Talk:Joy Laking/GA1

GA review

The following discussion is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

---

Article (edit | visual edit | history) · Article talk (edit | history) · Watch

Nominator: MediaKyle (talk · contribs) 22:50, 20 April 2025 (UTC)

Reviewer: Actuall7 (talk · contribs) 02:16, 29 April 2025 (UTC)

Hello, I'd like to review this article. Please expect my review soon, in about a day or two. actuall7 (talk | contrib) 02:16, 29 April 2025 (UTC)

Thanks a lot! I'll be looking forward to it. MediaKyle (talk) 02:59, 29 April 2025 (UTC)

initial checks

• Earwig gives a 34.2% chance of copyvio, but it's mostly common phrases and a quote.
• User is main contributor to the article.
• No recent or present edit warring.
• No images in the article, which while not a requirement, is a bit of a shame.

• Maybe add an image of the Georgian Bay in the early life section? Would help to show the scenery that Laking painted with her mother in her youth.

• I'll see if I can find a nice one of the bay, thanks for the suggestion. I reached out to Joy Laking after I initially published this article, and I'm planning to visit her gallery at some point in May to photograph her and the gallery itself, so we should have plenty of good images after that.

lead

• Canadian visual artist from Nova Scotia -> Shouldn't it be Canadian visual artist based in Nova Scotia if she was born in Ontario?

 Done

• The style and honours section is unmentioned in the lead, could be solved with a simple sentence like: Laking's work, which incorporates representational realism and the use of watercolours, has earned her awards such as the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Cobequid Arts Council and the the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal.

 Done

• In the infobox, the mention of her parents' names should be removed as they're non-notable. They can be moved to the early life section.

Not sure if this is necessary. If the point of contention is that they're not notable, then it would be better to remove it altogether - but their names have been published in a few sources, neither are still alive, and Joy Laking herself has seen this article since I published it and she didn't have an issue with any of the information included. Open to discussing it more if you'd like.

I didn't mean to suggest that the name of her parents should be removed completely, but that they should be moved. The parents parameter states that their names should be "include[d] only if they are independently notable or particularly relevant." Due to this, many articles simply mention the parents in the early life section. Maybe a change like this could be made: Her mother Joyce Snihur was a professional painter while her father Wes Snihur crafted marionettes and toy trains.

 Done: I ultimately decided to remove them. Really the only benefit to having their names there was so readers could infer that "Snihur Wyatt Laking" is in fact three surnames

• Also in the infobox, the nationality perimeter is unnecessary since it's obvious she was born in Canada and is thus Canadian.

 Done

• Bachelor of Arts is linked in the infobox but not the lead.

 Done

• Should more occupations be added to Laking's professions? She seemed to be a playwright, as she wrote a play, and an author/illustrator, as she has some books published. Also, should visual artist be specified to painter?

 Done - I put "visual artist and author"... I chose visual artist instead of painter because she's also received coverage for her photography exhibitions, and other works.

Have some free time right now, so decided to give a brief start on the review, will see if I can do more later. actuall7 (talk | contrib) 06:24, 29 April 2025 (UTC)

Early life and education

• MOS:GEOCOMMA for Owen Sound, Ontario.

 Done

• I personally think it's unnecessary to link secondary school and eighth grade. Besides, the eighth grade link talks about American education, not Canadian.

 Done

• Around the time she graduated, her mother died of breast cancer, which would have a profound impact on her artistic career. -> Could you perhaps go more in depth on this? Such a claim should have more evidence or show more proof that her mother's death really did affect her career, but I can find no mention of any impact in the other sections.

Not done for now It's clear from the source that her mother's death did in fact affect her career, but I was trying to be careful about the wording of it given that it's a sensitive topic - the source says: My mother was an artist and a major influence on my life. She died young — in breast cancer. She died just about the time when I was graduating from fine art at university and pondering my future. Her death was an incentive to me to take the risk and practice my art with passion and commitment. I decided not to put it off. She never knew that I became an artist too. I miss her every day." The Saltwire article also touches on this. I felt like this might be a situation where it's better to let the reader navigate to the source if they want more information, and we just provide a summary. I'm open to ideas for ways to make this more clear, though

Maybe an additional line like: Around the time she graduated, her mother died of breast cancer, which would have a profound impact on her artistic career as her mother inspired her to make art/become an artist.? I think this line is enough to infer why it impacted her without going into too much unnecessary info.

 Done: Implemented your suggestion, thank you.

Career

• There's a bit of an overuse of commas, not only in this section but throughout the article. I have went in and removed a few as per this edit, but feel free to discuss here if you want to put some back.

Thank you: I thought serial commas were compulsory this entire time. Guess I never read MOS:SERIAL. Thanks for making me aware of this.

Just felt that I should add onto this. While yes, serial commas are not compulsory, the places where I removed the commas were because they were used incorrectly, not because they were serial. For example, this sentence (which I edited to remove the comma), she illustrated two children's books: The Brook and the Woodcutter, and The Man Who Couldn't Stop Sneezing., incorrectly uses a comma before the "and". As MOS:SERIAL states, serial commas should be used "in a list of three or more items", while most instances where I removed commas were in a list of two items like the example above. Just thought you should be made aware of this.

• While she enjoyed illustration work, the payment was inadequate, so Laking had to seek other opportunities. -> Is this better for flow? While she enjoyed the illustration work, she considered the payment to be inadequate, and had to seek other opportunities.

 Done I like that better, thanks.

• Why not link Maritime Telegraph and Telephone Company in full?

Not done for now MTT is almost never referred to in full from what I've seen, and I felt like the full name would make it kind of long-winded. I'm not totally opposed to changing it though if you think it would be better.

Well, I myself haven't heard of MTT, but if it's more commonly referred to by its acronym then I don't mind keeping it.

• followed by a regional tour until May 1990 -> Until May 1990 from when?
• autumn open houses -> What is an autumn open house? Do you mean an autumn-themed open house?

 Done It's an annual open house in the autumn, clarified this.

• Laking travelled in Europe -> Should be Laking travelled throughout/through Europe as she probably visited multiple countries.

 Done

• COVID-19 pandemic link can be specified to COVID-19 pandemic in Nova Scotia.

 Done

• The last paragraph on the 2020 Nova Scotia attacks, which while a significant event in her life, feels irrelevant in the career section. Maybe create a new section about her personal life where this would fit in better? Other information, such as this line Between 1980 and 1985, Laking and her husband had three children: Kelsey, Danica, and Yolande, can also be added.

I thought about this for a while, and I think I'm going to have to push back on this one - I think that the attacks are relevant to her career because of the way it was impacted in the aftermath, and beyond that, moving it to a "Personal life" section would make the "Career" section end quite abruptly. The coverage relating to Laking and the attacks from Global News and CTV News focuses on her art. I believe I've already covered just about every one of her exhibitions and career highlights, so I'm unsure if I'd be able to expand it to compensate, if I did move this paragraph to a "Personal life" section. Let me know if this makes sense or not.

No worries, I understand. If you feel that it was important to her career, then I don't mind leaving it in the career section.

Style

• No issues.

Writings

• Council voted unanimously to grant her request. -> In the previous sentence, you say "the municipality" but in this sentence you say "council". Should be standardised as the Colchester County Municipal Council could either be called the municipality or the council.

 Done

• The premiere of Invisible Prisons was produced by Lenore Zann with a cast from the Truro Theatre Society, with Bryden MacDonald revising the script and directing the cast. -> In this line, I think you forgot to mention where the play was first premiered, as the next sentence lists other locations the play was subsequently performed.

 Done

• Is the Pottersfield Press note necessary? I under giving some context to this company as there isn't an article for it yet, but it feels like it's straying from the topic. Could it perhaps be rephrased like this: After sending a copy of the book to Pottersfield Press, a Nova Scotia-based publisher, they agreed to publish it?

 Done: Makes sense to me.

• Link coffee table book.

 Done: Never would have guessed this was an article. Made me smile seeing that.

• 'Joy painted here. Let's go see the spot.'" -> Quote inside a quote should be formatted as such: 'Joy painted here. Let's go see the spot.'"

 Done: Thank you, this was something I was unsure of.

Honours and awards

• No issues.

Will do a source review next, but only after points above have been settled. actuall7 (talk | contrib) 06:30, 30 April 2025 (UTC)

Thanks for the quick response and addressing everything so far. I have left some replies above and will be moving onto the source review. actuall7 (talk | contrib) 02:26, 1 May 2025 (UTC)

Source review

Most of the newspapers aren't linked, which I assume is just an editing choice. It's fine if you prefer them unlinked, but they should be italicised. Some examples are The Hamilton Spectator, The Times-Transcript, and The Sun Times, among others. Additionally, the newspaper sources should have via Newspaper.com.

Sources 2, 3, and 4 have visualarts.ns.ca, pch.gc.ca, and splashmags.com as the website name. It doesn't look very good, and is redundant if the publisher is already listed.

Will be checking refs as of this revision.

• National Gallery of Canada (2024)

• Ref 1: Y

• Robert Pope Foundation (2011): Not too sure about the use of the Robert Pope Foundation source as it states that she's served on the board since 1997. However, most seem to be accompanied by other refs and don't appear to be making serious claims.

• Ref 2: Y
• Ref 4: Y, accompanied by another ref.
• Ref 5: Y, accompanied by another ref.
• Ref 6: Y
• Ref 7: Y
• Ref 12: Y
• Ref 14: Y
• Ref 18: N: A solo exhibition in Truro in January 2007 consisted entirely of Laking's photography. -> It was not entirely her photography as it was a dual exhibition with photographer Laurie Gunn, who must have also contributed some photos.

• Fixed: Thanks, not sure how I managed that.

• The Sun Times (1996a)

• Ref 3: Y, accompanied by another ref.

• The Sun Times (1996b)

• Ref 3: Y, accompanied by another ref.

• Visual Arts Nova Scotia (2014): Does say that Laking is a member of the Visual Arts Nova Scotia, however it think its more promo for the organisation then it is for Laking.

• Ref 4: Y, accompanied by another ref.
• Ref 25: Y, accompanied by another ref.

• PNI Atlantic News (2014a)

• Ref 5: Y, accompanied by another ref.
• Ref 26: Y

• The Sun Times (1986)

• Ref 8: Y, accompanied by another ref.

• The Griffin (2015)

• Ref 8: Y, accompanied by another ref.

• PNI Atlantic News (2016a)

• Ref 9: Y

• The Hamilton Spectator (1984)

• Ref 10: Y

• The Times-Transcript (1985)

• Ref 11: Y

• The Sun Times (1988)

• Ref 13: Y

• The Sun Times (1989)

• Ref 15: Y, accompanied by another ref.

• Joy Laking CV (2024): I think the use of the CV is fine just for the date.

• Ref 15: Y, accompanied by another ref.

• The Hamilton Spectator (1990)

• Ref 16: Y

• The Gazette (2006)

• Ref 17: Y

• Truro Daily News (2013a)

• Ref 19: Y

• PNI Atlantic News (2016b)

• Ref 20: Y

• CTV News (2017)

• Ref 21: Y

• PNI Atlantic News (2021)

• Ref 22: Y

• Global News (2021)

• Ref 23: Y

• CTV News (2022)

• Ref 24: Y, accompanied by another ref.

• Joy Laking: Our Portaupique (2022)

• Ref 24: Y, accompanied by another ref.

• Splash Magazines (2022)

• Ref 25: Y
• Ref 32: Y

• Council Committee (2013)

• Ref 27: Y

• The Shoreline Journal (2013)

• Ref 28: Y, accompanied by another ref.

• Truro Daily News (2013b)

• Ref 28: Y, accompanied by another ref.

• PNI Atlantic News (2014b)

• Ref 29: Y

• Zucker School of Medicine (2020)

• Ref 30: Y

• PNI Atlantic News (2019)

• Ref 31: Y

• The Miramichi Reader (2020)

• Ref 33: Y

• Billie (2020)

• Ref 34: Y

Sorry if it's hard to understand, couldn't really think of a good way to display the sources. Anyway, I'll just leave it on hold for now. actuall7 (talk | contrib) 06:25, 1 May 2025 (UTC)

Hi Actuall7, I believe I've covered everything. Thank you very much for the thorough review, I even learned a few things along the way. Let me know if I missed anything. Cheers, MediaKyle (talk) 10:59, 1 May 2025 (UTC)

Thanks for addressing everything MediaKyle, just had a second look through the article and couldn't find any other issues, so will be promoting now. (Forgot to change the status to on hold anyways, whoops) actuall7 (talk | contrib) 01:36, 2 May 2025 (UTC)

The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.