A Minute of My Time

This is the first installment of what I hope to make a weekly series featuring outdoor art around Kingston. There is so much of it, some of which we walk by everyday without taking the time to really look and ponder why it is there. I’d like to begin on Queen’s campus with the Agnes Etherington Art Centre.

A Minute of My Time (September 29, 1998 15:04-15:05), was created by the New York-based, Canadian conceptual artist Micah Lexier. The work was commissioned in 1999 with the support of the Millennium Arts Fund of the Canada Council for the Arts, the Chancellor Richardson Memorial Fund and Thyssen Marathon Canada Limited to mark the passing of the millennium.

Located on the east wall of the Art Centre, the piece explores the themes of identity and time. It belongs to a continuing series of works that began in 1995 that are based on spur of the moment drawings completed in one-minute periods (hence the bracketed portion of the title). The drawing on which this sculpture is based was created by Lexier after his first visit to the site, thus making it a record of the artist’s presence in Kingston at that time.

Made of water-jet cut stainless steel, the work is well recognized by Queen’s students and Kingstonians alike. Be sure to stop and have a good look next time you are walking down University.