Description

For 45˚37’58.20″ N, -74˚19’02.27″O (The Elm Tree) two copies of a photograph of a large elm tree in a field were printed on large sheets of Japanese washi paper using an inkjet printer. Each of the sheets was cut into vertical strips that were then folded in half. These were woven on a temporary loom. A linen thread was used as the horizontal warp. On one side of the weaving, the tree is a continuous image, while on the reverse side,  the strips do not align as expected and  the image is distorted. The weaving hangs in space so it can be viewed from both sides. The title includes the geographic coordinates of the tree.


Statement

The tree in 45˚37’58.20″ N, -74˚19’02.27″O (The Elm Tree) is near La Chute, Québec,

This elm tree was the inspiration for several works on paper and has a special place in my heart. My partner and I would often visit it, just to see how it was doing. This excellent example of the species, like most has a graceful, umbrella-shaped tree form.  A solitary elm is often found in the middle of a field – the farmer having chosen to plant around it rather than to cut it down. The American Elm has been attacked a lot by disease, so when you find one that has managed to resist it, it’s impressive. I see elms as a symbol of art and the artist in society.

Karen Trask, 2025



Exhibition History

September 14 – November 16, 2014
La salle Alfred-Pellan, Laval, Québec, Canada
Description

Shadow and Form brings together works by Karen Trask from 1989 to 2014.

L’ombre et la forme propose au visiteur un espace de découverte d’expériences sensibles. On y retrouve des notions importantes dans l’œuvre de l’artiste montréalaise Karen Trask : l’acte de faire et de défaire, l’impossibilité de fixer le temps, l’emprise des images et la portée des mots dans l’imaginaire et la mémoire.

Statement

Karen Trask’s exhibition L’ombre et la forme underlines her fascination for the fluid and transformable nature of the primary materials: water, air and light. In her work, Karen Trask evokes the impossibility of stopping time, affirms the importance of words and the process of making and touch. Repeated gestures of a patient and continuous labour to produce an image, an object or a form inscribes the work of Karen Trask in a practice associated to process, to duration and a subtle manifestation of erosion. The sculptures, the photographic images, the videos, the objects and the words of this exhibition translate what the artist qualifies as little nothings: these unusual experiences where simplicity finds a form. Sensitive to the process of creation and the notion of time in a work, Nicole Gingras is the curator of this exhibition, accompanying the artist in her reflection.

Source: Wall text for the exhibition, La Maison des arts de Laval, 2014

Curator(s)
Nicole Gingras