Walter May: Look Again
Walter May, “Look Again,” 2018, installation view (photo by Dave Brown, LCR Photo Services)
Calgary artist Walter May’s retrospective, Look Again, invites visitors to do just that with a rare glimpse of some 50 individual works and series from his quirky and prolific practice. The University of Calgary’s Nickle Galleries has mounted a wide-ranging show that includes sculptures, drawings and photographs from the 1970s onward by May, a longtime instructor at the Alberta College of Art and Design.
Using discarded objects and salvaged materials, May creates sculptures in varying scale that accentuate or play with balance, movement, weight, constraint, precision or growth. Things like wooden beams, tree branches, metal sheets, wooden canes and tool handles are assembled into poetic fusions of the natural and the manufactured.
Walter May, “Look Again,” 2018
installation view showing “Bearclaws,” 1978, a pencil drawing of a bear claw with the bear claw, and “Squirrel Tails,” 1978, a pencil drawing of a squirrel tail with the tail (photo by Dave Brown, LCR Photo Services)
Many sculptures in the show, on view until April 28, incorporate warped lumber rendered dysfunctional for any utilitarian purpose, but transformed in ways that evoke new meaning or tell a story. May’s early drawings – often in juxtaposition with the actual source material, often sticks, but also a bear claw and a squirrel tail – demonstrate the persistence of his ongoing preoccupation. For instance, a 1978 work, Sinuous Curve and Golden Rectangle, features a pencil drawing of a curved bamboo stick tied with a length of elastic band to create a bow-like form. The model it is based on is suspended over the drawing. The tension and implied movement created by such hybrids is echoed throughout the exhibition.
Walter May, “Plugged,” 2010
pine tree, wooden buttons and wooden handles, detail (photo by Dave Brown, LCR Photo Services)
In contrast, other pieces emphasize May’s fascination with cankers and other odd tree growths, plucked from nature, then reconfigured into curious assemblages and configurations. In Plugged, a slender pine that has been washed clean by a river is suspended seven feet above the floor to become an earthly chandelier devoid of light but sprouting bulbous growths. The trunk is adorned with wooden buttons and, at its base, where limbs or roots previously grew, it is penetrated by a cluster wooden tool handles. This strange mapping speaks to both the wonders and perils of human intervention in nature.
Walter May, “Look Again,” 2018, installation view (photo by Dave Brown, LCR Photo Services)
Another recurring sculptural form is the chair, often suspended in the air on metal poles or attached high on the wall.
Walter May, “Look Again,” 2018
installation view showing digital photographs of fire pits and campsites in Alberta and British Columbia (photo by Dave Brown, LCR Photo Services)
May chars some of his wooden elements or uses materials that imply a burning process. Fire is further explored in photographs of campsites and fire pits in Alberta and British Columbia that he has gathered over the last 17 years. They provide insight into the material choices, formal concerns and contemplative arrangements of his sculptures.
The work in this exhibition is mesmerizing and poetic. There is depth and breadth, and while the number of pieces is initially daunting, it accentuates May’s persistent drive to leave no tool or branch unturned. ■
Nickle Galleries
410 University Court NW, Taylor Family Digital Library, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta T2N 1N4
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(Spring/Summer) Mon to Fri 10 am - 5 pm. closed Sat, Sun and holidays; (Fall/Winter) Mon to Fri 10 am - 5 pm, Thurs till 8 pm, Sat 11 am - 4 pm. closed Sun and holidays.
