The Lulu Series: Paula Jardine

Community Artist, Paula Jardine
The Parade of Life: The Artist’s Role in the Community

Incorporating elements of landscape, poetry, lanterns, parades, music and fire, the work of celebration artist, Paula Jardine, explores and cultivates cultural forms that celebrate and connect us to each other, the land and natural cycles.  

As a co-founder (with Dolly Hopkins) of Vancouver’s Public Dreams Society, Paula established Trout Lake’s Illuminares Evening Lantern Procession and its fall counterpart, Parade of the Lost Souls, two iconic East Vancouver outdoor spectacles that revive and redefine community arts and the artist’s role in the community. She has also offered workshops and helped initiate events elsewhere, including the annual All Souls event at Mountain View Cemetery in Vancouver (with long-time collaborator, Marina Szijarto), Esquimalt Lantern Walk and the Snow King Masque Parade in Golden, BC.

In this presentation, Paula will review the history of her practice from outdoor theatre in the Edmonton winter to her current role as artist-in-residence in municipal cemeteries, and offer a discussion on the theories that have developed through that practice, including the role of celebration arts and culture in environmental conservation, activism and the spiritual life of a community.

Now living on Vancouver Island, Paula is committed to work that honours wild salmon and is an active volunteer in her Victoria neighbourhood of James Bay.

More at www.islandsinstitute.com/gallery/Jardine/frontpage.htm

This talk will be preceded by an interactive performance by members of the Steveston Seniors Drumming Circle. Founded by Tony Davies five years ago at the Steveston Community Centre, this program has involved about 150 people to date who have participated and performed at many local public events including the annual Steveston Salmon Festival.