STREET PRINTS ARTIST COLLECTIVE is an exciting new shared initiative of Heart of the City Festival, E4C, and the Inner City Recreation and Wellness Program – a joint project of Bissell Centre and Boyle Street Community Services with funding from the Edmonton Arts Council. Together, these organizations are offering support and opportunity to inner city artists who are producing artwork but often lack resources to support the long-term production, promotion, and sale of their art. The collective meets weekly on Monday afternoons at the Bissell Centre to discuss upcoming events and complete new artwork. This summer, the Street Prints Artist Collective will be at the 124 Street Grand Market bi-weekly on Thursday nights from 4-8 p.m. 124grandmarket.com Come visit us!

Here are profiles of just a few of the Collective’s artists!

(Photos and information were supplied, except where otherwise noted.)

Bonnie
Bonnie started using her artistic expression in 1999 to cope with what was going on in her life at the time. She now creates art to occupy her spare time, to deal with some of the effects of FASD, and to challenge herself artistically. Bonnie creates non-traditional dream catchers made from bike rims and found bits from donations from the Edmonton Bicycle Commuters Society, Re-Use Centre, and dollar stores, for the last 10 years. She has written a 300 page poetry book, including poems about her mother, best friend, and her life. Bonnie also works out of the Nina Haggerty Centre creating multiple forms of art including clay sculptures, glass etching, paintings and sketch labs. She also designed the STREET PRINTS logo!

Sherien
In high school, Sherien had an art teacher who was very good at portraits. The teacher asked her to create a self-portrait and when she was finished she was not happy with the painting, as it did not look like her. The teacher saw that she had done a good job, but there was a small problem with the eyes which the teacher helped her correct. When Sherien saw the dramatic difference that the change to the eyes made, she knew that she wanted to create more portraits and paintings of faces and animals. At the end of the year the teacher kept that painting, and she never saw it again. That image was the beginning of her artistic career. Sherien started working with the McCauley Community League art group about 20 years ago, and has not looked back.

Dave
Throughout life I’ve felt I’ve felt like an outsider. More a critic than a joiner, I’ve fought desperately to break the shackles of this feeling. Meeting new people, new adventures, and travel brought only temporary relief. A rolling stone has no permanence except movement. I found Vegas: bright light city. At first glance it was a shining jewel in the desert. Casino management tried to make all my dreams come true, massaging my ego with the skill of a hunter. I was in love. But Vegas has a way of distorting reality. I lost everything. Everything. I did spend an awful lot of time hustling money, evading loan sharks and other cash collectors along the way, as I continued my gambling odyssey. There were personal accomplishments, but gambling, like science and math, over time, is pure. Life’s journey became one of suffering. Please join with me as I explore life in word and video – a work still in progress as I search a new road. (Written by Dave.)