Small World

Wendy Ord

August 2003

Wendy Ord’s Small World is comprised of ten wall mounted sculptural assemblages that evoke time frozen in a dream-like state of nostalgia and longing. Wendy Ord 1As an artist, writer and filmmaker, working from her home near Kimberly in the Beaver Valley, Ord began to gain recognition with the 2001 release of her feature film, Black Swan. Written, directed and produced by Ord, it has won awards and received acclaim at numerous international film festivals.

Wendy Ord is a passionate collector of artifacts, bric-a-brac and treasure, especially from the East, and this is a perfect complement to her life in the film industry which demands frequent world travel.

These collected items or found objects have become the source from which she assembles her constructions. The assemblages are comprised of boxes or picture frames-containers holding a collage of numerous objects in shallow relief, that operate as mythological or fantasy landscapes. Whether the containers house an old-fashioned clock or an open suitcase, they are the key that opens an unfolding world of symbolism and association. Narrative becomes an important element in the work, attesting to Ord’s experience as a writer and filmmaker.

The most recent work discards the box format in favour of weathered driftwood as a means to establish the structure or armature on which to build a story. Because the work utilizes found material from nature we assume a minimal intervention by the artist, but upon closer observation a few small, intimate objects reveal themselves as found treasures. These icons are suggestive of idyllic childhood summers spent at the lake. Encrustations of time and association are the whimsical narrative that impels Wendy Ord into Small Worlds.