Getting One's Ducks in a Row

About Getting One's Ducks in a Row

This figurative tabletop sculpture is by Roch Smith.

Canadian artist Roch Smith has created an entire series of small sculptures that stir our collective imaginations and often deliver iconic imagery in a playful, humorous way.
Here he is, once again playing with scale as this toy-sized figurative sculpture is inspired by an iconic Canadian theme—the canoe. Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau, a devoted naturalist and canoeist, once said of the canoe that if you ‘paddle a hundred miles in a canoe, you are already a child of nature.’ The canoe is a symbol of our nation’s glorious wilderness.
With this hand forged dark bronze piece, Smith features the classic elongated shape of three wooden canoes—each one ‘roped’ together and smaller than the other. A female figure holds the rope and appears to be ‘towing’ them. The sculpture is mounted on a rectangular piece of blonde wood. The title references a popular colloquial expression meaning to ‘get things in order.’

“The female trailing three smaller canoes came to mind as a version of motherhood or caregiving - I find it easy to imagine her going to pick up her kids each to their own canoe, which would be funny to see.” Roch Smith

Roch Smith received a BFA (Honours Sculpture) from the Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design (ECIAD - 1997) and an MFA from York University (2003). As a teacher and an artist, he has taught classes at the University of Waterloo, ECIAD, and York University. He currently manages and operates the bronze and aluminum foundry at York University. Roch Smith has exhibited throughout Canada and in the US. His work is included in private, corporate and museum collections.