Day Nine (Toronto)

Today was the final opening of the Open Spaces Gallery in Toronto until next fall, September 2011. I was expecting to present a local painter Oluwatosin Sanni but the weather called for thunder and rain and we both decided to delay his exhibition until next fall to prevent from damaging his paintings.

So I had to come up with a plan, a creative way to use the space. What was I going to do? I have started playing with a new experiment where I sit on a house doorstep and use that time to doodle, colour and write randomly into my sketchbook inspired by that doorstep. When I feel complete or finished I put the drawing into an unsealed envelope that has my address on it, place the envelope into their mailbox. The envelope explains that I drew this on their doorstep and they can reply if they wish. It is fun for me but also a recreation of a pen pal, or art sharing and way to include the viewer in a part of the process of generating ideas, is totally open for interpretation, and plays with the artists role of parting with their ideas, artwork, moments of freedom and sharing them with others.

So I decided to run with this experiment in the Open Spaces Gallery today. I did two drawings in the hour, they included text from thoughts that ran across my mind as I drew or words from uncontextualized conversations which I heard while people were walking by and then I placed these words into my drawings. Each drawing was put into an individual envelope marked with my name and address. On the front of one of the the envelopes is written "I drew this on the street today" and the other envelope is written "I left this here for you to find" and as a parting gift from the gallery, to leave my presence and I think to benefit the performance, I left the envelopes on the sidewalk with the hopes that someone may find the curiosity to pick one up and respond. I will see if anyone is up for some fun. I like these projects that have no rules, they have my own expectations but come with other people's interpretations which help me further develop my concepts.

Since today was the final opening of the gallery for some time, I was torn about what to do with the territorial marker, the baby carriage Iroquois Confederacy Flag and beaded fabric that sits draped upon the flag. These have really come to identify the gallery's presence and existence on Wednesdays. I have kept the beaded fabric to bring with me to Vancouver and perhaps use as a surface, blanket to continue manipulating but also to host the gallery on and mark my chosen parking space. However, the baby carriage Iroquois Confederacy Flag is now apart of the ephemeral genre of art. I pushed it down to Union Station, and got a lot of strange glares in the process of pushing a broken baby carriage with no baby. I decided to treat it as a real monument or flag. Outside of Union Station there is a large monument to multiculturalism depicting a human figure raising a spherical globe kind of thing with birds flying overhead. I thought a monument to multiculturalism? Wow, what a perfect place to leave the Iroquois Confederacy Flag, left as a monument for the rest of the day probably, but it would be great if the baby stroller has been adopted as an important part of Toronto public art. Again, the Open Spaces Gallery led to a creative day for me.

Future plans for Open Spaces Gallery are; open a related project in Vancouver over the summer months, continue documenting the projects process, use the summer months to develop a strong base of upcoming performances in the fall of 2011 when the Open Spaces Gallery will reopen in Toronto and hopefully be an essential part of the Colloquium of Aboriginal Visual Culture that happens in October. Still work to do, but that is a good thing.

Day Six (Toronto) OCAD Student Art Show

Today is April 6 2011 and was another successful opening of the Open Spaces Gallery, Morena is so loyal to this project it is incredible and quite refreshing. The plan for today was to use the street gallery space as an exhibition venue for OCAD students from my VISC 3B42 course, Critical Issues in First Nations Art.

Unfortunately, I was not joined by their artwork which is a real shame because they created magnificent art works related to their association with First Nation culture, which exactly meets the mandate of Open Spaces Gallery and would have been a great moment. Perhaps it is me as the curator, maybe I am not successfully creating a stimulant amongst the students to take part in the project, a free space to exhibit their artwork from class. However, it is my preference to let these happenings be natural, to proceed in a way that does not enforce anything on the artist. To allow the presence of the Open Spaces Gallery project be enough to encourage involvement. This project is best served as a whisper. Letting First Nation artists and people know that there is an open space available for the presentation of culture, come and take part if you wish, the project will only benefit from more involvement and layers of education provided by additional creative participants and artworks.

The VISC 3B42 class had its critique of artworks today and the works were very diverse; printmaking, graphic design, sculpture and paintings. Some themes discussed were memory and how it is altered and prioritized throughout time, especially regarding First Nation history when it is blurred, misunderstood and misrepresented. Creating art is great because we are able to use our minds to comment with large sweeping instincts as a reaction, emotional or aesthetic, to challenging topics like a people's history.

Another theme discussed was land and how it is treated regarding First Nation land concerns, treatment, history, but also reflecting on a general commentary to how we as people perceive the land's purpose and use. These topics really raised a lot of great discussion amongst the class and I found the critiques very stimulating.

A favourite work of mine which I wish could have been included in the gallery street space was this recreation of a puzzle into a tool to tell fortunes. I think I was excited by the growth and development of the concept. An OCAD artist named Beth found a unique colourful plastic 3dimensional puzzle that she could not complete and transformed the pieces into a mechanism for fortune telling. The artwork included three separate objects that had no connection to one another beyond the artist's conceptual framework. The eight pieces of the puzzle placed into a container, shook and dumped out onto a small circular carpet. The volunteer's fortune was told by the way the pieces fell and placement, the artist was able to convey a reading of the volunteer's fortune. I just loved the performance and aspect of recreation of found material identified into a fortune telling tool.

Once again, it was a terrible loss to Open Spaces Gallery that none of the artists wanted to display their works. Today at 100 McCaul, Morena and I opened the gallery in a parking space with a purchased parking ticket, territorial marker and drawn chalk to define the space borders. Morena and I used the the street to display three paintings, two sculptures and two encaustic works.

The three paintings were my expression of First Nation culture as a reaction to course material I learned through the VISC 3B42 Critical Issues class and meant to comment on my frustration inspired from the 1990 Oka standoff. I just felt that instead of finding a successful solution for the land dispute and standoff, the Quebec and Federal government officials just used computer buttons meant to 'delete', extend and complicate the dispute. The abstract backgrounds are meant to suggest my process of layered frustration and the absurdity of discrimination and ignorance, therefore, the landscapes are only blurred suggestions of clarity.

Also, Morena and I continued beading today in the gallery street space. With the increase in street traffic, the territorial marker and act of beading has attracted a lot of attention, interest and raised awareness about the originality of the Open Spaces Gallery project. I added beading around a crushed can I found on the street as I felt this would help add an aspect of my own identity to the beautiful territorial marker.

Next Wednesday April 13th, a local sculptor from Markham, Janus, will join the Open Spaces Gallery and use the street space for the presentation of sculptures (top right image) and compliment the show with a public performance of song in celebration of opening the availability of land. I AM SO EXCITED!!!!

Janus' sculptures can be viewed on her website; www.janusnomad.com

Day Five (Toronto)

The sun was shinning today to welcome Open Spaces Gallery. Today I purchased a one hour parking ticket and marked out a couple feet between two cars.

This limited space was perfect because it represented how I felt. The expression of First Nation culture in the beautiful outdoors and fresh air was so stimulating. I only added a small section of beaded patterning to the gallery's territorial marker but I was so proud with the performance. Totally calming I guess.

I related todays beading of the territorial marker to an artist I learned about today. Marianne Nicolson's outdoor "Cliff Painting" of a emblematic shield served to identify the territory of her isolated community in Kingcome Inlet, BC. Her painting identifies the importance of subtle recognition, for the very least to feel apart of the greater existence. This project of allowing a parking space to be represented into a cultural venue is a subtle and important reminder that free expression of culture is a great feeling and rejuvenating.

Day Four (Toronto)

Day Four saw the Open Spaces Gallery being led by Morena and Fiona, snow and numb hands. New detail in beadwork and colour has been added to the Open Spaces territorial marker.

This Wednesday, March 3oth will follow another traditional pow-wow with the sharing of more craft by Ojibway artist and instructor, Bonnie.

Day Three (Toronto)

It was the third day of Open Spaces Gallery and there were three people taking part in the gallery space. Our guest Bonnie, Ojibway artist and art educator, chose to share some knowledge on beadwork. As a ritual for the opening of the Open Spaces Gallery ritual, we again marked off the rented space with sidewalk chalk. Also, the painted Iroquois Flag (babystroller) serves as an Open Spaces Gallery territorial flag. ON this occassion of the performance I came with turf builder to pour on the cement as a method for growing grass. As per Bonnie's instructions, traditionally, a First Nation person will ask permission from inanimate objects of nature in the form of a prayer before receiving. So, the three of us reached into the turf builder with our left hand, by using the left hand allows the prayer a connection to the heart. With each spread of the turf builder, we would ask the cement to grow grass in its place.

For the rest of the performance Bonnie led Morena and I in decorating the current Open Spaces Gallery territorial marker. The process included covering the painted Iroquois Confederacy Flag with a white fabric and then adding three individual sections of beading, one for each of us. This process was so much fun for me because it was unexpected, educational and I just really liked collaborating and creating something new outside. At this moment, I think next week we will continue the process of decorating the Open Spaces Gallery territorial marker with more beadwork. There could even be some grass growing.

Day Two (Toronto)

On March 9th 2011 Open Spaces Gallery opened its second public performance of making the sharing and practice of First Nation culture visible. On this Wednesday I was joined by a fellow OCAD student Morena, seen painting and representing the the baby stroller which served as the first Open Spaces Gallery territorial marker. We painted the broken baby stroller with the emblem of the Iroquois Confederacy Flag which represents the peace and power of the Six Nations of the Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, Seneca and Tuscarora.

I felt that using a physical territorial marker would help in the identification of the Open Spaces Gallery territory and would signify this project being a safe approach to provide a space for the visible sharing of First Nation culture.

I am really happy that I was able to receive help from Morena making the process of raising awareness and creating the territorial flag much simpler. In leading by example, Morena has encouraged other members of the OCAD student society and faculty to engage within the mandate of the Open Spaces Gallery.

Next Wednesday, March 16th, the Open Spaces Gallery will be providing space for 5 OCAD students and faculty to share in a traditional First Nation pow-wow. Plans are to adorn the chosen space with turf and as a group create and share in craftwork and repolishing the territorial marker, as the paint on the baby stroller is messy after dealing with the rain and snow from last week.

For more information about the Open Spaces Gallery call for submissions, please refer to the Call for Submissions posting on this blog.