ART -- this week we start flying!

This is going to be a BIG TEASE taking you to some pretty amazing shots under the BIG HOUSE .  What has been posted? Will you ride out the tease or jump ahead (then look back)?

The choice is yours. The hint lies in my new name,  Dorothy as I click my red shoes. Travelling off into a dream, one may ask the eternal question "what is good art?" and can Dorothy provide the answer?  

 Art, as defined by Oxford rather than Merriam-website , in my book, is a good one.  "Pure Art", I believe, is when the artist's intention  to push those boundaries is alive in his or her cel structure.  Making money is a discussion best left for professional development of the art profession and not this week's post.

Joseph Beuys challenged the Oxford definition of arts as did other artists of the Fluxus movement as they had become dissatisfied with object-oriented works.  The focus now became contemporary experiments that crossed the lines with music, performance and favoured things "found" and "everyday".  Their interest in "happenings", impermanent installation art and action-oriented events is something that appeals to me greatly.  

The activities at the BIG HOUSE this week remind me of this movement and their interests particularly because of the impermanence of the moment we all have in observing the transition of this home from 1898 in 2017.

Beuys's insistence on the fundamentally democratic nature of human creativity suggested that every fully thinking and feeling person is, by definition, an artist. He has left a widely influential and creative legacy up til his death in 1986.   Philosophically this is a wonderful position and I would agree we do all have the makings to be creatives. However,  in the everyday reality of the artistic professional I would have to disagree based on the time and dedication it takes for a "true" artist to push the boundaries of their work through technical skills, imagination, emotional power etc. The question becomes does a moment in time count?

I would have loved to discuss Beuys perspective of art and artist directly to play with these ideas of art in our everyday  and execution of creativity.  Would he have seen the actions taking place at 851 this week as art?... the impermanence of something beautiful and emotionally moving?...

As an everyday person, you decide and make sure to stop me for the discussion. Did we nail it? -- check out BIG HOUSE.

PEOPLE, PLACES, THINGS -- who,where and what direction to take this week?

Taking a look back and up.  This directs the present moment towards the original owners, Kate and James Mason. (May 23, 2016 post under Big House).  As I wander through the Big House as it is being "lightened" from toxic materials and layers of constructed skin, what gets revealed are the bones of  it's origin.  The wonder here is, what did this house look like when the Mason's lived there?  

Floor boards tell that there must have been a fire place in a room and holes in the lath say "oh here was a vent that most likely provided heat for another room, because  it must have been connected to that chimney."  It's an unfolding story based on architecture and construction: 1898 to this moment in time.

As the posts evolve there seems to be a developing connectivity  to the other headings so it flows back and forth like my family, affectionately called the Fellini's;  just like those crazy Fellini movies.  It's easy to imagine the families of this place were no different.

Honouring the chimney:  Huff and puff...

after looking up!! how about a "look out"... 

For more developments best to head to the BIG HOUSE heading for "but wait, there's more".

COMMUNITY -- war of the roses, peonies, irises, tulips...

Now that things are underway at the Big House we've gone from the waiting game to full throttle.  Lucky I come from a generation that can run with their hair on fire .  Admittedly, a strong man or woman would have come in handy while literally sharing the plants in the garden over the last few days.  There are some pretty deep roots on this property.  

Here's a little visual for your viewing pleasure while listening  -- 

While digging things up I had the opportunity to get to know a few more of my neighbours, Yeah!!  I learnt, from an avid gardener, that the roses are most likely Queen Anne or Queen Elizabeth and he told me the best way to prune them -- think I actually got a few right.  Apparently you look for a bud on the cane and cut back above the bud.  Also I learnt that the Chinese ladies in the neighbourhood used to exchange cuttings so many of the roses are crossed with these cuttings.  This can result with two different rose branches growing from the same base.  

Another neighbour mentioned that roses from this house had been distributed in the hood a number of years back and several neighbours  were lucky to get them.   So much for my idea of sharing the garden, like I was a first ehe?   This neighbourly exchanged caused me to remember that I saw a rose garden in the back of the house from Esther Rausenberg's photography.  (nov. 14th 2016 post under the Big House)  Now I know where some of those plants landed giving me a deeper appreciation for my next walk when looking around the hood. 

I also learnt I have a neighbour who's an electrician, a chef, a gardener, a photographer, an educator, a film maker, a contractor, an owner of chickens...  Things just keep growing!

On your marks, get set, go!...Art, Progress, Community and People Places and Things!

April showers bring May flowers, so they say.  Here's to hoping showers are done and things will bloom and blossom on this Project at a steady eddy pace.  This week should be interesting with  the timelapse camera set up and ready to shoot the Progress!  

Thinking about the next year as I'm told we'll be lucky if things are finished in a year -- believe it or not this is "normal".  As we roll out the building, transformation and breathing love into an existing structure and structures to come it's time to give thought as to how sharing the process will unfold.  

FOUR HEADINGS  have come to mind as a focus of the weekly posts and last week when I looked at the beautiful abstactions the Big House had created over the years ART came to mind.  Of course the changes that will take place brought PROGRESS to the space.  COMMUNITY is an ever present heading whenever I think of Strathcona; the heart of the Project. The final heading is closely related to community as PEOPLE, PLACES, and THINGS are where so many riches come into play.

Progress and a hole is what is being posted this week.  Here are 5 photos that focus on holes that are part of the Big House -- one is still closed and the others have been opened.  Looking at these images, seeing where the holes are now makes one wonder what were they a part of? what was the functional purpose of placing this hole in the wall?  what was it's significance and when was it no longer required, and why?  

Five holes (4 above and 1 below) are all connected to a chimney that has not been functioning for years.  Change in the name of progress caused them to get sealed up behind plaster walls and layers of paint.  Preparing for more change they have become exposed again and brought to light to be captured in a moment to view and ponder.

We all know progress is about moving forward : the process of improving or developing something over a period of time.  It's heartwarming to take that moment to look closely at how that has taken place in this specific space and think about the holes to come.