The newsletter of the Mennonite Heritage Centre Gallery
- This is Volume V, No. 3, May June 2002
peace speaks:
Among Friends
OPENING: THURSDAY, May 2, 7:30pm
Mennonite Heritage Centre Gallery
Exhibit runs until June 15
A long way round to tie it all together
While I was sitting at my computer wondering how to begin this issue of CANVASs,
I received a copy of the article excerpted below. The article focuses on a recent
address to the North Carolina Baptist Men's Conference by well known American
Christian speaker and educator Tony Campolo. He questioned the "war on terror":
"What's our answer to terrorism?" he asked. "It's going to set
missions back a thousand years. We're going to kill them. We're going to root
them out and kill them." Campolo compared the war to trying to get rid of
malaria by killing mosquitoes. "You get rid of malaria by destroying the
swamps in which the malaria mosquitoes are bred," he said. "There's
a swamp out there
called poverty and injustice."
Spring finally making its first appearance in Winnipeg brings talk of mosquitoes,
too. The city hopes to begin dealing with our famous mosquito problem by dealing
with their breeding grounds. Sitting on our decks slapping them results in lots
of dead mosquitoes but we still get bitten, over and over again. There are always
lots to take the place of those killed. If only the breeding grounds were gone!
MBCI
Some time ago Jodi Daly, the art teacher at Winnipeg's Mennonite Brethren Collegiate
Institute, let me know that her Senior Three art students were following the themes
of peace and freedom this school year. The year had opened with the horrific atrocities
of September 11. The first art classes after September 11 became places to discuss
reactions to the shocking events
in the US. With time these discussions evolved and broadened to include thoughts
on peace and freedom. Daly decided to frame the year for her Senior Three students
around those two topics. We agreed that at some point it would be good to offer
a selection of these artistic reflections of young people to our audience.
SNAC/Tibebe Terffa
The Saint Norbert Arts Centre (SNAC) is currently running a program called
"Peace Speaks". Tibebe Terffa, a renowned artist from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia,
is an artist-in-residence at SNAC under this program. SNAC and the gallery began
loosely working together last year when Sudanese artist Ahmed El Sharif, brought
to Canada by the MHCGallery, had a short residency at SNAC. SNAC director, Louise
May, and I decided it would be appropriate to offer Terffa an exhibition at the
gallery while he was in residency at SNAC.
Gordon Bell High School/Rose Namubiru Kirumira
Rose Namubiru Kirumira teaches art at Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda.
Kirumira is the third artist to be brought to Winnipeg by the MHCGallery to work
at the gallery and with Gordon Bell High School through a Department of Foreign
Affairs and International Trade Visiting Foreign Artists grant. She will work
at Gordon Bell with art students and English as a Second Language students, most
of whom are refugees. One of the main reasons to bring Kirumira here is to help
ESL students feel good about themselves and proud of their heritage and with that
confidence find it easier to fit into a new society here in Canada.
Hanif Shabgard
Hanif Shabgard taught in the art school in Kabul, Afghanistan for 16 years.
He is an accomplished painter. The art school was closed under the Taliban. While
in India for an exhibition Shabgard decided it was not safe to return to Kabul.
He and his family were helped by a contact in the Canadian embassy to come to
Winnipeg.
Stereotypes/profiling
Recently my wife had a conversation with a woman who was hesitant to reveal
what country she originally came from. Why? She was scared of how people might
react if she told them she was from Afghanistan. Last Saturday the Globe and Mail
reported that some Muslims in the US are changing their names to ones that do
not identify them as Muslims. Mohammed becomes Michael. Last fall a female Muslim
student from Gordon Bell attended an opening at the MHCGallery. She usually wears
a head covering but wasn't at the opening. I asked why. She said that since September
11 she was scared to in public.
Tied together?
How does this all tie together? I'm excited to see what young Canadian art
students are thinking about and creating around the themes of peace and freedom.
I despair at how we willingly stereotype people, religions and cultures. I'm honoured
that we can present the work of artists from normally unknown or stereotyped places
like Afghanistan, Uganda and Ethiopia. Our
future rides on our young people. A future that is just and free of poverty for
as many as possible depends on young people being informed and involved -- as
free from stereotypes as possible, reacting to truth as opposed to ignorance,
knowing God loves all equally.
Finally, the art
Join us at the opening of peace speaks: Among Friends to see recently created
paintings and wonderful sketches by Tibebe Terffa, lovingly rendered oil paintings
of daily life in Afghanistan by Hanif Shabgard, found object sculpture by Rose
Namubiru Kirumira and student art based in youthful idealism and current tumult.
Together we will peer towards the future and into largely unknown reality, the
future through our children and the reality through the skillful hands of artists
from places we should understand better.
Ray Dirks
OPENING
Thursday, May 2, 7:30pm
Artists Tibebe Terffa, Rose Namubiru Kirumira and Hanif Shabgard will be in
attendance along with students from MBCI and Gordon Bell at this celebration of
art and hope. Terffa's art will all have been created since having been in residency
at SNAC.
UP NEXT
In the Shadows of Volcanoes, a 59 piece exhibition of contemporary Indonesian
art opens on Thursday, June 20. This is a stunning collection of recently created
art by 31 top Indonesian artists. A complex giant, with a population of over 200
million in 365 ethnic and tribal groups, will be revealed as never before in Canada.
Not to be missed! (Preview scans can be requested by e-mailing rdirks@mennonitechurch.ca
and asking for Indonesian art scans.)
DONATIONS NEEDED
The MHCGallery features a mix unlike any other. In order to continue to host
such a wide variety of art with an emphasis on both local and international artists
we need your help. Please consider making a tax deductible donation now to help
us cover extra costs that come with exhibitions such as peace speaks: Among Friends
and In the Shadows of Volcanoes. Our goal is to raise from $2,000 to $5,000 for
other than regular expenses at this time.
Still calling artists
(dis)comfort level
JURIED GROUP EXHIBITION(S) IN SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2002
comfort - Where do you find it? In the teachings of Christ and the apostles,
in God's nature, in the love of family, in standing up for what is just?
discomfort - What causes it? War, terrorism, stress, ill health, injustice?
SEND US SLIDES, SCANS, DIGITAL PHOTOS OR PRINTS of your art and ideas, completed
or planned, dealing with comfort and/or discomfort. A jury will select artworks
to make up a two section exhibit. One will deal with comfort and the other with
discomfort. Together pleas will be made and answered.
The exhibit will open in September 2002. Shipping costs will be paid for artworks
from outside Manitoba. Send art images NO LATER THAN MAY 20 to Ray Dirks, MHCGallery,
600 Shaftesbury Blvd., Winnipeg, MB R3P 0M4 or
rdirks@mennonitechurch.ca <mailto:rdirks@mennonitechurch.ca> .
Visit SNAC
Ethiopian artist Tibebe Terffa is living and working at Saint Norbert Arts
Centre until the end of May. Rose Namubiru Kirumira will join him in the later
half of May and into early June. Feel free to drop by for a visit.
An evening with Rose Namubiru Kirumira
Forum Art Institute, 7:30pm, Friday, May 10, 120 Eugenie, St. Boniface Slides,
art and conversation. Get to know Kirumira, her art and Uganda better.
Worth checking out
Gerald Folkerts has a new web page at http://www.geraldfolkerts.com.
It is well worth checking out. Thanks to Gerald for his recent exhibition. It
provoked worthwhile discussion and moved many people. The evening of songs, art
and stories with Steve Bell was a rousing success.
CONTACT
Ray Dirks, Mennonite Heritage Centre Gallery, 600 Shaftesbury Blvd., Winnipeg,
MB R3P 0M4; rdirks@mennonitechurch.ca <mailto:rdirks@mennonitechurch.ca>
; 204-888-6781; fax 204- 831-5675
The MHCGallery runs almost exclusively on donations. Your tax deductible donations
to the gallery are always appreciated and needed.
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