Harbour Collective’s Wascana Lab was held in Regina, SK, July 12-16.

  • Lab 1: Visual Art Lab – 4 participants 
  • Lab 2: Experimental Film Lab – 4 participants

The Visual Art Lab led by artists Jason Baerg and Paulete Poitras, served as a process based on-the-land artistic examination of concepts surrounding the manmade Wascana Lake. The Visual Art Lab run in partnership with sâkêwêwak.

The Experimental Film Lab led by filmmakers Cecilia Araneda and Penny McCann, functioned as an experimental film eco lab, focusing on the basics of 16 mm filmmaking combined with emerging eco approaches. The Experimental Film Lab run in partnership with Sask FilmPool.

COVID protocols in effect.

Participants received:

  • All needed supplies
  • Lunch daily
  • $1,000 participation honorarium following completion

Inquiries can be directed to program manager Liz Barron at harbourcollective@gmail.com

ABOUT THE INSTRUCTORS

Jason Baerg is a registered member of the Métis Nation of Ontario and serves his community as an Indigenous activist, curator, designer, educator, and visual artist. He graduated from Concordia University with a Bachelor of Fine Arts, a Master of Fine Arts from Rutgers University and is enrolled in the Ph.D. program at Monash University. Baerg teaches as the Assistant Professor in Indigenous Practices in Contemporary Painting and Media Art at OCAD University. Exemplifying his commitment to community, he co-founded The Shushkitew Collective and The Métis Artist Collective. Baerg has served as volunteer Chair for such organizations as the Indigenous Curatorial Collective and the National Indigenous Media Arts Coalition. As a visual artist, he pushes new digital interventions in drawing, painting, and new media installation. Select international solo exhibitions and fashion presentations include: Indigenous Fashion Week Toronto, Canada; the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology in Australia; and the Digital Dome at the Institute of the American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA.

Paulete Poitras is a Dakota/Cree, 2Spirit from Muscowpetung First Nation. She was raised with culturally enriched values. Thirty-six years of age living a sober and healthy lifestyle with her wife Cheryl Prosper. In her spare time she has found the pure joy in connecting with people through her gift of beading and sewing. She gives credit to the Grandmothers before her.
“I was never taught any of these things growing up. Instead one day I wanted to dance pow-wow again. Instead of paying someone to make my regalia I decided I would do it myself. It’s something I started without physical guidance but with spiritual guidance. I grew up with prayer and ceremony. So it was natural for me to start with prayer. As my talent started to grow I’ve learned that I should never pick up that beading needle until I had positive energy. It shows up in my beading thread, it tangles and I can tell it’s my energy that causes the thread to knot…”

Cecilia Araneda was born in Chile and came to Canada as a child as a refugee. She grew up in northern Manitoba in the towns of Leaf Rapids and The Pas, and currently lives in Winnipeg. She holds a BFA (hons) from York University and an MFA from UBC, and is a three-time alumna of the fabled Film Farm. Araneda is one of Manitoba’s most accomplished experimental filmmakers, with works selected for film festivals, artist run centres and art museums around the world, and recognized with various awards and distinctions nationally and internationally. Among the festivals that have presented her work include Visions du Réel, Ann Arbor, Images, RIDM and Festival du Nouveau Cinéma. She has been awarded art residencies by LIFT: The Liaison of Independent Filmmakers of Toronto as the inaugural recipient of the Roberto Ariganello Prize (2017) and by Q21 in Vienna’s MuseumsQuartier (2019), and has also been the recipient of several national and international prizes for her films. She is currently in post production with two feature length film projects.

Penny McCann Ottawa based media artist Penny McCann’s body of work spans three decades and encompasses both narrative and experimental films and video. In 2008 and 2010, McCann participated in the Independent Imaging Retreat, aka the Film Farm, in Mount Forest, Ontario, led by Philip Hoffman. Through these periods of study and experimentation, she has expanded her filmic vocabulary to include deeply resonant hand-processed imagery. McCann’s work has been exhibited at festivals and galleries nationally and internationally, including Centre national d’art contemporain (Grenoble, France), Ann Arbor Festival (Ann Arbor, Michigan), the Hamburg International Short Film Festival (Hamburg, Germany), the Festival International du film sur l’art (Montréal, Quebec), as well as the Ottawa Art Gallery and the Canadian Film Institute (Ottawa).