Art School (Dismissed)

Curated by Heather Nicol at Shaw Street Public School,

Toronto, ON

May 13-16, 2010

Art School (Dismissed)  was created as a celebration of artists who extend their creative practices into the realm of education. A three-day exhibition in the spring of 2010, it also included dance, music and performance. The event took place in downtown Toronto’s historic and long-decommissioned Shaw Street Public School.

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Monica Tap's Artist Statement:

When I was a kid, my favorite teachers were the ones who could make the walls of the classroom magically disappear, opening up worlds to us; a marvel! In the hands of other teachers, those same walls closed in, suddenly confining and restricting. Faced with the latter, I’d imagine myself outside, wondering what it would be like to be a bug or a bird. What struck me most about Classroom 9 were its windows with their marvelous treetop view. If I were a student in this room, that big tree outside would offer a handy escape.

The tree images in the installation are derived from historical engravings and 18th century landscape drawings. In scale, my drawings approach life-size, forming a connection with the real trees outside. I envisioned a drawing as big as a room – big enough to dissolve the walls, opening up to the world.

Construction paper suggested itself as a good material for this, a school project. The ripped edge reminds me of enlarged etching lines, a quality I like because the resulting picture is on the verge of falling apart. Up close the drawing is incomprehensible, but in the long view it coheres. Education is like that too – up close it’s messy and often baffling. As a teacher, I hope that the long view will prove worthwhile for my students.

Installation assistants: Sarah Cale, MFA 2004, University of Guelph and Stephan Herda, BA, Studio Art, 2010, University of Guelph

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Press: Monica Tap's and Gordon Hick's installation was featured on the cover of Canadian Art, link after last image.

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