GUARDING THE NEST: Douglas Bedard

Some time ago I visited the Boston Museum of Art and was subsequently influenced by a work of art that the French painter, Paul Gaugin (1848-1903) had created. He titled it, “D’ou Venouns Nous ~ Que Sommes Nous ~ Ous Allons Nous”. The English translation being, “Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going?”

This was written between 1897-1898 by the artist and incorporated into the composition of vivid reds, yellows and earth tones. The fact that someone more than 100 years ago would think and do such a thing made it very contemporary and provocative to me. His summation of ideas is what interests me and I consider this a parallel to my work.

My exhibition is  called ‘Guarding the Nest’.

It consists of a soft sculptural assemblage of cut up clothing materials in the form of a nest, with three ostrich eggs displayed in the middle.

I’ve created 15-20 works of pastel drawings on canvas, some including small acrylic aspects in the works. These are colour field based works with a small bird motif incorporated to align with the bird’s nest assemblage. The bird motif itself I have used many times throughout my career.

The image of my bird comes from one particular past experience as a young boy of 8 years old. I was walking on a hot summer day and noticed a bird laying on the sidewalk. I stopped to ponder what may have happened to this bird, how did it end up on this particular block, in this particular position. An innocence was lost as I realized that this bird was dead. This was a profound moment for me, a connection that has been with me ever since. I saw the bird as a part of nature, and we as people are all a part of nature, connected with everything around us.

Being a single male provider, a nurturer out of necessity for my three daughters, I have found that it is important to render a gentler and more compassionate side to the understanding of what parenting entails. The different layers of colours used in the colour fields, hopefully, will provide an emotional impact, reflecting different time elements, the layers in parenting, the time passing in our lives as moments, days, weeks, years, and decades. It is a continuing aspect of what it is to live, experience, protect, nurture and share.