With the January 12, 2010 devastating earthquake in Haiti, greater awareness of its arts and culture has been raised, as well as great continued need for relief around the world. Brilliant colors ranging from foods, vegetable markets and landscapes characterize much of the folk art from Haiti. Decorative design themes bring in story-telling, oral history, music and dance as well as the deep sea and stars in the night sky. Also, “Haitian Steel Drum Sculpture” made from recycled oil drums provide sustainable incomes for families and their communities. Dr. Lycia Trouton provides an in-depth look into this unique Haitian art, crafitivism made from oil barrels.

According to research by Actuary Gail E. Tverberg, “Haiti consumes 12,000 barrels of oil a day in 2008, all of which is imported—[There is] no natural gas or coal…” Craftivism art is made out of these same barrels, which would otherwise be lying around in landfills!

“Haiti’s per capita energy consumption is about one fifth as much as India’s and about 1/17 as much as China’s. It is about 1/22 as much as the world average… Unlike the world, Haiti’s per capita electricity consumption has not been growing. Its per capita electrical consumption is now less than half of the level it was in the mid 1980s.” Tvergerg, January 2010, from 1980 – 2006 statistics, based on the E.I.A’s International Energy Statistics.

How are the oil drums made into art?

These discarded steel drum are ecologically recycled to create craftivism art creations: wonderful artistic circular design-cut-outs, such as you see here in this photo. For example, in 1990, a multinational group of entrepreneurs and Caribbean craftivist art movement, calling themselves “Drexco”, has promoted this artistic tradition. In the process they are helping make more career options for Haitians living in poverty, with few work options, let alone artistic ‘quality-of-life’ luxuries! Our readers might consider buying one of these circular Haitian craftivist designs in the aftermath of The Quake, to help re-build the lives of artists there.

The drums are burnt to get rid of any residue, then the rounded end or cylindrical long sheet part of the barrel are hammered flat and, finally, a design is hand-drawn and then cut and chiseled and hammered out fully.

This “folk” art seems to be made by both men and women, and it emerged during the mid-1900s. It was attributed to a Croix-des-Bouquets blacksmith-for-graveside crosses, Georges Liautaud. An international artist-entrepreneur DeWitt Peters opened a Centre d’Art in Port-au-Prince with local blacksmith Liautaud and a small group of craftivist sculptors. Croix-des-Bouquets has since become known as a creative center for Haiti sculpture and craftivism. Later this type of artwork become popular, globally, through web-based sales, since the advent of the high-speed internet and e-social networking.

In conclusion, artistrun.org advocates helping Haitians in their time of greatest need and commemorating this difficult period with an oil drum craftivist artwork. This art is ideal for hanging outdoors on your patio. Just be sure to varnish them annually.

As well, you might consider how:

“Other supplemental approaches for employment and fuel /electricity [can help Haiti:] Solar ovens …so as to cut back on the need for wood or charcoal for cooking. Perhaps some donations of solar PV would help”, such as providing charging for cell phones (Tverberg 2010). Additionally, artistrun.org is a co-promoter for the upcoming “One World Haiti Art Show and Fundraiser”:

One World Haiti Fundraiser at Science World May 1

Greater Vancouver area artists are invited for submission in a large-scale group exhibit with 60 artists held May 1, 2010 called One World Haiti Art Show and Fundraiser. Artists who are interested in promoting their photography, painting, sculptures, or any other visual mediums are welcome to apply. The event is a partial fundraiser for Haiti relief funds and will be held at Science World in Vancouver, BC. Artists will have the opportunity to show and sell work to a large audience and be a part of helping those struck by the disaster in Haiti.

For more information on One World, visit http://artistrun.org/2010/03/02/haiti/

ENDNOTES/REFERENCES:

http://www.theoildrum.com/node/6168 and http://gailtheactuary.wordpress.com/ accessed March 4 2010
http://www.buydominica.com/Haitian-Steel-Drum-Art-From-Discarded-Metal-a604.html © 2008 This Site is Designed, Developed and Promoted by HUNTSVILLE Web Design, accessed March 4 2010
http://haitiansteeldrums.com/13/angel-trumpet-duet-haitian-steel-drum-wall-art-34-x-34/ accessed March 4 2010
http://ethnicarts.com/metal-haitian-steel-drum-cutouts-c-11_37 accessed March 4 2010
http://giftsoflife.org/recycled_steel_drum_art_from_haiti.html accessed March 4 2010

According to Dr. Lycia Trouton, this article does not adhere to academic standards of integrity and she means this article as a public relations note only for artistrun.org, March 2010. It is not intended for copy other than for artistrun.org et. al. charity fundraising purposes.

Dr. Lycia Trouton (b. Belfast) is a sculptor, arts interviewer/presenter-writer/critic and educator. She works internationally. By 1991, at age 24, she had obtained her MFA in sculpture at one of the top graduate schools in the USA, Cranbrook (est. 1932), cited by the New York Times magazine as having a profound effect “on the physical environment of this country…Cranbrook, surely more than any other institution, has a right to think of itself as synonymous with contemporary American design (Goldberger, P. 1984)”. After a decade of working as a site-sculptor and educator in N. America, she migrated to Australia, obtaining her Doctorate in 2006. She was then was selected to train as a TV presenter-interviewer at the infamous National Academy of Dramatic Arts (N.I.D.A.) in Sydney. Trouton’s regional radio arts program, ”Kick in the Arts!” will air on 103.7 City Park Radio, Launceston in April.

Dr. Lycia Trouton is Head of Art and Design Theory, School of Visual and Performing Arts (SPVA), University of Tasmania (UTAS).

Dr. Lycia Trouton www.smartcraftivism.com www.speakercontemporaryart.com
http://www.acadarts.utas.edu.au/?q=node/176

Liza J. Lee is the Co-founder and Blogger for Artistrun ArtConverge.

© 2010 ArtConverge (ISSN 1918-9273‏)

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Opening reception: Fri March 5, 7 – 10pm with performance by Bree Switzer at 8pm | Artist Talk & Community Dress Building Workshop: Sat March 6, 4 – 6pm
(In celebration of International Women’s Day, www.internationalwomensday.com)

Stages of death, separation, and renewal are core themes uniting Deb Thompson’s three bodies of work opening at Gallery Gachet on March 5th.

Coming Forth By Day, a title taken from her research into Egyptian mythology and specifically the Egyptian Book of the Dead which captured her curatorial attention in a project called, SALT: the distillation of matter, which included the work of two Vancouver artists, Haruko Okano and Nicole Dextras. The installation consists of four stations which are intended to be seen as various stages of transformation as we journey through the underworld. The construction of a dress form – a metaphor for the body – is central to the installation. Thompson’s overt laborious and repetitive process of the stitching of hand sized pieces of bees waxed encased rice paper into life sized garments in what she refers to as, re-membering the body both somatically and psychologically echoes the journey of Isis in the throws of her longing for the dismembered body of Osiris. This longing Thompson says, is something all humans share and desire speaks to this need for uniting what has been separated.

Supplementing the dresses is her altar piece sculpture, Memorables. This piece is veiled and upon opening reveals the horizontal body of a dead woman covered in burrs. Thompson created this piece as part of a community art project through the Oxygen Art Centre which paired artists with social agencies. Thompson worked with ANKORS the region AIDS service agency to create an altar commentating the difficult pain of loss and grief as a result of the death of a loved one from AIDS. Her choice of burrs to cover that body act as a metaphor for the AIDS virus and for the stigmas associated with the virus.

The third and final part of her Gachet exhibit consists of paintings selected from her series, The Maternal Body: The Paradox of Desire, which first began when Thompson found a dead mother squirrel on the road one day while out walking. She picked her up to move her off the road and felt such an urgency towards her that she took her home to paint her. This work holds personal meaning for her about her relationship to the maternal as well as bringing awareness to our culture’s relationship to the feminine and specifically the maternal aspect of the feminine. Our cultural rejection of the feminine in its deepest form is the tension and pathos of this work. The paradox of this rejection is the desire for the maternal matrix which supports and brings forth life.

Thompson grew up in Toronto where she split her time between the city and the northern woods. She graduated from the Ontario College of Art and Design in 1984 and since then has lived in various locations throughout the west including Missoula, Montana where she did her M.F.A. in painting. She now makes her home in Nelson, B.C where she has her studio, works as a curator and is raising her daughter. Her paintings have shown in solo shows around the interior, but this is the first time her sculptural installation work will be shown in Vancouver.

Building a Community Dress

This is a great opportunity for people to contribute to the building of a community dress. For the duration of the exhibit a dress station will be present, for people in the local community to stitch another piece onto a communal dress. Come to the artist talk and dress building workshop on Saturday March 6th and learn the intricate art of stitching hide like beeswax encased rice paper.

The creation of the community dress can be seen both as a healing ritual, and a meditation on embodiment. Reflecting on the project Coming Forth by Day as a recognition of the stages of transformation or change necessary for healing, the journey that is an integral part of growth for both the individual and community. The tactile aspect of the process, the holding of natural materials and the sewing of pieces together act as a binding and bridging metaphor for making what is separate whole. That this separateness is the root of the longing we all experience that moves us continually towards wholeness or union. And in acknowledging and working with this longing we can foster compassion for one another and ourselves. This process of physical remembering is an act of giving voice to the physical suffering of the Missing Women in Vancouver whose lives were taken. And to all women (and sentient beings) who are suffering and wish to move towards an integrated wholeness and healing. The image of the dress is a symbol of multiple meanings, that of the feminine with in all of us, that of the female body from which we were all born, that of our own bodies and that of the body of the earth in which we are interdependent of.

Do not miss this invitation to play a hand in creating this symbol of beauty, loss and renewal! The dress will be paraded in next year’s Women’s Memorial March on Feb 14th. This is also an event to celebrate International Women’s Day 2010 on March 8th.

Media Contact: Lara Fitzgerald, Programming Director, programming@gachet.org
Lara Fitzgerald
Programming Director
Gallery Gachet
88, East Cordova Street
t: 604 687 2468
f: 604 687 1196
programming@gachet.org
www.gachet.org

Liza J. Lee is the Co-founder and Blogger for Artistrun ArtConverge.

© 2010 ArtConverge (ISSN 1918-9273‏)

Name: Email: