Elizabeth Chitty
Web Site Link: Web Site Link
Virtual Collection: Original CCCA
Country of Birth: Canada
Province of Birth: Ontario
Year of Birth: 1953
City: Maynooth
Country: Canada
Type of Creator: Artist, Writer
Gender: Female
Mediums: curation, installation, performance, photography, video
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Work by Elizabeth Chitty
Mover
Work ID: 30995
Description: performance, A Space
Collection:
Date Made: 1975
Materials:
Virtual Collection: Original CCCA
Lap
Work ID: 30993
Description: performance, Parachute Centre for Cultural Affairs, Calgary
Collection:
Date Made: 1976
Materials:
Virtual Collection: Original CCCA
Drop
Work ID: 30994
Description: performance, outside 410 Queen St. W., Toronto
Collection:
Date Made: 1976
Materials:
Virtual Collection: Original CCCA
Lean Cuts
Work ID: 30990
Description: performance, A Space
Collection:
Date Made: 1977
Materials:
Virtual Collection: Original CCCA
Lean Cuts
Work ID: 30991
Description: performance, A Space
Collection:
Date Made: 1977
Materials:
Virtual Collection: Original CCCA
Lean Cuts
Work ID: 30992
Description: performance, A Space
Collection:
Date Made: 1977
Materials:
Virtual Collection: Original CCCA
Extreme Skin
Work ID: 30989
Description: performance, A Space
Collection:
Date Made: 1977
Materials:
Virtual Collection: Original CCCA
True Bond Stories
Work ID: 30988
Description: performance, A Space
Collection:
Date Made: 1977
Materials:
Virtual Collection: Original CCCA
Demo Model
Work ID: 30987
Description: 15 Dance Lab. Photo: Jorge Zontal.
Collection:
Date Made: 1978
Materials:
Virtual Collection: Original CCCA
Demo Model
Work ID: 30985
Description: performance, Masonic Temple, Toronto, TelePerformance, 5th Network
Collection:
Date Made: 1978
Materials:
Virtual Collection: Original CCCA
Demo Model
Work ID: 30986
Description: performance, Masonic Temple, Toronto, TelePerformance, 5th Network
Collection:
Date Made: 1978
Materials:
Virtual Collection: Original CCCA
Handicap
Work ID: 30984
Description: performance, Art Gallery of Ontario, Dance Into Performance
Collection:
Date Made: 1980
Materials:
Virtual Collection: Original CCCA
Desire Control
Work ID: 30980
Collection:
Date Made: 1981
Materials: video
Virtual Collection: Original CCCA
Desire Control
Work ID: 30979
Collection:
Date Made: 1981
Materials: video
Virtual Collection: Original CCCA
Dogmachine
Work ID: 30983
Collection:
Date Made: 1981
Materials: video
Virtual Collection: Original CCCA
Dogmachine
Work ID: 30982
Collection:
Date Made: 1981
Materials: video
Virtual Collection: Original CCCA
Dogmachine
Work ID: 30981
Collection:
Date Made: 1981
Materials: video
Virtual Collection: Original CCCA
History Colour TV & You
Work ID: 30978
Description: performance, Western Front, Vancouver
Collection:
Date Made: 1981
Materials:
Virtual Collection: Original CCCA
Moral/Passion – Scene 5: Lost Belief
Work ID: 30971
Description: performance, The Great Hall, Toronto, produced by Music Gallery/Cultural Desire Projects - photography (inperformance): David Hlynsky
Collection:
Date Made: 1985
Materials:
Virtual Collection: Original CCCA
Moral/Passion – Scene 7: The Sea
Work ID: 30973
Description: performance, The Great Hall, Toronto, produced by Music Gallery/Cultural Desire Projects - photography (inperformance): David Hlynsky
Collection:
Date Made: 1985
Materials:
Virtual Collection: Original CCCA
Moral/Passion – Scene 11: Plaisir d’amour
Work ID: 30977
Description: performance, The Great Hall, Toronto, produced by Music Gallery/Cultural Desire Projects - photography (inperformance): David Hlynsky
Collection:
Date Made: 1985
Materials:
Virtual Collection: Original CCCA
Moral/Passion – Scene 10: Forest
Work ID: 30976
Description: performance, The Great Hall, Toronto, produced by Music Gallery/Cultural Desire Projects - photography (inperformance): David Hlynsky
Collection:
Date Made: 1985
Materials:
Virtual Collection: Original CCCA
Moral/Passion – Scene 9: Monuments
Work ID: 30975
Description: performance, The Great Hall, Toronto, produced by Music Gallery/Cultural Desire Projects - photography (inperformance): David Hlynsky
Collection:
Date Made: 1985
Materials:
Virtual Collection: Original CCCA
Moral/Passion – Scene 6: Liebstod
Work ID: 30972
Description: performance, The Great Hall, Toronto, produced by Music Gallery/Cultural Desire Projects - photography (inperformance): David Hlynsky
Collection:
Date Made: 1985
Materials:
Virtual Collection: Original CCCA
Moral/Passion – Scene 5: Lost Belief
Work ID: 30970
Description: performance, The Great Hall, Toronto, produced by Music Gallery/Cultural Desire Projects - photography (inperformance): David Hlynsky
Collection:
Date Made: 1985
Materials:
Virtual Collection: Original CCCA
Moral/Passion – Scene 2: Blue Girl
Work ID: 30968
Description: performance, The Great Hall, Toronto, produced by Music Gallery/Cultural Desire Projects - photography (inperformance): David Hlynsky
Collection:
Date Made: 1985
Materials:
Virtual Collection: Original CCCA
Moral/Passion – Scene 3: Lost Limb
Work ID: 30969
Description: performance, The Great Hall, Toronto, produced by Music Gallery/Cultural Desire Projects - photography (inperformance): David Hlynsky
Collection:
Date Made: 1985
Materials:
Virtual Collection: Original CCCA
Moral/Passion – Scene 2: Blue Girl
Work ID: 30967
Description: performance, The Great Hall, Toronto, produced by Music Gallery/Cultural Desire Projects - photography (inperformance): David Hlynsky
Collection:
Date Made: 1985
Materials:
Virtual Collection: Original CCCA
Moral/Passion – Scene 9: Monuments
Work ID: 30974
Description: performance, The Great Hall, Toronto, produced by Music Gallery/Cultural Desire Projects - photography (inperformance): David Hlynsky
Collection:
Date Made: 1985
Materials:
Virtual Collection: Original CCCA
The View of the Landscape From Here
Work ID: 30962
Description: installation, Niagara Artists' Company, St. Catherines, Ontario
Collection:
Date Made: 1990
Materials:
Virtual Collection: Original CCCA
Lake – Part 1: No Place
Work ID: 30952
Description: performance, Bill Bolton Arena, Toronto, produced by Cultural Desire Projects - photography (in performance): David Hlynsky
Collection:
Date Made: 1990
Materials:
Virtual Collection: Original CCCA
The View of the Landscape From Here
Work ID: 30966
Description: detail - wooden bench, headphones and text audio, installation Niagara Artists' Company, St. Catherines, Ontario
Collection:
Date Made: 1990
Materials:
Virtual Collection: Original CCCA
Lake – Part 5: Spring (Hope)
Work ID: 30960
Description: performance, Bill Bolton Arena, Toronto, produced by Cultural Desire Projects - photography (in performance): David Hlynsky
Collection:
Date Made: 1990
Materials:
Virtual Collection: Original CCCA
Lake – Part 4: Winter (Strength)
Work ID: 30958
Description: performance, Bill Bolton Arena, Toronto, produced by Cultural Desire Projects - photography (in performance): David Hlynsky
Collection:
Date Made: 1990
Materials:
Virtual Collection: Original CCCA
Lake – Part 3: Autumn (Disillusion)
Work ID: 30955
Description: performance, Bill Bolton Arena, Toronto, produced by Cultural Desire Projects - photography (in performance): David Hlynsky
Collection:
Date Made: 1990
Materials:
Virtual Collection: Original CCCA
Lake – Part 2: Summer (Discontent)
Work ID: 30954
Description: performance, Bill Bolton Arena, Toronto, produced by Cultural Desire Projects - photography (in performance): David Hlynsky
Collection:
Date Made: 1990
Materials:
Virtual Collection: Original CCCA
Lake – Part 3: Autumn (Disillusion)
Work ID: 30956
Description: performance, Bill Bolton Arena, Toronto, produced by Cultural Desire Projects - photography (in performance): David Hlynsky
Collection:
Date Made: 1990
Materials:
Virtual Collection: Original CCCA
Lake – Part 1: No Place
Work ID: 30953
Description: performance, Bill Bolton Arena, Toronto, produced by Cultural Desire Projects - photography (in performance): David Hlynsky
Collection:
Date Made: 1990
Materials:
Virtual Collection: Original CCCA
Lake – Part 6: Every Place
Work ID: 30961
Description: performance, Bill Bolton Arena, Toronto, produced by Cultural Desire Projects - photography (in performance): David Hlynsky
Collection:
Date Made: 1990
Materials:
Virtual Collection: Original CCCA
The View of the Landscape From Here
Work ID: 30964
Description: detail - tape 2 (Industrial/Ritual), pool, camomile bed, installation Niagara Artists' Company, St. Catherines, Ontario
Collection:
Date Made: 1990
Materials:
Virtual Collection: Original CCCA
Lake – Part 3: Autumn (Disillusion)
Work ID: 30957
Description: performance, Bill Bolton Arena, Toronto, produced by Cultural Desire Projects - photography (in performance): David Hlynsky
Collection:
Date Made: 1990
Materials:
Virtual Collection: Original CCCA
The View of the Landscape From Here
Work ID: 30963
Description: detail - tape 1 (untitled), tape 2 (Industrial/Ritual), brooder lamp, installation Niagara Artists' Company, St. Catherines, Ontario
Collection:
Date Made: 1990
Materials:
Virtual Collection: Original CCCA
The View of the Landscape From Here
Work ID: 30965
Description: detail - camomile bed, installation Niagara Artists' Company, St. Catherines, Ontario
Collection:
Date Made: 1990
Materials:
Virtual Collection: Original CCCA
Lake – Part 4: Winter (Strength)
Work ID: 30959
Description: performance, Bill Bolton Arena, Toronto, produced by Cultural Desire Projects - photography (in performance): David Hlynsky
Collection:
Date Made: 1990
Materials:
Virtual Collection: Original CCCA
Hortus Imaginum
Work ID: 30947
Description: performance, Walker Botanical Gardens, St. Catherines, Niagara Unpeeled
Collection:
Date Made: 1992
Materials:
Virtual Collection: Original CCCA
untitled
Work ID: 30951
Description: projected on verandah screen during Hortus Imaginum, photo realized by John Mukts
Collection:
Date Made: 1992
Materials: photograph
Virtual Collection: Original CCCA
untitled
Work ID: 30949
Description: projected on verandah screen during Hortus Imaginum, photo realized by John Mukts
Collection:
Date Made: 1992
Materials: photograph
Virtual Collection: Original CCCA
Theatrum Silvaticae
Work ID: 30946
Description: performance
Collection:
Date Made: 1992
Materials:
Virtual Collection: Original CCCA
Theatrum Silvaticae
Work ID: 30945
Description: performance
Collection:
Date Made: 1992
Materials:
Virtual Collection: Original CCCA
untitled
Work ID: 30950
Description: projected on verandah screen during Hortus Imaginum, photo realized by John Mukts
Collection:
Date Made: 1992
Materials: photograph
Virtual Collection: Original CCCA
Hortus Imaginum
Work ID: 30948
Description: performance, Walker Botanical Gardens, St. Catherines, Niagara Unpeeled
Collection:
Date Made: 1992
Materials:
Virtual Collection: Original CCCA
spine
Work ID: 30944
Description: projected on maple seedlings in Isadora Speaks
Collection:
Date Made: 1993
Materials: photograph
Virtual Collection: Original CCCA
Isadora Speaks
Work ID: 30943
Description: installation, John Spotton Cinema, Toronto, Moving Pictures Festival
Collection:
Date Made: 1993
Materials:
Virtual Collection: Original CCCA
Breath and the Heart, Listen
Work ID: 30941
Description: detail from installation, Niagara Artists' Company, St. Catherines, Ontario
Collection:
Date Made: 1994
Materials:
Virtual Collection: Original CCCA
Breath and the Heart, Listen
Work ID: 30940
Description: installation, Niagara Artists' Company, St. Catherines, Ontario
Collection:
Date Made: 1994
Materials:
Virtual Collection: Original CCCA
Le paysage et nos coeurs
Work ID: 30930
Description: performance, Metabetchouan, Quebec, Terre Commune
Collection:
Date Made: 1994
Materials:
Virtual Collection: Original CCCA
untitled
Work ID: 30934
Description: projected on cow during, Le paysage et nos coeurs
Collection:
Date Made: 1994
Materials: photograph
Virtual Collection: Original CCCA
Le paysage et nos coeurs
Work ID: 30932
Description: performance, Metabetchouan, Quebec, Terre Commune
Collection:
Date Made: 1994
Materials:
Virtual Collection: Original CCCA
Decouvrant le coeur
Work ID: 30927
Description: performance, Rencontre internationale d'art performance, Quebec, PQ
Collection:
Date Made: 1994
Materials:
Virtual Collection: Original CCCA
Le paysage et nos coeurs
Work ID: 30933
Description: performance, Metabetchouan, Quebec, Terre Commune
Collection:
Date Made: 1994
Materials:
Virtual Collection: Original CCCA
see
Work ID: 30935
Description: component of performances and installations 1994-1997
Collection:
Date Made: 1994
Materials: photograph
Virtual Collection: Original CCCA
hear
Work ID: 30937
Description: component of performances and installations 1994-1997
Collection:
Date Made: 1994
Materials: photograph
Virtual Collection: Original CCCA
taste
Work ID: 30936
Description: component of performances and installations 1994-1997
Collection:
Date Made: 1994
Materials: photograph
Virtual Collection: Original CCCA
Le paysage et nos coeurs
Work ID: 30931
Description: performance, Metabetchouan, Quebec, Terre Commune
Collection:
Date Made: 1994
Materials:
Virtual Collection: Original CCCA
Breath and the Heart, Listen
Work ID: 30942
Description: detail from installation, Niagara Artists' Company, St. Catherines, Ontario
Collection:
Date Made: 1994
Materials:
Virtual Collection: Original CCCA
Le paysage et nos coeurs
Work ID: 30929
Description: performance, Metabetchouan, Quebec, Terre Commune
Collection:
Date Made: 1994
Materials:
Virtual Collection: Original CCCA
touch
Work ID: 30938
Description: component of performances and installations 1994-1997
Collection:
Date Made: 1994
Materials: photograph
Virtual Collection: Original CCCA
Découvrant le coeur
Work ID: 30928
Description: performance, Rencontre internationale d'art performance, Quebec, PQ
Collection:
Date Made: 1994
Materials:
Virtual Collection: Original CCCA
smell
Work ID: 30939
Description: component of performances and installations 1994-1997
Collection:
Date Made: 1994
Materials: photograph
Virtual Collection: Original CCCA
Breath of Life
Work ID: 30926
Description: installation, Harbourfront, Toronto, Artists' Gardens
Collection:
Date Made: 1995
Materials:
Virtual Collection: Original CCCA
Nature of the Body
Work ID: 30921
Description: performance, Beamer Conservation Area, Grimsby, Ontario, Terre Commune
Collection:
Date Made: 1996
Materials:
Virtual Collection: Original CCCA
Nature of the Body
Work ID: 30920
Description: performance, Beamer Conservation Area, Grimsby, Ontario, Terre Commune
Collection:
Date Made: 1996
Materials:
Virtual Collection: Original CCCA
Nature of the Body
Work ID: 30924
Description: performance, Beamer Conservation Area, Grimsby, Ontario, Terre Commune
Collection:
Date Made: 1996
Materials:
Virtual Collection: Original CCCA
Nature of the Body
Work ID: 30923
Description: performance, Beamer Conservation Area, Grimsby, Ontario, Terre Commune
Collection:
Date Made: 1996
Materials:
Virtual Collection: Original CCCA
Nature of the Body
Work ID: 30922
Description: performance, Beamer Conservation Area, Grimsby, Ontario, Terre Commune
Collection:
Date Made: 1996
Materials:
Virtual Collection: Original CCCA
Nature of the Body
Work ID: 30925
Description: installation, Grimsby Public Art Gallery, Ontario, Terre Commune
Collection:
Date Made: 1996
Materials:
Virtual Collection: Original CCCA
Breath and the Heart, Thinking
Work ID: 30917
Description: detail
Collection:
Date Made: 1997
Materials:
Virtual Collection: Original CCCA
Progress of the Body
Work ID: 30918
Description: performance, Trinity Bellwoods Park, Toronto, 7a*11d Performance Festival
Collection:
Date Made: 1997
Materials:
Virtual Collection: Original CCCA
Progress of the Body
Work ID: 30919
Description: performance, Trinity Bellwoods Park, Toronto, 7a*11d Performance Festival
Collection:
Date Made: 1997
Materials:
Virtual Collection: Original CCCA
Breath and the Heart, Thinking
Work ID: 30916
Description: installation, Niagara Artists' Company, St. Catherines, Ontario
Collection:
Date Made: 1997
Materials:
Virtual Collection: Original CCCA
Bird (detail)
Work ID: 30914
Description: from the exhibition, Bloodbird
Collection:
Date Made: 1998
Materials: videotape
Virtual Collection: Original CCCA
Bird (detail)
Work ID: 30912
Description: from the exhibition, Bloodbird
Collection:
Date Made: 1998
Materials: videotape
Virtual Collection: Original CCCA
Blood (detail)
Work ID: 30913
Description: from the exhibition, Bloodbird
Collection:
Date Made: 1998
Materials: videotape
Virtual Collection: Original CCCA
Bloodbird
Work ID: 30910
Description: installation, Niagara Artists' Company, St. Catherines, Ontario
Collection:
Date Made: 1998
Materials:
Virtual Collection: Original CCCA
Blood (detail)
Work ID: 30911
Description: from the exhibition, Bloodbird, Niagara Artists' Company, St. Catherines, Ontario
Collection:
Date Made: 1998
Materials: videotape
Virtual Collection: Original CCCA
Elizabeth Chitty
Work ID: 30915
Description: detail of light projection, from the exhibition, Bloodbird
Collection:
Date Made: 1998
Materials: light projection
Virtual Collection: Original CCCA
Guardian of Niagara: The Great Lakes
Work ID: 70941
Description: Guardian of Niagara: The Great Lakes is the first in a series of chromira prints featuring the Guardian of Niagara, an image which plays on fantasy and comic strip heroines found in popular culture. Unlike the nubile female bodies of those genres she is a red-robed, white-haired crone with staff forged from the waters of Niagara Falls who protects Niagara from environmental scourges. She surveys the Great Lakes, pondering the ills that plague them, and rouses Niagarans to save the day, recalling the famous feminist slogan - "We can do it!"
The Niagara region lies between the smallest (Lake Ontario) and the shallowest (Lake Erie) of the Great Lakes. The Great Lakes ecosystem is the largest system of fresh water on the planet and the Lakes hold one fifth of the planet's fresh surface water. We in Niagara and all those in communities around The Great Lakes have a huge stake in the health of these precious bodies of water and a significant role to play as their guardians.
Measurements: 60.96 x 76.2 cm
Collection:
Date Made: 2007
Materials: Chromira print
Virtual Collection: Original CCCA
Fall
Work ID: 70946
Description: Fall is a video and audio installation consisting of two video projections and sound spatialized amongst eight speakers. The images and sounds are of waterfalls in the North Niagara watershed that are part of the system of creeks named by numbers. These numbers represent the measurement in miles of the mouths of the creeks from the mouth of the Niagara River. The Niagara region is associated throughout the world with Niagara Falls but the many smaller waterfalls are known only to locals, hikers of the Bruce Trail and Niagara Escarpment.
The waterfalls in Fall are Swayze Falls which is on a tributary of the Twelve Mile Creek, Rockway Falls on the Fifteen Mile Creek, Louth Falls on the Sixteen Mile Creek, Upper Balls Falls and Lower Balls Falls on the Twenty Mile Creek and Beamer Falls on the Forty Mile Creek. These falls are publicly-owned either by the Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority or Ontario Provincial Parks.
In the video projection on the south wall, two minutes of footage of each falls is separated with a numeral identifying its creek. In the other video projection, footage from the first is edited in short clips based on the relevant number. The act of measurement by European settlers in Niagara that led to the naming of the creeks, and therefore our cultural geography, becomes the device for visually shaping the video.
The sound of the installation is the sound of the south wall video as recorded on site. You will notice that the sound is not what you will hear on relaxation tapes and that the artist has not edited out the sounds of airplanes and voices. The sound is spatialized and moves around the gallery through eight speakers.
Waterfalls are associated in the popular imagination both with elemental force and power as well as meditative tranquility - they have been harnessed for power for water wheels and hydroelectricity and served as calendar nature art. In Fall, the artist uses the sound and images of these waterfalls to ask questions about our relationship with nature.
Elizabeth Chitty was born in Niagara, has lived most of her life here and is working from a deeply-felt sense of place and appreciation of the natural beauty of our region. The work has its origins in her love of the sheer emotional power of waterfalls, most of which she discovered - as you may have - while walking. Through the electronic media she uses and her artistic choices, her work is equally grounded in technology. Modernism approached nature and technology as opposing forces á áeither/orá á and the environmental degradation we face is a product of that ideological construct. Fall is an expression of áboth/andá, which is language of post-modernist discourse influenced by feminism, and which the artist believes is the only way forward in the decisions we must make about how we live on our planet.
Sound spatialized by Darren Copeland.
Documentation courtesy of the Grimsby Public Art Gallery.
Photo: Isaac Applebaum.
Measurements: variable according to venue
Collection:
Date Made: 2008
Materials: 2 video projections, 8 speakers
Virtual Collection: Original CCCA
Fall
Work ID: 70945
Description: Fall is a video and audio installation consisting of two video projections and sound spatialized amongst eight speakers. The images and sounds are of waterfalls in the North Niagara watershed that are part of the system of creeks named by numbers. These numbers represent the measurement in miles of the mouths of the creeks from the mouth of the Niagara River. The Niagara region is associated throughout the world with Niagara Falls but the many smaller waterfalls are known only to locals, hikers of the Bruce Trail and Niagara Escarpment.
The waterfalls in Fall are Swayze Falls which is on a tributary of the Twelve Mile Creek, Rockway Falls on the Fifteen Mile Creek, Louth Falls on the Sixteen Mile Creek, Upper Balls Falls and Lower Balls Falls on the Twenty Mile Creek and Beamer Falls on the Forty Mile Creek. These falls are publicly-owned either by the Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority or Ontario Provincial Parks.
In the video projection on the south wall, two minutes of footage of each falls is separated with a numeral identifying its creek. In the other video projection, footage from the first is edited in short clips based on the relevant number. The act of measurement by European settlers in Niagara that led to the naming of the creeks, and therefore our cultural geography, becomes the device for visually shaping the video.
The sound of the installation is the sound of the south wall video as recorded on site. You will notice that the sound is not what you will hear on relaxation tapes and that the artist has not edited out the sounds of airplanes and voices. The sound is spatialized and moves around the gallery through eight speakers.
Waterfalls are associated in the popular imagination both with elemental force and power as well as meditative tranquility - they have been harnessed for power for water wheels and hydroelectricity and served as calendar nature art. In Fall, the artist uses the sound and images of these waterfalls to ask questions about our relationship with nature.
Elizabeth Chitty was born in Niagara, has lived most of her life here and is working from a deeply-felt sense of place and appreciation of the natural beauty of our region. The work has its origins in her love of the sheer emotional power of waterfalls, most of which she discovered - as you may have - while walking. Through the electronic media she uses and her artistic choices, her work is equally grounded in technology. Modernism approached nature and technology as opposing forces á áeither/orá á and the environmental degradation we face is a product of that ideological construct. Fall is an expression of áboth/andá, which is language of post-modernist discourse influenced by feminism, and which the artist believes is the only way forward in the decisions we must make about how we live on our planet.
Sound spatialized by Darren Copeland.
Documentation courtesy of the Grimsby Public Art Gallery.
Photo: Isaac Applebaum.
Measurements: variable according to venue
Collection:
Date Made: 2008
Materials: 2 video projections, 8 speakers
Virtual Collection: Original CCCA
Fly, installation view
Work ID: 70944
Description: Fly is an outdoor photo and audio installation based on an image and sound of the red-tailed hawk. The image of the bird is technologically distanced from nature photography ¿ it was captured on low resolution video and digitally altered. It is applied to the outside wall of the gallery with the wheat paste used by street artists. The sound is triggered by a motion sensor.
I have used the image of the red-tailed hawk in a few works and I approach it with unabashed enthusiasm for the thrill I get from being close to this bird. Flight is emotionally engaging. This work speaks from a sense of place. While the red-tailed hawk is one of the most common raptors in North America, it has a strong connection with Grimsby because of the Niagara Peninsula Hawkwatch at Beamer Conservation Area (where I shot the image). In Niagara we live in an area of great natural bounty but there is little left that is ¿wild¿. I approach the nature/culture dichotomy as ¿both/and¿ (as opposed to ¿either/or¿) and the work is ideally an invitation to cherish and protect the natural wonders found in Niagara while we engage fully in the technological world.
Documentation courtesy of the Grimsby Public Art Gallery.
Photo: Rhona Wenger.
The artist wishes to thank Hector Centenno for his invaluable assistance in realizing the audio component of this work. Many thanks also to Matt Harley. The photograph was installed with the participation of youth from FORT.
Measurements: print: 0.1566 x 0.3306 m
Collection:
Date Made: 2008
Materials: pigment ink print, wheat paste, motion sensor, speaker
Virtual Collection: Original CCCA
Night Leaves, detail
Work ID: 70942
Description: One night street installation of 6 images.
Sponsor: St. Catharines and Area Arts Council, James St. Night of Art.
Measurements: 12.7 - 27.94 x 43.18 cm
Collection:
Date Made: 2008
Materials: 6 colour photocopies, wheatpaste
Virtual Collection: Original CCCA
Fall
Work ID: 70947
Description: Fall is a video and audio installation consisting of two video projections and sound spatialized amongst eight speakers. The images and sounds are of waterfalls in the North Niagara watershed that are part of the system of creeks named by numbers. These numbers represent the measurement in miles of the mouths of the creeks from the mouth of the Niagara River. The Niagara region is associated throughout the world with Niagara Falls but the many smaller waterfalls are known only to locals, hikers of the Bruce Trail and Niagara Escarpment.
The waterfalls in Fall are Swayze Falls which is on a tributary of the Twelve Mile Creek, Rockway Falls on the Fifteen Mile Creek, Louth Falls on the Sixteen Mile Creek, Upper Balls Falls and Lower Balls Falls on the Twenty Mile Creek and Beamer Falls on the Forty Mile Creek. These falls are publicly-owned either by the Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority or Ontario Provincial Parks.
In the video projection on the south wall, two minutes of footage of each falls is separated with a numeral identifying its creek. In the other video projection, footage from the first is edited in short clips based on the relevant number. The act of measurement by European settlers in Niagara that led to the naming of the creeks, and therefore our cultural geography, becomes the device for visually shaping the video.
The sound of the installation is the sound of the south wall video as recorded on site. You will notice that the sound is not what you will hear on relaxation tapes and that the artist has not edited out the sounds of airplanes and voices. The sound is spatialized and moves around the gallery through eight speakers.
Waterfalls are associated in the popular imagination both with elemental force and power as well as meditative tranquility - they have been harnessed for power for water wheels and hydroelectricity and served as calendar nature art. In Fall, the artist uses the sound and images of these waterfalls to ask questions about our relationship with nature.
Elizabeth Chitty was born in Niagara, has lived most of her life here and is working from a deeply-felt sense of place and appreciation of the natural beauty of our region. The work has its origins in her love of the sheer emotional power of waterfalls, most of which she discovered - as you may have - while walking. Through the electronic media she uses and her artistic choices, her work is equally grounded in technology. Modernism approached nature and technology as opposing forces á áeither/orá á and the environmental degradation we face is a product of that ideological construct. Fall is an expression of áboth/andá, which is language of post-modernist discourse influenced by feminism, and which the artist believes is the only way forward in the decisions we must make about how we live on our planet.
Sound spatialized by Darren Copeland.
Documentation courtesy of the Grimsby Public Art Gallery.
Photo: Isaac Applebaum.
Measurements: variable according to venue
Collection:
Date Made: 2008
Materials: 2 video projections, 8 speakers
Virtual Collection: Original CCCA
Guardian of Niagara: The Soft Fruit Industry
Work ID: 71607
Description: The Guardian of Niagara returns to comment that soft fruit agriculture, which once defined Niagara, is at serious risk. This time, she is less optimistic. With her staff of falling water, she straddles the roof of the last fruit processing plant (closed in Niagara in 2008) and a cherry orchard in bloom, flanked by ripe peaches, all layered on top of a row of suburban houses where orchards once flourished.
The Guardian series of photograph relate to issues about the environment, food and the economy. The identity of the fantasy figure highlights the local (she is the Guardian of Niagara, after all) but the issues are global as much as local.
The artist wishes to thank Brian Yungblut and Nell Chitty for their assistance in realizing this work.
Measurements: 60.96 x 76.2 cm
Collection:
Date Made: 2009
Materials: colour Chromira print
Virtual Collection: Original CCCA
