Ludmila Gallery

Wendy Trusler
Provenance

Opening Friday November 3, 6-10pm
November 3 -26, 2023

Ludmila Gallery
129 1/2 Hunter St. W. 2nd Floor Peterborough ON

Gallery Hours
Weekends Noon to 4pm
Weekdays by appointment – please email: gallery@ludmilagallery.ca

Artist Statement
Provenance

provenance noun
the place of origin or earliest known history of something. “an orange rug of Iranian provenance” • the beginning of something’s existence; something’s origin. “they try to understand the whole universe, its provenance and fate” • a record of ownership of a work of art or an antique, used as a guide to authenticity or quality. “the manuscript has a distinguished provenance”.

Where to begin?
For me, it is with research.

Much of my work examines the nature of memory and the ways in which recollections are
organized into what we understand as history. My interest in memory stems in part from my
family history (Alzheimer’s runs in it) and from insights gained after a tumour was removed
from a memory centre in my brain in my late twenties.

I began this project by wondering about the objects we choose to keep, how recollections
weave themselves into the everyday. What roles do symbol and language play in coding
memory? My idea was to render keepsakes from my home to convey what I knew of their
stories, their meaning, their value. Some images would be well defined, others would fade into
forgetfulness. I found that the subtlety of the silverpoint process, the slow building up of marks
that oxidize and darken with age, mirrored this exploration.

These ideas coalesced years later after the birth of my son, Fin. Over that first summer, in the
quiet times of getting to know him, I noticed what he noticed and captured those moments in
photographs. I loved the conversation I felt I was having with him. I gave no thought to doing
anything with the photographs. Until I did.

What lies at the core of memory? What meaning is passed on between individuals, between
generations? What could this conversation look like?

Fin was three by the time Eternity Behind, Eternity Before began to take shape. It took six years
between 2004 and 2010 to create the over eighty, 7 ¼ x 7 3/8-inch encaustic paintings and
silverpoint drawings that comprise this series. These works have been exhibited at the Art
Gallery of Peterborough (2007), the Visual Art Centre of Clarington (2009) and Artspace (2010).

At the Art Gallery of Peterborough, setting the work in the stairway of its historic wing led me
to consider the stories in that space as it evolved from home to gallery, and inspired me to
transcribe them—again in silverpoint— in a chandelier’s cast-shadow and following the home’s
original wallpaper pattern.
 
At the Visual Arts Centre of Clarington and at Artspace I suspended the suite of paintings and
drawings from the rafters, allowing them to shift with slight air currents, inviting viewers to
consider their own relationship with memory. Each iteration offered an opportunity to tease
out new ways of knowing.

The word provenance suggests a journey. In circling back to the origins of this project, this
installation pulls focus from knowing back to being and to a conversation with the heart.

Wendy Trusler

Artworks
Encaustic paintings and silverpoint drawings as indicated
$400 each
Dimensions: approximately 7 1/4″ x 7 3/8″

Catalogue
Essay By Caroline Seck Langil
Design by Jeff Macklin
Printed and bound in Canada by Jackson Creek Press
$20


To purchase online – please email artist name and artwork(s) title to: gallery@ludmilagallery.ca
We’ll respond with pick up / shipping options

Encaustic painting also known as hot wax painting, is a form of painting that involves a heated wax medium to which coloured pigments have been added.
Silverpoint is the art of drawing with a silver-pointed instrument on paper prepared with a coating of powdered bone or zinc white, creating a fine durable line composed of metal fragments.

These works can be mounted directly on the wall without a frame.
These works are backed with blocks of varying depth to enable nesting without touching.
Encaustic blocks measure either 1″ or 1 1/2″
Silverpoint blocks measure 1/2″
(see below for nesting examples)

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North Wall
The works are arranged here in a way which mirrors the hanging on the gallery walls, shelves and ceiling.

West Wall–

East Wall

Ceiling

Shelf

To purchase online – send artist name and artwork title to: gallery@ludmilagallery.ca
We’ll respond with pick up / shipping options.

Wendy Trusler is an interdisciplinary visual artist who creates site-responsive installations that incorporate drawing, painting, writing/text, sculpture, performance, photography and film. Her practice is shaped by the experience of having lived in isolation in wild places. Ideas around ecology, continuity and regeneration play out in her material choices and in the physicality of her work.

Trusler exhibits in contexts ranging from public and private galleries to storefront windows, industrial spaces, and parks. Her creative process often involves engaging the public in participatory interventions that act to bring people together. Recent projects include The Antarctic Book of Cooking and Cleaning; Collective Vision, a curatorial project in the Mental Health Services Department of the Peterborough Regional Health Centre; and Voices at Hand, a performance piece based on an archive of letters that has been mounted in nine venues across Ontario and, through online platforms, has reached audiences in 26 countries.

Her work is held in private, corporate and public collections including Global Television, Coca Cola, Cambium Consulting & Engineering, the Art Gallery of Peterborough, and Trent University.

Trusler is an Associate of the Ontario College of Art and holds a degree in History from the University of Western Ontario. She is the recipient of numerous grants and awards, was shortlisted for Best Culinary Narrative (Taste Canada Food Writing Awards 2014) and was awarded a Chalmers Art Fellowship in 2015.
She works as Public Art Facilitator for the City of Peterborough and is represented by Isadore & Dunn Gallery in Brooklyn, NY.

The Artist thanks the Canada Council for the Arts and the Ontario Arts Council for assisting in the development and exhibition of this series. The Artist is grateful for the support of the Chalmers Family Fund administered by the Ontario Arts Council.

WITH THANKS TO THE CANADA COUNCIL FOR THE ARTS AND THE ONTARIO ARTS COUNCIL.

Ludmila Gallery
Hours
Weekends: Noon to 4pm
Weekdays by appointment: gallery@ludmilagallery.ca
Address
129 1/2 Hunter St. W. #1 Ptbo ON K9H 2K7