The Waiting Game - Dan Steeves

Reflecting on many years of artistic practise, I realize much of my research has been focused on time and traveling through time. The working title for this research actually comes from an image I engraved on a zinc plate over forty years ago. That image was created after being in Washington Square in New York City, watching individuals sitting on benches playing chess on concrete tables. It had started to rain, and the onlookers eagerly awaited the next move of the chess players. It was all about time and waiting, waiting for the rain to end, for the next move in the game.

Travel does much to enrich the mind and on a recent trip to the Pacific Rim National Park and specifically Cathedral Grove on Vancouver Island, I had an intense experience in that mystical place. Lush and rich, ancient and towering, the forest in that National Park was an encounter of all the senses. I felt very protected in that old growth forest, very humbled with the history of those massive trees. I was not only in awe of the physical space around me, but upon reflection I was astonished with the sense of quiet, the waiting of that place.

Global warming has put much stress on the existing forest, even one as old as Pacific Rim. It is important we recognize the importance of the forest and the role it plays in making oxygen for the earth. Cathedral Grove is well named as it is a sacred place of thought and contemplation, of who we are and why we are here. It is a place of rest.

In each image all figures are at a point of stasis, waiting, rest. They all point to the importance of the individual being a part of nature, and our role in protecting and sustaining it.

constantly renewed