The Mendel Art Gallery

autumn 2007 exhibitions
Graeme patterson: woodrow September 7, 2007–January 6, 2008
You are now entering Woodrow…
In his epic poem Paterson, the American poet William
Carlos Williams envisioned that a city could stand in for
a man. In his words, that:
…a man in himself is a city, beginning,
seeking, achieving and concluding his life
in ways which various aspects of a city may
embody – if imaginatively conceived – any
city, all the details of which may be made to
voice his most intimate convictions.
In a long poem that served as both
a self-portrait and an imaginative
recreation of his world, Williams
described a universe not in a grain
of sand, but in a small industrial
city on the banks of the Passaic
River: Paterson, New Jersey.
Saskatchewan artist Graeme
Patterson takes a page from
Williams’ book in his multimedia
installation, Woodrow.
Like Paterson (New Jersey),
Woodrow (Saskatchewan) is a
real place. In fact, it is the small
farming village where Graeme
Patterson now lives. There,
on the farm that his greatgrandfather
homesteaded,
Patterson has set to work,
imaginatively conceiving his
own version of this town,
recreated as a ghost town
populated only by the ghosts
and legends that give any
community its heart.
Patterson’s Woodrow has
three main locations: the
town, the homestead, and
the outskirts. All of these are
linked through his animated
film Monkey and Deer. It stands
alone as a film, but it also is central
to each and every sculpture in this installation. That’s
because Patterson’s constructed world is linked across
its various manifestations: the town is the context for
the animations and the sculptures, the buildings serve as
sets for the animations, the animations are integral parts
of the sculptures, and the long animation Monkey and
Deer contains the town.
The town contains three elements, each, in its own
way, symbolic of the myths and stories that make any
group of buildings a community. There is the Elevator,
most physically dominant structure in town, and the
economic heart of Woodrow. Without it there would
be no town, such is the hard logic of farm life. There
is a Church (just one here, but actually several in the
Saskatchewan Woodrow), centre of community life,
where people celebrate, mourn and recreate. The
Church is a sanctuary, a symbol of hope. Finally, there is
the Hockey Rink, the home of the town’s heroes and the
site where its great battles are played out, where
legends are born.
The homestead part of the exhibition goes
from the public life of a town to the private
life of the individuals. Where the church,
the rink and the elevator represent the
public face of Woodrow, the elements of
the farm: the house, the barn, the shop
and the grain bins, represent the private
element. The Workshop is modeled
after that of Patterson’s grandfather, the
building where Graeme Patterson now
has his studio. The House is a ruined
version of the house Patterson lives
in, and the barn and the Grain
Bins too are based on actual
features of Patterson Farm.
The edges of home, and the
edges of town, are represented by
two sculptures: The Pothole and
The Deer. In The Pothole we see
the cast-offs of the life in the town
and homestead, elements that
will be familiar from watching the
videos that accompany the other
works. The Deer, on the other
hand, stand in for the natural
world, the real edge of civilization,
where the human world ends and
the natural one begins.
Woodrow is a construct of
the imagination, worlds within
worlds, a fabulist construct that
creates a portrait of the artist as it
depicts the world of imagination
and myth that sustains him.
Patterson’s Woodrow is tinged with sadness, its
theme of ghosts, especially as it refers to actual places
and persons, can’t help but serve as a memento mori,
reminding us that we too shall fade. Yet is also a world
filled with humour and joy, with play and a sense of
security. It’s a trip well worth taking. Enjoy your visit.
—Ray Cronin, Halifax, 2007
Organized and circulated by the Art Gallery of Nova
Scotia. Curated by Art Gallery of Nova Scotia Senior
Curator, Ray Cronin. A co-production of the Art Gallery
of Nova Scotia and the Mendel Art Gallery.
Image: Graeme Patterson, Grain Elevator, mixed media, 2005. Collection of the National Gallery of Canada. Photo courtesy of Graeme Patterson.