In her airy living room, I virtually bid good morning to Ann Savageau, an artist who once taught at the Residential College. She sat in front of a display of her own various figures, sculptures, and work– an accolade I certainly cannot yet claim.
Her work, currently exhibited in the RC art gallery, caught my attention a week ago as I walked past a figure of a deer-like animal holding an olive branch high above its head. Seeing a deer with fingers was certainly interesting, but its graceful pose, and the olive branch, made it a beautiful piece. It is part of her 17-piece exhibition, Guardians: Spirits of Protection, a two and a half year product of processing her grief from losing her children.
Her profound loss, as well as her background in anthropology, gave her the inspiration to create figures of guardians to protect, heal, and keep the peace. Guardians was first exhibited at the University of California, Davis in 2021. There, Ann left a message board for students to write about their own experiences dealing with grief in their own language. Many notes, she said, were epiphanic messages discovering that grief is a universal experience.
“There are very few ways to experience and express that loss in our modern American culture. You are expected to deal with it in your own private way; there may or may not be a funeral or memorial service. It was certainly not that way during COVID.”
Guardians is a “gift to people,” a space for those to ponder grief and loss not just from death, but from the pain of oppression. The figure holding an olive branch was sculpted during the initial Russian invasion of Ukraine, and a figure with broken chains around its feet was crafted after her visit to the Museum of African American History in Washington, D.C. Another figure holds two books, each in one hand, respectively inscribed with “Knowledge” and “Science” in Arabic. This exhibition is the tangible manifestation of Ann’s inner thoughts, proving her strength and resilience. But it was also made for you, her viewers, and anyone who walks into her exhibition will sense a hand on the shoulder telling you that you are not alone. The exhibition runs from August 26 to November 2, 2024.
If you’d like to meet Ann, attend her Artist's Talk on October 23, 2024, at 3:30 p.m. in the RC Keene Theater, followed by an Artist Reception from 4:30–6:00 p.m. in the RC Art Gallery.
