Ending with Art

A much quieter day awaited me today but not without interest!

Leisurely morning with coffee and visits, gave way to a brief stroll to Regina General Hospital, now barely recognizable to my friends and I. The grand Nurses Residence has been long banished for a paved parking lot. Old hospital wings where we first tried and tested new nursing skills gone as well.

Shifting gears later in the afternoon, my sister Kate and I went ‘erranding’ (is that a word?), then to supper. Once more ~ lots of wonderful visiting, this time reminiscing about family and mutual friends.

Early evening, prairie sky darkening more quickly as fall approaches, took Kate and I to SLATE Fine Art Gallery for a performance by Joseph Sanchez, from Santa Fe, New Mexico. A mixed media artist, he performed readings along with projected images from the reserve where he grew up, all backgrounded by Johnny Cash singing ballads of Indian life. At first oddly troubling because of the simultaneous visual and auditory mix, the title became clear as the show progressed: “Who do You Listen To?" This performance communicated 'Messages of Assimilation, Appropriation and Apathy' that continue to this day.

The walls of this small gallery are presently decorated with art work of First Nations artists from across Canada ~ Vancouver Island to Saskatchewan and Manitoba to Quebec; from Concordia University, Gordon First Nation and an artist originally from the U.K. Art work of Joe Fafard gallops across the prairie sky on the front edge of the building housing SLATE Fine Art Gallery in Regina, Saskatchewan. 

All in all it was a good day.

“The aim of art is to represent not the outward 

appearance of things, but their inward significance.”

~ Aristotle