Late afternoon light detail. If you are thinking of visiting, Monday and Friday we are open to 6 and the light between 5 and 6 pulls out forms in a gorgeous way. You can also see Yael Brotman's work as it fragments the light and spills it around the room and inside her sculpture.

At the Historic Zion Schoolhouse I was drawn to the modularity and the restless building and rebuilding of possibilities personified for me by the very Froebel - like world of building blocks and tinker toys from my childhood.  They possess an irresistible possibility of building coherent complexity through repetition and accumulation. 

My  work develops the theme of interconnection through a network of cords that  links discrete elements, provides structural integrity and connects objects metaphorically into a larger world. I am very sympathetic to this aspect of Froebel's philosophy. His lessons often began when a box containing smaller related objects was put in front of a child. Opening the box was an elegant demonstration of the relationship of the parts to a larger whole and rather wonderfully, the first lesson about freedom within structure began before the first lesson.

The desks presented a  practical plinth opportunity that could suggest how everything we become is grounded in our childhood and our education. While I have tried to "build better" by building towards greater height and complexity, I retain a fondness for the now slightly abject initial prototype on the first desk because it still has the charge of new discovery. 

 

I would like to thank my fellow collective artists Yael Brotman, Matthew Brower and Penelope Stewart who have made this project such a pleasurable learning experience. Thanks as well to Panya Clark Espinal, Dorie Billich for her patience, the Toronto Arts Council for creating this  wonderful opportunity and Philip Anisman for his continued support and affection.

more photos to be posted soon but meanwhile
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