Ice Follies 2004

Catherine Kozyra, Waiting for Leviathan, 2004

Materials: Vinyl yurt with aluminum and sausage casings

Catherine Kozyra’s idea for this project evolved from the image of “fishing for the Leviathan” as represented in the Book of Job in the Old Testament. This hut is comprised of a geodesic-style dome made of translucent space-age fabric. The fabric is stretched taut into shape by an exoskeleton composed of PVC piping. The translucent shell of the tent is covered with a loosely woven semi-sheer flesh-colored gauze whose fibers have been pulled and separated creating the openness and organic lines present in the natural gut. Synthetic sausage casings, not too unlike the natural casings used in some of my earlier architectural structures, are attached to the gauze fabric creating a subtle effect of marbles veining upon the outer structure. The completed “hut” resembles the tents that are made by Native Canadians and Inuit. It seems somehow subversive though. These skin tents would normally be used in the summer and there is an intentional sense of disjunction created through its situation on a frozen lake. The work has a strong organic feel to it even though it is constructed out of man-made fabrics and materials.

Artist Bio:

Catherine Koyzra is a well-known Thunder Bay artist. Her recent Pouch Cove Residency in Pouch Cove, Newfoundland, culminated in an exhibition entitled Travelling Lights at the James Baird Gallery in St. John’s NF. In July, 2004 she constructed Double Jeopardy for Art in the Park III- The Sleeping Giant Project. Double Jeopardy was a series of four large installations situated on Lake Superior mimicking the submerged mine shafts of Silver Islet. At the CAFKA exhibit in Kitchener in September. 2004 she installed Soul of Etude, a 9′ x 9′ x 4′ metal installation incorporating, mylar and hanging Lake Superior stones. At the time of Ice Follies 2004, Cathy was in the process of conceptualizing new ideas for an upcoming two-person exhibition in Sudbury curated by Lisa Fitzgobbons.