11 minute read
ART & DESIGN
In Conversation With Jeannie Kyungjin Kim
PHOTOGRAPHY BY JEANNIE KYUNGJIN KIM
Born in South Korea and raised in Ontario, multi-disciplinary artist and art educator Jeannie Kyungjin Kim produces chaekgeori paintings–a style based in antiquity that pays homage to the 18th century Korean folk tradition.
Photo by: Red Gate Residency (Beijing, China).
Working primarily in Asian watercolours, video and drawing, Jeannie Kyungjin Kim’s work explores what it means to live with hybrid identities. Her series of greeting cards uses art as a vehicle for change by raising funds in support of Asian advocacy groups. This past summer, 2021, she taught an online course through the New Brunswick College of Craft and Design on still life compositions and the lineage of chaekgeori. What subject matter are you currently exploring in your work?
My art career started with oil painting. As I progressed, I saw myself gravitating towards memory in particular; vague memories of Korea when I was young started to emerge. I explored drawing using graphite and ink. It has become a bit more defined in the sense that I’m interested in this very particular type of Korean traditional painting called chaekgeori painting, which loosely translates to “books and things.” The perspective isn’t quite perfect; it’s not about portraying still life in the most realistic manner. >>
What are the defining features of this style and what materials do you use?
It’s an Oriental/Asian type of watercolour painting. Eighteenth century scholars were really interested in their books and their tools and they wanted to emulate that sense of scholarship around their space. So, by having these paintings up on their walls it would inspire them to continue learning. I was really drawn to that concept and so I created my own version when covid19 hit in March last year. It’s watercolours, sometimes with animal glue mixed in so it’s a bit more opaque than the traditional European style watercolours.
How has your work evolved over the past few years?
I’m getting specific to thinking about art as a tool for bringing power to others. How can I empower others to use their talents and their desire to help the world?
How would you describe the philosophy behind your art?
There’s a term that I always circle around and it’s called interculturality. It’s the philosophy behind why I teach art. Interculturality means that there is an exchange happening between two parties, and the fact that it is reciprocal is the most fundamental factor. My own self, who was born in Korea but raised in Canada, I am essentially a hybrid of cultures and it is always a mix between my Korean side and my Canadian side. I express that through my art and how I use traditional Korean materials in a modern Canadian context.
Jeannie Kyungjin Kim Chaekgeori Greeting Cards Mixed Media 5” x 6 7/8” (ea) 2021.
What impact do you hope your art has on others?
I am showing my love for Korean art history and I hope that it will inspire others to do the same with their own heritage and culture.
Where do you find inspiration?
Before, I would find it from my peers and we would produce work together. But it’s been harder during lockdowns to find that physical connection. I’m getting accustomed to my indoor surroundings, thinking about materiality, thinking about objects that surround us and how much power possessions with significant meaning to you, can have. Inspiration hits me in the most unexpected times. It’s definitely when your mind is wandering and active, when you’re talking with people, when you’re observing things, when you’re walking.
Why is art important to you?
It’s how I express myself to the world. It’s the way that I connect with other human beings. Art is all around us, not just in galleries but also how our houses are built, how objects are formed, how we consume everyday culture. Because of that, I have devoted my life to bringing art to broad communities through accessible education. And I hope that I can inspire others to create so that they can also feel the power of art.
Southern Georgian Bay A Four-Season Destination
BY ANDREW HIND PHOTOGRAPHY BY TAYLOR NULLMEYER
Southern Georgian Bay (SGB) has something for everyone.
Charming villages and towns that blend small-town intimacy with big city amenities include the towns of Collingwood, The Blue Mountains, Wasaga Beach, and the Municipalities of Meaford and Clearview. SGB is a region of diverse landscapes, from beaches and fruit lands, to the forested, rugged highlands of the world-famous
Niagara Escarpment.
“South Georgian Bay has nature, adventure, relaxation, dining, theatre, arts and culture, and retail,” says Melissa Twist, Director of Regional Tourism with South Georgian Bay Tourism. “You’ll never run out of activities.”
One of the appeals of SGB is its unique character and culture, born of a long history that’s preserved and interpreted at numerous museums across the region. Exhibits at the Collingwood Museum trace the community’s history from First Nations, to port and shipbuilding centre, to a four-season tourism destination.
Not far up the Bay, the British schooner HMS Nancy met her end – after a spirited fight against overwhelming odds – at Wasaga Beach in 1814. Her charred remains form the core of Nancy Island Historical Site, which shares the vessel’s history and Wasaga Beach’s role in the War of 1812.
Other facilities include the Grey Roots Museum & Archives, Meaford Museum, and the Craigleith Heritage Depot, located in an 1872 train station.
The province’s newest wine destination, the vines in SGB produce grapes of distinctive flavour, shaped by the region’s unique climate and soil. Cider is growing in popularity and where better for it than SGB, with its numerous orchards.Founded in 2012, Duxbury Cider Co. is the pioneer of hard (alcoholic) cider in the area. The Beaver Valley Cidery operates out of a converted heritage barn dating to the 1870s.
–– Melissa Twist
An aerial view of Wasaga Beach, the world’s longest fresh-water beach, on Nottawasaga Bay.
Skiing with a view. From the top of beautiful Blue Mountain. Photo by: Taylor Nullmeyer SGB has a flourishing craft beer scene with a six-pack of breweries at last count, and there is perhaps no more atmospheric place to kick back and savour a local beer than the aptly named Black Bellows Brewpub, housed in a 19th century blacksmith and carriagemaking shop in Collingwood. “South Georgian Bay is Ontario’s premier four-season destination filled with great activities for all ages,” says Twist. “On the same day, you could be swimming in the bay and hiking to the top of the mountain to see the beautiful views of the escarpment, then enjoying the evening at Meaford Hall for some live theatre.” Winter in SGB needs no introduction, thanks to slopes, deep powder, and the party atmosphere at Blue Mountain, the largest ski destination in Ontario. From Nordic skiing to snowmobiling to snowshoeing at any number of settings, cool options abound. >>
Spring arrives with apple orchards in bloom against a backdrop of brilliant green hills. When the thaw sets in, it’s time to visit maple sugar bushes and explore any one of many historic towns where streets are lined with charming shops and restaurants. Hike along the Bruce Trail, the longest marked trail in Canada.
There’s no better way to spend a summer day than at a beach. Wasaga Beach, the world’s longest freshwater beach, gets all the attention, but there are many other enticing beaches in the region, from the limestone and shale shores at Craigleith Provincial Park (home to a short-lived oil industry in the mid-19th century) to the smooth pebble beach at Meaford’s Fred Raper Park.
Georgian Bay offers fishing, kayaking, canoeing, and watersports.
People who would rather be on the water than in it are spoiled for opportunities in SGB. Georgian Bay offers fishing, kayaking, canoeing, and watersports. The gentle rivers that feed the Bay are venues for more sheltered paddling excursions.
SGB is stunning in the autumn when the changing leaves transform the many trails. Autumn is harvest season when apples grow fat and ripe. The area has a long history of apple growing, a tradition carried on today with growers that include TK Ferri Orchards, Goldsmith Orchards, and Maxwell Apple Orchards.
Towns with exciting amenities happily coexisting with wild spaces is the magic of Southern Georgian Bay.
Donna Green, founder of Stella’s Place with her daughter, Stella. Photo by: Alex Sawatzky
Stella’s Place
A welcoming place to give young people the mental health services they need.
When Donna Green’s daughter Stella first began to experience depression and anxiety at the age of 16, Donna would quickly learn about the complexities of living with mood disorders. Throughout what would become a long journey, she would also learn that help for young adults like Stella was difficult to find within our current system, and she set out to try to change that.
In 2010, Donna founded Stella’s Place, a facility in Toronto that operates as a place for young adults (ages 16-29) with mental health needs to come for free mental health services; a place where they are offered peer support, clinical services, employment support, wellness classes, art programs, and recovery programs.
Based on a model of peers supporting peers, programs are co-designed and evaluated by the participants who are provided access to all of the services, free of charge, that, in many cases, can be accessed same day.
Over the years, in addition to helping countless individuals, the reach of Stella’s Place has been felt throughout the community, participating in peer training for many initiatives including The Community Healing Project with the City of Toronto. >>
Stella’s Place provides a hub where young adults can be seen and heard. Photo by: Alex Williams
Most recently that reach has been extended to the creation of an innovative peer support partnership with Mount Sinai Hospital, called RBC Pathway to Peers. When a young adult between the ages of 16 and 29 presents at the emergency department with a mental health issue, this program ensures they will be met not only by medical staff, but also by a peer; someone who has “been there.”
“There has been a tremendous mismatch between patient need and services that are available,” says Dr. Bjug Borgundvaag, Emergency Room physician and Director of the Schwartz/ Reisman Emergency Medicine Institute in the Sinai Health System, “and often the most we can offer someone who is at risk of hurting themselves or someone else, or who is suffering from a mental illness causing an inability to care for themselves, is to offer an involuntary admission into hospital for psychiatric assessment. That can be an incredibly aggressive thing to do to a young person who is already distraught.”
“I am a social worker in the Mount Sinai emergency department and a trained crisis worker,” says Christine Bradshaw, RBC P2P Project Manager at SREMI, “and I have witnessed a skyrocketing number of patients come to the emergency department when there is simply not enough of us. To have a peer support worker to hold space with a person on their journey has had an incredible, positive impact.”
The training for the peer support worker is a shared responsibility between Stella’s Place, which offers basic peer training, and the hospital that teaches the specifics that allow a support worker to become a fully integrated part of the healthcare team. While other hospitals have similar programs, no one has implemented one quite like Mount Sinai, where the peer support workers are hospital employees who are fully integrated into the emergency department care team.
“Having lived experience is an essential part of being a peer support worker,” says Nzinga Walker, Executive Director of Stella’s Place, “but so too is the mental health of the person who is offering the help. This can be triggering work and we work to ensure that a supportive system is in place for all.”
Since the program was implemented in March 2020, it has seen over 2,500 people and, in many cases, has worked to change the path of a person from admission into the hospital back out into the community to get the help they need, something that makes Donna Green proud.
“This program feels amazing and it feels like all of the right boxes are starting to be checked. I love that Stella’s Place is partnering with a prestigious institution such as Mount Sinai, a world-renowned hospital, and there is no reason to think that it couldn’t springboard further across the country.”
Dr. Borgundvaag couldn’t agree more: “We need to find ways to support Stella’s Place and other community organizations like them so that hospitals are able to partner with them and create more of these kinds of projects.”
Stella’s Place is slated to move into its new building at 54 Wolseley Street, in Toronto, in March of 2022. This facility will offer the same welcoming environment and a greater capacity for staff and participants to engage in programs.
