"House on the Cape Shore"
A Discussion with the Artist, Gerald Squires
I'm doing a little bit of communications work for the Gerald Squires
Art Gallery these days, and so I got a chance to speak to Gerald Squires
personally. As I told Gerald Squires, I know what art evokes in me --the experience I have as an observer of someone else's creation-- but like many, I'm more interested to learn what inspired the creation of the art itself (that is, what the art piece "evokes" or "means to" the artist who originally created it). So Gerald was kind enough to sit down and tell me just that.
Here are some excerpts from our conversation about his painting: "House on the Cape Shore" (below).
Here are some excerpts from our conversation about his painting: "House on the Cape Shore" (below).
"House on the Cape Shore" by Gerald Squires
On what Gerald Squires sees...
"That’s on the highway going towards Cape St. Mary’s... on your right by the ocean... one of the older houses still in existence. The community's almost empty, unless you're [among those] going to the bird sanctuary in Cape St. Mary’s. It's such a beautiful shore and landscape, the drive's worth it just to see... that whole shore is extraordinarily beautiful.
When I go up on the cape land itself I actually go to see the sheep and not the birds. I’ve done quite a few paintings of them chewing away at the grasses in the fog. It’s one of the only place left in Newfoundland where you can see domestic animals in the wilds anymore. [It's not] at all like that anymore. We build up fences to keep them out rather than keep them in. One or two of the old houses are still there."
On art, culture and change...
"In my last exhibit I said, 'I’m going to paint a horse in a field with no horizon in the background.' You see the idea of painting a horse strikes a nostalgic note in me. At one time you wouldn’t bother painting something like this because it was so common. The same thing for stage heads and fishing paraphernalia and so on. But just as quickly these things became the stuff that went into museums. I remember I was at The Rooms a couple years ago and they had a display of old books, old tools for farming and all that, and it was only a few years ago that these things were used all the time. I said to the curator, 'That’s everything I had when I was growing up.' It’s amazing how time changes so quickly. In the last 50 years we changed more than we ever did before in the past 500. It may be for the good. At least we’re not like we were back in the 30’s, starving to death I suppose. It’s amazing how short a time it takes to destroy a culture. We’re now Canadians, it’s not as much a Newfoundland culture anymore. People still sing about it, but that’s about it.
3x's the charm...
I started [this painting] as a watercolour, and I painted it outdoors. It was unsuccessful, so I started using some acrylic on it and it was still unsuccessful. So I finally painted it in oil over the other two techniques, and it was successful at that point.
"That’s on the highway going towards Cape St. Mary’s... on your right by the ocean... one of the older houses still in existence. The community's almost empty, unless you're [among those] going to the bird sanctuary in Cape St. Mary’s. It's such a beautiful shore and landscape, the drive's worth it just to see... that whole shore is extraordinarily beautiful.
When I go up on the cape land itself I actually go to see the sheep and not the birds. I’ve done quite a few paintings of them chewing away at the grasses in the fog. It’s one of the only place left in Newfoundland where you can see domestic animals in the wilds anymore. [It's not] at all like that anymore. We build up fences to keep them out rather than keep them in. One or two of the old houses are still there."
On art, culture and change...
"In my last exhibit I said, 'I’m going to paint a horse in a field with no horizon in the background.' You see the idea of painting a horse strikes a nostalgic note in me. At one time you wouldn’t bother painting something like this because it was so common. The same thing for stage heads and fishing paraphernalia and so on. But just as quickly these things became the stuff that went into museums. I remember I was at The Rooms a couple years ago and they had a display of old books, old tools for farming and all that, and it was only a few years ago that these things were used all the time. I said to the curator, 'That’s everything I had when I was growing up.' It’s amazing how time changes so quickly. In the last 50 years we changed more than we ever did before in the past 500. It may be for the good. At least we’re not like we were back in the 30’s, starving to death I suppose. It’s amazing how short a time it takes to destroy a culture. We’re now Canadians, it’s not as much a Newfoundland culture anymore. People still sing about it, but that’s about it.
3x's the charm...
I started [this painting] as a watercolour, and I painted it outdoors. It was unsuccessful, so I started using some acrylic on it and it was still unsuccessful. So I finally painted it in oil over the other two techniques, and it was successful at that point.