Sculpting Solitude
November 6, 2020
By Ruth Abernethy
The Glenn Gould Foundation is delighted to share art-making thoughts, and a poem, by Ruth Abernethy, the sculptor of the memorable Glenn, on Front Street, in downtown Toronto. Many people take a seat next to the great pianist to share their thoughts, or just to sit beside him in shared solitude.
The word “solitude” has a quaint, heritage undertone that it didn’t used to have. Imagine a prairie winter in a sod hut, halted by spring warmth and a visit from a friend who plays violin! Perhaps solitude was easier found in summer when children played outdoors.
Contemporary solitude may align with the confidence to ignore devilish e-devices that link humans online. Valuing undisturbed time for thought supports the entropic nature of skill-building. Repeat the steps slowly. Make one more try, followed by another try, again, and once more. Whether tying shoelaces, playing piano arpeggios, or mastering the touch of a perfectly welded seam, personal skills are acquired in a state of solitude.
Solitude can never intrude on activity. It’s a place of mind in which to spend time with our own thoughts. Intense focus on a specific task makes time elastic. It alters our experience. Moments feel endless and a “return to the world” holds a sense of long absence.
Sculpting Glenn Gould’s portrait held moments of memorable solitude for me. What a pleasure to sculpt musicians! With Glenn’s music lingering the air I could study his image in photographs and craft a likeness through winter afternoons without interruption. In hindsight it’s the only time in my solo art practice when I had the luxury of working on one portrait without dividing my attention. My young sons were content at daycare and it was assumed by friends that I was at the Stratford Festival where I’d built props for more than a decade.
Artists view the same world that’s visible to everyone but they connect patterns of colour or motion, form, content or tone that others seldom register. Artists link life experiences together in new patterns. The process mirrors the steps of research and engineering; exploring new ways to assemble the familiar.
Solitude is the hothouse of creativity.
The “struggle” of an artist has nothing in common
With the effortless arrival of a good idea!
Ideas are instant things of air.
They’re as soothing as a breath or as exciting
as finding a new room in your home.
They’re quizzical thoughts, allowed lateral drift in the mind
To bump against each other.
Music floats emotion.
Fragrance transports to another time and place.
Encountering art is like nudging a tray of marbles
And seeing glass ideas roll into new patterns
And reflect in each other fresh ways to see
Things already seen.
Ruth Abernethy was born in Lindsay, Ontario and she grew up on a small farm with an inventive and musical family. Their musical life onstage made a perfect introduction for Ruth to work backstage and for 20 years she built stage props for professional theatre. Her first bronze was commissioned while she was a builder at the Stratford Festival. Just weeks after the unveiling of her bronze titled Raising the Tent for the Festival’s anniversary season, she received an invitation to sculpt Glenn Gould. Glenn is now listed with nearly 50 of Ruth’s bronze sculptures and portraits in public spaces across Canada, Japan, Australia, the UK and USA. Ruth’s studio is near Wellesley, Ontario. More at www.ruthabernethy.com
Photo by JR Ribee
