By Liz MacKenzie
On June 18th, a new exhibit at Galerie d’art Jean-Claude-Bergeron, 150 St Patrick Street will show recent works of longtime Lowertown resident and artist, Jerry Grey.
In Vancouver and Regina, Jerry studied art, taught and exhibited widely. She arrived in Ottawa in 1968 and in 1971 she began her career as a full-time professional artist. Her first public commission was an artwall on the blank wall of Pestalozzi College, now Horizon Towers at 160 Chapel St. Unfortunately, a new owner and structural problems with the building made it impossible to execute.
Jerry’s command of materials is tremendous: metallic inks on Mylar, porcelain enamel on steel, tempered glass, kiln-fired glass, watercolour, gouache, glass mosaics, and serigraphy on canvas. Her broad range of artistic media is channeled by a keen intellect. Works ranging from small scale to large murals are always ordered, detailed, precise and meticulously researched – and all evoke the warmth of an artist who is passionately interested in people and their stories.
Perhaps her best known public commission in Ottawa is the mural Tiles of the Times at the Ottawa Police Headquarters. The 3.5 by 17.5 metre mural is made up of 268,000 square Italian glass mosaic tiles. The figures of fifteen Ottawa police chiefs, in their period uniforms (1855 to 1983) are posed as if for a family portrait: their period uniforms and outlines of their families and friends evoke the characteristics of their time. The Ottawa River, from the falls to the Rideau River, unifies the group in sparkling blue glass tiles.
Another large public art project taught her the fraught financials of public commissions. She spent three years working on the installation The Great Canadian Equalizer, commissioned by Canada’s Department of Public Works in 1976 for Statistics Canada at the Jean Talon Building. When installed, it had cost $56,420 and Grey received less that $19,000 for three years’ work – from which all production costs had to be paid.
At that time, artists did not receive an upfront percentage on their public art contracts: a sharp contrast with consultant contracts in any other area of expertise. The irony was not lost on Grey as she assessed her experience with The Great Canadian Equalizer project.
She became active in the Canadian Artists’ Representation (CAR), working for acknowledgement of artist’s right to fair business contracts for public art and with gallery owners. She continues to be a tireless worker for arts organizations and a generous contributor to fundraisers. She is an active member of PAL Ottawa, a non-profit charity providing support to senior professional artists in need.
Lowertown is home to Jerry Grey and to a couple of her important public installations, both commissioned by the Sisters of Charity. The project The Sisters of Charity Building Hope, 1987-89, was installed in the lobby of St. Vincent Hospital to celebrate their 250th anniversary in Canada and the 65th anniversary of St. Vincent Hospital.
In researching the project, Grey was impressed at how much Ottawa’s history owes to Elizabeth Bruyère. In this muddy rough town, Bruyère established a bilingual school in 1845 and then in the following years, a hospital, two orphanages and a home for the aged. In the installation, Grey reverently depicts their history on glass building blocks and with glass figures lit to evoke a spiritual quality.
Grey received a second commission from the Sisters of Charity in 2011. La compassion au coeur du monde celebrates the lives and work of generations of the Sister of Charity in Ottawa and abroad. It can be seen at 27 Bruyère Street on request. Fifty small paintings arranged on three panels tell their story: at the center is a stunning painting of Elizabeth Bruyère, a testament to Grey’s remarkable gift for portraiture.
You can see more of the artist’s wide-ranging work on her website at www.artengine.ca/jerrygrey