ROGUE WAVE STORIES

Richard O’ Brien and ROGUE of the Year 2007

Richard O’Brien was a very creative individual who facilitated many artistic activities in the community. Many knew him as Co-owner and Manager of The Bamboo and its twenty-year history on Queen Street West. Later in his life he became disabled, used a wheelchair, yet continued to do projects and live on the Island. Eager to participate in ROGUE WAVE 2007, Richard submitted his proposal for Paint-Bomb that addressed the re-design of the Ferry Docks waiting area. His challenge was to get the approval to install the prepared drawings at the Docks. Why it was a challenge is because relations between the Docks and Island residents have not always been smooth. At zero hour Richard was able to finally negotiate approval of his installation. He was very proud of his accomplishment and carried his working drawings around with him. Sadly, Richard died during the exhibition. The Ferry Docks did re-paint the waiting area, but not as Richard proposed. Because he was successful in taking on a challenging situation, and, in his memory, we have established a new element to the exhibition - ROGUE of the Year.

Warren Hoselton and Tour des Trees

Warren Hoselton is not a visual artist. He is the Park Superintendent on Toronto Island, an avid cyclist and arborist. In 2007 he installed Tour des Trees with over 30 bicycles in a tree at Centre Island – a visually stunning work that attracted a lot of attention. Warren’s participation illustrates the good relationship that has been established between ROGUE WAVE and the City of Toronto’s Department of Parks, Recreation and Forestry.

"My fancy wrist got slapped for this back in 2010 ish. Sometimes you just have to get your Rogue out there and explain later. No bikes or trees were injured. Just fancy wrists. When life steam rolls on, and gathers such a mass that it sometimes crushes down on your soul, art will help lift that burden and remind you that you have one. During Rogue Wave 2007, I felt and witnessed this uplifting moment by suspending 25 yellow bikes in a tree beautiful tree on Centre Island.

When I first stepped foot on the Island as the Parks Supervisor back in late '98, my predecessor was being hammered by Rogue Waves, aka, Unauthorized Art Installations. They were popping up on public parklands. There was no authorization, process or dialogue. Diligent and loyal parks staff were instructed to dismantle these Rogue pieces as quickly as they were assembled. Cat vs Mouse. Riptides were forming.

The Rogue Wave soon white-capped and meetings were struck to open dialogue. Constructive conversations came about and eventually common grounds and sensible compromises were settled upon.

I remember being introduced at one of these impromptu meetings. One of the Island artists instantly recognized my last name and connected me with my Uncles Aluminum Sculpture Studio and international works. It was both comforting and humbling to be elevated to his lofty heights, but fact is, attaching a to my own name to artistic projects was basically something I would blow off, in a humorous way. After all, I barely made it through High-school Art 101. I am not sure I have an artsy bone in my body! This is another culture to me. Another foreign world suspended by fuzzy borders, blurred colours and bent parameters, all to be interpreted while the tangibles of real life are crushing down and chipping away. But I was thrilled to listen and participate. As an observer, I could sense the passion and determination that was driving the island artists and had come to the early conclusion that they weren't really asking a lot.

Could we at the parks help the legitimize "art in the park" through a legitimate Rogue Wave event? Why not?? Could we not help to elevate its profile and even drive more visitors to the Island through the ferry turnstiles?? Why not!

Relationships based upon common goals were struck and Toronto Arts Council also joined the table, as Julie S., Leida, Brad, Kathleen, Steve A., Michael D., Talia and many others kept forging ahead with the vision. Each year I would jokingly threaten that I would join in and contribute with a piece of my own.

Many ideas rattled around in my head but there was one sight that has always stuck with me from my Natchez Trace, Tour des Trees in 2005. That was a single bicycle that was somehow placed high up in a lone tree, just outside of Nashville. We all stopped our bikes and gazed in wonder as if it were art.

My thought was to spin this into something bigger, better and even more inspirational. Bikes and trees are a huge passion of mine and the Island is the spot where it could all come together during Rogue Wave. I would simply find a tree and hang bikes to draw attention right up to the canopy.

I had heard that the yellow "Bike-Share" bikes were out there in Toronto, somewhere in storage, collecting dust. Visually, they'd be just the ticket. Could a few of the static bikes be hung safely in a tree, for thousands to enjoy, rather than gathering dust in an old dressing room? If it rallied up some conversation and positive exposure regarding their future use, all the better for everyone.

After many attempts of contact (unanswered e-mails, and phone messages) I finally contacted a lone CBN rep and the project was fully explained. He was happy to help out and loaned me 25 yellow bikes. Just as I was about to go pick them up from 761 Dundas, I made a quick call to reconfirm bikes and locations. The rep then informed me that the yellow bikes could not be lent out officially even if it was for an art installation of a non-cycling nature PERIOD. It was a crushing 180 turn that sent me scrambling. I had my heart set on the Yellow bikes. Visually, they would be a brilliant contrast to the greens of the canopy. I needed a Plan B to see this through.

I then remembered a conversation about another 150 yellow bikes that were being stored in a dressing room at Lamport Stadium for the last year or so. Surely the Lamport folks would not mind if I stored 25 of them up a tree on Centre Island for 4 weeks. Calls were made and access was given to the yellow bikes. Plan B was shifted into high gear. Old discarded inner tubes from local bike stores were synched together and next thing you know I was hoisting bikes aloft into the canopy of one of the most spectacular poplars on the Island.

Parks visitors and curious parks staff were stopping by wondering what level of madness that my biking and trees passion had now taken me too. Some of the very staff that was disassembling pieces from yesteryear were now my rogue art advisors, technical support and full participants in the Tour des Trees piece. "Higher, lower, left....Right.... over, OVER.........PERFECT." They too had caught the uplifting wave.

About a week and a half into the show, I received a voice mail on my Parks phone line late in the day from the Yellow Bike Chairperson of their Board. A stern voice advised that, "Apparently an Island Artist has used their yellow bikes without full authority. There was a misunderstanding of sorts and the Board did not fully approve that the yellow bikes be used in this manner." Ouch.....

I called back and clarified that I was indeed the "artist" in question. There were several issues that had were of concern, but the discussion was short and sweet. There was concern that they were being exposed to the elements(?) There was also concern about liability. I quickly responded to both issues as thoroughly and professionally as I could, hoping to cultivate some sort of common ground approach. There was to be no compromises or further dialogue to extend or accommodate the piece. They wanted the bikes back ASAP, discussion over. Ouch again.

Frustrated by external decisions, pressure and trying to work within the confines dictated by others, is something that is often relayed to me from other Rogue Wave artists. While lowering those bikes down we were consumed by that haunting realization of, "what goes around comes around".

The next morning, I removed all 25 of the "at-risk" Yellow Bikes and rushed them back to the safe confines of the dressing room where they had been in storage for the last year.

In their place, I left two old Island bikes hanging. Seats removed, with just the shaft exposed.

Looking back, we can now add the verb, "frustrated" to our newly acquired title of "artists". Passion and vision will keep driving us. I'll be back. We'll be back."

Claudette Abrams and Flight Path

For some artists, the ROGUE WAVE installation inspires a body of work. Claudette Abrams is a photographer. Fight Path was a site-specific installation, scale silhouette of a jet, constructed of composted top-soil mounded on a grassy area near the Ward’s Island Ferry Dock (.05 x 22 x 25 metres).

Claudette was told by an airplane mechanic that the work was clearly visible by people in planes that deviated from the regular flight path that restricts air traffic over parks and residential areas, hence the title of the piece.

Using this work as subject matter over the year, the Flight Path photo series was developed and aired on TTC platform screens as part of the CONTACT Photography Festival in May 2008. It was also was projected at 96 McCaul Street, Toronto, for Scotiabank Nuit Blanche in October 2008. The photo series is an image-loop documenting the seasonal changes the site-specific project on Wards Island had undergone in one full year. It was also included in LAND ART, a forum for artists who create land art, environmental art and earthworks.

ROGUE Security:

Damage to installations sometimes occurs, usually at night. For ROGUE WAVE 2007 we recruited local youth, who are prowling about the Island at night anyway, to watch the work. They took pride in their role and we were happy to have them on our side. Resulting from this, one of the youth, who now has a business caring for trees in the Island community, began to produce a series of works out of wood that have become permanent fixtures. We expect to see him participate in Rogue Wave 2010.

“Rogue” Installations:

Sometimes works inspire responses by Island artists and/or community members and result in ‘rogue’ installations that are not part of the exhibition and appear in the Island landscape during the show. This has occurred many times throughout the seven year history of the exhibition. Inspired by Warren Hoselton’s Tour des Trees in ROGUE WAVE 2007, Island children roguishly installed a bicycle in a tree in the community, complete with label.

Conjuring Up Island History:

Sometimes works draw upon Island history. These works have a strong significance to community members who have lived there most of their lives. For visitors, they draw attention to the legacy of the community and its relationship to the City and Ontario’s histories. Marcia Crist’s Island Specter was an example. On September 21, 2007, Albert Fulton, Island Archivist, now deceased, wrote to the Island e-group:

“Marci Crist is to be congratulated for her nostalgic Rogue Wave entry, #7, at the site of the former 2 Channel. Jack and Dorothy Clapp, with sons Don and Doug, summered there in 1940-52, and Jack was the founder of the legendary Cove Fleet of Sabot prams. Marci's blown-up photo shows Doug's daughter Penny at the gate to the Clapps' former home in 1959. The house was flooded by high water in 1973 and consequently demolished. Penny Draper, now 50, is an author of children's books. Her second book, with the working title of Peril at Pier 9 is expected to be published before Christmas. It is set on Ward's Island and recounts the adventures of an Island boy at the time of the Noronic fire in September 1949. Its publication will be announced on this email group.”