Joan Scaglione, currently based in Kingston Ontario, creates large-scale installations, and works on paper. Her large-scale installation practice evolved in the prairies where she went to graduate school. Archetypes have been foundational to her work including the construction of boats, huts, ladders and other structures. Moving to Kingston precipitated a creative shift in Scaglione’s process. She began exploring ideas around patterns of flow constructed from wood and paper that resulted in an installation called Face of the Deep, 2016. This is a metaphorical work on the “primal waters of existence” which configures thousands of small wood pieces in circular patterns. The work was shown at the Agnes Etherington gallery in Kingston ON. Face of the Deep continues to influence my creative vision embodying ideas around chaos and regeneration and energy fields.

Currently, Scaglione has begun a quartet of works exploring the four elements. SQUALL, 2019, the first of this series, was exhibited at the Modern Fuel Gallery in Kingston ON. SQUALL is a massive river flowing from ceiling to floor and across the gallery. This is a black river dying because of climate change. A sound element embedded in the river’s carries the river’s voice of pain.

SQUALL will be exhibited at the North Umberland Gallery in Coburg ON in the spring of 2021.