DRAWN FROM WOOD

Maple trees fueled the industrial revolution in Britain and colonial expansion in Canada. During World War I, maple syrup helped nationalize food production by moving away from dependence on cane sugar. When the Vimy Memorial was dedicated in France, maple trees were planted to eulogize Canadian soldiers killed, wounded, or missing. Beyond the realm of politics, commercialism, or national identity, the maple tree is also a harbinger of two seasons: Fall and Spring. It is a valuable material that posits a breadth of powerful, yet rarely explored, meanings and associations. In this timely exhibition, artists Mary Anne Barkhouse, Gary Blundell, Brad Copping, and Victoria Ward, respond to maple trees (and maple syrup) in ways not unlike the “boiling down” process. “Boiling down the pan” is what maple syrup producers argue is at the core of the distillation process—it is a reductive process, similar to evaporation, that these artists use to illuminate what is evocative about trees and syrup. Their work is not consumed with nationalistic content but instead reveals new and divergent perspectives on the meaning of maple.