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)

Name: Email:

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:

Urgent Aid Still Needed for Catastrophic Earthquake in Haiti
The January 12, 2010 earthquake in Haiti was a 7.0 magnitude quake. Its epicenter was near the town of Léogâne, 25 km (16 miles) west of Port-au-Prince, Haiti’s capital. The Haitian Government reports that between 217,000 and 230,000 people had been identified as dead, an estimated 300,000 injured, and an estimated 1,000,000 homeless. The death toll is expected to rise. Aid from other countries around the world, including Canada continues to be urgent.

Be a part of the solution!

Submission deadline: March 15, 2010
MAB Ventures Inc. and Erin K Productions Ltd. are the organizers of One World Haiti Art Show Fundraiser. Art forms including painting, photography, sculpting, and fashion design are welcome. Once art work has been approved by curators, artists will be contacted with further information for meetings, entry fee payments and deadlines. Entry fee for artists and artisans is $150. Artists set up 10-15 pieces to their satisfaction along with promotional materials such as cards, shirts, and flyers. No further commission is taken from any sale made throughout the evening.

Media Invited to Art Show and Fundraiser
Bar service, door prizes, silent auction, live entertainment are also all part of this spectacular evening. We are anticipating over 1000 guests and media. Liza J. Lee of Artistrun.org is one of the promoters for this event. She has successfully provided publicity for Andy Everson, an Aboriginal artist who was interviewed on CNN, Shaw TV, Vancouver Sun, Global TV and APTN during Winter Games 2010. For more information about for One World Haiti Art Show and Fundraiser, contact Monika Blichar below.

Artists Contact:
Monika Blichar
MAB Ventures Inc.
Vancouver, BC
604-999-6177
monika_blichar@hotmail.com

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

© 2010 ArtConverge (ISSN 1918-9273‏)

Name: Email:

As an avid hockey fan, Andy Everson could not represent Canada’s national sport with only one animal. Instead he chose three: a ram for the big hitters, a wolf for the shooters and a bear for the goalie.

Andy included “Ram” in his “Sprits of Snow & Ice Collection” as it there are few more powerful images than that of two male bighorn sheep, or rams, squaring off in combat amidst towering mountain ranges. Of course, the reason for this display of athletic strength and prowess is ultimately to show dominance and win over their choice of female. Lining up and lowering their heads, rams run straight toward their opponents to smash horns with one another. To the victor go the spoils, they say.

Nothing emits a louder “whoa” while watching hockey than seeing an opponent getting bowled over after receiving a devastating body check. Distracted with the puck, the receiver of the blow is caught unawares, unknowingly lined up for the hit. With the grace of a freight train, the checker plows into his opponent and literally knocks him away from the puck. Victor… spoils….

Andy Everson is an Ambassador for Aboriginal Tourism BC and Kla-how-ya Village at the Pan Pacific. He is a Northwest Coast visual artist and a performer with Le-La-La Dancers for the Cultural Olympiad. His “Raven” art print was recently presented to Alex Bilodeau for winning a gold medal in freestyle skiing for Canada.

As a special request for Jon Montgomery, gold medalist in Skeleton for Canada, Andy will complete his “Seal” print as a commemorative piece. His “Bear” print, a silhouette of a hockey goalie was also gifted to CNN President. “Raven” and “Bear” are part of the “Spirits of Snow & Ice Collection” released in January of 2010 and printed by Andy Everson at Copper Canoe, his studio in Comox, BC.

It is fitting that the final game is hockey, Andy’s favourite sport, with Canada taking home the gold for its national sport and for winning the gold record for Winter Games 2010.

“Ram” by Andy Everson, a commemorative piece for the Canada hockey gold win

For more information and to see the art prints, please contact:
Liza Lee at 778.238.2024 or email her at Liza@Lizajlee.com.

Andy was also interviewed in the Vancouver Sun on February 26, 2010

Dancer shares the story of his road home

Andy Everson was forced to grow up off the reserve after his mother married a non-aboriginal – by Kim Pemberton

Native artist and dancer Andy Everson is deeply involved with his culture, but his path wasn’t an easy one because of a past law in Canada that stigmatized aboriginal women who married non-aboriginal men.

Everson, who is from the Comox Band, at one time wasn’t even allowed to live on reserve after his mother married a Norwegian man.

By doing so, she and her children lost their Indian status. According to Canadian federal law at the time, if an aboriginal man married a non-aboriginal woman she gained Indian status, but if the opposite happened the woman lost her status. After the Indian Act was amended in 1985, Everson’s mother was able to regain her status, as were her children.

“It defines who I am now,” said Everson, who gives no hint of malice about the injustice. Though his family was “essentially kicked off” the reserve land, he still felt a part of the community.

Most of his childhood was spent in Courtney, but he would still attend potlatches growing up. Everson learned the values and ways of his people from his grandmother, who as a child lived in a traditional Big House and carried on her people’s ancient traditions right up until her death at 99 years of age.

“When I was young our culture wasn’t thriving as much as it is now but it was always around,” said Everson, 37. “I started to get really involved as a teenager when I started to go to more potlatches and spend a lot of time with my grandmother. I’m really glad I did now. There were a lot of things to learn and she taught me my responsibilities and roles as a member of my community.”

Everson, who is part of the famous Hunt family, was able to spend more time with his grandmother after his mother regained her Indian status and they were allowed to move onto the reserve.

He went on to university and got his master’s degree in anthropology, which he saw as a “good fit” because of his aboriginal background. He wrote his thesis about contemporary K’omox Identity.

Since 1993 he has been a dancer with the LeLaLa Dancers, a traditional dance company from northern Vancouver Island. He is also an artist, producing two dimensional prints in a style that mixes Coast Salish and Kwakwaka’wakw, from Comox north.

The dance troupe has been performing regularly throughout the Winter 2010 Olympics at the Pan Pacific Hotel, which has been the site of many aboriginal cultural performances and demonstrations organized by the Aboriginal Tourism Association of B.C.

Everson’s artwork is on display at the Aboriginal Artisan Village and Business Showcase, situated in the lobby of the Vancouver Community College, one block north of the Aboriginal Pavilion. The artist said he has been happy to see the aboriginal culture gain acceptance and understanding at the Games.

“For the most part, the involvement of aboriginal people was an eye opener to a lot of the world. That we exist and the indigenous people of Canada are quite diverse. You could see that at the opening ceremony. There was a wide variety of regalia and dance styles. The legacy is we’re still here,” he said.

kpemberton@vancouversun.com © Copyright (c) The Vancouver Sun

Dancer and artist Andy Everson performs beside the Raven’s Song canoe inside the Pan Pacific Hotel in Vancouver.

Photograph by: Arlen Redekop, PNG, Vancouver Sun

ENDNOTE:
http://www.vancouversun.com/entertainment/Dancer+shares+story+road+home/2615366/story.html

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

© 2010 ArtConverge (ISSN 1918-9273‏)

Name: Email: