Julie Bauer, Darlene Sillery, Wolf Riedl (photo by Steve Osborne)
And a special thank you to Darlene. She called me in June and she said, "We're having this commemoration of our 25th anniversary of our incorporation and wouldn't it be nice if you could have that final sculpture done for us to put in that case!"
Darlene Sillery, Financial Officer, Haines Junction
And then I told him I'd fly him up here. (Laughter)
Shane Wilson, Sculptor
And the carrot she held out was that she would approach Council to see if they would pay to bring me up with the piece. So I said, well, okay, I'll try. You have her to thank for the fact that this is here tonight. (Applause)
Two more thank yous:
The antlers themselves came from Carcross, from Harold Gatensby. They were a gift, Harold Gatensby gave these antlers to me. They were very special in his mind. He was out walking on one of the lakes around Carcross and found these on the shore, side by side, just lying there. So he said that a moose must have been walking along and gave his head a shake and both antlers fell of and that's where he found them. They were the perfect antlers for this commission, this carving. So I'd like to thank Harold.
And I'd also like to thank Libby Dulac, who most of you know. When I came to the Yukon in 1985, we visited the Junction for work and I saw her studio. Now I was doing something else at the time, but she inspired me to think that it was possible to make a living - to be an artist and I'd like to thank her. (Applause)
A closer look at 'Gaia' following the unveiling at the St Elias Convention Centre (photo by Steve Osborne)
What I realized when I was making this sculpture was that the right brain gives you ideas and they come in the form of art, they come in the form of images. And then the left brain has to struggle to try to understand what in heaven's name it is that it's trying to tell you.
So when I first started this sculpture, I followed the veins to get these shapes and the one on this side (left) was curvy and swirly and the one on this side (right) did have angley kind of veins. So I had these largish planes worked into it and then as I carved it these images started coming out, as fish, plants, eggs, whales, and I was wondering what it was telling me? What's it trying to say?
I saw on George Stroumboulopoulos' 'The Hour' an interview with James Lovelock. He developed, what he calls, the theory of Gaia. Which is a theory that the earth is alive, it's a living organism and self regulating. He has a lot of things to say, but essentially, his hope is that humans don't die off, because they (we) are the first evidence of self consciousness on the planet. He sees that, if we survive, we can use our technologies, ideas and traditions to evolve into a state where we are able to be symbiotic with the earth, to become the consciousness of Gaia. That's a heavy concept, I know, and you'll have lots of time to think about it, I'm sure.
But what this is, this piece became that idea. So if you look at the base, it's a blue, spherical shape. That's the oceans, the earth with the water moving up the sides of the sculpture, you can see it's kind of blue on the sides. In the middle the patina is a silvery, steely kind of colour which (represent) the minerals of the earth. There is a green, mossy patina on the forehead which (represent) the organisms that live in the earth and produce oxygen and other kinds of things (essential to life).
This antler (left) is of course, life: all the plants, the animals, the fish, the whales and the seeds (found in nature).
Shane Wilson, Sculptor, discusses the 'Skullpture Series' with Debbie Osborne, Elaine Hurlburt, Ken Anderson (builder of the display cases) and Steve Osborne (photo by Julie Bauer)
The right side is more angular and technical: this is us. This is us in all our strengths, in all our abilities. You've got what could be an abstract bookshelf, which to me, symbolizes all of our learning, all of our culture, all of our technology which is stored and we have access to all of it.
You have what looks like a highway, a ribbon with which we are all connected now. Not only do we all know stuff, different stuff, but we can share it. So we have the unique ability for perhaps the first time ever in the human history of civilization to communicate across all cultures, all peoples and all space, so we can really use our energy and work together.
You've got something that looks like a triangle with crisscrosses and that's an abstract DNA. We know how DNA works now. We've unlocked the secrets of the genome for pretty much every species. What are we going to do with that knowledge? Let's say, hopefully, we're going to do good stuff with it. We're going to adapt and change and grow as is needed and who knows, I have no idea what that may mean, but I'm sure it's going to mean something.
There's a little thing like this (V shape) with circle patterns and a hole in it. That's energy; trapping carbon; whether we use nuclear energy and he suggests that as a possibility; whether we use solar, who knows? It's about energy, about how we decide to manage energy and keep ourselves warm in the winter.
And a few other things: there's a great big eye up there too and that symbolizes consciousness itself. We are, we'll become the consciousness of the planet.
So that's pretty heavy and pretty far out but essentially that was kind of going through my mind as a way of trying to explain what was happening in the piece.
Thank you very much. (Applause)
Haines Junction Art Acquisition Committee: Eric Stinson, Mike Crawshay, Shane Wilson (Sculptor), Julie Bauer, Darlene Sillery, Wolf Riedl (photo by Steve Osborne)