Why I named it "A Canadian Conversation"

Ruth Abernethy, sculptor of the Sir John A. Macdonald portrait bronze, explains her work.

My family farmed in the Kawartha Lakes area, near the Trent-Severn Canal. It was begun in 1833 and took 70 years to complete. Each of its 386 kilometers represents the immensity of human labour poured into Canadian infrastructure.

Pick-and shovel nation-building is the backdrop for conversations about nation building which I’m sure were exchanged around campfires and dining tables.

A Canadian Conversation is exactly that! Sir John A Macdonald stands between two dining chairs, welcoming guests to share ideas about nationhood. Macdonald’s posture and garments are accurate to heritage photographs. Dining chairs from the period were reproduced. These were made in North America and boasted hand painting and stenciling rather than the exotic inlays that were fashionable in Europe at the time.

Their seats replicate original rush work.

— Ruth