setting up in stratford
My third solo show, A Four Year Survey at the Stratford Art Gallery (1975) was the first chance to exhibit several series of works in large, adjacent spaces. The installation required a second pair of hands so friend and artist Doug Kirton, a NSCAD University student at the time, agreed to be that second pair of hands.
My earlier Pie in the Sky experience prompted me to document behind-the-scene activity. At the time however, I had no reason to anticipate a use for such documentation until recently I discovered an envelope stuffed with contact sheets - no negatives, just contact sheets - and decided to incorporate the images into this website.
These small images serve to record a number of works for which no other record exists. Unfortunately, my interest in visual documentation was not accompanied by an equal capacity to maintain a comprehensive written record. Ironically, the efficient card- catalogue I started in 1969 accompanied by colour transparencies had given way to a rudimentary computer database. This digital documentation phase began around 1982 with the promise of greater efficiency. However, efficiency disappeared when compatibility became an issue. I switched platforms effectively trashing the existing data base. (This had never been a problem when new file cards were needed). My Radio Shack TRS 80 served me well for about five years but the transition to a Mac Classic proved to be the kiss of death to the earlier data base. In a small way, this page is an attempt at recovering this one event: a sifting and organizing of numerous storage devices: envelopes, cds, Zip and floppy discs..
Here, the only two negatives that were printed and saved as 8x10s.
When I began to layout this page, I thought that no more black and white documentation of Stratford existed. Then, another contact sheet emerged from yet another envelope providing a record of the finished product.
