New Brunswick Art

Boxes

Was it Steve Jobs who first made us aware that we were living inside of boxes? I’m not sure. But it’s so hard to be sure of anything in this changing world, isn’t it? I guess none of us likes being defined by the boxes to which life consigns us. But hey, that’s life.

Two of the boxes that most define me nowadays are Artist & Senior.

I chose neither of these. The first box is one I was born into and shaped to fit because of the family and society that raised me. The second is the box everyone of us is forced into should they live long enough.

I was advised long ago to shed that artist box and get a real job. I really tried but over and over potential employers discovered that I was only pretending not to be an artist. As I grew older and society began to measure me for my senior box things began to get really uncomfortable.

Being an artist had been difficult enough but until I became a senior I had no idea how it felt to be a true outcast. But I’ve been a lone survivor for a very long time.

Over the past few weeks I’ve made an attempt to contact other survivors like myself, those floating about in their own boxes, trying to find a friendly shore on which to land and build something suitable and worthwhile.

I thought there was a solid shore but I guess that was merely an illusion. So these days I just float, imagining that somewhere out there are other artists, some like myself who have at most 20 or 30 more years of life, perhaps 10 more years of making art. I’m trying not to be sad over this failure. At least I tried.

Artists Centre in Chaleur

A Community Arts Centre in Chaleur may be in the works.

Chaleur Region has been waiting a very long time.

This might have happened many years ago at the old Sacred Heart Convent in Bathurst. Plans were in the works until the Bulldozers came in and POOF the building became a memory and the property a parking lot for the beautiful new City Hall.

Years later we still have no Community Arts Centre in Bathurst, the largest community in the Chaleur Region.

Ahhh but things are beginning to happen, maybe. Facts can be fuzzy at times.

There has been some recent resurgence of interest in getting a community Arts Centre started in Bathurst.

AMDHHA has been working on this idea for at least 10 years so this is nothing new. What is new is that there seems to be yet another organization in the process of forming to bring this hope to fruition. This new agency may be looking at the Maison Doucet Hennessy House as a possible location for this centre. There also has been interest expressed that LaBarque in Green Point Pointe Verte might be a good location.

Several other local and provincial organizations and businesses also appear to be somehow involved in this move to build a community arts centre in Bathurst.

Personally I think it is wonderful that there is so much happening all of a sudden. The one concern I have is that local individual artists might be left out of this picture. For that reason I have begun to raise a series of artist meet ups.

My hope is that other independent artists like myself will be encouraged and permitted to also have a say in any plans to build a community arts centre.

The first meetup planned for May 11 is canceled
It will NOT be held …

We will NOT be meeting …

Since the house has been closed up most of the winter it might still be a bit cool inside so it would be good to dress warm.

We will NOT be meeting with … for artists who want to work in the house this summer, … and see what facilities are being offered.

Although the artist meet-ups will not be taking place at Doucet-Hennessy House I still support the idea that this house could play some part in the future of the artists of Chaleur.

The official name of this organization is AMDHHA Association Doucet Hennessy House Association by the way if you want to do a search. The house is an historic property and the organization has both a website and a Facebook site.

As for the next meet-up in a month’s time , well we had planned to fix a time and date on May 11. … But that one has been canceled.

Any suggestions anyone as to a venue for meet-ups?

I did approach the local Bathurst library with a request for meeting space but that was over a week ago and they have yet to get back to me.

Meanwhile I’ll be searching out other potential free art spaces in the region. If you have any suggestions please let me know Contact maggiequinn@rogers or call 783-7944

If you know of any artists who would like to join us, please invite them along to future meet-ups.

These will be informal get togethers. For anyone who can only spare a half hour that is fine. By just showing up to show support you are helping. If you you want to stay around for an hour or two to discuss future plans and share ideas that is wonderful. No fees, no committees no voting, no hierarchy, let’s try this.

Job Sharin’

My idea of Job Share is as follows.

I see a great job that I’d love to have but I don’t have the qualifications or background or the hundred other attributes that employers usually demand.

October 1,  2015 and I just found what looks like a great fob for someone

Not me I tell you

Not for me

I am an artist

You will agree

Not exactly

My cup of tea

But for someone

A Bathurst job

Paying good wages

Is  such a dream

Eureka!

An artist job

Can this be true?

Only multi-media need apply

Mixed-media artist

Just will not do

 

My dream job is in Toronto. Like any good Canadian I love Montreal. But I love Toronto even more and would be so happy to live there.

So, why do I mention it? Because I was born to share I guess. My need to share comes out of years of experience. No, I am not speaking about actual paying-job experience. I’ve had little enough of that. I mean the sort of experience one gets from years of job-hunting, groveling before gatekeepers and volunteering help wherever and whenever I have seen a real need.

So …
If I were a salesman I might tell you that you’d better jump at this job since the offer is only open for one or two more days. Sigh, how many times have we heard that one?

So … My name is Sharon (I love how that sounds like sharin’) and here is the dream job I found today.

https://ccednet-rcdec.ca/en/job/2015/09/18/associate-research-and-policy

And why would I need a job, some might ask. Don’t I already have so much to do in my lovely studio at 212 St Andrew Street in Bathurst? Yes, but like most artists I am unable to make a living by my art. While I love what I do, winter is coming, NBPower rates will be going up and the studio will be getting cold. Already I must wear a warm sweater and leg warmers. Soon I will be wearing gloves to work as I did when I rented my studio at the Doucet-Hennessy House a few years back. This year I am presented with an additional challenge. A broken leg keeps me somewhat immobile and unable to move around enough to keep warm while I am working.

Harpin’ Without a Harper … With no Harp … The Rock Opera in Progress

2018 July 1

Some folks will be waving red and white flags and celebrating Canada Day. Here I am still waiting for that Irish Harper or maybe an Irish fiddler or piper to help build up interest in Irish sessions at the Doucet-Hennessy House in Bathurst, New Brunswick Canada. I’d invite the piano-player but our piano is sadly out of tune and there are no funds to tune it.

Don’t Forget You’re Irish Art exhibit opens to the public July 3. Drop by Tuesday to Saturday for a cup of tea and a chat at the historic Doucet-Hennessy House in Bathurst, New Brunswick. If you play Celtic or Acadian music or any sort of traditional folk music, we hope to have informal music sessions on Saturdays from 2-4. Bring along your acoustic instrument and join us. Music workshops are in the planning for September.

Maybe we local Artists have finally found our place on Chaleur Bay.

Keep checking in to catch updates on happenings. Hope to have new videos posted soon

Looking back:
2017
January 2
A new day has dawned.
Some might say
A time for change
What was it
That old man said
Be the change?
There is in memory
From long ago
An expression
A French saying
Mette la table
The spelling might
Be not quite right
But hey!
I set my table
The best I can
The best I am able
With good wishes
Peace and joy
Justice for all
As I serve
What I gather
From Mettacentre.org

………………….Horizon……………………………
Times are changing.
2016 is almost over.
The Harper knave
Never arrived

All those years
We waited
In precarity
While all across
This great country
Ad usque ad mare
As some might say
Bad spelling notwithstanding
Even those
Who never took a stand
For or against
We waited
For the Harper
Who never arrived.

Another year has gone by
Quickly so quickly
It is now December 2016

Much has happened
Still
We have no place

Artists and musicians
We struggle
In this place
Asking for little
Besides a safe place
To live and work.
For food they say
You must pay more
No one will tell us
Why that is.

Imagine
What this world would be
Without artists and musicians.
Yes, philosophers too
And others who care …
Nobody asking questions
That need to be asked.

A Study?
Yet another study?
While we languish
These last few years
While they study
Us to death.

Click to access StatusOfTheArtistResearchAndAnalyticalReport.pdf