New Blog

About a week ago I started a new blog for my class at the Language Centre. I am not sure if the students actually check it, but this term I am trying to use more new technology for my class. I just wrote a short entry on 'how to' celebrate Canada Day.

Here's the link: http://blogs.usask.ca/Katies.class/

Bonne fête du Canada!

Birthday Dancing

Yesterday I had a wonderful birthday potluck picnic at the Jazz Festival. There was a feast of food, a crowd of people, and some fun Swing dancing that you can watch in this video.

Summer has finally arrived in Saskatoon.

Saskatoon Craftivism

Seeing the colourful knitted headbands and wristbands on this sculpture in Kiwanis Park last week makes me want to learn how to knit.

Party Piñata

A little yellow wild boar piñata is sitting in my living awaiting my friend Dominique's birthday party on Sunday. Adventures of imaginary wild boars have drifted through my travels and I was quite fascinated to see a poster of wildschwein when last I saw my friend. It's a little strange, but I know she will like it.

Last day of class

On my first day of holidays the art class ended. Our first project was to make an 'affirmation box.' I was a little confused by the word affirmation, but I understood the idea was to make a box for positive messages. Earlier that day I had already decided that I wanted to paint. I picked up an old light bulb box and walked around the craft supply table to look for things I liked. I started with two tones of soft blue paper and a purple flower button. This week I had no choice but to use the glue gun. After the paper and button were attached I collected a piece of multi-coloured string and some paint. I twisted the string around several sides of the box and then started to paint little flowers with their stems growing onto the string. Part way through I decided that it looked like the tail of a kite and added a pink kite to one side. I was excited about the kite, the idea of flying, of freedom, and fun. In the remaining time I added some little shells. This week my art looked pretty.

We were told to write messages for each other. My messages were: 'You are creative and I admire your being,' ' I appreciate the tears you've shed in this class', 'You have a great sense of dignity about you', and 'I like how you think things out of the box and try different things even though they're harder.' (My roommate thought it was funny when I put the note back into the box).

The second task was to review the five weeks and think about changes we experience from them. I tried to connect pictures of my projects and below them I wrote the words: peace, trust, and growth. I guess the idea is to look for peace, to trust in myself, and to continue to grow.

My latest art project that I started this week with my friend Miguel is a wild boar piñata.

Making Faces

When I arrived at the art class I saw we would be making collages. All we were told to do was to make a face. We could take different features and put them together. The woman next to me announced she wanted brown skinned latino models, since they're hard to find we should let her know if we saw any. I opened the first magazine and started looking for different colours and textures. Somehow I decided that my face would be green, and then the hair would be blue. As I flipped through the magazine I cut corners off the pages and occasionally images that intrigued me. Being that it was Canadian Living there were a lot of food images. I saw some Cheerios that announced themselves as eyes, some pomogranate seeds as the mouth, some peas as a hand, and so on. I started to feel uncomfortable when I looked at others faces. Mine looked rather alien to say the least. Conversations turned about weight and body images, and I remained enthralled in my search for interesting colours and textures. The face even spilled over the sides of the paper she gave us as I pieced the large magazine slices together.

Again I didn't know what to say about the face. She asked me what the colours represented. When I suggested green could be jealousy I was chided for comparing myself to others in the class. She said green can mean hope and blue healing. The face made me say that I don't really like the way I look and I just felt like crying. During the break I went to the Taizé prayer for a couple of songs, and it was nice to be in the reassuring space. When I came back everyone was sitting at another table and we were told to make an advertisement for ourselves. Again I did not want to make an advertisement. I took a blue pastel and slowly drew one line and then another. A girl appeared reaching to the sides of the paper. A tree started growing out of her head and coloured ribbons came down and wrapped around her arms. When asked to explain I said that I don't fit on paper. Because of the tree I was asked if I liked my hair and I said yes. Then I said I also liked my eyes. I didn't really feel like talking because I didn't have much to say.

Next week will be the last class. It's hard to say if I feel any more confident, but nonetheless it's an interesting experience. I am reminded that I like making art.

À l'écoute

Clay! Suddenly the class seemed more exciting. We were told to us the block of clay to make our monster. It could be something we did, a quality we didn't like, or whatever came to mind. I didn't know what to make, so I started playing with the clay. I first made a twisted, snake-like form that I shape between and around my fingers. Parts of it split into almost antennae and then one end flattened. It could have been a tree, but it my mind it was like a ship. Another long piece emerged that was twisted and bent like intestine and I put it into the boat. I took another piece and it became a faceless, closed yet open armed figure. It fit onto the front of the creation. There was another block that became like the outline of a country and it became bent and warped as I fit it on the back. Another little figure with sad sideways eyes and hole in the heart climbed aboard and finally another piece that blanketed the knotted innards and connected with the antennae. I guess there were many little monsters. I would share a photo except the next task was to tame the monster. Smush ! They all squished together and it was hard to smooth such a big piece of clay all at once. It became two pieces. One the grew from a flower to an ear and the other emerged as a set of stairs. I fit them together. There was no conclusive interpretation of the ear. I thought the combination was rather funny. The best understanding that I have of it right now is that it's about learning to listen to myself and what I want ... and as my roommate added maybe not the monsters.

Art destruction...

I guess the theme for week two was personality. We were told to think up both positive and negative personality traits to describe ourselves and to write them on a small squares of coloured tissue paper. We were told also to include things we do. I carefully thought out my words and the colours they would match with. Next, she said to destroy the squares. I was the first to get up and I scrunched each square and threw them on the ground. Then I stomped on them with my wet boots and ripped each piece into to tiny pieces. I tightly rolled them into to a ball and thought about what to do next. Before I had the idea to take them to the sink she told us to stop. It was sort of a strange experience and I noticed the others had only neatly crumpled their squares. With the pieces we were told to make an art piece to represent ourselves.

I walked over to the table and saw this new wire mesh netting that hadn't been there last week. I put it to my face and shaped it to my nose with the idea of making a mask. Once again I started to sew each little piece to the base. I tried to make what was left of the words visible. Not long into the project I realized that I was missing part of my 'personality'. The red 'critical' piece and the 'yellow' teach square were still stuck to the bottom of my boot. Also in the process I noticed the last square I meticulously attached was called 'stubborn'. A piece of netting attached itself to my 'mascara' and I wove three coloured pipe cleaners around the edges.

After the mask was the task to make a treasure map. We were given a piece of paper to crumple and then draw onto it a map to a hidden treasure within ourselves. I was happy to be crumpling again and tracing lines around the paper a dove like hand emerged over a tiny figure in prayer. Next I drew some lighting, a river, a seashell, and a face. To me the message was peace and I liked the introspection the images suggested.

Camino interior

I signed up for an art therapy class this month called 'Creating Greater Self-Esteem.' It's put on by an Ursuline sister and there are three or four of us in the class. The first week I hated it, but this week it was okay. I guess I wanted to be doing real 'art' rather than 'crafts.'

The process is interesting and it is all about the process vs. the product. The idea is just to instinctively work on your art pieces and then to talk about them. The sister frequent suggests that everything has a reason and to look for metaphors and themes.

After making a name picture to present ourselves, the first project was to make a doll to represent healthy self-esteem. I didn't want to make a doll, and I also decided I didn't want to use any glue. In any case, I started my doll by sewing material onto popsicle sticks and the end result was very different than the glittery, smily people like figures my classmates made..

Makes sense?

This was one of my students new vocabulary words this past unit, so I've become more aware of when I use this expression. Things are starting to make sense by not making sense. I joined a group of 180 crazy people in the Ice-cycle bike ride on Sunday. Being part of a group seems to bring a sense of affirmation to the illogical winter sport. In the same spirit I left the house that cold winter evening to see the film 'Panique au Village.' It was a very cold walk and as I left I heard a father telling his son that that was the wierdest film he had ever seen. I really enjoyed the absurd story twists with subtle hints of Belgium coming through in the accents, the food and drinks. I guess I like contradictions and foreign films, so it made sense to not stay home.

Passing Through
The haunting words to David Sereda's song wove a beautiful theme into the Ice and Fire Carnival in Regina last weekend. As the carnival closed in the snowy tangorena a group of dancers shared the sunset and the song. The lyrics talk about ephemeral quality of time, seasons, life, etc. It was a memorable conclusion to be caught in the moment celebrating winter, dance, and connections. There was something magic about dancing the Argentine tango on an uncertain surface of snow with a slow coldness sinking into my fingers. Ice and Fire connected.

My last grandma, a faithful penpal, passed through life and left in her sleep last Wednesday morning. She had a great life and because she lived far away her absence won't be so quickly noticed. It still makes me angry that death has crept in once again to take another person away. I also feel sad that grandma is gone.

I am somewhat comforted by the week or so of warm winter weather here right now. It's a breath of relief to enjoy being outside for a little while.