Inspirations : Winter 2017
“The most demanding part of living a lifetime as an artist is the strict discipline of forcing oneself to work steadfastly along the nerve of one’s own most intimate sensitivity.” – Anne Truitt, sculptor. Quote from The Writing Life, the agonies of process, and a New Year’s Resolution.
//
7:49 am sunrise, hwy 401 (rideshare took the shot, not to worry).
//
Action painting inspired after 11 year hiatus (thanks {un}frozen gesso/canvas found in shed). 1 less couch = more space in magic. Spread wings, stay tender, all you singing birds.
//
on faith
she says
tonight, photos of
stella pierrette & yvonne thérèse
taped to mirror
hours before dream time.
southern auntie
dropping pearly wisdom
just when they are
needed and acknowledged
patterns faced
daily, at play
within power struggles.
time to up it
just a notch
I’ve had a
what’s the opposite of crisis?
of faith
the need to face
determined
next steps
new strategies
amidst patterns
we hold
in memory and cell
she says
i’ve had to face a lot of struggle lately
the election,
my brother’s health,
and now women’s rights
i have a picture of my mom on my mirror
through inner work, patterns shift
the ones i share w my blood
she persevered through it all
whether i believe it or not
yet she didn’t have the choices
of the daughters of our generation
the voices of our today
she says
so i do my healing for her
and for the unborn ones
my memory
water
born
again
ERM
1.25.2017
Ongoing thoughts on lineage, continued from a piece about my maternal grandmother, named L’Éxtase (2010).
//
« I wonder about language with its raw frayed fringes delicately trying to express spirit as each word drips from lips to rest in blank spaces between us. » Lee Maracle. Calling it a night. Layer three.
//
34 today. Spent with a long-time friend at rural studio, drawing, dreaming, renewing batteries. Here’s to waaaay more days like this in 2017!! Thanks so much for the tender beeday wish waves. Feeling gratitude to have such good creatures in my life. Thanks Kat for the gift of you, all the way from Montreal to share my rebirth day ♡
^ Kat at work on a new textile print. — with Katrin Leblond.
//
Women artists respond to ancient Arabic poem in new show: Promoting love through art: unapologetic declarations of excellent women. more please.
//
Chimeda – Paddling together: Community-based reconciliation, in a canoe. A project close to my heart. We’re planning another paddle in June. We hope sister projects spring up from all corners to keep community-based reconciliation flowing forward. Feel free to share, or reach out for ideas on getting a paddle going on a body of water near you.
//
Natural pigment mural with the kids from the wee school of Poltimore, Qc. Entire student body = 32 kids (grades 1-6). It’s been a balm. 3 days of colour mess, drawing and stories. Truly sweet people to spend time with. Ever grateful to Quebec’s Culture in the Schools Program.
//
January was the month I lost over 10 years of data. Emotional cost aside, the value of time and money this represents is in the 100 thousands. My life is based on images (sound, text, video). I have given 150% everything I have to the past 10 years, and the sheer feeling of invisibility leaves me feeling vulnerable as fuck. I am reviewing many things in my life and some answers continue to be found in two things: presence and persistence. I welcome visits for tea or alcohol.
//
//
10 years later, and edition II has sprouted forth! Revisiting some memories from a very precious collection and important snapshot in time. Thanks to the archives my friend and collaborator has kept alive through tireless hours of skillful editing. Christine Prefontaine (@Facilitating Change) you rock.
//
belated beeday gift from a brother like no other. reminder questions: what is struggle, honour…what can life be as we re-build from the impacts of colonialism…as we trust emotional body and are challenged to re-create the tools from the inside for an entirely new scaffolding, for a future awaiting form.
My part time job is teaching English as a second language, and for the next ten weeks, I’m getting a license to teach French as a second language….but….what about Environmental justice as a second language?
//
James Baldwin – The Artist’s Struggle for Integrity (Full Recording) « …nothing, none of it belongs to you. You can only have it by letting it go. You can only take if you are prepared to give, and giving is not an investment. It is not a day at the bargain counter. It is a total risk of everything, of you and who you think you are, who you think you’d like to be, where you think you’d like to go — everything, and this forever, forever. »
//
light through night repeat
dream stirs above, we below
constellations rest
//
echo, first language
or, is silent trace the word
this place recalls We
or, is silent trace the word
this place recalls We
//
still day, solar churn
frames for spring begin on white
four sapling beauties
frames for spring begin on white
four sapling beauties
//
Today, more beauties
Tears well from freshly skinned spines
Six wild turkeys watch
Tears well from freshly skinned spines
Six wild turkeys watch
//
how to say thank you
in water? one way, we walk
outaouais to creek
in water? one way, we walk
outaouais to creek
//
to begin again…thoughts morphing w feelings of solidarity for the water protectors, the ones who speak up, the children, our respective rebellions, the ones too perfect for this world, the deep thinkers of stars, the listeners of now, the beautiful singing birds, the medicine, the spark holders, the stories being uncovered, the stories being told anew, the beginnings…https://vimeo.com/79076989(via Leanne Betasamosake Simpson)
//
« Ma mère est au bord du fou rire. On se lève pour partir. Pas de merci, de personne. On ne dit jamais merci pour le bon diner, ni bonjour ni au revoir ni comment ça va, on ne se dit jamais rien » -Marguerite Duras, L’Amant. Layer 5. No idea what the eff I’m doing, but sanity must be the impetus..
//
nerding out: Montreal’s Lost Rivers – What Maps Can (and Can’t) Tell Us
//
Montreal today for consignment catch up. DIY publications on land art/guerilla gardens and a sprout growing guide will be replenishing some shelves around town // Livraison de ‘zines et publications indépendent sur le land art/les jardins clandestins, ainsi qu’une guide sur la culture des pousses vont être de retour à travers la ville aux endroits suivants : Drawn & Quarterly; l’Insoumise – anarchist bookstore; Centre Clark; Monastiraki; Librairie Formats; Concordia Co-op book store; Cafe Atomic à Hochelaga.
TITLES:
– Sprout Guide, Manifesta of Local Sustenance, 2007.
– Guide sur la culture des pousses, manifesta pour une subsistance à échelle humaine, 2007.
– Occupy the Streets with Land Art & Guerilla Gardens, 2015.
– Occupons les rues avec les jardins clandestins et land art, 2015.
Contact me directly if you’d like some sent your way by mail!
//
Just picked up our camp posters! Stoked about this partnership with Ottawa Art Gallery & Odawa Native Friendship Centre. These bbs are going up across town, so if you know wee ones that would benefit from a magical cultural experience on the land this July, spread the word and send ’em our way. Spots will go fast! w Carol Goodman @100 Mile Farm: http://www.ottawaartgallery.ca/summer-camps-2017
//
Found my mother Stella’s mythic heart-shaped quarry today, finally. Saved a pink rock for my brother. @Sainte-Rose de Lima, Qc. Ongoing research on lineage, continued from a piece about my maternal grandmother, named L’Éxtase (2010).
//
« Power will always be in the people’s hands as long as we remember to claim it. Every day, gesture, song, thought, gathering. Staying woven, spirit tight to home. » – E.R.M.
