creative forces

Blog 19…March 2013

Transformation by Fire is the compelling title of a current exhibit at the Gardiner Museum…another little treasure on the Toronto art scene.    It features  women overcoming violence in their histories by working with clay and was a perfect thing to see with my friend Camille (see blog # 2), a ceramic artist working with women in tough situations, great company at shows  of all kinds.

 In partnership with the Barbra Schlifer Commemorative Clinic, the exhibition at the Gardiner is an act of social activism, tackling the violence experienced by the women involved by providing them with a chance to tell their stories using clay sculpture, narratives and video. The work was created in groups facilitated by art therapist Suzanne Thomson and artist Susan Low-Beer over 11 weeks last year. The annual sessions, offered to a different group each year,  provide a safe place for women to begin healing by creating both language and images.

Clay is a uniquely therapeutic medium, both responsive and expressive. Transformed by firing at high temperatures in a kiln (it changes its molecular structure in a process called quartz conversion)  it becomes a stronger and harder material, never returning to its former state.  And the women involved in this project become stronger too, transforming their trauma into a visible form and leaving behind some of their former selves.  Shaping clay is, in many ways, like shaping our lives – we have to work hard at it, there’s a certain amount of unpredictability and often, surprises and unexpected discoveries emerge.  

In this show, clay also provides a forum for social change.  Bringing the women’s work into the public sphere raises awareness of violence against women and  personalizes it by presenting the individuals’ stories with moving statements …”Channeling our trauma into creativity”…”life will win out, no matter how miserable and desolate individual circumstances are.”   Working with clay, the women shift their sense of themselves from victims to survivors, activists, educators…and artists. 

Transformation by Fire runs at the Gardiner Museum until April 28^th … worth the trip to Avenue Road and Bloor and admission is FREE.