I did my MA in sociology at Carleton University, in Ottawa, back in 1963-4. The Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences have been sending me their annual review ever since. Usually I have not paid it a great deal of attention. After all, that all seems so long ago now. A piece in the latest edition caught my attention, however, because it dealt with the early history of sociology at Carleton. Unfortunately there were some inaccuracies in it, so I sent the editor an email. To my surprise I had an almost immediate response, thanking me, and expressing interest in hearing more detail about my experiences back then. Today I spent some time putting a piece together which, after checking a couple of things, I will send off.
This afternoon, however, I started to ask myself whether my time in Canada had had any significance for the way my art has developed. After all, as I point out in my piece, it was really quite important for the course of my career as an academic sociologist.
At first my mind was a blank when faced with this question. I did reflect on the fact that at that time Ottawa had been a bit of a cultural desert, with no significant art gallery of its own. Then other ideas began to come into focus. In fact, I remember very clearly two drawings I did while at Carleton. At that time I was very active in the nuclear disarmament movement, and both of them had to do with that.
Not long after I arrived and became involved with CCND I volunteered to draw a cartoon to illustrate a leaflet for the movement. (Sadly, I don’t still have a copy.) The drawing I remember as quite effective, although the caption I gave it made less sense, because it had to be read very much with an English intonation, and didn’t sound quite right when spoken with a Canadian accent.
When Christmas came I decided to do my own Christmas card. This I offered to CCND for their use, but it was declined as being too dismal. I have to admit I was a bit surprised because I thought that the immediate threat of global extinction in nuclear war didn’t actually sit too well with wishes of a “Happy Christmas”. I have to confess, it was a bit doomy. Ah well! Actually, I still have a copy of that one.
Otherwise, I was far too busy with academic and political activity to spend much time on art. I did acquire a large Inuit lithograph, however, and that still hangs on the wall of our spare bedroom. The art of the “First Nations” was the only aspect of Canadian art that actually registered with me at the time. I’m not sure that I carry a legacy of that with me, although perhaps there is a trace of that in the way I move towards abstraction in my “Beyond” series. I’d like to think so.
Perhaps some artistic seeds were planted during my year at Carleton. Whether that is so or not, it has been good to spend a couple of days thinking back over those times.