Joanna Gilman Hyde

"Good Morning, World!"

Tag: Public Artist

Awning, Dawning, Spawning

An Awning We will erect

on the facade of the UFO Museum

in Shag Harbour, Nova Scotia

to exhibit The Model of Self Organizing Galaxy

unfurled, to Dawn upon The World

as the only surviving Artefact

of The Artwork which Spawned

9/11

THE STORY OF A MAP

THE COAST GUARD, Shelburne, N.S., Tuesday, July 20th, 1993 — 1B

SATELLITE ART FOR EXTRATERRESTRIALS

by Harold Hart

Joanna Hyde of Shelburne has

been busy recently in her back-

yard painting the design of a four-

teen point maple leaf on a huge

40 by 30 foot map of Canada.

The fourteen points mark loca-

tions in Labrador and Quebec

where Hyde would like to position

light reflecting surfaces to reflect

star-like points of light in the out-

line of a maple leaf into outer

space.

The large map arrived in Shel-

burne from Ottawa on May 17

where it had been hanging on an

outside wall of the National Arts

Centre.  It was put there by the

Canadian Conference of the Arts

earlier in the year in an effort to

pressure the Federal Govern-

ment to stop cutting funding for

arts programs.  It remained there

until the April 26 budget was

passed.

Joanna learned about the map

from an article in The Chronicle

Herald.  Being interested in what

is called public art – the kind of

art which is large and displayed

outdoors – Joanna decided she

wanted the map.  She contacted

the coordinator of the Canadian

Conference of the Arts and was

told she could have the map if she

would pay the shipping charges.

Joanna agreed and wound up the

new owner for just less than two

hundred dollars.

The map consists of twelve sec-

tions that were circulated to

more than 150 art galleries,

theatres, and schools in each

province where signatures were

affixed to protest government

funding cutbacks for the arts.

Once joined together the pieces

make a huge map of the country

with more than 400,000 signatures

appearing on it…

“Well, what is its weight?”

“Oh, it’s Dead Weight.”

“That’s OK.  I just cremated

My Mother —

She didn’t weigh very much.”

After She painted Her 14-point Maple Leaf

Joanna lay down

and almost died.

She almost died

for years and years.

Long after one husband

cut up the map for tarps

to cover wood piles

at Her First Marital Home

Joanna revived eventually

on poetry and bird song

to find in the Summer of 2016

the abandoned map sections —

one with moss and ferns growing

out of it —

With the help of Her Adult Children

She retrieved three surviving pieces

of The Giant “Ties That Bind

and dragged them across the county

to The East Side of Her Hawk House.

She laid them out

busy in Her Back Yard

hosing and scrubbing a 23-year build up

of Nova Scotia’s Forested Fate

stained and distressed

front and back

to dry in the sun

with the help of a couple of old towels —

not Her Grey One —

there was left no semblance of the configuration

of Canada — only the ghost

of a few red lines

a few patches of indelible signatures

and one partial strip of big black letters

along what must have been

the bottom — in English and French:

…FUNDING FOR ARTS AND CULTURE

She arranged the pieces

some still edged by sturdy grommets —

into what became a nearly perfect square

measuring 27 feet by 23.5 feet:

She had Her Canvas.

She would paint on the BACK.

She folded up the three sections

and with the help of Her Second Husband

She piled Them onto the floor

of The Hawk Utility Room —

the floor She had been using

for Her Most Recent Paintings

and as She writes, She thinks

of building a platform

a stage

perhaps next summer

if there is the same lack of rain

as this one —

She would secure The Triptych

upside down, with the foundation

of Canadian signatures — what’s left of the original

400,000

and setting up Her Gallons of Paint

with broom and hose nearby

She would paint and sweep and hose

Stratosphere of The Universe

 

 

RECLAMATION

The Hawk Deck 12:14

Under a heralding

of Blue Jays

and a back drop of waves

I am scrubbing My Canvas

My Old, 23 Year Old

giant map of Canada

where once a Maple Leaf

was painted on Quebec

where now it is pieces

having been left

blowing off wood piles

in Atlantic

I am reclaiming My Stake

in The Work

of “Satellite Art for Extraterrestrials”

to commemorate The 14 Female Engineering Students

killed in Montreal

on December 6th, 1989

before Peak was even

2 years old

 

ATLANTIC

The Hawk Dining Room 1:50pm

Yesterday I went back

to the home of My Children’s

earliest childhood —

it stood with dry grass

recently mowed —

a stone bench I had forgotten

under the apple

where I planted myrtle

slowly spreading —

I found My Red Leather Baseball Mitt

left-handed

in an upstairs closet

full of toys

and in the hatchway to the attic

I hoisted My Shoe-less Son

now 28

one-footed upon My Clasped Hands —

He was looking for My Early Sketches

of Self Organizing Galaxy

a mysterious tube

of blue-prints displaying the roof of #5 World Trade Center

We failed to find —

as He came down

He pulled the light bulb string

straining to reach it

and when He let go

the slightly-too-short string

sprung back on itself

without the light turning off

and so My Greatest First Love

had to step into My Hands

a second time

He lowered Himself finally

to a painted kitchen chair

flexing His Lumberjack Muscles

— His Right Upper Arm still scarred

from when He toddled

to a cup of too-hot herb tea

unwittingly set within Peak’s easy reach

upon Our old kitchen table

in the little wooded house His Father and I restored

to cherish

DEPARTURE

The Hawk Kitchen Outpost 9:55am

EYE am The Artist

standing at My Door

waving Good-bye to My Husband

dressed in My Thick Grey Robe

the substance of The Sky

today

on a day

when anything can happen

THIS IS MY SANCTUARY

The Hawk Kitchen Outpost 3:20pm

How dare anyone

infiltrate My Sanctuary —

especially The Father of My 2.4 Children —

here to The North I have

the forest of scrub spruce I love

the stone wall upon which I contemplated

smashing My Precious Life Glass —

how dare anyone

even a neighbour I like

enter across My Eastern Ocean View

upon which I gaze with such favour —

out there I can let My Mind

be free — free of past

hurt and negation

free of obstacles to My Happiness

so profound

as I stand before

the shores

of My Intellect

THE POWER OF TWO

The Hawk Kitchen Outpost 10:22am

My Ten-thousand Square Foot Painting

Self Organizing Galaxy

still EXISTS

albeit underground

in two unwieldy bundles

somewhere within the confines

of The Orangetown Dump

in Rockland County, New York

where I grew up

YET ANOTHER STAR POEM

The Hawk En-suite Bath 7:55pm

Yes, EYE have counted

The Black Stars

left by M(EYE) Body

against The Whiteness

of The Tub & EYE

Yes I, have de-s(EYE)de-ed

that as Their Number

totals ELEVEN

EYE am in

Good Hands

ACCOMPLISHMENT!!

The Hawk Kitchen Outpost 10:51am

EYE just hit

22 minutes & 22 seconds

on M(EYE) C2

& have come up

to The Hawk Kitchen Outpost

to see M(EYE) Sea

struck in Silver

YAY!!!

IN THE UTILITY ROOM

The Hawk Basement 9:46am

M(EYE) Basement Floor

is galactic

I stand above

its stainage

of red & green

with excess sparkles

as The Stars —

trillions of Stars —

EYE couldn’t sweep

Them all up