For most artists, the idea of showing work before it’s finished is at best disconcerting and at worst unthinkable. For a viewer, however, observing the process can be a little like peering through a peephole as the artist gets undressed. This is why Jennifer Stead’s A Long, drawn out story is so unusual: she has substantially revealed herself and her methods by physically occupying the centre of this exhibition-in-the-making.

Stead has converted the City Hall Gallery into a working studio, inviting anyone and everyone to observe as she completes a 38-meter long charcoal landscape drawing. No locked doors, no curtains, no flamboyant unveiling, just steady and open evolution.

Stead began the drawing on March 11 and will complete it April 24. The finished work will be on exhibit from April 25 to May 2. The artist will present a public talk about the project in the gallery on Sunday, April 18 at 2 p.m.

Stead moved to Ottawa almost two years ago and was inspired to incorporate a performative aspect into the process after her first visit to the City Hall Gallery space.

“I came to see the space and right away it had a theatrical feeling because it is three sided and there is this wall of windows and glass that makes it like a theatre space,” said Stead. “It has movable walls, so I thought I could really play with those and figure out a new configuration which then became a new challenge.”

Aside from the beautiful, multi-layered drawing itself, the project is fascinating for the many kinds of movement involved—the left-to-right composition, the visitors moving in and out of the gallery, and of course the movements of Stead herself as she pans across the long expanse of paper. Stead claims that it is this kind kinetic energy that nurtures her creativity.

Why such a long, horizontal drawing? Fundamentally, Stead says it is the “quick fluidity about working with charcoal” that rouses her to work this way. (A Long, drawn out story is her third project using this configuration).

Yet there is another, more essential reason for the extended length: The finished piece will require viewers forgo the standard, motionless art-viewing pose and walk alongside the work to experience it fully. Stead feels that such observing of the art in motion will induce an inevitable alteration in perception.

“The shape of my art became more and more horizontal as I increasingly explored the perceptual realities of moving through the world,” the artist explained. “I wanted my art to convey to the viewer the way that we see when our bodies are in motion. While we walk, our vision alternates between a fixed gaze and a quick glance.”

Stead also feels that by lining the walls with her drawings she is gradually transforming the gallery into her very own Hortus Conclusus, the medieval walled garden that was both real and metaphoric.

“Inspired by the wall, I initially wanted to be surrounded and immersed by my art,” she explained.

At the time of this writing, Stead was merely half way through the drawing, but the work was already manipulating the viewer’s perception. The renderings morph from traditional panoramic landscape, (e.g., a wide view of the Ottawa River occupies one corner), to close-up details of branches and trees. When juxtaposed this way, the changing terrain pulls you in and out of the landscape and parts of the drawing feel as if they are coming out of the wall, which Stead says helps to create tactile experience or a “haptic visuality.”

“The opening passage of the drawing with the branch sticking out is an example of how the drawing can be a haptic experience,” said Stead. “I put it there to pull people right into the space. You know when you’re bushwhacking through the woods, branches come out at you and get in your way. I wanted to recreate that."

By bringing the outdoors indoors, Stead invites you to take a walk with her. Wear comfortable shoes and prepare for a beautifully visual journey.