A new initiative is celebrating creative expression at Brock and helping to preserve the University's public artwork for future generations.
Launched by the Brock University Art Collection and led by Mandy Salter, Art Collections and Engagement Manager with the Brock University Library, the project aims to provide restoration care for large-scale public sculptures on campus.
Mandy Salter (left), Art Collections and Engagement Manager with Brock University Library has been working with fifth-year History student and Curatorial Assistant Sarah Mclaughlin on restoration work for large-scale sculptures in the Brock University Art Collection. Pictured above with Fin de Siècle by artists Cornel Wachter and Elmar de Saint Schmitt from Cologne, Germany, Salter and Mclaughlin surveyed restoration work on the sculpture recently completed in time for the arrival of winter weather on campus.
For Salter, Fin de Siècle a large sculpture situated in the centre of Weather Station Field that many visiting Brock's main campus pass by was at the top of list.
"Translating to end of the century,' Fin de Siècle quietly overlooks the University and is a very timely, poignant piece that speaks to global human displacement and the experiences of loss of home," Salter said.
Part of Brock's Lutz Teutloff collection, the sculpture was originally completed in 1997 by collective "Unterbezirks Dada" comprised of artists Cornel Wachter and Elmar de Saint Schmitt from Cologne, Germany.
Made from brick, steel, rail ties, concrete and photography, the sculpture was first displayed in Cologne before arriving at Brock University in 1999. Upon arrival, the work was slightly modified by the artists with the addition of a concrete suitcase, series of rail ties and a brick structure with a metal gate.
The recent restoration included painting and extensive masonry work to mitigate the long-term impacts of winter weather on the brick structure.
Viewers can peer into the sculpture to see a stone pedestal and a black and white photograph of a woman, perhaps waiting at a train station, on the back wall of the enclosure.
While the sculpture seems to reference the Holocaust at first glance, Salter said the emotional piece addresses human rights and freedoms across many instances of genocide and human displacement.
"The work is rich in symbolism and at the same time a very subtle piece. When you take a closer look, the elements and story start to reveal themselves," she said.
Fifth-year History student and Curatorial Assistant Sarah Mclaughlin has been working alongside Salter conducting detailed research on the history of the artists and works in Brock's Lutz Teutloff collection, including Fin de Siècle.
In addition to verifying historical information and contributing extensive written accounts, Mclaughlin, who is passionate about modern art and uncovering hidden stories of the past, is finding connections with local history.
"For example, the bowl of the wash basin seen in Fin de Siècle was created out of the original base for the 1877 monument for the Grave of an Unknown Brother,' which honours a freemason whose body washed ashore near Jordon Station in Lincoln, Ontario in 1877," she said.
Working with Brock's art collection has been a valuable experience for Mclaughlin, allowing the History student to continue honing her research and writing skills while making contributions to the collection through knowledge mobilization.
Salter's team which also includes Brianne Bousfield, a fourth-year Classics and Archaeology and History of Visual Culture student connected with Wachter, one of the artists, who has been encouraging the Fin de Siècle's restoration remotely from Germany.
"We are currently constantly confronted with news about migration, flight and displacement. This is what the sculpture speaks of, and it is good to engage with these images again and again, to bring young people together with this problem of human coexistence and, in the best case, to evoke empathy in them for people whose roots have been violently severed and who are thus experiencing emotional suffering," Wachter said.
Salter said that Brock is fortunate to steward Fin de Siècle and the many meaningful artworks in its collection that will be part of ongoing restoration efforts.
"We are thankful to Nicole Nolan and the Library's commitment to our public art collection with the support of the Brock University Art Collection Committee and Bryan Cober in Facilities Management," she said. "We engage with a diverse collection that tells important stories and supports the rich interwoven fabric that is Brock University."
