Jennifer Stead: Meander 100'

January 11 - March 23, 2008
Visionary Landscapes #2
Organized by KW|AG

"Meander 100' is a walk through the woods, through time and remembrances of encounters with previously seen, known, and felt experience. Starting at one end, the drawing developed, as do many of my paintings, from left to right. Each day I would roll up the previous days work, unroll a few more feet of paper and continue to allow those distilled experiences and observations to take their form. The emphatic horizontality of the scroll was a constant reminder of the endless horizon or the surface of the earth."  -Jennifer Stead

 

Jennifer Stead, Meander 100', 2007, charcoal on Stonehenge paper, 52" x 100'. Image courtesy of the artist and KW|AG. Photo: K.J. Bedford.

Since 1989, Jennifer Stead has created landscapes that are often small in size, despite the expansive nature of her subjects. Meander 100' is reminiscent of the panoramic attractions that were popularized in the 19th century, a time of rapid change in visual culture and technologies. The function of the panorama was to create an all-surrounding experience for viewers - a sense of immersion in an illusory space. Meander 100', like most of Stead's other work, is devoid of the infrastructure - namely architecture, roads and railways that carve and subdivide much of our geography. Though figures do make the occasional appearance in this drawing, they act as clues into the imaginary nature of the drawing and allusions to knowledge and consequence. Like the panorama, or the cyclorama, Meander 100' positions the viewer in the centre of the work, its wound scroll a reminder that the story is never fully revealed and there is always more to be seen. Meander 100' is the second instalment in KW|AG's Visionary Landscapes series, a selection of projects that re-conceive the familiar, show us possible futures, and hybridize geographies.

Jennifer Stead, Meander 100' (detail), 2007, charcoal on Stonehenge paper, 52" x 100'. Image courtesy of the artist and KW|AG. Photo: K.J. Bedford.

 

About Jennifer Stead
Based in Banff, Alberta, Jennifer Stead recently received an MFA from the University of Calgary. Her work was included in the 2002 Alberta Biennial, and in exhibitions at the Maison de la Culture Cote des Neiges; Memorial Art Gallery, St. Johns; and the Nickle Arts Museum, Calgary. Her work is in the collections of the Banff Centre of the Arts, Tom Thomson Gallery, The Alberta Foundation for the Arts and numerous private collections. Stead is represented by Jennifer Kostuik Gallery, Paul Kuhn Gallery and Birch Libralato.