The Waiting Game: Artist's Statement

The Waiting Game

Artist's Statement

Reflecting on many years of artistic practise, I realize much of my research has been focused on time and traveling through time. The working title for this research actually comes from an image I engraved on a zinc plate over forty years ago. That image was created after being in Washington Square in New York City, watching individuals sitting on benches playing chess on concrete tables. It had started to rain, and the onlookers eagerly awaited the next move of the chess players. It was all about time and waiting, waiting for the rain to end, for the next move in the game

Travel does much to enrich the mind and on a recent trip to the Pacific Rim National Park and specifically Cathedral Grove on Vancouver Island I had an intense experience in that mystical place. Lush and rich, ancient and towering, the forest in that National Park was an encounter of all the senses. I felt very protected in that old growth forest, very humbled with the history of those massive trees. I was not only in awe of the physical space around me but upon reflection I was astonished with the sense of quiet, the waiting of that place.

Global warming has put much stress on the existing forest, even one as old as Pacific Rim. It is important we recognize the importance of the forest and the role it plays in making oxygen for the earth. Cathedral Grove is well named as it is a sacred place of thought and contemplation of who we are and why we are here. It is a place of rest.

In each image all figures are at a point of stasis, waiting, rest. They all point to the importance of the individual begin a part of nature, and our role in protecting and sustaining it.

In each image all figures are at a point of stasis, waiting, rest. They all point to the importance of the individual begin a part of nature, and our role in protecting and sustaining it.

In making this series of work, I would like to have people reflect on their own lives and stop and consider their response to the larger world around them.

This body of work was selected as a gift from the artist to the Confederation Centre Art Gallery in Charlottetown PEI after coming to my studio in Sackville Gallery Director Kevin Rice wrote in an email to me:

“I was particularly intrigued by the most recent work and wish you well as you complete the edition. Those rich, dark images of the old growth forest of Cathedral Grove, near Tofino, BC, seem clearly related to your earlier works. And the portraits of family members in the west coast landscape struck me as future focused--a younger generation and how they relate to the natural world--even when surrounded by an ancient forest.

Dan Steeves