Posts

Wanted, Chosen, Planned Nominated for a Yeggie

/0 Comments/in /by

It is with much excitement that I announce that my blog, Wanted, Chosen, Planned, has been nominated for a Yeggie, Edmonton’s New Media Award.

The Yeggies honors local content creators and social media mavens in our city. We have an abundance of talent in Edmonton and I am thrilled to be counted amongst many greats! Wanted, Chosen, Planned is a blog where I write about “Life After the Loss of a Child” and strive to encourage those whose baby is taken too soon. Through heartfelt posts from my personal experience I reach out to those suffering from loss due to miscarriage, stillbirth, SIDS and early infant loss. My son Zachary died in 2010 from a cardiac tumor and since then I have been experimenting with this strange thing called “grief” and it’s associate, “healing.”

Wanted, Chosen, Planned is one of six blogs in the “Best in Family or Parenting” category.

The awards will be given out at a happening event on May 4, 2013 at the Shaw Conference Centre, Salon 11/12 (7:30pm), hosted by Trent Wilkie. Buy tickets online!

Can Art be Practical and Helpful?

/2 Comments/in , /by

I was wondering, why is art therapeutic for some people? What magic does it possess to help us through difficult times, rebuild our lives and re-learn the act of hope? An epiphany came to me in an idle moment of thought:

Art is a tool for healing because it pulls our attention from the past hurt to the present moment.

When we are creating something in the here and now, we experience its tactile nature, the flow of the paint, the coolness of the clay as we begin to kneed it between our fingers, the click of the shutter as we react to at the perfect moment. These physical qualities of art making draw us into the present moment where we can be mindful of our blessings, that we are here, alive and that life is a beautiful gift worth living in the fullest manner possible.

While art grounds us in the moment, it also teaches us to look forward, to anticipate.

What will the photo look like in the end? Will the sculpture endure the kiln? Will my words resonate on the page tomorrow? Or the week after? Or next year? Once the paint ceases to drip, what will remain? In the same way, art helps us heal by bringing our attention to the future, allowing us to hope for better days and cultivating faith in our purpose and identity.

What a revolutionary epiphany!

Many people think of art as overpriced creations by eccentric individuals, displayed at stuffy galleries for the ‘cultured’ but devoid of practical use in our everyday lives. To some, this may be their only experience with art. It is true that some people make art inaccessible to the average viewer.

Despite negative experiences with art, and I’m sure most of us have had such experiences, art does have an amazing redemptive capacity when applied to an open, willing and searching soul.

Alexis Marie named Artist in Residence at Harcourt House Artist Run Center

/2 Comments/in , /by

 

 

I am thrilled to announce that I have been named as the 2012/2013 Artist in Residence at the fabulous Harcourt House in Edmonton, AB, Canada. What an honour! My official start date is November 1st and I can hardly wait. I am already planning which furniture to outfit my studio space and literally dreaming about the body of artwork that I plan to develop over the year.

 

What exactly is an artist in residence? Thanks for asking. That is a great question!

 

The role of the Artist in Residence is twofold:

 

First, Harcourt House is supporting my artistic career for a whole year by providing a studio space where I will create new artwork. At the end of my term they will mount a solo exhibition of my creations in their gallery.

 

The second component of the residency is the opportunity for me to interact with the art community and Edmonton as a whole. I will be doing this through teaching art classes, opening my studio for visits and writing about my artistic journey here on my blog, Artist Reborn.

 

My plan for my residency includes developing a body of artwork that focuses on healing and rebuilding a person’s life through and after struggle. I will be painting, creating mixed media artwork and wooden sculpture (like “Quiet Rebuild”). Poetry and creative writing will also accompany my visual art.

 

About two years ago my son passed away in my arms. This was a pivotal event in my life which has dramatically changed me as an artist, mother and overall human being. Through mourning my son, I have found my voice as an artist and my subject matter of healing and rebirth. I am a new person and I believe art was one of the major factors that illuminated my way and gave me incite for personal evolution. I am sure this work will be an inspiration and touch many viewers as we all face challenges in our lives that require strength to overcome.

 

For those who are interested in learning more about my journey and how you too can use artwork in your healing process, I plan to teach a class on this subject during my residency. I will post again when dates have been set. Attendees will gain artistic tools including poetry writing and collage that will aid in individual restoration. Please get in touch if you are interested in attending this class (or if you have other ideas of subjects you would like to learn about).

 

I am elated to be Harcourt House’s 2012/2013 Artist in Residence and will keep everyone updated on my progress. If you would like to receive email updates on my residency, info on the classes I will be teaching and other fine art and creative writing posts, please enter your email address in the box on the right (“Subscribe to Blog via Email”).

 

Check out the Harcourt House website: HarcourtHouse.ab.ca

They even offer yoga in the gallery! Find out more at Art & Mind: ArtMind.ca

The Quiet Rebuild

/0 Comments/in , /by

This post was first seen on my blog Wanted Chosen Planned as it relates to the rebuilding of my life after the loss of my son Zachary. I featured it there to encourage those who have lost a child to experiment with art (of all kinds: painting, photography, journal writing, etc.) as a means to find healing. I re-post it here as my hope for this blog is to bolster the weary creative spirit within us and to turn our frustration, fear, and failure into the artwork and creative writing that we were born to bring forth. 

“The Quiet Rebuild” © Alexis Marie Chute, Wood Sculpture 2012

I have been making sculpture although I am not primarily a sculptural artist. I find the use of my hands in the tactile nature of my recent artwork very soothing. My art has been focusing on the idea that we create our understanding of the world in many ways. When my son Zachary died, my world crashed down. Like a forest burn by fire, I was brought to ash, literally. It is fitting that my artwork uses wood, both natural and manmade. I find this particular piece, “Quiet Rebuild” particularly therapeutic to look at. It reminds me of where I am at, rebuilding my life in a different time, a simpler, basic time where my expectations of the world have been brought into check.

I rebuild my life and my understanding of the world from the burnt forest, atop a humble piece of wood. What I make of my life at this stage is truly of my own invention and each fragment of my understanding of the world comes together in an awkward balance but feels right in the face of everything I have endured.

Art is a personal and unique expression. It may not bring you the answers you search for but it can help you understand the questions you are asking. I encourage you to experiment, play and create like a child. Healing often does not arrive in the way we expect.

“The Quiet Rebuild” – When death comes and takes, it changes us who live. When we see this life as it is, the impermanence of all we hold dear and yet our ability to continue on, to love and value what truly matters, then we rebuild our soul with these lessons, changed yet whole.

Drawing Hearts for my Son – The Art of Struggle

/0 Comments/in , /by

Artwork: “Wanted, Chosen, Planned” Mixed Media, September 2010 © Alexis Marie Chute

I was well over halfway to my due date when doctors discovered that my unborn child had a large tumor around his heart. This news began a month and a half of daily testing to determine if there was anything that could be done. There wasn’t and my son Zachary passed away shortly after he was born.

During the month and a half before Zachary’s birthday and death day, I made art. I made art based on the news we were given and the new world of medical technology and imaging that was opened up to me. I was so overwhelmed on a daily basis that art became my therapy. It was a means for me to think about our situation in an effort to make sense of it all. I now know I will never understand the “why” of this tragedy but that creating art in that time was a helpful means to cope.

As the main issue with my son’s condition was the tumor around his heart, I began to draw anatomical hearts using black pen. I made three copies of my favorite drawing using a laser printer and painted three backdrops in flowing reds and blues, two colours associated with blood flow that I watched in real time on the monitor during many fetal echocardiograms of my son’s heart.

I did gel transfers to apply the hearts to the paintings, the abstracted reds and blues of the painted backgrounds showing through the images. I applied a sheer aqua fabric to the areas surrounding the hearts, sewing it on with red thread which I let hang loosely in certain places. The blue, water like effect, references the fact that a heart that is not beating properly, as in the case of my son, causes fluid to build up in a person’s body.

Black bars along the bottom of the compositions anchor the three pieces together and reveal the words that constantly ran through my brain as I struggled in the helplessness of trying to save my son. Wanted. Chosen. Planned. These three concepts became my mantra, my prayer during that dark time.

 

Have you used art to help work through a struggle? Please share your experience.