9. 2017-2019 RIA Project Room, Multiple Projects, Ottawa

2019 BYOA-DaDa Dinges

Holding, Sailing Sheet Installation, Sandra Hawkins 2019
RIA Project Room, Ottawa

The installations, Holding-On 1 & 2, comprise 2 well-known nautical knots with functional roots dating back 4000 years.

In this installation, the positioning of the knots and the graceful drape of the sailing sheets reveal their historically overlooked beauty.

The act of tying the Bowline and Reef Knots using ropes called sailing sheets is taken for granted as a functional, purpose-driven activity. However, I am struck by their artful creation, achieved by manipulating the sails’ sheets, for an appearance separate from function.

I am relocating the meaning of these knots from a functional context into an interdisciplinary contemporary art discourse. I am conceptually and metaphorically relating the knots to holding on in times of uncertainty, such as the impacts of rapid climate change. In these ways, this installation deconstructs perceptual boundaries relating to identity and memory.

The sailing culture’s rich visual language of symbols, processes, structures and functional tools, including these knots, inspires me to think beyond traditional Western definitions of what is art. Within this sailing language, I am intrigued by the inherent metaphors I see relating to strategies for navigating the unpredictability of climate change, such as the impacts of shifts in water levels.

References: Metaphors in Climate Change Discourse, by Jorunn Skinnemoen, University of Oslo, September 7, 2009.

2018 Message in Bottles

2018 Bubble Project

The Shape(s) of Water, 2018.
Mixed media on Tyvec. 9 x 4
A collaboration by Kathy Bergquist, Dawn Dale, Cindy Deachman, Carol Howard Donati, Petra Halkes, Lynn Hart, Sandra Hawkins, Patricia Kenny, Laurie Koensgen, Doris Lamontagne, Jacqueline Milner, Rene Price, Dan Sharp, Beth Shepherd, Svetlana Swinimer, and Shirley Yik.

2018 BYOA Bring Your Own Art

2017 Meaning of Life

This is a quick sketch of myself I did in my notebook during a course exercise in memoir writing through art at the Ottawa School of Art. One of the other students commented, “She has a kind face,” which gave it its title.