Apr 9, 2025
Carolyn Bell Farrell’s lens on Tim Whiten
The curator and writer reflects on her new book and AGO talk with Whiten
Tim Whiten. Book of Light: Containing Poetry from the Heart of God, 2015-2016. Handcrafted crystal clear glass, burnt fragments of drawings (coffee and pencil on handmade paper), oak. 118.1 x 71.1 x 38.1 cm. © Tim Whiten. Photo credit: Craig Boyko.
In 2021, the Art Canada Institute approached award-winning image-maker Tim Whiten to publish a book focused on his art practice. When asked who he would like to spearhead the project, Whiten named independent curator and writer Carolyn Bell Farrell. A longtime collaborator, Bell Farrell had previously curated Whiten’s solo exhibition Messages from the Light in 1997 and authored two essays about his work in 1999 and 2001. Their latest literary collaboration, Tim Whiten: Life & Work, is out now and available at Shop AGO.
Developed through extensive research and dialogues with the artist, his colleagues and former students, curators, and others in his circle, Bell Farrell’s book tells the remarkable story of how Whiten’s expansive practice has altered the landscape of contemporary art in Canada.
On Sunday, April 13, Whiten will be in a conversation with Bell Farrell, moderated by Julian Cox, the AGO’s Deputy Director and Chief Curator, in conjunction with the AGO exhibition, Tim Whiten: A Little Bit of Light.
Before the talk, Bell Farrell spoke to Foyer about her commitment to Whiten’s work, the history of their collaboration, and tips on how to sense rather than read A Little Bit of Light.
Foyer: When did you first become an admirer of Tim Whiten’s work? Was there a particular work, exhibition, or moment in time you can recall?
Bell Farrell: I was made aware of Tim’s work in the late 1980s but the first time I became really engaged with his practice was in 1993. I met Tim then at Olga Korper Gallery in Toronto during his exhibition reception, where I was introduced to him by artist June Clark, whose work was the subject of a forthcoming exhibition that I was organizing for the Koffler Gallery as their Senior Curator. Tim’s exhibition at Olga’s comprised a series of intriguing mixed-media works, many of which included mirrors. I was particularly struck by Magisterium Pardesh (1993) ―now incorporated into Elysium (2008), commissioned by the AGO. Seven very elongated hand-carved wooden walking sticks were leaning against the gallery wall behind three covered boxes. Impractical given their height, the walking sticks spoke of a different kind of journey, an inner journey, which led me to see his other works on view― Vault, Victor, Courting the Caliph’s Daughter, Ch-air―as stages in this process of self-discovery.
Image courtesy of Art Canada Institute
When and why did you decide to write Tim Whiten: Life & Work? Can you briefly describe your process of researching for the book and putting it together?
Shared interests in religion, philosophy, mysticism, and myth, as well as contemporary visual art, fostered a number of collaborations with Tim, including his exhibition Messages from the Light, which I curated for the Koffler Gallery in Toronto in 1997; an essay in 1999 for the Tree Museum in Gravenhurst, which featured his project Danse; and an essay on his Enigmata series for the Meridian Gallery in 2001. The Art Canada Institute approached Tim in February of 2021 about publishing a book on his practice and, although two decades had pasted since we worked together, I was the author he recommended. I had recently retired from full-time employment as an art museum director and was returning to curatorial and writing engagements. This seemed like a wonderful opportunity to collaborate with Tim, again―and it truly was a collaboration. The book evolved from our ongoing discussions, as well as contributions from his former students, York University colleagues, other artists, educators, curators, and art historians.
If you could offer some guidance or advice for visitors before viewing Tim Whiten: A Little Bit of Light what would it be? How would you recommend they approach the work?
As an artist, Tim Whiten is committed to fostering the more subtle, intuitive faculties of perception in his viewers, as he would say, “inviting experiences and encouraging sensing over reading.” His works have a profound presence, an aura, which pulls you in. Although they resemble objects from our everyday world―both secular and religious ―they are radically altered by his choice of material, by his handling of these materials, and by their presentation. Leaning on our own associations, we can begin to make meaningful connections in understanding these artworks, and see correspondences across his works, formal and symbolic. In A Little Bit of Light, the repetitive gestures of mark making, erasing, rocking, rolling, rubbing, wrapping, pouring, tearing, sweeping, etc., are embodied in both his two- and three-dimensional works. For me, collectively they convey a rhythmic understanding of experience, reminding us that we are part of a dynamic, enveloping continuum from which all life is born, develops, passes, and is renewed.
photo courtesy of Carolyn Bell Ferrell.
Carolyn Bell Farrell is an independent curator and writer living in London, Ontario and a PhD candidate in Art and Visual Culture at Western University. Since 1990, she has curated over sixty exhibitions of contemporary Canadian art, working with artists Isaac Applebaum, Rafael Goldchain, Lyn Carter, Ed Pien, Sarindar Dhaliwal, June Clark, Tim Whiten, Rebecca Baird, FASTWÜRMS, Blue Republic, Norman White, Lois Andison, and Cathy Daley, among others.
Tim Whiten in Conversation with Carolyn Bell Farrell happens on Sunday, April 13 in Baillie Court, on level 3 of the AGO. Get your tickets here. Tim Whiten: A Little Bit of Light is on view now in the Philip B. Lind Gallery on Level 1 of the AGO. Bell Farrell’s book, Tim Whiten: Life & Work, is available online in French and English for free download on the Art Canada Institute website, and physical copies can be purchased at Shop AGO.
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