acThe Works Art and Design Festival starts tomorrow with so much happening that one needs the guidebook to start to get a sense of its scope. There are literally dozens of venues throughout downtown Edmonton with dozens upon dozens of artists showing their work in 50 exhibits and 300 special events including live performances, tours, receptions and demonstrations.
The main attraction is at Churchill Square where people can check out Nimiyosimacihon Ispihk by Lana Whiskeyjack, a series of murals installed in Edmonton City Hall in City Room West.
"I'm working on my doctorate degree. Before I do the written academic stuff, for me to process the work I need to paint it. I need to do art around it to help rewire my brain and create neural pathways that will help me speak in a good way and have a resilience-based methodology to my work," she said
"In academia, especially in research, whenever I did research indigenous people from traditional parenting… I always came across really negative research. I wanted to make sure that any research that I'm doing is going to be when young girls or when young indigenous women are looking up and doing research around women that they will come across stories of resilience and power."
The paintings are about honouring the resilient women she knows who have "powerful, beautiful stories." She wanted to emulate them and honour their stories by using them to accompany the paintings. This will help her to create self-accepting and self-realization resources for others on social media.
A lot of the hard work was done psychologically, she continued. "You can't go into a community asking questions without sharing your own story. It's a reciprocal relationship. I had to look at my own resilience."
Whiskeyjack is the daughter of a residential school survivor and was recently featured in Beth Wishart MacKenzie's documentary Lana Gets Her Talk, a joint film and art exhibit that was recently launched at Metro Cinema as part of "pîkiskwe-speak", a cross-country tour presented by the Canada Council for the Arts – New Chapter Initiative.
Nimiyosimacihon Ispihk features four large figurative paintings, one of which is a self-portrait, and each capturing the female subject "in their element of beauty."
Elsewhere in Churchill Square
Father Douglas teams up with author Jocelyne Verret for an exhibit called Conversations with Pen and Brush, described as a "bilingual dialogue between two different forms of artistic expression; painting and the written word."
"Words and paintings enter into exchange, intersect like parabolas, and then move away from one another, eddying tides of movement, thoughts, images, colours, words, shapes and emotions," explains the The Works' program guide.
"Yes, these are paintings of dogs," he enthusiastically added.
Father Douglas also has works being exhibited for two other exhibits at different venues both at Harcourt House (Site #19). The main gallery is hosting its annual members' show called What's Left Unsaid, while the Harcourt House Arts Centre Annex the 25th annual Naked Show Exhibition, this time entitled Slippery People. Both venues are at 10215 112 St. in Edmonton. There will be an opening reception and barbecue at Harcourt House Gallery on Sat., June 24 from noon to 5 p.m. Artists will be in attendance.
The festival runs until Tues., July 4. Visit www.theworks.ab.ca for full details.
