The following text is an edited transcript of a conversation between J. Lynn Campbell and Gordon Hatt in the artist’s studio on February 21, 1997.
I first conceived of this project in 1991 and have been collecting and wrapping tree branches and roots since that time. Offering was first exhibited as a work-in-progress at Workscene Gallery in Toronto in 1993. While continuing the wrapping, I have considered various options for the finished installation. It was about one year ago that the addition of the table and four chairs fulfilled the intent of the piece for me. The chairs have since changed to benches, each with a word inscribed on the seating surface. I feel it has now culminated fully.
GH: How long have you been using brass wire in your work?
JLC: I started using wire in 1989. It came about from a conscious decision to introduce various materials to realize a more tactile surface. I enjoyed the distinct physical qualities of the materials combined with the different physical demands each makes on the body as well as the mental exercise. It's the combination of the mental faculty and physical activity and what that may evoke on other levels of the psyche.
GH: Why brass wire?
JLC: I like the flexibility it offers as it easily follows the form of most objects. With Offering I am using 24-gauge soft wire which is still very strong. It is the linear quality that intrigues me most. The line suggests time, a continuum. A line is a series of dots joined together. One can imagine those dots as moments joined in a continuance of minutes, hours, days, weeks, years. So, the line of wire comes to symbolize the sequential lifeline.
GH What is the significance of the process of wrapping?
JLC: Much of my work is about process. This particular process of wrapping has the deliberate intent of slowly following the contour of an object, making one aware of every detail and the time it takes to be conscious of such details. The process becomes meditative. I start to think about the surface texture, shape, colour. I experienced the activity of wrapping and what that evokes. The material(s) and activity start to suggest various meanings. Wrapping something can imply an act of preservation. It is also suggestive of women's work and their activities which often embrace the concerns of family life on very fundamental levels: caring, nourishing, protecting.
GH: Is the wrapping of the wood a type of aesthetic appropriation, like claiming an interesting surface?
JLC: For me there is always an aesthetic consideration when conceiving and constructing my work. I am not sure about the word "appropriation", unless it is to mean the assignment of something to a special purpose. Then I would say yes, and extend that consideration to include any abstract component, symbolic experience, and what is the aesthetically real in the work's concrete elements. Offering can be accessed through the association brought about by symbol and metaphor. On a certain level there is a conscious selection or claiming of elements for a particular purpose. But there is always more below the surface. Again, this goes back to the process and what it reveals to me. The chosen elements in combination with the process present a possible starting point to link other levels of understanding. I believe most, if not all
things are connected on some level.
GH: The process of wrapping then relates to the tree branches and roots as connecting elements?
JLC: The limbs and roots have been separated from the original tree and, metaphorically speaking, these separate parts represent a reconstruction of the tree symbol as a totality. The tree is a symbol of the bare processes of life – growing and dying – processes that continue at a deep level. The tree also symbolizes the centre of life, fertility, knowledge and sacrifice. It is the whole manifested. Offering does function in a similar way to the conventional symbols of creation and recreation, death and renewal. The tree is the world in constant renewal and regeneration, the life principle. The continuance of the wrapping, symbolic of the life process, suggests the accumulation through time of our experience and knowledge of ourselves. Time unites the opposites: birth to death, youth to age, night to day, work to rest.
GH: Offering? What is the significance of the title?
JLC: JLC: Traditionally an offering is a thing presented or sacrificed in worship or devotion - something offered for acceptance, a gift. As individuals, our life experiences are a product of our action and effort and we share these experiences with others in many different ways. "Offering" or sharing is a way of giving thanks for what we have received. This sculptural installation and the process involved to complete the work was for me a way to explore how we "receive" and "give" during the course of understanding our conscious existence. The inquiries I put forth in doing my work are initially personally directed. From conscious existence. a connection with the audience? From the starting point and working outward, I hope to gain some objectivity and understanding of reality.
GH: Is there a link between the table and a desire to make a connection with the audience?
JLC: So much happens around the table. It has a rich association historically and symbolically. The table is where individuals friends and family come together to share a meal. It is where we talk and exchange ideas. It is a frame work where we gain nourishment physically, emotionally, intellectually and spiritually. The table presents the opportunity for communication (the round table), where people discuss problems and treaties. The harvest table is traditionally used to lay out the season's yield in a celebratory fashion, to give thanks and share in the bountiful "gathering," The table, by its stability of form and clarity of function, connects and grounds our participation in this process of "receiving" and "giving."
GH: The Last Supper?
JLC: That too – an important event.
GH: Do you regard your objects as beautiful?
JLC: Yes - some of them. The visual aesthetic of the work is often purposeful and thereby important to its meaning.
GH: The branches and roots wrapped in the brass wire have a beautiful surface quality, they reflect the light wonderfully. The piece will look like fire. People will be attracted, and come closer and discover your process of making them.
JLC: The luminosity of the brass and its smooth, richly coloured surface is quite seductive and sensual. Although I am dealing with ideas and concepts, for me, art making involves all the senses. It becomes a bodily experience as well as an intellectual process. At times, the material will start to feed an idea. I think about the idea and try to expand it in different ways. An image starts to develop and with that image come certain sensations. I return to the material(s) and examine, experiment and determine which ones may best support the concept.
One consideration for exhibiting any of my works is the result of the process and what it has brought to light for me. This I want to share and would like to reach people on comparative levels. There are big questions and not so big questions about life. Whether I start with the big questions or the smaller ones, it still all connects. Sometimes I will use a visual technique that will draw the viewer in to disclose a detail or an intimacy about the work. Details are part of something larger. The considered overall form of the work pulls the viewer back to reflect on the larger countenance and meaning. My hope is that other people will be inspired as I have been.
GH: The desire to locate inspiration in the viewer is the same inspiration that you have?
JLC: I don't expect anyone to respond in the same way as I have experienced my own work or the work of others. Every viewer through their own experience will respond correspondingly. I have been inspired by artists whose professional accomplishments are very different from mine. The response I have to their work has changed me in some way. I consider it an advantage and privilege to be able to take away with me something previously unknown, unexplored or unrealized.
GH: Why is it important to make art today?
JLC: At times I ask myself, what would I do if I didn't make art. I don't know. Obviously, I enjoy the creative process and want to be involved. On some other level of being, I know I have to make art. It addresses some purpose and meaning outside what I consider conventional and routine. Life proposes many questions (as I see it) and this is a way for me to grapple with the puzzle.
So much is changing as we near the end of this millennium. The post-modern world is continually changing form, with unstable boundaries. Identity is no longer fixed by social role or tradition but rather made (and frequently remade) out of many cultural sources. Moral and ethical values are forged out of dialogue and choice. All of the world's cultural symbols are up for grabs with endless improvisations. Much has been undermined. There are times I find it painfully challenging and I struggle to understand. For me it is important to regain some sense of solid ground – to reclaim a sense of ownership of views, beliefs and identity. Living ought to inspire and offer hope - two things I would find difficult to live without
GH: Is the work you make an act of faith?
JLC: I think that is what art making or being an artist is. It is not a profession so much as it is an act of faith - something necessary to suspend disbelief.
