11 minute read
ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT
kevin frank
Art for me first and foremost is about processing, it always has been whether or not I realized it. It would be a stretch to say that when I started painting in high school, I was aware of this but at this point in my career it is a unifying truth within my work. When I say processing I suppose what I mean is using the act of creation, the simple movement of painting or the intention behind selecting a colour palette as a way of visualizing difficult feelings. The process of creating art to me is cathartic and provides not necessarily solutions to my own mental health, but rather an avenue for recognizing emotions. Being a primarily self-taught artist up until my decision to attend an undergraduate program in 2017, I have never considered my work to be pretty or polished, nor do I intend it to be. Through my education I was given the opportunity to experiment with a variety of mediums and ideas in conjunction with mentors pushing me to explore concepts which held incredible value for me. With this experience I have attempted to distill my self reflection regarding my own mental health into a visual language as a way to describe and further explore emotions which I often find difficult to discuss.
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As luck would have it this visual language came easily to me as I was able to take concepts I had been using for years and imbue them with new meaning and direction. From when I started painting more seriously in 2012 I have constantly repeated a certain form or character which was derived from an interest in the characters often seen in the work of graffiti artists. My first few years of painting were spent obsessing over colourful, cleanly drawn, renderings of aliens, robots, mutated rats and basically anything non-human. These characters, while they held little to no overt meaning have provided me with a platform to build upon for over a decade all the while changing and morphing constantly. These characters as they are presented today have become an alphabet of sorts to use as a way of visually describing a distinct mental state. The forms are no longer clean and controlled but oftentimes messy and scattered as I have tried to
abstract upon the same idea I have always been using. Each time I approach work in this way I feel more connected to the characters I am presenting, I feel more strongly about the paintings I am creating, and I feel as if my work has a sense of purpose and direction. I feel proud to have the opportunity to share these parts of me and to contribute to and include others in a conversation surrounding my own mental health in hopes it will inspire others to find ways in which they feel comfortable exploring the topic, both in art and anything else they may be doing. For more on Kevin’s work, visit kevinfrankart.com. This September, his gallery show Internalize will be on display at the Arts Station - a ‘collection of work that utilizes a distinct visual language to communicate the artist’s mental state.’
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Including All in Our Community Hub
by JESSICA BOZOKY
Fernie is diverse by nature and inclusive by choice. As a community we not only welcome but encourage others to spend quality time in our mountainous backyard. We embrace those who have come to visit, and those who decided to stay. I write from a personal place as much as I write for the community hub in which I work, the Fernie Heritage Library (FHL). Within the open minds, supportive arms, and challenging curiosity of Fernie, we grow.
This creative, naturally breathtaking space of welcoming, progressive, and just people is the bedrock of our community. As a public institution, FHL is responsible for supporting this community in a way that respects diversity and fosters inclusion. One of the ways we do this is by amplifying all voices; diverse through cultures, ethnicities, social classes, ages, gender identities, sexual orientations, physical and mental health, beliefs, education, and more resources.
Advancing inclusive environments means challenging censorship and giving all the opportunity to be heard. While these inclusive materials, programs, and services may not be universally popular, it is our responsibility to provide access to all points of view. If what you’re looking for isn’t in our home collection, we can arrange an Inter-Library Loan, or search our array of databases for more.
We strive to deliver services which affirm the dignity of those we serve. To ensure our patrons can enjoy the services we offer, we do not attempt to impose financial restrictions. In both our online and physical presence, we try to be inclusive of all in the language, tone, and imagery we use, the services we provide, the content in our collection, and in our physical space. We may not always get it right, but we are open ears to community feedback.
To further accessibility and inclusion during the pandemic we shifted from inperson events to an online platform. This is something we will continue to support and explore, intertwining both in the future. Social distancing also led to Curbside Pick-Up, a popular service we continue to provide where patrons can call, email or place holds online for us to prepare materials for pick-up during business hours. This service is also available by email for printing.
Collaborating with community partners is another way we further our inclusive environment. Working with the Fernie Pride Society, the Columbia Basin Alliance of Literary, the Fernie Women’s Resource Centre, the Fernie Arts Station, the Ktunaxa Nation, and many more organizations. We support inclusive opportunities for our patrons as we offer creative programs and services that foster respect, inclusivity, and accessibility.
From students and lifelong learners, to casual readers and those who simply need a comfortable space to just be, all are welcome and supported at FHL. Even when our doors are closed, our virtual Library is accessible via Libby, and we offer 24/7 wifi in the garden, a Stick Library for pets, and sheltered seating. This is our community hub, and you are all welcome.
Illustration By Pruthvi Harshan. Visit ferniefix.com to find the full size black and white illustration to colour in!
“As a public institution, Fernie Heritage Library is responsible for supporting this community in a way that respects diversity and fosters inclusion.” Share The Nuggets
Inclusive language is one way we can practice daily inclusivity. When greeting a group of people avoid assumptions by using terms such as: friends, folks, y’all, or gang. If you’re unsure of someone’s pronoun, introduce yours first to create a comfortable platform for them to share. What other ways can we practice being inclusive? Share your thoughts with us: information@fernieheritagelibrary.com
Grow Up You, Grow Up Me
by MICHAEL HEPHER
Every artist knows that having the right tools gives you the best chance at creating a successful piece of art. Painting oils with water colour brushes does not give good results. Carving a linocut with a butter knife is useless. Additionally, the proper tool wielded improperly can be dangerous. If you’ve ever taken a printmaking workshop with me, you’ll have heard me say (repeatedly), “Don’t carve toward yourself.” But how do we know what the right tools are, and how do we figure out how to use them? We educate ourselves.
Passion begets curiosity, which in turn stokes the fires of learning as it motivates us to seek knowledge, evaluate it, test it and apply it. From there we keep or discard it based on our own work. Apply a blob of colour, a pencil stroke, or shave away a curl of wood—then stop and evaluate. Is it helping or hurting? Is it moving closer to the vision or farther away?
I like to think of Fernie as a big canvas— each of us holding a brush ready to create a masterpiece. Together we decide what colour goes where. Which line connects which shape. We can choose to carefully apply our marks, or we can elbow our way in and splash red across the middle with little regard for everyone else’s corner. We can move together and foster unity, or we can throw our hands up and watch the division grow.
It can be frustrating to go through the official channels of feedback, and the temptation is to jump onto Facebook and lash out. Social media is a powerful tool for engaging people, pulling heart strings, and rallying change but with power, as they say, comes responsibility. We have to remember that Fernie is a small town—that all of us are neighbours at some level. We come from diverse backgrounds, a variety of countries, and subscribe to a myriad of different philosophies. Moving forward in a small space with this rag-tag bunch takes some grace and compassion, and Facebook is rarely the best tool for exercising grace and compassion.
It’s too easy in this faceless world of social media to feel anonymous or protected from consequence, but the truth is our opinions are broadcast further, our comments read more often, and social consequences greater. It’s easy to forget that the person on the other side is a real person, a neighbour, trying to do their job or just having a bad day. Finding our way forward as a community sometimes means putting down the axe and picking up a brush.
As we navigate this strange time, emerging from one of the more confusing eras in modern memory, all of us are feeling tender and edgy. I know from being a parent of teenagers that when I’m on edge my tendency is to take my anxiety out on my kids, but it’s not really fair. It’s my burden, not theirs. So too in our little town, as we relearn to live elbow to elbow, to share space literally and figuratively, we may have to take some deep breaths before speaking. We may have to relearn which tools are the appropriate ones for creating positive change. Our instinct might be to tear down, to criticize, to stand inflexibly in our ideals, but the truth is that none of us live alone—we need each other. If we are keen to keep our community growth pointed on an upward arc, we need to find the right tools and apply them with tact, dignity, and grace for each other.
Our family, our business, our lives have been invested in this place for ten years now. It’s been a wonderful, wild decade. We’ve been honoured to see Fernie grow
All Kinds of Beauty Mural, Photo by V Croome
and change, sometimes in fits and starts, as we sidle along cheering and encouraging. In the past few months I’ve seen first-hand and heard tell of more conflict and division than I’ve ever seen here before. I’d love to see us turn back to the spirit I’ve seen—the one I tried to capture in the mural All Kinds of Beauty. A space for all of us. Each one with a voice and a contribution. A community masterpiece in progress.
To create that masterpiece, let’s set down the tools that divide, and learn to use the tools that build. Take a second to smile, to care, and to try to see what’s going on for our neighbour before calling them out. Let’s try to let everyone do their jobs and use tact and compassion to engage accountability. In the words of Bruce Cockburn, “grow up you, grow up me, grow together.”
Breathe deep everyone. It looks like we may have made it through the toughest part of this pandemic relatively unscathed. Let’s celebrate that resiliency and keep working together to complete the big picture for our little town. ELK VALLEY FURNITURE
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