Kickstart Disability Arts & Culture is pleased to announce it’s involvement in the “Pianos On The Streets” program sponsored by Pacey’s Pianos and Piano Teachers Federation.
Artists Cat L’Hirondelle and Rose Williams, both artists who identify as living with a disability, each took on the challenge of painting a piano to represent Kickstart.
Cat liked the idea of having a range of different people communing with her art on the piano. She sees it as an interactive piece and thought, “the people who play the piano become part of the art piece. The imagery represents life on the east side of Vancouver. The constant presence of the crows is an integral part of this city.”
For Cat, being a disabled artists means painting with other peoples hands. This becomes a whole different process and schedule, because her “hands” have a shift and she has to work within these parameters.
Rose was thrilled to be offered the opportunity to paint one of the public pianos. The music and spontaneous nature of performance the public pianos encourage is one way of energizing the public common and allowing the users of the space to determine its function and nature for themselves.
“The piano itself is symbolic of another time, before the advent of electronic music, when music making was a larger part of domestic life, entertainment and our relationships with one another. “
Rose had a different image in mind until the process actually began. Her work revolves around the human relationship with our waterways, forests and local fauna. A kelp forest represents our local oceans, animals and fish, as Vancouver is surrounded by them, she felt that whatever location the piano ended up in the images would relate to and fit into the environment.
You can see Cat’s piano at The Perch in Pacific Centre on Georgia and Howe.
Her website is: www.wombstudio.ca
You can see Rose’s piano at Perch Lot 19.
Her website is: rosewarrior64.wixsite.com/roselwilliamsarts
