The Results are in! Making History: Youth Art & Writing Contest

This post comes from the desk of Sonya Jones, Curator of the Thomas Bouckley Collection.

The Making History: Youth Art & Writing Contest gave young writers and artists creative freedom to express what their community’s history means to them. Youth were asked to submit an art or writing project that was inspired by a photograph in the Thomas Bouckley Collection. I was thrilled with the diverse responses! Seven submissions were chosen to be included in a small exhibition in the RMG’s Windfield Lounge.

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Courtney Dianard Departure 2012

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Military fathers with their children, 1939

The five poems/short stories and 2 paintings appear next to the relevant photograph from the collection. The viewer sees the historical photograph in a new way—reinterpreting it based on the students’ creative expression. Congratulations to the winners Courtney Dainard, for the Best Overall Art prize, and Tara Zammit, for the Best Overall Writing prize. Courtney’s painting of a young girl’s sorrow at her father’s departure for war reminds us of the many children who experienced this feeling throughout our community’s history. And Tara’s poem, Open Your Ears, fills the piano room at Bishop Bethune College with joy and music.

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Piano Practice, Bishop Bethune College c. 1925

Open Your Ears

Dance little tune,

Fly about the room,

Capture my soul like soup on a spoon.

Piano erupt,

Let my ears indulge,

Open them to something some never love.

But I do, yes I do!

Brother, let me preach,

For the passion in the soul is something one cannot teach.

Let the curtains billow and whisper

As the wind whips around,

Let them join in the creation of this marvelous sound.

Old books line the shelves,

Collecting memories and dust,

Unveiling secrets of history, music and lust.

It’s too much for us!

The dull mind cannot bear

All the beauty, the joy

All the strife, all the cares.

Let the pictures be an audience.

Placid faces stay calm,

Though the spirits inside dance as if they still shone.

In my white blouse and navy,

I sing sweetly along.

On a stool by the piano

Is where I belong.

**

The exhibition Making History on view until March 3, 2013. The historical images come alive with different interpretive narratives—giving new meaning to Oshawa’s past.

Saskatoon artists collect stories from downtown

Officeofidentity

These images are from the The Office of Identity Collection project staged in Regina SK in the spring of 2009 and exhibited at The Art Gallery of Regina in the fall of 2010. 

The photograph is from the Citizenship ceremony and celebration; the painting in 10’ x 10’  digital imaging/acrylic/Canvas by mixed media artist Heather Cline.

 

article via Oshawa Express

 

By Jacquie Severs/Columnist

Artists in residence programs offer other artists and communities an opportunity to interact and collaborate. One popular format is for a gallery to offer an artist the chance to live and work in their town for a set period of time, supporting the venture with funding. This grants the artist the opportunity to work on their art free from ongoing financial worries, providing focus on their art practice.

In return, artists often run workshops and provide a window to the community into their art practice. Usually there is an exhibition at the end of the year of the art created. Artist in residence programs are not limited to fine arts however, and can also involve writers, architects, dance, design and more.

Residency programs are not a new phenomenon. Examples date back to the early 1900s. One Canadian example includes a variety of programs from Parks Canada. At one location, the program allows an artist to spend six weeks in Gros Morne National Park, exploring, photographing, sketching and participating in the park’s interpretive program. The program is designed to help connect people and the park through the arts as well as to draw attention to Gros Morne. Through artists’ participation, Parks Canada hopes to expand the way the park is seen by local residents, staff, visitors and audiences beyond park boundaries.

Kitchener, Ontario created Canada’s first municipal Artist-in-Residence program in Canada in 1995. The year-long program encourages conversation between artists and Kitchener residents and visitors, supports artistic innovation in contemporary art and offers workshops in neighbourhood community centres, lectures in the City Hall and exhibits in partnership with other agencies. One month of the residency year is reserved for the artist to use Kitchener City Hall’s Rotunda Gallery for exhibition.

The RMG is working with Saskatoon artist Heather Cline assisted by Michele Sereda from October 24 to 29 in a project called “The Office of Identity Collects.”

This project involves the artist taking up residence in a downtown Oshawa storefront located at 16 King Street East and recreating the atmosphere of a government passport office from the 1950s.

[googlemaps https://maps.google.ca/maps?q=16+King+Street+East+Oshawa&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=16+King+St+E,+Oshawa,+Ontario+L1H+1A9&gl=ca&t=m&vpsrc=0&ll=43.897769,-78.862867&spn=0.018554,0.025749&z=14&iwloc=A&output=embed&w=300&h=300]

 

“Passport” photos will be taken of participants and interviews conducted asking people for stories about the downtown Oshawa area. After the artists have collected material, the artist will combine it with images sourced from the RMG’s Thomas Bouckley collection of historical photographs.

Then the artist will return to Saskatoon to paint a series of works specific to our city and the stories collected.

The work created will then be shown in an exhibition at the RMG from Sept. 1 to Oct. 28, 2012.

Be sure to visit the pop-up office downtown at 16 King Street East from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. from October 24 to 28 to participate in this artist in residence program. Those who visit will be asked back to the location on Saturday, October 29, where a “Citizenship Ceremony” will be held and each participant will be given a “Passport” which is a small woodblock print of King Street.

This unique project provides an opportunity to have fun, connect with artists and build on the existing history of downtown Oshawa.