Rosalind Sweeney-McCabe's ARIA project:ÌýBicentennial Sherbrooke St. Exhibition: Research on Multiple Sites
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My ARIA project this summer involved assisting the ±«ÓãÖ±²¥ Visual Arts Collection (VAC) with their preparations for the upcoming ±«ÓãÖ±²¥ Bicentennial celebration. There were two projects which I assisted with: 1) a photo exhibition along Sherbrooke Street curated by the VAC and the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (MMFA); 2) the upcoming commission of a public sculpture by an Indigenous artist.
Both projects are concerned with memory: how the past is remembered and celebrated. The photo exhibition displays moments in which members of ±«ÓãÖ±²¥â€™s community fostered arts and culture in Montreal through various programs and events. Some of the stories to come out of this work were well-known. Many, however, had been forgotten. The commission of a public sculpture by an Indigenous artist is an act of reconciliation through the dedication of public space to a community formerly overlooked by ±«ÓãÖ±²¥. The commission is a promise of future remembrance – a monument to how the institution wishes to engage with communities both inside and surrounding ±«ÓãÖ±²¥â€™s campus. Both projects look to ±«ÓãÖ±²¥â€™s past, giving an opportunity to rediscover and rethink past events and actions. Their outcomes both celebrate and atone for the past lives of a university turning 200.
My objective for the photo-exhibition was to learn how to navigate online archives. Instead of visiting archives on-site and working with an archivist, my online searches were entirely self-guided. Determined to be thorough, I developed inventive keyword searches and was diligent when looking through Fonds for any possible connections. This research experience gave me insight into the particularities of archival theory and practice. I learned that it is necessary to remain open and think creatively about how things can relate to each other, as well as how they can be catalogued.
My objective for the Indigenous sculpture commission was to find relevant Canadian and American examples of similar commissions, teasing out aspects of these examples which would be instructional for ±«ÓãÖ±²¥. A key finding was that the commission should focus on outreach to those Indigenous communities immediately local to ±«ÓãÖ±²¥. While the examples were illuminating in their stated aims, structure and tone, ±«ÓãÖ±²¥â€™s own outcome will be completely unique.
A highlight for me were some of the stories which were uncovered during my research for the photo exhibition. For example, in looking at old ±«ÓãÖ±²¥ yearbooks I learned about SCOPE: the Cultural Committee of the Student Executive Council at ±«ÓãÖ±²¥, active in the late 1950s to early 1960s. The group was prolific in bringing noteworthy cultural figures and events to ±«ÓãÖ±²¥â€™s community. Of particular interest to my research were two exhibitions the group put on at the MMFA in collaboration with counterparts at the Université de Montréal. Together they put on Thirty-five Painters of Today (1957) and Contemporary American Painters (1958). Both exhibits focussed their attention on contemporary artists: Contemporary American Painters, notably showed paintings by Edward Hopper (1882 - 1967) and Jackson Pollock (1912 - 1956); and Thirty-five Painters of Today showing works by influential Montreal painters such as Paul-Émile Borduas (1905-1960) and a young Jean-Paul Riopelle (1923-2002). Exciting to learn was that many shown at Thirty-five Painters of Today have works in VAC’s collection: Marion Dale Scott (1906 - 1993), Goodridge Roberts (1904 - 1974), Jeanne Rhéaume (1915 - 2000), to name a few. For me, these exhibits were a significant example of ±«ÓãÖ±²¥ students close to my age creating exceptional moments of artistic appreciation for Montreal’s public.
In my contributions to both projects, I cultivated several important skills and insights that will benefit my future work in Art History. Consulting online archives so carefully this summer taught me how to navigate and adjust my research methodology, critical for a transforming academic landscape. Both projects involved creating spaces for memory; in the current political context curation has increasingly become not just aesthetic but political in its presentation of history. This sort of reflection is critical for my future academic practice and work in the field.
Working completely online was my reality this summer. Inevitably this challenge impacted me beyond my research projects. I overcame this by becoming creative in my research and making sure to have variety in my work – this was the great thing about having two simultaneous projects. The biggest help was the team I was working with. Both my supervisor Gwendolyn Owens, VAC’s Director and Michelle Macleod, VAC’s Assistant Curator, provided me with the support necessary to make such an unusual experience not only fruitful but enjoyable.
I would like to thank the Morris and Rosalind Goodman Family Foundation for their support of my internship. It gave me the opportunity to hone crucial research skills and gave me a space of productive reprieve in such a chaotic time.
