we loves our neighbourhood

yes we do.... and we love being part of the "capitalism and culture in the junction" exhibit at 3901 Dundas Street West... to learn more about this go to: http://capitalismandculture.wordpress.com/2010/08/01/hello-world/ last night we were part of a slow, and thoughtful conversation about the work, and about the exhibit, which Kim Jackson (a red wagon member!) curated and mounted....

we have been showing the work, and conversing about the work at various venues... and keeping up with the banner designs...  that in itself is an enormous part of this year's work. as well we find ourselves talking about the work in varied venues including Liverpool, UK! I was invited to a lovely conference and brought the wool, the needles, crochet hooks in order to bring the material life into the discussion of women, poverty, disability and homelessness.... And some of the ambivalence and uncertainty i feel as well, around this work... it is paradoxical to engage in the domestic arts with women denied any domestic pleasures - or perhaps not.

and today we had our community knit in at the gallery... a delightful afternoon with some folk joining in while others looked on through the windows... and tomorrow we knit hearts... and design banners....

Showing the work

We have exhibited the work in two venues - one, the Arts Festival in the community, and at a conference called "The Art of Public Health". Each has been rewarding for us and multiple conversations have been generated. The work of the quilt - when viewed in public becomes a complex metaphor - for the structural inequities that women who are insecurely and unhoused experience, as well as the gorgeous community that has been created over cups of tea. The quilt becomes performative. And this is something I must consider.... It performs the wish for the domestic as well as its denial in the lives of women living in shelters. But I will close with a wish that we bear witness to the words from the women, as quoted above.... 

"we are doing beautiful things here"

We are working toward the banners... half way to our goal with funding.... and it will feel good to have a project produced that has the potential to shift perceptions and attitudes.... there are misconceptions about who is homeless... and part of what this project is doing is attempting to understand more of the social inequities.

We hope the banners will draw people closer to the building.... to this community....

provisional banner design

The Feast

We are about to take a break for the summer months from the main work at the shelter. We will spend the time building community by having events like films in outside venues. And maybe a knit in or two... spontaneous.

The feast - it was indeed a feast! So much food. Many cooks in the kitchen with knives and bowls and kale and mango and goat and rice and oh-so-much-more. We cooked and ate for what seemed hours. When asked if I had brought my camera I said "no".  I did not stop to take photographs as documentation because I wanted to really just be there. I figured the documentation could be this writing.

Many of the women in the kitchen have not cooked their own food for years. They exist with limited choice over their food options - they have eaten what has been provided by shelters, soup kitchens, and food banks. This was different. We cobbled together a menu from different continents and made a grocery list. And a task list - some of the women did not want to cook a dish but wanted to just be in the kitchen helping out. Washing dishes, cutting vegetables, stirring pots. It didn't matter.

The smells of the preparation brought many of the workers through. They laughed and chatted with the women.

This group of women are awesome - I have been able to work alongside of them, individually and collectively and I remain uncertain as to why it takes years and decades to find housing. That will be a subject for later contemplation...

A beautiful hand knitted bicycle seat sweater made by one of the members of the art group. I think this would be a great item to sell at the Junction Arts Festival which is going to be all hand made arts and crafts this year.

"to be flying is not to be in it"

This is one of the women who spoke about flying and what it meant in her life. "To be flying is not to be in it". So simple and strong. For her to act as if flying was transformative and placed her "not in it".
I am so excited by this work, and so happy when I go to visit and make art. Art becomes this wonderful circle, where, at times, the actual making occurs between us, through conversation.... And then I think of all of the wonderful feminist, conceptual artists...

Yesterday was a day of comic errors. I had baked muffins but did not have the key (turns out it was in my possession)... Showed up with the idea that we could at least eat muffins, if nothing else. We tracked down a worker who was kind enough to open a cupboard and the kitchen - so we had tea with our snack. And some beads. But this gave us also an extended period of time in which we could really begin to explore the banner production.

This is a sneak preview of the banner again! We will show snippets over the next weeks. Thanks!

someday is not any day of the week

We are working on a group of flying women! the women have been so amazing - taking poses with their arms in the air - getting ready for flight! And then I do a bit of digital magic so that we can eventually place them on a banner. Stay tuned to this space as we get ready to produce our first banner with this community of women.

Visit to the Art Gallery of Ontario

I don't have a photograph to represent our trip to the Art Gallery of Ontario. Perhaps the image would be of the muffins I baked in advance of the trip. Or the beautiful blue sky. Or sitting on the corner waiting for the bus. Perhaps a collage would work.... as we encountered the work of Kenyan born artist Wengechi Mutu. One of the women who came on the trip was Kenyan! So it was a moment of sheer delight. Big thanks to the AGO for a delightful afternoon of immersion in colour, shape, feeling.

Instead I put up one of the banner mockups - a work in progress collage made up of some of the work done. These are not the kind of colours I often work in but they resonate with what we are doing down in the interior of an anonymous building.... Not so anonymous once these get placed outside!

Here is one of our works in progress,

affectionately known as the "crazy quilt." the saying goes "every stitch tells a story." This quilt will keep growing, and in the meantime we are figuring out the technical details of mounting it....