2012 Atlantic Journalism Awards Finalists
Attachments
| Slug/Label | Dunn |
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Short explanation of the story and how it developed: I was about 25 kilometres down a dirt track in the northern New Brunswick woods when I realized I had taken a wrong turn en route to the painter Anne Dunn, the only living child of the late, great New Brunswick industrialist Sir James Dunn. I had forded two rivers and jostled around boulders and the remains of a corduroy road in my rented SUV when I turned around and retraced my path. I made it out, found Dunn’s camp, and spent the rest of the day and evening with a woman who made the white-knuckle ride fully worth it. That visit was just part of getting to know her. At 82, having lived very fully, and in numerous countries, many sources were required to do an adequate survey of her work and life justice. I scoured the library for textual sources, including newspaper articles and books about Dunn and her family. I went to Fredericton to see her latest exhibition in that city, and talk to her colleagues there. A treasure trove of newspaper and magazine clippings from France, England and the U.S., some going back to the 1950s, was invaluable. Phone interviews ran to a long and illustrious list of friends and colleagues in the U.S. and Europe, including one of America’s greatest living poets, Picasso’s biographer, and an art historian working on the Francis Bacon catalogue raisonné. One of the greatest challenges, though, was Dunn herself, whose many paradoxes included an unblinking forthrightness paired with a deep desire for privacy. It was a long, winding road from story idea to final draft. The bumps and turns are what made it worth doing, I think. |
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