Recently, I read a novel by Geraldine Brooks, titled ‘People of the Book’. It is an historical fictional account of the creation and migrations of the Sarajevo Haggadah, an ancient and rare illuminated Jewish manuscript; it highlights the circumstances and people that protected it through dangers and conflicts over 800 years. It struck me how every artwork has its personal history; it may be mundane or filled with drama, just like a human life. An art piece is born, and has a life, banal or weighty within the cultural domain.
Two months ago, a large sculpture I created in the late 1980’s at the Banff School of Fine Arts (BSFA), reappeared into the realm of public view. During an extended scholarship-supported residency for 10 months in 1987, I had access to materials and equipment that ignited my imagination. C
ou
ld I create giant goddess forms from clay? There was a large extruder, which could push out 2” clay coils and a large car kiln (the base of the kiln is filled with objects to be fired, then moves on tracks into its housing for firing), 
allowing large objects to be made. Post firing, I had to grind some of the rock-hard clay to make it stack properly. 
It was a massive project: 8.5’ tall, with visual access points in her shoulders and breasts to see hanging creatures and an ‘earth egg’ in her womb/belly area. 
There are 4 main stacked coiled sections, an attachable ‘bone-like’ wing arms, and a wire ‘feather headdress’; the earth-egg also lit up when you opened the womb door. 
She had her inaugural showing in the main Gallery at the BSFA. Afterwards, I created sturdy crates to house her for transport from Banff, AB to Winnipeg, MB (Canada) where I lived at the time. She then was exhibited in several galleries in Ontario and Manitoba, in an installation format. Bird Goddess, as part of a Trinity (Snake & Alchemical Goddesses) had some impact within the regional art communities in Canada for several years. In the early 1990’s, I was fortunate; the Manitoba Arts Council purchased this piece; mostly She remains in storage in the Vault at the Art Gallery of Southwestern Manitoba (AGSM). www.agsm.ca.
But, She came out of her cave, to be a part of the ‘Barrier, Breach, Scaffold’ exhibition for 2 months. AGSM’s Instagram posted:
“Debbie Mathew’s stoneware ‘Bird Goddess’ stands monumental and timeless, adapted from her fragile terrestrial form: her feathers have become a mane; her hollow bones are thick stone coils; her tendons are made of metal. In her womb there is a vulnerable nest and egg of skin, twigs and feathers…”
Barrier, Breach, Scaffold is an exhibition about play, jokes, and the absolute weirdness of living in a body. Taken from the collection of the Manitoba Arts Council’s Art Bank–a repository of contemporary art that was amassed through the mid-1990s–it is a selection of whimsical artworks that coalesce into something sinister, in line with the dark, ironic, and not-necessarily-funny humor of an era defined by self-liberation and the mainstreaming of alternative genres.
Curated by Haylee Janai and Lucie Lederhendler. In the AGSM Main Gallery until March 22nd, 2025.
Canada is remarkable in its support of the arts; I received a nice stipend for being in the show. Most opportunities to exhibit art require the artist pay application fees, packaging, shipping & insurance. This was really appreciated, especially as a reminder that Creativity is worthy and supported.
Art is like a child… you create with your heart, soul, boundless energy, and send it off with love when it’s time to launch. Best to not have assumptions about its’ life from there on out…. And even better if you can detach from any possible outcome. An impossible Ideal, as we seem to be tethered to these brilliant sparks of our soul self. But if you keep focusing on what excites you, it’s easier to keep experiencing life to the fullest. Who knows what creativity is awaiting to be birthed in these times of Re-Creation.