#canadianpublicart

[yegarts]

Invisible Gate ~ Honouring a Community

(Rendering and original ‘Foo Dog’ or lion at the Harbin Gate - Studio F. Minus)

Invisible, but resonant, our personal, and collective histories, inform communities and day-to-day lives. They manifest through community markers – activity hubs, communal spaces, and symbolic places. When these tangible markers disappear, whether intentionally or intentionally, communities can experience a sense of grief and trauma. Invisible Gate, a new public artwork currently under development by Canadian collective Studio F. Minus, scrutinizes these issues and displays personal artifacts to illustrate the many layers of meaning and time within the Boyle Street community.

When completed, says lead artist Mitchell F. Chan, the artwork will serve as a container for those histories and stories. “The artwork is a pair of stylized lion sculptures created from layers of clear acrylic. What we’re doing right now is going around and asking people in the community to contribute objects that have symbolic value to them. We take a 3D scan of [the object], which we will use to create reproductions of the objects. Those items will be embedded in the sculpture layers. The finished sculptures will be reminiscent of an archeological dig site – you see the layers of people who’ve existed in this community.”

(Artists’ scanning apparatus in action - video, EAC)

When creating the initial project proposal Chan, and partner Brad Hindson, was inspired by world events and local news. “We did some research and looked a little more into what’s going on with this site and how the development of the neighbourhood was impacting the community – there’s a real story to tell on this site.”

Chan says the most significant local news story about the Boyle Street / South China Town neighbourhood was the removal of the Harbin Gate and accompanying lion sculptures to make way for LRT construction. The removal of these “symbolic markers of a neighbourhood” coincided with protests against, and removal of, public sculptures and monuments in the American South – the artists were eager to engage these issues.

(These images give an idea of how the finished sculpture may look - Studio F. Minus)

The interactive nature of Invisible Gate is an important element running through Studio F. Minus’s artistic practice. Their artist statement says, in part, “[our artworks] through their clarity and accessibility to viewers, transmit a renewed excitement and different appreciation of the world our artwork inhabits.” Invisible Gate invites reflection.

“[What] we choose to commemorate or monumentalize in our public spaces matters. It makes a declaration, a very visible representation of ‘our’ values as a society or community. However, if what we display matters, then it follows that what we take away matters as well. Erasing something symbolic that has a physical presence in a neighbourhood, does say something about how you feel about the value of a community.”

Therefore, the starting place for Invisible Gate, continues Chan, was to, “create an artwork in that symbol’s place that says, ‘you are counted’ that is a symbolic record of your community, where your history matters.”

(Lead artist Mitchell F. Chan with community liaison Shawn Tse - photo, Edmonton Arts Council)

The desire to make sure people are counted, means that Chan, and community liaison Shawn Tse have taken a very open approach to collecting the artifacts “…[they] can be anything – something obviously precious, or something you have on your person at that time. Your story, which we will record, can be a long history or a just token that you are here.”

The approach also recognizes how neighbourhoods like Boyle Street evolve, and how markers can be imbued with multiple meanings.

“Those lions have a different personal connection to people from different backgrounds. It’s incredible to me how we end up sharing our symbols and sharing our markers. I wanted to think about this site as having all different types of people and that this site has room for everybody’s personal connections and memories. People come here from so many backgrounds; they work here, they live here, or they hang out or they visit. and they all engage and interact with the symbols that are present in this community.”  

Artists Mitchell F. Chan and Shawn Tse will be collecting stories and scanning artifacts at the EAC Community Public Art Picnic this Saturday, June 8, at Boyle Street Plaza (9538 103A avenue). The event runs from 1:00-4:00pm. There will be live entertainment, mahjong lessons, games, free refreshments, a mini public art tour, and more! Visit the Event Page for details.

[ilovetapatio-blog]

#canadianpublicart (Taken with Instagram at Odette Sculpture Park)

[yegarts]

Mission Mural Rescue :: Under the Microscope

(Public Art Conservator Andrea Bowes with the new conservation microscope)

Microscopic attention to detail is the name of the public art conservation game. Dental scalers, sponges, airbrushes, saws, rags, and grinders are all part of a conservator’s arsenal. Microscopes add a high-tech level of detail. This month, the Edmonton Arts Council Public Art Conservation Department welcomed the latest addition to its battery of tools. The portable microscope came to the EAC from the United States and will allow staff to zoom in on the tiniest details as they go about their daily work of stewarding and maintaining the City of Edmonton Public Art Collection.

The microscope’s first task will be to assist the conservation team as it embarks on the final stages of “Mission: Mural Rescue,” a multiyear project that entails the removal, restoration, and reinstallation of a 52-year-old 1,000-pound mural by then-Alberta artist Norman Yates at the Stanley A. Milner Library. The untitled mural was painted in the late 1960s.

Public Art and Conservation Director David Turnbull says, “[This artwork is] the only known surviving artwork in Edmonton’s Public Art Collection commissioned for Canada’s Centennial.” This historic importance, and the stature of the artist – Yates founded the University of Alberta’s graduate fine arts program – inspired the conservation team to take a radical approach. Faced with the extensive gutting and renovation of the Edmonton Public Library’s main branch, the EAC conservation team wielded tissue paper, fish glue, angle grinders, and brute force to preserve the painting, cut the wall into sections, then moved the entire artwork to the EAC Conservation Lab.

(Fragment of the architectural plaster that underlaid the artist’s plaster layer upon which the mural was painted)

Over the past two years, Public Art Conservator Andrea Bowes has ground about two inches of architectural plaster from the back of each piece to expose the artist’s original, one-inch, fragile plaster layer. The pieces are now stored on wooden A-frames, their backs stabilized with a skeleton of lightweight aluminum channel, fibreglass, resin, and sand. The painting itself is still obscured by its tissue paper cover.

“Now that we can safely handle each piece, we can start restoring the damage on the surface. We’ll use the microscope to make sure that when we repair damaged edges that the surface lines up properly and the surrounding surfaces are even and in plane. That’s not a thing you can do just by eyeballing!”

“The next stages will be painstaking and a lot of fun,” says Andrea, “The microscope is going to be integral. In the meantime, we’re really enjoying the novelty of looking at several projects in the lab at a level of detail that wasn’t possible until now.”

This is the third article in a series:

Click here for the first article from February 2017. 

Click here for the second chapter from April 2018.

Stay tuned for a new chapter as the project enters the next phase!

*photos courtesy of the EAC

[yegarts]

[yegarts]

Anticipating Spring - Public Art Hibernates in Dermott Park

(A detail of Spring is Sprung, the Grass is Riz by Karen Klassen & Erin Pankratz - photo courtesy of the artists)

As you stroll past the old Idylwylde School and under-construction Bonnie Doon Leisure Centre on 81 Street and 90 Avenue, you may catch sight of an undulating wall and a flash of brilliant, rainbow-hued colour. The artwork is called Spring is Sprung, the Grass is Riz (I Wonder Where the Birdie Is?) and it’s the creation of mosaicists Karen Klassen and Erin Pankratz.

The interactive, playable work will be available to the public when Dermott District Park reopens in Spring 2019 – until then, the birds and flowers scattered throughout the mosaic will hibernate, awaiting their unveiling.

(Bird detail - photo, E.M. Clarke)

Pankratz and Klassen are Edmonton-based artists whose work as a duo and individual artists has appeared around the city. Klassen is well-known for her handcrafted “pocket mosaics”, jewelry, private commissions, and participated in the 2016 iteration of #YEGCanvas; Pankratz created Everything Flows, Nothing Stands Still at the Edmonton International Airport, and will create a large installation for the Davies Ramp on the upcoming Valley Line. Together they have fabricated mosaics for different artists, including Jerry Whitehead’s mamohkamatowin, created for ᐄᓃᐤ (ÎNÎW) River Lot 11∞ - Edmonton’s Indigenous Art Park.

Klassen is lead artist for this project – her first major public art commission – but it’s been a collaboration from the start.

(Hummingbird & delphinium)

“It’s so exciting. I’ve helped Erin with a lot of her projects – like the airport mosaic and we’ve also collaborated on things, so Erin pushed me into this call, ‘you can do it, you can do it!’ and I said ‘no, I can’t!’ so she said, ‘let’s do it together!’ We work so excellently together, it just seems like a natural fit – we have fun – and the ideas just flow. When you’re coming up with something like this, working with another person someone to bounce ideas off, actually makes the artwork better.”

(Orange bird)

The more seasoned public artist, Pankratz says she is a firm believer in two heads being better than one. “Collaboration is always better – I’ve done other public art projects, but you’re always learning about processes, personalities, procedures, materials, there’s always something new to learn and so having the comfort of knowing you’re a team is really lovely. I’m really grateful that the selection committee saw that potential for us to work together. they were aware of Karen obviously, as well as me. I think it is reassuring for the project managers and commissioners to have a team. I hope there is more we can do together.”

(Bird detail)

On a break from grouting the mosaic, the artistic duo took some time to walk through the curving artwork. The title is inspired by a little poem Erin’s father, a birdwatcher, used to recite each spring. “Having that as a starting place was important,” says Pankratz. “When we were coming up with a plan we knew it needed to be very colourful and we knew we wanted to hide items in the mosaic”.

(Parakeets)

“We started with garden flowers; the long purples are a delphinium-type flower and then the daisies throughout and we established a flow throughout,” says Klassen. “The flow echoes the shape of the bench. We wanted it to feel like you’re walking in a garden as you traverse the length of the wall. But it’s still very abstract, very colourful, very fun, and accessible.”

(The curving wall)

There are 15 birds of different species depicted – hummingbirds hover by the flowers, parakeets peek from the greenery, and smaller, fantastical specimens hide in the stems. Jewel-like blobs of glass are strewn throughout giving the piece extra dimension and excitement. The glazed and unglazed porcelain tiles, as well as the high-quality epoxy grout mean that the artwork will be around for a long time.

(Detail showing a glass “jewel” )

“It just totally made sense to put in birds with the andamento (movement) of the mosaic – which is the flow, so you can see that the lines are like that – that we could actually make the bird part of the line. In different colours so it’s not so blatant that it’s there – you have to come close and have a look.You are welcome to look, welcome to touch, welcome to search. That’s the whole idea of it,” says Klassen.

*Unless otherwise noted, in-progress images are by E.M. Clarke

[yegarts]

Notes from a summit - a recap of the 2018 Alberta Public Art Network Summit

(Delegate Bags awaiting their owners - Shirley Tse, Girl Named Shirl Photography)

Community is at the heart of great public art – that was the central message of the 2018 APAN Summit held in downtown Edmonton this fall.

APAN, or the Alberta Public Art Network, is a loose affiliation of public art administrators, managers and artists from around the province. Its purpose is to create an awareness of Alberta public art projects and opportunities; assess and access capacity in administering public art projects; improve public art collections management and administrative practices; mentor and support Alberta-based public artists and administrators, and last but not least – help the public learn about and understand artwork in the public domain in Alberta. Each year the membership gathers in a different city or town to discuss the challenges, share triumphs, and hear from experts from across Canada. The summit affords an opportunity to explore a new community while networking with colleagues.

This year was Edmonton’s turn to host. The event ran from September 11-13 beginning with an informal reception and keynote presentation at Yellowhead Brewery then continuing at the Matrix Hotel.

(Justin Langlois at Yellowhead Brewery - Girl Named Shirl Photography)

Kicking off the summit, Justin Langlois presented a keynote that detailed his diverse experience embedded with various communities in Ontario, Saskatchewan and BC. His social practice is heavily invested in community collaborations that work to improve, enhance and explore the ways in which public art can revitalize place. His observations left attendees in a perfect mindset to begin exploring ways of addressing the challenges around the often-sensitive subject of public art.

The next morning, following a hearty breakfast, Edmonton Arts Council Executive Director Sanjay Shahani welcomed the delegates and introduced Councillor Sarah Hamilton who brought greetings from Edmonton’s City Council. She remarked that “investment in public art is worthwhile” for its ability to “help build cities.” Even contentious artworks have value because their ability to evoke strong reactions means they fill a necessary place in the community.

(Girl Named Shirl Photography)

Her remarks led into a deeper discussion with David Turnbull (Public Art & Conservation Director, EAC) and Jennifer Thompson (Public Art Lead, Calgary Arts Development) about the state of public art in both cities.

EAC Public Art Conservator Andrea Bowes and Conservation Assistant Jenika Sobolewska walked the delegates through several in-depth projects recently undertaken by the EAC to conserve and extend the life of important public artworks within the city. A panel moderated by Public Art Officer Grace Law navigated the challenges of gentrification in the context of Edmonton’s Chinatown. Panelists Yong Fei Guan (artist), Paul Giang (planner, City of Edmonton), and film maker / artist Shawn Tse discussed how socially engaged artists can offset the negative effects of gentrification as revitalization becomes more of a reality for Chinatown.

(mamohkamatowin - Helping Each Other by Jerry Whitehead in ᐄᓃᐤ (ÎNÎW) River Lot 11∞ - image by Conor McNally)

Engagement formed the heart of a wide-ranging conversation about working with Indigenous artists. Jerry Whitehead, Tanya Harnett, and Lauren Crazybull each offered their perspective on negotiation and dialogue. They talked about how there isn’t one formula for engaging Indigenous artists as histories are not interchangeable and inform different people’s work in different ways. Transparency and ongoing relationships are key building trust and supportive partnerships.

Following a damp tour of ᐄᓃᐤ (ÎNÎW) River Lot 11∞ led by Public Art Officer Chelsea Boida, the delegates regrouped for dinner at Normand’s on Jasper Avenue where cast members of CBC’s The Irrelevant Show entertained with improv comedy sketches about the day to day life of public art administrators.

(l-r Justin Langlois, Helen Reed, and Hannah Jickling - Girl Named Shirl Photography)

Thursday dawned dark and snowy but there was plenty of hot breakfast and coffee to accompany a keynote presentation by Hannah Jickling and Helen Reed AKA Big Rock Candy Mountain. This collective creates child and youth-focused workshops that are public and participatory. They consider what children can offer to their practice, and are interested in what happens when children are introduced to the creation and consumption of art. They use candy as a negotiating tool to get children to think about things differently, to investigate taste, and to think about how taste is constructed culturally. In addition to working with the students to create a language they could use to describe flavor and experience of eating candy, the artists also allowed them to create their own space within the institutional space of the school. This correlates with how artists are expected to challenge power structures, to question authority.

The inclusion of public art curators is a relatively new trend in public art practice and Ciara McKeown, who is the Public Art Curator for Edmonton’s Jasper Avenue Streetscape project, spoke about the project and the questions that must be addressed when taking on multi-year, large-scale public art projects. The role of a curator is one of big picture thinking, to look at projects holistically in the long term, and think about how the art will look over time as well as how it will contribute to city’s overall public art collection.

(Girl Named Shirl Photography)

Two 45-minute workshops broke down the public art process and communications. Visual artist Erin Pankratz and Public Art Officer Robert Harpin engaged the delegates with a presentation that shared tips for administrators and visual artists working together on lengthy projects. (Hint – it’s all about clear channels of communication and meeting deadlines!). Communications Officer Eva Marie Clarke then shared several case studies with delegates that illustrate the value of proactive information sharing and engagement.

Filmmaker Jason Gondziola and Brooke Leifso, a multi-disciplinary artist and administrator presented the summit’s Cornerstone Workshop on Engagement and Ethics in Community Arts, bringing the discussion that began on Tuesday evening full circle.

The workshop took on the challenges of working with communities and asked, “How can creating art create social cohesion?” Done well, community art can be a true reflection of the people and neighbourhood that inspired it, but the artist must ensure there is informed consent and that community members know what they are participating in. Artists have to build trust before proposing a project and know that depictions can be subjective. Transparency is vital and artists must keep in mind that community art is process driven, it’s about building consistency, it’s not just about the final product. Jason Gondziola summed it up, “This work is not easy and there is no right way to do it. You learn best practices as you go.”

The core content was rounded out by a series of 5X5 presentations from Michelle Schultz of dc3 Art Projects, Barb Chapman of Strathcona County, artist Amy Loewan, Bob Rasko, Churchill Square Programmer for Edmonton Arts Council, Karen Begg, Studio West Bronze Art Foundry, Cochrane, photographer Wes Bell, and Erin McDonald, Alberta Foundation for the Arts (AFA).

Thank you to the 62 delegates who spent their time with us in Edmonton. We hope you enjoyed your introduction to the City, and we’re looking forward to meeting again next year in Medicine Hat.

Click here to see the full list of presenters and topics.