Toronto artist Angela Walcott presents her second geolocation project with Digital Stories Canada and the grunt gallery’s digital storytelling workshops: The People’s Garden Project.
The People’s Garden is an Ontario Culture Days 2022 Creatives in Residence project which looks at relationships between farming, food, creativity and community, with the main focus being sustainability and food security. A series of eco-friendly art workshops at Farmer’s markets in the GTA introduced participants to elements of textile design (textile imprint design); image transfer and eco painting.
To enjoy The People’s Garden Project on-site with your cell phone, visit the Sonic Maps site to download the files first using wifi. This saves your data. Otherwise, listen to the podcast series below.
The People's Garden Project
At Homestead TO, Derek and Vinyse Barber teach others how to grow food without pesticides and herbicides. It’s an online and in-person program where you’ll learn about balcony and yard growing techniques, as well as seed starting, building garden beds, composting, seed saving, and how to prepare your garden for the winter. In this episode, we’ll learn more about how Derek Barber became so interested in gardening and what path he took to become a farmer.
In Episode 2 of The People’s Garden Project, Derek Barber talks about food security, sustainability, and investing in your soil.
In Episode 3 of The People’s Garden Project, Derek Barber of Homestead TO talks about the future farming program, which includes sustainable growing operations.
Welcome to Episode 4 of The People’s Garden Project. Meet Mark and Germaine. They talk about their experiences with backyard gardening, sharing the ups and downs as they grow along.
In this episode, meet Noel from the Toronto Black Farmers, talking about the importance of saving seeds to grow future crops.
Noel and Jackie from Toronto Black Farmers talk about their origins as urban farmers.
As part of Ontario Culture Days, Angela led a series of workshop at local Farmer’s Markets. Participants learned a method of image transfer onto textile and/or paper surfaces using organic material. The eco printing method promotes sustainable art practices with immediate results. Waste management is an issue as it relates to art. Through a series of workshops, she demonstrated how mindful art can be a stepping stone to waste reduction.
Angela Walcott
Angela Walcott is a Toronto-based multi-disciplinary artist and arts educator who has a broad interest in sustainability, African-Canadian settlement/immigration patterns and community-building. She works with a variety of materials including media mixed media collage, clay, textiles, embroidery, watercolour and natural dyes. She has served as a jury member for the Workman Arts Mentor Selection Committee as well as a Visual Arts Youth Mentor for Project Humanity (PH 1:1) in partnership with Covenant House. She has provided workshops in partnership with Ontario Culture Days; Toronto Public Library; Workman Arts/North York Arts satellite program and Toronto Metropolitan University. She aims to find creative solutions and share her insights about waste management as it relates to the art industry.
Her work has appeared at YYZ Outlet, Project Gallery, Propeller Gallery, ‘The Gathering Divergence’ ( virtual exhibit); the AGO’s Portraits of Resilience; Ontario Legislative Assembly; Toronto Public Library (Stitching Diaries); A Walk In My Shoes Exhibition and Being Scene 2022.
Angela is a 2022 Creative in Residence with Ontario Culture Days.
Credits for Toronto Workshops
Workshop Co-ordinator: Angela Walcott
Funders: Canada Council for the Arts, Ontario Culture Days, Federal Economic Development Agency Agency of Northern Ontario, Ontario Arts Council and Toronto Arts Council.
Thanks to Noel Livingston and Jacqueline Dwyer of Toronto Black Farmers and Food Growers Collective; Derek Barber of HomesteadTO; Germaine and Mark
Credits for Geolocation Audio
Photos & Drawings: Angela Walcott
Geo Mapping and Web Design: Lorna Boschman for Digital Stories Canada
Created during grunt gallery’s 2022 Mount Pleasant Community Art Screen Digital Storytelling workshops. grunt gallery was founded in 1984 in Vancouver, BC with the vision to become an internationally renowned artist-run centre and further the practice of contemporary art. Through the exploration of our diverse Canadian cultural identity, we are able to offer public programming in the form of exhibitions, performances, artist talks, publications, and other special projects in the community. Our mandate is to inspire public dialogue by creating an environment conducive to the emergence of innovative, collaborative, and provocative contemporary art.
We gratefully acknowledge that we live and work on the unceded, traditional territories of the Coast Salish peoples sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), sel̓íl̓witulh (Tsleil-Waututh), and xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) nations.
