Noel Harding Remembered by Linda Jansma

I came across an ā€œRIPā€ for Noel Harding on Facebook last Friday. I was both stunned and disbelieving and contacted the notificationā€™s author for verification. The next day, emails and other postings would confirm that it was true: Noel had died suddenly on Thursday, May 26.

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Noel Harding, Reverb, 2015 at the General Motors Centre

Less than a week ago, Noel had called to ask me to be a reference for a sculpture commission heā€™d been short-listed for. He was excited about the project and the possibility of its realization.

Noel was an artist with incredible vision and energy. Born in England in 1945, his work originally consisted of video artā€”he was a pioneer in Canada in that medium in the 1970s; then it was video projections and installation in the 1980s; kinetic installations in the 1990s and over the past 20 years, his practice has primarily been one of public art.

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Noel Harding at the opening of Reverb. Spring, 2015

I first met Noel in 2002 when he was short-listed for an RMG-commissioned sculpture. While the jury did not choose his work, his attention to the site of the sculpture was both well-considered and memorable. We were happy to see him submit to the RMGā€™s call for proposals in the spring of 2014. The short-listed proposals were presented to the jury in the fall of 2014 with each artist given the opportunity to explain their work. Noel came in with a wonderful maquette (model of the sculpture) a flashlight and lighting system He wanted us to see the shadows that the sculpture would make in the day and set up what the lights would look like when triggered in the evening. The jury decision was unanimous: Noel had sold us on his vision, and his enthusiasm for that vision was contagious.

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Noel Harding, Mayor John Henry, city councillors and RMG staff at the opening of Reverb. Spring, 2015

The idea behind Reverb is connected to our community. Noel had asked me to arrange for two tickets to an Oshawa Generalsā€™ hockey gameā€”heā€™d never been to a hockey game and, since the work was to be positioned outside the GM Centre, he wanted to get a feel for the place. It wasnā€™t the game that captured his imagination as much as the crowd. Reverb reflects the enthusiasm of those who visit the GM Centreā€”they are the ones who trigger the light show in the sculpture. The work is less about an artistā€™s vision, but the reflection of a community. And that consideration of our public is what helped tip the scale in Noelā€™s direction.

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Noel Harding, Reverb, 2015 at night

The best part of what I do is working with artists and I feel privileged to have spent time with Noel Harding. The Canadian art world has become a poorer place with his passing.

– Linda Jansma, Senior Curator

Grand Opening of “Reverb” Sculpture Commission at the GM Centre

Join us for the Grand Opening of Reverb at the GM Centre on 1 June at 7:30pm!

Reverb will be installed in the spring of 2015, adjacent to the General Motors Centre (GM Centre), Durham Regionā€™s premier sports and recreation facility, and the venue of the boxing and weightlifting events at next yearā€™s TORONTO 2015 Pan Am Games. The work was purchased with the financial support of the RMG Acquisition Fund and the Canada Council for the Arts Acquisition Assistance Program.

The sculpture is impactful, standing at 19ā€™ high, and will become a meeting place. The curved form implies a megaphone, an amphitheater and stage, a net or goal, as Reverb reflects the activities that occur in the GM Centre. The ā€˜blurbā€™ shapes on the structure represent the fans and are positioned like a rake of seats. Projections of coloured light will be created in the sculpture when sounds inside activate lights within the steel structure. Reverb is full of meaning and references. The laser cut stainless steel references industrial production and the facets align Oshawaā€™s history as a port city and as an industrial capital.

In addition to celebrating the Cityā€™s participation in the TORONTO 2015 Pan Am/Parapan Am Games, the project will reflect narratives that have meaning to the community and the public space that the work will occupy. The work will also respond to the RMGā€™s statement of purpose: Dedicated to sharing, exploring and engaging with our communities through the continuing story of modern and contemporary Canadian art. This new work becomes the fourth sculpture commissioned by the RMG, and will be added to the RMGā€™s permanent collection of over 4,500 works. Recent public art commissions include Douglas Couplandā€™s playful Group Portrait 1957 installed on the faƧade of the gallery in 2011.

The commission installation is set to take place in early May, 2015 and the RMG will be posting updates about the commission as it develops.

Follow #Harding2015 and #Reverb2015 on Twitter!

About Noel Harding

As an artist, Noel Harding produced video art in the 70’s, video projection and installation in the 80’s, kinetic installations and sculpture as theatre in the 90’s. His work for the last 20 years is in public art where landscape and environment are paramount. In general, his work is an engagement in public urban realities: planning, envisioning, and mapping. He has exhibited and lectured internationally and his work is included in collections at the Vancouver Art Gallery, the National Gallery of Canada, the Art Gallery of Ontario, the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the City of Amsterdam and the Hara Museum, Tokyo.