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 28th … worth the trip to Avenue Road and
Bloor and admission is FREE.
