Mask Making in Garden River

i have to tell you this much:  when folks are given a blank mask, a table covered with markers and 45 minutes or more, amazing things can be created!  case in point at the Algoma District School Board’s activity day on May 28th, held at the Garden River Rec Centre: a young lady from Sandy Lake shocked everyone with the magical scene she created.  i enjoyed watching her get started, at first looking at the blank mask, turning it around in her hand, examining, thinking.  a cool half hour later it was really turning into something and an hour into it, fini!  complete and a work of art indeed.  it was sitting on the table and everyone going by stopped to have a look at it.  

you put a young lady like that in front of a blank canvas and some paint…  you could very easily have a brand new world class player on the big stage.  

folks of all ages took part in that mask making.  a man came along in the afternoon and he was definitely an older gentleman but i waved at him and invited him to give it a go.  at first he said no but then changed his mind and was working on that mask for at least an hour.  now i didn’t know who he was or what he was doing there but it was apparent the dude had artistic abilities.  turns out he was one of the principals with the ADSB, with 40 years in the education department!!!

unfortunately i did not get any pictures of the creations.  all i can say is: they were awesome works of art and you’ll have to take my word for it.

instead i have this picture of the mighty Garden River and i hope you like it!we’re off to Ottawa for the week of June 10th to the 16th with some Self Discovery Through Art fun and there is still time to book an appointment so don’t delay!  email me and we’ll work out the details.  

Miigwetch.

 

Self Care Through Art-the Mask

aanii!  boozhoo and hello there!  Hey I had to share a photo of two masks created this weekend at the Self Care Through Art workshop held right out here on the open range.  

Mask A was created by a student in grade 5 and mask B was created by a student in grade 9. Each artist was given a blank mask, a tool box full of colours, some “mask instruction/teaching” and 45 minutes.  Beautiful work yes?  The mask is one of many art making exercises we offer here at twinravens.com

We can do it for you!  Email us at twinravens@gmail.com.  We go anywhere anytime!

Self Discovery Through Art, twinravens style

Aanii!  So here it is March and thank goodnezz we made it this far because out here on the range its pretty clear the days are getting longer and the nights are getting shorter!  Mild climes be coming.  We can get back to our sun worshiping in the good ole fashion Ojibway way: down by the waterfalls.  

Anywho.  Self Discovery Through Art is coming along nicely.  We’ve been with the good folks at a child’s recreation program the last few nights and its been going wonderfully in the mask painting department.  We’re still with those folks for the next few days and we’re looking to have more fun.  

Coming up, April 14th in Sudbury at the Tree of Life North, we will be having a 3 hour Self Discovery Through Art session on a Sunday afternoon.  Perfect time for some exploration, expansion in the horizons department, creative thinking, and ultra colour.  The details are on the poster we have displayed below.  Remember: my Self Discovery Through Art program requires no artistic experience and all art supplies are provided.

Lastly, here is a little story we can share, now that enough time has passed.  We’re big Halloween cats in my camp.  We always go back to the city and whoop it up as best we can at various Halloween parties and usually have a great time providing no one falls off their high heels.  So last Halloween we were over there in the whoop, and its a school week but we take Jazzy Moon with us anyway.  One day Jazz and I were in the McD’s at the Walmart down there in the south end of town and I could see some folks wondering: why isn’t that child in school?  Fair enough.  But we parked it in the McD’s for lunch and the place was filled with elderly ladies, grandmothers, most of whom were sitting at various tables, alone.  I scoped the joint while waiting in line and decided the best place for us was smack dab in the middle of the seating area.  Now what you have to remember about Jazzy, age 9 at the time, is she is a lot like her older sister in the “up and coming actress” department, in particular, comedy.  The girls, their comedic timing is impeccable, and of course their facial expressions: academy.  So we’re in there having lunch.  Jazzy is in her role as “happy child enjoying a happy meal” and I’m doing my best Jon Voight as seen in the movie U Turn, complete with scraggly and grey hair, red bandana, black hat, U.S. Army jacket in woodland camo, and dog chewed eye glasses.  Now by this point in time I can see the elderly ladies all watching Jazzy Moon, she’s obviously the star in the matinee and I’m just the side bar, secondary character.  

“Daddy.  How come you’re not eating this french fry?”  she asks as she picks it up off my tray and starts munching on it.

“Cause it fell on the floor.  You wasn’t eatin it none now was you?” I reply, in Jon Voight mode.

Jazzy immediately starts hacking and coughing and spits out the fry into a napkin, grabs her apple juice and takes a big slug, wipes her mouth and says, “Dad!!!  What are you trying to do?  Kill me?”

Of course the fry had not fallen on the floor, it had merely fallen out of the box and onto the tray but I thought I’d play it up anyway.  But this crazy scene went on perfectly and I could see all of these elderly ladies watching, and getting a kick out of it.  If you can bring a smile to the faces of folks who have seen so much, I think you’re doing alright for that time in the day.  

Many of those ladies thanked us for joining them when we got up to leave.  

Winter in the Boon Docks

yalloo there!  i hope winter is fine with you in your books and places.  its been an adventure up here in the north country: a winter wonderland.  during the week of Jan. 21/25th i decided to check into some heavy sport winter action up there in Dryden, Ontario, where the 6 a.m. temperatures were down around minus 32, not including the wind!  now its been many a winter moon since we’ve frosted over in climes like that down in this neck of the woods.  winter climes like that seem to be a thing of the past but not up there in the Ontario north west!  the plane out of Thunder Bay was an hour late on Thursday morning because they had to thaw it out!  when we finally did get on board i foolishly plunked myself down in frozen seat 19F and nearly cracked my spine.  enough about the frosty air temperatures.  

i was up there on a little art related business.  the last time i rolled through Dryden and Wabigoon, Upsala and T.B. was way back in the mid 1990′s when the band rolled through town on the all night, all day and all night x 2 drive back from the Northern Storytelling Festival in Whitehorse, YK.  we were crazy cats back in those days: nothing was outa reach of the long arms of NR, gig wise.  we booked the gig and Billy L. took us up there in his van.  what a ride that was!!!  and before that it was with Debajehmujig Theatre Group, 1990 and 91 lord have mercy…  we were up there in the Lake of the Woods for a couple of weeks in May on the Toronto at Dreamer’s Rock tour, the one that broke the camel’s back!  

let me say this much:  things have changed up that way.  it isn’t the same.  one itty bitty ie:  the night before i jet back this way i thought i would take a little ride around the good city of Thunder Bay, this was on a bone rattling minus 29 degree Wednez evening, and i thought maybe i’ll just swing by the Empire Hotel for a quick splash and see if the boys are still in there shooting pool.  so i drove down Arthur Street onto Simpson and it was like driving onto a movie set.  mega flash back into a completely different time.  unfortunately the area was deserted, cobwebbed, no lights on, windows boarded up, and it seems the mad capped boozed out scenes going on at the Empire are now nothing but tales to be told.  it wasn’t just the Empire, it was the whole street!  i would have enjoyed a walk on those desolate sidewalks, a stroll down memory brambles lane, but the howling and brutal winds blowing off Lake Superior had me singing the No Dice Blues.

well anyway.  that’s the scene up there according to January 2013.  i wanted to share a little photo of a place where  i stopped  along the way, Wednez morning, 8 a.m.    

On the road in January 2013

Thanksgiving Weekend in the north country

Its one of my favourite times of the year.  For the past 40 years its been a great holiday long weekend complete with the turkey dinner and all the flashing trimmings over at mom’s house.  Back in the old days I’d get in the car and make the drive home but during those O Town years I remained in the city and missed the Thanksgiving feast, ten or more years.  But now that we’re here full time, the drive home is a colourful fifteen minutes and up here where the maples are everywhere, colourful indeed!  Ah yes, time for a glass of very full bodied red, a blaze in the fireplace, and a couple of late evenings with good conversation.

Beauty Autumn on the Range!

Folks when the seasons move along out here on the open range, many beautiful scenes along the way move along as well and it is GRAND!  Here is a photo from this past week!  Love it!

Art show at the Cube Gallery, Ottawa, Sept. 18th!

aanii!  Well hey folks the next cool thing in the art department is the upcoming show at the Cube Gallery, 1285 Wellington Street West, Ottawa, Ontario!  The opening date is September 18th and the vernissage: meet the artists is Thursday, September 20th, 6 to 9 p.m.  Artists:  me and my old buddy Marc Brzustowki.  We’ll be on hand to give you the tour.  

So for the next couple of weeks it will be brushes, Stevensons Acrylic paint, and stretched gallery canvas, all of it made in Canada!  What a grand way to walk out of summer and into autumn!  

Labour Day folks…  the summer is in the past.  But the weather has been beautiful and the morning stroll along the river and the “green and blue” is a magical thing!  Here is a photo of the waterfalls, taken last week!