Yorkton This Week Seniors 2023-04-26

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...For Seniors and about Seniors

New gallery show two years in the making

By Calvin Daniels Staff Writer

A new exhibition; ‘Belong Where You Find Yourself’ is now showing at the Godfrey Dean Art Gallery in Yorkton.

The exhibition offers a wide of range of different artworks created by a group of local artists and craftspeople working collaboratively and individually across drawing, painting, photography, film making, storytelling, music, musical theatre, wood working, sculpture, and fabric art.

“Showing together as a group exhibition, the collection tells many different stories from people in our community, and it is itself an artistic statement about life, family, love, and belonging. Lead artists Alana Moore and Amber Phelps Bondaroff have been working for over a year with a group of 12 local artists whose lives have been impacted by dementia, accompanying an artistic process to tell their stories and share their creativity. The result is multidisciplinary and multi-generational, with a range of artistic interests and forms of expression,” details the gallery website.

The show is a multiyear project curated

and produced by the Godfrey Dean Art Gallery, with assistance from Dementia Supports in Rural Saskatchewan and the Government of Canada’s New Horizons for Seniors Program, in addition to support from the City of Yorkton, Alzheimer’s Society of Saskatchewan, University of Regina, SPHERU, Yorkton Film Festival, and SK Arts.

The Gallery launched the project some 18-months ago to provide people with dementia an avenue to sharing their stories through art.

The project put 12 people with dementia together with two professional artists who guided the participants for a year of art creation, explained Jeff Morton, Gallery director and curator.

The idea was for the two visiting artists to help the local participants “express themselves and tell their stories,” explained Morton in a previous Yorkton This Week article on the launch of the project.

The show includes works by local artists Elaine Berard & Herb

Elder; Bonnie & Leon Jones; Merle & Dean Wiley; Amanda Babey & Verna Off; Pat & Ron Walton; Twila Napoleoni & Jeanette Haberstock.

The work on display was supported and encouraged over the past year by lead artists Alana Moore and Amber Phelps Bondaroff, who strived to meet people exactly where they were, at the time of each meeting.

“We embarked on this journey in March 2022. Some of the artists participating in the project knew each other prior, while others met for the first time over the last year. They all share a number of things in common. They call southeastern Saskatchewan home and are navigating the challenges of Alzheimer’s and dementia, either for themselves

or a loved one,” detailed a lead artist statement on the Gallery website.

Dementia is an umbrella term for the loss of memory, language, problem-solving, and other thinking abilities.

Alzheimer’s is the most common among many forms of dementia, and symptoms may present themselves in a variety of ways. While Alzheimer’s is at the forefront of biomedical research, there is no cure, and much is still unknown about its causes and prevention. Currently, over 18,000 people in Saskatchewan are impacted by dementia, although in reality there may be many more, as the disease often goes undiagnosed.

From March 20222023, Amber and Alana visited Yorkton and surrounding communities

on a monthly basis, meeting all of the participating artists in their homes.

“At other times we met as a group at the gallery, or individually, sitting in kitchens, living rooms, and workshops to share stories, family photos, and cups of tea. Sometimes we drew, sang songs, sewed, and shared skills. Usually, we laughed, sometimes we cried and most importantly we got to know each other through shared acts of creative exploration,” noted the statement.

“While the artists in this exhibition share a common diagnosis, they are defined by so much more than a disease. As the title suggests, lead artists strived to meet people exactly where they were, at the time of each meeting. We developed individual projects collaboratively rather than prescribing one activity or medium to everyone in the group. This process centered conversation, listening, and getting to know one another, while attempting to remain in the present moment. We explored existing interests, hobbies, and talents, while gently encouraging deeper explorations of what was already there. Our plans inevitably shifted with the passing of each month and each moment. The present moment is a slippery thing, fleeting, and everchanging.”

The work in this exhibition is the culmination of a year spent building relationships and resiliency.

“Over time spent meeting and making together, we have learned so much about and from one another. Through creative acts and explorations, we fostered, forged, and fortified relationships, bound by common experience.

“What you see in the gallery are the visual representations of these processes of care and community building; the artworks are accessories to the relationships fostered through their making. We hope that the network of support we have forged continues to thrive, well beyond the physical and temporal framework of this exhibition.”

on

Works from a new exhibition; ‘Belong Where You Find Yourself’.

Submitted Photos

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From the outset of the project the exhibition was seen as one to amplify the voices of the artists in telling their stories associated with dementia.

Calling the initiative

“a community engaged art project,” Morton

said it is hoped the effort will “reduce the stigma associated with dementia.”

It is hoped through the project the public will reflect on belonging where you find yourself, he added.

“We may not be able to change the course of

any one person’s diagnosis,” said Morton. “What we can do is address the marginalizing effect.

Morton said now that the art is complete and on display it has become very much a legacy for the participants, their friends and family.

Belong Where You

Find Yourself is a community-engaged art project for people whose lives have been impacted by dementia. This project at the Godfrey Dean Art Gallery is part of a collaborative effort with organizations across the province. Working under the

umbrella of Dementia Supports in Rural Saskatchewan, we share a goal to increase public awareness and reduce stigma associated with dementia.

The exhibition, will hang at the GDAG until May 23, and in the future Morton said plans are

being developed to take the works out into public locations and neighbouring communities in the coming months.

A documentary of the project is also being finalized.

A reception will take place Sunday, May 7, 1:00 - 4:00 p.m.

Health care, SIS program hot topics at cabinet Bear Pit at SUMA

By John Cairns, SASKTODAY.ca

REGINA - Health

care, trade, municipal election dates and the Saskatchewan Income Support program were among the popular topics as cabinet ministers took questions from municipal leaders at the final day of the Saskatchewan Urban Municipalities Convention on Wednesday.

The Bear Pit session with the provincial cabinet had to be adjusted somewhat due to weather conditions. With a springtime winter storm wreaking havoc on travel, most of the provincial cabinet including Premier Scott Moe appeared virtually from the radio room of the Legislature in Regina. A smaller number including Government Relations Minister Don McMorris appeared live in Saskatoon at TCU Place.

A wide range of issues were raised but the one which drew the most comments from the floor was on the Saskatchewan Income Support program. Several municipal delegates went to the microphones in Saskatoon and took aim at the program, saying it was responsible for causing an increase to homelessness.

Councillor David Kirton from Saskatoon made the point the increase seen in the budget in 2023 was not enough to keep people off the streets.

“$30 a month is not going to help people housed or stay housed,” said Kirton. He asked if SIS would return with direct payments to landlords and guaranteed utility payments.

Jordan McPhail of La Ronge also raised the SIS issue and took issue with the contention that SIS “was the plan to help people move from tent cities to shelters. When we are hearing time and time again from these people at these tables that SIS is contributing to that, you can’t expect them to believe that SIS is going to be part of that solution.”

Minister of Social Services Gene Makowsky was left to defend what the government was doing on SIS in his responses. On direct pay, he said that “we’ve listened and we’ve been able to increase direct

pay for those who need it.”

On McPhail’s point, Makowsky responded it was a “complex issue and complex challenge that is seen right across our nation,” pointing to an increase in shelter spaces in the province, to 500 from 225 when they took government. He also pointed to being able to provide wellness centres with wraparound supports, and also partnerships through Sask Housing Corporation with third parties.

Health care delivery was, as usual, a popular topic. As expected, one of the issues raised was on what the government was doing beyond financial incentives to get doctors into rural communities.

Minister of Health Paul Merriman pointed to bringing in nurses, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, and again pointed to incentives in place for chronically vacant positions up to $50,000. “If the municipality or town and the community want to complement that they are more than welcome to do that.”

He also pointed to the benefits seen already from their four point health care plan, pointing to recruiting efforts including the 420 conditional offers to Filipino health workers.

“We’re making some significant investments and we’re starting to see the benefits of that.

People are landing on the ground and filling in the gaps in our health care system.”

Other related issues were raised. Mayor Nancy Brunt from Kamsack asked about personal care homes dealing with inflation and low wages for staff. “An increase of $400 is not sufficient for our residents to pay fees and leave them with anything for spending money.”

She suggested increasing it up to $3,000. Makowsky noted there was a 20 per cent increase in the budget and said this was something they would look at over time. Both he and Minister of Rural and Remote Health Everett Hindley noted this was the first increase in quite some time.

“We’ll continue to monitor this situation,” Hindley said.

Unity Mayor Sharon Del Frari wanted to know why SHA continued to tender out their pharmacy services for long term care, pointing to

the closing of some of the pharmacies in their rural area.

Minister Hindley responded the government had made changes, so “essentially if there’s a community with a health care facility and there is only one pharmacy there, that’s a pharmacy that contract would be sole sourced through that pharmacy.” For those with more than one,it would need to be a competitive open process.

Mayor Greg Dionne of Prince Albert asked about the issue of the fixed municipal election date, which currently is set in November within weeks of the provincial election date. He suggested a meeting involving SARM, SUMA and the province to settle the issue.

Minister McMorris said “if SARM and SUMA are in a room and want to hammer out an agreement we’ll have some people there.” McMorris added that he wanted to see a single date recommended by all involved.

Resort Village of Cochin Mayor Harvey Walker asked if the government would start charging school tax to provincial park tenants and pay those to Education.

Minister McMorris said he would get back to him with an answer, while Finance Minister Donna Harpauer noted the issue had been raised a number of times; “we’ll continue to review it for sure,” she said.

The trade video used to market Saskatchewan on trade missions around the world, which was shown to SUMA delegates earlier in the week, was put on blast by Councillor Tony Head of Prince Albert for not showing Indigenous people in the video.

Head asked how they could tell the Saskatchewan story

“highlighting its natural resources and land without including its Indigenous people.”

Minister of Trade and Export Development

Jeremy Harrison responded by noting they had done a number of other videos including with Indigenous representation, noting in particular the one with Meadow Lake Tribal Council about their biomass-bio energy facility. Harrison also pointed to initiatives to help spur Indigenous involvement, noting the government put forward the Indigenous Investment Finance Corporation which he said was a $75 million fund to support Indigenous governments and businesses to participate directly in an equity way on resource, electrical and other projects.

The SUMA bear pit session had to come virtually from Regina due to a major winter storm that kept the cabinet at the Legislature that day.