Artists of Arts Commons - Part two
Read time: Under 8 minutes
On stage at Arts Commons there’s no doubt that you’ll see amazingly talented people. Whether they’re delivering a classic sonnet, challenging your perspectives with a new work, bringing the house down with an evening of soul-energizing music, or sharing their stories of exploration and discovery around the globe, Arts Commons is a building filled to the brim with talent. Few people think about the individuals behind the scenes that make it all happen.
In part two of this multi-part series, we’ll introduce you to some of our staff who have been secretly (some much less secretively) practicing their art in their off-hours. For some it’s a hobby, and for others it’s a separate career fuelled by their passion.
MEGAN FOX
Megan Fox works as a House Manager at Arts Commons, when she's not prepping and planning for reopening during COVID-19, she's prepping and planning ways to teach acting and direct plays online.
I've always been really into acting, I used to be a huge film and TV nerd and the closest way into acting was theatre classes in Junior High School. From there, my love for it just grew. I wasn't going to pursue anything after High School but I did one semester of an English degree, and I missed theatre so much that I knew I had to pursue it. So, I transferred schools and programs and moved to Vancouver to study at Simon Fraser University. The program at SFU was very interdisciplinary so I got to try my hand at many different things which prepared me for the work I'm doing now.
Returning to Calgary from school in Vancouver I envisioned myself running a company that taught theatre skills to non-theatre artists and then helped them to use those skills to help them develop their own work. Louise Day, an Arts Commons Front of House Team Member (usher), came to me one day with a dilemma. Being inspired by all of the creative people that worked in on our Front of House Team, Louise wanted to become more artistic herself and had a desire to study acting. However, she couldn't find any affordable acting classes, especially not anything geared towards seniors. So, she asked me if I would be interested in teaching acting and I said yes. Louise then worked really hard to set up an acting group with a local seniors’ club and that's how it all started. After a few rounds of classes, the seniors wanted a chance to present what they had been learning and I proposed creating an original work.
We did three showings of that play in the Engineered Air Theatre and the desire to continue to create original work eventually spawned off into its own theatre company, the Senior's Acting Lab, that is now creating and producing their own original plays. I helped to facilitate the writing of and direct their last play, More than A Number, which went up last June (2019) at Lunchbox Theatre and has since had six touring performances across different seniors' facilities in Calgary and one live-streamed online reading.
My process starts with teaching, I use exercises that get people into their bodies and voices then move into more impulse-based work, exercises to get people in touch with their imagination. My education is largely in experimental theatre so I was a little concerned about how the work I do might be different from people's expectations of what an acting class should be. The first class I ever taught, they just got it right away and I was like huh, well I guess I need to revise my entire plan.
“I thought: when people work with seniors they always want to hear stories of when they were younger but that’s not celebrating seniors, that’s valuing youth. I want to know about seniors’ lives right now.”
Once we decided to create our own play, I used a series of interviews to really understand what was important to the people I was working with. I thought: when people work with seniors they always want to hear stories of when they were younger but that's not celebrating seniors, that's valuing youth. I want to know about seniors' lives right now. That turned into a simple and somewhat abstract show called See Me. After presenting that show, a core group of people I was working with decided they wanted to take what we'd done and develop it further, give it context and have it follow a more structured narrative.
I feel really lucky to have been working with this unique community. I can't take any credit for getting the work out there. That really was Louise, a few other members of the Seniors Acting Lab like Faye Brown, another FOH Team Member (usher) who wrote, acted in and did marketing for More than a Number. Another neat thing is that, Aeron Mundell, one of our Assistant House Managers, did the poster and program design. So, there's been a nice overlap between the Arts Commons community and the Seniors Acting Lab. I simply supported and facilitated the artistic process.
The training that I have received has really shaped who I am as a person. There have been so many things on that front that make it worthwhile but sharing that with other people takes it to a whole new level. Seeing people I taught get up and perform is so cool! I get really proud.
The bulk of my training has been in physically rigorous and emotionally stimulating techniques that require you to look deep into yourself and challenge you to offer up your vulnerability to an audience. Even when I'm not following the rigorous practices, the philosophy behind the techniques; that we draw upon what lives inside us, that the body knows what to do if the head can get out of the way and that all you need for theatre to occur is an actor and a spectator, is always present in how I work and teach.
I try hard to stay curious and tend to approach everything from a beginner's mindset. Teaching keeps things so fresh, it's a constant learning experience. Sometimes I'll be in the middle of teaching and go "oh, I don't think that means what I've always thought it means, maybe it's actually this other thing."
It's really about staying curious and attentive to what's happening in the moment.
It was a little unreal to me to realize that I had a dream when I moved back to Calgary. I had this dream to teach acting and develop plays, and then it happened. I mean that dream involved owning my own studio and running my own company. But all in good time.
Louise Day and Faye Brown in More Than a Number
SANJA LUKAC
Sanja Lukac works with all of the amazing emerging visual and media artists featured in the many Arts Commons galleries. When she isn’t assisting artists in expanding their professional knowledge, she’s capturing images of the striking, strange, and beautiful with her camera.
Early cinema, family photos, photo books/magazine, other photographers, cameras around the house first inspired me, Art History and meeting a daguerreotype all had an impact and were a point of inspiration. I was, however, first inspired to take my own photographs so I could have original reference materials for drawings/paintings rather than taking from a magazine or book, and also so I could document the people and places around me and learn how to develop photos I took in the darkroom.
I take photos without cameras, old cameras and cameras from that shelf in Value Village many thankfully overlook. I use various film and paper types, or use plates and Polaroids to expose on. Then I develop the exposed film sometimes in the darkroom with a non-toxic developer or in even older techniques. I’ll spend months out of the year taking photos and other months developing them, living in Moh-kíns-tsis/Calgary our seasons have helped me keep this routine.
I think it is amazing and wonderful to see so many artists and photographers sharing their work online and beyond - it’s just not part of my process but something I admire as it’s opened up the presence of photography in our every day life. However, I primarily keep my work private and prefer people see the work in person or published rather than through a screen, and am happy that so many of my works have been exhibited, published and live in private collections in many places.
“It’s Magic... captures memories, the ‘decisive moment’ and builds community. The darkroom is a healing and meditative space that has always been apart of my home/studio space. ”
When I first saw an image come to life I wanted to know how to re-create photography from scratch.. still learning.. you know in case of the apocalypse .. I could still develop my film?
I got my first camera with my first pay cheque in early 2000s - I started with 35mm film, Polaroids, and there has always been new processes, techniques, and materials to test out. I'm constantly inspired seeing how other artists around the world utilize traditional methods of photography in their contemporary practice, and of course the Analogue Community always keeps things fresh.
My deep appreciation for Analogue and the Artists who work with Traditional/Alternative photographic techniques founded the vision behind SEITIES STUDIO, a Traditional Photographic Gallery + Publication whose mission is to expose, encourage and empower an international community of artists who work with traditional methods of production in photography. I'm so grateful to have met and worked with hundreds of Analogue Photographers through my work with SEITIES. @seities
Photography has allowed me to experience many opportunities to meet people and see places, it an all access pass to those who can use this tool with compassion. Having access to a darkroom is also is a great tool for well-being, I often refer to the darkroom as a place of meditation and refection.
