Wits End | Toni Cormier and Dan Cardinal McCartney | SEPTEMBER 2022

Wits End Art Podcast and its content were lived through and recorded in Mohkinstis. Colonially known as Calgary, Alberta, Mohkinstis is a relatively small city nestled between The Rocky Mountains, The Bow and Elbow rivers, and sprawling prairies that presently support farmland and ranchland. Though neither Dan nor Toni are originally from this land, they are incredibly thankful to be able to call this place home. Dan Cardinal McCartney is Miksew Cree, Suline Dene, and Métis from Treaty 8 territory (Fort McMurray), and Toni is of settler descent (French Acadian and Northern European). 

Mohkinstis is situated on Treaty 7 territory, home to the Blackfoot confederacy, which is comprised of the Siksika, Kainai, Piikani, as well as the Îyâxe Nakoda and Tsuut’ina nations. Mohkinstis is also home to the Métis Nation of Alberta, Region 3 within the historical Northwest Métis homeland.

The podcast Wits End Art was created for #3 Gallery's SPAM mail art program. The podcast responds to the isolation of the pandemic’s lockdown, subsequent health safety measures, and living as queer artists in a sea of conservative blue in so-called Alberta. Toni and Dan are romantic partners who share both home together and an art studio. Both of them are avid talkers which are maybe why they work so well together, as they can never stop chatting to one another. Podcasts have been an escape for Toni since 2020 and Dan before that in their tedious warehouse gig.

Wits End Art invites you to listen in on conversations they typically have with two close friends and fellow artists, Jaz Whiteley-Steele and eva birhanu, in two separate episodes. Jaz is a drag performer and event producer, jewellery maker, and visual artist. eva birhanu is a textile artist, curator, and artist-run centre professional. This podcast touches on passion and fatigue (aka burnout) for the arts in both iterations. 

-Dan + Toni

This project is supported by the Canada Council for the Arts

SPAM (Special Presentation Art Mail) is an email-based art series where artists work collaboratively to create a digital artwork. Through the link below, viewers can sign up to partake in the project by volunteering to receive upcoming interactive Number 3 Gallery emails.

For the most part, the only art we encounter these days arrives via digital means. You may receive emails announcing exhibitions—both online and in person (often by appointment)—and documentation of process work on your feed in lieu of studio visits or art crawls. When we consider how this changes our perception and relationship to artworks we might also reflect on how many folks have been exclusively viewing artwork this way long before our current infectious disease concerns. This said, online art can just as easily connect us as it can be ignored entirely. If we start to question whether the work we see is losing something to these platforms we might also note how art and technology are almost irreducibly connected—be it the tools we use of the visual influence it can catalyze. 

This is not a new dynamic; mail artists have long used postal technology as a way to share snippets of their progress or work, which often intentionally took the place of formal in-person exhibitions. Not unlike our current email subscriptions, mail art (an inherently collaborative medium) would enclose participatory or interactive project and publication opportunities. Given that technology is presently the lifeline to connectivity for many of us, what better time to reconnect with the spirit of the early mail and e-mail artists who used their choice method of distribution as a transfer of aesthetic information to surmount geographical and cultural boundaries. 

To view the project please contact number3gallery@gmail.com