Truth, nothing but the truth  2015 - Jeanette Luchese

Travelling exhibition showing next: 
March 18th, 2018 — St. Paul's Church, Orillia, Ontario Reception 1 pm.
— Call to Action #83 on view at St Paul's Church in Orillia for a year? (Duration to be determined).

—  Article from Orillia Matters (Mar 18, 2018 6:40 PM by: Mehreen Shahid) 
— Simcoe County artists explore truth and reconciliation in art

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Call to Action #83​

Eight Indigenous and Eight Non-Indigenous Artists’
Quest for Truth and Reconciliation

In September 2015, sixteen Simcoe County artists were inspired to initiate a Reconciliation Art Project. They came together to learn from each other, share stories, gain understanding and collaborate on a linked series of artworks.

Xavier Fernandes,  Marilyn Faye George — Nahtwekakatusake, Lakota: Holy Star Woman, Mary Louise Meiers
Paul Whittman — Negik, Star Otter, Jon Oelrichs,
Robert Henry — Sagajiwegiizhik, Coming From the Sun,
Jennie Clark, Clayton Samuel King — Waab Shki Makoons, New Little White Bear, Peter Adams,
Nancy King — OgimaaKwebnes, Chief Lady Bird 10
Christina Luck, Mercedes Miigwaans Sandy,
Joanna McEwen, Nathalie Bertin, Jeanette Luchese.
Paul Shilling — Dazaunggee

For more information visit: www.CallToAction83.com

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The Project

The project is titled Call to Action #83 after the Report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission:“A strategy for indigenousand non-indigenous artists to undertake collaborative projects and produce works that contribute to the reconciliation process.” * Call to Action #83 lays out a roadmap for ‘awi-niigaani-mino-wiiji-inawendiwin’ – ‘going forward together in harmony.’* www.trc.ca/websites/trcinstitution/File/2015/FindingCalls_to_Action_English2.pdf 

In September 2015, sixteen Simcoe County artists were inspired to initiate a Reconciliation Art Project. They came together to learn from each other, share stories, gain understanding and collaborate on a linked series of artworks. The 16 artists and presiding elders gathered in September at the homestead of Dazaunggee (lead indigenous artist Paul Shilling). After a two-round sweat lodge ceremony and feast, the artists chose by lot the order in which to make their works, non indigenous artists alternating with indigenous. The first artist, who was non-indigenous, set to work in late September and two weeks later handed his woodcut to the first indigenous artist. As he did so, he spoke about his piece and the creative process he went through. The second artist responded to the woodcut and in two weeks brought her painting to the third artist, who was non-indigenous. And so the process unfolded. Each artist inspired the next one in the quest for shared vision. The process culminated in June 2016 at Paul Shilling’s homestead with a two-round sweat and feast, after which the artists revealed their works and told their stories in the order that they made them.
The first piece is a woodcut depicting the Ojibway creation story of the Seven Fires, the White Buffalo and an Eagle emerging from darkness. The next is a deeply felt painting of loss and hope for renewal. In addition to canvases, the series includes lacework, paper cut-outs, a mixed media construction of the medicine wheel, a large sheet of birch plywood painted and carved by a router and with a painting of children from a residential school. A huge collage on a seven-by-seven-foot piece of canvas depicts the wall of a residential school, on which children carved their initials, alongside figures of suicides that emerge from a ground seemingly covered with ash
and cinders. The radiant icon of a heart berry (strawberry) inspires a diptych of powerful abstract canvases reflecting on the strength of Spirit. Each work is the creation of a unique personality, aesthetic sensibility and skilled hand yet the 16 (sixteen) pieces share many images -- themes that bear witness with honesty and respect to the facts of past experience while envisioning a future toward reconciliation.

With thanks for the invaluable guidance from:  
Ernestine Baldwin, Nwaatin-Kwe (Calm Water Woman), Elder in the Barrie Community Area;Jeff Monague, Myiingan, former Chief of Beausoleil First Nation, Aboriginal Co-Manager of Springwater Provincial Park;
Austin Clarkson, Director, The Milkweed Collective;
Beverly Clarkson, Author.
We wish to thank Keith and Matt Butler of Extreme Imaging for the art image reproductions: www.thatimagingplace.com
All images Protected under Canadian Copyright Laws. All rights reserved 2016.

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Exhibition Dates:

​ 2019 — Collingwood

2018 -2019
​March 18 to Undetermined?
St. Paul’s Church Orillia, Ontario, 

2017
January 19 to March 4 
Reception/Opening Ceremonies January 19
Art Gallery of Northumberland, 55 King Street West 
Cobourg, Ontario K9A 2M2

March 14  
Georgian College Barrie Campus, Indigenous Resource Centre
One Georgian Dr.,  Barrie, ON L4M 3X9

May 25 to June 25
MacLaren Art Centre, 37 Mulcaster Street, Barrie, Ontario

August 12 to November 11 
Reception/Opening Ceremonies: August 19
Aurora Cultural Centre 22 Church Street  Aurora, ON L4G 1M1

2016
July 14 to August 7, 2016 Reception: July 17, 12 - 5 pm 
Summer in the City Gallery 1144 Queen Street East, Toronto, ON

October 31 to November 14 (Exhibition and Discussion) 
Art Square Gallery,  Opening Reception: Friday, November 4, 6 to 9 pm. 
334 Dundas West, Toronto, ON

November 30 only
(Exhibition and Discussion) 
Georgian College Orillia Campus, Indigenous Resource Center 
825 Memorial Ave, Orillia, ON L3V 6S2