Cross-Province Art & Inspiration Workshop Tour

Part 1: ACRYLIC PAINTING WORKSHOPS IN FRENCH

I love stories of the new normal and this post starts off with one.

Last week, as Orinda and I were heading out for a walk to pick up garbage off the street and feed the ducks in Bowring Park, I pointed to the thinning heals and toes in my wool socks and said “I love these lama wool socks. I need to go back to the Port au Port peninsula soon to get myself another pair.” Then we went on our walk. That’s all.  I’d put the message out there in the Universe and let it go.  It turns out I was mistaken about the kind of wool though.  I knew they weren’t regular wool as I react to those, but since I wanted to provide you with a link, I was just reminded that they’re actually alpaca wool socks from the Alpaca farm & craft shop on the west coast of the island. I bought them during my 26-day road trip across the island in 2011.  Anyhow, back to my story.  That afternoon, as I was happily painting in my studio, I received a call from the Fédération des francophone de Terre-Neuve et du Labrador (Francophone Federation of Newfoundland and Labrador).  They offered me a contract to teach painting workshops in French across the province – and yes, including on the Port-au-Port peninsula.  Yay! I’ll be getting a new pair of alpaca socks! And if you speak French, you’ll get the opportunity to participate in a free painting workshop.

Les mains dans l’art  (Literal translation: Hands in the Arts)

This is a brand new program for which the Résau culturel francophone de Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador, part of the Francophone Federation has received a Canadian Heritage – Official Languages grant.  They chose me for this test run, but the goal is to involve several artists over a period of several years to:

•  promote and expand the reach of traditional visual arts and fine crafts across the province
•  express the rich French heritage and teach arts-specific vocabulary and expressions recognized throughout the Francophonie
•  to help discover francophone visual artists and craftspeople, their work, mediums, and the techniques that they use
•  to offer French schools and communities high quality training in their native language (developed around the learning outcomes of the NL Department of Education)
• to offer an opportunity for participants to create their own artistic works

Locations:

These fun acrylic painting workshops will be offered free of charge to 2 groups of participants in 5 locations across the province.  During the day, I’ll be teaching workshops within the school system.  In the evenings, I’ll be teaching in community centers.  These workshops will be open to both Francophones and Francophiles.

Now, for those of you who aren’t familiar with where I’m living, it’s a huge province that not only includes the very large island of Newfoundland, but also Labrador on the mainland. I’m thrilled that this program will take me to Labrador for the first time in my life.

Workshops within the schools and in French community centers will be offered in:

1. St. John’s
2. La Grand’Terre on the Port au Port peninsula
3. Notre Dame du Cap on the Port au Port peninsula
4. Happy Valley Goose Bay in Labrador
5. Labrador City

(I will post links to registration and more information as soon as they are available.  At this point, I will be on the Port au Port peninsula October 9-11, in Labrador City October 14 and in Goose Bay October 16)

I’ll admit to my ignorance.  I knew it took about 10 hours to drive from St. John’s, where I live, to the French peninsula on the west coast of Newfoundland, but when I asked about renting a car in Goose Bay to drive to Labrador City, so that I could see more of the province, I found out that simply wouldn’t be wise.  First, there’s a distance of 530 km between them, partly on gravel roads I’m told (about 7.5 hours drive if lucky).  Second, the average snow fall in October is of 15 inches (39cm).  Alas, I’ll be flying…

Stay Tuned:

We’re planning to offer these workshops in late September in St. John’s and in October for the other 4 locations.  I’ll likely do these ones back to back to keep more of the budget for art supplies. As soon as we have more information about the program and details about registration, I’ll let you know.

P.S.  They’ve got the website up – if you’re a francophone or francophile wanting to participate in my free workshop in Port-au-Port, Labrador City, Goose Bay, or St. John’s, click here.

My French Background:

I thought I’d include this for those of you who are curious, since most of you know my English self.

In our Ottawa backyard

I was born in Ottawa, the capital of Canada, a country with two official languages: French & English.  Although the city is in Ontario, it borders Québec, Canada’s French province. The capital region actually includes both sides of the Ottawa River, and so federal government offices, museums, and parks, for example, are found in both provinces. Because of all this, there are lots of bilingual folks in Ottawa.

Painting demonstration in 1990: Canadian Museum of Civilization (Gatineau, QB)

My mother is from Québec and my father, who is originally from Ontario, also spent a great part of his childhood in Québec. For me, therefore, it was French at home and at school, but often English in the playgrounds and out in the community.  It was the same when we moved to Canadian Air Force bases in Germany for 5 years when I was 5, but then there was German in the mix too.  Basically though, I grew up with both French and English on equal footing.  When I attended the bilingual University of Ottawa, for example, I took some of my courses in French and some in English, depending on which were taught by the better teachers – a great system! As of 1992, however, when I started traveling the world to teach English as a Second Language, I almost completely stopped speaking French, for lack of opportunity.  In fact, when I would visit my family, it became challenging to have a conversation entirely in French – often plugging in English words mid-sentence (not an uncommon phenomenon in bilingual families and a habit I had begun decades before).  Luckily, when I moved to Newfoundland & Labrador, I started reaching out to the Francophone community.  I participated in some of their events, added myself to their directory of artists,  and was featured in their newspaper.  That interview was truly what helped me regain my comfort with my own mother tongue, especially when it came to speaking about spirituality and art. Also, when I was studying in Vienna last year, the managing director of the Vienna Academy of Visionary Art is from France, and so it has become quite normal again for me to communicate in my native language.  It’s true what they say: “If you don’t use it, you lose it”.  The opportunity to teach these workshops in French across the province, therefore, is a very welcomed one on many levels.  I’m very much looking forward to it.

Part 2:  BODY, MIND AND SPIRIT RETREATS

2 Retreats brought to you by Lucy O’Driscoll.

1) November in Salmonier

This autumn will be dotted with opportunities for travel. Not only will I be teaching art across the province, I’ll be leading 2 workshops during the November 7-9 Body, Mind and Spirit Retreat in Salmonier, about an hour outside of St. John’s.  The first will be Developing Your Intuition and the second Simplify Your Life.  I’ll be one of many workshop leaders at this weekend retreat.  Other leaders include Brent Bashara, Dorothy Corrigan, Stefanie Finn, Barb Lambe, Alison Normore, Tina Olivera, Meranda Squires, and Nora Squires. Your registration fee of $290 (tax incl) covers 2 nights accommodations, 6 meals, 4 workshops with professional facilitators, and evening programs.

For more information and to download the registration package for the November retreat, click on this link: Nov 2014 Retreat.

2) October in Grand Falls

Although I won’t be teaching at this one, there’s also an October 3-5 Body Mind and Spirit retreat weekend in Grand Falls, Central Newfoundland.  For more information and the full registration package for this one, click here:  October Gr. Falls 2014

If you feel moved, don’t hesitate and register now.  I’ve been to two of these retreats before, both as participant and leader, and they are truly wonderful weekends.