Winter 2001 - Nova Scotia College of Art and Design

The Magazine of the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design Design for Alumni & Friends 

Volume 1 Issue 1 

Winter 2001

E Y E W E A R 

E X P O S E D 

showcased work 

b y students in 

David Downing's 

J e w e l l e ry Wo r k s h o p : 

Eyewear Design. 

The exhibition was 

held in the Anna 

Leonowens Gallery 

in August, 2001 

A Note From The President 

I have had a pretty exciting time in the last eight months. 

Having arrived in January (nobody had told me the tru t h 

about the weather) I have been busily discovering the 

delights of this gem of a city (including the extraordinary 

number of pubs) and discovering also the delights of this 

truly amazing college. Having previously worked in a 

museum which enjoys a large reputation for eccentricity 

and being impossible to find ones way around, I felt 

immediately at home at NSCAD. I spent the first two 

weeks looking for my office. For the record, I spent the 

next six driving on the wrong side of the road. 

We have some pressing problems at the College and these 

a re the ones we are addressing first. We need to consolidate 

our existing buildings and to acquire a second campus 

in order to enter into the next phase of modernity; we need 

to fully celebrate and demonstrate the importance of our 

independent status; we need a new generation of technical 

equipment; we need more staff to work alongside the brilliant 

teachers we already have. The solutions to all these 

p roblems imply one big thing: we need to raise money. 

I have to say, that in all kinds of ways things are looking 

good in most areas. Problems are steadily melting away 

and I very much look forward to reporting good news to 

you in future issues of this magazine. 

I have described art education in various places as being 

a grand adventure. It becomes clearer to me by the day 

that NSCAD is one of the best centres in the world at which 

this adventure can be experienced. The flair and dedication 

of academic, technical and administrative staff is exceptional 

in my experience, and the quality of our student population 

is simply unrivalled. Perhaps the most impressive thing about 

this college however, is you. The NSCAD alumni are a 

t re a s u re any university president anywhere would be deeply 

p roud of. Over the coming months and years I hope to meet 

as many of you as possible, and I very much hope also that 

you will take part in the grand adventure that is the future 

development of NSCAD.

5163 Duke Street 

Halifax, Nova Scotia 

B3J 3J6 Canada 

Managing Editor: 

Jay Walsh, Coordinator of Communications 

Front Cover Photo: 

Presidient, Paul Greenhalgh 

by Kim Waldron, BFA Student 

Design: 

Spectacle Design 

Siobhan Cleary, BDes ‘93 

Lucy Sterezylo 

Printing: 

etc. Press Limited 

6112 Quinpool Rd., Halifax 

Contributing Photographers: 

Sheilah Wilson, BFA Student 

David Downing 

Lorraine Field, BFA ‘97 

Victoria Page, BFA ‘01 

Michael LeBlanc 

Doug Bamford, BFA ‘95 

Suzanne Cameron, BFA Student 

Lionel Simmons 

Alan Harding MacKay 

Nadine Fava, BFA Student 

Direct correspondence to: 

Jay Walsh, Coordinator of Communications 

Office of Advancement 

5163 Duke Street 

Halifax, Nova Scotia 

B3J 3J6 Canada 

902.494.8244 

jwalsh@nscad.ns.ca 

www.nscad.ns.ca 

Photos of the Pre s i d e n t ’s off i c e : Sheilah Wi l s o n 

Photos of Eyewear Exhibit: David Downing 

Photo of the Painting Studio: L o rraine Field 

o 2 

o 4 

o 6 

o 8 

o1 0 

o1 5 

o1 8 

o 20 

o 23 

o2 4 

Alumnus 

Justin Augustine 

Events 

Be Amused! Anna’s Bash 2001 

2001-2002 Annual Campaign 

Donor List 

Students 

Emerging Artists 

Essay 

Complexity 

Facilities 

Think Print - NSCAD’s Design Printshop 

Alumnus 

Cella Harris 

Facilities 

A Wood-fired Kiln in Downtown Halifax 

Letter From Abroad 

Lucy Leonowens Bahr 

Anna Leonowens Gallery 

Photography by Suzanne Cameron 

Con 

t e n t s

Alumnus 

Justin Augustine 

Justin Augustine (BFA ’99) 

has found a haven for 

painting in Halifax 

Rebecca Roberts (BFA 2001) 

is a freelance writer and 

emerging artist in Halifax 

When Justin Augustine moved to 

Halifax from To ronto, he thought he 

was coming to a small city with a 

tiny black population. It took him a 

while to realize his mistake. When 

a friend enlightened him and took 

him on a tour that included the 

communities of Preston and Nort h 

P reston, Augustine felt an instant 

a ffinity for the towns. “When I was 

being driven around the Prestons, 

all the locals were driving around 

and everyone knew each other,” he 

said. “You could hear people calling 

out to each other, hanging out of their 

cars. That whole setting was very 

reminiscent of the way I grew up.” 

Justin Augustine spent his childhood 

on the Caribbean island of Dominica, 

and moved with his family to Canada 

when he was eleven years old. After 

completing high school in To ro n t o , 

Augustine followed the advice of 

a friend and relocated to Halifax 

to study at the Nova Scotia College 

of Art and Design. Since then he’s 

been making artwork that explores 

his complicated relationship to the 

h i s t o ry and memory of this pro v i n c e . 

Not all of his Nova Scotian discoveries 

have been positive. “When I found 

out about the Africville situation it was 

like a culture shock to me,” he says. 

“It still is. It still bugs me. The fact that 

you can go down to Seaview Park 

and there ’s just a little monument there . 

I t ’s such a nice little park, you’d never 

think of the history there . ” 

o2 In his paintings young men and 

women stand, almost always singly, 

in locations around Halifax – 

in P reston, at Seaview Park, or in 

f ront of the Cornwallis Street Baptist 

C h u rch. They are often pictured 

gesturing vaguely, eyes averted, 

as if dreaming or deeply distracted. 

These haunting figures are stand-ins 

for himself. “I try to place myself, 

identify myself, in that space,” he 

says. “Figures, whether male or 

female, are my re p resentation.” 

They are also stand-ins for the 

p a i n t i n g ’s viewers. In a written 

statement that accompanied a re c e n t 

exhibition, Augustine invited viewers 

to “take the place of the figures and 

u n d e rgo their experiences.” 

His works are often compared to 

those of Alex Colville. Augustine’s 

paintings, like Colville’s, depict 

poised, quiet, alienated figures interacting 

abstractedly with their enviro nm e n t s

and with each-other. Colville 

is white, and his human subjects are 

u n v a ryingly white as well. Augustine’s 

a re black. Augustine doesn’t see 

much diff e rence between what he’s 

doing, and what a white figurative 

a rtist may do – making images that 

resemble those he identifies with. 

But Colville’s work is never discussed 

in terms of race, and Augustine’s 

always is. 

“I can say all I want about not being 

categorized, but it’s going to happen 

a n y w a y,” Augustine says. “In almost 

e v e ry article that’s written about my 

work, it’s been pointed out. The art 

aspect of it becomes almost seconda 

ry.” He wonders if his status as 

a “black artist” is one reason for his 

recent successes. ”It may be re s p o n s ible 

for some of the attention I’m get- 

ting,” he says, but admits that it’s 

h a rd to tell. “People don’t come 

into the gallery and say ‘I love your 

painting because it’s a black image’.” 

o3 Overall, he is satisfied with the 

way his work has been received. 

He has been showing extensively 

since 1995 at public and art i s t - ru n 

venues and has participated in 

n u m e rous group exhibitions across 

the province. In 1997, still a student, 

he held solo exhibitions of his work 

at the Khyber Centre for the Arts and 

the Multicultural Resource Centre, both 

in Halifax. In 2001 he had a major 

solo show of his work at Dalhousie 

University Art Gallery, as part of the 

g a l l e ry ’s Front Alcove series of exhibitions 

by emerging artists. He was 

a w a rded a Nova Scotia Arts Council 

C reation Grant in 1999, and is the 

subject of a current CBC television 

A rt Spots vignette. 

Augustine, pleased with his success, 

is circumspect about the future. ”I 

think that I’ve been around for so 

s h o rt of a time that I can’t really say 

‘oh, well it’s difficult being a black 

a rtist in Canada’ or ‘it’s easy being 

a black artist in Canada,’” he 

explains. “So far my experience 

has been totally positive. I’ve had 

a lot of people providing a lot of 

s u p p o rt and encouragement. So 

far it’s been positive.” ● 

P h o t o :Sheilah Wi l s o n

E v e n t s 

Anna’s Bash 2001 

A Beautiful Success 

Be Amused! 

Fo ll owing in the successful footsteps 

of last ye a r’s major fundra i s e r, N S CAD 

hosted “An n a’s Birt h d ay Bash for Qu e e n 

Vi c t o ri a” ( An n a’s Bash). In May of 2001, 

a ll three gall e ries in the Anna Le on ow e n s 

G a ll e ry were filled to ca p a c i ty with work 

by students,staff, faculty, alumni, and 

friends of the College.Displayed for a 

week,this exhibition on its final day, 

through the tireless efforts of a creative 

and devoted com m i t t e e, was tra n s f o rm e d 

into a festive evening event. Patrons 

participated in live and silent auctions, 

enjoyed music,fine food,libation and a 

s u rp rise visit from a gre a t ly amused Qu e e n 

Vi c t o ri a . The event raised $14,000 for 

the Coll e g e . The choice of full or part i a l 

d on a t i on of artw o rk was offe re d . T h e 

result was an additional $13,000 re t u rn i n g 

to the participating art i s t s ,m a ny of whom 

w e re current students. 

Our thanks to all who attended, v o l u n t e e re d 

and con t ributed artw o rk . 

o 4

P h o t o :Victoria Page

2000-2001 Annual Campaign 

FORM - (Gifts of $5,000 or more) 

Margaret & David Fountain 

Roland & Margo Marshall 

Templeton Management 

FUNCTION - (Gifts of $2,000 to $4,999) 

Lou Cable Design 

COLOUR - (Gifts of $1,000 to $1,999) 

Mary Sparling honoris causa ‘94 

TEXTURE - (Gifts of $500 to $999) 

Adriane Abbott (BFA ’84) 

June Buchanan honoris causa ’95 

& Blair Buchanan 

Mark Kingwell honoris causa ‘00 

Bernadette MacDonald 

MacDonell Group Ltd. 

Tim Margolian & Dawn Frail 

Beverly McClare 

Babs & Van Penick 

PATTERN - (Gifts of $100 to $499) 

Six Anonymous Donors 

Marion & Bob Anderson 

Aida Arnold & David Miller 

Joan Auld (ANSCAD ’68) 

Dr. Adele Belliveau 

& Stephanie Speth 

Tom & Bridget Brennan 

Brother Thomas Bezanson 

Barbara Louise Brown (BFA ’85) 

Nancy Bryden (BA ’76) 

Vinky W. K. Chan (MFA ’97) 

Donald & Susan Church 

Clarice M. Comeau 

Nat Connacher (BD ’85) 

Paul Doucette 

Adam Factley (BFA ’96) 

& Dayna Sharkey (BD ’96) 

Jennifer Fisher (BFA ’77) 

Charles Fowler 

R o b e rt E. Geraghty honoris causa ‘00 

Martha Glenny (BFA ’84) 

Hancon Marketing Design 

Andrew Harwood (BFA ’91) 

Linda J. Hawke (BFA (AE) ’84) 

Peter Herschorn 

G. W. Holbrook 

Ken Housego (BFA ’74) 

T. Stephen Hurlburt 

Linda Hutchison (BD ’79) 

& Dr. Robert Mullan 

Brock Junkin 

John Kahrs (BFA ’90) 

Genevieve Killin 

Lynn Kotze 

Toni Suzuki Laidlaw & Eric Hanley 

Ian Langlands 

Dave LaPalombara (MFA ’81) 

Don & Kathryn MacVicar 

Paul MacIntrye 

Louise Paul McCann 

Chris M c Farlane (BFA ‘94) 

David Merritt (MFA ‘82) 

Nancy Miller (BFA ’87) 

Lloyd M. Newman 

Nexan Inc. (Canadian Occidential Petroleum Ltd.) 

Deborah O’Laughlin 

Patina Designs 

Marilyn R. Penley (BA ’82) 

David Peters (ANSCAD ’75 & BD ‘76) 

Ron & Elizabeth Phillipchuck 

Ruth & Irving Pink 

George F. Publicover 

Gloria L. Quigley 

Lorna & Bill Ritchie 

Bill Risborough 

Mary Scobie (ANSCAD ’88) 

Semaphor Design 

Gregory Silver (ANSCAD ’76) 

& Denise Saulnier (ANSCAD ’73) 

Dr. Richard A. Singer 

Deanna Skinner 

Jim Smith (ANSCAD ’83) 

Caroline Startin (BD ’85) 

& Michael Dillistone (BD ’85) 

Karen Thiessen (BFA ’99) 

Tomoko Uenishi (BFA ’93) 

Susan Wakefield (BFA ’71) 

Barbara Watt 

Marilyn Welland 

Rose Zgodzinski (BFA ’75)

Thank you for your support. 

SHAPE - (Gifts of $25-99) 

Six Anonymous Donors 

Beth Alber (MFA ’94) 

Neil J. Angus (BD ’96) 

Stewart Applegath (BFA ’88) 

Alan Bateman (BFA ’88) 

& Holly Carr (BA ’88, BD ’88) 

Betty Bax 

Sylvia Benoza 

Allison Bishop 

Neil Brewster 

Barbara Brown-Conrod (BFA ’85) 

Sandra Bryant 

Sam Rogers (BFA ’76) 

& Suezan Aikins (BFA ’75) 

Marlene Coffey 

Tim Cross 

Jean Davis (MacIntyre) 

Phyllis d’Entremont Dinovo 

Tripta Devichand 

Janet Doble (BFA ’95) 

Jan Dutton (BFA ’77) 

Claire Falkenberg (BFA ’98) 

Valerie Folk (BFA ’76) 

Tom Folland (BFA ’84) 

Bell Fraser (BFA ’90) 

Kay Fraser 

Koto Furue 

Sylvia Ellen Gard (BFA ’84) 

Suzanne Gauthier 

Michelle Gay (MFA ’91) 

Sandra Gregson (BFA ’78) 

Cynthia Grove (BFA ’89) 

Leslie Gotfit 

C. Wilson Hammond 

Charlotte L. Hunt (BFA ’87) 

Peggy Issenman (BD ’77) 

Marlene Ivey (BFA ’86) 

Peter Jansons 

Raymonde Joddin 

Douglas Kirby (BFA ’73) 

Mary Lou Landry (BD ’88) 

Yan Yan Lee (BD ’88) 

Judith L. Leidl (BFA ’86, MFA ’94) 

Carmen Simpson Lester 

Don Lindblad (BFA ’72) 

& Suzanne Paquette 

Donna MacKay (ANSCAD ’94) 

Landon Mackenzie (BFA ’76) 

Susan MacLeod (BFA ’94) 

Sarah MacMillan (BFA ’95) 

Jean Macpherson 

Evelyn McGlone (ANSCAD ’93) 

Mike Massie (BFA ’91) 

Judy M. Matthews (ANSCAD ’69) 

Patricia Pollett McClelland 

Grace McKnight (BA ’90) 

Brian Meehan (BFA ’83) 

Thomas Miko (BD ’93) 

Grant Murray 

Laurie Omstead (BFA ’80) 

Jeougun Park (BFA ’94) 

Andrew Paton (BFA ’78) 

Vita Plume (BFA ’82, MFA ’93) 

Ronald Pon (BD ’93) 

Robert (BFA ’90) & Lesley Porter 

Karen Ramsland 

Romona Ryan 

Carol Smeraldo 

Shelley Vienot Spencer 

Nancy Spiewak 

Christopher Stanbury (ANSCAD ’70) 

Diane Stengler (Brake) 

Catherine Stockhausen (BFA ’94, 

ANSCAD ’96) 

Diane Sullivan (BFA ’92) 

Anna Syperek (BFA ’80) 

Monica Tap (BFA ’90, MFA ’96) 

Judith Tulloch 

Bruce Walker & Marlene Elman (BA ’96) 

Pam Whyott (BFA ’81) 

A. C. Williams 

Joy Mackay Williams 

Walter Winters (BFA ’39) 

Additional thanks to all those whose 

names we did not collect, but who passed 

us cash in the mayhem of the last hour 

at the Toronto alumni bash at the Museum 

for Textiles in 2000. 

The lists includes gifts received prior to 

M a rch 31, 2001. We have made every 

effort to ensure that this list is accurate. 

Please inform us of any errors or omissions 

by calling Maureen Halstead in the 

Advancement Office at (902) 494-8251 

or e-mail halstead@nscad.ns.ca. 

P h o t o :L o rraine Field

Students 

Emerging Artists 

Victoria Page (BFA 2001) 

is Coordinator of Special Events 

and Alumni Relations at NSCAD 

Mira Burke 

Mira Burke’s father is a Whirling Dervish, and 

she began to study whirling when she was 16 

as the artistic element of her high school senior 

thesis project. Dervishes whirl their way toward 

a closer union with God. As they spin, they pull 

cosmic energy to Earth, whirling faster and faster, 

raising one right hand up to receive the blessings 

of heaven and their left hand down to give blessing 

to earth. Whirlers typically wear black cloaks 

symbolizing the tomb, long white skirts re p re s e n ting 

the shroud, and a tall conical red hat re p resentative 

of their tombstones. Mira considers this 

c e remony to be a form of perf o rmance art, but 

points out that some firmly reject it as such. 

Whirlers frequently show up in Mira’s prints and 

paintings. She is interested in the artistic marr i a g e 

of unusual and intimate concepts and influences. 

She re f e rences Islamic illuminations, contempor 

a ry advertising, Sufi symbolism, music and literat 

u re. This has led her to wonderful abstract work 

composed of language and mythology. And the 

work intimately relates to the extensive symbolism 

involved in every moment, movement and gesture 

of the ceremony of Whirling Dervishes, Sema. 

Mira refers to her relationship with whirling 

as a religious act and a sensation to educate 

her imagery in subtle or obvious ways. 

“Quintessentially I aspire to re p resent issues 

of transcending daily, mundane existence 

t h rough memory and intuition.” 

Mira recently re t u rned from participating in the 

Yale Norfolk Summer program for Visual Art i s t s , 

held in the first half of the summer. Ellen Battell 

Stoeckel bequeathed money to every school on 

Ya l e ’s roster and allowed them to nominate two 

students a year to come and study on her private 

estate. A huge diversity of students with a range 

of interests applies and gets accepted. 160 

students are nominated and 26 get picked, one 

of which, this past Summer, was Mira. Since 

her return, she has been very excited about 

geting back into her studio and applying some 

of her experiences gained during the Summer 

to her new work. 

Mira re t u rns to open studio this Fall focusing on 

Printmaking and Painting. She graduates in April 

2002 with her BFA. After that she will be going 

on an International Tour with a group of whirling 

d e rvishes, and they already have Japan and 

Turkey confirmed as two perf o rmance points. 

o 8 

Yi n g - Yueh Chuang 

Yi n g - Yueh Chuang, originally from Taiwan, 

came to NSCAD for her MFA after having 

completed her BFA at Emily Carr Institute. 

When she came to the school her work primarily 

re f e renced the body, and consisted of containers, 

or vessels. Each piece had the imprint or 

m e m o ry of people that she knew and worked 

with in her studio. These memories were transf 

e rred onto the decoration of the vessel, using 

other student’s moulds as their imprint onto her 

work. She said she did this because she felt so 

a w a re of the experiences that they shared, and 

was conscious that they were learning from each 

o t h e r. The results were very balanced, symmetrical 

containers with sweet candy like finishes. When 

she came to NSCAD she was thinking about 

getting away from that, and finding something 

a little darker, something that had an element 

of danger amidst the beautiful appearance. 

Yi n g - Yueh collected non-symmetrical objects and 

c a refully examined them. She used the objects 

almost like a maquette, focusing on vegetables 

or bone structures of things she observed in 

photographs. She has always liked colour, 

and originally wanted to be a painter. This 

combined with her interest in sculpture and led her 

to her favorite medium, clay. Another new element 

in her work was the suggestion of movement. She 

had been looking at and collecting photographs 

f rom National Geographic of underwater cre a t u re s . 

S t ruck by the similarities of land and sea plants, 

and the way the sea cre a t u res grew side by side 

like an organized gard e n , Yi n g - Yueh started to 

re f e rence them in her work. The new work had 

movement and texture and was moving away 

f rom the sweetness of the containers and toward 

a darker thought pro c e s s . 

Upon graduation from NSCAD Yi n g - Yueh will 

be participating in the Artist in Residence pro g r a m 

at Harbourf ront in To ronto for one to three y e a r s . 

In addition to that she has exhibited in “The 

B reath of Nature” at the 2nd Cheongju 

I n t e rnational Craft Biennale (October 2001), 

in “The 1st World Ceramic Biennial 2001” 

K o rean International Competition (Aug-Oct 

2001) and has a solo show coming up at 

the Philadelphia Clay Studio slated for 2003.

Tracy Dackombe 

Tracy Dackombe was raised in Moncton with 

a Japanese mother and a British father. In her 

f a t h e r ’s background lies a history of craftspeople 

and jewellers. In spite of that Tracy first came to 

NSCAD to study Graphic Design. She took one 

j e w e l l e ry class and her entire artistic focus 

changed dire c t i o n . 

Tr a c y ’s work directly relates to her experiences 

g rowing up in a mixed race family. She says that 

it is her experiences that make her who she is, 

that shaped her outlook on life and how she came 

to be who she is. Tr a c y ’s jewellery is mostly made 

f rom silver and deals with the passage of time. She 

crafts shells, or hollow spaces re f e rencing the shedding 

of past traits or experiences. All experiences 

leave a mark on us, so something remains, in this 

case re p resented by casings of silver. 

Recently Tracy took an eyewear class with 

i n s t ructor David Downing. Eyewear has now 

become her focus and passion. She is challenging 

what has been done. Tracy says that using her 

skills as a jeweller facilitates diff e rent ways to 

make hinges and frames – to think about diff e re n t 

j e w e l l e ry techniques to throw into the mix. She 

p a rticularly favours Japanese Mokume Gane, 

a twisting and combing of metal so that it looks 

like wood grain. This technique was originally 

used in Japanese sword making. It’s both a 

colour and pattern technique. Her other intere s t , 

p i e rcing work, is also showing up in her eyewear 

designs. She mentions that typically eyewear 

designers use acetate celluloid, a plastic frame. 

She wishes to challenge the usual solid shaped 

frame with manufactured hinges. Tracy feels 

its time to stretch the boundaries of accepted 

eyewear design. 

Tracy graduates from NSCAD in April and talks 

about her desire to apprentice with an eyewear 

m a n u f a c t u re r, particularly a hand builder of eyew 

e a r. There are presently only three companies 

in the United States that hand build eyewear. 

Another future endeavor would be to assist a 

practicing jeweller, but with a view to continuing 

her interest in eyewear design and bringing the 

two fields together. Recently Tracy participated in 

the fundraiser “Anna’s Birthday Bash for Queen 

Victoria” held at the Anna Leonowens Gallery. 

Her jewellery sold at silent auction in support of 

new equipment and programs for the College. 

Neal Thomas 

What makes the Internet such an important 

communications technology? According to MFA 

Design student Neal Thomas, it is the ease with 

which people can share ideas. “I find it unsettling 

that, like television and radio, the development of 

the Internet has moved away from its roots as an 

open public re s o u rce. Its greatest strength as a 

means of freely sharing information is declining 

as it moves towards a privately-owned model 

based predominantly on marketing and the 

a rtificial scarcity of inform a t i o n . ” 

This model is a driving force behind the development 

of new digital interactive television. ITV is the 

c o n v e rgence of the Web and television –elements 

on the television screen are becoming interactive. 

Click on Jennifer Aniston’s dress to stop playback 

of Friends and purchase it from a fashion re t a i l e r 

online. Vote instantly in online polls tied to curre n t 

a ffairs programming. And watch shows whenever 

you want by downloading them digitally from the 

network site instead of consulting a schedule. But 

be pre p a red to interact with ads. 

“The dominant model for ITV takes the 

institutional culture of broadcast television and 

grafts it on to the Web. My project describes 

a way in which the reverse might occur. Why 

not let ord i n a ry people create interactive content 

on top of network television shows? The decentralized 

nature of the Web might reinvigorate 

television as a medium – where static shows 

could become dynamic sites for continual discussion 

and debate. Such a system could pro v e 

lucrative for the networks, which are becoming 

i n c reasingly desperate for ways to keep people’s 

attention. Or maybe the system could work as 

a part of public bro a d c a s t i n g . ” 

Neal’s thesis includes a software mock-up 

tested for usability with a small group of 

p a rticipants. His work has netted him a $5000 

scholarship from the Telecom Applications 

Research Alliance in Halifax. “At the very 

least, I hope that others working in the field 

will read what I have to say and realize that 

t h e re could be more to ITV than just buying 

s t u ff.” His thesis will be available online at 

w w w. s t y l u s m a g . m b . c a / t h e s i s / m f a t h e s i s . p d f 

F rom top: Untitled Painting by Mira Burke, 2001. 

P l a n t - C re a t u re by Yi n g - Yueh Chuang, 2001. 

Flask - stirling silver by Tracy Dackombe, 2000. 

P roductive Diversion MFA Thesis Exhibition by 

Neal Thomas, 2001. 

o 9

E s s a y C o m p l ex i ty 

Paul Greenhalgh, is 

President of NSCAD and 

past head of research at 

the Victoria and Albert 

Museum in London 

The foll owing is an adapted ve r s i on of an essay that will appear in the book The Per s i s tence of 

C ra f t. I edited this volume and con t ributed three of its eighteen ch a p t e r s . This essay is 

e s s e n t i a lly a summation of papers delive red between 1995 and 2000 at con fe rences in Euro p e, 

Am e ri ca and the Far East. The book will be published by A&C Black in May of 2002. 

Paul Gre e n h a l g h , 

September 2001. 

When viewed from close up, the universe is an ove rwhelming and unimaginable 

number of part i cles dancing to a melody of fundamental forc e s .A ll about us and w i t hin 

us, molecules and atoms coll i d e, v i b rate and spin. Gusts of nitrogen and oxygen molecules 

are drawn into our lungs with each breath we take. Lattices of atoms shake and jostle 

within the grains of sand between our toes… Yet we think of the universe as a single 

h a rm onious system or cosmos, as the Greeks ca lled it. Now a new bra n ch of science is 

attempting to demon s t rate why the whole universe is greater than the sum of its many 

p a rt s , and how all its com p onents come together to produce ove ra rching p a t t e rn s .T h i s 

e f f o rt to divine order in a chaotic cosmos is the new science of com p l e x i ty. 

Peter Cove n ey and Roger Highfield, Fro n t i ers of C o m p l ex i ty,1 9 9 6 . 1 

It occurred to me, as I sat looking in September 2001 at the surre a l ,n i g h t m a rish images from 

New Yo rk ,that global deve l o pments that meant such an atro c i ty could happen were the same 

ones that have all owed me to be living and working in Halifax, Nova Scotia at this time. An d 

our vision for the future of NSCA D, while utterly and com p l e t e ly opposite in eve ry way from 

the horrors that visited our Am e ri can brothers and sisters, was neve rtheless born in the same 

u n i ve r s e . Fragile and largely invisible technologies have lent mobility to eve ry thought and 

physical thing on the planet. The world is made up of unspeakably complex and eclectic 

c om b i n a t i ons of things. T h rough time and place, eve rything will impinge on eve rything else, i n 

an unending, n on - re p e a t i n g, s e l f - d e t e rmining pattern . The next phase of modern i ty will be 

ch a ra c t e rised by four things: i n terd i s i p i n a ri ty, g l o ba l i ty, p a n - te ch n i ca l i ty and e c l e c t i c i s m. T h o s e 

i n s t i t u t i ons and individuals in all fields of human endeavour who understand this best will be 

the ones that produce the most significant works in the coming deca d e s . 

We are swimming in a sea of stuff that we have made. This stuff re s p onds to thousands of codes, 

c ontexts and consciousnesses and fires in a mill i on dire c t i on s . These can appear to be arb i t ra ry 

but they are not. I wish to make a plea for the visual arts not as a wort hy entity we indulge in 

but re g a rd as separate from the worl d , but as a set of material discourses within a far bigger and 

u l t i m a t e ly more important unive r s e .M o re specifica lly, I will be arguing that all cultural pro d u c e 

is generated through a complex stru c t u red sys t e m , or infra s t ru c t u re, and that this infra s t ru c t u re 

is the key to the future of all civiliza t i on . The infra s t ru c t u re is never static, but at this time, it is 

in process of significant ch a n g e . 

As one stro lls though the studio spaces of NSCA D, one could be forgiven for won d e ring what 

on earth all this stuff is about. I don’t especially mean what the specific individual arts are about 

(though this is not an issue to trifle with) but rather how exactly the whole realm of visual 

c u l t u re, and beyond this, c u l t u ral practice genera lly, got to be in the con d i t i on it is. It is safe to 

assume in late modern culture that we can usually arri ve at a social and political consensus that 

the arts are wort h w h i l e, though we coll e c t i ve ly ra re ly agree to fund them appro p ri a t e ly. It is also 

important to note that we are at this stage wholly globalised.As textured and knotty as the 

c u l t u ral fabric is, we are essentially now dealing with the same set of ph e n om e n a . No - on e 

d o u b t s , albeit begru d g i n g ly, that the visual arts have a coll e c t i ve symbolic and hiera rch i ca l 

dimension to them that makes them important. But it is surprisingly difficult, from the 

eclectic heights of the professional art world, to say why it all looks as it does (why it looks 

oddly c oh e s ive) and why we actually bother.This is part ly because we are all pro f o u n dly institut 

i on a l i s e d ,and part ly because we are living in a genuinely com p l i cated peri o d . 

It is a time of big questions and answers, and the answers to the two big questions posed (why 

is it like that and why bother) are simu l t a n e o u s ly simple and indescri b a b ly com p l e x . It all look s 

like it does because it functions within a single but highly complex stru c t u re ; we bother to make 

and consume all this stuff because we have no ch o i c e . Both answers re fer to the fact that cult 

u ral activity is part of our intrinsic con d i t i on . 

o1 0

As I have said, the next phase of modern i ty will be to do with interd 

i s c i p l i n a ri ty. This is because the next phase of intellectual growt h , 

w h i ch has been underw ay for seve ral decades but is on ly just com i n g 

into full effe c t i ve n e s s , is premised on re l a t i onal rather than re d u c t i ve 

v i s i ons of life . I n t e rd i s c i p l i n a ri ty does not imply a lessening of the 

specialised intense knowledges that make the various visual arts what 

they are, but rather the recognition that their interaction, and a d d it 

i on a lly the deve l o pment of new appro a ches premised on intera c t i on ,i s 

the key to the next phase of modern i ty. It is all to do with a com i n g 

together of lateral and ve rt i cal modes of cre a t i v i ty. 

M o re exciting still , the sciences and arts finally appear to be capable of 

ending the ‘ two culture s ’ s yn d rome that has dogged and underm i n e d 

i n d u s t rialised culture for seve ral centuri e s . At the level of training and 

re s e a rch , the gap between the arts and sciences grew so wide during the 

twentieth century, the age of subject specialisation , that scientists and 

a rtists understood each other pri n c i p a lly through ca ri ca t u re .This situa 

t i on has been steadily ch a n g i n g, as the litera t u res of the two worl d s 

begin to reveal com m on threads and new tech n o l o gy and new art begin 

to meet and meld on the streets of the worl d’s industrial con u rb a t i on s . 

Pa t t e rn s . C om p l e x i ty theory is all to do with pattern s . T h e o re t i ca l 

phys i c s , a s t ro - phys i c s , b i o l o gy and mathematics have deve l o p e d , ove r 

the past two deca d e s , an explanation of the functioning of the unive r s e . 

This new theory is the natural successor to Chaos theory and re c o gnises 

that the immense com p l i ca t i on of such things as the eco-sys t e m 

or the human brain cannot be explained in terms of linear ev o l u t i on , 

that the soph i s t i ca t i on of such things could on ly come to exist thro u g h 

a process of emergence, w h e reby simpler systems fuse and develop to 

an infinite degree beyond their original com p on e n t s .R e s e a rch Scientist 

J ohn H Holland explains that 

A small number of rules or laws can generate systems of 

s u rp rising com p l e x i ty. M o re ove r, this com p l e x i ty is not just t h e 

c om p l e x i ty of ra n d om pattern s . Recognisable fe a t u res e x i s t , 

as in a pointillist painting. In addition , the systems are animated 

– dyn a m i c ;t h ey change over time. Though the laws are inv a ria 

n t , the things they gove rn ch a n g e . 2 

C om p l e x i ty ack n owledges that the world cannot be described thro u g h 

re d u c t i ve means, by breaking things down to com p on e n t , self explanat 

o ry or self-evident elements. The meaning is actually in the pattern 

f o rm a t i on ,in the com b i n a t i on of elements that becomes so laye red as 

to acquire infinite depth and width. Pa t t e rns are fra c t a l ,n on - re p e a t i n g 

and yet ord e re d . At crucial points, p a t t e rns become stru c t u ring and 

i n s i s t e n t , yet never dire c t i onal nor in any limited sense ‘l o g i ca l’ . 

C om p l e x i ty has on ly been able to emerge as a way of seeing the worl d 

since the rise of the com p u t e r, as it can all ow hundreds of mill i ons of 

c om p onents to be related and understood in order that patterns might 

be seen. Prior to com p u t e ri s a t i on , it was not so mu ch a matter of not 

seeing the wood for the tre e s , as seeing the trees but being unaware that 

the wood existed. 

One of the most interesting aspects of com p l e x i ty theory is its potential 

as a tool for analysis and descri p t i on away from the hard edge of 

quantum mech a n i c s . Over the last deca d e, it has been used at the lege 

n d a ry Santa Fe Institute, for example, to explore the nature of third 

w o rld econ om y, t raffic flow in cities, the stock exchange and the design 

of industrial pro d u c t s . 3 In fact, in any instance where mill i ons of individual 

units form larger, c o ll e c t i ve sys t e m s , c om p l e x i ty is of use. T h i s 

m ove over into the social sph e re raises fascinating question s . Pe rh a p s 

most interesting and important is the fact that com p l e x i ty, w h i ch had 

its origins in part i cle phys i c s , mathematics and genetics, is being used 

as syn onym rather than analogy; the fundamentals of pattern form at 

i on , it is being suggested, f o ll ow the same stru c t u ral principles in the 

s o c i a l ,c u l t u ral and political sph e res as they do in the scientific re a l m . 

Su ch appro a ches to understanding are of great re l evance to the visual 

o1 1 

a rt s . It could be said that the entire realm of visual cre a t i v i ty, of which 

the cra fts are a major com p on e n t , is essentially to do with pattern form 

a t i on . M o re pre c i s e ly, visual culture gains its forms and meanings 

f rom the intertwining of a number of ord e red sys t e m s . Like an enormous 

ro p e, the totality of the system of visual culture is a taut com b in 

a t i on of stru c t u re d ,i n t e rtwining thre a d s ,w h i ch depend on each other 

for their con s i s t e n cy and meaning. A number of stru c t u res accumu l a ting 

into on e, h i g h ly complex fractal matri x ,f u ll of internal tensions and 

o p p o s i t i ons but neve rtheless an interd e p e n d e n t ,f u n c t i oning whole. A 

n on - repeating pattern , d ynamic rather than static, s i mu l t a n e o u s ly 

m a chine and mach i n a t i on , unfolding through time and society and 

mediating eve rything the individual and coll e c t i ve retina picks up. 

To re t u rn to the two big questions I posed earl i e r. I have asserted that 

the re a s on that cultural produce looks as it does in any one period or 

place is because it functions within a single highly complex stru c t u re . 

This needs elabora t i on . 

Imagine the totality of the processes that go into the cre a t i on of all cult 

u ral produce as a single complex system or i n f ra s tru c tu re.I n f ra s t ru c t u re 

re fers to the mu l t i f a rious fabric of com mu n i ca t i on in the art worl d : 

m a k e r s ,wri t e r s , d e a l e r s ,m a n u f a c t u re r s ,c u ra t o r s ,i n s t i t u t i on s , m a rk e t s , 

p u b l i ca t i on s ;the re p o s i t o ries of culture that store, p ro j e c t ,p rom o t e, s e ll 

and exploit the art s . It enables objects to be con c e i ve d , m a d e, s e e n , 

re c o rd e d , sold and con s u m e d . Imagine infra s t ru c t u re as a giant 

m a chine in a literal and metaph o ric sense. It cre a t e s ,p ro c e s s e s ,t ra n sp 

o rt s ,p resents and con s e rves art objects. It is also the mach i n a t i on ,t h e 

c on c e p t s ,e m o t i onal impulses and ideological netw o rks that wire perf 

o rmer with perf o rmer and perf o rmer with audience. M a chine and 

m a ch i n a t i on are interd e p e n d e n t ,re l a t i onal and ca u s a l :t h ey ensure the 

s i multaneous coming into being of art objects and their meanings. 

The notion of infra s t ru c t u re is dependent on the acceptance of the idea 

that all stages in the cre a t i ve pro c e s s ,f rom the maker engaging with 

a b s t ract ideas and raw materi a l s ,t h rough to the consumer coveting the 

o b j e c t , relate to each other. This re l a t i onal model of culture is not 

re s t ri c t i ve or pre s c ri p t i ve . The work of art is not to be understood as 

phys i cal object (or text or set of sounds). The work of art is a re l a t i ons 

h i p. It is the re l a t i onship between the viewer and the object and both 

these are elements in its cre a t i on . I n f ra s t ru c t u re, t h e re f o re mere ly 

d e s c ribes the stru c t u re of processes that must occur so that works of art , 

these re l a t i on s h i p s , can happen. 

This model of interdependence of process and con s u m p t i on has equivalents 

in other disciplines that dire c t ly relate to the cultural sph e re .Tw o 

re c e n t ly developed examples are especially pert i n e n t : e x t e lligence and 

m a ch i n o f a c t u re . The first of these stems from the worlds of neuro l o gy, 

ev o l u t i on a ry studies and socio-biology; the second arose from the new 

h i s t o ry of tech n o l o gy. 

E x t e lligence is in some ways the most far re a ching of the two con c e p t s . 

For some time now, one of the central areas of con c e rn among historians 

and theoreticians of science has been the social context in which 

scientific deve l o pment occurs. Se rious and often acri m onious debate 

has surrounded the objectivity of science in re l a t i on to cultural con t e x t . 

Without ca ri ca t u ring the debates, it is possible to discern deep-seated 

a n t a gonism between post-modern thinkers welling from the humanities 

and the empiri ca lly-based science com mu n i ty. The former have 

been positioned som ewhat as the watchdogs of the latter, and as watchd 

o g s ,t h ey have cl a i m e d , to a con s i d e rable extent, that the social context 

that scientific discove ry is made in effects the nature of the discove 

ry itself. In other word s , science is not simply to do with objective 

e m p i ri cal experi m e n t a t i on and tech n i cal advance. It is changed by the 

s o c i o - c u l t u ral dispositions of the individuals who do the experi m e n t s 

and the env i ronments they live in. For their part , the scientists – while 

o ften accepting that society does have an effect on science – have neve 

rtheless tended to insist on the objectivity of the scientific ethos.

A grand climax of the con t e x t u a l - e m p i ri cal debate came with the 

n o t o rious Sokal affair. In 1996 physicist Alan Sokal submitted an art icle 

to the journal Social Text ,w h i ch fre q u e n t ly ca r ries cri t i cal (con t e xtual) 

analysis of science and tech n o l o gy. The art i cle was a delibera t e 

p a rody filled with bogus data and absurd ph i l o s o ph i cal position s . I t 

passed the journ a l’s academic rev i ewers and was published. The incident 

polarised the com munities inv o lve d . 4 

The intensity of the debate accepted, s ome scientists have pow e rf u lly 

argued that the space between the empiri cal and contextual worlds is 

not on ly a spurious but a false on e . Mathematician Ian St ew a rt and 

biologist Jack Coh e n , for example, h a ve developed a socio-biologica l 

w o rl d v i ew that delibera t e ly lives in both sph e re s .I n d e e d ,e x t e ll i g e n c e, 

the model they have deve l o p e d , is dependent on this coh a b i t a t i on . 

E x t e lligence is an integra t i ve, d eve l o pmental process which descri b e s 

the manner in which human society functions and ev o lve s : 

E x t e lligence is the inve n t i on that not on ly all owed humans 

to change themselves into the type of animal they now are, 

but made it ve ry difficult for them to avoid doing so. What is 

the origin of extelligence? Did we invent it or did it invent us? 

B o t h . 

Two things ch a ra c t e rise our species. One is an enorm o u s ly 

e x a g g e rated con c e rn for ch i l d ren of any kind… The other is 

l a n g u a g e . We maintain that these two appare n t ly ve ry diffe r - 

ent ch a ra c t e ristics are actually linked, by trhe medium of 

c u l t u ral pri v i l e g e, and that together they created the 

p o s s i b i l i ty of extelligence 5 

To take the second of these first, an on going argument in ev o l u t i on a ry 

c i rcles has con c e rned the growth of intelligence in re l a t i on to language. 

Two central and conflicting visions dominate the discussion , the first 

positing that a deve l o pment in intelligence all owed language to deve lo 

p, the other that language is a pre requisite for intellectual growt h . 

St ew a rt and Cohen re s o lve the debate by asserting that ‘It seems ve ry 

plausible indeed that both of these theories are tru e, with each dri v i n g 

the other in a complicit process of intera c t i ve co-ev o l u t i on .’ 6 

This co-ev o l u t i on all ows for a con s o l i d a t i on of knowledge and its 

c onstant re - p re s e n t a t i on to successive genera t i on s ,w h i ch is where, f o r 

t h e m , the significance of child nurt u ring comes in. 

The coll e c t i ve experiences of the tribe become a cultural lexicon store d 

in the people that surround each ch i l d . This cultural context for each 

child can then grow, as successive genera t i ons acumulate furt h e r 

k n ow l e d g e, and new discove ries can be transmitted ve ry ra p i dly to all 

individuals who have the aptitude to use them. 7 

E x t e ll i g e n c e, t h e n , is the share d , c u mu l a t i ve intelligence of a society, 

made available in multiple ways to successive genera t i ons of ch i l d re n . 

E x t e lligence is in constant flux, it has no universal pre s c ribed shape or 

a g e n d a , these changing from context to con t e x t . But what doesn’t 

change for St ew a rt and Cohen is the fra m ew o rk , the pattern . 

E x t e lligence is a stru c t u red con s t a n t , an animated pattern form which 

s u r rounds individuals in a com mu n i ty. T h ey are con s t a n t ly, and oft e n 

u n c on s c i o u s ly, fed by the pattern , and they also choose elements within 

the pattern that they wish to utilise for themselve s . T h ey are to a 

c on s i d e rable extent invented by the pattern , but their dynamic intera ct 

i on with it means that they simu l t a n e o u s ly invent it. Thus the re l at 

i onship between intelligence and extelligence is vital, as this re p re s e n t s 

the tie between the individual and the coll e c t i ve . 

The metaphys i cal fabric that holds together and mediates a com mu n ity 

has been vari o u s ly identified and explained in the humanities 

t h rough the twentieth century, f o ll owing a long and ancient tra d i t i on 

of explica t i on .Pe rhaps three models have persisted most successfully. 

Most important is ideology. Defined bro a dly, i d e o l o gy is an idea or 

o1 2 

body of ideas that become naturalised into the consciousnesses of 

a com mu n i ty, so mu ch so that they are accepted without question . 

Individuals think, act and accept the premises of the ideology without 

a n a lysing it. The term is often used in the political sph e re and theref 

o re has gathered a pejora t i ve dimension . Related to ideology is the 

idea of z e i t ge i s t, or spirit of the age. Pa rt i c u l a rly important in the first 

half of the century, zeitgeist was used by numerous cultural thinkers to 

explain the prevailing mood of a com mu n i ty. Pe rhaps more intere s t i n g 

but ultimately no more scientifica lly tangible is the Jungian idea of coll 

e c t i ve uncon s c i o u s .Se l f - e x p l a n a t o ry as an idea, c o ll e c t i ve unconscious 

was a means of explaining psych o l o g i cal and cultural ph e n omena that 

a re unive r s a lly share d . 

I d e o l o gy, zeitgeist and coll e c t i ve unconscious all attempt to explain the 

re l a t i onship of the individual to society, and in so far as they do this 

t h ey exist in the same conceptual terrain as Cohen and St ew a rt’s extell 

i g e n c e .H ow eve r, as parts of the grand attempt by early modernists to 

explain the material and mental workings of society, t h ey appear now 

o d dly limited and som ewhat dependent on unprovable and eve n 

m yst i cal con c e p t i ons of the mind. Recent deve l o pments in neuro l o gy 

h a ve shown con cl u s i ve ly that Freudian psych o a n a lysis and ‘s p i ri t s ’ n o 

l onger map onto the known geogra phy of the bra i n . The interd i s c i p l in 

a ry nature of extell i g e n c e, is able to bridge the space between the 

physcial and mental worl d s , and between cultural and scientific 

s ph e re s . It describes the biologica l - c u l t u ral matrix within which 

human society resides and ev o lve s . 

Se c on d ,the concept of m ach i n o f ac tu rehas been used to explain the ro l e 

and position of tech n o l o gy and industry in society. 8 The issue has been 

a d d ressed as to why and how some nations successfully industri a l i s e 

and ach i eve the econ omic status of first world nation s , and maintain 

that position . The histori cal re c o rd has demon s t rated with dev a s t a t i n g 

cl a ri ty that the injection of industrial investment and tech n o l o gy into 

a national economy alone does not guarantee the development of 

sustained socio-econ omic pro s p e ri ty. A nation needs mach i n o f a c t u re . 

M a ch i n o f a c t u re does not simply imply tech n o l o g i cal hard w a re, but a 

wider netw o rk of socio-econ omic deve l o pm e n t . It implies the myri a d 

c om p a n i e s , retailers and investors which con s t a n t ly adapt to on go i n g 

c on d i t i ons in the worl d . It suggests that a national econ omy is not a 

limited number of corp o ra t i ons putting into practice a finite number of 

i nve n t i on s , but a mass of interdependent companies and individuals, a 

m a s s i ve ly complex vortex of active bodies, making and consuming the 

stuff of the worl d . 

In isolation tech n o l o gy tra n s f o rms nothing perm a n e n t ly and tri g g e r s 

little into life beyond itself. Any society that embraces it must also 

change socio-cultural systems relating to educa t i on ,c on s u m p t i on and 

the life s tyles of the population . The ever changing products of techn 

o l o gy demand an eve r - ch a n g i n g, s e l f - a w a re society to feed into. 

M a ch i n o f a c t u re there f o re also re fers to the life s tyles of the mill i on s 

who engage eve ryd ay with the products of tech n o l o gy. In the tw e n t ieth 

century, c e n t ralised – that is, simplified - econ omies have failed, a s 

h a ve attempts to stimulate pro d u c t i v i ty in nations through the cons 

t ru c t i on of showpiece city centre s , m o t o rw ays and model factori e s . 

Successful econ omies consist of the semi-orch e s t rated vortex of a 

m i ll i on vested intere s t s . 

As many utopian experiments have demon s t ra t e d , b eyond a cert a i n 

s i ze societies cannot be gove rned politica lly, e c on om i ca lly and intell e ct 

u a lly from a centralised point. Too mu ch has to be destroyed in order 

to maintain con t rol of the sys t e m .E ven generous delegation u l t i m a t e ly 

f a i l s .Any econ omy is a dynamic tension between centred and de-cent 

re d , and public and private sectors. If these four are not present and 

o p e rating re l a t i ve to one another, the econ omy will fail. Iron i ca lly 

t h e re f o re, too simple a pattern , when imposed, leads to no pattern at 

a ll . C om p l e x i ty theory tells us that simple units can combine and 

d evelop immensely complex pattern form s . Some of the more extre m e

social experi m e n t a t i on of the twentieth century advocated exactly the 

o p p o s i t e : the deliberate simplifica t i on of complex social sys t e m s . 

As ph e n om e n a ,m a ch i n o f a c t u re, e x t e lligence and infra s t ru c t u re cl e a rly 

b e l ong to the same conceptual family. T h ey are systems within the 

s t ru c t u re of particular aspects of humanity: m e chanisms for the generat 

i on of non - repeating pattern s ;t h ey are dynamic not static; t h ey funct 

i on through constant adaptation of individual units within a larger 

w h o l e ;t h ey ev o lve deve l o pmental processes through cumu l a t i ve pattern 

f o rm a t i on s . Simple elements come together in the right con d i t i ons and 

establish a growth pattern . This gains in com p l e x i ty and soph i s t i ca t i on 

to the point at which the ph e n omena being created become effe c t i ve ly 

s e l f - d e t e rm i n i n g. Once the process has established itself, it speeds up 

e x p on e n t i a lly and can resist degra d a t i on with re m a rkable tenacity. 9 

The timbre and balance of the infra s t ru c t u re, its re l a t i onship to the 

s o c i o - e c on omic and demogra phic patterns in the larger worl d , d i c t a t e 

h ow important art is and what it looks like at any one point in time. 

I n f ra s t ru c t u re dictates how things are going to look in seve ral ways . 

Most important in this con t e x t , it is re s p onsible for that most com p l e x 

of ph e n om e n a ,s tyl e . At any one time and in any one place cultural produce 

tends to be visually and intell e c t u a lly coh e s i ve . The stuff we make 

settles into styl e s . Styles lend society stability, t h ey re c o rd our memori 

e s , identify our go d s ,g i ve us hedonistic pleasure . 

The styles that artefacts settle into can prove surp ri s i n g ly re s i l i e n t . 

Na t i ons might be re p resented by them for centuri e s , and once the 

c i v i l i za t i on that created it has disappeare d , it can come to stand for 

p a rticular values. Seve ral styles often thri ve con c u r re n t ly in a single 

p l a c e ; s tyles merge to form complex vari a t i ons of their con s t i t u e n t 

p a rt s .T h ey become endl e s s ly nuanced without losing the public nature 

of their language. Having said this, s tyles can emerge with astounding 

ra p i d i ty and disappear at the same speed in a given space of time.The 

re l a t i onship of the individual to style is com p l e x . Individuals part i c i p a t e 

in the coll e c t i v i ty that is styl e, d e c o rating themselves and their env i- 

o1 3 

Image: Hiving Mesh, ceramic ornament by Neil Forre s t 

ronments in such a way as to attach themselves sym b o l i ca lly to those 

a round them. In this way style is a device we have invented for coh e ring 

as social gro u p s . It holds the memories and ideas of com mu n i t i e s 

and transmits them on . At the same time, in an intere s t i n g ly dialectical 

manner, individuals can delibera t e ly defy pre d ominant styl e, c ombining 

or subve rting its tenets in order to diffe rentiate themselve s .Styl e 

is also surp ri s i n g ly difficult to art i f i c i a lly genera t e .C l a s s i ca lly defined, 

s tyle is the generic appearance of a wide range of cultural objects produced 

in any one time or place. This appearance is not arb i t ra ry; it is 

the visual manife s t a t i on of underlying stru c t u res and ideas. I n d i v i d u a l s 

and groups can decl a re themselves to be in a certain ‘s tyl e’ at any on e 

t i m e, but there is no guarantee that their decl a ra t i on will result in this 

g e n e ri ca lly naturalised ph e n om e n on .Style is on ly part ly delibera t e .At 

a certain mom e n t , it gains its own volition and escapes the con t rol of 

the forces that initially created it. 

From the later part of the nineteenth century, thinkers have pon d e re d 

on the origins of styl e .H ow exactly an ethnic group arri ved at the specific 

appro a ches to visual culture they did was explained in one of seve 

ral ways . It was seen by some as a result of the particular tech n o l o g i e s 

and materials they used; it was identified as a coro ll a ry to language; i t 

was associated with the phys i cal and geogra phic ch a ra c t e ristics of the 

land where it was cre a t e d ; it was identified as part of the com p l e x i ty of 

ev o l u t i on a ry theory; and it was identified as welling out of the coll e ct 

i ve tempera m e n t ,or ‘ ze i t g e i s t’ of the peoples who created it. 1 0 At the 

end of the century the idea developed that style was a result of none of 

these things, but rather was created by individual geniuses who were 

then copied by others until the ‘l o ok ’ b e came a naturalised into the 

s o c i e ty. T h i s , the so-ca lled ‘ t ri ck l e - d ow n’ t h e o ry, has held sway for 

mu ch of the twentieth century. 

As vocife rous as many of the debates were, in re a l i ty there is no re a s on 

w hy all of these explanations cannot be tru e . As a pattern a com mu n ity 

creates to identify itself, s tyle is a principal means of coh e ring indiv 

i d u a l s . It is not under the con t rol of any one element at any one

t i m e, but rather it is a complex mediation . It can be forced into an 

h e g e m onic stru c t u re that all o cates it specific roles and meanings, but it 

does have to be forc e d , and with con s i d e rable tenacity. 

A style is a coll e c t i ve expre s s i on of a society intimately bound up 

with the ph e n om e n on of con s u m p t i on . C om m o d i ty types are 

e n dl e s s ly adjusted and modified over periods of time as people 

c on t i n u a lly shift and refine their needs and tastes. At the same time, 

their needs and tastes are shifted by com m o d i t i e s . The totality of the 

phys i cal and cere b ral landscape comes to bear on the pro c e s s . G i ve n 

the dyn a m i c , on - going nature of the pro c e s s , c on t e m p o ra ry style is 

u s u a lly difficult to discern . Once a style is part of the past, it is static 

and there f o re identifiable. 

Style is a soph i s t i cated and eclectic com b i n a t i on of visual and 

m n e m onic impulses that gives visual coh e s i on and identity to societies. 

Style is generated through infra s t ru c t u re .I n f ra s t ru c t u re is a mach i n e ry 

d eveloped by societies (it ultimately develops itself foll owing the logic 

of com p l e x i ty theory) for the pro d u c t i on of cultural art e f a c t s . Style is a 

visual re p re s e n t a t i on of infra s t ru c t u re and infra s t ru c t u re is simu l t a n eo 

u s ly analogue and syn onym of society. 

The timbre and balance of the infra s t ru c t u re, its position with re g a rd 

to the social, e c on omic and political patterns of the larger worl d , w i ll 

dictate how important the arts will be, who will consume them and what 

t h ey will look like. It is important that we find our place within the infras 

t ru c t u re . The processes of modern i ty are entire ly bound up in it and 

these will continue on re l e n t l e s s ly in the coming deca d e s . And modern 

i ty in itself is not a value-laden thing. In the first instance it is not go o d 

or bad: it just is. It is well capable of becoming a nightmare force or a 

ve h i cle to the sublime. By adjusting and developing the infra s t ru c t u re, 

the systems of cre a t i on ,d i s t ri b u t i on and display that are its con s t i t u e ncy, 

we change the shape of the visual culture around us. Seve ral types of 

i n t e rve n t i on suggest themselves for the next period of ye a r s . 

Fi r s t , we should not abandon or even dilute the intense specialisms 

we have developed over genera t i on s . Ul t i m a t e ly the quality of any 

c u l t u ral group is determined by the quality of individual pro d u c t i on s . 

Tra g i ca lly, our systems of tra i n i n g, d i s s e m i n a t i on and display in the 

visual arts are not necessari ly improving in terms of specialist exc e ll 

e n c e . Some nations have guarded these skills more successfully than 

o t h e r s , but it could easily be argued that we interp ret populism and 

i n t e rd i s c i p l i n a ri ty – the two vital concepts – as being ve h i cles for the 

a ch i evement of a less diffe re n t i a t e d , b l a n d ,g e n e ralist culture . Qu a l i ty 

can on ly be ach i eved through the obsessive engagement of large numbers 

of singularly committed individuals on specific tasks. 

Se c on d , we need to move latera lly through the layers of the infra s t ru ct 

u re and keep it in a state of constant com mu n i ca t i on and disseminat 

i on . The idea of orch e s t ra t i on is key. C a t a lysts need to move thro u g h 

our sys t e m s ,c on n e c t i n g, binding and positioning what they find. T h i s 

is how specialist skills improve themselve s , d evelop new aspects and 

b e c ome widely available. 

o1 4 

T h i rd , i n f ra s t ru c t u re needs to liase with other systems within the 

t o t a l i ty of culture .The com p a rt m e n t a l i s a t i on of the twentieth century 

has to be dispensed with. The tragic myth that econ om y, t e ch n o l ogy, 

politics or ph i l o s o phy, for example, a re not centra lly re l evant to the 

visual art s , has been isolating and destru c t i ve . H ow eve r, e n g a g e m e n t 

on the micro - l evel will not necessari ly change mu ch . I n t e ra c t i on of 

i n f ra s t ru c t u re with its equivalent systems in these other fields will be 

the key to deve l o pm e n t . 

We have alw ays done the first of these things well until re c e n t ly. T h e re 

a re signs, h ow eve r, that we are no longer pre p a red to invest the time 

and re s o u rce to maintain the painful intensity of specialisation in the 

visual art s . This is an issue of politics and econ om i c s . We can lie to 

o u r s e lves about cultural pro d u c t i on and use relativist soph i s t ry to mask 

the decl i n e, or we can determine not to do this. 

With re g a rd to my second and third points, we have alw ays laised 

a m ong ourselves within the infra s t ru c t u re of the visual arts with modest 

success, u s u a lly on an informal basis.The last tw e n ty years has seen 

g reat strides in area of orch e s t ra t i on , of coll a b o ra t i ons between disciplines 

and function s . But we have a long way to go in order to make 

the infra s t ru c t u re into a fully adaptive, flexible system of pro d u c t i on 

and con s u m p t i on . Large parts of the infra s t ru c t u re are dormant and 

u n d e r - u s e d . The third idea we have dreamt about but never ach i eve d . 

Ap p ro p riate liaison between infra s t ru c t u re and its equivalents in other 

fields will be the task of the next seve ral deca d e s . If we do not addre s s 

the issue of the ‘ two culture s ’ of sciences and art s ,for example, and push 

t ow a rd the concept of one culture, then it is difficult to imagine satisf 

a c t o ry solutions to myriad crippling social and econ omic pro b l e m s . 

The best products of the next decades will be the result of a re c on c i l i a - 

t i on of what have prev i o u s ly been understood to be opposition s :s p e c i a li 

s a t i on and genera l i s a t i on ; the individual and the coll e c t i ve ;g l o b a l i ty and 

l o ca l i ty; the avant garde and the popular. E ve rything relates to eve ryt 

h i n g. Accepting this without losing ourselves or sacrificing the quality of 

the things we make will be the great ch a ll e n g e . But accept it we must if 

the visual arts are to have a serious role in the life of the new century. ● 

1 C o v e n e y, Peter and Highfield, Roger, Frontiers of Complexity (1996, London, Faber and Faber), p.5 

2 Holland, J.H., Emergence, from Chaos to Order (1998, Oxford, OUP) 

3 The following publications give a reasonable grasp of the scope of the field. Holland and Coveney and 

Highfield, above: Casti, John L, Searching for Certainty: What Science can Know about the Future (1992, 

London Scribners); Pines, David, Emerging Sytheses in Science (1988, New York, Addison-We s l e y ; 

K a u ffman, Stuart, The Origins of Order (1992, Oxford, OUP); Wa l d rop, M. Mitchell, Complexity: The 

E m e rging Science at the Edge of Order and Chaos (1992, New York, Simon and Schuster); Cohen J and 

S t e w a rt, I, The Collapse of Chaos (1992, London, Pan); Lewin, Roger, Complexity, Life on the Edge of Chaos 

(1993, London, Phoenix) 

4 K o e rtge, Noretta (Ed.), A House Built on Sand: Exposing Post-modern Myths about Science (1998, Oxford , 

O U P ) 

5 S t e w a rt, Ian, Cohen, Jack, Figments of Reality: The Evolution of the Curious Mind (1997, Cambridge, CUP), 

p . 2 4 4 

6 Ibid, p.245 

7 Ibid, p.245 

8 See, for example, the work of Professor Ian Inkster. 

9 See Kurzweil, Ray, The Age of Spiritual Machines (1999, London, Pheonix) 

1 0 See, for example, Greenhalgh, Paul, ‘A Great Seriousness’: Art Nouveau and the Status of Style, Apollo, 

May 2000, p 3 – 10 and Greenhalgh, Paul (Ed.) Quotations and Sources from Design and the Decorative 

A rts 1800-1990, (1993, Manchester, MUP), chapter 1.

Facilities 

Thi nk Pri n t NSCAD’s 

Michael LeBlanc 

is an Associate Professor in 

Communication Design (Digital) 

and Chair of the Design Division 

Design 

Printshop in Transition 

Ask Prof. Hanno Ehses what piece of 

equipment has the most educational value 

in the Design Printshop, and you may be 

surprised by his answer. It isn’t the high-perf 

o rmance Macintosh G4 computers or the 

new Canon colour photocopier/printer. It isn’t 

the A-B Dick Lithographic press, or the vintage 

copy camera. Prof. Ehses leads us to a lesstraveled 

corner of the Printshop with cases of 

drawers filled with lead type. This collection 

of lead scraps is the design craft’s essential 

link from the origins of movable type first 

i n t roduced by Johannes Gutenburg in 1455 

to today’s digital technology. Although the 

Design Printshop has kept abreast with developments 

in technology, without a doubt the 

g reatest challenge is to forge ahead with 

new developments while keeping a close 

eye on the traditional art of printing. 

The Union Bank of Canada occupied the 

main floor of the North Block building upon 

its completion in 1898. The original, walk-in 

safe can still be found in the back of the 

shop: a small walk-in safety deposit are a 

closed off with a massive iron vault door. 

In the 1950’s the Nova Scotia Liquor 

Commission occupied the office space 

on the main floor. 

When NSCAD moved into Halifax’s 

Historic Properties in the 1970’s, the 

Printshop moved from it’s original home on 

C o b u rg Road into the basement of the 

N o rth Block building (a space regularly 

used by the Emergency Measure s 

O rganization during World War II). Short l y 

a f t e rw a rd, the Printshop expanded up the 

main floor, and the basement became a 

storage space for the paper stock and 

finished books of the NSCAD Pre s s . 

Recently re t i red Associate Professor and past 

Chair of Design Frank Fox recalls the location 

of his office in the back of the Printshop: 

a tile-floor cubbyhole in the southeast end of 

the floor chosen strategically for the abundance 

of “peace and solitude.” When a 

s i l k s c reen facility was planned in the early 

8 0 ’s, the cubbyhole space was intended to 

be used a “hosedown” room. The silkscre e n 

facility was never built, and instead the 

space was turned into a workspace and 

o ffice for the first Printshop technician, 

o1 5 

M e redith Bell. Strolling through the spaces 

behind the Printshop offers the historically 

inclined a chance to view vintage, turn 

of the century tiled and ornamented 

washroom facilities, rumored to be the 

very best in the College. 

The Printshop is home one of the most 

i m p ressive and actively used collections of 

printing equipment in Eastern Canada. Tw o 

Va n d e rcook letterpresses (often re g a rded as 

“ p ress of the people” due to its prolific use 

a round the world) serve students, faculty, 

and staff on a regular basis. The Printshop’s 

motorized Va n d e rcook was acquired with 

the assistance of Prof. Rudi Meyer in 2000. 

It was previously operating in the Dawson 

Print Room at Dalhousie University. The 

P r i n t s h o p ’s third press, the AB Dick, is a no 

frills, no thrills, printing machine, but it faithfully 

and consistently gets the job done. The 

AB Dick offset press may be boring, but by 

no means does that indicate it’s a simple 

machine to operate. Because of it’s speed 

(up to 2.5 pages per second), it re q u i res 

an experienced “pressman” to eff i c i e n t l y 

monitor the pre s s ’s perf o rmance. For this 

reason, Printshop Director Peter Brooks is 

the sole operator of the AB Dick. 

“ We need to demonstrate the entire range 

of printing technologies,” says Prof. Ehses. 

“ F rom metal and wood to chemistry to new 

digital processes. This industry started with 

movable type, and all manufacturing stems 

f rom this one innovation.” 

A c c o rding to Prof. Ehses, digital technology 

has made the letterpress more, not less, 

relevant. “Although computers make many 

things easier and faster, the material 

aspects of design are lost.” Texture, 

chance and subtle generational changes 

to multiple versions are possible—and 

desirable—in the creative act. Recent 

stylistic innovations in typography, such 

as “stressed” type (where letterforms are 

modified to appear worn or irregularly 

inked), are a direct reaction to the overly 

clean and uniform results of digital type. 

Student designers are encouraged to use the 

l e t t e r p ress, movable type, photocopiers and 

glue for the greater energy and wider range 

of creative options they often pro d u c e .

The Printshop also houses an array of 

graphic cameras. Descended from the 

camera obscura of the renaissance, they 

a re large, room-sized devices that have a 

glass table on one end for the “cameraready” 

artwork, a lens in the middle, and 

a black-painted sealed room at the other 

end. The graphic camera allows designers 

to scale artwork and transfer it onto a 

photographic negative film. The film is 

later applied to a photographic aluminum 

lithographic plate for use on the printing 

p ress. In the 1980’s the Printshop used thre e 

graphic cameras, and three associated darkrooms. 

Peter Brooks remembers when there 

w e re “day-long lineups” to use these facilities. 

Currently there is one working darkroom/graphic 

camera, with a processor 

for PMT (positive) proofs and a processor 

for film negatives. 

o1 6 

The newest addition to the Printshop, marking 

the depart u re into the digital age, is the 

Canon 900 copier/printer. Director Peter 

B rooks hopes that he will be able to pro v i d e 

“ p resentation quality” access and printing for 

all clients using the NSCAD local computer 

network. A Xerox colour laserprinter is available 

for printing on acetates and specialty 

papers and the ‘venerable,’ eight-year- o l d 

Apple Laserwriter Pro 630 still serves as a 

black-and-white printing workhorse. 

In the coming year a closet-sized computer 

lab will be expanded into adjacent seminar 

room space. Currently four Macintosh G4s 

reside in the space, each equipped with 

Quark Xpress, Illustrator and Photoshop, as 

well as a flatbed image scanner. All computing 

facilities are accessible to members of 

the college community, with priority consideration 

extended to those enrolled in the honours 

pro g r a m m e .

“The Design Printshop is a laboratory,” 

says Prof. Ehses “It’s like a chemistry lab. 

Students learn to do experiments, even 

though in actual practice most of that work 

is done by technicians. Chemists-in-training 

need to experience these things for themselves, 

at least once.” 

With the recent acquisition of the second 

Va n d e rcook press, use of the letterpress is 

expected to increase in the Printshop. 

Although the lead type currently available 

in the Printshop is of a smaller size, adequate 

for setting “body copy,” most of the 

work that students want to do is with headline 

type, using larger sizes. “We need 

m o re type,” says Peter Brooks, “Larger sizes 

will facilitate letterpress printing, photocopying, 

scanning, and stressing in diff e re n t 

ways. It’s a great way to learn about the 

dynamics of typography. ” 

Although computers have been part of the 

Printshop for the last decade, Communication 

Design faculty have cautioned against too 

much reliance on digital technology. “The 

computer should not be used in isolation,” 

says Assistant Professor May Chung, “Design 

is more than working on a computer: the 

tactile and visual sensibilities of letterpre s s 

type, of screen and relief printing, cutting and 

pasting still has a place alongside Photoshop 

files with transparency and layers.” 

N e v e rtheless, the Design Division is 

committed to developing the Printshop into 

a model of a modern printshop, combining 

the traditional and modern; simple and 

complex. This means monitoring industrial 

developments and weighing them against 

i n s t ructional priorities. One recent innovation 

the Printshop is lacking, “digital-to-plate” 

t e c h n o l o g y, has been in growing demand 

o1 7 

The NSCAD “Degree Mill” 

For over thirty years, the original Va n d e rcook has 

been a part of each and every NSCAD student’s 

d e g ree. Starting in the early 1970’s, the graduating 

class appointed one or two of their own graduates 

to set type in the letterpress and print degree papers 

for the entire group (a practice then fully authorized 

by the College). Peter Brooks, Director of Vi s u a l 

Communication Services, is now in charge of 

the complete operation. 

Above: Peter Brooks inspects a press sheet from the A-B Dick offset press. Photos: Michael LeBlanc 

at the College. Graduates have expre s s e d 

c o n c e rn that they are unpre p a red to org a nize 

and format their electronic files for erro rf 

ree output. Although the concept of going 

f rom an onscreen layout to an offset plate 

seems straightforw a rd, it is not so in practice. 

Students need to know how to pre p a re 

the layout so that what comes out onto the 

plate is what they intended. These imagesetter 

systems cost roughly $50,000. 

Human Resources Development Canada 

re p o rts that the demand for commercial 

printing grows 1.5% annually. Despite 

developments in digital technology and the 

e m e rgence of the Web, printing will be with 

us for a long time yet. The recent downturn 

of the Internet economy has forced many 

digital communication designers to “think 

print” in order to survive. ●

Alumnus 

Cella Harris 

Multi Emmy-nominee 

Cella Harris (ANSCAD ’73) 

has an Animated Histor y 

Jay Walsh is Coordinator of 

Communications at NSCAD 

Among the ranks of NSCAD’s many 

alumni one might envision prolific painters, 

auteur directors, internationally re n o w n e d 

jewellers, rurally-based ceramic artists, and 

any number of other artistic practices one 

can study at a College such as this. Often 

o v e r-looked are the many alumni who fill 

the crucial administrative ranks of leading 

business, agencies, governments, and 

other bodies around the world. By no 

means have these grads abandoned their 

visual arts roots. Most, if not all, contribute 

to the greater understanding of the role of 

c u l t u re and art in society, well armed with 

many years experience at the helm of a 

variety of artistic experiments borne at 

the College. Cella Harris, Senior Vi c e 

P resident of Television Production for 

Klaskly Csupo, one of Hollywood’s fastest 

g rowing animation think tanks, is one of 

those individuals. A graduate of NSCAD 

who has brought her far- reaching experiences 

since her days at the College to 

the fore f ront of animation pro d u c t i o n . 

B o rn and raised in Cape Bre t o n ’s Whitney 

Pier area, Cella could never have imagined 

her globe-spanning career upon entering 

her 12th year of High School. Although not 

accepted into the first round of admissions 

at NSCAD, she gladly accepted a late 

e n t ry offer and found herself speeding on 

a plane to Halifax. A life of ‘firsts’ unfolded 

for her in the harbour city. Like many students 

new to the College, she arrived with little 

m o n e y, a letter of acceptance, no knowledge 

of the city, and a deluge of support 

f rom a concerned family back in Cape 

B reton. “My loving Mother would mail me 

the $12.50 per week rent and a loaf of 

homemade raisin bread. I couldn’t have 

done it without her. ” 

Cella fondly recalls being grateful that the 

College accepted her as a student, especially 

in light of the fact that she felt much more 

a rtistically rather than academically gifted. 

“I’m so grateful that they accepted me as 

a student. Often artists are not academically 

inclined and their artistic abilities are ignore d 

at best if not discouraged entirely.” The 

city grew on her quickly and her years 

at NSCAD were devoted towards the 

completion of her Bachelor’s Degree in 

Visual Communications. But the animation 

bug hit her when she opted to take a 

o1 8 

Of Rugrats and Duckmen… 

s e m e s t e r of ‘how-to’ animation classes in her 

senior year. “I took the class one semester 

and we learned the basics of how to animate 

and shoot animation.” Much of her 

early inspiration came from the whimsical, 

animated musical by Harry Nilsson, “The 

Point.” She later became close friends with 

that film’s producers and animators. She 

admits she “lacked confidence in her drawing 

skills,” focusing instead on stick figure 

animation. But it was the simplicity of her 

style that taught her the basics of the craft, 

and a love for the medium. 

That early experience with animation 

quickly led her towards a summer placement 

with the National Film Board in 

M o n t real. There she was hired as an intern 

and first trained as an ink and paint art i s t , 

later studying and practicing film editing 

at the Board. She graduated from NSCAD 

in 1972 as one of the College’s first female 

Bachelor of Design Graduates. Her education 

and experience in the field continued 

after graduation. In the same year she 

graduated she met Jack Stokes, well-known 

d i rector of the Beatles’ animated film 

“ Yellow Submarine,” during a vacation 

to London. Her skills were quickly put to 

work as an ink-and-paint and animation 

in-betweener artist. There she met her first 

husband, Jim Duff y, an American animat 

o r / f i l m m a k e r. They had three children 

and continued to live in London until 

1982 when the whole family relocated 

to Los Angeles. 

Los Angeles introduced Cella to the 

world of big entertainment and big business. 

She continued to work as a cel and 

matte painter when time permitted (working 

on projects like “Ghostbusters” and the early 

iterations of “The Simpsons” on the Tr a c e y 

Ullman show), but focused most of her 

e ff o rts on a full-time mom care e r. In 1991 

she took a public relations position with 

Klasky-Csupo (pronounced Klass-key 

Chew-po), a then little known animation 

house that would grow to be responsible 

for “The Simpsons,” “Rugrats,” “Duckman,” 

and a slew of internationally re c o g n i z e d 

c h i l d re n ’s animation series. 

Her prolific experience working in a variety 

of animation roles moved her through the 

ranks of Klasky Csupo in short ord e r, hold-

ing positions as co-pro d u c e r, pro d u c e r, 

s u p e rvising pro d u c e r, and currently Senior 

Vice President of Television Production. 

As pro d u c e r, she has been nominated for 

five Emmy awards since starting with the 

company in 1991, most recently in 2001 

for Outstanding Childre n ’s Animated 

P rogram (daytime Emmy award) for “The 

Wild Thornberrys” and Outstanding 

Animated Program (for programming less 

than one hour, primetime Emmy) for “As 

Told By Ginger.” As Senior VP Te l e v i s i o n 

P roduction she has helped to shape the 

Klasky Csupo production model that 

enables scripts to be written and developed 

f rom re c o rding, story b o a rding, animatics, 

timing, design, checking, to animation 

and the final stages of post production and 

d e l i v e ry to the client (in many cases the 

c h i l d re n ’s television network, Nickelodeon. 

Klasky Csupo is carving out a very pro m inent 

niche in Hollywood as a producer of 

original, story-based series that speak dire c tly 

to children (and in many cases adults as 

well). “Although we’re a writer-driven studio, 

dedicated to not talking down to childre n , 

we are also determined to give the viewer 

an innovative visual experience.” The hallmark 

of the company is television and film 

that continues to break new ground in story 

and animation. “We like to deal with re a l 

life situations using humor and we want to 

e n t e rtain children without insulting their intelligence.” 

Perhaps this explains the re s p o n s e 

the company’s work gets from leagues of 

devoted adult and children fans alike. The 

recently released Rugrats feature “Rugrats in 

Paris, The Movie” is the largest grossing animation 

film ever produced by an independent 

animation company. 

For those preparing to embark on a care e r 

in the animation field, Cella offers some 

poignant, industry proven advice: “Take 

as many drawing classes as possible, and 

o1 9 

especially life drawing. You must be able 

to draw many styles. No technology can 

replace its worth.” Outside of that import a n t 

fundamental, she recommends students keep 

an open mind to film and film pro d u c t i o n . 

“Study Filmmaking, not only animation. 

Study ‘life action’ filmmaking especially. 

Become a Filmmaker, not just an animator. ” 

The run-away success of her projects doesn’t 

a ffect Cella’s calm and collected personality. 

“I believe being a Cape Bretoner has been 

an asset as well as a liability to living and 

working in Hollyweird (as some folks here 

like to refer to it).” In the mouse-eat-cat world 

of the animation industry, Cella offers some 

sensible advice that any Maritimer would 

sympathize with, “when I start taking myself 

too seriously, all I have to do is pick up the 

phone and my family will bring me back 

to reality in a New York minute.” ●

Facilities 

A Wood -fire d Ki l n in the Heart of Halifax 

Doug Bamford (BFA '95) 

is a generally funny guy and 

ceramics technician at NSCAD 

For nearly 20 years NSCAD has had 

a wood fired kiln on Hollis Street in the 

Alice Hagan Kiln Building, deep in the 

heart of Halifax. You hardly notice it, 

unless you are out in the wee hours of 

the morning and get a little whiff of wood 

smoke coming from the start up stages of 

the ten hour firing cycle. One of the only 

t ruly urban wood fired kilns in a western 

city, the NSCAD woodkiln has been 

a unique and tremendously important 

feature of the ceramics program. 

In terms of solid fuel, wood has always 

been regarded as highly desirable. It 

is relatively pure (i.e. it does not contain 

sulfur compounds) and burns with a long 

flame, which is helpful in producing even 

kiln temperatures. It leaves little re s i d u e 

such as cinder or clinker, and ash 

deposited on the work is often highly 

sought after. Wood is also capable of 

reaching the highest temperatures used 

in pottery pro d u c t i o n . 

Wood was the "normal fuel" used by most 

c u l t u res until re c e n t l y. Wood is perhaps the 

most unlikely fuel to find a group of ceramics 

students using as fuel in the downtown 

business district of a major Canadian city. 

Paul Rozman (BFA '81) built the original 

kiln in 1982 after graduating from New 

York State University at Alfred. His kiln was 

in regular service, proving to be a re g u l a r 

workhorse until May 2001, when it was 

deemed to be in need of rebuilding. Who 

better to rebuild the great kiln than the 

original builder himself. 

Rozman has spent most of his career since 

graduation teaching in various institutions 

a c ross Canada. He now runs a successful 

p o t t e ry studio and Gallery on Va n c o u v e r 

Island. For two weeks in July Paul worked 

with a small group of students, Ted Mart i n , 

Niki Russmusen, and Caroline Holder to 

complete the hands-on constru c t i o n . 

They completed most of the work during 

the Summer and the new kiln will be up 

and running by midterm. We look forw a rd 

to getting another eighteen years of good 

firings from the new kiln, but most of all the 

d e p a rtment is excited about continuing to 

p rovide students with a unique experience 

of firing a wood kiln in an urban setting. ●

F rom left: Paul Rozman and students, 2001. 16th century illustration by Cipriano in 

The Three Books of the Potter’s Art. The kiln during the rebuilding, 2001.

Letter from abroad 

L u c y Leonowens Bahr 

Lucy Leonowens Bahr is the great, 

great, granddaughter of NSCAD’s 

founder Anna Leonowens. 

She currently resides in 

Guatemala City with 

her husband and 

four daughters. 

Anna Leonowens would not be the least 

bit surprised to know that her gre a t - g r a n dson, 

Louis Thomas Leonowens, has lived an 

exciting life in Guatemala since he was 24 

years old. After all, he inherited the wanderlust 

from her and her son, Louis Thomas. 

Lou was born in 1924 and grew up in 

Hamilton, Ontario. He met Sylvia Pettersen, 

his future wife, when they both attended 

University oof We s t e rn Ontario. Sylvia was 

b o rn and brought up in Guatemala. Her 

father was a Norwegian who emigrated 

to Guatemala after World War I and her 

mother was English (but born in Guatemala). 

Lou got a degree in Journalism and in 

1948 followed Sylvia to Guatemala, 

w h e re he never used his journalism skills 

again! Lou got into farming and in 1954 

p u rchased a coffee plantation in the 

E a s t e rn part of Guatemala and since then 

has become one of the most experienced 

c o ffee growers in the country. His farm is 

often the venue for field trips organized 

by the Experimental Coffee Association, 

to instruct other growers in the successful 

techniques developed by the family. Lou 

also breeds cattle on his farm, and he 

is very fond of his herd of Limousin cows. 

Other business ventures that Lou has part - 

icipated in include shrimp farming, gold 

d redging from rivers, and managing 

his wife’s plantation of cinchona tre e s . 

Cinchona trees are grown for their bark, 

f rom which several sulfates are extracted, 

including quinine sulfate which is used 

to cure malaria. 

L o u ’s one hobby has been flying his own 

h e l i c o p t e r. He bought the helicopter to 

travel to remote farms safely and quickly, 

and soon discovered a passion for flying. 

He has been flying for 25 years and now, 

at age 77, is the oldest active chopper 

pilot in Guatemala. 

Lou and Sylvia have now been married 

for 52 years and have 6 children, 18 

o 22 

g r a n d c h i l d ren and one great-grandchild on 

the way. Their six children are Mark, Leslie, 

J e n n i f e r, Lucy, Catherine and David. All six 

of us live in Guatemala. 

One of my earliest memories is of rainy 

a f t e rnoons on the coffee farm, reading or 

drawing in the living room, and always 

accompanied by the wonderful music of the 

King and I, by Rodgers’ and Hammerstein. 

The melodies and verses of “Shall We 

Dance”and “Whenever I Feel Afraid” are 

indelibly etched in my mind. Similarly, we 

have all spent hours watching “The King 

and I” movie with Yul Brynner and Katharine 

H e p b u rn, over and over again. And then 

last year, when “Anna and the King” with 

Jodie Foster came out, we all enjoyed going 

together to see the movie. Of course the 

movies are romanticized stories based on 

A n n a ’s experiences. No one is fooled into 

actually thinking there was ever a re l a t i o nship 

with the King. But the movies, especially 

the Jodie Foster one, spin a good, entertaining 

tale of romance and action. 

For a more realistic version of the real 

life of Anna, I recommend the book A n n a 

Leonowens: a Life Beyond the King and I, 

by Leslie Smith Dow, a Canadian author. 

Smith Dow presents a very credible and 

sympathetic interpretation of Anna, her 

socio-economic dilemma and how she 

solved it. Anna must have been an incre d i b l y 

intelligent woman with a forceful and decided 

c h a r a c t e r. She took on the Victorian world 

when women were supposed to submit and 

disappear into the woodwork. She loved 

challenges and adventure. She also fought 

for causes such as womens’ rights. Anna is 

a worthy example for her descendants to 

follow! I can tell you that all of us are very 

p roud of our relationship to Anna and feel 

v e ry pro p r i e t a ry about her and anything 

related to her! My most tre a s u red possession 

is a diamond ring, given to Anna by King 

Mongkut, which my father inherited and 

gave to me on my 45th birthday this year.

As to my personal family, I am the fourt h 

child of Lou and Sylvia. I was born and 

b rought up in Guatemala, a wonderf u l , 

beautiful country which I love intensely. I 

have been married to Henry Bahr for 25 

years. Henry is a Honduran of German 

heritage, whom I met when we both studied 

at Tulane University in New Orleans. Henry 

and I lived in Honduras for 18 years and 

now we have lived in Guatemala for 6 

years. In Guatemala, Henry and I own 

and run a large furn i t u re business. We 

m a n u f a c t u re sofa sets in a small factory 

and we also import furn i t u re from the United 

States, China, Mexico and other countries. 

We have 4 daughters: Nikki, Daniela, Lucia 

and Victoria. Nikki will be starting at the 

University of British Columbia in Va n c o u v e r 

this Fall as a 2nd Year student. The other 3 

girls are studying at the American School of 

Guatemala. All 4 girls have demonstrated 

some artistic talent: Nikki, Daniela and Lucia 

a re good at drawing and painting in watercolors. 

Vi c t o r i a ’s talent is singing and dancing. 

She hopes to follow in the footsteps of 

Christina Aguilera and become a famous 

pop star! We all enjoy spending weekends 

at the farms, where the kids go horseback 

riding with the cowboys and we walk 

t h rough the coffee plantations. Occasionally, 

we get energetic and, with a large group 

of friends, climb one of the many volcanoes 

that are strewn like a string of pearls acro s s 

our beautiful country. 

Our family continues to be closely linked to 

Thailand. My father has been Honorary 

Consul General of Thailand in Guatemala 

for about 35 years, and my husband has 

been the Thai Consul in Honduras for about 

10 years. In 1997 my parents and Henry 

and I visited Bangkok for an official conference 

of Thai consuls, at the invitation of the 

Thai Foreign Ministry. The trip had many 

special moments. One of them was when 

my father, in re p resentation of all the consuls, 

saluted King Bhumibol and had a moment of 

personal conversation with him, in which they 

reminisced about their respective grandfathers 

who were schoolchildren together 

(Prince Chulalongkorn and Louis Thomas 

Leonowens). Another highlight was visiting 

A n n a ’s classroom: a small porch of one of 

the Royal Palaces where her blackboard 

is still part of the wall! We also visited the 

old Protestant Cemetery and searched for 

over an hour until we found the grave of 

C a roline Knox Leonowens, the first wife 

of Louis Thomas Leonowens and my 

d a d ’s grandmother. 

Another interesting fact about my family 

which may interest you is that my matern a l 

g r a n d m o t h e r, Carmen Pettersen, was a 

well known artist in Guatemala. She painted 

w o n d e rful landscapes in waterc o l o r, mostly 

of the tropical jungle and farmlands of 

Guatemala where she spent her life. She 

was also excellent at portraits. Late in her 

life she started, and completed, a big pro j e c t : 

to document the rapidly vanishing Indian costumes 

by painting big watercolors depicting 

the correct costume for each Indian village. 

She then wrote a book to accompany her 

75 paintings and had the book published 

in Germ a n y. She donated the first publication 

of the book to the Museo Ixchel de Tr a j e 

Indigena (Museum of Indigenous Textiles), 

a private museum that she, my mother 

and some other people founded. Carm e n 

Pettersen received the “Orden del Quetzal” 

(the Order of the Quetzal), a medal of honor 

a w a rded by the government Guatemala, for 

her contribution to the conservation of our 

c o u n t ry ’s culture through her book. 

C a rm e n ’s artistic talent was inherited by my 

t h ree sisters, who also paint in waterc o l o r s , 

each with her particular style. In the next 

generation, Cristina has just obtained a 

d e g ree in Graphic Design and is working 

in this field in Guatemala, and Stefan is 

studying photography in Milan and intends 

to continue his education in Canada. ● 

o2 3 

F rom top: Lucy Leonowens Bahr & family on Christmas 

Eve 1999. Lou and Sylvia Leonowens on Christmas 

Eve 1999. Lou and Sylvia Leonowens with the Bahr 

family in front of Lou’s helicoptor. Lucy Leonowens Bahr, 

t h ree of her daughters, two nieces and a friend climb 

Volcano Pacaya, January 2000.

Exhibits 

Anna Leonowens Gallery 

36 Halifax Corner Grocery Stores 

– 28 Years Later 

A Photographic Project 

by Suzanne Cameron 

Anna Leonowens Gallery, 

2 – 13 October 2001 

o2 4

In May of 1972 Allan Harding MacKay, then Director of the Anna Leonowens Gallery, initiated the 

project 36 Halifax Corner Grocery Stores that employed Lionel Simmons as his photographer. Building 

on the lexicon of conceptually oriented ‘documentary’ photographic strategies of the early 1970s, 

MacKay’s project recorded, in the most dead-pan of fashions, the facades of thirty six neighbourhood 

corner grocery stores in Halifax. The completed project was installed in the Anna Leonowens Gallery 

in December of the same year along with a small catalogue of images and the list of locations. 

Suzanne Cameron ‘found’ MacKay/Simmon’s original publication in the College’s library in Febru a ry 

of 2000 and proceeded to update each of these sites with a photograph of her own adding a dimension 

to the original project that was never intended – the passage of time. This exhibition will feature a re i n s t a l l a t i o n 

with copies of MacKay/Simmon’s original images with those of Cameron. What is revealed is a fascinating 

a rray of documentary insights that cris-cross through urban geography, sociology, product-design, commerc i a l 

signage and building technologies to name but a few layers. 

Photo: Nadine Fava

Detail of Computerized Jacquard 

Loom. A recent addition to the 

Textiles Department made possible 

by the generosity of Margaret 

and David Fountain.

Winter 2001 - Nova Scotia College of Art and Design

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?