The Lyric Cranium relocates.

Alas, the LYRIC CRANIUM is no more.....
On September 1st, 2017, I retired from teaching, pulled up stakes, and moved most of my collection to our new home in Ontario. Now the collection resides in many cardboard boxes, and some set up in a single room with a lack of display furniture. So in the meantime, before the vitrines are built and the collection is unpacked and sorted, a selection of it was put on display as an installation piece at the John M. Parrott Art Gallery in Belleville, Ontario, from January 5 to February 11, 2017. For The Agglomeration Imperative (#1) three display cabinets were filled with three site-specific collections that addressed Natural History, Mortality, and The Collector/Archivist.

The Artist's Statement:

My work addresses the accumulation, collection, and possible provenance of the artifacts presented (on loan from The Lyric Cranium collections and archives) and a biographical description of the characters who were instrumental in the assembly of these same artifacts.

The items within these cabinets come from the original collection of The Lyric Cranium and address the history of the Cabinet of Curiosity and the Wunderkammer. The three themes arranged within each of the three vitrines are: Natural History, Mortality, and the Archivist/Collector. Each cabinet functions as a separate still life; a collage of physical objects, ephemera, books, and works on paper. The objects within teeter on the edge between disarray and compulsive order.

             This installation marks the first time that a portion of the collection is presented out of its original context. The Agglomeration Imperative (#1) uses the format of the museum/wunderkammer to describe the very human compulsion to collect and classify. Biographical clues about Homer C. Brunion and Griff Hornan and assistants who worked with them or whose archives they collected can be found alongside the artifacts and collections within the display.

The three cabinets as seen from the hallway.         John M. Parrott Art Gallery, Bellevile, ON

 Here are some details of each cabinet:

Natural History

 Mainly a collection of animal skulls and related material.

Mortality

 Death-related artifacts and ephemera. Funerary objects and items that address loss, memory, and remembrance.

The Collector/Archivist

 

 Personal items related to Hornan and Brunion and their drive to collect and catalogue.