The Triumph of Rural Electrification c. 1984 and I’ll Dance With Anyone She Said, Even the Devil, c.1984, both private collection, Halifax. Two early painted constructions probably shown at Eye Level Gallery, Halifax, c. 1984.

 

The Triumph of Rural Electrification is related to my Antigonish works. A small, mostly lost series. I spent a week at the Coady Institute of Saint Francis Xavier University c. 1984 in Antigonish researching the Antigonish Co-op Movement with a particular interest in Moses Coady and Jimmy Thompkins. This work tries to covey the optimism of the Antigonish Movement. It is composed from tarpaper, vinyl, yellow insulation material and burlap potato sack on wood.

I’ll Dance With Anyone She Said, Even the Devil Is related to an earlier body of work influenced by Helen Creighton’s Nova Scotian folklore books. The image is a rendering of a common folklore theme, that of a girl wishing to have a partner at the local dance, who then discovers the handsome young gentleman she meets is in fact the Devil. The story is always given away by the girl discovering the handsome young man has cloven feet. The setting is a lonely field in the Annapolis Valley. The work is constructed from carpet, vinyl and paint, on wood.