Dancing Within Our Walls

“People often comment that they want to climb into my sculptures and explore…”

With beautiful irony, the pandemic initiated collaborations with artists from around the world; Blending artistic mastery of sculpture, theatrical performance and video special effects. Video artist Gary Kirkham and I gratefully received a Digital Originals Grant from The Canada Council of the Arts to explore and create a new way of making art that can be distributed digitally.

The details:

I created a specific artwork, exploring my feelings in response to the pandemic: the uncertainty, the fear and emotional pain of isolation, and our physical separation from family and friends. I intentionally created a dark space in the background, and light into the foreground. With archways, pillars, and sunlight flowing through, these elements represent our hope of moving through the pandemic, creating a liminal space for Dancer/Choreographer Michele Hopkins to perform within.

Michele brought the artwork into her studio, and choreographed an original dance piece, relating to my sculpture, and her response to the pandemic. With the magic of a green-screen, Gary Kirkham guided Michele through the technical elements of video recording. Gary brought it all together with his video editing and lighting.

I certainly opened up to a bigger space and opportunity of how art can affect a larger audience when we collaborate. It is not about us individually, but us as a whole.