Over two workshop days, Yolanda Weeks (Yo) and Jay Peachy introduced students to Yo’s artistic nesting project. Exploring what migration means to them, both in connection to the natural world and their personal flight path, each child created their own little nests. We started off by getting to know the materials, hemp fiber and wool fibers. Then, the felting needles!!! These sharp little things have ‘teeth’ that connect fibers when you poke them together. The students were extremely focused, binding their fibers together beautifully on a little mesh grid. We started off with 2D works so they could experiment and feel confident with the process before going 3D. They made little carpets, fibrous medallions and some transformed their work into necklaces.
Two weeks after the first workshop, it was time to build our nests! Following what they learned in week 1, some new guidelines and their own artistic intuition, they created all kinds of little deciduous homes. Some kids even added felted birds and eggs of all shapes and sizes to their nests! Foraged lichen, branches and horsetail were also added to the mix. Creating with natural materials and talking about our connection to the lands and waters, reminded us all to tread lightly and respectfully on the land.
I am a contemporary outsider artist that believes in the healing properties of the natural environment. I paint landscapes in abstract as an expression of my connection with nature and its ability to provide me peaceful inspiration. As organisms on this earth I believe we are interconnected with nature and highly interdependent.
But as the psycho-social environment we live in today gets ever increasingly complex its effects on us are becoming more pervasive, corroding and sophisticated. However the energy, peace and serenity of our natural surroundings can provide a way of grounding our senses and healing our minds. I try to capture the interrelationship between my mind and nature as I see and feel it; it’s an expression of my soul captured on a physical medium and in a point in time. Going through the process in itself contributes to balance.
Driven by my own lived experience, I am a self proclaimed arts-based advocate for mental health and strive to demystify and eliminate stigma around these issues. My initiatives in this regard include being the Vancouver Caucus leader for the Artist Alliance for Mental Health, a collective member (2010) of the artist-run Gallery Gachet in Vancouver and the Producer and Host of Sound Therapy Radio a peer oriented mental wellness show on CJSF 90.1 FM. I have a true belief in human potential and in the statement; ‘art is a means for survival’.
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Creative Cafe Artist Collective 