It is safe to say that Squamish has never seen an event quite like this.
Portals is set to be an experiential art installation set to run from Oct. 10 to 21 at Spirit School.
The ambitious project is the first of the non-profit society Verge Art Collective, and the brainchild of Erica Otto, somatic trauma therapist and dancer.
Otto is the director and project lead of the family-friendly Portals, which is part of the Squamish ArtWalk, by Squamish Arts; the arts council also provided them a grant for the exhibit.
The project has been in the works for a year.
The exhibit includes ceramics, painting, photography, music, dance videos, aroma therapy, body painting, fibre arts, and interactive elements.
The event includes the work of 22 local artists and 45 original pieces of art. The exhibit will take about 30 to 40 minutes to walk through, and is essentially a story that you interact with.
“And there are elements of the exhibit that revolve, they rotate, so you can walk through the exhibit twice and not experience the same thing,” Otto said.
“The intention of the exhibit is, through an experiential and multi-modal way—so engaging all a person’s senses—elicit experiences of change as people walk through the exhibit, and we're exploring specifically the archetypes of the Tarot, but more directly the spaces in between,” said Otto.
Somatic experience of change
She said one of the things she noticed over her years as a therapist is that change is one of the things people struggle with most.
“I was really curious about bringing together art and somatics, and how do we elicit a somatic experience of change, but in this implicit way,” she said.
The Mayo Clinic Press describes somatics as a "focus on body awareness and reflection. By reflecting on the body's sensations, purposeful, mindful movement is emphasized."
In terms of the interactive elements of the exhibit, Otto said an example is bells for people to ring at the beginning of their “story.” Another example is a community loom where people can add to “this great weaving,” she said.
Further, for the death archetype, there's an interactive piece available, Otto said, though she hesitated to give too much away before the exhibit opens.
The hope is that people will feel their feelings, so to speak, as they move through the displays.
“As people walk in, there'll be instructions. One of the invitations is to notice how something makes you feel. So what does it make you think, what emotions come up, what is present in your body? And we don't have an attachment to whether that's good or bad,” Otto said.
“For some people, certain archetypes will really speak to them. For others, it'll be a different image. And there are so many different things that there'll be something for everyone. There's poetry, there's paintings, there's paintings on fabric. There's enough that there's going to be at least one thing for each person. Maybe it's the smell, maybe it's the music, maybe it's the lighting, maybe it's the dance video, maybe it's the interactive piece we have, a six-foot sculpture. There are so many different elements that there's a lot of opportunity for people to engage their own experience.”
It was important to Otto that artists not only contribute to the exhibit but be part of it.
All the models in the featured photographs are the artists who also contributed art to the exhibit.
‘Bring people together and create community’
The process of pulling this eclectic project together has been about more than the exhibit, Otto said, adding it is also about community and relationship building.
“That's kind of the point of all of this—to bring people together and create community and culture in a way that is supportive, especially in our times. I feel strongly we need more of these coherent, grounded, relational experiences to help us carry through. To discover who we are, what we stand up for, and how we want to live our lives. So that's the positivity for me," she said.
"That's the driving purpose behind it, and I see it working. So it's encouraging. It's not just like 'Come to the art exhibit,' it's 'Come join us,' and we're creating something really beautiful together.”
Collective of artists
In addition to Otto, local artists involved in the project include:
•Brian Aikens, photographer
•Ciarra Saylor, painter
•Brian Marchant, sounds tech
•Natacha Trottier, body painting artist
•Mel Mencarelli, designer
•Helen Beynon, poet
•Heidi Nielsen, aromatherapist
•Sea to Sky Dance Collective dancers
Other artists who hail from outside Squamish include Adriana Koc (Spadaro painter), Ashley Dodd (ceramic artist), and Michael Hewitt (musician and exhibit design).
Tickets are by donation.
The proceeds from the exhibit will go toward paying the artists for their work. Once the artists are paid, the proceeds will support PearlSpace.
Organizers are still looking for volunteers to help with the setup and tear down of the exhibit.
To volunteer, reach out to Otto at [email protected].
Find out more about the exhibit and the collective on the Verge Art Collective website.
