Day Seven (Toronto)

www.janusnomad.com
www.janusdanceswithghosts.com






























Today is Wednesday April 13th and probably the most fantastic experience at Open Spaces Gallery. I welcomed Janus a local sculptor from Edeb Mills near Markham and an artist desiring to share her knowledge with eager emerging artists like Morena and myself.

Janus loved the Open Spaces Gallery concept of celebrating open land and freedom of land used to express culture. Janus saw Morena and I as artists willing to celebrate the recreation of the outdoor environment. I was happy to be viewed in such a way and Janus' words reignited my original conceptual excitement of Open Spaces Gallery. This week has seemed to be full of personal lessons and realizations to develop a perspective of appreciation.

Janus exhibited sculptures that are part of her Nomad series of terra-cotta assemblages of her life. Representations of family members, sculpted by hand creating strong terra-cotta interpretations of confident women. In Janus' words; "They are an ongoing portrait study of contemporary women. The Nomads are a hauntingly physical interpretation of the silent voices of ancestral culutre, history and society." A process using very natural resources and process, Janus uses bonfire in the final firing of the Nomad sculptures. I just imagined a beautiful process relying on Janus' time, energy and eye for knowing when the process and sculpture are complete. To me, this is important because the sculpture's perfection relies on Janus' knowledge of her subject and personal expression. This knowledge helps to construct the sculpture from the base up.

Three sculptures were set up on a large table in the middle of the parking space and a single wooden sculpture presented on the street. All sculptures resembled the "ancestral culture, history and society" of women and the First Nation cultural following of a matriarchal history. There was no need for the territorial marker today because of the strong sculptural presence, the gallery was well marked. We received a lot of positive feedback from students and the general public throughout the presentation. The sculptures definitely have the ability to stop traffic. The sculptures have a strong gaze and stoic presence. They represent strong individuals but also their individual detail reflect personal qualities of the sculpture. I loved these detailed patterns on the figures clothing, face and crowns. The detail was created through Janus' creative hand but also used found material, like a beaded fabric pattern taken from Janus' lamp, to imprint original detail into the terra cotta sculptures. I love when artists use found objects from their everyday environment. I think many artists are inspired by their surroundings, and when Janus is considering adding detailed imprints to her sculptures she considers all of her surroundings for available materials.

The main sculpture in the middle of the table represents Janus' niece who is a strong individual. The figures strength is acknowledged by adorning imprinted battle axes on the top of the cheekbones.

I was really pleased to meet Janus and was really impressed with her support of the Open Spaces Gallery project. Janus shared a lot of insight as a mature artist. Encouraged me to continue the Open Spaces Gallery, maintain relationships with the artists I will meet through this project and view the project as a source for my own development. I really needed this encouragement and am very excited to persevere along with the development of this project.

An amazing and beautiful part of Janus' performance at the Open Spaces Gallery was her song. She adorned a drum to beat a miigwetch rhythm, a chant of thank you to the land and space. The song is personally created inspired by the women of Cape Croker. Janus' personal principles are so great because for me it meant that the sculptures and song are individually created with a personal relation, understanding and respect of the land we live on and its history. I found myself totally calm as Janus was beating the drum and I was focusing on the attached feather and red colour. Also, my eyes focused on the beating drumstick. Janus will be uploading a video of this performance on her websites;
www.JanusNomad.com
www.JanusDancesWithGhosts.com