Wednesday, December 2, 2015

SPARK Disability Art Festival (Calgary) - Nov 30-Dec 04, 2015

Artist Paula Timm holds her mixed media piece entitled “I wonder, Woman” in Studio C Gallery in the Burns Building downtown. Timm is one of the artists taking part in SPARK, a festival of artists with disabilities in galleries around Calgary.  

SPARK Disability Art Festival (Calgary) - Nov 30-Dec 04, 2015

***** Our grandson, Morgan Paul ( Artist: Morgan M. Paul ) is involved in this special event. He will be participating as a panel member at the Closing Reception at Studio C, December 3, 2015. Those attending this event (it's FREE, 6:30-8:30 pm) will hear feedback directly from the diverse artists who exhibited in SPARK 2015. They will learn about the challenges and successes of being a Calgary artist from five emerging visual artists who approach art and disability from unique perspectives.***** 

(http://calgaryartsdevelopment.com/…/industry-event-spark-di…) (http://www.indefinitearts.com/PDFs/SPARK_Event_Flyer.pdf)

Spark Festival showcases creativity regardless of disability (text & video)

by Stephen Hunt, Calgary Herald, December 1, 2015

It took dying for Paula Timm to understand the value of art in her life.

Timm is one of the close to 100 artists featured in the 2015 Spark Disability Art Festival, which kicked off Monday at a quartet of venues across Calgary (ACAD, Studio C at the Burns Building, Loft 112 in the East Village and InDefinite Arts Society at 8030 Fairmount Dr SE).

It’s a festival that’s been produced since 2011 by Studio C, an arts centre run by Prospect Human Services, a non-profit focused on helping anyone who has barriers to employment, says program manager Colin Menzies.

“We offer skill development,” says Menzies, “so that people can get those skills to get out into the workforce through art — or we train companies as to how to be more diverse and inclusive and again we engage them through the creative process.”

That culminates each year in the Spark Festival, which showcases artists from across the city, and the country, Menzies says.

“It’s Calgary’s only disability visual art festival,” Menzies says, “and so in that sense, it’s a celebration of creative expression by emerging artists and professional artists who identify as having mental, physical or sensory disabilities.

“It’s also for artists,” he says, “who might be experiencing mental health barriers, brain injury or any chronic illness as well — so it’s really just creating a really cool platform for them to share about their experiences and it allows them to advance within their own arts practice in Calgary.”

Read more here: http://calgaryherald.com/…/spark-festival-showcases-creativ…

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