Pop! Pop! Goes the Culture! is a three person exhibition at a very "hip" Queen Street West gallery in Toronto. It's just steps from the Drake Hotel and runs from July 2 - August 2, 2009. I have 4 pieces in the show and one is my particular favourite. It was finished right before the delivery date, so no photos yet. But it is a metal "Prairie" wagon with my signature collection of accumulated animals and a little girl riding on top of a horse. She is wearing clothing made from fabric cut from my own doll's clothes and a mini-skirt I sewed for myself when I was sixteen - if you can imagine! Here is the quote that is decaled on the side of a house-like form on the piece:
An unlessoned girl, unschooled, unpractised;
Happy in this, she is not yet so old
But she may learn’ happier than this,
She is not bred so dull but she can learn
It's from Merchant of Venice by Shakespeare and the character Portia is speaking about herself in a self-depreciating way. But she musters enough spirit to dress as a man and save her husband from death. So she is much smarter than she lets on. My little girl on top of the horse is at the moment of being told to become more "lessoned" - but probably won't do it!
