Keep
Keep was commissioned by the Art Gallery of York University for the courtyard of York University’s Central Square and was unveiled May 23, 2000. The sculpture was produced with the assistance of technicians and students at York’s L.L. Odette Centre for Sculpture. This project not only gave Magor the opportunity to work on a scale and in a medium she had never worked before, but it also served as a teaching opportunity to demonstrate the techniques and tools of bronze sculpture production.
Keep depicts a hollow tree trunk sealed at both ends. A sleeping bag protruding from one side. The trunk was cast in bronze directly from a willow tree, while the sleeping bag was cast in silicone from a rubber mold made to withstand the extremes of climate and temperature.
The sculpture represents human shelter and refuge in nature, raising conflicting feelings about shelter and security. The return to nature is an idealistic impulse, invoking the benevolence of nature and the deep woods as a natural retreat. Yet as Liz Magor states, such retreats “also suggest the condition of last resort: for the fugitive, the misanthrope, and the disenfranchised.”
Support for the commission was provided by the York Faculty of Fine Arts, The Canada Council for the Arts Acquisition Assistance Program, the Walter and Duncan Gordon Foundation, and Mr. & Mrs. L.L. Odette Foundation.