Artist explores sound, space in new exhibit
In Small Sonorities, artist creates something ‘more than material’
For Ellen Moffat, creating sculptures and art installations does not have to be limited to still, solid structures.
“The roots of sculpture are: There’s materials, there’s always a consideration of space, and there’s a relationship to the body,” she said.
“I got to al evelin my curiosity that I felt that I needed something more than material, and I expanded into sound.”
Moffat, who lived in Saskatchewan for 25 years and worked as an artist around the province earlier in her career, is currently working toward a PHD in visual arts at Western University in London, Ont. Her newest installation is titled A Little Piece of String, and is the newest in her series of installations, Small Sonorities.
The piece consists of objects connected to a computer system that creates sounds by generating different frequencies to activate or vibrate the objects. Moffat said one of the simplest ways to describe her work is as a “sound installation,” but also said she sees it as something like a musical instrument or ensemble of instruments.
“In a way, the whole piece is like an instrument ... it’s always performing,” Moffat said.
At first glance, what catches the eye for A Little Piece of String is the winding pool of cables in the middle of the room, which Moffat says she sees as something of an organic root system or connective network. It’s a fairly sizable space for this kind of work, Moffat said, so part of her process was determining how to properly power everything.
On one side of the room there’s a bow of a string instrument attached point-down to a metallic plate adorned with connected metal strings. On another, a glass plate vibrates on top of brass napkin rings.
Sound resonates in the space out of the intricate system Moffat has created. Delays built into the digital system help create echoes to reflect the previously heard sounds in the room.
Moffat said she got her start as an artist working primarily in sculpture and that she’s always been intrigued by the “materiality” of objects. She said her newest piece has an element of being present, a necessity to be there to see the installation and feel the vibrations as well as hear it.
“Sound physically impacts us ... it’s really encompassing,” Moffat said. “You can’t stop your ears from hearing ... or the soles of your feet from feeling.”
Despite the somewhat unique nature of her work, Moffat — like other artists — drew inspira- tion from other literature and art forms. She said this work was partly inspired by a set of poetry by Gertrude Stein, and that it helped direct what she called an artistic method guided by intuition.
“In this particular case, I had both the starting point and the situation ... which was the gallery space,” Moffat said. “I really like to expand into space, and this gave me that opportunity.”
Small Sonorities: A Little Piece of String will be up at the gallery until Jan. 6, 2019.