At Forward House we talk lots about
community and what it is to belong, and how it feels to be apart,
and how to reconcile those differences. We wondered how others
living in Parksville see their relationship with community, and we
decided to find out!
For seven weeks in summer, 2011, we conducted our 'Great Community Canvas Experiment'. We placed an empty canvas and plenty of paints outside our home, conveniently situated at a bus stop, where all sorts of people tend to collect. We left a written invitation to people to expresses themselves, to leave their marks on canvas and we invited them to take a compassion button for honouring themselves and their community by participating. We also left a book for their feedback about their experience
Then we watched
and recorded our observations.
We discovered that children
were the most forthcoming - no great surprise there -
followed respectively by women in groups, women alone, and
women and men together.
We never observed a man to paint by himself. Most people
looked first, then came back to paint later.
At first, the colours used
were dark and basic...blue, black. By midsummer,
all the colours were
being applied, and some people painted text beside their images. No
one ever defaced the canvas.
When we were done, we came to
some conclusions:
The more dominant images were
of a woman whose expression was described as 'dream-like', and of
buildings thought to represent community. Many other pictures and
symbols that were less prominent nevertheless contributed
importantly to the whole. The overall effect was described as
peaceful; a community that is peaceful, yet vital and busy. We
agreed it must be a pretty nice place to live.
Just as a community evolves,
so the canvas evolved, in layers, some painting over others' work,
but each painter contributing in ways meaningful to self with regard
for others' work, and all painting without
apparent attachment to being a star performer.
Our clients agreed they felt
proud to have facilitated the experiment and felt a greater sense of
belonging as a result.
The painting was presented to the Mayor and Council at their meeting of November 7, 2011, as a gift through the partners of Forward House from the community, to the community.
