Common Circles: Addressing Violence Through Art

Last October I started working at Common Weal Community Arts as the Southern Artistic Coordinator. And around the same time I started working on the upcoming programming for the next few years. During that period, there was a lot going on in my life and my friends life, dealing with the topics of violence. I think we felt angry/confused/tired/helpless. We felt we needed to actually DO something about it. Because of this, a good friend of mine Danette, who is an artist and teacher, started brainstorming on possible projects that Common Weal could do with this topic.

Fast forward to August, and we have now finished a
workshop series called Common Circles: Addressing Violence Through Art with some fantastic artists (Jori Cachene, Traci Foster and Sherry Farrell Racette). Common Circles was a workshop-based project approaching the issues of violence against women and
families using visual art, creation and voice. Working within themes of independence, generosity, belonging and freedom, the workshops provided an avenue for participants to explore, learn, share and visually represent these ideas in relation to the topics of violence. We also presented the work created and workshop series at the "Missing Women: Decolonization, Third Wave Feminisms, and Indigenous People of Canada and Mexico" at the University of Regina. To finish up the project, we will be working with Combine, to create a book about the project and to pass on the ideas behind the workshops, so schools and organizations can carry on what we have created and facilitated. The book should be done sometime in October...a year later, a full circle.

To find out more about the project, visit Common Weal Community Arts. Sign up for our e-list and we will keep you in the know.

Thank you to all the participants, artists and elders...it was the perfect way to spend the summer. xo.

Matty

Thirteen years ago, while going to university and playing with Mrs.Svenson, Matt Johnstone started as a line cook at a little new place called the Cathedral Village Freehouse. Fast forward thirteen years ahead, and he is now the manager and director of operations for the Freehouse, which is now a Regina staple. When Matt does have some rare free time, he plays bass with Bandwagon Device and Johnny Hatch and the lost disciples, and also plans to cook ALL of the food for his own summer wedding.

I see you have the Converse on. Are you a lifelong fan?

These shoes are only about six weeks old but I broke them in at the Iron Maiden show. They were way too white on the toes, so I had to muddy them up. But my first pair of All Stars was when I was 12 yrs old and they were a pair of pink high-tops.

Tell me about the Batman shirt?

I am showing my Batman pride! This is my first Batman shirt I have ever had, except for under-roos. I am pretty sure I had Batman under-roos when I was five years old. So this is a throwback to my five year old under-roo wearing.

With style today, is there anything you think men just shouldn’t wear?

This whole new thing with the headbands. It isn’t that I don’t like it, I just don’t get it. Or very short Adidas sportswear.

Back in the day, anything you have worn that you wish you hadn’t?

Steal toed combat boots. I really wish I had never worn those. I had bought a pair of orange high top Doc Martins when I was sixteen because they were all the “rage”. I think I wore them for six weeks, and never put them on again.

Would you say the Freehouse has a specific “style” of clientele?

It is very casual and individual, which really works. We have anybody and everybody come into the Freehouse. We will have suits sitting next to punk rock kids, and I love that about it. We had someone with a mohawk sitting next to the Mayor the other day. I think Regina is a lot like that, it is a very individualized city. People just do what they want to do, and generally speaking, people are left alone.

Interview and photography by Carey Shaw for Prairie Dog

Danny's dumbells

Oh, Danny Seo...you are so damn smart.

I heart you.

Artist in Residence

NEW POSITION - ARTIST IN RESIDENCE

Common Weal Community Arts Inc., in partnership with the North Central Community Association, is seeking a multidisciplinary community-minded Artist in Residence for one year, starting in September of 2008. The Artist in Residence will spend 50% of the allotted time responding to the community's needs for development in the arts and for the remainder of the time, will pursue his/ her own independent art practice. The artist will be paid a salary of $30,000, plus benefits.

The purpose of this Artist in Residence program is to create new opportunities for the community of North Central Regina that will help facilitate, encourage and increase artistic and cultural involvement, development, diversity and identity. The Artist in Residence will use community art as a tool for social development and to share the collective voice and stories of community members.

The community that the Residency project will focus on will be the North Central area of Regina. North Central is an area with a high level of individuals and families (47%) who are considered to be low income. Half of all of the properties are rental properties and there is a lot of movement in the neighbourhood. A large percentage of the community members are Aboriginal. In the past few years, this area has been discriminated, targeted and was recently deemed "Canada's Worst Neighbourhood" by MacLean's Magazine. What aren't properly represented are the community's involvement, diversity, and cultural history of this community. The North Central Community Organization being one such facility. By working together with the community of North Central Regina to enhance the quality of life by representing, promoting, developing partnerships and unifying the community and its image through effective communication, programs and services, this agency has become the representation of the strength of the community.

The successful applicant:

- Can demonstrate a mature level of achievement in their discipline, will have an established career in the arts, and an understanding of community arts.
- Experience working with both traditional and contemporary art practices. Knowledge of Aboriginal art practices an asset.
- Can work both independently and collectively, and with a variety of age groups and artistic skills.
- Will have excellent communication skills.
- Will be sensitive to community dynamics: social, cultural, and economic.
- Will be able to facilitate and respond to the needs of community by working collectively with other artists and community members.
- Experience working with a variety of artistic practices and techniques.
- Valid drivers license and access to vehicle.

We encourage artists from aboriginal and diverse cultural and creative backgrounds to apply. Deadline for applications is August 25, 2008. Applications should include a current CV/ resume, examples of past creative work, three references, and an example of a community-based arts project created by the applicant.

Common Weal Community Arts links artists and communities to animate long term and positive social change. Common Weal facilitates the production of participatory arts projects, based on creating partnerships between communities and artists, through a philosophy of inclusion and cooperation, and in order to create opportunities and choices for individuals and communities.

For more information please contact Carey at 306-780-9442 or ac@commonweal-arts.com.

Please send applications to:
Common Weal Community Arts Inc.
2431-8th Avenue, Regina
Sask., S4R 5J7.

Common Weal gratefully acknowledges the support it receives from its volunteers, partner organizations, and co-sponsors and funders - the City of Regina, SaskCulture, SaskLotteries, the Saskatchewan Arts Board, the Community Initiatives Fund, and the North Central Community Association.

The Polymaths

I recently got to spend the morning with four fine musicians, the Polymaths, in a urban mall...stuck in a photo booth.

Many many loonies later, this is what happened. And all I have to say, is that it was the most fun I had loitering in a mall.

To the Polymaths...good luck with the new CD. And props to you for the props.

To the photo booth operator...thank you for waiting around so long to change the chemicals. Much appreciated.

To Prairie Dog...thanks for letting me do whatever the heck I want.


xo carey

Tara

With a Women’s Studies degree from the University of Regina already under her belt, Tara Hubich picked up an education degree from U.B.C and then moved back home to Regina. Since her return this past fall she has been teaching with the Regina Public School Board and facilitating an after school program with the Al Ritchie Community Association. Since it is currently the “off season” for the teachers, she has been spending her days finger painting with a group of five to seven year olds during the day, and twiddling her thumbs in the evening trying to pass time till she heads to Korea and Japan for an early fall vacation.

I heard you talking about a “t-shirt” contest. What is that about?

One day at work a co-worker and I noticed we were both wearing cool shirts, so we decided to start a contest to see who could wear the best shirt. But this week is my last week there, so it will only be a contest that ran two weeks. Not a very long contest. But tonight I am wearing a shirt with milk and cookies on it. Milk is high-fiving cookies and it says “Team Work” on it.

Since you are young teacher, how do you find the styles differ from when you were young student?

It is definitely more casual. I think teachers used to be a lot more conservative. And I think this change reflects the attitude in the schools. There is a lot more freedom. But when I sub in high schools, I wear more professional clothing because the level of respect I receive is usually reflected in the way I appear. Especially since I do look younger.

You recently moved back from Nelson, B.C. How did you find the Nelson compared to Regina?

In Nelson, people didn’t care much about dressing up. In the bars, you would never see girls in heels. They wear flip flops, jeans and t-shirts when they go out. People don’t go out trying to impress one another, and they usually end up looking really good because they are happy and not competing with anyone.

You have your Women’s Studies degree as well. Do you think feminism has changed style for women at all?

I think that there is so much sex in society that it unfortunately overrules any sort of feminist dialogue about fashion. But the kind of feminism that I feel I understand, says that women can be comfortable about what they are wearing. It is ok to look sexy, but there needs to be a balance. I think a person who has integrity and is trying to be a good person; it shows through as their style. And that is style that I think is sexy.

Interview and photography by Carey Shaw for Prairie Dog

The Extras

Curtain Razors presents The Extras

Curtain Razors in collaboration with the Saskatchewan Filmpool Cooperative and Common Weal Community Arts, is pleased to present international inter-disciplinary performance artists from the UK, Szuper Gallery: Susanne Clausen and Pavlo Keresty, for the performance/installation of "The Extras", August 23, 2008 at 8:30pm, in the Queen Elizabeth II Court, at the front of Regina City Hall.

"The Extras" is a performance/installation referencing the form of a film shoot with local actor Michele Sereda, 20 local background performers and camera, lighting and sound crews. "The Extras" will explore the experiences, stories, and incidences that have happened to real extras on specific Regina film shoots and on films shot in Hollywood and around the world. Contextualizing local film history with world cinema, "The Extras" gives the audience a performer's eye-view of the amazing, and sometimes confusing, contradictory or even absurd world of the people and actors who have worked as background performers.

"The Extras" - “ a performance/installation created by Szuper Gallery and featuring
Michele Sereda, with 20 local "extras".

1 performance only:
Saturday, August 23, 8:30 pm
Location: South side of Regina City Hall, in the Queen Elizabeth II Court.
Tickets: Pay what you will on site during the performance.
Information: 522-2494

-Curtain Razors is a Regina based organization that has been creating, producing, and presenting new Canadian theatre for the past nineteen years, collaborating with organizations and individual artists to create new ways of telling stories.
-The Saskatchewan Filmpool Cooperative is a non profit artist run centre which supports, encourages, and assists independent filmmaking in Saskatchewan.
-Based out of London, UK, Szuper Gallery is Susanne Clausen & Pavlo Kerestey; an artistic collaboration that functions as a gallery without a building, working with other institutions to cast new light on the mechanism of art, artistic life, and society.
-Common Weal Community Arts engages communities and professional artists to come together and create art; empowering people - and their communities - to tell their stories in their own voices.

Nikole

A 2006 graduate of Ryerson University’s photography program, Nikole Peters applies her documentary style to subjects including sex trade workers, widows and cancer. Since moving back to the city she has worked as a freelance photographer shooting weddings and portraits. Future projects? Nikole wants to find a trucker she can travel across Canada with to photograph truck stops, and a taxidermist who can help her document animal’s life cycles.

What photo project have you been most proud of?

My thesis was a retrospective on my father’s life, which chronicled his whole life and battle with cancer. I photographed my dad even on the day he died and then put it in a book, and then had to talk about it with hundreds of people. Although my teachers thought the project was too personal, I received e-mails from people thanking me [for] doing the project. Nearly everyone has had someone [with] cancer in their life, and can relate to the same emotional connection.

My teachers thought a lot of it was inappropriate too, like my brother smoking a joint at the funeral and my dad wearing a “Fuck Cancer” shirt. But I thought it was the most real.

Do you think photography influences style?

No, I would say style influences photography. If I had to say what kind of “style” I am, I think I am a weird mix between Amy Winehouse, Mary-Kate Olson and Gwen Stefani. But I like things that are classic. I think I usually buy things that aren’t going to go out of style in a year.

You have a lot of tattoos. What is your latest one?

It’s a Latina-style piece that says “nostalgia”. I really like the word nostalgia and I like the idea that it used to be considered an ailment. In the past, when you were homesick or depressed and in the army, they had this physiological sickness called nostalgia which they actually treated with drugs.

Your fiancé is also a tattoo artist. What will the style of your wedding be?

I’m getting married [to tattoo artist Andrew Alexander] in January in Jamaica. I am hoping that the style will be simple, but like a ’40s screen star gone Grecian. Pin curls, red lipstick, black makeup… and on the beach. I’m getting a bracelet made from Hillberg & Berk, a Regina jewellery designer. And I bought a necklace from ETSY that says “Wifey” which I will wear the day after at breakfast.

What do you think you will be wearing when you are 60 years old?

I really want to be like my Grandma Shirley who wears all leopard print, red lipstick, lots of gold accessories and has her hair dyed flaming red.

pic and interview for Prairie Dog

xo carey

Beach Blue

I like it when someone sees something, and it reminds them of you.

That is what happened when my friend Danielle found this image floating around in the world of the blog.

Enjoy....and hopefully you can enjoy the beach as well.

xo carey