Barbara Amos
Changemaking allowed an open and honest approach to my art work. In the world of changemakers, I did not need to code my words or my imagery. Artwork has a history of speaking truth to the powers of the day. It can bring disturbing responses. The recognition that change is inherent in my motivation, opened possibilities and brought hope.
As an interdisciplinary artist for over the past 20 years, I have addressed multicultural issues and environmental concerns. I began with drawing and painting and moved into public art commissions. These include a 90 foot sectional painting in a community centre, twenty photographs about multiculturalism in health care facility, and steel scope about environmental fragmentation on a city street, a second scope for a wetlands area in a botanical garden. I have also worked with a school on migration issues. We created new curriculum and a mural for an outdoor learning centre. I am currently directing an animation about leaving home and how this conversation might transform perceptions around aging.
Inspiration comes from a daily drawing practice. It combines a walk with drawing. It is a quiet reflective practice. There was a time when this was done with pen and paper but today I use yarn, nature and photography. Yarn has become the drawing pen and nature provides the page. I draw on nature, wherever the surface catches my attention. Sometimes the lichens on a rock intrigue me and I draw a plant or an animal. It becomes a statement of fragility on an enduring page of stone and lichens. I document the image with my camera. I roll up my wool, silk or cotton and move on. I share the photograph and it makes me smile. It connects me to a force that is larger and enduring and that brings me joy. Sometimes I post these on Instagram and share them via exhibitions.
The Artist As Changemaker residency has been meaningful. It has made me realize that I have skills to share and that my experience can be used to enable and empower others. At a time of life when most of my cohort are retiring, I am feeling inspired and engaged. As an older adult, being involved in the youthful environment of MRU has given me hope that the world is changing. Having access to an academic community has shown me how ideas are moving forward. I have a degree from the University of Waterloo, (1976!) and realize that what I learned then has continued to thread its way through life. The Social Innovation program has helped to assess the timing and process of change. While it isn’t always apparent, progress has been made in many areas. Life spirals and circles, showing us how good ideas merge and evolve, even though it isn’t always visible in the present day.