Propose a written text for publication- Create and play a song on the native flute
- Make a quilt
- Make a vest of map-patterned fabric
Go greenerFrench braid my own hair- Make my own 3D print design
Use my 3DoodlerClean up / transfer files from my old Mac to my new oneDonate my hairMake my own mustard-
Make Polish barszcz Do more advocacy for autismDefine 50 new words I learned from the Scrabble appRead and write more poetry- Own property
Try calligraphy-
Apply to secondment or a teacher-funded leave, further my education, or teach something new Get marriedMake 5 recipes with the dehydratorBake a vegan tourtiereCarve my own rubber stamps-
Practice anatomical drawing Use a telescopeLearn to label all the countries in Africa on a map- Play a 400,000+ Tetris game
Do yoga for 30 days straightSleep in the backyard in a tent cot- Try stained glass
- Build a train set
Do a geology-based tripMeditate for 15 minutes daily for one week straightHang something on the wallTry 10 different beading projects-
Learn more about bird watching - Join a Toronto-based field study group
Plant berries or fruit trees- Make a skating rink
- Go on an international history-based trip
Make my own tofuLearn to label all the states in America on a mapDo more public speaking- Go on a Nordic tour
Sunday, September 2, 2018
Goals, 2018-2021
Friday, August 10, 2018
Tuesday, May 15, 2018
Progress: #7. take guitar lessons
I'm realizing that I am running short timelines for what is left of this list (and, as per usual, I'm more so itching to get the next set of 3 year goals started), so I've been considering what can reasonably be accomplished.
I am quite terrified of interacting with strangers -- though, yes, I am aware that everyone I now know was once one. I am not sure if my apprehension intensifies with age, or it just gets easier to opt out: (a) I socialize enough AT WORK to not want to have to otherwise, and (b) I gots my people already.
I got to thinking I was sure, therefore, that I'd retire this goal, or carry it over indefinitely (and perhaps purposelessly). It seemed a shame, though. This guitar (on the left, that looks like a giant violin,) is both beautiful and one of my only heirlooms from my dear grandpa. He also made the leather holding strap, with the pony buckle, by hand. Also, I love music, so much.
Therefore, I asked my friend and work colleague - whom I obviously already know - Andy (of the band Wooden Bridge) if he could give me lessons. He agreed. We are starting tomorrow, continuing weekly until the school year ends.
(The right-hand guitar is my mother's heirloom, with a smaller neck. In typical MY MOM fashion she said, learning of these lessons: "Take it too! Maybe it will be easier to use!" I know nothing.)
Andy asked for a list of songs I'd like to learn. I ran through my music library, jotting possibilities into a word file. I realized that I don't think I've paid much attention to guitar much before, except to think that I like it best in folk and old country songs.
He said this one, of my choices, probably has the easiest chords. It's one of my favourite childhood country songs, soundtrack to a dark highway Gaspé road trip drive:
I am quite terrified of interacting with strangers -- though, yes, I am aware that everyone I now know was once one. I am not sure if my apprehension intensifies with age, or it just gets easier to opt out: (a) I socialize enough AT WORK to not want to have to otherwise, and (b) I gots my people already.
I got to thinking I was sure, therefore, that I'd retire this goal, or carry it over indefinitely (and perhaps purposelessly). It seemed a shame, though. This guitar (on the left, that looks like a giant violin,) is both beautiful and one of my only heirlooms from my dear grandpa. He also made the leather holding strap, with the pony buckle, by hand. Also, I love music, so much.
Therefore, I asked my friend and work colleague - whom I obviously already know - Andy (of the band Wooden Bridge) if he could give me lessons. He agreed. We are starting tomorrow, continuing weekly until the school year ends.
(The right-hand guitar is my mother's heirloom, with a smaller neck. In typical MY MOM fashion she said, learning of these lessons: "Take it too! Maybe it will be easier to use!" I know nothing.)
Andy asked for a list of songs I'd like to learn. I ran through my music library, jotting possibilities into a word file. I realized that I don't think I've paid much attention to guitar much before, except to think that I like it best in folk and old country songs.
He said this one, of my choices, probably has the easiest chords. It's one of my favourite childhood country songs, soundtrack to a dark highway Gaspé road trip drive:
Original goal list posted here
Thursday, April 26, 2018
Saturday, April 21, 2018
Progress: #17. propose exhibition of Métis identity
I'll be submitting the following three artworks, with accompanying biography, context, prices, and application to this on Monday.
Original goal list posted here
PAINTING CONTEXT
1. “Woman Changing into Eagle.” Acrylic on canvas. June 11, 2014.
On May 17, 2014, I visited Manitoban Traditional Healer / Elder Colin Mousseau at Anishnawbe Health, who told me he saw a grandmother in a vision who said I was her relative. He said to my father, mother, and myself: “You have the blood in you. It’s obvious.” He spoke of my former sickness, of the recurring dreams of flying. He said I am “Wabano Ginew”, or Eastern Golden Eagle.
I feel honoured to have a spirit that is one of the most powerful in the skyworld. East, he said, is where the sun rises. This is also where all my connections lie.
On June 11, 2014, I painted “Woman Changing Into Eagle,” to mark the name: a not-so-subtle nod to Norval Morrisseau’s “Man Changing into Thunderbird” series, and a re-articulation of one of my favourite self-portraits from 2006.
The most significant moment regarding “wabano” – that ephemeral time between night and day – that I remember in my lifetime was the wee hour bus ride from the airport to a hotel in Jerusalem in 2011. Oh, the city shone like gold! I wish I could package that beauty to share with you. The background in “Woman Changing into Eagle” is a pictorial representation.
2. “How I Learned to Fly.” Acrylic on canvas. September 30, 2014.
All of the jewelry that I wear means something. I believe in clothing and adornments as a mode of communication, in addition to functionality. If I keep it to myself, it means something only to me. I am sometimes okay with this. However, 2014 was a year of substantial growth – my 30th on this planet – so I decided to mark these subtle communications to a painting.
My centre left-hand ring is from Kitigan. It is a site run by a Native Friendship Centre-based organization where my cousin works in downtown Toronto. Kitigan solicits arts and crafts from Northern indigenous communities, which are very far from artistic centres and gives them an online urban forum in which to sell their work. This ring is a medicine wheel, which has become one of the guiding forces and philosophies in my life.
My centre right-hand ring is from a mother of one of my high school students from the 2014/2015 school year. She scheduled a meeting with me by email, only to show up at my office door in tears, thanking me for “teaching her ‘black-and-white’ daughter to ‘see the greys’”. I laughed, as this was something my own mother often chided me, when I was younger, for being unable to do. This beaded ring was a gift of thanks. She bought it from indigenous artisans during her travels in South America.
My thumb ring, consisting of interlocking puzzle pieces, was purchased for autism awareness. After many years of social and emotional struggles, I was diagnosed with an Autism Spectrum Disorder in 2014. This knowledge changed my perception of myself and the world – and so it was something I wanted to note, in subtle adornment.
I am grateful for having noted the ephemeral nature of these pieces of jewelry in acrylic. Less than a year after painting, the beads of my centre right-hand ring began to unravel and I could no longer wear it. My thumb ring, a size too big, I lost to the cold the following winter. I now wear my medicine wheel ring on my right hand. I have purchased a smaller replacement puzzle piece ring.
The hands are meant to appear like wings, replicated much like children make shadow puppets. This was a year I learned to fly.
3. “Eagle Birch Burn.” Wood Burn on Birch, backed by Decoupaged Recyled Paper. January 3, 2018.
In late 2016, I established Treecycle Toronto, after feeling horribly guilty that my first “real” Christmas tree had sacrificed its life to stand in the midst of my living room. Treecycle operated on an indigenous philosophy of conservation, and turned previously-loved Christmas trees into new housewares, art, ornaments, and jewelry. Ever since, my uncle has been quite passionate about the ways in which he can contribute to my environmental conservation efforts.
This is how I came to inherit many scrolls of shorn birch bark that he found at a great uncle’s cabin. At first they simply sat in my art studio, because I was unsure what to do with them. Around the same time, I inherited the gift of a wood burner. By the new year, 2018, I was itching for a new art and decided to give the wood burner a try.
This is my first wood burn. I recently read an article that the hobbies of our ancestors can be written to our DNA. My ancestors have oft been woodworkers.
Original goal list posted here
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