Icebreaking

"Published in English and French, this catalogue features the work of contemporary Canadian artist Jesse Stewart. Drawing inspiration from works in the Firestone Collection of Canadian Art, Stewart examines the role of industry on climate change, as well as the related disappearance of ice. Works by Franklin Carmichael, Alan C. Collier, and Claude Picher highlight industrial activities such as mining and smelting in Ontario's Great Lakes region, as well as annual icebreaking to clear shipping channels along the St. Lawrence River. Stewart's work, in turn, seeks to emphasize renewable resources. His use of reclaimed materials, including wood, glass, and plastic, stresses the necessity of upcycling in the face of accelerated toxic manufacturing and consumer consumption. Reflecting on the global ramifications of local pollution, Stewart also looks to melting glaciers and polar ice caps. Depictions of northern landscapes from the Firestone Collection, by artists Lawren S. Harris, A.Y. Jackson, and Philip Surrey, have been paired with Glacialis (2010-19), a video of Stewart using percussive instruments made of ice. We feel a sense of urgency and ephemerality as it becomes evident that Stewart's music will end when the instruments melt. As we currently sit at an environmental tipping point, it is necessary to contemplate the reverberations of our collective and individual actions on the local ecology in the age of the Anthropocene."--