^ L'Extase de Sainte Thérèse (performance/drawing)^
This piece is about my maternal grandmother, Yvonne Thérèse Michaud (1926-2005). I recently co-wrote a letter with my mother which speaks to the struggles Yvonne faced while raising ten children alone in rural Quebec and of her lifelong battle with mental illness. As I read my mother's memories, I invite the audience to ponder the the possibility of experiencing ecstasy, while simultaneously feeling pain. In the background is a drawing of Sainte Thérèse, based on Bernini's beloved marble sculpture. My drawing is an attempt to capture this feeling of pure presence and love despite deep personal struggle or pain. * A short video of this piece will be made and edited in the next few weeks and posted to my site emilyrosemichaud.com
^ Various iron works, Glen Lemesurier ^
Glen works with salvaged industrial metal which not only addresses historical and ecological concerns but also becomes a method of inclusivity. He believes that by using recycled material in unexpected ways the survival of these materials becomes heroic and their transformation from object into Art becomes part of a mythological process.
^ Stranger things closer to us (felt, copper, steel wire) ^
Flower Marie Lunn.
After a particularly damp and stormy few weeks, something appeared in the buckwheat field. Going at first unnoticed, small shoots made their way up from the soil like mushrooms after rain. It wasn't until they shot up above the surrounding plants that their presence became known. Pale, fuzzy stalks, devoid of leaves, rose over the rows, twisting and swaying gently in the breeze.
^ waste (mixed-media), lucie formanova. ^
the place we deposit our dignified excrement is a place of many names and shapes but whether the loo or the washroom that may overwhelm with a sudden sense of claustrophobia or a gluttonous loft with a grandiose view, the toilette is a place of many inner stations, all culminating in waste. for most, the physical space is (happily) personal, allowing for unhindered rejection of kraft dinner, for instance - a perfectly synthetic substance that prevents the body from housing a healthy spirit. it is also a place of contemplation, where questions such are: "what happens when you are fed krap - what stays in?" by this i, of course mean exposure to sensory overload by advertising or doctored up stories about protests, environmental disasters, or the state of canadian natural resources with relation to trade. more than such small secular musings or corporeal needs, the water closet is a place of the divine and sacred - water.
^ Desolation-Low (video image projection, trees), Thaddeus Thomas. ^
...photos to come.
Desolation-Low is a video projection of a dark empty space speckled with shimmers of sunshine. The video of sparkling motion transforms a dendritic forest of interlaced branches into transient wisps of vapour - disjointed and floating. The trees, static on a windless night, appear to fragment and become full of motion. If it is windy, the event takes on a million different dimensions as each leaf becomes a mini projection surface.
