Art has the power
to transform the world
when it bids us to laugh or cry,
to smile or to cringe.
When we experience art,
we can just be.
– Sharon Stevens
Sharon Stevens, a multi award-winning media artist and activist, is an instigator who’s made a career of integrating art, activism, feminism, and social justice into a series of projects that enlighten, enliven and entertain.
She is the founder of Equinox Vigil in Calgary’s Union Cemetery 2012 – 2018. As curator and co-producer she created an artist-led sacred space for the public to gather in community to share grief and loss. This participatory artwork continued online with Equinox Vigil: Virtually Yours 2020 and 2021.
Stevens’ work demonstrates an unwavering belief in public participatory art, and takes a beacon-like approach to leading Calgarians into artistic adventures in collaborative and meaningful art making.
She recently worked with Casa México on their Celebrating Life events during covid by hosting a shrine for tributes with a sculpture called Yearn – designed and constructed by Doug Haslam and Eveline Kolijn.
Her projects in art and social engagement have had the intent to situate works within communities and actively engage participation, predominately through new media.
She has produced a body of video work ranging from documentaries, to feminist narratives to animation. Building on these previous projects, she has evolved and responded to different technologies within her media art practice. With 30+ years as a practicing artist, Sharon has been involved with many of the city’s arts institutions and has served on boards, juries, committees and staffs.
Watch a five minute biography of video projects from 1991 to 2016.
Watch the webinar about what to do with your stuff presented by the Provincial Archives of Alberta – part of Artifact or Fiction – January 10, 2024.
– Sharon Stevens
We never know how our small activities will affect others through the invisible fabric of our connectedness. In this exquisitely connected world, it’s never a question of ‘critical mass’ It’s always about critical connections.
– Grace Lee Boggs, b. 1915 – 2015 anti-racist activist, author
It’s such a good box, though
Bring a box(s), trade a box or burn a box
One love
Gather with Calgary’s Poet Laureate Wakefield Brewster to behold the planet and in unison spread love to our Mother Earth. Free globes given to first 20 visitors.
Show and tale
Join in to experience the eclectic collection of an artivist working in Calgary for 40 years. A stand up comedy show!
History of 1886
Listen in as Historian Darryl Cariou tells the story of the what C-Space Eau Claire Community Hub was before.
herland memories and tea party
Bring your stories and memories of feminist film, video and activism from the past four decades with video screenings.
Archiving do's & don'ts
Zoom in to Archivist Braden Cannon from the Provincial Archives. Learn what to do with your stuff.
To remember you by
Bring in funeral cards, programs, newspaper obituaries to be displayed in a memorial shrine and then to be set on fire at the EXIT finale.
Don't go breaking my heart
Love letters read out loud (yike) by actors, might be an 18+ event.
Finale
Farewell to Artifact or Fiction’s project by gifting, repurposing, shredding, setting on fire or ….
OX: A Crashcourse on Loving Calgary
(2009-2012)
OX: A Crash Course on Loving Calgary was a positive, participatory mapping project to claim what we love about Calgary! A place, a feeling, a song, a building, a street corner, a memory, a recovery –stories about loving Calgary. OX: A Crash Course on Loving Calgary has been exhibited at The Truck Contemporary Art Gallery, EMMEDIA Production and Gallery Society and was part of the Calgary 2012 Artist in Residency with the International Avenue BRZ.
Watch a short how to video here.
Planet Overture
(2010)
An impromptu performance resulting in a 2:30 video. The video represents a symbolic funeral pyre for a bruised and battered papier-mache globe that had accompanied activist events facilitated by the Arusha Centre. In the video, a haz-mat- suited individual emerges for this globe, coats the globe in black tar-like substance before setting it ablaze. Darkly over-toned, the piece reads like a challenge against a dystopian future. 2:30 video, colour, soundtrack by Dark Lily
ID Collective
(2008-2011)
Several public performances developed and conducted as a tool of engagement with Colleen Huston, Jodie Stevens and Melissa Centofanti. We explored society’s willingness to share how people self-identify. ID Collective designed an ‘exhibit’ data collection tool and we asked people at community events, social gatherings and within virtual environments “How do you self-identify? Finding common ground by pushing the social norms at community gatherings the Collective used this model for various projects over three years.
Image by Aaron Russell of Conference Doodles for Creative Mornings Calgary. Watch the video.