Local artists and writers are joining together to build off each other’s work, enrich their own creative practices and enhance Airdrie’s art community, according to 2019 Voice and Vision Editor Sheila Humphrey.
For several months, visual artists work in their chosen medium to respond to a 250-word piece by a local writer, Humphrey said, while writers pen a response to an artist’s piece. All the works are then collected in a book.
“When the whole thing comes together, there is something about that that is very empowering to everyone, to have been a part of something that big,” she said.
Organizer Jen Atkin added the project also provides local creatives insight into how other people interpret and understand their work, while they stretching their artistic abilities.
“I think it’s a lot about sharing and inspiring other people to keep going in whatever it is they’re pursuing,” she said.
When the project began in 2016, Humphrey said, it started out as a simple event to highlight the collaborative work of local writers and artists.
“We were just going to have a catalogue of the artwork and the writing,” she said. “It wasn’t going to be very big. And then, somehow, the book evolved out of that. The book sort of helped crystallize the whole process.”
Now in its fourth year, Humphrey said, the project will encourage collaboration between 15 pairs of writers and artists – a slight increase from the 12 pairs that worked together for the first Voice and Vision.
“Some people respond more abstractly to the work, and some do quite a literal interpretation with what they’re seeing or what they’re reading,” she said. “It just depends on that relationship that you form with that person in your collaboration.”
This year’s Voice and Vision project began May 1, when a meeting was held for writers to read their work and the artists to display and explain their pieces. The artists then chose an anonymous brown envelope containing one of the written pieces, pairing a writer and artist.
Local author Chad Stewart is participating for the first time, and said he was drawn to the project as a way to step out of his creative comfort zone and develop his writing skills.
“It kind of forces you outside what you’re normally used to writing, and it also keeps your writing tight,” he said. “Writing something meaningful in 250 words seems almost like a daunting or impossible task.”
Deborah Lawton, a local artist who has participated in the project since its conception, said the project is valuable to the local arts community and fosters connections between creatives.
“Artists tend to be isolated in their creativity,” she said. “Most visual artists function in their own studio space, and same with writers…. I think that bringing people from that isolation together is so important, because you need to be able to bounce ideas off one another.”
Lawton said the project draws attention to the diverse expressions of art taking place, while Stewart added the project showcases Airdrie’s significant writing and artistic community that, he said, often goes unnoticed.
Response pieces are currently underway, and Humphrey said participants will convene Aug. 7 for an informal meeting to share their work. A formal celebration will take place at the Airdrie Public Library Sept. 28 at 6:30 p.m., when all the visual art and written pieces will be unveiled by the creators.
Atkin said the gala is one of the highlights of the entire project.
“It’s really nice to see it all come together, to see it all displayed together, to have everybody there available to answer questions and talk to people,” she said. “I think a lot of the artists really enjoy that, because they aren’t getting up to speak about their artwork as much as the writers, so that gives them a chance to talk to people.”
The gala is open to the public, and copies of the book will be made available for purchase.
