WIRDS & WHISKY

 

Does the outsider, a second generation Canadian looking into what she knows and has been told of her Scottish heritage have any right to reduce the culture of the “motherland” to a consumable experience, object or phrase? Often, as outsiders, we recklessly provide the insider with notions or assumptions of what the insiders’ culture is. I believe that Vancouver certainly invites the outsider to make those judgements. For, does anyone know what this city signifies? Perhaps it was clearer, or simpler for those immigrating here, during the first few decades of the 20th century. It was a fresh and young city full of possibilities, as well as ignorance. What does today’s second generation Canadian need to identify what their culture is? Should we be content with the identity crisis and leave it a blank canvas? Do personal relics, stories and past experiences of one’s family have a role to play in identifying one’s culture? On articulating one’s culture today, how important is the past, when we are so detached from it?

This 17 page book of hand-assembled letterpress and lino-cut prints, along with a collection of pull-out replications of family photos and postcards, work to bring about a re-examination of what we use to identify “culture.” The selection of Scots words or phrases in my book are to describe a language, a vibrant cultural indicator which changes and grows from generation to generation. Although its meanings change throughout history, and perhaps get lost over time, language has the capability to grow, rebuild and unify a culture through collective memory and family tradition. The illustrated stories of a few Scotch Whisky brands were inspired by the belief that the drink represents, to many, an exported symbol of Scottish culture and history. We often forget that the trading of whisky in Canadian history has cast a dark shadow over many groups of people. Canada’s relationship with whisky is a complex one. For, it has caused many irreversible problems for generations of Aboriginal people, yet it remains a prominent symbol of Scottish and Scottish-Canadian prosperity and enjoyment. Post-colonial immigrant populations’ stories, images, languages, colloquial phrases and utterances, tastes (like a dram of whisky) and sounds like music enable us to trace and reconstruct a cultural genealogy and prove to us that we belong, or once belonged to a rich and ancient culture. With gatherings of friends and family, usually accompanied with a bottle of something, collections of photos, expressions and stories come out, which help the next generations map out where they came from. As John Steinbeck wrote in The Grapes of Wrath (1939), “How will we know it’s us without our past?” In other words, I believe that the curation of text and illustrated or photographic imagery in Wirds & Whisky allows the reader to play with memory and artifact, public and private experience, which helps to uncover the second generation’s current position.

This initial stage of the project is made up of an edition of 6 identical books. In 2013, I plan to reproduce them into distribution editions of 15 to 20. Enclosed in the 13 1/4” x 10” x 3/8” hardcover edition, which is wrapped in a cotton fabric evoking the texture of a fathers dress shirt and the colour of Scottish Heather and a typical “dreich” Vancouver or Glasgow day, are 16 printed pages with 2 Gampi-esque protective sheets and 1 breathing (unprinted) page. The book’s end sheets are transferred copies of the two departure documents which my grandfather (1949), grandmother and uncle (1950) were listed, for their journeys to Canada. The replicated photos and Vancouver postcard were ink-jet printed with Estisol-transferred anecdotes on the backs. Every word (18pt and 36pt Cloister metal type) within the Stab-bound book was hand-assembled by the artist and the whisky illustrations were lovingly carved into linoleum. The “Wirds” were collected from family members; Ewan McNeil, Rod McNeil, Alison Hamilton, Alyson McLellan and Doreen (Dodie) Davidson. Contributed “research fluid”, whisky facts and stories were provided by the generous and enthusiastic Marcel Simoneau and his staff at Noorman’s Kil, Brooklyn, NY. Lastly, a special “Cheers” to the Emily Carr Print technicians Shin Minegishi and Leslie Urquhart, as well as Beth Howe and Aimée H. Brown for their support during the making of this project.

To view the book online, I have posted a slideshow of each page of the book and its details as well as a post containing better quality photographs of certain pages on my tumblr page:

http://jessieanneli.tumblr.com/

 A letterpress printed colophon will include some of this text (but will mainly refer the reader/viewer to this project blog for its in-depth analytical explorations and project processes) and will wrap around the book for added travel protection. Stay tuned for further development of this project. For, I doubt it ends here.
Please email me if you would like to see the book in person, or if you would like updates about future exhibitions of my work: jessie.av.mcneil@gmail.com

Vancouver Treasure Map Series
Issue no. 1

This treasure map, or alternative guide book is written annually for the wanderer, the bicycle rider, and the creative tourist who wants to see Vancouver differently. In the mode of Situationist International, this guide promotes free or inexpensive, yet enriching experiences over those that require a lot of money.

This special edition, which includes the labeled (manually arranged and typesetter-printed text and imagery) sturdy travel envelope, containing the 15-page guide and treasure map. The text and imagery within the treasure map and guide is photocopied onto 23-25lb. printer paper. The re-appropriated Google Map, photography and writing were composed by myself, Jessie McNeil in the Spring of 2012. The mint green cover and modernist text used throughout the work, reference a significant time in the past of Strathcona, and the other once labeled “urban blight” neighbourhoods mentioned in the treasure map & guide. The staple-bound and efficiently folded map & guide allows the reader and traveler to easily access information, without being overwhelmed or looking like a lost tourist.

I encourage you to explore with this guide and reassess the everyday landscape in which you live or stay. If you come across any positive or negative experiences while exploring with this map/guide, please feel free to share! To contact me with stories, feedback or inquiries, please write to:

Jessie McNeil
vancouvertreasuremaps@gmail.com

COLOUR TO DEATH!

This first installment of He/She is [...]: LET’S COLOUR colouring book series, He/She is Dead: LET’S COLOUR! began in the Fall of 2010 as a couple of sketches. This publication which you see today was completed in 2012. My inspiration for the project sprouted out of the act of story-telling and it’s power to change the way one sees the world. I asks, what can we take from other cultures and communities to improve our own outlook on life, and in this case, death?

With this one-of-a-kind colouring book, a creative person of any age can explore the collective experience of honouring our loved ones when they die. If we put ourselves into a gentle situation, like colouring the pages of this book, we may be less frightened or denying of death. He/She is Dead: LET’S COLOUR! will bring the owner of this book joy and a meditative moment to study the different ways in which we can celebrate and honour life.



This perfect-bound book consists of 29 pages of digitally printed, black and white images. The book’s covers are a 100lb Productolith gloss and it’s content is printed onto a 60lb paper to allow the colourer to use any type of drawing tool desired without colour bleeding onto the next image. Each image within the book is hand-drawn by myself, and labeled to indicate what and where the depicted shrine or memorial is. This installment of the He/She is series consists of 50 editions. Five within the 50 editions are packaged with a charming box of Mexican mini pencil crayons, intended for immediate use. The He/She series is anticipated to be produced annually.

If you would like to see a copy in the flesh, or inquire about the pricing and ordering of this limited edition colouring book, please contact by phone or email:
1.604.219.0956 / 1.604.254.9433
jessievovessie@gmail.com

Red, Green & the Pause In/Between

A_________( x )____________B

What is x?

Red, Green & the Pause In/between represents a journey from “A to B.” Reading a line and claiming what direction it is going or coming from (A to B, or B to A) is subjective. For, many cultures have different ways of reading text or imagery. Through this accordion book, I am exploring the narrative of the line and it’s power to divide and direct us geographically and emotionally. For example, the dividing embossed line between “In” and “between” represent both the steady line and imprint of my bicycle tires (which repeats it’s motif on the book box) and the act of creating boarders or directions.

Part of the landscape of my usual route is residential yet neighbors the no-man’s land of the industrial area west of Clark Drive. This area, east of the (current) boarder of False Creek’s shoreline is a strange yet historically rich environment, where the train tracks divide Mt. Pleasant from Strathcona. What was once an estuary; home to many wild animals and a sheltered land for traveling aboriginal communities before European settlers, is now a paved industrial place --- the landscape to my usual solitary commute. In the last 100 years, this estuary became the site of two rail stations, a campsite for many men and women during the depression, a place for livestock grazing, and even homed a yellow cedar velodrome track. the area carries a certain spirit which I often think about during my commute from A to B. This book and my other current works surrounding this intriguing place are commenting neither negatively nor positively but are opportunities to be more aware of our everyday environment.

With my work, I hope to create a longer pause for contemplation in between our busy, quick, “stop and go” lives. Each page of the book depicts each stop and pause (I took a photograph at either a Red light, stop sign or busy intersection) that I must make during my daily bicycle commute to school from 856 East Georgia St. to Emily Carr University. On top of these estisol transfers, the wood-block prints and stamps provides a visual description of a sound recording that I took during my commute. This musically-inspired score acts as an accompanying map for the traveling embossed line. Like a surprising blow of a trumpet, the high-pitched sounds of bells and screeches are made with “safety-esque” yellows, oranges and reds. While, the greys, blues and moldy hues represent the drone and general palette of the route in which I take each day.

By pausing at “x”, collecting what the city leaves for me (whether visual or audible artifacts) I hope to create art that helps me understand the traveling lines of direction and division that are created for us in our city and in the ways we live and make art. I believe that to pause and contemplate the cityscape in which we live in is vital for not only our well-being as humans, but for our environment’s well-being. Under our feet may exist a stream, evidence of ancient animal tracks or spirits of old trees and other beings. I feel that it is important to imagine this history that lies below the concrete.

Wirds & Totties

The content of this book is a consideration of the Scottish language and the beauty of the humble potato. The words used in this volume are collected from the memories of my Scottish ancestors. Some of the book’s words are still commonly used in the contemporary vocabulary of the Scottish people, and others are “McNeil-isms” or poetic examples of the late Quintin Davidson’s everyday verse. By pairing the almost exotic quality of the diverse and evolving Scots language with the seemingly ordinary yet historically and nutritionally significant potato provide the reader with an unusual opportunity for contemplation.

The acid-free pages of Wirds & Totties are hand-bound into a signature fold, encased in an archival faux-leather hardcover. The text was manually arranged and printed with a typesetter. Potatoes were hand-sliced and stamped individually with a gouache and rice paste medium. The imagery of the Glasgow map was printed onto archival quality endpapers with an ink-jet printer. There were only 3 of these books made.

I anticipate further production of accompanying volumes. For, there were far too many words that did not manage to be catalogued into this first volume of Wirds & Totties.

This book is lovingly dedicated to Doreen (Dodie) Davidson,
Ewan and Rod McNeil. And to my namesake, Grandma Jess.