Curation As Exploration: Behind-the-Scenes of the “York Wilson: Unceded Land” Exhibit
When LCVI Student Emily Strange began her Co-Op with the Kawartha Art Gallery this fall, she never expected the experience to completely change the direction of her career path. But as is often the case, art has a way of inspiring and changing people.
Emily is currently enrolled in the Specialist High Skills Major program with a focus on Transportation/Automotive. She enjoys the hands-on nature of working with vehicles, and came into that program with an interest in car design. Art has also been a long-term hobby for Emily. She often finds herself surrounded by art, and says it provides her with a source of relaxation and a creative outlet for her through painting and printmaking.
As a result, when it came time to select a location for one of her two required co-op courses for school, she decided to explore beyond her automotive major and learn what it might be like to work in an art gallery - something she had also been curious about as a potential career choice. She had always known the gallery existed, but hadn’t gone into the space on the second floor of the Kawartha Lakes Public Library in Downtown Lindsay until recently.
Now, Emily has the esteemed title of being an exhibit curator, having worked hard to develop “York Wilson: Unceded Land” for her co-op class. The process involved researching this unique Canadian artist, selecting the works to hang in the gallery, and designing promotional materials like posters and rack cards about the exhibit.
Through her research, she discovered unexpectedly that her two worlds - automotive design and fine art - had some interesting overlap. Later in his career, York Wilson became interested in exploring new industrial and synthetic paints, including pyrolaxin (duco) which was primarily used for painting cars. While in Mexico, learning from other artists to develop his craft, Wilson experimented with adding sand to pyrolaxin paints to create a matte finish, which became the basis of the rest of his artistic career, and lead to his creation of more synthetic paints. He used these paints for large-scale paintings and murals that have been exhibited in his hometown of Toronto, but also in locations around Canada and the United States.
For Emily, the discovery of this use of automotive paint connected her deeply to York Wilson and his works as she was learning about his career, life, and artwork. His innovative creativity encouraged Emily to rethink her own approach to art and the transportation tech she was learning in school. She has decided to combine her interests, and plans to pursue learning more about automotive painting and customizations after finishing high school. Emily says she has enjoyed her work with the Gallery, especially designing posters and playing with colour harmonies. It certainly seems like she has found her own path to a creative future, something that York Wilson would have been proud of. The Kawartha Art Gallery is certainly proud of Emily’s curated exhibit! As Emily suggests, seeing “Unceded Land” in person in the Gallery is the best way to experience York Wilson’s art to truly grasp the scale of his works.
“York Wilson: Unceded Land” runs from Wednesday, October 25, 2023 to Saturday, January 20, 2024 at the Kawartha Art Gallery, 190 Kent St W, Lindsay. For more information, click here.