Home Show for the Homeless

HOME SHOW FOR
THE HOMELESS

IN ABSENTIA / McIntosh Gallery, London ON, 2008 /
Catherine Elliot Shaw, curator

LOSING IT / Mount Saint Vincent University Art Gallery, Halifax NS, 2010 / Ingrid Jenkner, curator

12 photos

IN ABSENTIA
McIntosh Gallery,
London ON, 2008
Catherine Elliot Shaw, curator

"Kirtley Jarvis' artwork is grounded in the quotidian, a world
of hastily written notes and scraps of collected information.
The kinds of offhand messages that busy people tend to overlook or acknowledge only fleetingly." Ivan Jurakic

HOME SHOW FOR THE HOMELESS explores 3 different kinds of homelessness:

Literally being down and out on the street
Being disenfranchised by either mental or physical illness
The disconnection that comes with isolation which can be necessary for an artist

PLEASE HELP, 3 printed voile banners, dowels, 8.5 ft h, 14"w, 2008

The banners' repeating motif is based on a panhandler's sign [see above], just one of many which I bought across Canada for $5 to be used as source material for several pieces in this exhibition. I find the calligraphy on these signs expressive and beautiful.

WIRED Found bedsprings & florists' wire, 36" h x 48" w x 6" d, 2007

This is a piece about a humbling experience - realizing that while we all face challenges, some are more obvious than others. I was a new lunchroom supervisor for a group of grade 3 and 4 students at my children's public school. In desperation I sat a fellow down to write 10 lines: "I WILL NOT SWEAR AND RUN AROUND." I hoped this five minute task would temper his wild and frantic behaviour. I was surprised when he said, "I don't know how to spell that", so I wrote the sentence at the top of the page. I quite forgot about him until the end of the lunchtime - about half an hour later - when he handed me the three lines of text he'd been earnestly copying. As you can see his printing is totally garbled by the end.

The original text that is
embroidered with florists' wire

click on images for full view

TRAVILING
HOMELESS
Hungry
Please
Help
GOD BLESS
THANK
YOU

TRAVILING, found stool, hand-embroidered linen,
18"h x 24"w x 14"d, 2007

Based on a panhandler's sign found on the sidewalk on
Dundas St. in London, ON

MISTAKE, found stool, hand-embroidered linen,
15"h x 18"w x 12"d, 2007

Based on a panhandler's sign bought in Toronto

MADE A MISTAKE,
WANT TO GO HOME,
SPARE CHANGE TO
GET THERE

CLOCK FACES, hand-embroidered linen canvas, 12 pieces each 10"h x 10"w x 1.5"d

The twelve clocks are a selection of clock faces drawn by three groups of people: 6 & 7 year olds, veterans at Parkwood Hospital and Alzheimer's patients. On the back of each clock I've embroidered first name signatures. Everyone was able to write their name legibly, including the Alzheimer's patients.

ENTER SOLITUDE, hand-embroidered voile and printed cotton tea towel, suspended from found pallet board, 36"h x 36"w x 1.5"d, 2008

I admire the poet Steven DaGama's insistence on writing poetry to the exclusion of everything else. He lives very frugally, totally removed from the 9 to 5 treadmill. Many artists work in isolation, but he takes this to an extreme.

Steven Da Gama's manuscript

MARGINALIA: POEMS FROM A POTTER'S SHED, hand-embroidered canvas, metal rod,
62"h x 62"w, 2001

Writing poetry, which is central to Steven DaGama's life [see ENTER SOLITUDE above] is absent in this piece. On the left is a strip of a letter from DaGama to his friend Joseph Hubbard (the London sculptor) and on the right is marginalia from galley proofs for a book of DaGama's poetry: "Bury me with this poem".

PORTRAIT OF ALZHEIMER'S, hand-embroidered hospital gown, 44"h x 64"w, 2002

PORTRAIT was based on the information from my mother-in-law's hospital ID wristband printed when she was admitted to hospital in a state of complete disorientation. She was soon moved into a locked care facility for Alzheimer's patients, never living at home again. The line of text along the bottom border is from the nurses' chart. It was repeated again and again during her stay: "Patient is oriented to person, not time or place"

THE LAST SUPPER, hand-embroidered hospital gown,
44"h x 32"w, 2007

This is a companion piece to PORTRAIT OF ALZHEIMER'S [see above]. THE LAST SUPPER is based on a dot matix printout of my father-in-law's last menu from his hospital tray in the Palliative Care Ward. It is roast beef (his favourite) and ridiculously healthy (low cholestrol / no added salt) for someone on his deathbed. Our daughter, Emily, was living alone and being short of money did very well arriving daily at suppertime to visit her grandfather. This hospital gown gapes at the back while my mother-in-law's [see above] floats ethereally.

MENU, found plastic menu folder,
hand-embroidered linen,
printed acetate, 12"h x 8.5"w, 2008

Based on panhandler's sign bought at Wellington and
Commissioners in London, ON:

HOMELESS +
HUNGRY WILL WORK
FOR FOOD OR $ $ $
THANK YOU + GOD BLESS

THE GOOD LIFE, welded steel rods,
38"h x 38"w, 2001

My twin brother takes medication for schizophrenia. THE GOOD LIFE is based on a note he left on the kitchen table on his way to the gym. It is an under-statement to say I admire his steely determination to not give in to his illness.

MY DOG, hand-embroidered
cork in printed folder,
12"h x 9"w, 2008

Based on panhandler's sign from Victoria BC:

"Someone stole my dog. Spare Change for Beer. I don't lie."

FOOD & LODGING, hand-embroidered printed canvas placemat, 12"h x 9"w, 2008

Panhandler's sign from Victoria, BC:
"Homeless (I don't drink (9 years) & I don't smoke drugs. I'm just trying to get on my feet again. Please help? All $ goes to food & lodging."

AUTOGRAPHS, found
wooden autograph book,
hand-embroidered linen,
5.5"h x 7"w x .75"d, 2008

Cyril was standing with his shirt open on a Toronto street corner, showing his scars from open-heart surgery.

"I had a triple bypass...Please help so I can buy my pills.
Thank you, Cyril"