Collective Assembly

Principal Investigator Cameron Forbes participated in the two-week residency program Collective Assembly at Artscape Gibraltar Point in April 2018. Led by facilitators Sean Procyk and Alex Achtem, artists and curators were invited to participate in a communal build project. Through group-oriented workshops, Forbes and other participants were introduced to basic woodworking skills and timber frame construction methods. The outcome of this residency was to collaboratively build a temporary pavilion for the Gibraltar Point grounds.

Forbes participated in this residency to enrich her research creation practice where she observes built space, usually through drawing and painting. Over the past several years Forbes has included material installation and construction aspects in her projects to further engage with her observational work. Active Site includes both collaborative drawing and design workshops, and a material site intervention/adaptation similar to what was developed here.

Grounded

Grounded was created in October 2017 by Grenfell Visual Arts BFA students Drew Pardy and Kelsey Street in D’Arcy Wilson’s VART 3929, Extended Site course. At Norris Point’s Bonne Bay Marine Station, they developed this project in response to personal family histories of houses collaboratively moved by land through human power. This student project points to the close connection residents and students have between the land and the built environment. For more examples of work that arose from Wilson’s Extended Site course one can visit the course blog at https://thirtydaysofthegoodbay.wordpress.com/

Marking Space: A Drawing Research Lab

In the summer of 2014 Cameron Forbes, Tim Messellier, Santiago Tavera, Christine Garvey, Matthew-Robin Nye, and Beth Frey collaboratively developed and led Marking Space: A Drawing Research Lab at Centre des arts actuels Skol in Montreal. The purpose of this ten-week multifaceted programme was to examine contemporary issues in drawing, transforming Skol into an active place for learning, making, and collaborating. This programme, alongside Forbes’ past work at Art City and in other community art projects, has developed in-depth experience in participatory drawing and design workshops which engage participants to have fun, experiment and engage critically and creatively together. More work for this project can be seen through the project blog. https://markingspace2014.tumblr.com/