Brock Press

Issue date: 11/13/07 Section: Arts & Entertainment

Media Credit: Chao Sun

Media Credit: Chao Sun

What better way to get people interested in art and important issues than to have them stare patrons in the face, and served up bright and early along with their morning coffees?
Every month, Strega Café in downtown St. Catharines features a new artist's work right underneath the glass of their dining room tables, appropriately titled their "Art Under Glass" exhibits. For the month of November, Strega customers will be privy to Niagara artist June-Etta Chenard's colourful display, Visions for the Time Being.
Aside from its obvious aesthetic appeal, the true beauty of Chenard's work comes from its many layers. The socially aware artist brings a number of weighty issues to the forefront with her latest exhibit, something that she considers a necessary part of creating art.
"I have been moved by social injustices my whole life long. So, of course, my art can only reflect this," said Chenard. "Art is a most powerful tool for touching the feelings and opinions of others, even if that is only by calling their attention to a concern that they had not much considered previously."
Chenard is a well-known artist and teacher within the St. Catharines community, exhibiting her work regularly and teaching courses both in Canada and the US. Whether it is in her teaching or her artwork, current issues facing society act as her main source of inspiration.
"Right now, we are in a dreadful time, as we know that at any moment we may wipe ourselves out with nuclear weapons. From a high of 65,000 active weapons in 1985, there were about 20,000 active nuclear weapons in the world in 2002, the last time a count was done, even though each day more and more are manufactured. And then there is the threat of what is going to happen in the future with the effects of climate change," she said.
"Sometimes, I despair at the terrible mess we older people are leaving to you younger ones. In order for art to have its finger on the pulse of today's world, it must focus on this madness and these horrors because only by looking at them can we do something about them. I believe that it is the role, and to some extent, the duty, of artists to challenge the status quo, especially when that status quo has more and more people suffering, dying, killing and being killed in the service of further enriching and empowering the already rich and powerful."
Though social injustices play an important role in Chenard's exhibit, some pieces are "songs of hope and joy, praise and gratitude". Nearly every piece in Visions for the Time Being incorporates several unique materials into their construction; such as dried leaves, paper dyed with rusted objects and White Bleeding Heart flowers. By using new and unusual elements within her works, Chenard hopes to draw viewers in to establish an intimate connection with her pieces.
"The interesting materials help make that first connection really," said Chenard. "Sometimes a piece of paper I have dyed, say with old rusty objects scavenged from an abandoned dump, is then combined with autumn leaves that seem to be organically related (as is the case in 'War and the Environment'). Often such an unexpected combination can convey a feeling that seems exactly what I am trying to express, in a better way than anything else that comes to my mind. Another example of this is the use of lock washers, a sewn leaf and a packing tape transfer in 'Proclamation of 1763' to convey the sense of abandoned treaties and people cut off from their rights."
So, why not take a little thought-provoking and socially aware art with your coffee this month?
"Making social commentary art is my task since I believe that art, at its best, can interfere with injustice by stirring our hearts," said Chenard. "Although art, mine and other people's, will not solve any of the complex issues it explores, it can make us more aware of the existence and complexities of issues. We need to be touched to the heart, and that's where art often plays an essential role."
On Nov. 22, from 7- 9:30 PM, Chenard will be facilitating a pay-what-you-can workshop on 'The Art of Collage' at Strega.

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