‘Trench Art’ mementos of conflict

August 27, 2014 · 0 Comments

Dufferin County Museum and Archives (DCMA) is commemorating the 100th Anniversary of the start of World War One with “a collection of WWI artifacts including uniforms, mementos and tokens of luck – “symbols of a young, yet strong, country at war.” Included in the collection is a rare presentation of Canadian “trench art” on display in the Silo gallery, opening September 1st from 1-3pm and remaining on exhibit until November 14th.
Over the ages, military men passed the untold hours of desolation, boredom and dread busying themselves with various tasks, including in some cases, the creation of unique and intricate works of art. European wars from medieval to Napoleonic and beyond, saw soldiers and prisoners of war create crafts of both purpose and beauty from bone, straw and wood. During the American Civil War personal military accessories like canteens and powder horns were engraved with sentimental and patriotic symbols. Sailors, with access to scraps of sail, leaned towards needle work.
British infirmaries may have inadvertently picked up on the tradition when they taught the art of embroidery to service men in hope of healing the wounds of both body and soul in WWI. And in the misery of the trenches and camps, young boys too far from home, set their minds and hands to creating beauty out of the horrors of that war, shaping and carving the scraps of shrapnel and bullet shells they scavenged in the off hours. With this art exhibit, the new curator at DCMA, Sarah Robinson says, “we wanted to acknowledge that amongst the chaos of conflict, there were those that still managed to find and create beauty.”
These works of art, created from 1914 and onward became known as “trench art,” and although smaller pieces were often created in the trenches themselves, many were done behind the lines. Shell casings large and small were transformed using metalworking techniques such as embossing or engraving; regimental crests and other symbols were often applied to the surface as well as hand paintings.
Sarah Robinson tells us that the pieces that were created in the trenches “tend to be roughly shaped with hand-engraved messages.” Pieces were also created when soldiers returned home. “Soldiers would mail the shell casings (often German) home and wait until they had the proper tools to mould them into a work of art,” says Robinson. Trench art was also sold as souvenirs to the soldiers themselves, as a source of income for war torn communities.
Most pieces were transformed into something functional, for example a candelabra, an ashtray or a picture frame. Using government property for personal use, which would include materials like shell casings, was illegal, and consequently, many of these works of art remain unsigned and the artists unknown. One known artisan is Corporal Frank Cameron of Barrie, who sent home, one piece at a time, an entire tea set for his mother that he had crafted out of large shell cases; it is currently on display at the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa.
Curator, Sarah Robinson comments that although these pieces of metal are works of art, “first and foremost they hold emotional value, as mementos of the conflicts that affected so many Canadian families.” She says that, “after announcing the trench art exhibit in January, it evolved into a community project.” Many of the pieces were loaned for the exhibit by members of the community. “Therefore, this is a rare collection,” she says, “together in one case we have pieces from both WWI and WWII, made from materials originating from both the Allies and the opposing sides.” For more information on the exhibit, visit www.dufferinmuseum.com or phone 705 435-1881.

By Marni Walsh

Dufferin County Museum and Archives (DCMA) is commemorating the 100th Anniversary of the start of World War One with “a collection of WWI artifacts. The ashtray pictured was brought back to Canada by Colonel William George Mackenzie Robinson after the Second World War, his descendants now live in Dufferin County.