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Ruth Abernethy, sculptor of some of the most iconic public art in Canada, joins the podcast to discuss her work.
Ruth has been a sculptor for more than thirty years, documenting in bronze many quintessential Canadian figures, such as Glenn Gould [pictured left], Oscar Peterson, and Margaret Atwood.
Joe used to walk past the statue of Glenn Gould almost every day; it’s situated just outside the Glenn Gould Studio at CBC’s Toronto Broadcast Centre.
One of Mark’s favorite pieces of sculpture is outside the Festival Theatre, at the Stratford Festival; Ruth’s first bronze [see gallery below].
Ruth’s connection to the theatre world goes quite deep. Her 20 years of professional prop building included 15 seasons at The Stratford Festival, helping bring Shakespeare to life.
The volume and speed at which she had to produce work for the stage has informed her process, and made her one of Canada’s most prolific and important sculptors and artists.
Her commissions can be found across Canada, including at Queen’s Park, Ontario’s legislature, where visitors can see her rendition of Queen Elizabeth II, beside the south entrance.
The three have a fascinating conversation about her work, her passion for creation, and her recent book.
For fans of art, this is an episode not to be missed!
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Ruth Abernethy grew up on a farm near Lindsay (ON) in an inventive and musical family. Working backstage at the Kawartha Summer Theatre lead to further technical training at Malaspina University in Nanaimo, British Columbia, (1978).
At the age of 20, Ruth was hired as Head of Props at the Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre, MB and later at the Stratford Festival (ON), where she refined her method of 3D mapping to sculpt large figures. Unveiling of her first bronzes outside the Festival Theatre brought the invitation to sculpt renowned pianist Glenn Gould, which began a definitive career change.
The National Portrait Gallery acquired Ruth’s portrait bust of Al Waxman (2005) and Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II unveiled Ruth’s portrait of Oscar Peterson at the National Arts Centre (2010). She was the first Canadian artist selected to exhibit with Sculpture-by-the-Sea in Sydney, Australia (2004). For this she was awarded a bursary from the Canadian Consulate in Sydney and invited for a return to the Casuarina Sculpture Walk, in north Queensland Australia (2006). Ruth was the first Canadian juried into Sculpture in Context, Dublin, Ireland (2007) and the only Canadian artist short-listed for the Beijing Olympic Sculpture Contest (2008).
In addition to bronze portraits, Ruth’s studio works combine textiles, hand-made lace and stainless steel. Ruth began her Canadiana Collection in 2005, to expand the narratives on gender roles, heritage crafts and notions of nation-building. Pieces from this collection were selected for The Canadiana State Collection (Ottawa, ON), exhibited with Crossing Borders (Lockport, NY, 2005), and acquired by the Royal Ontario Museum (5 pieces, Toronto, ON, 2009).
Ruth is author of Life and Bronze, A Sculptor’s Journal (2016). She was presented with an Honorary Doctor of Letters Degree from Wilfrid Laurier University (2018), and inducted into the Waterloo Region Museum Hall of Fame (2019).
Go get her new book, In Form : Life and Legacies in Bronze, available via her publisher and online.
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