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JoEllen comes from a background of storytellers. A professional visual artist who has lived in the hamlet of Mount Pleasant for most of her life, her Irish background comes through in her love of stories.
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Two of the Original paintings by JoEllen Brydon depicting stories behind selected advice columns will form part of a large-scale installation honouring her mother.
Her focus is not on grand adventures, but everyday events that form the shared experience found at the root of a culture. Many of her pieces include brief explanations of what is depicted in the image, to be sure the viewer catches the nuances the artist is revealing. It seems she wants us to “get it.” And we do.
Her artistic style is somewhat primitive, which is consistent with her subject matter, which harkens back to simpler times. In vibrant oil and acrylics, she documents tales from the past and present, and she is known to jot down stories she hears which might provide inspiration for a new piece. Her subjects are often based on experiences that are fading into the past- row boats, sewing machines, letter writing, pond hockey and traditional farming activities. She wants to remind us of the simple pleasures to encourage us to keep them alive.
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Jean Armstrong Brydon wrote a popular advice column for The Globe and Mail from 1966 to 1978.
Last month, JoEllen explored the radio as a medium, after receiving a five week artist residency at Trent Radio called Your Radio is Their Stage. This project explores what radio can do in the hands of six selected local artists. Her piece was broadcast in December, and forms the audio component of a significant and very personal new work in progress called Elizabeth Thompson Advises.
This large scale, mixed media project is based on the career of another story-teller: JoEllen’s late mother. Under the pen name Elizabeth Thompson, Jean Armstrong Brydon, a journalist trained at the University of Western Ontario, wrote an advice column from 1966 to 1978 for the Toronto Globe and Mail. JoEllen’s project celebrates her mother’s career incorporating actual clips from the column accompanied by original paintings depicting the underlying situation, original photographs and this audio component.
There was no shortage of material to inspire this project. It seems Jean was a bit of a hoarder, leaving JoEllen with a trunk full of newspapers, column clips as well as every letter Jean ever received and copies of her responses to those letters.
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The longevity of Jean’s column can be attributed to the intelligent and progressive nature of its content. JoEllen has been struck by the how her mother addressed important social issues such as homosexuality, women’s rights, gender roles and discrimination of minorities at a time when society was only beginning to show a willingness to explore these topics. Jean also answered letters about straying husbands, annoying neighbours, messy moms, spanking and the act of “going braless”. In her columns she often challenged the letter writer, encouraging them to look inward rather than pointing fingers. This approach often sparked lively debate as other readers weighed in, which ultimately fostered an exploration of all sides and complexities of the issue. These rich and revealing letters reflect a society grappling with modern social issues and offers intimate details about domestic life at that time.
When advice requests were few, Jean was known to supplement the advice requests by writing her own letters under different names to introduce topics she wanted to discuss. Sometimes these were prompted by issues within the family. In her research, JoEllen has identified several letters which seem to be based on her own experiences written by “Jenny”. It’s highly unlikely the content of these particular columns will appear in the new installation…
In her piece, JoEllen delves into specific moments within these letters, illustrating them through a series of folkloric paintings which will be exhibited with living history set pieces, photos and the audio recordings, working together to create an intimate and immersive experience.
There remains much to do to complete the project, but the vision is clear and JoEllen seems satisfied with the progress so far. Public viewing will not happen soon as most galleries have backlogs of expositions to display after COVID forced them to close their doors for an extended period of time.
The original broadcast of JoEllen’s audio component can be heard on the Trent Radio website by googling Trent radio – Your radio is their stage. It will be rebroadcast sometime in February. To learn more about JoEllen Brydon’s work, visit her website at www.joellenbrydon.com. You can also follow Brydon on Facebook. KG
