Supplied by the Sault Ste. Marie Library…
The Sault Ste. Marie Public Library is happy to announce that artist Christopher Shoust is the finalist in the Library’s Archival Art Project Competition. Launched on July 26, 2019, the competition challenged artists to create an original piece of artwork for display in the Archive Viewing Room of the North Branch. The artwork was to represent the region’s unique and diverse history and culture, using such themes as the history of Sault Ste. Marie and Algoma Region, local Indigenous life and history, Sault Ste. Marie as a community, and the diversity of Sault Ste. Marie.

Three artists, including Tania Daigle, Darren Edmond, and Christopher Shoust, were invited to create detailed proposals during Stage Two of the project. The public was then given a sneak peek at what might soon be hanging in the Archive Viewing Room. After much deliberation, a jury chose the proposal for “No Stone Unturned” by Mr. Shoust. “No Stone Unturned” is to be a series of four 36 inch square canvases incorporating archival images and other material.

The Jury was comprised of five members of the local community, including artists, historians and arts professionals. The jury members were Michael Burtch, Kathy Fisher, Shirley Horn, Moyra O’Pallie, and Amanda Turco. Library staff would like to express their gratitude to these volunteers who had the difficult task of deciding on a finalist.

Installation of the “No Stone Unturned” series is expected to happen in April 2020. It will be on permanent display in the Archive Viewing which is part of the archive facilities in the Library’s newly opened North Branch, located at 232 C Northern Avenue.
This art competition was made possible by the generosity of the Canadian Government through the Cultural Spaces Fund as part of the overall Archive construction project.

Artist Concept Statement
By Christopher Shoust
“No Stone Unturned”

My proposal artwork entitled “No Stone Unturned No.1” typifies the other three pieces I will produce for The Sault Ste. Marie Public Library archives room. This work has not only, material taken solely from archival documents and microfiche from the James L.
McIntyre Centennial Library, but also shows as much of the rich history, culture and prosperity that I could pack into a painting, that Sault Ste. Marie has experienced over its long history. The colours of the canvas not only are representative of the new city logo with the orange, light green, maroon and cobalt blue, but has the dark green of our
Northern Ontario evergreen trees, as well as our fall colours and also represents our city’s multiculturality.

This work is also individual to me as it uses the kinds of markings and expressions that are most common in my work over the last twelve years, being, silkscreened images, the “four sided boxes” which represent “home,” and gestural scribbling which is used to represent a kind of communication that is inherently indecipherable to the eye but stands for a vernacular special to this city, as Sault Ste. Marie has its own language, customs, movement, etc.

The title of this work represents the fact that I am trying to include as much archival content as possible from our local history. It is approximately 36 inches squared and is the first one of the four pieces for the archives room. The idea behind using four pieces represents the four quadrants of the medicine wheel like our new city logo and fits within the proposed space in the new archives room.

The overall feeling of the work that I am trying to convey is a gritty, blue-collar feel which is what I find attractive about Sault Ste. Marie. The work also shows the positive moments of the Sault’s history, is very truthful in its telling and creates a feeling that is very exuberant, full of life and educational at the same time.