Godwin's Quilt
I always found Wascana Park as a peaceful refuge. In this park lay a danger that my family constantly warned me of. That danger was the Norman MacKenzie Art Gallery and the unspeakable things done by the beatnik artists. As a public school child I would stay clear of the art gallery but gradually curiosity drew me inside. First, only to the main floor gallery but eventually to both the basement and upper galleries. Still the question haunted me, "What did these artists do that was so terrible?"
Godwin's Quilt
In high school, McGregor Hone tactfully lifted the veil of ignorance from my eyes so that I could peek at some of the so-called perverse activities. It was in this context that I learnt that the Regina Five's sin was the exploration of techniques and path ways seldom explored by previous artists. They chose to not always paint on canvas. They would apply their paint with instruments other than a brush (rollers and squeegees). They would mix their paint differently than what was described on the label and above all they partook in the 'evil abstraction'. To consider a subject of white on white or a mandala or even a tartan seemed ludicrous and something to avoid. At the same time Joyce Wieland appeared in my narrow depth of vision. She had laid her gender on the table by setting down her painting brushes and producing these wonderful quilts. 'I Love Canada' and 'Reason Over Passion' have remained burnt in my mind not by the fear from childhood warnings but by a respect for their cleverness and a recognition of abstraction done by a woman just like the mythical Regina Five.
McKay's Quilt
So when the Smaller exhibition solicited for contributions, I sought out new materials to create art from my deconstructed experience to represent Joyce Wieland's gift of enlightenment to me and to give homage to the Regina Five.
Page last updated: June 13, 2002