An interactive installation of sculpture and light, presented at Biblio Wakefield Library, in the Gatineau Hills.
This spot is the true heart of the village and for many far-off rural folx
Inspired by the vitality of the local literary and library scenes, and informed by the artist’s commitment to public engagement, cj designed an intergenerational, community collaboration. Through the TD Summer Reading Club, children were offered two hands-on workshops about the power of letters, language, and light as an expressive element. They experienced the “imagine, test, and reflect” phases, seeing into the “before and after” parts of a creative process.
Board members came into the planning phase before the funding application, supporting the vision for an inclusive project, and strategies for a summer-long integration of the multimedia installation into their library. Librarians and volunteers brought their respective skills, helping to situate the art’s key elements, address the library’s light levels, devise the optimal power feeds for two separate spotlights…and to cj’s surprise, even move bookshelves! Librarians also helped with the installation and adjusted small technical details during the exhibit’s three-month run. Volunteers continued to facilitate promotion, and furthered community-linking by encouraging viewers to fill in little sentence-start forms: “When language is processed through the heart__________________”.
Au coeur des lettres was supported by the CALQ, the MRC de l’Outaouais and Biblio Wakefield Library, who also hosted an opening as part of the 2018 Writers Festival.
(...) a powerful example of the transformative power of community art and the role libraries can play in developing genuine human literacy
“Au coeur des lettres is a metaphorical art piece that places the heart at the center of communication. It articulates a link between the privileges of human connection and the intrinsic potential of letters; small graphic symbols, magical units, that have led to vast libraries over millennia.
The work is about the sensitivity of the human heart to communication; the corporeal and emotional responses to what is conveyed through letters. It speaks to an awareness that has both intimate and expansive implications.
The planet-like anatomical heart is ringed by a perforated metal disc, a web of the “West’s” alphabet. Suspended at the level of the average adult heart, the solid form floats within a star-like cosmos of projected light, illuminated letters that reach onto library surfaces; spreading four alphabets used in the artist’s village: Latin, Mandarin, Syllabic, and Arabic.
Au coeur des lettres is a powerful example of the transformative power of community art and the role libraries can play in developing genuine human literacy.”
–Volunteer Working Committee Liaison, Ilse Turnsen
When language is processed through the heart__________________
