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The significance of place
Journal of the American Psychiatric Nurses Association
This Month’s Cover
The Significance of Place A
ccording to art historian Silcox (1977), Journal of the American Psychiatric Nurses Assocation cover artist Tom Thomson (1877-1917) actually lived a life “so unnoteworthy, until just before it was over, that no one kept track of it” (p. 193). However, his mysterious and premature death by drowning, murder, or suicide—depending on the account— has become emblematic of all that is most wild and inscrutable about the Canadian North. Thomson’s reputation as an avid back-country explorer, pathfinder, woodsman, and outdoor guide enhances and embellishes brilliantly colorful paintings of the natural world that he created over the course of solitary camping trips in the Algonquins and various lake regions. Not only did Thomson’s short glamorous career as an artistically inclined wilderness expert revitalize popular myths of nature, manhood, and geographic exploration, his legend indirectly provided a glamorous defense for male taciturnity and solitude at a time when communication and interconnectedness were becoming fashionable concepts in psychology and the social sciences. As Silcox (1977) suggested, “words were not his instruments of expression—color was the only medium open to him” (p. 105). Seasoned outdoorsmen know that most back-country deaths are foolish accidents, and “the large majority of drowned canoe fishermen are
J Am Psychiatr Nurses Assoc (2000). 6, 175. Copyright © 2000 by the American Psychiatric Nurses Association. 1078-3903/2000/$12.00 + 0 66/1/109086 doi:10.1067/mpn.2000.109086
October 2000
found with their flies open” (Town, 1977, p. 59), but Thomson’s legendary status overrides such otherwise plausible explanations. His small vivid paintings, which nationalistically minded Canadians consider their finest contributions to the art world, only strengthen the notion that “the artist as an aesthete or as a namby-pamby urbanite without roots” (Silcox, 1977, p. 200) has no credibility when nature—as a concept and a daily experience—serves as the spiritual heartland. Although family members and friends who knew him well acknowledge a widespread critical and journalistic exaggeration of Thomson’s supposed pantheistic innocence and wilderness expertise, his ability to “reduce the stupendous size of Canada to an 8 × 10 sketch” (Town, 1977, p. 25) is generally considered incontestable. Trained as a photograph-engraver and magazine illustrator, Thomson painted big ideas with joy and exuberance with grand scale impressionist/expressionist techniques and the nuanced precision of a postage stamp designer. It is easy in today’s sophisticated metropolitan environment to forget how important one’s territorial surroundings can be. Yet literature from the fields of psychiatry, anthropology, architecture, and geography support a set of theories that can be generalized as the “psychology of place” and explore the connection between persons and their intimate surroundings (Low & Altman, 1992; Paasi, 1991). For Canadians, Thomson represents everything that is best and most elusive in the ideal backwoodsman: His enigmatic death in the prime of life; his vivid, virile paintings that sing praise to an insecure country’s
splendid natural resources; and the way his life and his work function as a shorthand for both the psychology of place and nationalistic consciousness. JAPNA readers might find it useful to remember that geographical attachments and regional metaphors can be as important an influence on mental health as social connections and personal commitments. For an artist like Thomson, the Canadian North as a sacred place served as significant a purpose as any friend or family member. —Holly Bowron, RN, ANP-C, MSN, MA REFERENCES Low, S., & Altman, I. (1992). Place attachment: A conceptual inquiry. In S. Low & I. Altman (Ed.), Place attachment: Human behavior and environment, 12, 1-12. Paasi, A. (1991) Deconstructing regions: Notes on the scales of spatial life. Environment and Planning, A23, 239-256. Silcox, D. (1977). The Tom Thomson legend. In H. Town & D. Silcox (Ed.), Tom Thomson: The silence and the storm (pp. 193–209). Toronto: McClelland and Steward Limited. Town, H (1997). Tom Thomson’s life. In H. Town & D. Silcox (Ed.), Tom Thomson: The silence and the storm (pp. 49–59). Toronto: McClelland and Stewart Limited.
APNA Web site: www.apna.org 175
This Month’s Cover
The Significance of Place A
ccording to art historian Silcox (1977), Journal of the American Psychiatric Nurses Assocation cover artist Tom Thomson (1877-1917) actually lived a life “so unnoteworthy, until just before it was over, that no one kept track of it” (p. 193). However, his mysterious and premature death by drowning, murder, or suicide—depending on the account— has become emblematic of all that is most wild and inscrutable about the Canadian North. Thomson’s reputation as an avid back-country explorer, pathfinder, woodsman, and outdoor guide enhances and embellishes brilliantly colorful paintings of the natural world that he created over the course of solitary camping trips in the Algonquins and various lake regions. Not only did Thomson’s short glamorous career as an artistically inclined wilderness expert revitalize popular myths of nature, manhood, and geographic exploration, his legend indirectly provided a glamorous defense for male taciturnity and solitude at a time when communication and interconnectedness were becoming fashionable concepts in psychology and the social sciences. As Silcox (1977) suggested, “words were not his instruments of expression—color was the only medium open to him” (p. 105). Seasoned outdoorsmen know that most back-country deaths are foolish accidents, and “the large majority of drowned canoe fishermen are
J Am Psychiatr Nurses Assoc (2000). 6, 175. Copyright © 2000 by the American Psychiatric Nurses Association. 1078-3903/2000/$12.00 + 0 66/1/109086 doi:10.1067/mpn.2000.109086
October 2000
found with their flies open” (Town, 1977, p. 59), but Thomson’s legendary status overrides such otherwise plausible explanations. His small vivid paintings, which nationalistically minded Canadians consider their finest contributions to the art world, only strengthen the notion that “the artist as an aesthete or as a namby-pamby urbanite without roots” (Silcox, 1977, p. 200) has no credibility when nature—as a concept and a daily experience—serves as the spiritual heartland. Although family members and friends who knew him well acknowledge a widespread critical and journalistic exaggeration of Thomson’s supposed pantheistic innocence and wilderness expertise, his ability to “reduce the stupendous size of Canada to an 8 × 10 sketch” (Town, 1977, p. 25) is generally considered incontestable. Trained as a photograph-engraver and magazine illustrator, Thomson painted big ideas with joy and exuberance with grand scale impressionist/expressionist techniques and the nuanced precision of a postage stamp designer. It is easy in today’s sophisticated metropolitan environment to forget how important one’s territorial surroundings can be. Yet literature from the fields of psychiatry, anthropology, architecture, and geography support a set of theories that can be generalized as the “psychology of place” and explore the connection between persons and their intimate surroundings (Low & Altman, 1992; Paasi, 1991). For Canadians, Thomson represents everything that is best and most elusive in the ideal backwoodsman: His enigmatic death in the prime of life; his vivid, virile paintings that sing praise to an insecure country’s
splendid natural resources; and the way his life and his work function as a shorthand for both the psychology of place and nationalistic consciousness. JAPNA readers might find it useful to remember that geographical attachments and regional metaphors can be as important an influence on mental health as social connections and personal commitments. For an artist like Thomson, the Canadian North as a sacred place served as significant a purpose as any friend or family member. —Holly Bowron, RN, ANP-C, MSN, MA REFERENCES Low, S., & Altman, I. (1992). Place attachment: A conceptual inquiry. In S. Low & I. Altman (Ed.), Place attachment: Human behavior and environment, 12, 1-12. Paasi, A. (1991) Deconstructing regions: Notes on the scales of spatial life. Environment and Planning, A23, 239-256. Silcox, D. (1977). The Tom Thomson legend. In H. Town & D. Silcox (Ed.), Tom Thomson: The silence and the storm (pp. 193–209). Toronto: McClelland and Steward Limited. Town, H (1997). Tom Thomson’s life. In H. Town & D. Silcox (Ed.), Tom Thomson: The silence and the storm (pp. 49–59). Toronto: McClelland and Stewart Limited.
APNA Web site: www.apna.org 175