Ginette DeNault’s Weblog

I began my formal art training in the field of printmaking. The process was of interest to me because of its complex mix of materials from chemicals to stone to metals. The end result was also intriguing to me with its graphic or more hard-edged look. Overall, my impression was of a final product that had a processed appearance. It suggested to me that the final product had to be worked for; it was not easily produced like a sketch using drawing implements. After graduation I found myself in a position of not being able to produce prints for many reasons, one of which was accessibility. What I was unable to process in myself due to my preoccupation with academic studies and the lengthy processes of printmaking was found in the stillness of my post graduated state.I came to realize that the images I was creating were not speaking my convictions completely. I had not found balance from a production standpoint. The materials in the printmaking I was taught were too hard on the environment and it was the environment in which I drew so much knowledge. A disconnect presented itself followed by a realization that my spontaneity, that I instinctually valued, was interrupted by the lengthy printing processes.I began on a quest to find a commercial art or design career as a result of my quandary only to find myself in a stream of life that was less and less about the balance I was interested in. In the midst of all of this I was still drawing, painting, collaging and experimenting with paints and stains on paper and other materials. Unconsciously my mind was leading me to materials that would end up allowing me to feel whole in image and production. One cannot, in my view, separate materials, content and mind in the production of visual art. These 3 elements must work in symbiosis of one another.Materials and how they react in my hands prime my mind for the spontaneous results that contribute to the content and ultimately in the final work. For example, I may have a particular colour in mind but through the application of a medium a visual reaction occurs and influences the next step I will take regardless of my pre-work planning. Within moments all the memories relating to that colour will come flooding into my mind influencing the direction of the work of art.I build a painting, drawing or sculpture much the same way time is constructed and understood in human culture. My creative methodology involves the use of a layering process to apply media to various surfaces such as canvas, panel, paper and 3 dimensional surfaces; creating luminosity, depth and texture. This results in both an illusory and physical reality of depth within a piece. The layering process allows me to work in an intuitive and evolutionary manner both of which speak of core values that infuse every part of my work.I would like to highlight that the approach that I take with all my work to date is to allow for understanding and clear communication with as many viewers as possible. If I am to make art for ‘public’ viewing my mandate will be to serve those who come to view my work. If they leave feeling unappreciated or do not get anything out of the work I believe I have failed. According to author and Harvard psycology professor Steve Pinker in his essay A Biological Understanding of Human Nature the art world is not fulfilling a societal obligation in the way that it is progressing. I hope through my efforts to rectify this perceived disconnect or misdirection.

“In the twentieth century, modernism and postmodernism took over, and their practitioners disdained beauty as bourgeois, saccharine, lightweight. Art was deliberately made incomprehensible or ugly or shocking—again, on the assumption that our predilections for attractive faces, landscapes, colors, and so on were reversible social constructions. This also led to an exaggeration of the dynamic of social status that has always been part of the arts. The elite arts used to be aligned with the economic and political aristocracy. They involved displays of sumptuosity and the flaunting of rare and precious skills that only the idle rich could cultivate. But now that any schmo could afford a Mozart CD or go to a free museum, artists had to figure out new ways to differentiate themselves from the rabble. So art became baffling and uninterpretable—unless you had some acquaintance with arcane theory.By their own admission, the humanities programs in universities, and institutions that promote new works of elite art, are in crisis. People are staying away in droves. I don’t think it takes an Einstein to figure out why. …many artists and scholars have pointed out that ultimately art depends on human nature. The aesthetic and emotional reactions we have to works of art depend on how our brain is put together. Art works because it appeals to certain faculties of the mind. Music depends on details of the auditory system, painting and sculpture on the visual system. Poetry and literature depend on language. And the insights we hope to take away from great works of art depend on their ability to explore the eternal conflicts in the human condition, like those between men and women, self and society, parent and child, sibling and sibling, friend and friend.Some theoreticians of literature have suggested that we appreciate tragedy and great works of fiction because they explore the permutations and combinations of human conflict—and these are the very themes that fields like evolutionary psychology and behavioral genetics and social psychology try to illuminate. The sciences of the mind can reinforce the idea that there is an enduring human nature that great art can appeal to.”

If as an artist I take on this challenge of appealing to human nature and follow how the science of the mind is laid out, I believe that the insights or questions I wish to raise to humankind will have an effect on people.For the past 10 years I have been involved in producing commissioned works for those who feel positively affected by my visual perspective. This has made my understanding of my role as artist very much like a teacher, minister or health practitioner would see their roles as being helpful and having a positive effect on people’s lives and society at large. As I see it, my role as artist will be as theirs is; in service to society. Having spent many years observing audience reactions, developing my skills and knowledge within small groups I feel the time has come where a larger audience is needed to further my development as an artist—to see if my ideas can have positive effects on larger groups of people.