“It was a different world altogether”: A social history of BEING Studio

“It was a different world altogether:” 

A social history of BEING Studio

 

[music fades in]

 

Narrator: Hello and welcome! “It was a different world altogether” is an audio documentary exploring BEING Studio's archive and what it means to those who are closest to it. BEING Studio is an art studio dedicated to giving artists with developmental disabilities a space for “being sincere, being purposeful, being daring, being spontaneous, being present.” It is located in Ottawa, Ontario territory of the Anishinaabe Algonquin Nation.

 

BEING Studio houses a vast archive full of artwork, journals, drawings, photographs, paint chips, and studio ephemera that has been collected throughout its more than 20 year history. Today, you will hear from five BEING Studio artists as they encounter the archive together. Jess Huggett, Christine Maveety, André Lanthier, Analisa Kiskis and Anna Coulombe alongside her close colleague, sister and former Board member, Raïssa Coulombe. Many of these artists have been working at BEING Studio for over 20 years.

 

You will also hear from Eliza Chandler, a researcher from the School of Disability Studies at Toronto Metropolitan University as she explores the archive as a friend of BEING Studio and some former staff and Board members including Rachel Gray, Lin Rowsell, Stephanie Nadeau and Michael Orsini.

 

The recordings are taken from various workshops and interviews and you will notice these shifts in sound environments. The stories told in this audio documentary reflect the perspectives, opinions and memories of the storytellers and together, offer a social history of BEING Studio.

 

Please note that this audio documentary includes mentions of institutionalization and ableism. Thank you for listening.

 

[music fades out and new music fades in]

 

[a voice fades in]

 

“It felt so deeply charged and alive.

 

I felt like so much had happened inside this one room and you could see the traces of that in the images but that, most of the time those images just lived in the dark, you know, with no one to see them. 

 

It looked like an old science classroom and if you went to the back of the room you could open up the cabinet and then there's like stacks and stacks and stacks of paper in there.

 

I remember pulling out the stacks of paper and I was just floored. I was floored by the

amount of images, the diversity of expression and visual tools that people were using. It was just like ways of drawing human figures for instance, that I had never seen before and you'd have one image 

 

[music fades out] 

 

and you’d go under and it's just like a completely different way of that.”

 

[music fades in]

 

Eliza Chandler: I'm going to ask you some questions about your experience at H’Art – 

 

Jess Huggett: I have all the answers you need.

 

Narrator: Jess Huggett, BEING Studio artist

 

Jess Huggett: Hello, my name is Jess or Jessie and I am an artist with a disability. Back when it was H’Art of Ottawa I used to do abstract and my paintings were “A Perspective of Love and Emotions,” “Wet Kiss” and my preferred pronouns are she / her. I used to paint with wild colours.

 

Eliza: Did you identify as an artist before coming to H’Art of Ottawa?

 

Jess: Yeah! Being an artist means to me that we have the connection to the viewers from the art community and the business world. H’Art of Ottawa is an art space where other people come with different abilities and they do visual art and creative writing.

 

Narrator: Christine Maveety, BEING Studio artist for over 20 years

 

Christine Maveety: My name is Christine Maveety, I live in Barrhaven

 

Eliza: When did you start?

 

Chris: I think I was in my thirties – I think, yeah 30 years. When this program started I was like, “I wonder what the studio’s like.” It was like a different world to me – it was a different world because I always wanted to be an artist.

 

We had different other staff members coming in mostly, it was like different ideas that we had with all the staff members that come and go. It was like a different world to me.

 

Narrator: André Lanthier, BEING Studio artist

 

André Lanthier: I started in 2004, and I started to take about a couple of years before I started to it all in my head. I knew nothing, nothing at all before I started coming here and I’ve done lots of stuff to get better and better and better. I started to learn how to make the colours, how to make the colors and started blending and so on. I started doing landscape. I’ve got so much to learn because you have to be – me -- I have to be exactly, if it's not quite not realistic, I’m gonna start over.

 

First one I do – “Mountian Age” I got a picture... the first one it was a painting of – not a mountain, it’s called “Ices Age”

 

Narrator: Analisa Kiskis, BEING Studio artist for the past 20 years

 

Analisa Kiskis: My name is Analisa Kiskis. When I first moved to Ottawa in 2003 - 2004 I started at H’Art of Ottawa.

 

I love being part of the community, art community, and I’ve learned so much back then until now. And I’m so pleased that I have the opportunity to learn more, grow more, learn about myself as a professional artist and getting paid and being part of the art community. I like it and I love it. I still want to continue going to BEING Studio. My art is my life. 

 

I just let it out in my canvas from my mind, my heart, my spirituality, comes out of my hands into my canvas or my sketchbook. I see myself identify – or my identity – I might say that it’s me doing the work, it’s me that I find my inner child and she wants to get out and she wants to explore new worlds and new challenges, the artist journey and what she wants in life past then until the future.

 

Narrator: Anna Coulombe, BEING Studio artist with her close colleague and sister, Raïssa Coulombe

 

Raïssa Coulombe: It was near the beginning so it's been – it's been 20 years. Some people are still there, been there almost the whole time with you.

 

Eliza: Anna, do you remember, did you like H’Art of Ottawa when you first started attending?

 

Anna Coulombe: Yes

 

Eliza: Did you feel included or welcomed at BEING Studio?

 

Anna: It’s good

 

Raïssa: It’s all good? You really remember Lin

 

Anna: I know Lin

 

Raïssa: The former Executive Director was very warm and Anna had a really good bond with her. She was very instrumental in envisioning the place and bringing people together. Like, her energy kind of brought you in, is that right?

 

Anna: Yes

 

Raïssa: Is there anything else?

 

Anna: No, that’s good. It’s good.

 

Raïssa: Anna used to attend two days a week and now attends one day a week. There were a few logistical reasons why we went from two of one, but, one of them being economic. The economic barrier of just fees and support for two days rather than one.

 

I just think it's really neat to see how your art practice at home and everywhere else has just expanded to fill any space. That's still a really important part of your life on Thursdays…

 

Anna: Yeah

 

Raïssa: you're also doing art in every other part of your life and at home and elsewhere, so…

 

Eliza: What does being an artist mean to you?

 

Anna: My life

 

Eliza: Your life. That's beautiful. Thank you.

 

Narrator: Former arts facilitator and Executive and Artistic Director of BEING Studio from 2021 to 2022, Rachel Gray

 

Rachel Gray: It's a very tight knit community. People would bring their friends, they would hear about it through friends like, maybe parents of artists would talk about the program and connect other parents to it. So I think through a variety of ways. I think even to this day, that kind of social connection and people bringing one another in who know each other from other places is still a big driver of how people end up connecting with the space.

 

[music fades] 

 

[sounds of people talking and shuffling through papers]

 

Narrator: Today, a few artists and some of their family members have gathered at the Bronson Center to look through boxes and folders pulled from the archive by Rachel. We are in the basement in what was once a working chapel. The artists sit around a large table scattered with coffee cups and water bottles, alongside varying size stacks of archival materials: drawings, journals, photographs, pamphlets, news clippings and posters.

 

[archival workshop]

 

Participant: – Chrissy drew two or three pictures of you!

 

[laughter]

 

Participant: Superhero!

 

Raïssa: It’s just really going down the rabbit hole.

 

Narrator: The artists sit shoulder to shoulder, a group of three pass photographs between themselves another group of three flip through an artist's journal. There's a newspaper clipping with the headline, “The art studio with a H’Art of gold.” A slide photograph is pulled out of a small box, an open box is packed tightly with worksheets and news clippings, with “archives, memorabilia” scrawled across it’s side with black permanent marker.

 

Analisa: Oh my gosh, that's my roommate!

 

Rachel: That's Alexa?

 

Analisa: Yeah

 

Rachel: Oh, I love her blonde hair! And there's... 

 

Analisa: Jessie…

 

Chris: Oh, this brings a lot of memories

 

Narrator: Analisa looks at the camera while clutching a journal close to her chest

 

Analisa: I'm so obsessed with writing. In these journals it’s like right back. It really touches my heart. It really, like, sparks joy. Using my imagination, my heart, emotional, physical things that I can put out into my work and sell it. It's almost like back in my memory back in my memory, right? When I first started writing again.

 

[archival sounds fade out]

 

[music fades in]

 

Eliza: What do you think about other people looking at your journals in the archive? Is that okay?

 

Analisa: Yes [pause] I think so [pause]

 

[interviews] 

 

Rachel: Often people would be responding to the same prompts, so you'd have within a stack of paper, like a section where you could see so many different people's take on the same idea, the same subject, the same thought. There was also, like, really deeply personal drawings there too figures that were like crying, images about loss and I felt maybe a bit invasive looking at those images. And also I didn't – it was a combination of images from people that I knew and people I had no connection with. So I was very moved by that. My response to that was really wanting people to be able to see that work or for that work to be displayed in some way or to be connected with life or with the city – it felt like an important piece of creative history.

 

Narrator: Michael Orsini, Board member at BEING Studio from 2017 to 2020

 

Michael Orsini: Every time I sort of visit BEING I'm always amazed at the the sheer volume of work. For me, the part that I really sort of enjoy is seeing stacks and stacks of works on paper, that sort of just pile to the heavens you know, kind of thing. I think the experience that I appreciate most is engaging with the artists showing you their work. I mean, nothing, nothing really kind of reaches that level of intimacy, right, that you can have when someone says, “come, come, let me show you my work”

 

Narrator: Eliza Chandler, disability arts curator and researcher

 

Eliza Chandler: My interest in the archives really began when I was being interviewed for Speak, which is BEING Studio’s podcast, about the future of the organization. This was part of some discussions they were having with others in the disability arts movement around the development of their strategic plan. I think it was Analisa, who was part of this interview, who started talking about BEING’s archive and I hadn’t heard about the archive before but I was just immediately fascinated. She was describing boxes and boxes of artwork, journals, photographs, ephemera, about the development of BEING Studio over the past 20 or so years. And I thought, okay, here's a resource that must document something really important about our understanding of disability arts.So in relation to the conversation about the future of BEING Studio that we were having, I wondered, what kind of stories must be told by that archive? What does the archive tell about the contribution of BEING Studio to the development of so many disabled artists’ artistic practice? as well as the development of disability arts in Canada? and, I wondered if exploring the archive might answer some of these questions.

 

I was also really interested in this archive because so often disabled people are written out of archives and thus written out of the story of human development even social histories of human development. But when I started to learn more about what the BEING archive contained I realized this wasn’t the case here. This was an archive created to house the artistic contributions of disabled people as well as their histories and their stories. 

 

As a researcher and as someone who's been involved in disability arts for about ten years in one role or another I've always been interested in uncovering histories of the sector as a way of building a future of disability arts that’s more expansive. I think there’s a contemporary idea of what disability arts is or what it has been as well as who is a disability artist or who could be a disability artist and these ideas don't necessarily capture everyone's experiences. I think there are hidden histories of disability arts which don't emerge as readily, and so, I was interested in BEING’s archive because I thought it might tell us something important about how the studio has continued to be progressive, responsive to public perceptions of disability and reflexive of changes in disability rights and justice over the last 20 years.

 

[archival workshop sounds and voices emerge]

 

Analisa: I did this artwork! I can’t believe I did that

 

Rachel: Yeah, so we've got newspapers in here, it has an article – and then what’s in here...

 

André: Before I started, I was knew nothing about the painting. I started 2000...2004 at the studio. I was not quite good the first time. Lin was showing me how to make a big picture, how to make a large figure and a small picture, a big shape and I learn I think about three weeks before I started the tree and it actually looked like a nice tree. And Lin was showing me how to blend my color. Carmel show me how to make the clouds.

 

This was the first time I was do this (gesturing to a drawing in the archive) and this was a cloud with pine trees. And I tried to make this so, so beautiful.

 

[archival sounds fade out]

 

[music fades in]

 

Narrator: Anna and Raïssa Coulombe with Michael Orsini in the archive

 

Raïssa: So, artists were invited to bring home – it was like, please bring home – a lot of stuff because there wasn’t enough room to store it all so at that point, you brought home a lot of work...

 

Anna: Yeah, art, yeah

 

Raïssa: Yeah, drawings, a lot of drawing and some paintings…

 

Anna: Yeah, yeah, yeah

 

Raïssa: …so, I feel like the personal archive is a bit scattered. You still have a lot here...

 

Michael: I see some, I saw, yeah

 

Anna: yep

 

Raïssa: I kind of feel a little bit sad that not everything is in one place.

 

Narrator: Anna, Raïssa and Michael pore over Anna's journals from the archive

 

Michael: This is 2010. Oh my God.

 

Anna: Yeah.

 

Michael: So that's 13 years ago.

 

Anna: Yeah.

 

Michael: Are there more? Oh, oh my God, there's a lot of writing. 

 

Anna: Yep.

 

Michael: “I celebrate secrets” “I create happy animals” “spring flowers, music”

 

Anna: yeah

 

Michael: “collage”

 

Anna: yeah

 

Michael: “posters, books, fabric” “mandalas” – oh yeah, you did those I remember.

 

Anna: yeah

 

Michael: Do you still paint animals?

 

Anna: Yes, my cat

 

Raïssa: Mostly your cat

 

[interviews]

 

Narrator: Executive Director of H’Art of Ottawa and then BEING Studio from 2004 to 2018, Lin Rowsell

 

Lin Rowsell: When I was hired, there was only one part time facilitator. There wasn't much to the program. When I was brought on board the studio had been closed for a while, so when I was hired I had to really create and build a program.

 

Narrator: When Lin started at H’Art of Ottawa she came into a program whose mandate was written as, “the purpose of the corporation is to design and deliver programs to train and educate developmentally handicapped youth and adults.” Lin chose to take up the mandate of training disabled people with a focus on training and supporting the development of exhibiting artists.

 

Lin: The drawings, you know – the artists would draw and draw and accumulate and then they'd be stored on the shelves and when they got unruly, I would, the staff would, the artists would we’d go through them and the artists would file them in the cupboards with their other drawings. But the rest of us as well as the artists we’d pull, you know, the odd really wonderful drawing that was really completed and really sort of exemplified that artist’s, you know, approach and I would tuck those away in a cupboard that, you know – for – there was such potential! These might be framed someday, they might be sold, they might be in a show, they might be published, they can be used for many different things. So it was important to just hold on to them.

 

The journals, it was the same thing. They would fill their journals and they'd go in their stack in the cupboards. The artists would file them. If the artists, for example, if there was a piece that they loved, a piece of their writing the artists learned computer skills early on and they set up their own writing files so if there was a piece that they loved, they could add it to their file. They could type it up and if they couldn't then a volunteer would do it for them and verbatim, you know, there was no changing anything. So the notebooks, the journals were filed away but then these computer files were also archives.

 

They're all archives really.

 

Rachel: I just remember being really blown away by the journals and by the images of all the different ways of approaching writing and sometimes the layers of writing where you would have one person write and then underneath you have someone else write. And I found the images really beautiful. You can see different prompts running through the archive. You can see people's styles change in the life drawing.

 

I think some of the painful piece sometimes of looking at archives is that it's there, but you can't always understand it, you know? You're barred in a way from the, sort of, actual energy or like distinct qualities of a time. It's part of this, like, something is really close like there's this drawing there that a person made and there's so much of them that's there but also, they are absolutely gone. They're not there. And like, just living in that in-between space is a really strange experience. And it feels like there's some kind of responsibility around archives but I don't totally know what that responsibility is. I don't know what the best way of honoring that is.

 

[archival workshop]

 

[archival workshop sounds]]

 

Rachel: Oh, what’s this?

 

Participant: Look who it is!

 

André: Oh, yeah, it’s me!

 

[laughter]

 

Analisa: I’d like to focus on the archive a lot more and see what else we can find that might jog my memory in here and see if I can develop a new art piece down the road

 

[archival sounds]

 

Rachel: That’s Marika’s work, she still is drawing so much kings and queens or princesses and princes, I think actually, is what they are. I don't know for sure

that's her work...

 

Chris: This one here is “The Lady in the Garden” she represents the elements of life. That's part of the heritage.

 

Chris’ family member: I really enjoyed that, Chris. A walk down memory lane, hey, Chris?

 

Chris: Want to see a picture of my dog, Harry? It was like a dream come true. He died in 2018. Yeah.

 

Lisa: And there were drawings of him in there?

 

Chris’ family member: Oh yeah...lots of drawings of Harry.

 

Rachel: ...looks like they won the Trillium Funding

 

Eliza: And I heard you say you're still on Trillium Funding?

 

Rachel: Yes. Yeah. We still -- I mean, the Trillium is what allowed us to renovate the studio space.

 

I like these outside pictures. It looks like people were going out and doing things together. So that looks like that is Carmel there, Doug, Elaine...

 

Raïssa: Oh, this is our now 20 year old nephew…yes, yes, we have, we have another sister – there's a third sister – so that's her son who just came back from Costa Rica. We just got to hug him the other week, yeah. It was just in this amazing pile of things. My last dog, and we were just talking about him the other day, your horse from your therapeutic riding program…

 

Anna: Yeah.

 

Raïssa: is mentioned and we just did a clay sculpture...

 

Anna: Mm-hmm, like art

 

Raïssa: of this horse last week and brought it home,

 

Anna: Yep

 

Raïssa: talking about construction outside and you just spent the day listening to construction outside. It's just amazing. Time is doing weird things right now. This is just half of one notebook.

 

[archival sounds fade out]

 

[interviews]

 

Rachel: I have a learning disability and grew up with experiences around that that were very defining. I wasn't really talking about my own disability at the studio when I was there. I had been through, you know, university where I would have to sort of tell people about my disability all the time and explain it to them so that way I could get accommodations and sometimes they don't believe me, you know? And it's just, like, painful. And then I went to art school and because I wasn't doing written exams for the most part, I was just making work, all these problems that I had kind of disappeared and I didn't have to have those conversations. And then I went from there to BEING and I just wasn't even sure how I connected with that identity anymore.

 

I first heard about the organization through my friend Jess who was an artist at the organization and I think I might have been in high school at that time and so I would go over to her house and I would see paintings that she had created there. There's some artists there that I know from elementary school because we were put in the same classes, like, the same disability classes, and I remember them saying like, “you are like me but also like, different” you know, “like you kind of get it and also you are different – and also you don't” but like – I ended up talking and thinking about it because it ended up being a framework to try to understand my own identity within the space as well.

 

I’ve definitely spoken with the artists around their hopes for the archive which I think are often connected to their hopes around the studio and their own work. Almost every person I talk to wants their work seen you know, wants their work recognized and I think the archive is an extension of that.

 

Michael Orsini: It would probably have been four to five years ago when I was approached by someone at BEING – it wasn’t called BEING at the time it was still H’Art of Ottawa – asking if I would like to be involved in some capacity as a Board member and I had known a little bit about the organization and the community. It was at a really kind of critical fork in the road type of time for the organization. The organization was shifting from being kind of more of a charitable organization led by parents of some of the artists to one where the artists would be more prominent or upfront and I knew that that was welcomed by some people – but were some real concerns about that among others. But it wasn't like this blew up in a meeting or anything in that kind of dramatic way, it was kind of it felt like there was a changing of the guards underway and not everybody was down with that, that shift.

 

Narrator: Around this time, H’Art of Ottawa was participating in a rebranding through which they would become BEING Studio. This rebranding would effectively align the organization closer to the growing disability arts scene and place further attention on the development of professional artists. Through our interviews, we learned that some studio members who came to H’Art of Ottawa primarily to be with friends and community and who participated in the artistic programing out of a love for art rather than a desire to become professional artists worried about how a shift in mandate would affect their daily experiences at the place many had come to call home.

 

Lin: The curriculum – I mean, people kind of go “oh the word curriculum” but you know, it was a word that was absolutely necessary for all those fundraising submissions. It became the springboard, really, for all the creative endeavors in the studio. Some examples, it could be alliteration we used a lot of creative writing type subjects, art technique subjects, elements of design, different types of music, plein air, dance, write your artist bio or your artist statement everything was relevant and meaningful to the artists. They would share their stories or their ideas, their thoughts and one thing that was really, really key and so powerful is that we gave the artists the space to talk.

 

Rachel: When I first arrived there the organization wasn't getting funding through Canada Council with the change of leadership under Stephanie Nadeau the studio began connecting with those resources and those resources were available because of the disability arts movement in the funding structure. They definitely did exhibitions before that and they did collaborations with other artists before that but I think the model was much more around volunteering which I think has its own strengths to it as well, you know? But this would be, you could do those projects but you could pay artists that were coming to the studio, you could pay the artists who were involved at the studio in creating the work, that concept of like artist fees and things like that I don't believe that was part of the structure or conversation before that.

 

Narrator: Stephanie Nadeau, former Executive Director of BEING Studio from 2019 to 2021

 

Stephanie Nadeau: Was there a moment where BEING became a disability art studio? I would say it took a minute because the Canada Council they struggled to fit us because we weren't disability led yet. I applied for all these grants and we got them and then suddenly the Canada Council was like calling us in for a meeting and telling us how we could change the structure of the organization although, the disability leadership was the one barrier that we hadn't quite gotten to yet, but then they had suggested that artists could apply as a collective. They were super helpful.

 

Narrator: At the time of the rebrand there was one artist on the board, Richard Bolduc. Since then, BEING has established innovative roles in order to more formally incorporate artists as leaders in the studio.

 

Analisa Kiskis: I think disability arts means to me it doesn't matter what kind of disability you are just believe in yourself that you can do the artwork and try to make work in progress. To me, I don’t define disability, disability is who you are, what you are. Disability means you have a disability but I don't see myself as a person with down syndrome or being a special need – for me it does not matter what kind of disability I am I just go on with life.

 

At BEING studio it's like lifted off – my weight off, making me feel being part of a community. I feel safe, I feel cared for, people care about me, I care about them. I care about their art. They care about my art. So we both, like, have a beautiful communication. I don't feel left out in that aspect of being an artist.

 

Anna and Raïssa Coulombe

 

Raïssa: (speaking to Anna) Do you see yourself as a disability artist?

 

Anna: Yeah. Yeah. Myself, yes.

 

Raïssa: Yeah

 

Anna: Yeah

 

Raïssa: And you’re proud of that?

 

Anna: I’m proud, yes

 

Raïssa: You should be. Not every part of the community feels open minded. Do you feel included?

 

Anna: Yes, 

 

Raïssa: More so now?

 

Anna: Yes

 

Raïssa: That's what I see more but I mean, I'm not you so I don’t know, I'm not the one making art.

 

Anna: No, me.

 

[interviews]

 

Jess Huggett: Disability arts means to me that we have a mutual connection between the audience and our art.

 

Eliza: Do you identify as a disability artist?

 

Jess: Yeah I do, but I also I don't really like the term “disability artist” I prefer to have “different ability” visual artist because it’s more inclusive.

 

Christine Maveety: Disability arts means to me is disability artists can do anything. I have that disability I’ve had that since I was born. H’Art of Ottawa’s part of my world it was part of a different world together. And now BEING Studio’s part of my world now. There’s all kinds of things that we did.

 

André Lanthier: This helped me take off my thought and my mental illness – take off my thought and do something because it's very important to me, the paintings. This helped my thought and this helped me out to get my brain working, my brain because this is all in my head.

 

[change in music, upbeat]

 

Narrator: Between 2003 and 2015, before H’Art of Ottawa became BEING Studio the artists participated in exhibitions and community events throughout Ottawa. Within the archive, there are newspaper clippings, fliers, and ephemera which detail some of these events. 30 pieces were sold at an early open house in 2003. In 2007, the studio had its first private gallery show. In 2009, the artists created a mural for a local community center and in 2008, they had an art show at Gloucester Gallery. From galleries such as SAW and the National Art Centre to local restaurants and coffee shops, such as The Green Door and the Ottawa Bagel Shop and Deli, the artists exhibited their work. From 2014 to 2015 H’Art of Ottawa artists participated in Open Spaces at the Ottawa Art Gallery. The show was curated by future Executive Director, Stephanie Nadeau. Open Spaces featured work by the artists responding to their choice of artwork from the Firestone Collection of Canadian Art, showcasing an alternative perspective on the work of famed Canadian artists.

 

[new music fades out]

 

[interviews]

 

Analisa: Let’s just say, I love to work so hard I want to make more money and sell my artwork, of course I like to work -- the opportunity is out there. I really want to be me I want to live in an apartment somewhere in New York or Toronto. So this is my big chance to really develop my artwork and sell the work.

 

Anna and Raïssa

 

Anna: My artwork and my money.

 

Narrator: Raïssa asks Anna if she would like more chances to show work

 

Raïssa: More chances for shows?

 

Anna: Yeah, yeah

 

Jess Huggett: Some exhibitions that I've been in: the Bagel Shop, the Green Door and the church. I really enjoy people coming and mingling and talking to me about the art. And, also, I’ve sold my paintings.

 

Eliza: Is it important to you to be able to sell your artwork?

 

Jess: Yeah, it’s so important.

 

[interviews]

 

Michael Orsini: How do artists’ sort of own inspiration sort of shift and change, you know, over time? I don't know the answer I just think it's – when you look at BEING artists you can almost say there is a particular kind of aesthetic, maybe not one, but maybe what happens is artists sort of are influenced by the work of their colleagues, you know? 

 

Rachel Gray: So you can definitely see a kind of aesthetic in the colors that are there because it's the same colors that are available to everyone and also, I think in the ways that the images look, you see the sort of individual style of artists but you see similar processes coming up. I can say that I feel like the voices in the archive are really, like distinct. They are – they seem valuable to me in the fact that they exist and exist loudly and distinctly and are themselves and I want that recognized. When I see the work and engage with it it just feels important for its own sake.

 

[archival workshop]

 

fin: (speaking to André) Do you think that everyone at BEING has the same style --

 

André: No no no no no no no. I talk about the the national life of nature some people do some different style. I do something more realistic. Each person got different style.

 

Narrator: The following are visual descriptions of artwork. They have been created by the studio artists featured in this doc.

 

[music shifts for each artwork echoing their visual style]

 

“Perspective on Wild Emotions #4” acrylic on canvas by Jess Huggett

 

Oblong shapes shuffle and bump against one another on a crowded but soft canvas. They are given boundaries through outlines in pink and orange. An ecosystem of dots and lines lives within each shape, different in their expression and color.

 

“Hollywood City Walk” acrylic on canvas by Analisa Kiskis

 

We are in Hollywood. The city at night is buzzing with color and light from highrise apartments, a billboard and a full moon which glows overhead. Indigo, maroon and golden hues create a feeling of late night energy. Standing on the Hollywood Walk of Fame a figure smiles at a camera or microphone on a tripod. They are amongst the stars.

 

“The Garden of the Summer Bird” acrylic on canvas by André Lanthier

 

Dappled golden light falls over purple wild lupins and wild flowers in a meadow lush with green. A bluebird perches on a rock watching their surroundings. It is a quiet moment.

 

“Still Life” acrylic on canvas by Chris Maveety

 

A kaleidoscopic scene of colors swirl around an owl, a gorilla and a Christmas tree. Swirls of color on the rug under the tree and in the owl's eyes give an air of excitement and festivities. Bright orange, yellows and pinks move through the whole scene and connect the various objects.

 

“Misha” acrylic on canvas by Anna Coulombe

 

A striped and fluffy brown cat happily sits on a multicolored rug. They are surrounded by pansies of various colors that stretch out on large stems. The cat looks up at us with a

big grin and gleaming green eyes.

 

“Eat at Your Own Risk” acrylic on canvas by Mike Hinchcliff

 

A stack of green crocodiles rises up into the sky, each facing a different direction. Their tails curl and their big teeth clap around stripes of bright pink and aqua blue. It is a playful arrangement with a beachy vibe. Are the crocodiles trying to tell us something?

 

[music fades back]

 

[archival workshop]

 

Narrator: Mike Hinchcliff, BEING Studio artist with studio facilitator, fin

 

fin: Mike, can I describe your outfit right now?

 

Mike: Yeah.

 

fin: So, Mike is wearing a sweater with his own design on it. There is the “Lightning Cat” on his sweater and then he hand-painted a hat and there are puffins on the hat in blue and orange and green, white and black.

 

Mike: Yeah.

 

fin: Do you know how many puffins are on the hat?

 

Mike: A lot

 

[laughter]

 

fin: There's a lot! There’s more than five.

 

Mike: The baby blue penguins in New Zealand I get to hold one. And I love it.

 

Chris Mavetty: I know Mike Hinchcliff a long long time. He’s a good artist. He did his hat and he made the puffins on his hoodie but he was a hard worker and he's doing a good job.

 

Anna Coulombe: My artwork is my life. I love. word art.

 

André Lanthier: You take your time and you do the best

 

Anna: Yes

 

André: ...and show people.

 

Anna: Yeah

 

André: I saw each person different style, different different style.

 

Chris: Your painting is so inspiring.

 

Anna: Thank you.

 

Chris: And the colours are so beautiful, Anna. Keep up the good work. 

 

Anna: Thank you.

 

[archive sounds fade out]

 

[interviews]

 

Lin Rowsell: When I first started, I was in this big empty room, right? I found this binder, this narrow binder, and there were a few paintings really small canvases, a few journals, notebooks. These few paintings, they were all the same. They were all painted in a similar way and every painting had text on it. The focus was about life skills. One painting it said, “my self-care is brushing the hair and brushing my teeth” and there is a picture of, you know, a painting of a brush and a toothbrush. Another one, the text on it said, “I will show self-control by not eating dessert.” I had a very strong reaction to it and in that moment that I thought, this place will never be a place that teaches life skills – you know what I mean? 

 

Eliza: Yeah

 

Lin: We weren't going to become this service provider that did, you know, that sort of programming. We really went in the opposite direction. 

 

Eliza: That’s so great. Yeah.

 

Narrator: The archive includes an impressive collection of newspaper articles about H’Art of Ottawa that have been published over the years. These articles tell an interesting story about how public perceptions of disabled people and art by disabled people have shifted over the past two decades, providing an important context of the social climate through which H’Art of Ottawa and BEING Studio emerged.

 

[Eliza in the archive]

 

Eliza: In this article from 2007 titled “The art studio with a H’Art of gold” we see an image of an artist who is only identified as “a person enjoying painting at the H’Art of Ottawa studio” I don't know who the artist is, they’re unnamed. Throughout the article, H’Art is described as a community and also a place that allows people to connect with their community. They describe artists as clapping, smiling, and giving high fives, and they refer to the artists as students. At the end of the article, here's a quote that says, “disability just isn’t relevant there isn't a disability on the inside of any kind” and the quote’s attributed to an artistic facilitator. Maybe before this project, if I’d encountered this quote I would have found it a little bit odd. It might have even offended me because I'm so used to describing disability as a positive, affirmatively, you know, it can be such a part of one's identity and this quote is dismissive of that possibility. But, I don’t know, at the same time, now that I've gotten to know some of the artists at BEING Studio, I know that they don't all identify as disabled. So maybe this quote is just accurately describing how some of the artists relate to disability. 

 

Here we have an article this one's written by Peter Simpson, entitled, “Outsider art gallery showcase” and it was published in The Ottawa Citizen in 2014 who, out of all the artists in this group exhibition the author highlights BEING Studio’s Irene Beck describing her as a “shining example of unfiltered creativity.” So, Simpson describes this whole exhibition as a delightful surprise and describes it’s “outsider artists” as “freed from the stifling expectation of the art establishment, a world that is increasingly defined by market forces, academic validation and state funding.” Typically, if I were to see disabled artists being described as outsider art I might get my back up a little bit. This implication that a disabled person who creates art is an “outsider art” has led to all kind of ableist treatment. The author sort of continues his political stance by saying, these are “outside of the expectation of the art establishment” so it sort of frames outsider artists as political and anti-assimilationist. I think that's sort of great.

 

And here's an article that was published in 2008. This article really captures the changes that were happening at H’Art of Ottawa. The article describes H’Art as an “unusual” art program “whose success has taken on a life of its own.” It says, “H’Art of Ottawa was started 6 years ago in response to the need for a day program with adults with developmental disabilities. “When it started,” says executive director Lin Rowsell “the emphasis was on life skills as much as art and creative writing,” “participants were called clients and part of each session was devoted to such topics as hygiene and learning to thrive in the community – but then the power of art took hold.” Ms Rowsell says, “it was quickly clear that having an outlet for creative expression was transforming the program’s participants.” “Participants are no longer referred to as clients they are artists. They are as serious as any other artist in the city.” So, early 2000s this was right around the time that institutions were dissolving. Some people who’d been living in institutions would return home to their families but others wouldn’t have families to return to. So they would end up in spaces like group homes and sheltered workshops places that we now think of as being part of transinstitutionalization, the continuation of the logics of institutions, so this logic that disabled people needed to be contained and controlled.

 

[archival workshop]

 

Anna and Raïssa Coulombe

 

Raïssa: (looking at Anna’s artwork on the table) So this is, going, going way back.

 

Anna: Yeah

 

Raïssa: This is an earlier piece, right? 

 

Anna: Yeah. Zebra

 

Raïssa: 15 to 20 years I'm going to say.

 

Anna: yeah, yeah

 

Raïssa: this is a more recent piece completely different, medium

 

Anna: I change

 

Raïssa: You’ve really grown so much.

 

Anna: Lace…

 

Raïssa: Stitching on that...

 

Anna: Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah.

 

Raïssa: So it's like embroidery, almost?

 

Anna: Yeah. yeah. Oh yeah.

 

Rachel: I remember when you first started embroidery, it was like when I first started at BEING…

 

Anna: Oh yeah

 

Rachel: and you just kept going ever since then. Yeah.

 

Raïssa: And actually during the pandemic at home

 

Anna: No easy myself.  

 

Raïssa: ...that wasn't easy but do you remember what you made? You made an entire quilt…

 

Anna: Oh yeah

 

Raïssa: stitching the fabric together and embroidering on them. We’ll have to take pictures of that one day.

 

Anna: Oh yeah, let fin look.

 

Raïssa: It’s amazing.

 

Anna: Yeah. They're cool.

 

Raïssa: So that's all something that came out of learning about stitching here

 

Anna: Yeah, and my bedroom

 

Raïssa: and then you took that and just expanded on it and it just kept growing and growing.

 

Anna: Yeah. Yeah.

 

Raïssa: So many different interesting things have come out of this space. A lot of good creative energy.

 

Anna: Yep.

 

Rachel: One thing I seem to remember, Anna, is a lot of the embroidery work that you've made, you've made, like, for a person...

 

Anna: Oh yeah, 

 

Raïssa: that's true

 

Rachel: ...in your family.

 

Raïssa: Yeah, it does have a specific meaning. And this is going to be – Yeah. This is going to be part of a special event this summer which is our brother's wedding, so it’s a very specific intention behind it. Yeah.

 

[archival workshop]

 

Jess Huggett: So I brought my sketches. One of them is, “One World, One Heart” and I put different emotions into sections of the world – of the globe. Here, we have “love, joy, passion and power.” And in the middle is a heart. And it says “we are one”

 

Eliza: Beautiful, Jess. Do you remember when you made that work?

 

Jess: I don’t know...

 

Rachel: I could say that some of the other drawings that came from the same stack, there's one from 2006, so it's possible it's from around then.

 

Eliza: Wow, that's a while ago

 

Jess: Yeah, it sure was

 

Eliza: How do you feel looking at that piece?

 

Jess: It feels as if I'm a part of this sketch.

 

[archival workshop]

 

Christine Maveety: This was an apple tree. I did that, folded and this one I did here too, as well. I did the painting that's part of the flowers and stuff like that. I like flowers. And this is like a self-portrait of me and that was part of the process to make a drawing to a painting.

 

Rachel: Chris, do you want to read what it says on your drawing?

 

Chris: “I am Chris and this is my room”

 

[laughs]

 

And this is my butterfly painting, this is in remembrance of my nanny who passed away. She was known as the Butterfly Lady and so, I’m the next generation of Butterfly Ladies. I like butterflies and I do bees. This is this is how we all think about our heritage. I'm part Irish, like I was saying earlier mostly in Ireland and all the islands in Europe -- the British Isles people have different beliefs.

 

[archival workshop]

 

Mike Hinchcliff and fin

 

fin: This is one of Mike’s older pieces a drawing

 

Mike: “Sarah with the coat of many colours”

 

fin: “Sarah with the coat of many colours”

 

Mike: In the winter.

 

fin: In the winter.

 

[archival workshop fades out]

 

[interviews]

 

Rachel Gray: The studio, it really kept everything. Like, they kept pieces of old paint that would fall they would peel that and put them into these big, big balls and they would keep all the scraps of paper that went under paintings. So there was this real sense of like, this is valuable, this is history, we're not letting go of it. It really matters. There's really complication in that because I was worried that they were like hoarding things that didn't belong to them but then as I was at BEING Studio longer I also saw the ways that things get – like, people would take their drawings home and there's no space in the house and then you find out they all got recycled, you know? Somebody just threw them all away. It was just a really strong culture of like, “keep it, keep it, all of it's important” and I'm not sure if that was looking ahead to this will be important historically one day, or if it was just we might use this in an exhibition or if it was like just a feeling, you know? Something to the people working there felt maybe like momentous or worth keeping about almost every aspect of what they were doing.

 

Michael Orsini: I mean, I think the archive is really something that you have to sort of feel too, and that's the sense I still get from, you know, just looking at the work that is sort of hidden away that some folks have access to that some of the staff people will sort of provide access to. From my perspective, I think a lot more about the scale too, like you never, you know, you never see  really large works in that space.

 

Lin Rowsell: The archive also when I think of it, it really reflects the process. I mean, without it the studio’s changed a fair bit I’m not sure quite what’s happening now, but the archives certainly recorded, reflected the process of the studio and it absolutely was an archive of each artist's work over the years and it was a reflection of their growth and development as an artist. It reflects their style, their body of work, basically. So, I think that's another important part of the archive.

 

Analisa Kiskis: It was very overwhelming to see all of my artwork on the table, and when I see them, I cried. It’s so much back then until now. Yeah. I can see Michael, I can see Jessie, Alexa and everyone else from Algonquin to H’Art of Ottawa and BEING Studio. Yes.

 

Michael Orsini: I remember when they were doing the renovations I thought, oh, it's going to become a different kind of space, and it will be a bit too clinical and cold because everything's going to be so neatly sort of arranged and I was happy when I returned to find that it's still it's still kind of beautifully messy, you know? and that has sort of retained elements of what, you know, the older organization kind of represented too. The archive lives on in the newly kind of imagined organization called BEING, so yeah.

 

I always have a weird feeling when I'm in that space about being surrounded by work and feeling like it's kind of within reach, but also sort of not knowing oh, I'd love to sort of peek in here or peek in there, you know?

 

Christine Maveety: It was like a memory lapse going through my journal, my favourite drawings I did throughout the years. It was a different world altogether. Brought a lot of memories. Being part of H’Art of Ottawa – it gave me the chance to see other people.

 

Eliza: (speaking to Jess Huggett) Did you enjoy looking through the archives?

 

Jess: Yeah, I really enjoyed looking at my old art and I found out I really liked working with representational art.

 

Eliza: Were there any memories that came up for you when you went through the archive?

 

Jess: Sort of. I don’t want to talk about that.

 

[interviews]

 

Rachel Gray: With the journals I feel sometimes like I don't know if anyone ever wanted these read. They were always like, public in a way, like they would be in a public space, but they also feel really personal and intimate.

 

Anna and Raïssa

 

Raïssa: One thing that one of the facilitator – I'm trying to remember who mentioned this to me – they were saying, like with the journaling I think, it was really important that everybody had a turn to share something.

 

Anna: Yeah.

 

Raïssa: And they would just go around the table and people could take as long as they needed to sort of decide what they wanted to share but I was just struck looking at the journals just how much personal feeling and insight and you know, like, there was so much that each person put into – I don’t know, did you feel that when you were doing journaling?

 

Anna: Yes, a long time.

 

Raïssa: That's a really that's an intense thing for a group of people to sit together sort of week after week after week for years and really just share so much of themselves, you know? And overcoming the communication barriers, and confidence, you know, and just kind of deciding to trust each other and put all that out there I think that's a really big deal. Do you feel like it was – like, how did you feel when you were doing those journals? You were writing together in a group, like, you wrote about a lot of feelings, some of them were hard, some of them were sad, some of them were really happy – it was a lot of yourself.

 

Anna: Myself. Yeah.

 

Raïssa: I think of all the people that passed through the studio and how much of themselves they were bringing there, you know, that's just pretty powerful, really there was a lot that was shared you know, in that room. A lot happened in that room.

 

Anna: Yeah.

 

Eliza: And it's interesting that they're there in the archive. I wonder about that, actually. To have your journals in the archive, does that mean that other people can read your journals?

 

Raïssa: Well, that's what I was wondering too and that's a good question – (speaking to Anna) do you feel okay with other people –

 

Anna: Oh, yeah

 

Raïssa: – looking at those?

 

Anna: Yes

 

Raïsa: Yeah? Does it feel like a piece of your art?

 

Anna: Yes.

 

Eliza: That’s interesting. Yeah.

 

[interviews]

 

Lin Rowsell: So, there weren’t a lot of paintings and that's why at the very beginning, the very beginning I mean I have to admit I'm fully responsible for archiving because that seemed so important. I said let's have a studio collection and every artist was represented in the studio collection. They were hung up all around the studio walls, high, and they were not for sale and people would say, like the Board members would say, well, “why don't you put them in shows?” and, “why don't you exhibit?” “why don't you sell them? They're wonderful!” Well, they would be sold in a second. People were always wanting to buy them, but they would be gone and what they provided was this massive impact. People would come into the studio anyone gallery people, artists, volunteers, anyone people coming to buy art, whatever the case, they would come in and that would be the first thing that would hit them and it was almost like a visual telling a visual explanation of what the studio was about. You know, I also thought maybe sometime there will be a show where the paintings aren't sold, and then these pieces can go in and everyone will be represented. And in fact, that happened. We had a show at Rideau Hall. The Governor-General opens Rideau Hall to the public for a week or two – I can't quite remember how long – our work was exhibited in Rideau Hall thousands of people came through and saw it. That was the studio collection that we exhibited because the painting, of course, wasn't for sale it was just exhibited. So it was important that we had that and then a lot of those really strong images, too, you know, we photographed all the paintings and we photographed the studio and the artists. We have videos and films and all sorts of documentation, and that's all part of the archive and it's all in the studio, locked up. That's where I left it, locked up.

 

Rachel Gray: I really talked to people about trying to get that archive displayed. The the archive I often think of is that paper archive just because of, like, how mammoth it is, and also because personally, I just love drawing so much and I find like there's such an immediacy to them you can really feel, I don't know, a moment coming through them or like the trace of a person's hand coming through them but there was also the paintings and what I know about the paintings it's a lot more protective. There would be certain paintings that artists would make that you know, the people running the organization would really like and they would become part of the studio collection and there was this idea of like, one day there would be an exhibition of the studio collection.

 

Lin Rowsell: So, you know, archiving things – it was important and the artists archived, they did it, they were involved, you know? Irene Beck, one of the artists, she would bring their lunch every day in a brown lunch bag and at home she would write on it and draw on it, and it was just her sort of stream of thought, wonderful poetic type writing with these quirky drawings and there were themes running through them I loved them and she would show them to me and I said to her once, “can I start saving them, Irene?” “and can we put them here in this cupboard? We'll keep the stack going” and, you know, “instead of throwing them out?” and she agreed and I mean, they were just like, just gold.

 

Rachel Gray: I had an idea from art school and maybe from my own, like, self-consciousness too, that like in order to be vulnerable in art and to create really good art that was true to you, you like, burrow into yourself and you go away from other people to do that and then at BEING Studio you would see people making that kind of art but they'd be making it with others and that connection to other people would be present throughout the entire creation process. You know, there's a lot of self-consciousness in art school I felt that myself, you know, like, maybe reluctant to claim the identity totally of an artist, even as you're trying to be one, and at BEING Studio people would be like, “my work is great – it's really good work” and “I am an artist and that is meaningful to me.” Love and art are just spoken about openly, you know? Less time spent in justifying why you're making what you're making and just yeah, that kind of, a real immediate honesty I guess I found in the space. I feel like people were able to be more openly themselves there than in a lot of spaces I had encountered previously.

 

[archival workshop] 

 

Christine Maveety: When I started to do H’Art of Ottawa mostly it was like we all did people like this – and we started drawing them and then turn them into paintings so it was kind of like a different journey altogether.

 

Eliza: So you started out with drawing?

 

Chris’s family member: Do you not do that now?

 

Chris: I don't know  – they do it – I think they still do it that way, hey Rachel?

 

Rachel: Yeah, I think it's more flexible now. Some people start with drawings but I think before it was everybody worked on drawings in the morning and then they would go through the drawings and pull out “which one is going to be my next painting” and then work on that until that painting was complete and then repeat the process. That's my understanding… 

 

Chris’s family member: I remember that

 

Rachel: and now it's more kind of flexible and different artists use different processes (yeah)

 

[interviews]

 

Anna and Raïssa

 

Raïssa: This is something that we've actually talked about many times during the years and I just wanted to, or Anna wanted to point out, that she really just identifies so much as an artist that the idea of the art being separate from her, like a job or fitting into a certain time slot or a certain place is almost irrelevant now it's just part of every single day there's creative output, you know what I mean? And also taking in inspiration from all over, you know, even if it's just a walk, when all we could do was go for a walk, we were still getting ideas for paintings and sketching and making things…

 

Anna: Yeah

 

Raïssa: ...you know, it's just, it's such a fundamental part of every day that the idea of it being like a separate job or separate from her sense of self is irrelevant like, it's just – it is kind of who you are, right?

 

Anna: mm-hmm

 

Raïssa: I guess the idea of being an artist and art being a part of your every day is

 

Anna: ...my life.

 

Raïssa: it's your – it is your life

 

Anna: Yeah

 

Raïssa: So it's, that idea as opposed to something that only happens in one space or at one time of day or only under certain conditions – that's all sort of gone now and it's just fully integrated into who you are. 

 

Narrator: BEING Studio has undergone many small and large transformations throughout its history. As we briefly touched upon, one major change came in 2016 and 2017 when the studio, then known as H’Art of Ottawa was fully rebranded as BEING Studio, being the recipient of McMillan's “Betterful Initiative.” At the time, there was one studio artist on BEING’s Board who was able to give direct feedback to the proposed name change and rebrand, Richard Bolduc. After the rebrand launched, Lin announced her retirement and in 2018 Stephanie Nadeau moved from the Board to an ED roll.

 

[interviews]

 

Lin Rowsell: Right from the beginning I really, really disliked the name H’Art. To me, it sounded very sort of stereotypical of names that were given to organizations where they were, you know, that involve people with disabilities and and it really concerned me that it might – it defined how people, how the artists were perceived, so, by the time McMillan came along it was long overdue. Everything in the studio needed updating. Like the name, the logo, the website, none of it reflected who we were and who we had really been from the beginning almost, you know? And what the studio had evolved into. It's not like the name held us back – we kind of broke down those barriers within the community and people knew pretty quickly we were in art studio but it did sound like a day program or a service provider. There were no real boundaries set so the studio could be what it was but still the perception was you know, there – the name, that kind of hung over us.

 

[archival workshop]

 

Raïssa: So it did feel like a lot for all of us I think the Board, the staff, the artists – there were a lot of things going on right at that time. I will say that it felt a little bit like the idea was delivered fully formed. I could see how – that some people might have felt not involved in the process. I think it's been a good thing. I mean, I think it's – it was a time of you know change and rebirth. A good point that Anna made yesterday was BEING Studio is a lot harder to pronounce than H’Art of Ottawa so actually it was easier to identify and say H’Art of Ottawa, which doesn't make it negative but it is it is different, it does kind of change things a little.

 

Anna: Yeah.

 

Christine Maveety: When we started changing to BEING Studio which I didn’t like the name BEING because it was kind of like a strange word and the others loved it. I didn't like it – “human being” – what do you mean, human being?

 

André Lanthier: H’Art of Ottawa was old, was old, the way I see it was old. I mean, after you changed the name? It was maybe more new.

 

[interviews]

 

Rachel Gray: I believe they chose BEING because I think what they would say is like, “BEING Studio’s a place to simply be” it's like, “being an artist” it's, “being determined” it's, “being fierce” it's, “being beautiful” it's, “being...” you know, they would list like that and I remember in their statement they had “being disciplined” and people cut that out they were like, that's – we're not comfortable with that. Take that out, you know? So yeah, there was a lot of like discussion and disagreement within the conversations around the rebrand.

 

Michael Orsini: I mean, processes of change are hard on everyone. They’re hard on people who were not part of the conversation they’re hard on people who are trying their best with limited time and resources. There were lots of people brought in from here and there and I was one of them and I think there was a pretty concerted attempt to try to bring people into those discussions who might not have the same point of view. 

 

Thinking about the organization as being about supporting professional artists invariably means that you're not really integrating family, parents, loved ones, siblings into that discussion in a meaningful way unless sometimes they're providing some assistance to their loved one in terms of their involvement or what have you so it was really about, I mean, people had a legitimate reason to think that this is going to sort of possibly freeze out families because we're focusing on the orientation of the professional artist as being the spotlight of this organization.

 

Rachel Gray: I think this idea of self-determination, like that was a really key concept in the rebrand around BEING, that lens of centering people with disabilities in the organizational structure, in the decision making, like all the way through must be connected to the movement around disability arts. There's so many different versions of disability experience that exist within the studio. Some people identify around like, their own self. They are just them, you know? So that's a interesting and kind of sticky thing too, especially as you move like, we were moving in this direction of contemporary art and so engaging with like, disability art and disability experience.

 

Narrator: I will now read out some of Richard Bolduc’s written comments where he gives feedback to McMillan on aspects of the proposed rebrand. Richard was the only studio artist included on the board at the time.

 

In response to the proposed name, Richard writes, “I was surprised, but it is a good choice. It represents everyone, me and you. BEING means it fits for each person. It means being accepted and being recognized and being talented. It could say it englobes all the things about the studio.”

 

In response to the proposed description, Richard writes, “I think intellectual should be changed to developmental because a lot of people with autism don't have intellectual disabilities. Apart from that, I like it. It is correct, given the environment.” 

 

In response to the proposed positioning, Richard writes, “instead of a sheltered workshop it's an art studio for individuals with “supposed” limitations. We do have limitations.I would write “limitations”, not “supposed limitations.” The rest is correct. We build self-trust and we build a sense of security in the studio.”

 

In response to the proposed manifesto, Richard writes, ““it's time to rewrite” – it's true. We should be considered like other artists. We are artists. “Art is a state of being” – that makes sense. Correct. We are a group of artists like others. We've got the same right to be recognized as artists and sell our art. You go beyond the disability. We are disabled, but we have the right to do art like everybody else. We are different, but we are artists. The main importance is what we want is a new rebranding to better advertise, to give people outside a better understanding, to remake our image. Even if we are special needs persons we still have the same rights and privileges as other artists in this society. For instance, we should get revenue for our art such as a percentage of the sale of art, the value of our art. We need to have better websites and titles to be well considered. Our art is the same thing as other artists. We do the same work”

 

[interviews]

 

Jess Huggett: Art is so much more than the work – it’s an act of love. And I believe that art is an expression and we can all express ourselves in many different ways and art is also work and also sometimes when people feel down or feel sad they can express it through art. That is an integral part of connection and we all live together as a whole. So in conclusion, I would like to say art is so much more than connection it’s everyone as a whole working together as a group and it's amazing what we can do together as artists.

 

Christine Maveety: I always wanted to get my ideas from the other artists that I’ve met throughout the years with BEING Studio. To change the world I always want to change my life as an artist and it is the idea that to become an artist is, you have to know how you’re doing and achieve all the goals as you’re going down the road. But it’s kind of fun to have achievements that we had with all the artists. It’s kind of fun.

 

I think we all remember how we started as a family. All the years that we spent

with all the facilitators. I think we’re doing a good job.

 

Analisa Kiskis: BEING Studio archive means looking at your old stuff in the past what you did in H’Art of Ottawa. It feels also that you might get information on your old past art and when you look at them you can develop new art in the future.

 

I hope for the future for BEING Studio – make lots of money! I think it’s a wonderful way to find yourself at BEING Studio because it's feels like I’m part of the art community and part of a family there. 

 

Anna and Raissa Coulombe

 

Raïssa: What are some of your dreams?

 

Anna: My dreams is my book, by me.

 

[interviews]

 

Jess Huggett: Yeah – so my time with H’Art of Ottawa and BEING Studio has been so much fun and it has even given me a voice. When people view my art I feel alive and I feel so calm and I feel as if I'm a part of a community, a crucial part of society. When people view my art it’s like a huge weight has been lifted and getting paid for that art makes me feel – I feel as if I am a part of the art community and I also heard of disability arts and it has been a huge part of my life. I feel so alive in the art and disability community.

 

André Lanthier: We come to the studio and we share, people are talking, and myself –  I’m proud. I’m proud to be an artist. I’m proud. This is in my soul. I know that for years we miss it. I missed art. The virus was so high. We had lots of people in the hospital and still got some people – I tried to go back, I missed the art. I love the art. I have to deal with the way I am. And I like to come here to share with everybody and…story – I’m proud I found myself. I do the painting, I show everybody and I love it.

 

[interviews]

 

Rachel Gray: I think one challenge for how you frame an archive is you have to make a set of choices and this is an archive that includes so many different people so how do you make choices and how do you give people agency over their own expression? When what they want may conflict, when – or even just the energy of reaching consensus on such a large thing? And of course, you have the work of people who have died and so, how do you work around that? We have exhibited work from one artist

who died with consent of their family but it's complicated for sure.

 

Analisa Kiskis: I love doing art. I love being with my friends. I love being with H’Art of Ottawa or BEING Studio – it doesn’t matter. It means I’m having fun because art is art. I love doing art because I'm so obsessed with art. Art is about being with your favorite role model in life. It doesn't matter what kind of disability you are or not be grateful that you are part of a community, a community that helps you along with your journey and your path towards your artist life, towards that goal whatever you like, whatever you want – that's you. But for me, it's different. I don’t see myself as a disability because being down syndrome – it does not matter. It’s what you are and what you are, it does not matter.

 

Christine Maveety: I will continue my artwork until I die. My legacy will live on

and so it’s my artwork. You'll kind of like, say, “hey – Chris Maveety AK Williams did her artwork at H’Art of Ottawa and BEING Studio. We put her in our memory as an artist.”

 

Eliza Chandler: In the end, I think the most impactful part of this project for me has been the experience of being led through the archives by the artists and getting to see their artwork and hear their stories. My initial guiding question for this project was to surface the impact of BEING Studio artists and BEING Studio as an organization on disability arts but I think the learning I will take away most from this experience is about the power of communities of practice the significance of being together and making art together for decades.

 

Rachel Gray: This studio is a really exceptional place. I think what's so interesting is that it comes into people's lives for different amounts of time. I would see this when I was working there, like people would come in and do a workshop and they would leave but it had an impact on them and maybe the archive speaks to this too. I just think the impact of this community – you could not even hold the impact. I think one of the things that's strongest about it is this experience of acceptance that can come from particularly an art space where you are creating something that's coming from in you, you know, and you're bringing it out and you're appreciated for that and you're doing that in community. It's so powerful. And for people who have the gift of coming into contact with that I think it creates change that echoes through their lives. It's important – the stories of the people who go there is important and what it says about the possibilities of like, worlds and spaces that can be created is important too. The space continues and it also continues in the people who have left it or are on some kind of orbit around it.

 

It all washes up in the archive. It's not always something you can directly pin back or sometimes it's hard to understand, but like, I feel like everything that happened in that space is present in some form in the archive in ways that we can read and not read, you know? It doesn't mean that we can actually access all that information but I think it's all there.

 

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Narrator: “It was a different world altogether:” A social history of BEING Studio’s Archive was created by Lisa East in collaboration with Eliza Chandler. This documentary was created as part of a Social Science and Humanities Research Council funded Partnership Engage Project, Disability Arts Histories and Legacies: Animating BEING Studio’s archive. This project was led by Eliza Chandler with Analisa Kiskis, Rachel Gray, Lisa East, Rana El Kadi, Esther Ignagni, Fady Shanouda, Michael Orsini and Drew McEwen. Special thanks to Karen McRay and xuan-fin of BEING Studio for their unwavering support of this project.

 

To all of the artists and friends of BEING Studio that participated in this audio documentary, thank you for sharing your stories.

 

The main score was created by Kevin MacLeod.

 

Thank you for listening.

 

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