Artist Statement – Laurie McGugan

My work deals with the interaction with art in the public arena. I am especially interested in the relationship between man and nature, personal intuitive responses and social consciousness. In my work, Park Couch, a fiberglass sculpture of a couch, I have pushed the boundaries on how we see nature in urban manicured environments. Home, a human-sized nest is made from found wood in a conservation area. It is about the economy of taking from nature only for our essential needs. With Circle of Trees the work explores time in relation to nature, however the intervention of casting a living tree in into bronze is also symbolic of man's effect on nature.

My current work is called Silvae – Design Visions for Future Forests and is monumental in scale. Here, I challenge the process of how we use nature as a resource.

In 1999, a photo in the business section of The Globe and Mail showed an example of 'variable retention forestry practice'. Can you imagine a method of harvesting lumber that is endorsed by both environmental groups and Bay Street?

Variable retention, or aggregated retention, practices take into consideration animal habitat and other environmental impacts while considering the bottom line. Workers harvest trees around animal dens and leave groups of trees standing throughout the logged area. If you can plan logging cuts to retain animal habitat and prevent soil erosion, why not expand this concept to create a large public artwork that reminds us all of the integral connection between human and the landscape? Silvae is just that.

This artwork addresses the aesthetics of the past and future of our approach to cutting trees and explores the possibilities of the process of making art within an industry that directly affects nature. Silvae is essentially about sustainability and process.

Laurie McGugan
Mailing Address: 36 Fairview Blvd., Toronto M4K 1L9
R. R. #1 Cherry Valley, ON