Literary pairings

CITYLIFE | ARTS Voice & Vision 2020

The Airdrie Public Library’s (APL) fifth annual Voice & Vision Collaboration (VVC) paired 15 local artists and 15 writers together to create pieces that are inspired by each other’s work.

“It is a great exercise in creativity as the artist has complete control over the first piece and then is guided to create another,” says Eric Pottie, APL’s programming and customer engagement manager.

“It’s super fascinating to see what a writer will come up with from a single painting and what an artist will create from a one-page submission.”

The artwork and written pieces will be on display at the library as well as included in an online gallery on APL’s website this fall.

The library plans to live stream a gala in September when the original and response pieces are shown, and the creators will speak about what they made and how they were inspired.

Visit airdriepubliclibrary.ca for more information on the presentation.

Here we feature Q&As with three creators and showcase the pieces they created for VVC.

To view all of the artists’ work, visit airdrielife.com

NAME: Loreen Feser (Artist) PARTNER: Kali Birks-Gallup TITLE OF PIECE: Sharing Life ARTIST STYLE/GENRE: Oil painting and molding paste on board I work in a wide variety of media. This piece is oil and molding paste on board to add to the texture of the paint and give a sense of the physical aspects of the moon and the tree.

My subject matter incorporates symbol and layered meaning, which is often autobiographical. In this piece, I was responding to the prose about an interconnected life. The relationship between the human form and the tree is symbiotic. The woman is encased within the tree, sheltered from the storm and each is drawing life from the other.

There are several symbols in this piece. The symbol of the leaf is a symbol of new life. The leaf is an oak leaf and according to symbology, oak leaves symbolize strength, endurance, longevity, faith and virtue. The moon is a female symbol and a disintegrating moon represents chaos, destruction and imminent threat. There are juxtapositions in this piece between beginnings and endings, new life and disintegration.

NAME: Kali Birks-Gallup (Writer) ARTIST/WRITER PARTNER: Loreen Feser TITLE OF PIECE: Shared Life ARTIST STYLE/GENRE: Writer of fantasy This piece came from a long-term project set in a fantasy world I came up with as a teenager. I love exploring the world in terms of interconnected life. I especially like how energy never disappears and is only changed from one form into another.

Shared Life

BY KALI BIRKS-GALLUP Snowflakes swirled. Her touch melted them. Droplets seeped into her pores, quickly refreezing. Her inner heat rapidly diminished. Her cloak did not keep out the cold.

No possibility of rescue. It was her against this endless blizzard.

She pawed the snow and found a stick. Hope bloomed – a chance – but she could not doubt. She must believe. No, she must know.

She closed her eyes and ran her fingers over the wood’s gnarled surface. It had once been a growing, living thing. She reached for its truth, what the wood knew it was, and found it – seed, branch, tree...

Pushing back fear, she tightened her grip. She could do this. Reaching for the force that fed her own life, she extended it, first through her arms, then fingertips... Life pushed into the would-be tree and … it took hold.

The wood sucked at her like leaves drink sunlight. She bent, touching the stick to the ground. Tendrils, tiny at first, pushed snow aside and plunged deep into the earth.

The new sapling was watered with her inner strength. She planted a thought, an image of what she wanted from it. Shelter.

It agreed. Shoots sprang from the stalk as it thickened itself into a trunk. Upward. Over. Around. Curling twigs that danced in the wind soon turned solid and mighty against the gale.

The tree encased her, now safe against the icy tempest.

The shelter grew warm with mutual gratitude for life saved, given and now intertwined.

NAME: Verone Solilo (Artist) PARTNER: Margaret G. Hanna TITLE OF PIECE: First Date ARTIST STYLE/GENRE: Modern impressionism PLEASE DESCRIBE YOUR PROCESS IN CREATING YOUR PIECE: I usually start with a scene or an experience or a memory that inspires me. I then do a lot of research into photographs and images of different aspects of that inspiration before I paint a quick sketch on my canvas. Once I have a composition in mind, I let the emotions of it flow onto the canvas using bright colours. There is some realism to my paintings, but I prefer to use an impressionistic way of describing my subject matter, so as to allow the viewer to imagine what they see for themselves.

This one was inspired by a memory. When I met my husband at 16, our first dates were bike rides to Wascana Park, in Regina, Sask. This is a gorgeous park that has lots of paths winding around the lake and through the mature trees, well-groomed lawns and flower beds, and Canada geese. It also boasts a beautiful white bandstand/pavilion, which is set in this lush urban forest. I recall that pavilion being the perfect rest stop since it was halfway around the lake. I’m sure ours was not the only first date at the pavilion that blossomed into lifelong love. Lovely memories.

NAME: Margaret G. Hanna (Writer) PARTNER: Verone Solilo TITLE OF PIECE: First Date ARTIST STYLE/GENRE: Short story PLEASE DESCRIBE YOUR PROCESS IN CREATING YOUR PIECE: Verone’s piece spoke to me of two people full of joy and exuberance, totally living in the moment. I wanted to know what happened later, what their future was. Was it together or apart? Did their story have a happy ending or a sad one?

I wrote three stories – one with a happy ending, one with a sad ending and one with a potentially happy ending.

Verone and I met one afternoon, partly to get to know each other and partly to talk about our art/writing. She gave me more insight into the story behind her painting and into her philosophy of painting in general. I also read the stories to the writers’ group, and their feedback was very useful in honing them.

Finally, I submitted the story with the potentially happy ending, mostly because I like endings that don’t really end, that leave it up to the reader to imagine what happens next.

FIRST DATE BY VERONE SOLILO

UNTITLED BY ALESHA BUCZNY

First Date

BY MARGARET G. HANNA She was the most popular girl in high school – beautiful, witty, talented.

I was the class nerd – brilliant at math and sciences, lousy at sports and small talk.

Somehow, I found the courage to ask her to the graduation dance. I couldn’t believe my ears when she said, “Yes.”

The big night, I fidgeted in her parents’ living room, only half-listening to her father’s lecture. I gasped when she swept into the room, resplendent in red. God, she was beautiful!

After the dance, she giggled and grabbed my hand. “Let’s go dance in the park.”

We danced in the bandstand, then walked among the blossom-laden trees and talked about our futures till the stars dimmed.

That fall, I went to MIT and began my career as a theoretical physicist. We lost touch.

Thirty-some years later, I returned home for my parent’s 60th wedding anniversary. The hall was crowded with people I hadn’t seen in years. I almost dropped my drink when she walked in. Age had only made her more beautiful. Her face lit up when she saw me. “Do you still dance?” she asked.

My heart skipped a beat. She remembered!

Before we could talk further, I was whirled away to give the toast to my parents. An hour later, I saw her leaving. I ran after her. “Stop! Wait!”

She turned, her eyebrow cocked. “Yes?”

“Um, um.” I was again the tongue-tied teenage nerd. “Let’s go dance in the park,” I blurted.

She laughed, then took my hand. “Let’s. NAME: Alesha Buczny (Artist) PARTNER: Tandy Balson TITLE OF PIECE: Untitled ARTIST STYLE/GENRE: Mixed media PLEASE DESCRIBE YOUR PROCESS IN CREATING YOUR PIECE: My process starts with quick sketches of an Image that appears in my mind. I then start the hunt and gather of objects and materials I may use. I am in constant thought about my piece until I physically start it. This state of thought can be weeks or months. Once I feel I have everything I need, I start working on my piece; it usually takes me two to three days to complete. I also have a background with metal and jewellery, so I try to put a little metal in every mixed media piece I make. For this chrysalis piece, I wanted to combine the written words, my materials and the experience I had with motherhood. I wanted to be able to create something beautiful and rustic while still keeping some of the piece covered. For example, I left a small portion of the inner structure of the chrysalis (metal structure) as a reminder of the inner workings we can’t always see but know are there.

NAME: Tandy Balson (Writer) PARTNER: Alesha Buczny TITLE OF PIECE: Transformation ARTIST STYLE/GENRE: Creative non-fiction, with a preference for inspirational. PLEASE DESCRIBE YOUR PROCESS IN CREATING YOUR PIECE: My process in creating the piece was to use a real-life situation and fictionalize it to create a story that would give hope for the future.

Transformation

BY TANDY BALSON Sarah smiled as she arranged fresh flowers in a vase. One finger touched something unusual and she jerked her hand away.

Attached to one of the stems was a shiny chrysalis, or cocoon. Her young daughters were fascinated and begged to keep it.

Day by day the girls checked the chrysalis. They couldn’t see any changes and questioned Sarah constantly. “Why is it taking so long?” Emma demanded. “When do we get to see the butterfly?” chimed in Eva.

Sarah patiently explained, “Some changes happen on the inside, where no one can see. We don’t always know how long it will take.”

Despite her assurances, Sarah wondered if she was giving the girls false hope. What if something went wrong and the transformation never happened?

Sarah thought of the changes that had taken place in her life since her twin daughters were born. In the early days, she had been so exhausted and overwhelmed she would have welcomed a cocoon to curl up and rest in. Her heart was full of love but the life she’d once known was far removed and she missed her former freedom.

Now, five years later, Sarah had learned to appreciate the unpredictability of motherhood. This change in her outlook had taken time. She’d had to let go of the past in order to fully embrace today. As in the chrysalis, this happened deep inside, where no one could see.

Sarah understood why the butterfly could not emerge until the transformation was complete. life