updn

Designer and artist, teacher and mentor, Bill Pechet has created a vast and varied body of work: cemeteries, residences, illustrated children’s books, street furniture, sets and costumes for dance and theatre, and many public artworks, both monumental and intimate. Whether a shade-dappled memorial garden for infants, or a beaker-shaped installation emitting mist and radiance in a library plaza, a house set on an exquisite lot of sculpted Garry oaks, or an eye-popping series of painted bunny-men, his projects shine with the hallmarks of his vision—a sensitivity to environment, a gentle irony, an inexhaustible wellspring of originality.

This beguiling testament to his cabinet of curiosity consciousness has been assembled and annotated with great insight, attention and good humour by Leslie Van Duzer. updn is complemented by contributions from renowned photographers Michael Perlmutter and Greg Girard among others, and sketches and drawings from the Pechet Studio. Insightful essays and interviews speak to his humanity and his work as a beloved teacher. Herein resides 88 proposals for rendering ideas material for those who wish to be challenged and charmed by one of Canada’s most original and idiosyncratic artists.