https://www.sophieanneedwards.ca/blog-1 daily 0.75 2021-10-20 https://www.sophieanneedwards.ca/blog-1/pi-review-shifting-baseline monthly 0.5 2021-04-29 https://www.sophieanneedwards.ca/blog-1/blasted-tree-pamphlet-published monthly 0.5 2021-04-29 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/1619716922288-XOQQAVZ7GLPATPHMKBOK/crystalandclayCover.jpg Blog - BLASTED TREE PAMPHLET PUBLISHED https://www.sophieanneedwards.ca/blog-1/axioms-for-reading-a-landscape monthly 0.5 2021-04-29 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/1619713081916-XSJ6XSQ71DVT8IE85BYQ/Axioms+for+Reading+a+Landscape.jpeg Blog - AXIOMS FOR READING A LANDSCAPE https://www.sophieanneedwards.ca/blog-1/sd2jz5etxegd7rzmy0x9dszi57cxmk monthly 0.5 2021-04-29 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/1619712893951-WMTAZ7GHG9VUYLBJMCFZ/Black+Walnut+Blue+.jpeg Blog - BLACK WALNUT BLUES https://www.sophieanneedwards.ca/blog-1/nt43w4lm8ov4ojtf1np7cpjdafmihq monthly 0.5 2021-04-29 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/1619713461086-9E62B974V65M0XX8CWHK/Ash+Borer+Blog.jpeg Blog - EMERALD ASH BORER POEM INSTALLED ON KAGAWONG RIVER https://www.sophieanneedwards.ca/blog-1/a-poem-for-the-river-a-collaboration monthly 0.5 2021-04-29 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/1619713789337-7OC2H119DEPDJ3K3XJTS/Falls+Poem+day+.jpeg Blog - A POEM FOR THE RIVER: A COLLABORATION https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/1619713765867-4P6MU4LFOU9PJ7CUL63J/Girl+at+poem+box.jpeg Blog - A POEM FOR THE RIVER: A COLLABORATION https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/1619713787487-C8FSQAMX8ZS8VCI990TF/guy+at+poem+box.jpeg Blog - A POEM FOR THE RIVER: A COLLABORATION https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/1619713788831-JQ6XB1AU7SUM0WVIRSP8/Poem+box.jpeg Blog - A POEM FOR THE RIVER: A COLLABORATION https://www.sophieanneedwards.ca/blog-1/d3k9v4mmk3b63rhoqy4ohf9xk64z63 monthly 0.5 2021-03-16 https://www.sophieanneedwards.ca/blog-1-1 daily 0.75 2023-12-06 https://www.sophieanneedwards.ca/blog-1-1/ln9e13wjlc1qmmq13kyx1jsnv4w24r monthly 0.5 2021-06-01 https://www.sophieanneedwards.ca/blog-1-1/8zy4pbfamhkvyset746a1ywt1tdaw6 monthly 0.5 2021-06-01 https://www.sophieanneedwards.ca/events-readings daily 0.75 2025-06-24 https://www.sophieanneedwards.ca/events-readings/conversations-with-the-kagawong-river-reading-qa monthly 0.5 2025-06-24 https://www.sophieanneedwards.ca/events-readings/book-signing monthly 0.5 2025-06-24 https://www.sophieanneedwards.ca/events-readings/an-evening-with-sophie-edwards monthly 0.5 2025-06-24 https://www.sophieanneedwards.ca/events-readings/geopoet-in-residence-queens-u monthly 0.5 2024-12-12 https://www.sophieanneedwards.ca/events-readings/learning-to-listen-to-rivers-workshop monthly 0.5 2024-12-23 https://www.sophieanneedwards.ca/events-readings/words-aloud-book-reading monthly 0.5 2024-11-06 https://www.sophieanneedwards.ca/events-readings/early-learning-cafe-online-workshop monthly 0.5 2024-09-24 https://www.sophieanneedwards.ca/events-readings/keynote-workshop monthly 0.5 2024-09-24 https://www.sophieanneedwards.ca/events-readings/event-four-yesyn monthly 0.5 2024-12-12 https://www.sophieanneedwards.ca/events-readings/event-one-pp6dx monthly 0.5 2024-09-24 https://www.sophieanneedwards.ca/events-readings/event-three-fw8l9 monthly 0.5 2024-11-07 https://www.sophieanneedwards.ca/events-readings/event-two-gsdxw monthly 0.5 2024-09-24 https://www.sophieanneedwards.ca/interviewwithariver daily 0.75 2023-12-06 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/1605488144780-V7G47BV97FXUNLOQ90KT/Copy+of+20200607_172626.jpg Interview with a River - ‘Conversations with a River’ is an interdisciplinary experiment that includes a book-length collection of visual/textual poetry, and video-poems. This durational project positions the Kagawong River as an active agent in its own telling. Interviewees and other correspondents include a range of biotic and abiotic elements, building a layered representation of eco- and geospatial relationships. My site-specific process involves walking, wading, listening, guided by the ecosystem, and by questions about the changing ecology, looking for signs of land use change over time; I gather found words, and take signals from the flora and fauna. I install poems on-site for the ecosystem to transform, and find ways that the biota might ‘write/edit’ (for instance, pens attached to branches, letters installed on site, and other non-permanent and biodegradable experiments that emerge through my encounter with the ecosystem). https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/1605495652188-6BXZD4NPOJO4PIPBULGY/Copy+of+Ice+crystal+still_1.1.1.jpg Interview with a River https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/1605495620968-121TEWSY4SQWOHFA4XAX/Copy+of+20190223_114850_Film3.jpg Interview with a River https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/1605496080819-V9VTPGVP78O1AB6MV09S/crystalandclayCover.jpg Interview with a River https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/1605496105702-U4RZJCFT67M4P6GDYHC8/20191216_105921_Film3.jpg Interview with a River https://www.sophieanneedwards.ca/about daily 0.75 2024-12-03 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/c904824d-280e-4be5-b1c1-a3a420e70902/SEdwards+Author+pic.jpg About https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/950200b2-f5d9-44fd-a704-eef9bf465274/2014-OAC-BK-JPG-logo.jpeg About - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/8a6a63db-b1af-4773-ae48-98ba4d2a0c1f/ON_POS_LOGO_BLACK_RGB.png About - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/8654ce13-7a50-470e-bf97-cff893154d8d/CCA_RGB_black_e.jpg About - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://www.sophieanneedwards.ca/work-with-me daily 0.75 2026-02-19 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ec321c2af33de48734cc929/f5be000f-883d-4b52-8322-13ce5108db47/imgg-demo-nLRbokBp.jpg Work With Me https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ec321c2af33de48734cc929/6d6ce9d6-acc5-4337-84fa-c8c6a18cbbd7/imgg-demo-dr4UJ5bT.jpg Work With Me https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/e5df4351-bac2-4c83-86b6-844e988554df/IMG_20210403_194627.jpg Work With Me https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/1c8afb10-a1f6-470f-aba6-ac133b691198/20200406_151431_Film3.jpg Work With Me https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/bbfe1d7c-d463-459e-b70c-83749a47c504/20200516_211242_Film3.jpg Work With Me https://www.sophieanneedwards.ca/portfolio daily 1.0 2026-02-19 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/2132356c-6ff2-4b97-88cf-ada9fb294a84/pathways+exhibition+%281%29.jpg Portfolio PATHWAYS PROJECT https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/9a442375-9a77-4bb3-8f0a-90b28fc346f6/sophie+fish+web.jpeg Portfolio PI REVIEW: SHIFTING BASELINE https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/3eacb37c-67f0-46e1-9dc5-4db6f3de84e0/Copy+of+20191009_161949_Film3.jpg Portfolio MINI POETRY INTERVIEWS https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/4d0cf57c-856e-49d7-a02c-cdbe18965611/Paddle-Lab01.jpeg Portfolio PADDLE LAB https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/07d4ac5e-2d37-4113-a215-ef1a45b30dd7/2013-04-05.jpeg Portfolio ARC POETRY: INTERVIEW WITH A SPAWNING SALMON ON THE KAGAWONG RIVER https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/26853576-83fc-4e5a-9e2b-27ea4297e5f8/Drawing-Box_05.jpeg Portfolio THE DRAWING BOX https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/c42730cf-bcb8-469a-8c85-725920d92569/what_will_you_remember.jpeg Portfolio EMPTY MIRROR: ICE POEMS https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/7ef32022-bdda-4bac-84c5-55ecfbaef61d/Hoop_06.jpeg Portfolio RIVER SCHOOL AND COMMUNITY HOOP PROJECT https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/76d1c7f0-3b44-4ae7-870e-80fdc7332a21/soph_treetracing.jpeg Portfolio TALKING ABOUT STRAWBERRIES ALL OF THE TIME: ART OF WRITING https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/98007a72-ef8e-424b-bc0d-ad5ad057017a/Fieldbook_05.jpeg Portfolio THE FIELDBOOK PROJECT https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/000d8821-6cbb-4ba9-8da0-0cd483f58150/20190312_174719_Film3.jpeg Portfolio TALKING ABOUT STRAWBERRIES ALL OF THE TIME: INTERVIEW WITH DEER TRACKS AND A STAND OF CEDARS https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/6ed46195-51b3-4c02-ac82-92707168168b/Jameson-Inquiry_03.jpeg Portfolio THE JAMESON INQUIRY https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/8d3c5fff-9f5c-4192-b55a-319a542e3f0f/edwards+chair.png Portfolio MY (SMALL PRESS) WRITING DAY: A WRITING DAY https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/cf7e7495-aa46-4efc-bab0-f700ad2aba78/Elemental-Festival14.jpeg Portfolio ELEMENTAL FESTIVAL https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/253c49d4-4dfc-46f0-a603-531b91e2e231/150+introduced+species+final+%281%29.png Portfolio H&: 150 INTRODUCED SPECIES https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/4deebd78-5955-43e6-bb97-598f618b1743/Telling-Trails_04.jpeg Portfolio TELLING TRAILS https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/b3d6eaa4-5cef-447c-9ad5-12942cb74441/Copy+of+Ice+crystal+still_1.1.1.jpg Portfolio H&: WINDOW POEM https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/9a03aad4-3785-4153-9fc1-6fe3504aa2b9/Story-Project_02.jpeg Portfolio TELLING STORIES ABOUT PLACE https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/07d3caf1-dd4f-41d7-b2e1-3b35831092c0/Edwards11_InterviewwithRiparian1.jpeg Portfolio RIPARIAN https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/236f7f32-2147-4cef-8764-b89e1c33384e/Art-of-Being-Billings04.jpeg Portfolio THE ART OF BEING BILLINGS https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/abdcb282-edf1-4373-ae16-082ed8ff1504/paraphrase4e.jpeg Portfolio MOVEMENT MANITOULIN AND PARAPHRASE https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/31180aca-742b-4266-9833-c453d5698dee/Bonnie-Blink02.jpeg Portfolio THE BONNIE BLINK PROJECT https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/2aaea096-967b-4fc7-82e4-80f85339bc44/Book+cover.jpg Portfolio CBC: Manitoulin poet has one of Quill & Quire's most anticipated fall releases https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/457aa1f0-fa65-47b0-91e2-07ec31890f05/Malta_02.jpeg Portfolio STONE INQUIRIES https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/e00b0b33-654d-4b5b-9e61-c2ceeeb1f978/Photo%2B2015-06-02%2C%2B10%2B08%2B02%2BAM.jpeg Portfolio Reggio / Inquiry based early learning https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/4ce1c87c-cb35-4953-bf81-14451d5a0b4a/gallery%2Binstall5.jpeg Portfolio your silence is a world for my language https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/0951dcc0-dd61-4ea8-b269-d3d6e340c26b/DSC_8774.jpeg Portfolio COMMUNITY SCULPTURE https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/1701883194241-LYMQ74BNFTNUD7L2Q1Y7/footnotes+cover.jpg https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/c904824d-280e-4be5-b1c1-a3a420e70902/SEdwards+Author+pic.jpg https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/1605220111676-AZ7I1UCHFE5LF0U14KP9/IMG_3405.JPG https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/d4073bc3-c5d1-4e13-8ee2-54be64da03b8/cascade+falls.jpg https://www.sophieanneedwards.ca/contact daily 0.75 2023-12-06 https://www.sophieanneedwards.ca/ash-borer-project daily 0.75 2020-11-16 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/1605219407578-B30EUO6RQ4LMLRR63LRB/20190419_201112_Film3.jpg Ash Borer Project - your silence is a world for my language I have been thinking about quiet violences -- to the environment, to women. The silences… that go unnoticed, or unspoken. That happen quietly, under bark and behind closed doors. That are carried in on crates, and through hushed words. The ones that go unregulated, and those that regulate us. The silences that change a landscape, and a life. I walk in the bush, I gather hawthorns. These I stitch onto a used cotton sheet. It is in the spring that the ash borer begins its quiet work. It takes a year in a warm climate, two in colder ones, for an ash borer to kill a tree. Many, not all women, survive the violences. I don't know if any of the ash will survive. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/1605220111676-AZ7I1UCHFE5LF0U14KP9/IMG_3405.JPG Ash Borer Project - Your silence creates a world for my language: https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/1605222075255-IFDXA4D3SF6ECL6T0P5P/IMG_20201007_115107.jpg Ash Borer Project https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/1605487119720-X4I4S9QISHFT2AE0IFB8/IMG_20190317_123539_544.jpg Ash Borer Project https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/1605220729739-QM9IVPDRBGZVNJ9ZUQAY/20191217_130708_Film3.jpg Ash Borer Project This project is also a way to breathe through grief: that associated with climate change, and the PTSD I experience as a result of sexual trauma. A stitch, a touch, a breath. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/1605487069846-ZGIHFBCQJBPIK0L6DDGJ/Copy+of+Hanging+2.jpg Ash Borer Project https://www.sophieanneedwards.ca/pathways-project daily 0.75 2025-06-24 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/3db7beb9-6250-488f-be2e-99d633a5f76c/Kale+pathways.JPG Pathways Project https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/3c51005e-c9a5-40f2-bb0c-30daa6a9e2b8/Copy+of+00000022.jpg Pathways Project https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/76ba46dd-a1ae-40a1-94f9-0883d5bc763d/pathways+drawing.JPG Pathways Project https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/0419c445-f040-46d6-bc20-a3c1a74e6c81/pathways+leaf.JPG Pathways Project https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/a9946240-9bd5-4458-a882-95229211f388/pathways+pine+cone.jpg Pathways Project https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/7180eac0-e488-4d30-bc1f-259614b73f3f/cloud+machine+prototype.JPG Pathways Project https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/aee9341a-5500-47e5-8319-d553b9d7b1c4/20190507_165835_Film3.jpg Pathways Project - Children are curious. Curiosity is the basis of research, the call to learning the world. In the spring of 2018 the schoolyard at R.L. Beattie was a mucky landscape of rivulets from the spring freshet. The children asked, “Where does the water come from? Where is it going?” Their teacher, Julie Kelly, is a deeply engaged educator who is inspired by the processes and thinking of Reggio Emilia. She was curious to know what would happen if an artist worked with the children to follow their questions, and wondered how arts media might transform, shift or enhance the research she and the children had been engaged with. She knew of my work and approach using creative field practices, and had read my books. My role, in the intensive time I spent in the classroom, was to engage children in a process of creative field research to explore their initial questions and theories about water pathways, along with others that emerged through our daily research walks in the bush and on the hill behind the school: can water travel through wood (and houses)? How does water travel up a tree, or through a leaf? We walked, we observed, we collected, we followed and traced, we drew, we painted, we debated and challenged our theories. A drawing for a cloud machine was created. The rivulet led to the lakes. Eventually, the children came to the conclusion that “everything is connected.” The following year, we returned to the work, curating an exhibition of the children’s research, their findings and process at the McEwan School of Architecture. Several articles were published as a result of the project: An Ecological Child, co-authored with Sharon Speir and July Kelly, Innovations in Early Education: The International Reggio Emilia Exchange, 2020. Water Pathways and Research Tributaries, art-based research with children, co-authored with Sharon Speir and July Kelly, Innovations in Early Education, 2019. A Study of Pathways: Entanglements with Reggio in a northern Ontario bush, co-authored with Sharon Speir, and July Kelly, Journal of Childhood Studies, 2019. The cycle of images exploring a range of water pathways include: observational drawings of leaves, pine cones, pine needles, and a stick, a large scale collaborative waterways drawing, the cloud machine prototype, Davie’s meltwater graphite drawing, several water pathways (hot and cold water in a house, waterways, and the rivulet paths). An exhibition of the children’s work was held at the Sudbury School of Architecture. Photo credits: Sharon Speir Teacher: Julie Kelly Funder: Artists in Residency program, Ontario Arts Council https://www.sophieanneedwards.ca/the-drawing-box-1 daily 0.75 2021-10-28 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/9376d954-862a-49c7-ac9b-8724ad041691/Drawing-Box_01.jpeg The Drawing Box https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/8006f4ac-aada-4690-8027-23d0170d4a46/Drawing-Box_04.jpeg The Drawing Box https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/896d037e-d161-494b-a818-fde09ec444d6/Drawing-Box_06.jpeg The Drawing Box https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/461e7c65-f045-4c9a-88f5-204ac2a31a02/Drawing-Box_07.jpeg The Drawing Box https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/81466d17-b291-425f-9b4a-ed5a30f4aff3/Drawing-Box_09.jpeg The Drawing Box https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/2bdd06d2-e1ab-4c0c-8ed0-6c763e879e7b/Drawing-Box_08.jpeg The Drawing Box https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/1619723769154-BJ0B7WBVHYYCF8ZYZLEC/Drawing-Box_02.jpeg The Drawing Box - Drawing boxes? Think: Geocaching meets Group of Seven. You are walking along a trail, and a small group of people are clustered around a tree… when you come closer you see that on that tree is a wooden box, about the size of a toaster. Inside, no bread, but lots of coloured pencils? And paper… and some maps, and a flyer with a series of stretches encompassing a sort of DIY yoga session for the trailside. Wow, cool! Some folks discover our Drawing Boxes via Geocaching.com. Others see posts by walkers on the 4e Facebook page. Some come across them as they walk, or learn about them through others. Visitors to a local resort hear all about them through the jazzed-up owner. The brainchild of Sophie Edwards, 4elements created and installed twelve Drawing Boxes at sites around Manitoulin to encourage people to get out and go walking, or snowshoeing, or paddling: to be active on a trail they may not have known previously. To explore new places. And once they are there, walking, or snowshoeing, or paddling, to stop. For a few moments. Look around. The invitation within a Drawing Box is to pause along the trail (or river) you are on, and forget about the final destination for a moment. Look around and notice what’s there, and then to make a drawing – a simple drawing, maybe just a sketch, or a string of words – to share what you are seeing or experiencing. Drop your artwork back into the box for someone else to find. Choose someone else’s creation as a memento to take along with you. Creative exchange. Engaging appreciation. Full sensory awareness of the land around you. A way to learn from and about the people who have come before, and tell those who will come next a bit about your travel through the place. For a full experience, the boxes also included tips for movements/yoga stretches to further deepen your awareness of the place and how you move in your body along the trail or the river. These are movements that will increase awareness of your breath and body, which may then increase your visual senses. Simple but potentially powerful. These beautiful boxes were designed by 4e and built by Steph Desjardins of the Manitoulin Crate Company; development of box contents by Katie Fenerty, Heather Thoma, and Lise Baronet. Design work for box contents and signs: Kendra Edwards Design. Thanks to the Ontario Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Sport for financial support that made the Drawing Box program possible. https://www.sophieanneedwards.ca/telling-trails daily 0.75 2021-10-29 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/2f6eaa70-0e41-4068-949f-0ab529b10d29/Telling-Trails_03.jpeg Telling Trails https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/9b365bdf-9326-4313-b355-c62b158df15a/Telling-Trails_02.jpeg Telling Trails https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/6ee7e406-375e-40ae-b36f-7dae91967f0d/Telling-Trails_05.jpeg Telling Trails https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/db09e360-f30b-4d72-a1a4-8e4be0eebe71/Telling-Trails_06.jpeg Telling Trails https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/63fe551d-b295-48df-a6d9-d359eb717d2a/Telling-Trails_07.jpeg Telling Trails https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/9596c1b4-8f5d-44a2-ac35-f48e251151f3/Telling-Trails_08.jpeg Telling Trails https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/82e029fa-9cdb-4d7c-99b0-33068b1da98f/Telling-Trails_10.jpeg Telling Trails https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/cffb6b1c-a79e-4a47-a2df-e5f636e350e4/Telling-Trails_11.jpeg Telling Trails https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/b0dd89e1-ab84-4a50-ac59-e38c67eb6c13/Telling-Trails_12.jpeg Telling Trails https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/1629723833944-SSZEJN6NX1Y7ADVJSDH1/Telling-Trails_04.jpeg Telling Trails - WE DESIGNED TELLING TRAILS TO WORK WITH TWO GROUPS AND SITES: FIRST, MEMBERS OF MICA AND THE GENERAL PUBLIC ON THE CYCLING TRAIL IN KAGAWONG; SECOND, THE GRADE 6/7 CLASS AT CENTRAL MANITOULIN PUBLIC SCHOOL IN MINDEMOYA, AND THE CYCLING TRAIL THAT RUNS THROUGH THE COMMUNITY AND ALONG THE PUBLIC BEACH. A collaboration between a cycling group and an arts organization is perhaps unusual, but Manitoulin Island Cycling Advocates (MICA) saw the value of animating their trails through 4elements Living Art’s work. 4e saw the role of creative engagement as a means to encouraging folks to be active, and to learn about art processes. in my role as 4e’s AD/ED, I designed Telling Trails to work with two groups and sites: first, members of MICA and the general public on the cycling trail in Kagawong; second, the Grade 6/7 class at Central Manitoulin Public School in Mindemoya, and the cycling trail that runs through the community and along the public beach. Our goal was multi-fold: first, to collaborate with a non-arts partner through a process that engaged the organization, its members and the public in a creative process of sculpture design; to build awareness of cycling trails and MICA through creative engagement; to integrate cultural and recreational activities; and to support MICA in its long-term vision to build sculptures along local biking trails. Process For both the community and the school engagements, we cycled with participants along the trail several times, returning to the studio or classroom each time to develop designs based on the experience of the surroundings, and then back to the site again to push the design and think about it’s placement in situ, including questions of scale and other artistic considerations. The public process was more challenging in some ways as we didn’t have the same people for each session, but the smaller group size allowed for more one-on-one engagement. In the classroom, we revamped the process for team collaboration, rotating the teams each session so that when we got to the point of presenting one or two designs to the jury, and finally to the Town Council, the proposed sculpture was a full team design, not that of a single sub-group from the class. We worked very closely with the students to engage them with the process of responding to a sculpture commission. 4e worked with the local Town Council to obtain approval for the design to be installed on the waterfront trail, so the students knew from the start that they were working on a real project; we took them through the steps a professional artist would in creating a design (research, site research, design, assessment, decisions re: materials, scale etc.). Students selected two designs that met their design criteria and worked to push those final two designs toward a final design. Both designs were presented to a jury made up of a Town Council member, a MICA member, a 4e artist, and the school’s Principal. A maquette was built to see the work in 3-D. Lead facilitation: Sophie Edwards, Co-facilitator: Mariana Lafrance. For 4e it was a great learning experience, as we had not curated or facilitated much in the way of permanent sculpture design, and as this was a goal of ours, the project presented an opportunity to think through design for collaborative and non-artist participants, and working with MICA broadened our scope and we learned a lot about each organization. The students were excited to create a work that would be installed in the community; and we were able to hire a fabulous young welder, Kathryn Corbiere, to fabricate the work for the students. This was Kathryn’s first public art work project. She has gone on to win several other commissions in the few years since then; and 4e has facilitated a number of other design processes. https://www.sophieanneedwards.ca/paddle-lab-1 daily 0.75 2021-10-29 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/1629723236005-73IE7ZZT6BYPQASCDNI9/Paddle-Lab01.jpeg Paddle Lab - PADDLE LAB WAS AN EXPERIMENT TO ENGAGE INDIGENOUS AND SETTLER YOUTH IN CROSS-CULTURAL CONVERSATION. Twenty participants, mostly youth and young adults from Manitoulin Island, Sault Ste Marie and Wahnapitae First Nation, gathered on the the edge of Lake Huron at Mudge Bay, and ventured out in canoes to broach tough subjects related to the history and current state of relations between First Nations and settler communities in Canada. These conversations were generated within and between canoes as participants were challenged to work together to learn paddling skills, move from boat to boat while on the water, and change positions within the boat, steadying each other for the shifts. The awareness and care needed to undertake these actions in canoes, can translate directly into collaborative skills that can strengthen other shared work on land, in day-to-day contexts. Before heading out on the water, Jordan Tabobondung provided some wampum teachings to frame the day, and Elder Josh Eshkawkogan offered an opening ceremony for the group on the morning of the paddle lab, sending the group off with the message: “Today you will learn about working together…Use your gifts with respect for what’s around you. Water is grounding. Be aware and be safe.” Stephanie Recollet, an experienced canoe guide and facilitator from Wahnapitae First Nation, led all the participants in these trust-building activities, and co-facilitated with Jordan Tabobondung, a floating conversation-based activity that built knowledge about the history and impact of colonization. Participants engaged in an exchange of items between the canoes, such as stones, cloth, earth models, and birch bark. We reflected, and discussed what these items might mean in the context of colonization and reconciliation. Each person shared different ideas from their own background and experience. It was a windy day. We had to adjust our route, adapt activities as we went, and work together to keep each boat in communication with the other, and keep together. During a shore lunch participants learned about starting fires without matches, and made bannock to cook over the fire. Several youth participants said they would not have been interested in coming to a lecture or a discussion: being out on canoes made a difference. Paddle Lab, like other 4elements’ programs, offered a different way of engaging, in new places, encouraging new people to participate. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission made several recommendations that tie into 4elements’ interdisciplinary work. One call is to “develop culturally appropriate education.” In my role as the AD/ED at 4elements Living Arts, we developed land-based outings and workshops intended to re-connect learning to the places about which (and where) we’re learning, and to allow space for embodying that learning physically. Working on the water, using hands-on skills to integrate multiple senses and “muscles”, physical, mental, and emotional, means that what is experienced sinks in more deeply. It’s not just heard with the ears. Facilitating in spaces of shared dialogue also supports this TRC call. The process for the Paddle Lab was co-created between 4elements co-ordinators (Sophie Edwards, Patricia Mader and Heather Thoma), local youth organizer Lynzii Taibossigai, with lead co-ordination from youth and staff from Social Enterprise Evolution (SEE) in Sault Ste. Marie (Jordan Tabobondung and Katie Elliott). Stefanie Recollet and Jordan Tobobadung co-facilitated the paddle engagements. Ideas continued to cross-pollinate as the process developed; and the weather and water and the different people involved, all necessitated adjusting the activities as the day itself progressed. The learning from the water and the wind was to stay fluid, keep listening, and work together. https://www.sophieanneedwards.ca/the-fieldbook-project daily 0.75 2021-10-29 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/24d27507-2978-44b0-9567-f634b4a9bfc2/Fieldbook_02.jpeg The Fieldbook Project https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/9de66320-e721-480d-b49b-414331794cd2/Fieldbook_03.jpeg The Fieldbook Project https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/99470b64-6ae2-435e-a814-60c02a7e30d0/Fieldbook_04.jpeg The Fieldbook Project https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/d5a63127-b09b-42de-be4a-cdec2798e089/Fieldbook_05.jpeg The Fieldbook Project https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/b10b54f9-d478-4ee4-9929-20365a8c1751/Fieldbook_06.jpeg The Fieldbook Project https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/25e9784f-08db-44bd-8891-53aff2bd1ef1/Fieldbook_07.jpeg The Fieldbook Project https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/51a4ec97-9a9a-4d33-b73d-d7bb66772b31/Fieldbook_08.jpeg The Fieldbook Project https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/766d8ddd-4d09-437a-8f06-29c78527d5bc/Fieldbook_09.jpeg The Fieldbook Project https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/6e0206d8-6b85-4fd6-8b13-0fa03919ee0a/Fieldbook_10.jpeg The Fieldbook Project https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/d7070875-adc6-4e14-9607-38875c5294e6/Fieldbook_11.jpeg The Fieldbook Project https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/472a21a7-c051-4ac1-9afe-32fe3dd1063d/Fieldbook_01.jpeg The Fieldbook Project https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/8590d5f4-dcff-4322-adce-e04e44d9bb02/Fieldbook_12.jpeg The Fieldbook Project https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/37076e76-4f34-4b9a-bce5-f21833b2b876/Fieldbook_13.jpeg The Fieldbook Project https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/74d767de-4e43-45f9-a0ef-86cbae8d842a/Fieldbook_14.jpeg The Fieldbook Project https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/84b9bff1-8102-4fd7-b59a-b685c7d02c77/Fieldbook_15.jpeg The Fieldbook Project https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/3074e8fe-abdc-43d7-a4ef-105dd2938414/Fieldbook_16.jpeg The Fieldbook Project https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/eb519b6a-1809-4ced-95d6-b0a814ea2b78/Fieldbook_17.jpeg The Fieldbook Project https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/c214b504-2885-4217-9371-5d6344b7a06d/Fieldbook_18.jpeg The Fieldbook Project https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/8f31db9c-757d-47e1-aa6f-ddd6a44e0c08/Fieldbook_19.jpeg The Fieldbook Project https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/1b35fcbd-c707-4a72-826c-34e72bfef6d4/Fieldbook_20.jpeg The Fieldbook Project https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/e948dcf9-eeaf-4f09-8aa5-20db02c6af25/Fieldbook_21.jpeg The Fieldbook Project https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/b6ac9f80-20ce-4ff3-b2f5-efce1ba5950a/Fieldbook_22.jpeg The Fieldbook Project https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/c6c52cd8-7b83-44a5-9853-61d49e9dd6e2/Fieldbook_23.jpeg The Fieldbook Project https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/1632090807189-W4AW729AG0SOETI4OMD5/Fieldbook_03.jpeg The Fieldbook Project - THIS PROJECT EMBRACED INTEREST IN NATURAL SCIENCE, GEOGRAPHY AND THE LAND, AND THE PERSONAL CREATIVE, NON-REPRESENTATIONAL PRACTICES OF EMBODIED EXPERIENCES. My work as the AD and curator at 4elements Living Arts, was deeply informed by my PhD studies in Geography, through which an attunement to critical geographies of place, the situated and contested process of fieldwork, and my own engagement with creative research practices, including the use of the fieldbook (gratitute to joni palmer whose fieldbook practices were influential). This work, and many conversations with organic gardener, weaver and friend, Heather Thoma, influenced 4e’s path toward community transformation. We came to ‘walking’ out of a need to connect people back to place and to facilitate stewardship of our island landscapes and ecosystems. We did this in the simplest, most accessible way we knew how: by showing up – and walking. Throughout my time at 4e’s — from 2002 to 2018 — we came at issues of community, identity, culture and place from many different angles: curatorial projects, archival research, exhibitions, community consultation processes, school programs and outdoor art-making. We took folks out on the land through a range of creative engagements to deepen awareness of land and place via natural science, history, art-making, oral history, creative mapping, collaborative and personal art-making, and embodied engagements. In 2016, I decided to formally engage ‘walking’ as a curatorial theme, one that has flowed through many of the organization’s projects and programs. One particular project — the Fieldbook Project — was an independent project co-designed by me and Heather Thoma. We received funding from the Ontario Arts Council, and scaffolded our walking and fieldbook project with the work of 4e that year. Over a year, we led a series of walks in different Island ecosystems, each with a focus and a set of provocations/questions engaging with the complexities, power, politics and processes of walking, in place, particularly colonized spaces, and explored questions like, what can sound teach us about an ecosystem. Participants created hand-made fieldbooks, and these were carried to each walk, each walk traced onto the fieldbook. In some cases, the fieldbook drawings were collaborative, with whole groups working together. We reproduced many of the drawings in The Fieldbook Project catalogue, available through my website shop. Photos: sophie anne edwards and Heather Thoma https://www.sophieanneedwards.ca/the-fieldbook-project-1 daily 0.75 2021-10-29 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/ef4e4e67-a1e7-44ae-9953-93d5f33b2636/Animating-the-Archive_02.jpeg Animating the Archive https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/707651b9-4faf-404d-90a5-499074af6546/Animating-the-Archive_03.jpeg Animating the Archive https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/33f5ffd7-50c5-4d23-8979-e07c8b93dea2/Animating-the-Archive_05.jpeg Animating the Archive https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/49922729-f449-436b-892f-84373ba80225/Animating-the-Archive_06.jpeg Animating the Archive https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/609af894-21a7-4395-81cd-a2e2a27078e6/Animating-the-Archive_01.jpeg Animating the Archive https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/4c977296-adb8-4f03-afe6-0bfb29642994/Animating-the-Archive_07.jpeg Animating the Archive https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/1632091883487-6A6886WUL1EKT923DTNG/Animating-the-Archive_04.jpeg Animating the Archive - ARCHIVES ARE GENERALLY UNDERSTOOD TO BE SITES WHERE DOCUMENTS, OBJECTS AND OTHER HISTORICAL MATERIALS ARE CATALOGUED, SORTED, STORED AND SOMETIMES DISPLAYED. THESE MATERIALS ARE PERCEIVED AS STATIC RECORDS OF HISTORY, OF THE PAST, OF A FINISHED HISTORY, AND AUTHENTIC REPRESENTATIONS OF THE HISTORICAL RECORD. Lively discussions and engagements with the archives within historical geography and other disciplines is opening how we understand both the archive and research methods. Questions about the structure, representation and control of archives challenge notions of authenticity, veracity, accuracy, and completeness of these historical records; further, researchers and artists challenge the static nature of an archive by ‘animating’ the archive, through engagement with the materiality of the objects, exploration of the performativity of materials, and tracing how archival materials and documents travel and move through place and time. informed by my PhD studies in historical/cultural/critical geography, I was interested in the archive and the politics and practices of intervening in, and engaging with them. I had created/curated other projects that engaged with the archive, including the Bonnie Blink project in collaboration with Queen’s U Geography Department and 4elements Living Arts. That project made it very clear that what we had learned was extremely limited, and that the past was very much alive in the present. We were interested in following a few of the questions that were raised in the Bonnie Blink project by continuing with more focused and in-depth archival research. Through an OAC visual arts grant, I curated the Animating the Archive project, and invited five artists to engage in co-learning during an intensive residency at the Centennial Museum in Sheguiandah, Manitoulin Island. The artists had interest in similar questions about history, the production of place, and worked in one form or another with the land. Because Bonnie Blink has colonial links to Scotland, the project invited artists from Scotland to engage with Canadian artists, in a settler site. Initial conversations about the shape of the project and the potential lines of research touched upon all sorts of lines and traces: the historical link of displacement of Scots in their homeland, to Scottish displacement of indigenous peoples in Upper Canada; the links between Manitoulin and Scotland through architectural aesthetics and building practices; seed exchange and agricultural links between homeland and ‘new’land; migration, migrant work, and a host of other questions that were raised but not satisfyingly tackled in the earlier project. Artists Michael Belmore (lead artist from the Bonnie Blink Project, Thunder Bay) Sophie Anne Edwards (4e/geographer/artist, Manitoulin Island) Heather Thoma (4e/artist/Manitoulin Island) Elizabeth Reeder (writer, Glasgow, Scotland) Amanda Thomson (artist/geographer, Glasgow, Scotland) Exhibition photography: Peter Baumgarten https://www.sophieanneedwards.ca/river-school-and-community-hoop-project daily 0.75 2021-10-29 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/bf876e26-d1a7-4841-a67e-2172184056f7/Copy-of-Ciel-am.jpeg River School and Community Hoop Project https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/3d869334-c788-43e7-8d35-810b2fa012a9/Copy-of-Ciel-pm.jpeg River School and Community Hoop Project https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/86f2271c-6d9f-44b2-9c1a-9f11f8baac35/Hoop_01.jpeg River School and Community Hoop Project 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Hoop Project https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/c4351dfd-e8a0-4026-b01e-92575847961b/River-School_11.jpeg River School and Community Hoop Project https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/4ef93d60-9ea8-480f-85e5-5fe41c04f16a/River-School_12.jpeg River School and Community Hoop Project https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/5c365277-8ceb-4892-85eb-f73e57e08181/River-School_13.jpeg River School and Community Hoop Project https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/c9dea95b-39cb-420d-8d40-ee1ca00fd55f/River-School_14.jpeg River School and Community Hoop Project https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/025a0c86-c4ea-4eef-a96b-b0727d2d98dd/River-School_15.jpeg River School and Community Hoop Project https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/9a4287b3-e4e7-4b34-802d-b590aff77a57/River-School_16.jpeg River School and Community Hoop Project https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/88b74b4e-afbb-4288-92b8-05417bfed8a1/River-School_17.jpeg River School and Community Hoop Project https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/2dec4f4e-5e90-4ac5-ad59-c8ce6efd53ee/River-School_18.jpeg River School and Community Hoop Project https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/ee53cff2-b7be-4e66-af8d-6c4c6f6c9211/River-School_19.jpeg River School and Community Hoop Project https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/68e39dbe-d8bf-4dbf-bb81-9edb826f41b2/River-School_20.jpeg River School and Community Hoop Project https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/f004845a-1598-4c3b-901b-65e3fe4167e9/River-School_21.jpeg River School and Community Hoop Project https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/15786017-845d-43f4-aa1c-5e77aae73ff3/River-School_22.jpeg River School and Community Hoop Project https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/17c44aab-b6e9-45a1-bd7b-70915dd9daea/River-School_23.jpeg River School and Community Hoop Project https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/16bef85f-5aa7-44c7-acae-ffd27fe6c8cb/River-School_24.jpeg River School and Community Hoop Project https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/1195ca23-b396-4082-9ef1-521752849100/River-School_25.jpeg River School and Community Hoop Project https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/4cf4c247-1669-424c-9122-48e4103e68f6/River-School_26.jpeg River School and Community Hoop Project https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/4e19ff36-a54e-4840-a37b-fccb3ce30a78/River-School_27.jpeg River School and Community Hoop Project https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/bf281562-3176-46a6-935d-570451d6d7b0/River-School_28.jpeg River School and Community Hoop Project https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/0008a03f-887c-403a-8c29-7175a287e8a8/River-School_29.jpeg River School and Community Hoop Project https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/1632091389845-NGOJGO3YAML5RBJXPLEJ/River-School_10.jpeg River School and Community Hoop Project - RIVER SCHOOL SESSIONS FACILITATED OPPORTUNITIES TO LEARN ABOUT THE RIVER THROUGH THE ARTS. Through River School — funded by the Ontario Trillium Foundation — adults, children, and youth had the opportunity to get up close and personal with the plants, animals, insects, fish, and infrastructure that exist along the Kagawong River, and to spend time learning about the interconnections between them all, using creative artistic approaches to build ecological ways of thinking and living in this local watershed. The program focused on the main elements that impact river health, including the riparian (the plant dense transitional area between land and water), water flow, the substrate, plants and wildlife. Understanding geology of the riverbed through traditional storytelling and creating of pigments for painting from the rock of the river, are examples of hands-on interdisciplinary ways to immerse in the world of the river. Using several different ways of knowing, participants stretch their awareness and understanding about the place they are walking through. The project, dreamed up by me, was delivered with a team of co-designers and facilitators at 4elements Living Arts, and partner Manitoulin Streams (a local non-profit stream rehabilitation organization). We worked closely with a range of local experts, including staff from Manitoulin Streams, and other experienced educators, engineers, geologists, and biologists, First Nations elders, and artists to complement 4elements’ expertise in environmental art and workshop development. Several sessions for adults and older youth had them paddling in canoes to learn about the Upper River, but the majority of sessions took place along the Kagawong River trail from Bridal Veil Falls downstream to Mudge Bay in Lake Huron. As one of the most frequently used of all the trails on Manitoulin, visitors to the area who happened along the trail on their own walks, would meet up with River School staff and attendees, learn about River School sessions, and even sometimes join in! Local Manitouliners deepened their knowledge of the River and its watershed through the program. As one participant exclaimed, “I have walked this trail every week, and never seen it like this!” Through an intensive research process, we were able to clearly demonstrate that engaging people in creative research along the river, connecting mind, body and hands with the ecosystem, significantly increased understanding of the ecosystem, a sense of connection and a desire to steward the river. I’ve always been interested in getting artwork off gallery walls and onto local trails. During the The Kagawong River Community Hoop Project students from Lakeview Public School and community members took walks along the Kagawong River with 4e, then spent time in the 4e studio drawing, painting stitching and writing onto pieces of canvas that were stretched onto embroidery hoops. We hung these works, with fishing line, along the Kagawong River. https://www.sophieanneedwards.ca/elementalfestival daily 0.75 2021-10-29 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/5fc58f6e-65e1-4aab-bf19-42e52fc6dedf/Elemental-Festival02.jpeg Elemental Festival https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/fe0c9a70-c2a4-4f55-a662-e41d15684871/Elemental-Festival03.jpeg Elemental Festival https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/48f093f8-4603-4c1a-9676-beb1d878a580/Elemental-Festival04.jpeg Elemental Festival https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/4cfe3359-21ad-4987-ad9e-1a6ca1225c2c/Elemental-Festival05.jpeg Elemental Festival https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/f06e2985-6542-4e37-b979-1123259727b2/Elemental-Festival06.jpeg Elemental Festival 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https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/5c6a1453-f5c2-404f-8ba1-1e4e22c58fd9/Elemental-Festival24.jpeg Elemental Festival https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/e2a3f45b-8e8f-41dd-a243-9eea22510b4f/Elemental-Festival25.jpeg Elemental Festival https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/bcd0cf24-dd90-407d-b83e-f0f15c310011/Elemental-Festival26.jpeg Elemental Festival https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/4f2af61c-1e5d-46ed-80d5-7946285c8f08/Elemental-Festival27.jpeg Elemental Festival https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/87b197b1-931a-4b95-890d-b55d0c903484/Elemental-Festival28.jpeg Elemental Festival https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/bb204b82-8dcd-49d9-b7b1-63e046baa2e0/Elemental-Festival29.jpeg Elemental Festival https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/11680bd5-d498-4f5a-8bac-50b3bfdb7a9c/Elemental-Festival30.jpeg Elemental Festival https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/0c88e69c-7f18-4d54-8717-96f1287a3fb9/Elemental-Festival31.jpeg Elemental Festival https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/2a3039e9-d0f1-4aeb-906c-2a6b3f8b63be/Elemental-Festival32.jpeg Elemental Festival https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/1632089833641-TQNCCN8K0F7PDD64UUJK/Elemental-Festival14.jpeg Elemental Festival - ELEMENTAL FESTIVAL IS A SITE-SPECIFIC EVENT THAT BRINGS ART IN MANY FORMS - INSTALLATION, MUSIC, AUDIO ART, PERFORMANCE ART, AND WRITING CRAFT - INTO A RURAL, NORTHERN ONTARIO LANDSCAPE. In my role as AD/ED and lead curator at 4elements Living Arts, I designed and curated the inaugural Elemental Festival in October 2015 and curated the next few years of the festival. During those years it was an event that highlighted my interest in, and 4e’s commitment to curate innovative land-based work in tandem with community-engaged activities in which artists and community members can explore themes related land and arts. Elemental Festival was a unique multi-day, interdisciplinary, outdoor cultural experience. I wanted to create an exchange between local artists, writers, musicians and community members and visiting creators, to create an opportunity for inquiry, inspiration, and exchange, and build local engagement with critical and contemporary sit-specific practices. Each year I curated the Festival I designed a specific focus with a set of provocations, or questions, and invited artists to respond these questions within a specific, diverse ecosystems on Mnidoo Mnising | Manitoulin Island. Each festival was designed to culminate a year of community engagement around the theme, for instance, one year the focus on walking invited community members and artists to consider the politics, process and practices of walking within colonized, transformed and diverse ecosystems. Visiting artists to the Festival included the highly awarded Marlene Creates whom I’d learned about through my PhD in Geography, and Chris Turnbull whose Footpress I had been following for some time. Other visiting artists to various Festivals included Michael Belmore, Anne-Marie Hadcock, Sean Procyk, and Judy Martin. Assistance with co-ordination was a team effort, primarily thanks to NOHFC Internship grants, including Patricia Mader, the Cultural and Recreational Programs Assistant (whom I supported to curate the music at one festival and the emerging artists at another), Vanessa Glasby, and a team of summer students. Photo credits: Emilie Edwards, Sophie Edwards https://www.sophieanneedwards.ca/thebonnieblinkproject daily 0.75 2021-10-29 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/62dd3473-f1f9-4d3e-b896-bb53a4687aa1/Bonnie-Blink02.jpeg The Bonnie Blink Project https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/1d00741d-4bf2-46b0-8205-f4cfd5500e45/Bonnie-Blink01.jpeg The Bonnie Blink Project https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/cd893269-2e4f-4498-ac32-fd68d7c806a0/Bonnie-Blink03.jpeg The Bonnie Blink Project https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/70dba01f-3854-4cd0-9278-c397d849d5d1/Bonnie-Blink04.jpeg The Bonnie Blink Project https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/1f1dd924-f681-40b7-bb7e-6a4f52dec1a2/Bonnie-Blink05.jpeg The Bonnie Blink Project https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/5067d5a1-99ae-48cb-a822-305b6270f7ce/Bonnie-Blink06.jpeg The Bonnie Blink Project https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/eebbcd9c-f26e-473e-8dd5-ef9bce44444c/Bonnie-Blink07.jpeg The Bonnie Blink Project https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/bda05b90-8ce5-4de2-8a98-e36f85f323e6/Bonnie-Blink08.jpeg The Bonnie Blink Project https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/40f00628-b70f-45b5-b621-b44f8b20b028/Bonnie-Blink09.jpeg The Bonnie Blink Project https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/82330b1c-3843-45e1-8fc7-f7c9a3ea6125/Bonnie-Blink10.jpeg The Bonnie Blink Project https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/b5d3994f-daa5-4661-a572-3e66f32caa0d/Bonnie-Blink11.jpeg The Bonnie Blink Project https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/69634c60-05a0-4e65-9651-0b3c1178bd63/Bonnie-Blink12.jpeg The Bonnie Blink Project https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/3ace135b-2086-46a5-b5c9-bde94f32bafb/Bonnie-Blink13.jpeg The Bonnie Blink Project https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/e9876c90-3277-48ed-8c51-89d06d289ff8/Bonnie-Blink14.jpeg The Bonnie Blink Project https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/4b0c43bd-143a-4ceb-9707-4ca684b59eea/Bonnie-Blink15.jpeg The Bonnie Blink Project https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/d3e1eb72-09f7-4670-b685-7b7947987a0b/Bonnie-Blink16.jpeg The Bonnie Blink Project https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/be93d879-9487-4f24-acc7-9133cb553ec1/Bonnie-Blink17.jpeg The Bonnie Blink Project https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/795725ea-2e86-4154-b4c8-7ce565e28255/Bonnie-Blink18.jpeg The Bonnie Blink Project https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/6e97723b-1c4c-4bf7-9612-a87b14dbe976/Bonnie-Blink19.jpeg The Bonnie Blink Project https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/28142a63-730c-420d-b261-0caf90ee93c6/Bonnie-Blink20.jpeg The Bonnie Blink Project https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/1632092422649-1XAKPNYF7GIHCZO6CI7F/Bonnie-Blink09.jpeg The Bonnie Blink Project - THE PROJECT PROVIDED AN OPPORTUNITY FOR PHYSICAL AND HUMAN GEOGRAPHERS TO WORK TOGETHER, LEARN ABOUT EACH OTHER’S METHODOLOGIES AND, ALONG WITH THE ARTISTS AND LOCAL COMMUNITY MEMBERS, CONTRIBUTE TO A LAYERING OF KNOWLEDGE OF PLACE. Bonnie Blink House, meaning “beautiful view,” is a settler site in Sheguiandah, Manitoulin Island. It has had an important social, economic and agricultural history on the Island, having been the site of Manitoulin Gardens until the mid-1980s and housed migrant workers, several families, and provided employment for large numbers of Islanders over the last 100 years. Like all the land on Manitoulin, it was was occupied, managed and used much earlier by the paleo-indians, and later the Odaawaa and Ojibwe of the area. The Anishinabeg were displaced from the land through the Treaty of 1862. In collaboration with the Geography Department at Queen’s University, and 4elements Living Arts, I created the Bonnie Blink project with a goal to engage with the site as an embodied locus of community history—bringing its stories to life, integrating different ways of knowing, and posing questions about land use history and aboriginal/settler histories. The project brought together 22 fourth-year undergraduate geography students, three academic geographers—Dr. Neal Scott, Canada Research Chair in Greenhouse Gas Dynamics and Ecosystem Management, Dr. Anne Godlewska, and me (a historical geographer), 7 artists, community members and local historians. Queen’s University awarded Dr. Neal Scott and Sophie Edwards an award for Community Service Learning for their work bridging academic and local communities and for providing innovative educational opportunities to students. The project provided an opportunity for physical and human geographers to work together, learn about each other’s methodologies and, along with the artists and local community members, contribute to a layering of knowledge of place—realizing in the process that the full story was not learned and is a continually unfolding one. Dr. Neal Scott and I were awarded with a Queen’s Community Service Learning award for the dynamic engagement of the project. The project not only engaged students on the ground in research, but had physical and human geography students cross-reading and co-learning through an interdisciplinary capstone course, designed by Dr. Scott, Dr. Godleweska, and me. An exhibition and catalogue shared the research of artists, students and community members. https://www.sophieanneedwards.ca/telling-stories-about-place daily 0.75 2021-10-29 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/60b5bcc9-7c5d-4303-8536-1e22be350bb4/Story-Project_02.jpeg Telling Stories About Place https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/0f4075d5-05e2-4a4c-9b34-181d1ee6a7c0/Story-Project_01.jpeg Telling Stories About Place https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/273a609a-9dba-4a12-b429-b1ccfe984cf2/Story-Project_03.jpeg Telling Stories About Place https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/bf89ab16-80f9-48dd-b1b7-343194f64b44/Story-Project_04.jpeg Telling Stories About Place https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/1634534353792-KDYD6Q75LQ0S22DK2MAJ/Story-Project_03.jpeg Telling Stories About Place - THE PROJECT WAS ALL ABOUT EXPLORING THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN STORY, WORDS AND PLACE. OVER SEVERAL MONTHS THE GRADES 6 AND 7 STUDENTS AT LITTLE CURRENT PUBLIC SCHOOL LEARNED ABOUT MANITOULIN AND AREA THROUGH LOCAL KNOWLEDGE-KEEPERS, AND THEY PARTICIPATED IN A SERIES OF IN-CLASS WRITING SESSIONS DURING WHICH TIME THEY WROTE POEMS ABOUT BELL ROCK, MANITOULIN, AND THEIR HOMES. It was raining. The sky was grey. The bus windows were steaming up, but the students filling the full-sized bus were hushed. Esther Osche, a knowledge keeper from Whitefish River First Nation was telling the story of Bell Rock. She spoke of the role of the rocks and how they sounded around the bay, the mass deaths of the men and boys poisoned by a European trader, the dispersal of the women and children, the restriction by the Jesuits to conduct ceremonies and use the rocks and the withholding of supplies for doing so. The rain ran down the windows, and the bus was heating up with all the bodies squashed into the seats. We insisted on going despite the rain. These stories are to be told onsite. This project was all about stories, their relationship to place – the land – and the important role of learning in place. As Esther finished telling her story, the rain stopped. The students filed off the bus, and began to walk with Esther toward the rocks. The rain and our footsteps released the scent of penny royal beneath our feet. Esther led the students to the rocks, then to the graves, and to the water where the rocks originally sat. We learned about how they were almost crushed and shipped off with other erratics on this flat alvar coastline. Students walked around the site, and experienced the place through their senses. They were provided with worksheets with ‘cues’ for building their awareness of the place by collecting words for things they see, hear, feel, smell; a chart to note topographical and ecological aspects of the alvar (a very particular kind of landscape), and to map the site. They experienced traditional oral storytelling, at the site of the story, where history, the body, the flora and fauna all co-exist, the story recreating place through the telling. I designed the project, Telling Stories about Place, to engage students in an exploration of the relationship between story, words and place. Over several months the Grades 6 and 7 students at Little Current Public School learned about Manitoulin and area through local knowledge-keepers, and they participated in a series of in-class writing sessions during which time they wrote poems about Bell Rock, Manitoulin, and their homes. We facilitated a full-day story building workshop with several stations through which all of the students rotated: a listening and sound poem workshop with Hoi Cheu (Film School, Laurentian University) and Sophie Edwards (4e), movement work with Bruce Naokwegijig (Debajehmujig Storytellers), and an improvisational workshop with Bill Shawanda (Debajehmujig Storytellers). Author Joseph Gold provided a talk for the teachers about the role of narrative and story in identity. And the day was capped with the presentation of a new work by spoken word artist Cheryl Kennelly. Funded by the Ontario Arts Council, the project supported the school’s work to develop a number of independent programs that over the few years prior had increasingly been providing a school- and curriculum-wide approach to learning and teaching that integrated multiple intelligences, cultural approaches and steps to incrementally bring students toward language development and writing. The fundamental questions we were asking students were: what is the relationship between story and place, and what is your relationship to this place? Sophie Edwards, project curator, curriculum development, writing workshop facilitator Dr. Hoi Cheu, workshop facilitator, Film School / Centre for Humanities Research and Creativity, Laurentian University Esther Osche, knowledge keeper, Whitefish River First Nation Dr. Joseph Gold, independent scholar (Emeritus, University of Waterloo). Author of The Story Species and Read for Your Life. Bill Shawanda, theatre artist/performer, Debajehmujig Storytellers Bruce Naokwegijig, movement/performance, Debajehmujig Storytellers Cheryl Kennelly, spoken word artist https://www.sophieanneedwards.ca/the-jameson-inquiry daily 0.75 2021-10-29 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/00a853f0-935d-4915-9e00-e2fff4adcb4c/Jameson-Inquiry_02.jpeg The Jameson Inquiry https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/7c9614fa-8e94-4034-8426-52956215e0f7/Jameson-Inquiry_03.jpeg The Jameson Inquiry https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/668982ff-edd2-40f1-8dbe-ca0a70adb2c8/Jameson-Inquiry_04.jpeg The Jameson Inquiry https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/d863f628-8857-45d8-9631-b1f3beed2ce6/Jameson-Inquiry_05.jpeg The Jameson Inquiry https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/04fbeb80-79bb-4355-936e-b5dfb4302939/Jameson-Inquiry_01.jpeg The Jameson Inquiry https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/f290d1ec-b31d-490f-b85e-b8a914b40175/Jameson-Inquiry_06.jpeg The Jameson Inquiry https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/8b52ea86-3ec0-4c13-aa8e-e8d54dc8d2e5/Jameson-Inquiry_07.jpeg The Jameson Inquiry https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/64780606-12f7-4883-a2da-c87ad3a1aa17/Jameson-Inquiry_08.jpeg The Jameson Inquiry https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/da5f654a-f1ae-4563-9fc3-22179fcafe5f/Jameson-Inquiry_09.jpeg The Jameson Inquiry https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/f2b69a2f-9965-4af4-bd70-cd2273b69ecb/Jameson-Inquiry_10.jpeg The Jameson Inquiry https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/d515526e-6cd2-4878-933b-04579190a6e2/Jameson-Inquiry_11.jpeg The Jameson Inquiry https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/4afcb00a-4fda-4aa9-9379-6f38b05eacf9/Jameson-Inquiry_12.jpeg The Jameson Inquiry https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/6e529d46-ce72-405c-a4da-f24e4ab98bca/Jameson-Inquiry_13.jpeg The Jameson Inquiry https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/6541f202-28d6-467b-9e36-bbdbb8ea1097/Jameson-Inquiry_14.jpeg The Jameson Inquiry https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/ca0e23c6-b700-441f-af37-7cb44f62b3ad/Jameson-Inquiry_15.jpeg The Jameson Inquiry https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/4641d47f-48a0-487f-b345-c40e26128153/Jameson-Inquiry_16.jpeg The Jameson Inquiry https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/1634425985161-OXIT9XXI4ATBQVK4BVYH/Jameson-Inquiry_03.jpeg The Jameson Inquiry - 7-DAY PADDLE EXCURSION EXPLORING THE ECOLOGICAL, CULTURAL AND HISTORICAL STORIES OF THE NORTH CHANNEL USING CREATIVE ARTS APPROACHES. Anna Brownell Jameson was an Irish art historian, artist and writer. In 1837, after a long winter in Toronto, she travelled by schooner, bateaux and Voyageur canoe to Mackinac Island, east to Manitowaning for the annual gift giving, then south again to Toronto via Killarney and Penetanguishene. She documented her travels in a popular book, Winter Studies and Summer Rambles, and in a series of drawings and watercolours. Considered one of the first ‘tourists’ to the area, as well as an authority on early Upper Canada, Jameson’s work was influential, her texts providing Europeans in the mid-1800s some of their first introductions to northern Ontario. In conjunction with my PhD studies into Jameson, I designed a creative research project — the Jameson Canoe Trek — to follow part of Jameson’s route, leading participants on a 7-day paddle excursion, from Algoma Mills to Manitoulin Island, exploring the ecological, cultural and historical stories of the North Channel using creative research methodologies. Guided by Chris Taggart, a professional paddle guide and facilitated by me based on my visual art and academic research, artists and researchers from Canada and France experienced the land and waterways of the North Channel through the eyes of Anna Jameson. Photo credits: Sophie Edwards, Emilie Edwards https://www.sophieanneedwards.ca/the-art-of-being-billings daily 0.75 2021-10-29 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/0b836036-b41f-4dd8-a155-a7ee739e3db7/Art-of-Being-Billings02.jpeg The Art of Being Billings https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/c5b05c2e-1ce5-456a-a8d4-849c67b6ca66/Art-of-Being-Billings03.jpeg The Art of Being Billings https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/c505a986-7aa3-4789-87a0-0e645b5d8e33/Art-of-Being-Billings04.jpeg The Art of Being Billings https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/307fc188-3b28-4fcc-b414-13a84f38359b/Art-of-Being-Billings06.jpeg The Art of Being Billings https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/2012b2b6-74df-4085-a0c9-2ccefd23b88d/Art-of-Being-Billings07.jpeg The Art of Being Billings https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/19ab6ae0-b1d4-401d-8b9d-5f58a1c6529f/Art-of-Being-Billings08.jpeg The Art of Being Billings https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/d9a4e972-0f55-4233-9f8b-fe9888d8b113/Art-of-Being-Billings09.jpeg The Art of Being Billings https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/95d1bb26-10df-4b50-bd78-1436f515c47a/Art-of-Being-Billings10.jpeg The Art of Being Billings https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/d2a8f01d-3f81-4f92-90a2-a189ada71178/Art-of-Being-Billings11.jpeg The Art of Being Billings https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/673b5283-dac0-4ee9-b276-cfe8653ac813/Art-of-Being-Billings12.jpeg The Art of Being Billings https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/eac8cd33-7d0a-4953-a3c5-25adef9e8fac/Art-of-Being-Billings13.jpeg The Art of Being Billings https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/eeddafde-c1e5-44ad-9c68-ff9c4f985674/Art-of-Being-Billings14.jpeg The Art of Being Billings https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/d16b40fa-1f41-44c9-a3a7-6342a59b4d0d/Art-of-Being-Billings15.jpeg The Art of Being Billings https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/c0d04843-f674-479a-b57f-91194f3f805c/Art-of-Being-Billings16.jpeg The Art of Being Billings https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/1634427326110-7TFFK2SP454FUO2KAAZM/Art-of-Being-Billings06.jpeg The Art of Being Billings - THE ART OF BEING BILLINGS OFFERED CREATIVE APPROACHES TO BUILD A COMMUNITY’S VISION OF THEIR FUTURE ... THIS PROJECT HIGHLIGHTED RESIDENT’S STORIES FROM THE PAST, INCLUDING MANY THAT HAD NOT YET BEEN TOLD What happens when you take a traditional community consultation, part of a Township sustainability planning process, and think like an artist? You spend a lot of time with folks, ask them what they love to do now, what kinds of things used to happen in the community, what they care about, how they like to spend time together… then you do those things. Through The Art of Being Billings we found out that the heart of the community is the active, community-mindedness of the residents. Instead of always sitting in formal meetings, we organized a bonfire, stargazing and storytelling night at which residents were invited to share “How they had come to be in Billings” which taught us about what is meaningful here, what attracts and keeps people in this community. We took a walk on the river and made land art that spoke about the river and our relationships to it which communicated the value of the riverscape as a recreational, tourist and ecological aspects . We went to the popular history nights and listened to, and filmed, stories being told. We facilitated a story mapping to find out how buildings, and places had changes over time. We hit the craft market and gathered more stories for the mapping. We invited community members to share photographs and artwork about the community and the history, and mounted a community exhibition. A winter afternoon of shared walking, talking, and artmaking brought out the winding patterns of nature, landscape, and community relationship. Participants of all ages gathering at the community beach were invited to draw their favorite places in the township, or what they like about living here. Vision sessions, with multiple groups, using drawing helped people articulate their needs and hopes for the community. A culminating exhibition with local musicians, and a project catalogue celebrated the project and the vision of the community. The Art of Being Billings offered creative approaches to build a community’s vision of their future, and in a place with lots of well-known historical lore, this project highlighted resident’s stories from the past, including many that had not yet been told. Many smaller stories, images, and photographs were revealed, that weaved through and between the larger ones. We engaged participants from 5 to 85 in a range of place-based activities in different locations in all four seasons, re-enlivened community histories, built new relationships, and sparked new ideas about people’s connection to their places in Billings Township. Participants came up with the project name – the Art of Being Billings (ABB) – to reflect both the methods of the project, but also how they felt about the community. In addition to the more typical economic development ideas that emerged, the arts and history were priorities articulated by residents. Supported by funding from the Ontario Arts Council, The Art of Being Billings project spanned twelve months, from August 2012 to August 2013. Facilitated and coordinated by 4elements Living Arts — lead, Heather Thoma, and me — the project was offered in partnership with La Cloche and Manitoulin Business Assistance Corporation (LAMBAC), and the Township of Billings. https://www.sophieanneedwards.ca/stone-inquiries daily 0.75 2021-10-29 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/a9030c92-b7e3-43c3-b72d-37a4619d27aa/Malta_01.jpeg Stone Inquiries https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/5b98cf49-ba38-41cb-aef1-8a7f7d75790d/Malta_02.jpeg Stone Inquiries https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/28055beb-31e4-4dbe-a4fa-c46594f1f471/Malta_03.jpeg Stone Inquiries https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/5cc34299-35f9-4c8c-8cc7-9a1ad19dee4c/Malta_04.jpeg Stone Inquiries https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/ea197d53-722e-458f-ad88-9b3fea8ddecb/Malta_05.jpeg Stone Inquiries https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/613f9ba2-a64d-4d41-8812-5772358e2670/Malta_06.jpeg Stone Inquiries https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/f8e56bd4-3216-4ae7-b4b8-ac1443c95de5/Malta_07.jpeg Stone Inquiries https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/26ad2de4-c052-4914-9a01-7c1d40708881/Malta_08.jpeg Stone Inquiries https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/0012c3c2-f691-46d4-9464-453de78e7d61/Mcgregor-bay01.jpeg Stone Inquiries https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/0976e3d2-a3d3-4866-ba3d-42a4cb31ba47/Mcgregor-bay02.jpeg Stone Inquiries https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/f0d79b53-611b-4ba3-b952-adf0a520431b/Mcgregor-bay03.jpeg Stone Inquiries https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/f2c26d92-5ac2-4c07-89ae-a9f789ace7e8/Mcgregor-bay04.jpeg Stone Inquiries https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/27472c7d-8cdd-40b4-afcc-2a7d3c4bab3b/Mcgregor-bay05.jpeg Stone Inquiries https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/79b61725-f3b3-4d0d-b105-b70d7920e4ac/Mcgregor-bay06.jpeg Stone Inquiries https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/26e7b2f7-08f6-4b39-b0f9-b324471de423/Mcgregor-bay07.jpeg Stone Inquiries https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/01ed1f15-47ed-402d-8b74-364cefe4a071/Tuscany_01.jpeg Stone Inquiries https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/4bc8340e-185c-4411-bd30-5479a843560a/Tuscany_02.jpeg Stone Inquiries https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/6781d39e-7296-4b1b-85ef-95f9f5ebd19e/Tuscany_03.jpeg Stone Inquiries https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/30ed45ea-c1e9-43a6-bb97-23db02beca18/Tuscany_04.jpeg Stone Inquiries https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/a4359a12-15b3-485a-8955-9044949629cd/Tuscany_05.jpeg Stone Inquiries https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/455b5604-e385-4fda-a283-48fa876d45a1/Tuscany_06.jpeg Stone Inquiries https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/fc1cdbe5-7498-4749-bd42-ecd553a26684/Tuscany_07.jpeg Stone Inquiries https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/f47d9bfe-ac93-4754-a54c-e377b8b70241/Tuscany_08.jpeg Stone Inquiries https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/8f6313e3-5fb6-44d7-8383-052d7a44002a/Tuscany_09.jpeg Stone Inquiries https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/d0f27a03-41d0-4c2a-98f2-75209e1f2319/Tuscany_10.jpeg Stone Inquiries https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/40ca4716-15d3-4ef9-95c9-4ba46549f915/Tuscany_11.jpeg Stone Inquiries https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/96d7d8ec-01fe-4461-873d-f5684f23c071/Tuscany_12.jpeg Stone Inquiries https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/59119221-e715-4419-b80f-62c165a4f2ae/9.JPG Stone Inquiries - THE STONE INQUIRIES SERIES BEGAN WITH THE GEOLOGICAL AND MYTHIC FORMATIONS OF THE NORTH SHORE OF MANITOULIN AND THE ADJACENT ISLAND INFESTED WATERS OF GEORGIAN BAY. A fascination with stone led to the creation of a series of local and international ‘stone inquiries’. Stones are the stuff of legend. They have been worshipped, used for building, written upon and written with, they serve as tocsin (sounding stones), sign-posts, and are host to a wealth of biotic life. The stone inquiries series began with the geological and mythic formations of the north shore of Manitoulin and the adjacent island infested waters of Georgian Bay. This is where two icons of Canadian stone meet, the glacial remnant of the Niagara Escarpment pushing north and the mass of the Canadian Shield flowing south. There were three intensives ranging from 10-day to 3-weeks: the first in McGregor Bay to learn about the fabulous pre-Cambrian geology of the area; then to Italy to explore the marble quarries, murals, sculptures, and mosaics of Tuscany; and finally, to Malta — curated and organized through the i5 collective (VJane Gordon, Don Gordon, Sophie Edwards, Ulrike Balke, and Gerard Allain) — to learn about the megalithic stone temples built between 3600 and 700 BC. Each program was a fascinating exploration of local history, stone/work and geology combined with talks by local experts, artist talks, semi-structured workshops, salon discussions, and studio time for participants to develop projects in response to site visits. The place-based inquiry focus was inspired by artist V. Jane Gordon’s process through which participants are invited to explore sites through a range of modalities, and my interest in creative research methodologies. As we went out and about to different sites (driving, training, boating and walking), we gathered, traced, touched, drew; we wrote, documented, reflected; we created installations, and site-specific responses. We experimented with and learned about environmental and site-specific practices and artists. photos and artwork: sophie anne edwards https://www.sophieanneedwards.ca/movement-manitoulin-and-paraphrase daily 0.75 2021-10-29 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/1634533512017-3XQLA7KYSE1I72ZCJ41Z/paraphrase4e.jpeg Movement Manitoulin and Paraphrase - A SERIES OF THEMATIC EXPLORATIONS, MOVEMENT MANITOULIN AND PARAPHRASE BROUGHT TOGETHER INVITED AND SELF-SELECTING PARTICIPANTS TO ENGAGE IN CROSS-DISCIPLINARY EXPLORATION IN THE RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN DANCE/MOVEMENT-BASED PRACTICES AND PLACE. Movement Manitoulin was the first of my curatorial experiments in inquiry-based programs. Offered in partnership with DanceOntario this project engaged participants in questions about the relations between dance as performance and cultural practice, tradition and fusion, and the influence of place on movement and dance. It brought together a range of dance companies and movement practitioners from different cultural and dance backgrounds, from around the province. Artists dialogued and explored questions about dance practices and influences, hosted workshops for community members, and those with dance companies or musical groups offered presentations for the public. Film screenings from Moving Pictures: Festival of Dance on Film and Video were shown for the public and participants to attend. Paraphrase followed with an opportunity for dancers/movement practitioners, visual artists, digital media specialists, and writers to take the inquiry process further, to explore each other’s work through their own medium, coupled with inquiry-based site visits in communities and landscapes around the Island as an impetus for creation of new works. The 5-day program created the environment for artists’ work to be influenced by places across Manitoulin, by teachings from community members, elders and storytellers, and for participants to return at the end of each day to a large studio space to create new work. But the spin was that sometimes a visual artist was drawing a dancer, and sometimes a dancer was influenced by a painter’s questions or by the place they had visited together. There was a shared intention to experimentally co-educate, co-mentor, and co-create across cultures and art disciplines. In the large ‘studio’ of the community hall at Aundeck Omni Kaning, there was dancing and drawing, digital media and writing, painting and installation. An artist might spend time learning from a dancer, or a dancer might pop over and learn about digital drawing. The project engaged the interdisciplinary and land-based approaches of 4elements Living Arts, the site-based Inquiry Method of V. Jane Gordon, and the improvisational and creation practices of the dancers. The balance of collective inquiry and individual practice, discussion and art-making, cultures and landscapes, and Manitoulin itself, provided rich opportunities for both local artists and visiting professionals to take their practice to new places, literally and metaphorically. https://www.sophieanneedwards.ca/reggio-inquiry-based-early-learning daily 0.75 2021-10-29 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/2d6386bb-e9ba-4174-bfc1-def19bcfb0cc/charcoal+1.jpg Reggio / Inquiry based early learning https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/2ef7a49b-bec5-4b97-a011-4ba90e8a10b1/Copy+of+DSCF4228.JPG Reggio / Inquiry based early learning https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/3d30b3e2-d01c-46c6-af10-7bdc59471d8b/Copy+of+IMG_2811.jpg Reggio / Inquiry based early learning https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/14c32fd6-fc71-4dbb-8d9e-9770b75ed51b/objects+1.jpg Reggio / Inquiry based early learning https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/7ff450e7-1e9d-4938-8094-e4de282c5641/Photo+2015-06-02%2C+10+08+02+AM.jpg Reggio / Inquiry based early learning https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/a28d6033-d028-4f22-9043-77c702ad4ad5/_+BrentGervais1716+-+4elements+Blaire+Flynn.jpg Reggio / Inquiry based early learning https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/a88ce437-c4e7-49fb-8ab0-e21eb1f7e434/Copy+of+IMG_2811.jpg Reggio / Inquiry based early learning - CREATING RELATIONAL MUSCLE — CREATIVE LAND-BASED EARLY LEARNING Kids get fired up outside. They beg for recess. They love to look for bugs, get messy, bring the outdoors inside. They are masters at finding the ant hill, the caterpillar, the ounce of mud in an expanse of cement. It’s a joy, and it’s playful research. It connects children to the natural world, and while they get fired up in this pleasure their synapses are also firing, and they are creating a way of relating and connecting. For over a decade at 4elements Living Arts, I led a team of people to work in schools with children of all ages, encouraging land- and place-based ways to integrate arts and creative practices in classrooms and afterschool programs. As a result, we were invited by the Rainbow District School Board to act as ‘ateleristas’ (artists in residence) in early learning classes in schools on Manitoulin Island and in Sudbury region. Our approach had a great affinity with the ‘Reggio Emilia’ approach to learning, which was developed in Italy after World War Two, and has a world-wide following. As ateleristas, our work is child-centered: we follow the interests of the child; we use natural materials and make connections to the natural world, and consider the environment to be a teacher; projects are process-based and iterative and we value research-based learning. Children work collaboratively and independently, but are always encouraged to learn together and co-teach. As the engagements are based on the children’s interests we have to be flexible and light on our feet, and be very creative so that we can create activities and introduce materials that respond to the children’s questions and curiosities. We rarely have a set workshop or activity in which all children create the same thing. The learning was rich and the application of the different techniques/projects so meaningful. --Teacher participating in 4e Early Years Educator training workshop. Rather than direct students to particular curricular endpoints, as artists in residence, we listen to the children and respond to their own questions about their environment in the classroom or their outdoor play areas. We respond not with “answers” but with other questions, with suggestions of art materials, or ideas about natural phenomena or related topics, that encourage them to come to their own answers in whatever way satisfies them. This approach honours each child as a researcher in her/his/their own right, with unique ways to learn and to collaborate with other students, encouraged in their natural impulse to find ways that the natural world can be a teacher. My teaching partner and I have truly enjoyed following nature based inquiries in our classroom over the past two years. It is a joy to see the children explore natural materials that they may not have been exposed to before. They have created incredible art! :) With the support of Ontario Trillium Foundation, and with consultation from Ellen Brown (York University), an early learning researcher and seasoned workshop facilitator and expert on ‘Reggio’ documentation, two books were written about this 3-year Reggio-informed early learning project with the Rainbow Board, available for purchase (navigate to my web store); and I’m available to facilitate workshops and study groups in these inquiry-based creative ecological approaches. “Our experience with an artist in the classroom was very positive and rewarding for the children. It also provided me as an educator opportunities to see possibilities we had not considered in the arts.” Since 2017 I’ve been working with Early Learning Creative Collaborations (formerly the Northern Ontario Reggio Association), supporting ecological engagements with children, supporting book studies, collaborating on presentations at the conferences, co-writing articles, and providing professional development to early learning educators. https://www.sophieanneedwards.ca/community-sculpture daily 0.75 2021-10-29 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/a373eb7f-3017-4cfb-a50c-ffa2a2faeeaf/DSC_8431.JPG Community Sculpture https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/f5185d5c-4388-40f9-aa02-22fda3394ec4/DSC_8529.JPG Community Sculpture https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/d3659a20-4eb2-4c40-8a91-8d8d61281850/DSC_8535.JPG Community Sculpture https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/4dcbc090-155d-4a74-884b-58976d232b25/DSC_8542.JPG Community Sculpture https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/b5183af8-1d8b-474c-a079-17b2cf4ce235/DSC_8571.JPG Community Sculpture https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/758c75f1-2aaf-4615-8e61-ed72f6289ac5/DSC_8173.JPG Community Sculpture https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/d0af0c49-9322-4503-934e-b04c76699ee9/DSC_8603.JPG Community Sculpture https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/77341c20-3913-466d-b2a4-88e2207e6463/DSC_8629.JPG Community Sculpture https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/2bd1d0e7-cd4a-4910-be17-b8a3cc2421e5/DSC_8713.JPG Community Sculpture https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/8f9ffa37-30b6-46ac-b4ef-d6fea6f619ca/DSC_8733.JPG Community Sculpture https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/1e174176-cb2b-42bf-821c-89f7a7319633/DSC_8774.JPG Community Sculpture https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/faed4d8b-9676-4714-8636-2da9a45fe33a/DSC_8774.JPG Community Sculpture - Mutual respect | acknowledgement of place Mutual respect | acknowledgement of place K. Jake Chakasim (Cree) is a lecturer at the Sudbury School of Architecture and Emily Carr University of Art + Design. His interdisciplinary approach to architecture addresses the need to re-contextualize Aboriginal traditions through refined typologies. Jake was awarded an Architectural Research Center Consortium Jonathan King Medal, an award that acknowledges innovation, integrity and scholarship in architectural and/or environmental design research. Jake is pursuing a PhD a the School of Community and Regional Planning at UBC. While the AD and curator at 4elements Living Arts I invited Jake to join us for a two-week residency with 4e. Jake worked with local high school students and community members to collaboratively design and build sculptural forms that explored the relations between First Nations and settlers. Using non-traditional approaches, the work and the participants (from M’Chigeeng First Nation and Kagawong) responded to the materials and the site, rather than beginning with a pre-planned design. Board were bent and shaped to work within the space. As new community members joined the group, new ideas were integrated and the work continued to grow and evolve. Copper was used as it is both a traditional metal and to signify communication. The copper boards move throughout the whole work, emanating from the central log, and represent life, love, and the heartbeat. The white and red boards, the light and dark bark, and the series of ‘twos’ and doubles represent First Nations and settler peoples. A salvaged cedar log, rotten on the inside, was cut in two, with the two sides placed ‘back to back’ at the centre of the piece; rocks were placed at the foot of the work to represent Manitoulin Island. Bear markings on one side represent claims to territory, while the bear claws on the other side represent protection. Several months later, Jake returned to the Island. Students at Manitoulin Secondary School engaged with and responded to the sculpture and then worked with Jake Chakasim and Steve Radoulovich during a second residency to create another sculptural form, from which a permanent work will be created over the following year. Funded through Canada 150, Ontario 150 and the Ontario Arts Council, the project and the works are part of the Billings Connections Trail. COMMUNITY DESIGNED SCULPTURE Lead designer: Jake Chakasim, Carving: Steven Fox-Radoulovich. Design/Build: students and community members. Curator: Sophie Edwards. Community facilitation: Sophie Edwards and Sarah King-Gold. Advisory Team: Josh Eshkawkogan, Sunny Osawabine, Mira Jones, Anong Beam, Jamie Mohamed https://www.sophieanneedwards.ca/your-silence-is-a-world-for-my-language daily 0.75 2021-12-07 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/69854ec3-4e69-4fb4-aff7-7a06921e43c3/IMG_20210614_191057.jpg your silence is a world for my language https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/e23586c9-2e07-43d0-bfdd-1555a56111f3/IMG_20210614_191218.jpg your silence is a world for my language https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/ca217187-9251-4afe-8333-05d752ee199a/gallery+installation+3.jpg your silence is a world for my language https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/6396078f-7ee5-4682-a383-c33098e39f5d/gallery+installation+2.jpg your silence is a world for my language https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/e9e57361-8dd8-4ba4-a842-02e2e073fc85/gallery+install5.jpg your silence is a world for my language https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/ecfb94d3-5b6d-47fd-b674-aefe9161d8db/gallery+installation+1.jpg your silence is a world for my language https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f9df56ebb288273ba48f4f7/facfa424-28bb-4400-9efc-7e0e7a17169a/gallery+installation4.jpg your silence is a world for my language - your silence is a world for my language: exhibition — 180 projects, ssm 180 Projects in Sault Ste Marie mounted my solo show June-July, 2021. It was a joy and a deep sense of peace to see the work installed, after working on it for three years. I hadn’t been able to see the panels as a collection, or even hung at full length until we installed. The space was gorgeous, and I’m grateful for Andrea Pinheiro, the curator’s, eye and sensitivity to the work. To learn more about this durational eco/poetic project: See the process here. Listen to my artist talk here. Listen to the CBC Radio Interview: Part 1 : https://ici.radio-canada.ca/.../rattrapage-du-lundi-28.../4 Part 2 : https://ici.radio-canada.ca/.../rattrapage-du-lundi-28.../16 Read Judy Martin’s review here. You may also order a back issue of Room Magazine — one of the project images won 2nd place in their cover contest — HERE The images are available for purchase — contact me directly (I’ve not got them loaded in the Cart yet). 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