Laura Peturson

Keeping Time is a large-scale print-based exhibition. With narrative imagery that references archetypes from children’s literature, the murals capture the peculiar experience of time as an experience that can expand and contract. Inspired by the artists’ experience as parents, Keeping Time collages figures, natural subject matter such as erratic boulders and plant species, along with remnants from child-made forts and structures. These remnants, chosen for their potential to exist in multiple temporal states simultaneously, reference a time in childhood when fresh built, they offered a space of separation, that allowed for independence and interiority. Their present and future deterioration reference the aging of the children who built them, as well as the constant and cyclical nature of the environment.

The exhibition takes an immersive form, with life-sized prints and painted imagery as mural components, and structural imagery emerging from the walls like a pop-up book at human-scale. Rich with layers and detail, Keeping Time invites viewers to experience the work in the way they may have become lost in books or illustrations as a child.

Wasteland/Wanderland is a project comprised of four different large-scale murals that depict figures navigating landscapes comprised of genetically modified and invasive species. The project began with a mural I did for the Gladstone Hotel in Toronto, titled Hogweed Forest. Much of my work references children’s literature and this project was inspired by Alice in Wonderland, where the flowers are beautiful, but also quite sinister. The plants in the mural are giant hogweed, a plant native to Asia that was brought to North America as an ornamental garden flower. It has no predators or diseases in Canada, but it is toxic to the touch, and causes horrific skin burns. I chose this plant because its size captured the absurdity of the scale relationships in the Wonderland garden.

The images in the prints that comprise the installation are specific, but they are also meant to serve as archetypes. The birds depicted are starlings, birds introduced to North America in 1890, when a wealthy amateur zoologist named Eugene Schieffelin released 60 starlings into Central Park, along with dozens of other non-native birds. His goal was to introduce every bird mentioned in Shakespeare’s poems and plays to North America. The birds represent the contrast between a benevolent, Romantic impetus, and the grave unintended consequences of the intervention. We have strong feelings about whether animals are nuisances or desirable, and culturally we tend to cast animals in roles of villains, heroes, or victims.

In general, I’m interested in the disruptive impact non-native, genetically modified and invasive species can have in the way that they change the identity of a place. This disruption could occur in the ecology, or the visual or sensory character of a place, or in the way that we perceive elements within the environment as either dangerous or harmful.

The relationship of place to identity is a frequent theme in my work. Some of these prints were developed from a series of drawings made after a tornado passed through the woods around my home. These prints depict children exploring the tangle of shelters, climbing structures, and debris created by the downed trees. The landscape was all of a sudden changed to include towering rootballs of fallen trees and hidey holes where they were ripped from the ground. These places, as well as child-made forts and structures capture the tension in beauty that teeters on the edge of danger.

This body of work depicts narrative, domestic scenes, and considers the relationship between identity and interiority. Children are often seen as separate, or on the edges of adult life. While each print has a specific concept and narrative, together they share a common aesthetic and comprise a fictional world with shared visual and atmospheric characteristics.

The daily practice of drawing in my sketchbooks are an integral part of my studio practice. In the same way that taking notes longhand instead of typing notes increases comprehension and memory retention, there is a meaningful connection between the physical act of making (whether it’s drawing or writing) and conceptual engagement.

I draw as a record of my daily life and the people in it, and as a way of thinking through ideas and compositions. Even when I’m working through a compositional challenge, for me a final work of art is never the end goal with drawing, the practice itself is what’s important. These images are a small set of examples of pages from my sketchbooks. For more sketchbook imagery, you can visit my Instagram page @laurapeturson