14 minute read
ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT
JOLENE MINER
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Creative pursuits have always been a part of my life. One of my earliest memories is of making paper - moving the heavy screen around in the thick slurry, hands cool and wet, soggy fibers coalescing as the fledgling paper starts to take shape. The teacher had mixed orange zest into the water, and it coloured the finished sheet a soft peach and left it with a bright citrus scent. I was utterly enchanted. NUTS about it. And anyone who is nuts about paper can tell you it verges on obsession, the intensity of which can’t really be explained — except to say that its origins are probably rooted in a sparkling moment of childhood which means the love of it will be profound and enduring.
And this brings me to present day.
I am a proud Fernie resident and member of the Fernie Visual Arts Guild, although this is still a relatively new thing I get to say. I had lived in Saskatchewan my entire life until fate brought me and my husband to this incredible mountain town the summer of 2019. While I completed my BFA at the University of Saskatchewan many, many years earlier, I had kept my art practice private, and it wasn’t until I came to Fernie and was welcomed into its art community that I felt compelled to bring my work into the public eye.
group-shows at the Arts Station here in Fernie. An honorable mention in the Emerging Artists category at a Kimberly Arts Centre 64 regional exhibition. A banner in both Sparwood and Fernie. And now…
My first solo exhibit! The Arts Station Gallery. February 2022.
The medium of the work? You guessed it, you clever thing. PAPER.
The show is called Paper Mountains. It probably needs no explanation why I would find inspiration in the mountains surrounding me in my new, incredible home. But, in addition to that, mountains are the perfect subject for exploring certain concepts I currently have a crush on. The richness of layers. The flattening of planes. The power of sharply defined colour areas, just to name a few. And, of course, I’m delving deep into these concepts using paper.
If I had to describe my current body of work, I would say there is an element in it I have heard called the touch of the hand. This is a gentle rawness that leaves evidence of the process and makes these pieces feel approachable. There is a warmth to them that invites the viewer in, to come closer and get acquainted with them, get lost in them. There are no pretenses, no posturing, nothing trying to elevate them. They were just made to explore, to let loose the sense of wonder and see what happens, to play.
In these bizarre and challenging times, I think a little warmth goes a long way. It’s easy to forget how to play, especially as grownups, and play is honestly what living is for. As good as it feels to list off a bunch of accolades, it’s the fun I had creating these pieces that feels like the success. So, if you have the opportunity to see my work, I hope you feel a bit of the sparkle I felt making it and that this tiny, playful spark of connection helps shine just a little warmth on you. Or a lot. Either way. Jolene’s exhibit, Paper Mountains opens at the Arts Station on January 27, 2022 at 7pm and will be on display until February 24. To learn more about Jolene and her art, visit her on Instagram @joleneminerart.
Kick the Door Open to Creativity
by MICHAEL HEPHER
The average human brain weighs roughly three pounds and contains about 85 million neurons–all connected by a complex network of ganglia. The electrical and chemical messages that are sent along those neural connections allow for blazing fast parsing of extremely complex data. Sometimes the results our brain comes up with are so complex, and so definitive, that there isn’t even a way for it to let us know short of triggering a feeling of unease, or triumph. We typically call this ‘trusting your gut’ but it actually has nothing to do with your guts. We feel anxiety or euphoria when our brain wants to tell us don’t do it! or go now! or that’s perfect! but the message is too complex or important, so our brain gives us a physical exclamation point to drive it home.
As artists we rely on this kind of intuition on a regular, but very subtle level. Our brain gathers complex information about an emerging piece, peers into the future, and then bridges the gaps to allow us to see the path to that finished picture in our head. This intuitive process is nourished by experience, training, and persistence, but for every artist the way they respond to these ‘gut’ feelings is unique—ergo every artist’s style is unique. Try this! and that was a mistake! and don’t use that colour! are all artistic imperatives delivered to us as gut feelings.
Learning to hear the subtle messages is key to refining our work, because the path to that finished piece is rarely linear. Some of the problems that arise are simple and solvable using experience and technique. Knowing what complimentary colours are, for example, will stop every new piece from being an experiment in I wonder if this will work? Where the connections are just not coming, though, we need a different solution. Creative block is a real hurdle and can be crippling for long periods for many artists. It’s going to be impossible to address all the possible causes for creative block in a short column, but I will share one of the best tools I’ve found: lateral thinking. We typically think of problem solving as a linear concept. A to B to C to D. Problem solved. But creative problems sometimes require a different approach. Imagine your brain is downtown New York and your creative block has you sitting in a cab in the gridlock of rush hour: time for a change. You’ve got to climb out of the cab and grab a bike, duck through an alley, or find a park to cut across to get to your destination. Lateral thinking helps jump-start that process so we can solve the problem by moving A to G to M to Z to D instead.
ThinkTank: analog random word generator imagined by Edward de Bono | Mike Hepher Photo
“You can analyse the past, but you need to design the future.” –Edward de Bono
Edward De Bono, the psychologist who coined the term lateral thinking identified this jump-start as random stimulation. We typically try to block out all the things going on around us so we can focus on the task at hand, but in order to be good problem solvers we actually need some external stimuli which is why we work better with breaks. How often do we sit around a campfire to have a good think? The soothing flow of the flames is that random stimulation that allows our brain to relax and explore—to unfurl our troubles and let them flow away into the dark crevices of our mind where they find alternate paths to solution.
The poet who flips open a book and puts their finger down on a word, the band that uses an online word generator to pick a name, the artist who closes their eyes and flings paint at a canvas to start a painting: all are engaging in random stimulation to get themselves to new places, artistically.
These lateral connections are not voodoo, they are neurological science at a level beyond our current understanding: we don’t have to fear them. When we create a relaxing space to work in, and feed our brains a variety of stimuli, and give ourselves time for that potent mixture to stew, we will eventually find our way around the blockage.
Taxis are an important mode of transportation, but no one ever got anywhere interesting sitting in the back of a cab stuck in Manhattan traffic. So, kick open the door and let yourself be guided by your gut. You might not end up where you expected, but with some time and after hitting a few dead ends, you’ll end up somewhere a whole lot more fascinating.
Resources: Word Generator App: InspireMe (search Apple Store)
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BUSINESS, LIFESTYLE AND LEISURE
z MS Word Level 3 | February 7 z Wills, Powers of Attorneys | February 7 z Cultural Painting | February 10 z CORE Hunter Training | February 12 z Stir It Up Bartending | February 12 z Becoming a Home Herbalist | February 22 z Conversational Spanish | February 23 z MS Excel Bundle | February 23 z European Cheese | February 24 z Canadian Firearms Safety | February 26 z Indoor Growing of Cannabis | February 26 z Fast Track Outdoor Photography | February 27
The Ritual of Theatre
by Sadie Rosgen
and Sending Love from the Badlands
by Joe Vickers
When you plug the name Joe Vickers into your favourite search engine, you’ll learn that Joe is a punk rock folk musician who’s on seasonal rotation as both artist and farmer. You’ll learn that this travelling troubadour is a coffee roasting, story boasting legend who is as talented as he is kind, funny as he is charming, and as a father and friend, one of a kind. I wanted to engage Joe and have him put into words the connection he has with his audience when performing and I would do the same. As we swerve in and out of being allowed to perform live right now, how might this be affecting all of us who’ve mustered up the courage to engage with a live audience? This is what we came up with.
The Ritual of Theatre
by Sadie Rosgen
Chest heaving, lying down, breathing.
The lights hang ready above my gaze.
“The house is open,” a sotto whisper from a stage manager. My prowess and poise. For now. For money.
It’s my little bit of forever.
5 minutes now! My stomach, a crisis of nerves. Resurrecting my breath, the curtain unveils us, we begin.
Transportation by imagination: The ritual of theatre. Breathing each other as the story unfolds. Audience to actors.
As we end, our bows, discovering gratitude.
Sending Love from the Badlands
by Joe Vickers
The scent of a sharpie permeates the room, as I write the names of people, places and postal codes from near and afar.
Packaged inside a twelve by twelve vessel, my offerings await a needle, and await your ears.
In isolation, in the absence of ceremony, you graciously accept.
From Fernie to Hamburg, Halifax to Fort Worth, the couriers trace the course of my travels
A community so vast, compact and devoted, the music is our bond. My gratitude is endless.
As I write your name, I am reminded of what I long for: the late nights, the sweaty hugs, our voices unified in chorus. The many evenings cafes and basements became opera houses. A venue without a stage, nothing to separate audience from performer.
The concert, a conversation, a call and response, a dialogue we surrender to as we exchange our vulnerability and hold space for perspectives beyond our own.
The mediator is the melody of human emotions, spoken in the universal language I am fluent in, yet cannot read.
As I write your name, I become the ink for you to hold in your hands until we meet again.
Please check out Joe and his music at joevickersmusic.com
The Last Duel
by ANDREW VALLANCE
The Last Duel tells the story of a trial by combat between Sir Jean de Carrouges, Norman knight, and Jacques Le Gris, his squire, in the year 1386. The men had been best of friends, with de Carrouges naming Le Gris his son’s godfather, but after the two were invited into the court of Count Pierre d’Alençon, jealousy created a rift between them as Le Gris became d’Alençon’s favourite, rewarding him with land and wealth. While de Carrouges was away fighting in England, Le Gris took advantage of his absence and visited Marguerite de Carrouges. Marguerite accused Le Gris of raping her and her husband wanted revenge.
A decision was handed down by the Count Pierre d’Alençon, but de Carrouges believed that d’Alençon unfairly favoured Le Gris. De Carrouges then appealed the decision to King Charles VI and suggested that rather than proceeding to a criminal trial, he would challenge Le Gris to a trial by combat, a fight to the death in which the survivor would be deemed by God to be right in the matter. By 1386 trial by combat was no longer permitted, but after parliament could not determine who was guilty, the duel was allowed. Le Gris was knighted just prior to the duel so that the men would be equal before God, and the king forbade anyone from interfering in the duel. In addition, if de Carrouges lost the duel, his wife would be burned at the stake as punishment for her false accusation of Le Gris.
It was the last recorded duel in French history, and the case has become an important cultural legend. The guilt or innocence of its participants has been the source of great debate among historians and jurists. The film is based on a novel by Eric Jager. The script was written by Matt Damon, Ben Affleck and Nicole Holofcener, and it was directed by the legendary Ridley Scott. It is a grim, bleak, brutal tour de force that features Matt Damon as Jean de Carrouge and Adam Driver as Jacque Le Gris. Ben Affleck plays a minor role as Le Gris’ selfish, arrogant and undeniably aristocratic friend, Pierre d’Alençon. All are excellent in their roles.
Jodie Comer gives an Oscar winning performance as Marguerite de Carrouges, portraying her as an extremely intelligent and capable young woman who intellectually out matches most of the men in her life.
The story is told from three different perspectives. We see the events from de Carrouges’ point of view, secondly Le Gris’ point of view, and finally from the point of view of Marguerite herself. Unfortunately, this means that we are forced to watch a graphically depicted sexual assault twice, which, in my opinion, is an unnecessary artistic indulgence by Ridley Scott.
This is a well-crafted movie. The fight scene is well choreographed, with the sadism and nastiness of the duel itself rendered in excruciating detail. We are shown how dirty, both literally and figuratively, a duel would have been at the time.
This is not an easy film to watch, but I would absolutely recommend it. It shows how men are rewarded for heinous acts of violence, and how little things have changed over the last 600 years when it comes to dealing with the survivors of rape.
Two thumbs up.
