Heather Rigby: Rogue Wave

Rogue Wave, 2024. Balsa/Cedar, Marble, Acrylic Paint. Dimensions: 18″ x 50″ x 49″

Rogue Wave
Heather Rigby

May 20 – July 20, 2025
Closing Sidewalk Party: Sunday, July 20, 1 – 3pm
Mon Ton Window Gallery, Toronto

Artist Statement

Rogue Wave reveals an empty boat, without a person, only a wave within the boat. The narrative of the water with its formidable oncoming wave emboldens the notion of “journey” into the unknown, where potential danger is met with the boats direction into an unpredictable, “rogue” wave. The significance of an ironing board as a pedestal points to the importance and supportive actions of everyday practices.

Our bodies are intrinsically part of the Earth’s electro-magnetic field, where constant change is a dynamic law. How one lets go, surrenders into the rhythms of this constant ebb and flow determines our sense of being, our sense of self, our relationship to our sensing body.

On the eve of my husband’s passing, I found myself without an iota of energy and met my rouge wave. As a way to restore myself, I drove to a familiar forest where two rivers flow together. I entered the River and stood naked in water up to my neck where the waters converged. It was as if the flowing water cleared my electro-magnetic field from behind, passed through my heart, and surged forward united as one river. I felt my beloved’s presence as I stood present, and passed through the Rogue Wave into the terrifying unknown. As I did so, my clinging washed away and my balance was restored. He died early the next morning.

Non-clinging awareness towards the dangers and difficulties in one’s life is represented in this work, which was finally completed in 2024.

Rogue Wave – Artist’s Drawing of the Installation

About the Artist

Heather Rigby is an interdisciplinary artist working at the interstice of environment, art, and culture. Her practice bridges the geography of the land with extended communities through site-specific installations, activism, and social media. Rigby’s work explores the mysteries of perception, positioning the body as a vessel for a deeper awareness of our interconnection with all life. This approach invites an understanding of the natural world’s boundlessness, whether within urban or natural landscapes. Her art encourages viewers to reimagine their perception of space, fostering a reciprocal dialogue between the empathetic and the art object. In this space, lived experience and form merge seamlessly.

Based in Claremont, Ontario, Heather Rigby holds a Master’s degree in Visual Art, with further research in Cultural and Environmental Studies from York University. Her unconventional explorations began as a teenager, initially through Rinzai Zen and Tibetan Buddhism, and have continued as part of her ongoing search to understand the “Nature of Mind.” Her research also delves into Eastern philosophies, shaped by extensive travel to over fifty countries worldwide. Rigby’s current art practice reveals the empowering energy of symbols, often through land art (including large-scale field drawings), videography, and installation art. She has taught at colleges and universities in Ontario and Nunavut and exhibited her work in Canada, Italy, and Japan.

Land Acknowledgement for Toronto

I/We acknowledge the land we are meeting on is the traditional territory of many nations including the Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishnabeg, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee and the Wendat peoples and is now home to many diverse First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples. We also acknowledge that Toronto is covered by Treaty 13 with the Mississaugas of the Credit.

Mon Ton Window Gallery
61A Bellevue Avenue (in Kensington Market)
Toronto, ON M5T 2N5

Heather Rigby
heatherrigbyartist.com
hrigby5@icloud.com
Instagram @rigby698
Facebook @heather.rigby.889670