- by Anne Finlay-Stewart and Stephen Hogbin

When local artist and maker Stephen Hogbin asked me where I thought the community might be headed in the new era of Covid-19 and what role his Intersections: Wood Gallery & Studio might play, I was intrigued.  Likely unknown to him, his progressive work with others in the early 1990s as part of a round table on the local environment was part of what attracted us to this city in the first place. We wanted to be part of a community that reflected its values in the aesthetic of things we saw and interacted with every day - the parks, the water, the library, the streetscape.

As I am learning to do, I passed Stephen's question back to him.  What are the community issues in this place and time that need to be addressed?  Who needs to be at the table? His thoughts on my questions follow here.

"What are the Community issues is a big question. I feel qualified to talk only about the visual arts. Music, theatre, dance and perhaps even architecture would need representation. It would be a big undertaking for these few disciplines mentioned and a huge project to include the rest of the community.  Small bites with a few people may unleash some innovative ways forward. We do have people who understand the scope and potential, evidenced by the people taking on the big environmental issues which are as big as Covid-19.

There are some great artists and curators in the region but I still can’t shake the feeling we live in a backwater or a small clearing in the forest. Grasping the full potential of water and the forests is where our great contribution may be made. 

It has always troubled me that so many travel to see other cultures while not tending their own. What do we have in our region that represents great art? How have we built our sense of place? Most of our public art is people centred. Two wonderful sculptural installations are the Kemble Women's Institute Scenic Lookout and the Black History Cairn in Owen Sound. We have quite a few plaques around Owen Sound which are interesting enough for the few that like to read. Artists, and I suspect most people, would prefer the installation which brings the history alive, engaging the senses and the mind.

Defining the discussion around Covid-19 might be useful. Increasingly people are more likely to stay home. Their discretionary spending will, I hope, focus on the arts. Most artists in all disciplines live close to the poverty line.  With the public and private galleries closed or restricted and people self-isolated, many artists will feel even more pinched financially, to put it mildly. So staying home and buying art will enrich people’s lives and significantly help the environment and of course the economy.

The second part of the question - How does Intersections Gallery move forward? - is faceted. Making useful and beautiful things from sustainably cut regional woods is something I enjoy and believe relevant. Surprisingly there are few woodworkers in the region compared to other places. We have some of the best hardwoods in North America, a tradition of furniture making and boat building and yet these disciplines are thin on the ground. It does need a population that buys into the ideas and is willing to coalesce politically and financially.

Perhaps the circumstances of Covid-19 will create a climate for building our own regional culture with an intensity not seen for decades or even a century.

At home, all the senses will need to be nurtured. The computer alone cannot offer the visceral and tactile. Maybe things can be ordered on line. Food is the obvious choice, or a shirt that can be returned or replaced.

But a chair is a different story. Direct contact with the chair is essential, a shirt not so much when there are return policies in place. The intersections gallery is an essential experience for some thingss need to be felt with a touch to sense if the desire and fitness for purpose holds true.

Our society must move from a throw away culture that replaces stuff every season. Schumacher’s “health, beauty and permanence” are even more important now that Covid -19 is present. Living in the cocoon will be a deeply considered experience or else there will have to be continual escape from a monotonous dark or indifferent drudgery of place.

For me at Intersections with the classes suspended the gallery will be opening soon by appointment. Intersections offers the heightened experience of learning how to make. Visiting the studio workshop is no more dangerous experience than crossing a busy road or taking a hike along the escarpment ridge. Protocols will be in place that reduce the risk. Limiting the number of people in the space and carefully selecting appropriate projects will enable a learning experience. Meanwhile visits to the Intersections Gallery will happen by appointment. A focused time to hear about the work, how and why it was made.

Our identity is wrapped up in the arts. What the designers and artists produce now is how we will be remembered. We are not an add-on to the culture - rather the artwork gives expression to our values and aspirations at this point in time. The arts are essential in the long run, when we look back and as we go forward."