In partnership with the Ottawa-based, Coalition of New Canadians for Arts and Culture (CNCAC), fieldwork was thrilled to host a very special day of creativity and fun on Saturday, June 26th.
Billed as Canada’s G40 Wheels to the Fields Tour, with reference to the global events occurring in Toronto that week, a bus full of artists from around the world ventured out from Ottawa to the fieldwork site. The idea for the event was to create opportunities for a diverse group of Ottawa-based artists to get out to rural Eastern Ontario, to explore the summer fieldwork installations (see other blog descriptions below), to network amongst each other and share stories and skills, and to create some art in a collaborative way. Musicians, photographers, dancers and visual artists participated.
On what promised to be a very soggy forecast, the 30 artists that boarded the bus for the activities were not disheartened. Guitars, maracas, drums and voices in hand, the group sang and danced despite the intermittent showers. Visual artists, Chikonzero Chazunguza and Hamid Ayoub led the group in a collective painting exercise. Canvases and rain don’t mix well, so a little shelter was erected under some canopy tents and tarps and the painting began. What a great activity! Some wonderfully fun and evocative canvases burst into colour and shape. Some used found plant bits and fastened them to the canvas, some used badges from the Badges for Brooke Valley installation and integrated them in the work.
It was an inspirational day and a testament to the good-nature and positive spirit of artists who were determined to have fun, despite the wet weather. As the weather improved, participants enjoyed walking through the forest, exploring the Canadian landscape and hearing from Susie Osler about her studio-based, ceramic art process.
fieldwork is encouraged by this pilot event to create opportunities for New Canadians to explore the site. With an overwhelmingly positive evaluation from participants of the Wheels to the Fields event, we are hoping to continue this partnership with CNCAC in the future.
Thank you to Chikonzero Chazunguza, Hamid Ayoub, Marcia Mathoo, JP Melville, Julie Hodgson, Susie Osler, Cam Gray, and the friendly staff support from the Ottawa Community Immigrant Services Organization (OCISO) and volunteers with the CNCAC. Thank you to photographer, Bill Shugar, for his wonderful photographs documenting the day!
