2010 - Tough & Tender

Development Stage

The idea for Tough and Tender came to me when I was finishing University. I took many classes in Women Studies, Behavioral Sciences, philosophy, art, and history. I needed to put this information together in a way that reached a larger audience.

I spent the next 4 years collecting images and transferring them into gel. The process was long and arduous because I wanted the right images and found many that just had to be included. Most of the images I collected came from the Saskatchewan Archives in Regina, Saskatchewan. Others I found by asking pioneer women around the Swift Current area.

Once I collected the images and had the majority ready for hanging I invited my father, Rudi Struik and his wife Kitty Zijlmans to help with the final stages of the installation. Rudi Struik is a Professional Artist from Leiden, Holland. Kitty Zijlmans is a Professor of Art History with the Leiden, University.

We took all the images to the Swift Current Art Gallery and starting the planning process by laying them out. We decided on developing a workshop area in the center of the gallery. The area is box shaped with a table and chairs in the center. This area will allow pioneer women a place to write a one or two page story on something they remember from their pioneer days. The stories will be displayed with the exhibition, hung within this centerpiece and later included in the final publication. The gel medium images will hang on wire on the outside of the workshop area.

Project Outcomes
The Major outcomes of the project

An Exhibition, Workshop, Educational ,Project, Publication

(1) The Exhibition

The project consists of a collection of images of women’s “work” throughout history. The project is an in-depth process that requires a number of integral steps. First, the images are blown up and transferred onto a gel medium that is layered and dried, then pealed off glass. From there, they are then hung on clotheslines. The choice to display the images on clotheslines stems from the traditional woman’s chore of washing and drying clothes. The gel also has frayed edges, which shows wear, old age, and use. I will utilize old wooden clothes pegs, again to show the years of wear; yet, they too are strong and resilient. In total, there will be between 60 and 70 images hanging throughout the gallery.

The Project and its Intent

The idea for this project started formulating in my last year of university while studying history and fine arts. I was drawn to criminal behavior, specifically what drives people to do what they “do”. I was intrigued with stories of women enduring the drudgery of daily physical labor, isolation, and loneliness on the prairies. I noticed when I researched women working on the land that they were determined to take care of themselves and their families, with little or no reliance on others.

The promise of “milk and honey” turned to a reality of dust and barrenness. Women found themselves on the bald prairie effectively building homes and communities. Women, who were historically homemakers, were now pioneers. Traditional roles during early settlement were augmented with the responsibility of founding a nation. It all sounds very noble, yet little gratitude was forthcoming. Their responsibility was to procreate, nourish and sustain the land. They did this almost impossible feat in some of the toughest and most unpredictable environmental conditions encountered. And, many did this alone. Numerous women were left to take care of the home front while their husbands were away for extended periods. The prairie became their prison and it is human nature to find a way to survive.

These faceless women had the ability and the foundation to build a nation. These faceless women have walked strong and are continually potent. Yet, if one does not pick up a book and read about the incredible rich history of their strength, where can we look? The women who relentlessly built Saskatchewan are some of the most prevailing women in Canada, yet they have the softest voices. Society needs a more profound look at these women of yesteryear and today. I do not believe that women are asking to be celebrated or given an award for their work. It is what it is. My aspiration is to generate a visual composition of the “real builders” of Saskatchewan.

(2) Workshop Tough and Tender: The Women of Saskatchewan

Photographs trigger memories, and when activated they bring back past events. And stories will follow. A multitude of stories is hidden away in the memories of pioneer women who are now in the latter days of their lives. What are their stories? What did they experience in the early years of prairie life? For example, the exhibition shows a letter from the 1930s of a schoolteacher who tried to point out in vain her deplorable financial situation as a teacher in a school in Wymark to the Minister of Education of Saskatchewan. There are countless stories like hers, and these stories ought to be told.

During the exhibition, the women of Saskatchewan are called on to write down their memories and experiences. In a separate area in the center of the exhibition space, tables and chairs will be placed to invite women to sit down and write their personal story. The one-page essays will be hung on the inner walls of the inner room. These stories will incite more stories, and combined they will reveal the untold history of Saskatchewan prairie life.

(3) Educational Project

The educational project is geared towards enabling schoolchildren to learn about the history of Saskatchewan through the important women that help build this province. Schoolchildren can journey through the exhibition and make an art piece responding to it.

(4) Publication

There will be a publication emerging from the project. This will reflect the contributions from the exhibition and workshop. It will feature the writings from the pioneer women that reflected on their experience.