“I really want to make physical things so that the experience is a real experience and not just conceptual.”
– Michael Snow
This week we were inspired by Toronto artist Michael Snow, who was born on December 10, 1929 in Toronto. He studied at Upper Canada College and the Ontario College of Art and Design. He is known as one of Canada’s most renowned contemporary artists. In Toronto, he is well known for his Canadian Geese display located inside the Eaton Centre as well as The Audience outside the Rogers Centre. In total there are 15 different statues, and they’re all meant to symbolize the different types of fans such as the father and son, the muscle man, the hungry fan, the heckler and many others.
in 1961, he began a long-term project that for six years would be his trademark: the Walking Woman. It was exhibited at Expo 67 in Montreal and was hailed as his trademark work. He spent six years working it and is arguably his best-known legacy.
In 1981, he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada for his contributions to international visual arts. He also received the first Governor General’s Award in Visual and Media Arts (2000) for cinema. In 2004 the Universite de Paris I, Pantheon-Sorbonne awarded him an honorary doctorate. The last artist awarded this honour was Pablo Picasso.
We used chalk pastel to create our background, spray paint, sharpies, and silver metallic paint to create our own Walking Woman.