Waters: from infantry to artistry

Twenty years ago Scott Waters decided to join the military at the ripe age of 19. He never thought, that years later, he would have two art degrees, a published book and a different perspective of the life he was living.
From 1989 to 1992, Waters served as an infantryman in the Third Battalion of Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry. After three years, he decided to enroll in an art program in Kelowna, British Columbia.
"The two choices I gave myself after high school were art school or the army. At the time, I wasn't interested in pursuing art as a career so I chose the army. I think I was partially interested in those ideas of the army challenging yourself and becoming a man," said Waters.
"Obviously it didn't work out; after three years I decided to enroll in an arts program in B.C."
Waters never saw painting as "his calling". If things had panned out differently, he could still be in the military today.
"If I had done things in reverse and went to school first, I think at such a young age I could have dropped out. If I joined the army at 23 there's a good chance I would have been completely dedicated to it and could still be there today," said Waters.
A typical theme surrounds Waters' works - war and "dudes with guns" as he likes to call it, but the use of irregular mediums, like plywood, gives it an interesting twist.
"I've always been interested in surfaces that aren't the standard and that require me to respond to them. Plywood allows me to be a bit of a klutz, I can drop it and it won't get damaged," Waters joked.
"I also like the masculine association of plywood and working with the pattern. The idea of the pattern refers to the camoflauge which is used in a lot of the paintings."
In 2006, his book, The Hero Book, was published. It is an illustrated memoir of his experiences in the military.
"I liked the idea of being a published author - it was somewhat validating," said Waters. "I'm also very interested in how text supports image or how text takes image into another direction. There are a lot of very specific things that I want to say with my paintings that don't always have that ability to do so by themselves so text is incorporated in the book and also in some of my exhibitions."
His new exhibit, It's Great to be a Man in Times Like These, currently displayed at Rodman Hall, is based around his participation in the Canadian Forces Artist Program. The paintings are of current Canadian soldiers training to go to Afghanistan.
"During my Masters at York I did a project, which turned into The Hero Book, to try and understand the military as being a utopic society from an autobiographical point of view," said Waters.
"Coincidentally, there was a call for the Canadian Forces Artist Program and it seemed like a natural transition to allow me to look at the same issues, but through the contempory Canadian Military."
Another personal goal that Waters wanted to achieve through this program was to compare the military from then to now.
"I wanted to see how my thoughts about the military then compared to what soldiers now feel and how things have changed," said Waters.
It's Great to be a Man in Times Like These is a collection of specific things that Waters is interested in and the ways he feels about the military.
"The painted image gives a lot of information, but at the same time that information can be read in a number of different manors, especially with something like the Canadian Mission in Afghanistan," said Waters.
"I felt like it was important for me to take a stand and show my view of these loaded images and nail them down concisely so they weren't up for interpretation."
It's Great to be a Man in Times Like These is currently being displayed at Rodman Hall and runs until April 26.Waters will have an artist talk at Rodman Hall on Saturday, March 21, at 2 p.m.