April 15, 2024 • 38 mins
Have you ever paused to consider the symphony of sounds that paint the canvas of our daily lives? This episode invites sound artist Dominique Ferraton to share her transition from the hustle of Montreal to Gravelbourg, Saskatchewan. Against the backdrop of this tranquil environment, Dominique discusses the intimate process of capturing the auditory essence of her new home and the personal evolution of her multidisciplinary art practice. Her work focuses on community and place, while her insights into the tight-knit nature of small-town living might inspire you to tune into the sounds of your own locale.
Episode links:
Dominique's art website: https://www.dominiqueferraton.ca/
Dominique's audio editing + sound design website: https://audio.dominiqueferraton.ca/
Gravelbourg Artisan Coop: https://artisancoop.ca/
Laura St. Pierre: https://mackenzie.art/francophone-artist-laura-st-pierres-exhibition-signals-hope-in-the-face-of-environmental-upheaval/
The super saline lakes of Saskatchewan: https://www.waterrangers.ca/saline-lakes/
Thank you to SaskCulture, SKArts, and Sask Lotteries for your generous support.
Visit our website: https://www.saskartsalliance.ca
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/saskartsalliance/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/skartsalliance
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/saskartsalliance/
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@saskatchewanartsalliance57
STARTING SEASON 2, THEME MUSIC PROVIDED BY:
Patrick Moon Bird: https://linktr.ee/PatrickMoonBird
https://www.facebook.com/PatrickMoonBirdMusic/
Kevin Power: http://www.kevinpower.net/ The Saskscapes Podcast: https://saskscapes.buzzsprout.com/
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
your collective voice for the arts across
saskatchewan.
This is arts everywhere.
The saskatchewan arts alliancepodcast.
Hey, do me a favor, listen.
(00:27):
Good, now listen again and payclose attention to the sound of
your surroundings.
Good, perhaps you could hearthe sound of your heartbeat, the
white noise of a fan or soundscoming from the outside through
(00:49):
an open window.
Now, if you had a recordingdevice with you, even your
smartphone, and you recorded thesounds around you, might you
have a work of art?
But what I mean is is the soundyou capture, a form of art?
Well, as it happens, there areartists who focus on the medium
of sound art.
(01:10):
Sound art is an artisticactivity in which sound is
utilized as a primary medium ormaterial, not unlike a painting
or a sculpture, and thisepisode's guest, dominique
Ferraton, is drawn to sound artand, after years of volunteering
in community radio and workingas a technician in Montreal,
(01:33):
dominique found Saskatchewan,calling her a longing for a
smaller community than the busy,cosmopolitan, albeit fabulous,
city of Montreal Gravelburg.
Saskatchewan is where shesettled and, let's face it, the
landscape of sounds to becaptured in Saskatchewan is
endless, and Dominique aims tocapture those that speak to her.
(01:55):
And in this episode, dominiqueshares how she has evolved
through life to find herself ina space where true appreciation
of the simplicity of soundresides.
And Gravelberg is a wonderfulplace I mean seriously you must
visit.
Sometimes it stands out as aunique community unlike any
other place in the province witha huge Francescoise influence.
(02:18):
The Gravelberg Artist Co-op hasbeen Dominique's main creative
outlet and they have some verycool events happening there.
So be sure, as always, tofollow the links in the show
notes and, after listening toDominique's story, do yourself a
favor and go for a walk in yourneighborhood and just listen
(02:41):
and just listen.
You'll have a new appreciationfor sound and how those sounds
create the basis for the artform called sound art well,
(03:11):
thanks for taking the time to tochat and and and come on the
podcast.
Speaker 2 (03:16):
Um, I feel like we've been trying to plan to figure
out how and when to do this fora while, so I'm glad we, glad we
got it fit in.
Um, so we've, we've met once inperson, uh, and that was at the
first meeting of uh kind of therural artists working group,
which we're still kind ofworking towards figuring out, uh
, what exactly that's going tolook like and and uh and
(03:40):
function as.
So there was a meeting lastfall or spring I'm losing
complete sense of time.
What was it?
I think it was fall.
Okay, yeah, I think you'reright.
It wasn't quite as far away asI thought it was.
In Swift Current.
There was a group of us thatmet at the Swift Current Art
Gallery and yeah.
(04:04):
So maybe I'm thinking, if youdon't mind, just maybe take a
few minutes and introduceyourself for those out there
listening.
Speaker 3 (04:13):
Okay, so my name is Dominique Ferraton and I live in
Goldberg, saskatchewan, asmallish town of about a
thousand people.
My partner and I moved there Iguess four years ago now.
We were living in Montreal.
We're visiting.
We decided to visit Gravelburgbecause my parents live here and
(04:35):
it was my dad's 70th birthday,but that fell right at the kind
of the first day of the pandemic.
We still made it out here butthen realized, okay, maybe we
don't want to go back toMontreal right away.
The birthday party was canceled, so we just kind of lay low and
rented some cute little housesin rural areas nearby.
(05:01):
Eventually decided we actuallyreally like it here and we had
been thinking about making themove to a smaller place for a
little while.
So we ended up buying a verycheap property which was the old
United Church in Gravelburg.
So that's been one of ourprojects the past few years.
(05:24):
As for my art practice, it'spretty multidisciplinary.
My background is in film andphotography and I started
towards the end of that focusingquite a bit on sound art as
well, really loved that wholemedium, realized that I wasn't a
(05:46):
film person.
I like to keep them separate.
So I kind of do a lot of soundand I do a lot of photography
and it's often linked to placeand the places where I live and
what it means to get to knowthose places, what it means to
care for them.
Speaker 2 (06:05):
Awesome Thanks.
Yeah, I had a chance to kind ofgo through some of the links
you sent for your website andyour sound work and definitely I
think we share quite a fewcommon interests in photography
and sound and also really,really liked your um uh city
(06:27):
scout badges oh yeah, that was afun project so what has is?
I think it's a prettyinteresting interesting decision
to move to, uh, a smaller,small, you know, rural
Saskatchewan.
I was wondering, maybe, if youcould talk a little bit about
kind of what that change, thattransition's been like, coming
(06:47):
from Montreal to kind of beingin Saskatchewan and, yeah, just
kind of what that experience hasbeen like.
Speaker 3 (06:58):
I really love Montreal.
Montreal's amazing.
It's full of opportunities,it's full of yeah, basically
anything you're looking for isamazing.
It's full of opportunities,it's full of yeah, basically
anything you're looking for isthere.
But we just realized that weweren't really taking advantage
of it anymore.
You know, there was a pointwhere we were just kind of
staying home and not really yeah, not really going to all the
(07:20):
shows and all the art openingsand etc.
I definitely have a communitythere that I do miss.
But what I realized moving to asmaller town is oh, this is
kind of a built-in communitythat you're part of almost
immediately just by being here,just because there's not a lot
(07:42):
of people here, and that feltreally nice.
It was like living in aneighborhood where you know all
of your neighbors and I realizedI had never experienced that in
that way Montreal.
I had different littlesub-communities when I worked in
community radio.
(08:02):
That was a community, but thecity itself and my neighborhood
itself, it never felt that way.
So it feels in a way easierhere to get involved, to get to
know people, even if I don'tknow.
I guess options are morelimited.
That feeling of community isreally nice.
Speaker 2 (08:23):
I think that that's something that I've heard.
You know.
I've had a chance to talk to afew people who have either, you
know, who are not from here, whohave come here and made a home
here, or who have left and comeback, and I think that seems to
be a common thread, even ifyou're maybe not necessarily in
a smaller community, if you'rein, you know, regina or
Saskatoon, that there's still a.
(08:44):
There just tends to be a senseof community that is maybe hard
to get in other places, which Ithink is a good advantage for
Saskatchewan and also for anarts community.
So one of the things that kindof also has brought this
conversation together is yourinvolvement in, uh, the
(09:07):
gravelberg artisan co-op is.
Is that the correct?
Yeah, um, and so I was yeah.
Maybe can you tell me a littlebit about kind of what the
co-op's about yeah.
Speaker 3 (09:20):
So I do feel quite lucky that we have we have we
have this community of artistswho are members of the co-op.
That's not something that everysmall community has.
So basically, yeah, it juststarted as a handful of artists
and artisans and crafters whowanted to share resources, who
(09:41):
wanted to get together,encourage each other to share
resources, who wanted to gettogether, encourage each other.
Initially, the plan was to havesome sort of storefront where
everybody could sell their work.
That sort of morphed into moreof a.
We do have.
We have a small studio spacethat we where we host workshops,
but so the focus is more onsupporting artists, hosting
(10:06):
workshops, hosting craft shows,that sort of thing.
Speaker 2 (10:09):
How many people are involved with the co-op?
Speaker 3 (10:14):
Well, there are eight board members, Okay, but
there's also a bunch ofproducing members.
You can become a member andbenefit from various things get
discounts for craft fairs thatwe put on that sort of thing.
I don't have the exact numberfor how many producing members
and supporting members that wehave, though.
Speaker 2 (10:32):
Yeah, yeah.
It sounds like a pretty greatcommunity and group to be a part
of, though, and a goodopportunity to make community
connections for sure communityconnections, for sure, yeah, for
sure.
Speaker 3 (10:50):
And I knew that these people existed when I moved
here, and it was definitely oneof the reasons that I thought oh
, I think I can make this into ahome, I think I can find a
community and like-minded peopleand people I can talk to about
art.
So that's been really great.
Speaker 2 (11:03):
I guess I'm really interested in maybe having a bit
of a discussion about yourapproach to sound art and kind
of maybe how that journey hasevolved for you.
I think I am a bit personallyinterested, so maybe a slightly
self-serving discussion, but I'ma printmaker, kind of by trade,
(11:27):
with no access to a studio atthe moment, and so the idea of
thinking about sound art andmaybe how that could be
something that you know getskind of introduced or included
in my own practice sounds veryappealing, and so I'm just, yeah
, curious maybe to hear a littlebit more from you about that
(11:47):
and kind of anything.
Maybe you know it can go onfrom there if there's anything
else you want to talk about inregards to your practice.
But I thought maybe that couldbe a bit of a jumping off point.
Speaker 3 (11:58):
Yeah, like I said, it's often linked to place.
It's often linked to place, andsound art for me has often been
a way to explore a space and soso it focuses quite a bit on
field recordings, recordingsthat I do outside, when I go for
(12:19):
walks or various explorations.
That's, that's been a mainfocus.
Um, various explorations that'sbeen a main focus.
I'm not very techie when itcomes to my sound art because I
kind of want to keep it simple.
I want to keep it portable.
I want to have just something Ihave in my pocket that I can
pull out.
So, you know, I found the bestkind of basic equipment that
(12:40):
would allow me to do that andstill sound pretty good.
But I'm not that person whowalks around with a bunch of
shotgun microphones and takes along time to set up maybe
eventually, but for now I likethat I can walk around with it.
Yeah, I'm working on somethingright now the very beginning
(13:02):
stages that will be related toSouthern Saskatchewan and its
bodies of water and ourrelationship to them and why
they're important to us andwhether we're taking care of
them.
From what I've seen just on mywalks to the Wood River near my
house, from what I've seen juston my walks to the Wood River
(13:23):
near my house.
In certain ways, I feel likeit's not being taken care of
enough, although we live in asemi-arid area and we all know
that it's very important to keepthese waterways healthy.
So what does that mean and whatdo we need to do?
So this project, similarly toother things I've done, it sort
(13:53):
of blurs the lines between audio, documentary and sound art.
I'm hoping to combineinterviews with people who can
talk to me about theirexperience and how they care for
the river, perhaps and, yeah,how they care for the river,
perhaps and also lots of richsoundscapes, lots of water and
(14:16):
ice sounds that I've startedcollecting, and find a way to
put those together and createsomething immersive and
something inspiring that showspeople kind of the unique beauty
of southern Saskatchewan andwater, because there's a lot of
characteristics of the bodies ofwater here that I hadn't
(14:39):
encountered before, for example,the super saline lakes.
(15:00):
That's quite unique.
Speaker 2 (15:00):
And just the characteristics of meandering
prairie rivers that twist andturn forever because it's so
flat.
I'm really interested.
Hey, I think I'm.
When we get off the off thecall, I'm probably going to
Google the super saline lakesbecause I don't think I know
much about that.
Um and um, yeah, I think youknow that's also something too
that a lot of people maybe don'tnecessarily associate with
(15:22):
Saskatchewan is bodies of water.
But yeah, we do have a greatnumber of lakes and bodies of
water, so I think that'll be aninteresting exploration.
How have you found the kind ofsupport as far as at a funding
level?
Have you been, you know, haveyou found, have you been able to
(15:43):
access any, any grant programsas an, as an artist coming into
Saskatchewan, or just you know?
I guess that's something thatI'm always always interested in.
Um, because I do believe thatyou know kind of, compared to
other places in the country,that you know we have a fairly
(16:04):
robust funding system inSaskatchewan.
You know kind of from our twoarms, from the lotteries and
then also from SaskArts.
In my discussions with peoplefrom outside of Saskatchewan,
I've kind of always been toldlike be grateful for your
funding systems and you have areally great funding structure
in Saskatchewan.
Speaker 3 (16:29):
So I was wondering maybe if you've had any
experience with that at all andkind of how that's been.
Yeah, I have.
I have benefited from a coupleof grants A small grant that
allowed me to go to Montreal foran exhibition that was taking
place a couple of summers ago Iguess, and the equipment
purchase grant as well.
I also I did.
(16:50):
I have lived in Saskatchewanbefore, but just for a year or
two, and I got a small grant atthat time too.
I have found it easier in someways, I think, compared to
Montreal and Quebec, it's quitecompetitive there and maybe
(17:11):
that's why I haven't been aslucky.
I still work with acollaborator in Montreal and
we're always applying for thingsand we never get them.
So that's frustrating.
But I had this notion that Iwould release it as a podcast,
(17:46):
but as soon as you say podcast,that's not really something that
they support, and I had a goodconversation with somebody at
Saskarts actually who explainedwhy that is, it's just sort of
seen as journalism okay, eventhough it's not necessarily.
I think there's just sort of umin terms of maybe documentary,
(18:06):
sound art type of field.
There's certain things thathaven't quite caught up to the
reality.
There are ways to make an audiodocumentary that that it's not
really journalism or it is, butit's also something else.
I think there could be morethere.
That's not specific toSaskatchewan, that's Canada
(18:27):
Council too, that's everybody.
It's just a medium that'sevolving.
Speaker 2 (18:33):
Yeah, I definitely think about some of my favorite
podcasts that I've listened toover the years, or series or
different things, and, um, yeah,there's an interesting
distinction and it's almost.
It's almost kind of around themethod of delivery rather than
the uh me like then, theclassification of what makes it
(18:56):
art necessarily.
Speaker 3 (18:58):
Yeah, these things are interesting.
Sometimes it's just in the wayyou word it too, yeah for sure.
Speaker 2 (19:06):
So you're kind of aside from your art, then that
might be a nice segue.
Your kind of work is also inthe audio field is also in the
audio field.
Speaker 3 (19:25):
Yeah, yeah, I have worked in community radio before
in my big city life.
But there's a point where I wasmoving around a lot and I was
looking for something that Icould do remotely and I thought,
oh, I really love sound editing.
I wonder if that's somethingthat I could do.
It turns out that, yeah, it issomething you can do and there's
quite a bit of demand for it.
There's always somebodystarting a podcast that needs
help making their audio soundgood.
(19:46):
So, yeah, I've been working asa sound editor, sound designer,
mixer, et cetera, mostly forpodcasts, for I don't know, six
years, something like that, yeah, yeah, it's nice to be able to
give you know, a good gig with agreat amount of flexibility.
(20:07):
Oh, yeah, it's been.
Yeah, I really appreciate theflexibility for sure.
Yeah, yeah, aside from, youknow the freelance life of, oh,
now I need to look for newcontracts again.
But yeah, I really appreciatethe freedom.
I appreciate working on justall different projects all the
(20:28):
time, and it's definitelyallowed me to perfect a lot of
technical skills that are superhelpful in the rest of my work
too.
Speaker 2 (20:36):
So how did you get involved with community?
Speaker 3 (20:38):
radio, the rest of my work too.
So how did you get involvedwith community radio?
I don't know.
I feel like this started when Iwas born, because my dad has
worked for CBC Radio or RadioCanada just my whole life and
just sort of part of I don'tknow my blood.
But basically as soon as Igraduated from school I started
(21:01):
volunteering at CKUT, communityRadio in Montreal, and then
that's mostly where I learnedediting, producing on-air
engineering.
Yeah, I just loved it and it'sa really great community of kind
(21:21):
of radical left-wing people andit's a teaching radio station
too, so I was able to exploreand learn all sorts of things in
a super supportive and lowpressure environment.
Um, so I was there for quite afew years and and they also had
(21:45):
a few sound art collectives tooand we would produce some
collective pieces, collages ofsounds that we had all
accumulated.
That was quite fun, yeah, andand then eventually also
eventually also got a job inanother community radio station
in Montreal after that.
Speaker 2 (22:06):
Okay, yeah, it's been interesting to see the journey
of the community radio stationhere in Regina.
That's the one I'm definitelymost familiar with.
I know there's also a reallyvibrant community radio station
in Saskatoon as well.
(22:27):
I just don't know it quite aswell because I'm not there.
But yeah, I've been involvedwith them a few times here and
there, mostly through screenprinting.
We've done a lot of shirts andstuff for their fundraisers and
stuff.
So I've always kind of managedto keep a connection to CJTR
here kind of one way or another.
(22:48):
And yeah, I always kind ofenjoy tuning in and hearing
what's going on.
And it was a bit of aprecarious time for them, I
think, throughout the pandemicand over the course of the last
little while.
And I know that they had apretty serious fundraising
initiative and luckily I talkedto a couple of the folks there
(23:13):
they kind of blew it out of thewater with their fundraising.
So they're back in business andsafe for the moment.
So yeah, shout out CJTR.
Speaker 3 (23:22):
Yay, yeah.
Yeah, I feel like the communityradios.
They're always in.
They're always a little bit ina precarious situation and just
struggling or just having tofight for it every year.
Yeah, that's tough.
We have a community radiostation in Gravelbury.
Actually it's mostlyFrancophone.
Yeah, I haven't yet gotteninvolved, but perhaps someday.
Speaker 2 (23:47):
Yeah, One thing at a time.
Yeah, I'm wondering, you know,what's been your kind of like I
don't know favorite thing is theright term, but like what's
been kind of like the best partabout moving to a smaller place
and what's been kind of like themost challenging thing as an
(24:08):
artist that it is cheaper tolive here, which means I have a
little bit more space to work onpersonal projects that may not
make me a ton of money.
Speaker 3 (24:28):
It also means that I can take the time that I need to
say, go on my long walks to myprairie river and find
inspiration there.
And there's definitelysomething about this landscape
also that I've always foundquite inspiring.
(24:50):
I'm not sure what it is.
Maybe it's just the feeling ofexpansiveness of the big skies
and the big prairie, justsomething that I can relate to.
Somehow.
It's been really nice to justlive in it and live that.
More challenging would be well,just not having as much access
(25:13):
to certain things.
It would be awesome if I couldgo to all of the exhibitions in
Regina and Saskatoon, but thereality is that I don't in
Regina and Saskatoon, but thereality is that I don't.
Our trips to the city arealways quick and errand-based,
(25:35):
so it's not.
Yeah, I don't often go, andalong with that comes limited
networking opportunities,limited community.
Like I said, I am lucky to havemy small group of artists that
do live here, but I do, yeah, Ido miss, I guess, the, the
(25:56):
vibrancy and the opportunitiesthat do exist in bigger cities.
Speaker 2 (26:02):
Yeah, for sure.
Yeah, that I think that'ssomething that kind of how the
kind of conversation and kernelof the idea of maybe trying to
figure out, like, what can we dowith the idea of having a rural
artist working group kind ofevolved from for sure, and you
know we'll put some links in theshow notes to some of the the
(26:27):
articles that have been writtenfor that and things, um and and
you know it's yeah very muchstill kind of in, uh, the
beginning stages.
(26:52):
And one of the things thatJessica and I have been talking
about is it seems reallyimportant that the groups you
know that say, if there's arural artist working group, that
it's localized kind of to acertain place, because the idea
is maybe not necessarily to haveto ask people to travel to a
different place or a hugedistance and then also to not
have to, like, drive to the city, you know, because that kind of
is the antithesis of what we'retrying to make happen.
And so with the SAA'sinvolvement, you know we kind of
(27:16):
just started in your neck ofthe woods, just because that's
kind of where the idea andinitiative kind of and
enthusiasm for the idea startedwith.
But we've been really thinkingabout and talking with our board
and you know some of ourstakeholders about.
You know what's a realistic wayto maybe grow this idea so that
(27:39):
we could reach people in moreareas of the province.
And if we are to do that, youknow how can we do it
sustainably so that we can kindof maintain something moving
forward.
I don't know like, do you haveany thoughts on?
You know how it might bepossible to support, you know,
(28:03):
artists working in rural areas?
Speaker 3 (28:06):
Yeah, during that meeting that we had, a lot of
things were brought up for sure,but some of it was about
accessibility to opportunitiesand to events and whatnot.
I did see something interestingthat was organized by I think
(28:32):
it was the Conseil CulturelFrancescois.
There was a Franco-Saskatchewanartist showing an exhibition.
Was it Regina?
You know, saint-pierre.
Speaker 2 (28:46):
Yeah, the last name.
Speaker 3 (28:47):
I think that's ringing a bell yeah, okay, yeah,
well, in any case, they decidedthat they wanted the
Franco-Saskatchewan community tosee this, and so they actually.
I think I think it happened theywere organizing a shuttle to
just bring a bunch of people tosee the exhibition and bring
them back, and that's definitelysomething I would have taken
(29:11):
them up on if I had beenavailable that day.
Sadly I couldn't.
But something like that, thatsort of thing where just
facilitating just getting thereand coming back and also getting
people together to see thesethings seemed quite helpful and
(29:32):
quite fun as well.
So I think for me that'susually the main challenge is
just deciding okay, how can Imake it, how can I go to Regina,
how can I go to Saskatoon?
And usually it's just I decidethat it's not worth it and then
I don't go for various reasonstime, money, whatever.
(29:53):
So that's the first thing thatcomes to mind really.
Another thing is just thatmeeting, just getting together
with a bunch of artists whodon't live near each other, was
really nice to just gather everyonce in a while and be like oh
(30:14):
hey, we're all here, even if wedon't see each other every day.
Yeah, it's really nice to keepthat connection.
Yeah For sure.
Speaker 2 (30:25):
Yeah, and I will say probably been a little bit more
radio silent on kind of the nextsteps than we were imagining.
But you know, jessica and Ihave been talking and planning
and you know she will bereaching out to folks here, I
think, quite shortly about youknow what, what can we do next
and, and you know what are, whatare the next steps for, kind of
(30:47):
for the you know following upon on our, on our first
conversations.
But, um, yeah, we've beentalking.
We've also been talking quite abit with, uh, uh, zoe Schneider
from the organization ofSaskatchewan Arts Councils.
Um, you know, it know she'srecently joined well, recently,
last fall I guess joined ourboard of directors and you know
(31:15):
it seemed like kind of a naturalconversation to be talking
about rural artists and ruralnetworks and connections with
OSAC, just because they alreadyhave a lot of that
infrastructure and communitybuilt into what they do for many
, many years now.
And so, yeah, that's been, Ithink, a real kind of fruitful
(31:36):
part of the conversation about,you know, maybe bringing more
people and resources into theconversation and also talking
with CARFAC Saskatchewan about,you know, their rural mentorship
program and kind of you knowhow can this is something that
intersects with many differentmediums and disciplines and just
(31:59):
geographically.
So maybe how can we, how canyou know, as organizations, how
can we work together to kind ofcome up with contributing to a
larger conversation?
So it's been interesting tostart thinking about what this
could look like.
Speaker 3 (32:35):
Interesting and there's also intangible things,
like I was talking to somebodywho just who had this notion
that, oh well, all the reallygood artists, they live in the
big cities, right in a world nowwhere a bunch of people are
working remotely, a lot ofpeople are choosing, maybe, a
different lifestyle and maybeand the city's not for everybody
, and so why?
Why can't there be amazingartists from here?
And there are, yeah, but whatis that and how can we change
(33:00):
that perception?
Speaker 2 (33:01):
I guess yeah, yeah that's definitely a really
important component of it.
I think, yeah, I think that'seven a bit of a question or an
issue I was kind of faced with,I think myself, when I was
(33:22):
thinking about because I'm bornand raised in Saskatchewan, I
grew up in Weyburn and, um, youknow, just ended up deciding to
come to do art school at theuniversity of Regina and I think
, as we kind of you know, mykind of group that I went
through school with and, as wekind of ended, ended our studies
and everything, we were a lotof folks we saw, definitely went
(33:43):
off and moved and did otherthings and, you know, maybe went
on to do master's programs andother in other areas.
Um, and you know, it was a bitof a, a bit of a conscious
decision, I think.
Uh, on my part and also some ofmy, my friends and colleagues,
you know that we said okay, youknow, I think I think we're
(34:03):
going to, I think we're going tostay um and and stay to kind of
work on our studio and and, andyou know, do a few things and,
you know, hindsight's, 2020.
And I don't think I'd changeanything for the anything for
the world, but I think there was, you know, even at that well,
especially at that time, I thinkyou know a question about oh,
you're going to stay in Regina.
Like, what are you going to doin Regina?
(34:24):
So yeah, I get that for sure.
Speaker 3 (34:28):
Yeah, yeah, saskatchewan is weird that way.
It's like people don't see itsvalue or something.
It's just not Well from anybodyoutside of Saskatchewan they
definitely ask that questionyeah, why?
Why would you go there?
(34:48):
Yeah, you just don't understand.
Speaker 2 (34:55):
Yeah, totally have.
You had many visitors.
Speaker 3 (34:58):
Gosh, not really.
Well, there was the pandemic sonobody was visiting us.
Let's see.
No, we did have three friends,three friends from out east,
from Montreal visit, which wasquite exciting.
Speaker 2 (35:11):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (35:11):
But yeah, we want everyone to come visit.
Speaker 2 (35:16):
Yeah, for sure, that's yeah.
That's also part of the problemI've.
You know, I had the amazingopportunity a couple weeks ago
to go to the Canadian ArtsSummit.
I got into a business arts likeemerging leaders program and
(35:36):
part of this was that you got togo to the BAM Center, which I'd
never been to, which was prettyamazing for this summit, and
that was.
We were having lots ofinteresting discussions, but one
of them, too, was talking abouthow, in Saskatchewan, like our
lights and travel are just.
(35:59):
That's also a challenging partabout kind of being in
Saskatchewan and access, yeah,like our, you know, I think you
know thinking about bringing in,you know visiting artists or
that sort of thing.
It's just, it's a whole nother.
It's a whole nother level whenyou're looking at flying into
just Regina and Saskatoon.
Speaker 3 (36:19):
Yeah, definitely yeah .
Speaker 2 (36:20):
It's been nice to get the chance to talk and yeah,
hope we'll.
And yeah, we'll stay in touch.
Yeah for sure.
Thank you.
Thanks, dominique.
Speaker 1 (36:31):
The next episode of Arts Everywhere is coming soon,
so keep checking theSaskatchewan Arts Alliance
website and their social mediapages for more information and
if you're listening to thepodcast through your favorite
podcasting app, don't forget tohit the subscribe button so you
don't miss a single episode.
The Arts Everywhere theme musicis composed by Saskatchewan
(36:53):
musician Patrick Moon Bird,dancing to lo-fi from his album
entitled 2021.
Check out the show notes forlinks to Patrick's music.
The Saskatchewan Arts Alliancewould like to thank our funders.
The Saskatchewan Arts Alliancewould like to thank our funders,
sask Culture and Sask Arts,both of whom benefit from
lottery ticket sales throughSask Lotteries.
Proceeds from Sask Lotteriesfund cultural organizations all
(37:16):
across the province, and wewouldn't be able to do the work
we do without your support.
See you next time.
your collective voice for the arts across
saskatchewan.
This is arts everywhere.
The saskatchewan arts alliancepodcast.
Hey, do me a favor, listen.
(00:27):
Good, now listen again and payclose attention to the sound of
your surroundings.
Good, perhaps you could hearthe sound of your heartbeat, the
white noise of a fan or soundscoming from the outside through
(00:49):
an open window.
Now, if you had a recordingdevice with you, even your
smartphone, and you recorded thesounds around you, might you
have a work of art?
But what I mean is is the soundyou capture, a form of art?
Well, as it happens, there areartists who focus on the medium
of sound art.
(01:10):
Sound art is an artisticactivity in which sound is
utilized as a primary medium ormaterial, not unlike a painting
or a sculpture, and thisepisode's guest, dominique
Ferraton, is drawn to sound artand, after years of volunteering
in community radio and workingas a technician in Montreal,
(01:33):
dominique found Saskatchewan,calling her a longing for a
smaller community than the busy,cosmopolitan, albeit fabulous,
city of Montreal Gravelburg.
Saskatchewan is where shesettled and, let's face it, the
landscape of sounds to becaptured in Saskatchewan is
endless, and Dominique aims tocapture those that speak to her.
(01:55):
And in this episode, dominiqueshares how she has evolved
through life to find herself ina space where true appreciation
of the simplicity of soundresides.
And Gravelberg is a wonderfulplace I mean seriously you must
visit.
Sometimes it stands out as aunique community unlike any
other place in the province witha huge Francescoise influence.
(02:18):
The Gravelberg Artist Co-op hasbeen Dominique's main creative
outlet and they have some verycool events happening there.
So be sure, as always, tofollow the links in the show
notes and, after listening toDominique's story, do yourself a
favor and go for a walk in yourneighborhood and just listen
(02:41):
and just listen.
You'll have a new appreciationfor sound and how those sounds
create the basis for the artform called sound art well,
(03:11):
thanks for taking the time to tochat and and and come on the
podcast.
Speaker 2 (03:16):
Um, I feel like we've been trying to plan to figure
out how and when to do this fora while, so I'm glad we, glad we
got it fit in.
Um, so we've, we've met once inperson, uh, and that was at the
first meeting of uh kind of therural artists working group,
which we're still kind ofworking towards figuring out, uh
, what exactly that's going tolook like and and uh and
(03:40):
function as.
So there was a meeting lastfall or spring I'm losing
complete sense of time.
What was it?
I think it was fall.
Okay, yeah, I think you'reright.
It wasn't quite as far away asI thought it was.
In Swift Current.
There was a group of us thatmet at the Swift Current Art
Gallery and yeah.
(04:04):
So maybe I'm thinking, if youdon't mind, just maybe take a
few minutes and introduceyourself for those out there
listening.
Speaker 3 (04:13):
Okay, so my name is Dominique Ferraton and I live in
Goldberg, saskatchewan, asmallish town of about a
thousand people.
My partner and I moved there Iguess four years ago now.
We were living in Montreal.
We're visiting.
We decided to visit Gravelburgbecause my parents live here and
(04:35):
it was my dad's 70th birthday,but that fell right at the kind
of the first day of the pandemic.
We still made it out here butthen realized, okay, maybe we
don't want to go back toMontreal right away.
The birthday party was canceled, so we just kind of lay low and
rented some cute little housesin rural areas nearby.
(05:01):
Eventually decided we actuallyreally like it here and we had
been thinking about making themove to a smaller place for a
little while.
So we ended up buying a verycheap property which was the old
United Church in Gravelburg.
So that's been one of ourprojects the past few years.
(05:24):
As for my art practice, it'spretty multidisciplinary.
My background is in film andphotography and I started
towards the end of that focusingquite a bit on sound art as
well, really loved that wholemedium, realized that I wasn't a
(05:46):
film person.
I like to keep them separate.
So I kind of do a lot of soundand I do a lot of photography
and it's often linked to placeand the places where I live and
what it means to get to knowthose places, what it means to
care for them.
Speaker 2 (06:05):
Awesome Thanks.
Yeah, I had a chance to kind ofgo through some of the links
you sent for your website andyour sound work and definitely I
think we share quite a fewcommon interests in photography
and sound and also really,really liked your um uh city
(06:27):
scout badges oh yeah, that was afun project so what has is?
I think it's a prettyinteresting interesting decision
to move to, uh, a smaller,small, you know, rural
Saskatchewan.
I was wondering, maybe, if youcould talk a little bit about
kind of what that change, thattransition's been like, coming
(06:47):
from Montreal to kind of beingin Saskatchewan and, yeah, just
kind of what that experience hasbeen like.
Speaker 3 (06:58):
I really love Montreal.
Montreal's amazing.
It's full of opportunities,it's full of yeah, basically
anything you're looking for isamazing.
It's full of opportunities,it's full of yeah, basically
anything you're looking for isthere.
But we just realized that weweren't really taking advantage
of it anymore.
You know, there was a pointwhere we were just kind of
staying home and not really yeah, not really going to all the
(07:20):
shows and all the art openingsand etc.
I definitely have a communitythere that I do miss.
But what I realized moving to asmaller town is oh, this is
kind of a built-in communitythat you're part of almost
immediately just by being here,just because there's not a lot
(07:42):
of people here, and that feltreally nice.
It was like living in aneighborhood where you know all
of your neighbors and I realizedI had never experienced that in
that way Montreal.
I had different littlesub-communities when I worked in
community radio.
(08:02):
That was a community, but thecity itself and my neighborhood
itself, it never felt that way.
So it feels in a way easierhere to get involved, to get to
know people, even if I don'tknow.
I guess options are morelimited.
That feeling of community isreally nice.
Speaker 2 (08:23):
I think that that's something that I've heard.
You know.
I've had a chance to talk to afew people who have either, you
know, who are not from here, whohave come here and made a home
here, or who have left and comeback, and I think that seems to
be a common thread, even ifyou're maybe not necessarily in
a smaller community, if you'rein, you know, regina or
Saskatoon, that there's still a.
(08:44):
There just tends to be a senseof community that is maybe hard
to get in other places, which Ithink is a good advantage for
Saskatchewan and also for anarts community.
So one of the things that kindof also has brought this
conversation together is yourinvolvement in, uh, the
(09:07):
gravelberg artisan co-op is.
Is that the correct?
Yeah, um, and so I was yeah.
Maybe can you tell me a littlebit about kind of what the
co-op's about yeah.
Speaker 3 (09:20):
So I do feel quite lucky that we have we have we
have this community of artistswho are members of the co-op.
That's not something that everysmall community has.
So basically, yeah, it juststarted as a handful of artists
and artisans and crafters whowanted to share resources, who
(09:41):
wanted to get together,encourage each other to share
resources, who wanted to gettogether, encourage each other.
Initially, the plan was to havesome sort of storefront where
everybody could sell their work.
That sort of morphed into moreof a.
We do have.
We have a small studio spacethat we where we host workshops,
but so the focus is more onsupporting artists, hosting
(10:06):
workshops, hosting craft shows,that sort of thing.
Speaker 2 (10:09):
How many people are involved with the co-op?
Speaker 3 (10:14):
Well, there are eight board members, Okay, but
there's also a bunch ofproducing members.
You can become a member andbenefit from various things get
discounts for craft fairs thatwe put on that sort of thing.
I don't have the exact numberfor how many producing members
and supporting members that wehave, though.
Speaker 2 (10:32):
Yeah, yeah.
It sounds like a pretty greatcommunity and group to be a part
of, though, and a goodopportunity to make community
connections for sure communityconnections, for sure, yeah, for
sure.
Speaker 3 (10:50):
And I knew that these people existed when I moved
here, and it was definitely oneof the reasons that I thought oh
, I think I can make this into ahome, I think I can find a
community and like-minded peopleand people I can talk to about
art.
So that's been really great.
Speaker 2 (11:03):
I guess I'm really interested in maybe having a bit
of a discussion about yourapproach to sound art and kind
of maybe how that journey hasevolved for you.
I think I am a bit personallyinterested, so maybe a slightly
self-serving discussion, but I'ma printmaker, kind of by trade,
(11:27):
with no access to a studio atthe moment, and so the idea of
thinking about sound art andmaybe how that could be
something that you know getskind of introduced or included
in my own practice sounds veryappealing, and so I'm just, yeah
, curious maybe to hear a littlebit more from you about that
(11:47):
and kind of anything.
Maybe you know it can go onfrom there if there's anything
else you want to talk about inregards to your practice.
But I thought maybe that couldbe a bit of a jumping off point.
Speaker 3 (11:58):
Yeah, like I said, it's often linked to place.
It's often linked to place, andsound art for me has often been
a way to explore a space and soso it focuses quite a bit on
field recordings, recordingsthat I do outside, when I go for
(12:19):
walks or various explorations.
That's, that's been a mainfocus.
Um, various explorations that'sbeen a main focus.
I'm not very techie when itcomes to my sound art because I
kind of want to keep it simple.
I want to keep it portable.
I want to have just something Ihave in my pocket that I can
pull out.
So, you know, I found the bestkind of basic equipment that
(12:40):
would allow me to do that andstill sound pretty good.
But I'm not that person whowalks around with a bunch of
shotgun microphones and takes along time to set up maybe
eventually, but for now I likethat I can walk around with it.
Yeah, I'm working on somethingright now the very beginning
(13:02):
stages that will be related toSouthern Saskatchewan and its
bodies of water and ourrelationship to them and why
they're important to us andwhether we're taking care of
them.
From what I've seen just on mywalks to the Wood River near my
house, from what I've seen juston my walks to the Wood River
(13:23):
near my house.
In certain ways, I feel likeit's not being taken care of
enough, although we live in asemi-arid area and we all know
that it's very important to keepthese waterways healthy.
So what does that mean and whatdo we need to do?
So this project, similarly toother things I've done, it sort
(13:53):
of blurs the lines between audio, documentary and sound art.
I'm hoping to combineinterviews with people who can
talk to me about theirexperience and how they care for
the river, perhaps and, yeah,how they care for the river,
perhaps and also lots of richsoundscapes, lots of water and
(14:16):
ice sounds that I've startedcollecting, and find a way to
put those together and createsomething immersive and
something inspiring that showspeople kind of the unique beauty
of southern Saskatchewan andwater, because there's a lot of
characteristics of the bodies ofwater here that I hadn't
(14:39):
encountered before, for example,the super saline lakes.
(15:00):
That's quite unique.
Speaker 2 (15:00):
And just the characteristics of meandering
prairie rivers that twist andturn forever because it's so
flat.
I'm really interested.
Hey, I think I'm.
When we get off the off thecall, I'm probably going to
Google the super saline lakesbecause I don't think I know
much about that.
Um and um, yeah, I think youknow that's also something too
that a lot of people maybe don'tnecessarily associate with
(15:22):
Saskatchewan is bodies of water.
But yeah, we do have a greatnumber of lakes and bodies of
water, so I think that'll be aninteresting exploration.
How have you found the kind ofsupport as far as at a funding
level?
Have you been, you know, haveyou found, have you been able to
(15:43):
access any, any grant programsas an, as an artist coming into
Saskatchewan, or just you know?
I guess that's something thatI'm always always interested in.
Um, because I do believe thatyou know kind of, compared to
other places in the country,that you know we have a fairly
(16:04):
robust funding system inSaskatchewan.
You know kind of from our twoarms, from the lotteries and
then also from SaskArts.
In my discussions with peoplefrom outside of Saskatchewan,
I've kind of always been toldlike be grateful for your
funding systems and you have areally great funding structure
in Saskatchewan.
Speaker 3 (16:29):
So I was wondering maybe if you've had any
experience with that at all andkind of how that's been.
Yeah, I have.
I have benefited from a coupleof grants A small grant that
allowed me to go to Montreal foran exhibition that was taking
place a couple of summers ago Iguess, and the equipment
purchase grant as well.
I also I did.
(16:50):
I have lived in Saskatchewanbefore, but just for a year or
two, and I got a small grant atthat time too.
I have found it easier in someways, I think, compared to
Montreal and Quebec, it's quitecompetitive there and maybe
(17:11):
that's why I haven't been aslucky.
I still work with acollaborator in Montreal and
we're always applying for thingsand we never get them.
So that's frustrating.
But I had this notion that Iwould release it as a podcast,
(17:46):
but as soon as you say podcast,that's not really something that
they support, and I had a goodconversation with somebody at
Saskarts actually who explainedwhy that is, it's just sort of
seen as journalism okay, eventhough it's not necessarily.
I think there's just sort of umin terms of maybe documentary,
(18:06):
sound art type of field.
There's certain things thathaven't quite caught up to the
reality.
There are ways to make an audiodocumentary that that it's not
really journalism or it is, butit's also something else.
I think there could be morethere.
That's not specific toSaskatchewan, that's Canada
(18:27):
Council too, that's everybody.
It's just a medium that'sevolving.
Speaker 2 (18:33):
Yeah, I definitely think about some of my favorite
podcasts that I've listened toover the years, or series or
different things, and, um, yeah,there's an interesting
distinction and it's almost.
It's almost kind of around themethod of delivery rather than
the uh me like then, theclassification of what makes it
(18:56):
art necessarily.
Speaker 3 (18:58):
Yeah, these things are interesting.
Sometimes it's just in the wayyou word it too, yeah for sure.
Speaker 2 (19:06):
So you're kind of aside from your art, then that
might be a nice segue.
Your kind of work is also inthe audio field is also in the
audio field.
Speaker 3 (19:25):
Yeah, yeah, I have worked in community radio before
in my big city life.
But there's a point where I wasmoving around a lot and I was
looking for something that Icould do remotely and I thought,
oh, I really love sound editing.
I wonder if that's somethingthat I could do.
It turns out that, yeah, it issomething you can do and there's
quite a bit of demand for it.
There's always somebodystarting a podcast that needs
help making their audio soundgood.
(19:46):
So, yeah, I've been working asa sound editor, sound designer,
mixer, et cetera, mostly forpodcasts, for I don't know, six
years, something like that, yeah, yeah, it's nice to be able to
give you know, a good gig with agreat amount of flexibility.
(20:07):
Oh, yeah, it's been.
Yeah, I really appreciate theflexibility for sure.
Yeah, yeah, aside from, youknow the freelance life of, oh,
now I need to look for newcontracts again.
But yeah, I really appreciatethe freedom.
I appreciate working on justall different projects all the
(20:28):
time, and it's definitelyallowed me to perfect a lot of
technical skills that are superhelpful in the rest of my work
too.
Speaker 2 (20:36):
So how did you get involved with community?
Speaker 3 (20:38):
radio, the rest of my work too.
So how did you get involvedwith community radio?
I don't know.
I feel like this started when Iwas born, because my dad has
worked for CBC Radio or RadioCanada just my whole life and
just sort of part of I don'tknow my blood.
But basically as soon as Igraduated from school I started
(21:01):
volunteering at CKUT, communityRadio in Montreal, and then
that's mostly where I learnedediting, producing on-air
engineering.
Yeah, I just loved it and it'sa really great community of kind
(21:21):
of radical left-wing people andit's a teaching radio station
too, so I was able to exploreand learn all sorts of things in
a super supportive and lowpressure environment.
Um, so I was there for quite afew years and and they also had
(21:45):
a few sound art collectives tooand we would produce some
collective pieces, collages ofsounds that we had all
accumulated.
That was quite fun, yeah, andand then eventually also
eventually also got a job inanother community radio station
in Montreal after that.
Speaker 2 (22:06):
Okay, yeah, it's been interesting to see the journey
of the community radio stationhere in Regina.
That's the one I'm definitelymost familiar with.
I know there's also a reallyvibrant community radio station
in Saskatoon as well.
(22:27):
I just don't know it quite aswell because I'm not there.
But yeah, I've been involvedwith them a few times here and
there, mostly through screenprinting.
We've done a lot of shirts andstuff for their fundraisers and
stuff.
So I've always kind of managedto keep a connection to CJTR
here kind of one way or another.
(22:48):
And yeah, I always kind ofenjoy tuning in and hearing
what's going on.
And it was a bit of aprecarious time for them, I
think, throughout the pandemicand over the course of the last
little while.
And I know that they had apretty serious fundraising
initiative and luckily I talkedto a couple of the folks there
(23:13):
they kind of blew it out of thewater with their fundraising.
So they're back in business andsafe for the moment.
So yeah, shout out CJTR.
Speaker 3 (23:22):
Yay, yeah.
Yeah, I feel like the communityradios.
They're always in.
They're always a little bit ina precarious situation and just
struggling or just having tofight for it every year.
Yeah, that's tough.
We have a community radiostation in Gravelbury.
Actually it's mostlyFrancophone.
Yeah, I haven't yet gotteninvolved, but perhaps someday.
Speaker 2 (23:47):
Yeah, One thing at a time.
Yeah, I'm wondering, you know,what's been your kind of like I
don't know favorite thing is theright term, but like what's
been kind of like the best partabout moving to a smaller place
and what's been kind of like themost challenging thing as an
(24:08):
artist that it is cheaper tolive here, which means I have a
little bit more space to work onpersonal projects that may not
make me a ton of money.
Speaker 3 (24:28):
It also means that I can take the time that I need to
say, go on my long walks to myprairie river and find
inspiration there.
And there's definitelysomething about this landscape
also that I've always foundquite inspiring.
(24:50):
I'm not sure what it is.
Maybe it's just the feeling ofexpansiveness of the big skies
and the big prairie, justsomething that I can relate to.
Somehow.
It's been really nice to justlive in it and live that.
More challenging would be well,just not having as much access
(25:13):
to certain things.
It would be awesome if I couldgo to all of the exhibitions in
Regina and Saskatoon, but thereality is that I don't in
Regina and Saskatoon, but thereality is that I don't.
Our trips to the city arealways quick and errand-based,
(25:35):
so it's not.
Yeah, I don't often go, andalong with that comes limited
networking opportunities,limited community.
Like I said, I am lucky to havemy small group of artists that
do live here, but I do, yeah, Ido miss, I guess, the, the
(25:56):
vibrancy and the opportunitiesthat do exist in bigger cities.
Speaker 2 (26:02):
Yeah, for sure.
Yeah, that I think that'ssomething that kind of how the
kind of conversation and kernelof the idea of maybe trying to
figure out, like, what can we dowith the idea of having a rural
artist working group kind ofevolved from for sure, and you
know we'll put some links in theshow notes to some of the the
(26:27):
articles that have been writtenfor that and things, um and and
you know it's yeah very muchstill kind of in, uh, the
beginning stages.
(26:52):
And one of the things thatJessica and I have been talking
about is it seems reallyimportant that the groups you
know that say, if there's arural artist working group, that
it's localized kind of to acertain place, because the idea
is maybe not necessarily to haveto ask people to travel to a
different place or a hugedistance and then also to not
have to, like, drive to the city, you know, because that kind of
is the antithesis of what we'retrying to make happen.
And so with the SAA'sinvolvement, you know we kind of
(27:16):
just started in your neck ofthe woods, just because that's
kind of where the idea andinitiative kind of and
enthusiasm for the idea startedwith.
But we've been really thinkingabout and talking with our board
and you know some of ourstakeholders about.
You know what's a realistic wayto maybe grow this idea so that
(27:39):
we could reach people in moreareas of the province.
And if we are to do that, youknow how can we do it
sustainably so that we can kindof maintain something moving
forward.
I don't know like, do you haveany thoughts on?
You know how it might bepossible to support, you know,
(28:03):
artists working in rural areas?
Speaker 3 (28:06):
Yeah, during that meeting that we had, a lot of
things were brought up for sure,but some of it was about
accessibility to opportunitiesand to events and whatnot.
I did see something interestingthat was organized by I think
(28:32):
it was the Conseil CulturelFrancescois.
There was a Franco-Saskatchewanartist showing an exhibition.
Was it Regina?
You know, saint-pierre.
Speaker 2 (28:46):
Yeah, the last name.
Speaker 3 (28:47):
I think that's ringing a bell yeah, okay, yeah,
well, in any case, they decidedthat they wanted the
Franco-Saskatchewan community tosee this, and so they actually.
I think I think it happened theywere organizing a shuttle to
just bring a bunch of people tosee the exhibition and bring
them back, and that's definitelysomething I would have taken
(29:11):
them up on if I had beenavailable that day.
Sadly I couldn't.
But something like that, thatsort of thing where just
facilitating just getting thereand coming back and also getting
people together to see thesethings seemed quite helpful and
(29:32):
quite fun as well.
So I think for me that'susually the main challenge is
just deciding okay, how can Imake it, how can I go to Regina,
how can I go to Saskatoon?
And usually it's just I decidethat it's not worth it and then
I don't go for various reasonstime, money, whatever.
(29:53):
So that's the first thing thatcomes to mind really.
Another thing is just thatmeeting, just getting together
with a bunch of artists whodon't live near each other, was
really nice to just gather everyonce in a while and be like oh
(30:14):
hey, we're all here, even if wedon't see each other every day.
Yeah, it's really nice to keepthat connection.
Yeah For sure.
Speaker 2 (30:25):
Yeah, and I will say probably been a little bit more
radio silent on kind of the nextsteps than we were imagining.
But you know, jessica and Ihave been talking and planning
and you know she will bereaching out to folks here, I
think, quite shortly about youknow what, what can we do next
and, and you know what are, whatare the next steps for, kind of
(30:47):
for the you know following upon on our, on our first
conversations.
But, um, yeah, we've beentalking.
We've also been talking quite abit with, uh, uh, zoe Schneider
from the organization ofSaskatchewan Arts Councils.
Um, you know, it know she'srecently joined well, recently,
last fall I guess joined ourboard of directors and you know
(31:15):
it seemed like kind of a naturalconversation to be talking
about rural artists and ruralnetworks and connections with
OSAC, just because they alreadyhave a lot of that
infrastructure and communitybuilt into what they do for many
, many years now.
And so, yeah, that's been, Ithink, a real kind of fruitful
(31:36):
part of the conversation about,you know, maybe bringing more
people and resources into theconversation and also talking
with CARFAC Saskatchewan about,you know, their rural mentorship
program and kind of you knowhow can this is something that
intersects with many differentmediums and disciplines and just
(31:59):
geographically.
So maybe how can we, how canyou know, as organizations, how
can we work together to kind ofcome up with contributing to a
larger conversation?
So it's been interesting tostart thinking about what this
could look like.
Speaker 3 (32:35):
Interesting and there's also intangible things,
like I was talking to somebodywho just who had this notion
that, oh well, all the reallygood artists, they live in the
big cities, right in a world nowwhere a bunch of people are
working remotely, a lot ofpeople are choosing, maybe, a
different lifestyle and maybeand the city's not for everybody
, and so why?
Why can't there be amazingartists from here?
And there are, yeah, but whatis that and how can we change
(33:00):
that perception?
Speaker 2 (33:01):
I guess yeah, yeah that's definitely a really
important component of it.
I think, yeah, I think that'seven a bit of a question or an
issue I was kind of faced with,I think myself, when I was
(33:22):
thinking about because I'm bornand raised in Saskatchewan, I
grew up in Weyburn and, um, youknow, just ended up deciding to
come to do art school at theuniversity of Regina and I think
, as we kind of you know, mykind of group that I went
through school with and, as wekind of ended, ended our studies
and everything, we were a lotof folks we saw, definitely went
(33:43):
off and moved and did otherthings and, you know, maybe went
on to do master's programs andother in other areas.
Um, and you know, it was a bitof a, a bit of a conscious
decision, I think.
Uh, on my part and also some ofmy, my friends and colleagues,
you know that we said okay, youknow, I think I think we're
(34:03):
going to, I think we're going tostay um and and stay to kind of
work on our studio and and, andyou know, do a few things and,
you know, hindsight's, 2020.
And I don't think I'd changeanything for the anything for
the world, but I think there was, you know, even at that well,
especially at that time, I thinkyou know a question about oh,
you're going to stay in Regina.
Like, what are you going to doin Regina?
(34:24):
So yeah, I get that for sure.
Speaker 3 (34:28):
Yeah, yeah, saskatchewan is weird that way.
It's like people don't see itsvalue or something.
It's just not Well from anybodyoutside of Saskatchewan they
definitely ask that questionyeah, why?
Why would you go there?
(34:48):
Yeah, you just don't understand.
Speaker 2 (34:55):
Yeah, totally have.
You had many visitors.
Speaker 3 (34:58):
Gosh, not really.
Well, there was the pandemic sonobody was visiting us.
Let's see.
No, we did have three friends,three friends from out east,
from Montreal visit, which wasquite exciting.
Speaker 2 (35:11):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (35:11):
But yeah, we want everyone to come visit.
Speaker 2 (35:16):
Yeah, for sure, that's yeah.
That's also part of the problemI've.
You know, I had the amazingopportunity a couple weeks ago
to go to the Canadian ArtsSummit.
I got into a business arts likeemerging leaders program and
(35:36):
part of this was that you got togo to the BAM Center, which I'd
never been to, which was prettyamazing for this summit, and
that was.
We were having lots ofinteresting discussions, but one
of them, too, was talking abouthow, in Saskatchewan, like our
lights and travel are just.
(35:59):
That's also a challenging partabout kind of being in
Saskatchewan and access, yeah,like our, you know, I think you
know thinking about bringing in,you know visiting artists or
that sort of thing.
It's just, it's a whole nother.
It's a whole nother level whenyou're looking at flying into
just Regina and Saskatoon.
Speaker 3 (36:19):
Yeah, definitely yeah .
Speaker 2 (36:20):
It's been nice to get the chance to talk and yeah,
hope we'll.
And yeah, we'll stay in touch.
Yeah for sure.
Thank you.
Thanks, dominique.
Speaker 1 (36:31):
The next episode of Arts Everywhere is coming soon,
so keep checking theSaskatchewan Arts Alliance
website and their social mediapages for more information and
if you're listening to thepodcast through your favorite
podcasting app, don't forget tohit the subscribe button so you
don't miss a single episode.
The Arts Everywhere theme musicis composed by Saskatchewan
(36:53):
musician Patrick Moon Bird,dancing to lo-fi from his album
entitled 2021.
Check out the show notes forlinks to Patrick's music.
The Saskatchewan Arts Alliancewould like to thank our funders.
The Saskatchewan Arts Alliancewould like to thank our funders,
sask Culture and Sask Arts,both of whom benefit from
lottery ticket sales throughSask Lotteries.
Proceeds from Sask Lotteriesfund cultural organizations all
(37:16):
across the province, and wewouldn't be able to do the work
we do without your support.
See you next time.
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