Daily life and work inspires multi-faceted art show

By Aaron Epp  |  Friday, July 6, 2012

A scale model titled "Good Work" is part of local artist Seth Woodyard's solo art exhibition of the same name. Photo courtesy Seth Woodyard.

WINNIPEG, MB—The first solo exhibition by visual artist Seth Woodyard explores the intersection between three parts of Woodyard's life—his faith, his art practice and his daily labour.

Good Work, showing until Friday, July 13 at Ace Art, includes video, performance art, sculptures, models and architectural installations that the 28-year-old artist created over the past two years.

Born on Prince Edward Island and raised in Ottawa, Woodyard has called Winnipeg home for the past nine years. He got the idea for Good Work while working his day job doing drywall taping and ornamental plaster restoration.

"The religious context that I grew up in, which is Mennonite, taught me that there is no difference between your daily life and your spiritual life—faith is lived out in the day to day," says Woodyard, who attends St. Margaret's Anglican Church and graduated from the University of Manitoba with a fine arts degree. "While my spiritual practice, my art practice and my daily labour…sometimes come into conflict, they aren't opposite. There are areas of overlap, and they inform each other."

Woodyard says he enjoys creating art that has different access points for different people. He says some people will appreciate Good Work for the beauty and craftsmanship, while others will resonate with the ideas he explores in the work.

He adds that working on the exhibition reminded him of the importance of community.

"The project grew to be way bigger than me," he says, explaining that friends helped him create the videos in the exhibit, friends wrote music to accompany the video and friends helped him install the exhibit.

"The installation was like a barn-raising," Woodyard laughs. "It was like, let's get all these people together and let's get this done.

"People were there and ready and excited to help. It couldn't have happened without them."

For more, visit www.sethwoodyard.com.

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