Hamlet may have wondered if to paint or not to paint was the question, but the Community Arts Council asked it a little differently. Two paint or not two paint? Yes, two, please.
After four years of the CAC's artist-in-residence program, they announced on Friday they were changing the initiative to the artists-in-residence. Plural.
Henceforth, two will get a year of free studio space and all the administrative and marketing support that comes with the package.
"I'm excited to see the outcome of their work, and what collaborations could come out of this year," said Sean Farrell, executive director of the CAC. He made the announcement at a crowd assembled at the Studio 2880 arts complex where the CAC is headquartered, and where an open house was held on Friday to celebrate British Columbia Culture Days.
The two new artists are Lynette La Fontaine and Michael Kast. La Fontaine does beadwork and painting that reflects her Metis heritage. Kast is secondarily a painter and primarily a mixed-media conceptual photographer.
"After a really wonderful year with (incumbent artist) Carla Joseph - someone who definitely set a very high bar for our artist-in-residence program - we are so very pleased to enhance the program this year with two very talented and unique artists," Farrell said. "We are also excited to go in a new direction, not only by having two concurrent artists in the program, but by mixing traditional arts with new media. It is going to be a very interesting year, and we can hardly wait to see the output and responses from audiences."
Although they sound diametrical on the surface, both were rubbing their hands together on Friday at the idea of what they might create together. Some ideas were already being discussed. Together or alone, both expressed deep gratitude for the space to create.
"I made a conscious decision at the beginning of the year to put myself out there more, interact with my peers, and I love the artist community here. It's one of the reasons I stayed 15 years ago," said Kast, who has lived in Alberta, Toronto and was once a true Dead Head on the road during his formative years. "I wanted to give back to this place. What did I have to offer? How could I be a good ambassador? Studio space is so expensive. This gives me the opportunity to spread out, not be afraid of failing, and create what I hope will be my best work, and that's going to be focused on this city that's been so great to me."
La Fontaine has also thrived in this area, although she has lived hereabouts her whole life. Raised in Fraser Lake, once a resident of Fort St. James, and for the past 12 years in Prince George she is an all-local artist who nonetheless wraps herself in her Cree-Metis heritage and represents that history in this community.
Friday was a big day for her, in that sense, as she was announced as an artist-in-residence and also jetted off to Saskatoon for a national Metis women's conference.
"I come from a long line of creative people," said La Fontaine, a nurse by trade but for years a working artist as well.
She was not an artist until she successfully pursued a self-designed post-secondary program at UNBC earning her six credits while exploring her Metis heritage. It was then that she first explored the traditional beadwork she now makes her common practice. Part of that was meeting master bead artist Lisa Shepherd who mentored La Fontaine to new heights in the detailed art form.
"When I do my work I step into that spiritual space," La Fontaine said. "It's a very personal, vulnerable journey. It was a process just to move out from my kitchen table to put my work into the public."
Another step for both these creators will be the public exposure the CAC's artist-in-residence position stimulates. Teaching, exhibiting work, access to development and marketing, media profile, and a number of other features are built into the program.
The previous artists - Corey Hardeman, Cliff Mann, Crystal Tarr and Carla Joseph - all noted an upsurge in their reputations as artists and confidence in their own work.
Now, as of 2017-18, that will double.
