Thursday, November 24, 2022

At the edge of the cold and dark Canadian Winter

 



Six years ago,
I co-facilitated a series of art workshops with 
Syrian refugees 
and other new Canadians at the 
Art Gallery of Peterborough. 
To say that it was a wonderful experience 
would be putting it lightly. 
We communicated not through language, 
but through paint and clay and pencil and ink, 
through laughter and tears. 
We built bridges (literally) and explored the 
concept of ‘home’. 
We made collaborative posters and banners, 
with colours and images and words from 
many cultures. 
We ‘heard’, through drawings, 
the struggle and terror and instability 
that brought our new friends to 
Peterborough Ontario
at the edge of the cold and dark 
Canadian winter.
Somehow, despite the weather, 

that studio was always filled 

with colour and music, with light and love.