When people lose their way, go off society's track and commit dark acts, art can be a strong compass to follow back to the light.
The Prince George Activator Society is an organization deeply connected to the rehabilitation work of Corrections Canada and partners like the RCMP and provincial judicial system. Activators, as they are commonly known, operates facilities and programs like Aghelh Nebun, a wilderness camp at Kenneth Creek, the employment readiness crew called PG GroundWorks, and the Activator Community Residential Facility for past federal offenders closing in on their reintegration to society.
All these programs focus on addiction recovery, healing from past traumas, education improvements, and other life skills that lead these past offenders to live a healthier, cleaner and safer future life.
One of the counsellors for Activators is Rob Zeigler, known in the city for his artistic skills like painting, acting and writing. He kept noticing intricate and high quality visual art being created by the residents of the Activators facilities. It persisted in his mind because it persisted in his interactions with the former offenders.
After conversations with Activators executive director Dave Trepanier confirmed his impressions, Ziegler suggested something never done before. It took some convincing among all the parties involved, but an exhibition of the residents' art is now on display at Artspace at Books & Company.
"These guys do a lot of great art out at camp or just in their rooms and it never really gets seen," said Trepanier.
"It is often a large part of their lives," said Ziegler. "There is a lot of cultural imagery, stories are tied in, there's a lot of personal feeling and a lot of focus they apply to it. It's a way they express all those things, and it's a special way. What comes out in art is often a lot more important for them than words or what comes out of conversation."
Trepanier agreed that within Activators, as with almost all walks of life, art is an outlet for deeply held emotions. The residents are in particular need of the inherent therapies and healing that art can provide.
"They often haven't been heard, throughout their lives," Trepanier observed. "When they do carving, sewing, painting, it allows an opening for what's within them to come out. I have seen some amazing artists come through these doors, and it is a way they can finally express themselves in a way that gets a positive response from people who see it. You have to understand, some of these guys have never heard a positive thing said about them in their lives. Receiving positive feedback for something they've done, that is just huge and helpful."
Zeigler said he well knows the impacts art has had in his own life. On the front of it is the focus and discipline required to create a piece of art. Underneath that is the subliminal effects of creating something from nothing, or drawing disconnected things together into an expressive object. For anyone's emotional storms, art is a place to anchor.
"I have always felt art was a form of personal therapy, speaking for myself," he said. "I'm not a formally trained artist, I just like to paint, and still it permeates who I am. The residents would call me over all the time to show me what they were doing - 'hey look at this, look what I'm working on, look what I just finished' - and I was so impressed that I thought other people should see it, too."
Ziegler found he had a lot to work with, as the idea of an Activators art show germinated. There were quilts, hand-carved wooden flutes, homemade rattles, and an array of different paintings - everything from placid sunsets to traditional aboriginal forms to a replica of the classic Last Supper with some modern modifications.
"I don't know if this is something we will repeat, but I am certainly going to be open to that," Ziegler said. "This will always be something that comes from the residents on their own terms, but the art they are making is very high quality and the effects it can have on them is also too important to ignore."
The multimedia Activators art is on display now at Artspace. It is free of charge to view.
