We Are All Water Protectors Art Project update

Brainstorming at the We Are All Water Protectors workshop.

The We Are All Water Protectors Community Art Project continues to evolve

The second We Are All Water Protectors community art-making workshop unfolded on March 27th at the Oakwood-Vaughan Oasis Centre for Healthy Aging, with the expert guidance of emerging artists h kryworuchko and Aysia Tse of tiny cultural centre. Hodgson Middle School students and Oasis Centre seniors were quick to respond to the prompt "What are ways that water sustains you?" Tablemates brainstormed words, then jotted down nouns, verbs, even phrases to jumble then craft into poems.

Another prompt: "How does water connect us with other beings, living and non-living?" Groups re-jumbled words to let new poems emerge. Seniors encouraged students and students encouraged seniors, to beautiful result.

"A fantastic afternoon on Friday,...on such an important topic," wrote Oasis Centre Volunteer Coordinator Peter Clutterbuck in sending his thanks. "The energy in the room with young students and our Healthy Aging members working together was amazing to witness."

Join us for the final workshop: the political on Saturday, April 25th. Meet at 12:30 p.m. where Oakwood Avenue meets Gete-Onigaming (Davenport Road) for a Water Walk that will head up Oakwood to Springmount Avenue, which hides Garrison Creek. The Walk will then continue east along Rosemount and Benson Avenues to Rushton Road and Noojimo’iwewin Gitigaan, exploring how the urban landscape has been built on the shore of the ancient lake and its many streams.

h kryworuchko and Aysia Tse will meet us at the garden at 1:30, where they will lead a guided discussion about the politics of water. The group will create a word bank together, writing down words on pieces of scrap paper. As in Workshop 2, participants will scramble and arrange these words to make poems about the politics of water. Those unable to participate in the Water Walk are welcome to be part of the collective poetry making.

h and Aysia will punch lines from the collective poems onto heated copper tiles to be quilted into the installation planned for the east side of St. Matthew's United Church. The opening of the installation is the centrepiece of the We Are All Water Protectors: Environmental Racism and Reimagining Water Stewardship Gathering planned for June 6th. Free tickets for June 6th are now available at We Are All Water Protectors Gathering Tickets, Saturday, Jun 6 from 9 am to 9 pm | Eventbrite Pre-registration is recommended, as some sessions can accommodate only 50 people.