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Charles Doucette: Industry

Charles Doucette
(b. 1962, Sydney, NS; lives in Chapel Island, NS)

Industry 1997
painted cast concrete and steel
18.5 x 2 x 58.5 cm
Purchased with support of the Canada Council for the Arts Acquisition Assistance Program, 1997.
Mount Saint Vincent University Collection
1997.1

Charles Doucette’s functional, cast concrete and steel pipe entitled Industry takes the form of three chimneys, reminiscent of the chimneys of the Tuft’s Cove power station on the Dartmouth waterfront. This piece is one of a series of three pipes. Combining his Mi’kmaw heritage and traditions with techniques of jewelry and sculpture, Doucette presents a contemporary twist on the sacred ceremonies of tobacco smoking.

Doucette is not a smoker, but, in her catalogue essay for Theatrum Mundi (1998), curator Susan Gibson Garvey observed that “...issues associated with pollution, and, possibly, second-hand smoke, outweigh the traditional function of the object.” Doucette confirms this in an artist’s statement: “...my concerns about the environment are obliquely reflected in the materials I use and how I use them. ...often the physical structure of the materials I use has as much to do with the final form—the object I construct—as does the original conceptual concern I’m dealing with.” (exhibition catalogue Pe’l A’tukwey, 1993)

Charles Doucette received his BFA from the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design in 1987. He is a Mi’kmaw artist who chooses to work outside of the metropolitan art world. Regardless of this his work has been exhibited in various important exhibitions: Pe’l A’tukwey (Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, 1993), Theatrum Mundi (Beaverbrook Art Gallery, 1998) and Westward Ho (Halifax Exhibition of International Contemporary Art, 2000).

KB and MT

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