Phones were busy at cSPACE last night, snappin’ pictures of pretty much everything! I’m feeling as though the internet is already swamped with images of the fantastical Phantom Wing, but who cares…here are a few more!
I go to these things alone…I know…it’s pathetic…but I’m really the driver of my own ship these days and find that my sails take me into the most magical places. Sometimes my voice collides with another voice…sometimes not…it’s all fairly wonderful. I DO thank the two gentlemen who seemed to have some interesting interactions with me about various spaces when we bumped into one another…and thank you for grabbing a photo of me at the wings!
By the way, I’ve recently started a writing residency with the CPL, delivered by Barb Howard (I was intrigued by one of her published titles…Embedded on the Home Front : Where Military and Civilian Lives Converge) and have learned from one of the library books being passed about, on the topic of learning to be a writer, that a writing ‘rule’ is to avoid using adjectives. My eyes were opened! I am a freak who uses MANY adjectives. Try to overlook them.
A few reactions around the various Phantom Wing exhibits…
I thought about education a lot….the ways that we have educated children over time. Sorry for all of the dot dot dots…I just seem to NOT be able to write sentences right now. My thoughts are disjointed. Perhaps it is because I sat in a dentist’s chair for five hours on Monday, just to have my face go numb today…off I go again in an hour to have him ‘take a look’. Sigh and back to the subject…
I felt sad for all of the dumb work sheets. (I never used the things…but see them used to this day by some.)
I felt sad for the controlling approach to almost everything. But, let us remember that ALL of those teachers were being controlled at the very same time as you wee chickens were. (Yes, I am a teacher.)
Teacher’s Rules in Sarah Birch, Michael Oxman, and Sara Peppinck’s room
I thought about how redundant things must seem/be sometimes in schools.
Cliques are destructive. I believe in being a person ‘on the fringe’.
I didn’t ‘belong’ to the girls’ group in school…any school…so, in the second floor bathrooms, where Melinda Topilko and Lindsay Joy had prepared for a Girl Gang Dance Party, re-inventing the all-lady bathroom space as a vehicle for girl talk in all its many forms, I felt very uncomfortable. I exited as soon as there was talk about writing down your confessions…assuming that you did mean things in school. Ah, but I remember being ‘the nice girl’.
Because of my preoccupation with feeding and watching birds these days, the Winged Apocalypse piece left the deepest impression with me. I mean, things have gotten so bad that I’ve actually visited my neighbour and talked to her reasonably about the cat Bylaw because she has a mouse/bird-tossing-cat that she watches each morning while drinking back her coffee and smoking her cigarette. In summary, this particular installation was meaningful.
Blue Jay at my Feeder Photo Credit: Kathleen Moors
One Sparrow Photo Credit: Kathleen Moors
Winged Apocalypse (Jack Bride, Chris Zajko, and Jayda Karsten)
Winged Apocalypse (Jack Bride, Chris Zajko, and Jayda Karsten)
Winged Apocalypse (Jack Bride, Chris Zajko, and Jayda Karsten)
Winged Apocalypse (Jack Bride, Chris Zajko, and Jayda Karsten)
Winged Apocalypse (Jack Bride, Chris Zajko, and Jayda Karsten)
Winged Apocalypse (Jack Bride, Chris Zajko, and Jayda Karsten)
Some of what I saw and experienced just gave me a good feeling…re-purposing materials, the inventiveness and genius of people and their facility to expand upon their initial concepts into creativity. Some of the work was thought-provoking around many different topics…construction, architecture, reuse, resources, friendship, community.
Part of a glowing room of installations by the Prototype Lab collective: a pre-demolition project at King Edward School.
A performance by Sarah Smalik, Sara Tilley, and Jamie Tea inside their Gut-workshipping installation.
Suzen Green and Yvonne Mullock’s “Politergeist” installation
Artist: Svea Ferguson
Viewers in Jennifer Crighton’s scary fairy tales installation.
Part of the Waterways installation by Alia Shahab, Ivan Ostapenko, and Lane Shordee, in collaboration with Antyx Youth :a predemolition project at King Edward School.
The Bells built a bell-installation. Leslie and Chris Bell collected over 50 fire bells over the past few years. The couple re-purposed the fire bells to create a (relatively) zen, hand-powered sound installation. The evening at Phantom Wing was spectacular.
I love your viewpoints and your writing 🙂
Wendy…I treasure our friendship and our love of the arts in Calgary!
WOW Kathleen – this is one packed-full post and I enjoyed it all very much…
Hi Kathleen, It’s interesting that you felt uncomfortable in GGDP, as the point of the piece was welcome those who were not necessarily a part of the group, as both myself and melinda were not part of the in-crowd in school. Perhaps we didn’t make it welcoming enough. Thanks for your thoughts on Phantom Wing!
I was very anxious, stepping into the space, Lindsay. It IS fascinating how ‘the viewer’ imposes their own experience on art and that the initial intent is is often lost. I appreciated your piece because it put me in touch with ‘that thing’ that obviously had kept me on the fringe throughout high school. As an art and writing teacher over many years, I tried more than anything to impart a sense of inclusion to my students…and also strongly suggested that they try not to become entrenched in one particular social group…but to move easily from one to another. All good stuff!
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