Proud objects: Cheryl Pope’s first Canadian exhibition + tips for collaborative art

I WANT TO BE PROUD

Cheryl Pope, I WANT TO BE PROUD, 2016. Text by Debora Puricelli. Nylon and tackle twill, 3 x 5 ft. Image courtesy of the artist and Monique Meloche Gallery, Chicago.

In early 2016, renowned Chicago-based visual artist and designer Cheryl Pope collaborated with OCAD University students and local community members in her first Canadian exhibition, which formed a major part of Onsite Gallery and the university’s Pride 2016 programming (June 8 to July 4). This site-specific exhibition, Objects for Listening, included 10 colourful, varsity-style champion banners and multiple audio installations she calls “listening stations.”


All the pieces were developed in workshops, in which Pope led us through a variety of exercises, each one bringing us deeper into our private personal thoughts and perceptions. We answered questions. We sewed and chatted. We wrote while looking at ourselves in mirrors. And then we chatted some more.

 

I AM MYSELF

Cheryl Pope, I AM MYSELF, 2016. Text by OCAD U workshop participant. Nylon and tackle twill, 3 x 5 ft. Image courtesy of the artist and Monique Meloche Gallery, Chicago.

I AM NOT AFRAID

Cheryl Pope, I AM NOT AFRAID, 2016. Nylon and tackle twill, 3 x 5 ft. Image courtesy of the artist and Monique Meloche Gallery, Chicago.


Queer diversity and community

Pope designed the artworks in Objects for Listening to carry individuals’ thoughts from the OCAD U community. Those individuals may or may not have very different viewpoints, but they all reveal deep reflection on diverse identities, gender expressions and sexual orientations. Today, at the 35th anniversary of the bathhouse raids and Toronto’s Pride Parade, it is impossible to find any overarching language that could define the OCAD U or queer communities.

As discussions at the intersections of gender, race, cultural background, ability, age, class, education, politics and values are expanded, the significance of community remains important. As a community, over the past 35 years many in Toronto have fought hard for diverse sexual and gender expressions and identities.

Now, as we investigate systemic oppression, community strength, support and brainstorming remain vital. Working collaboratively, in the manner Pope does, successfully navigates and supports individuals and their communities.

I DON'T SEE ME AS YOU SEE ME

Cheryl Pope, I DON”T SEE ME AS YOU SEE ME, 2016. Nylon and tackle twill, 3 x 5 ft. Image courtesy of the artist and Monique Meloche Gallery, Chicago.

I AM UNSURE OF MY PLACE

Cheryl Pope, I AM UNSURE OF MY PLACE, 2016. Text by Lizz Khan. Nylon and tackle twill, 3 x 5 ft. Image courtesy of the artist and Monique Meloche Gallery, Chicago.


Cheryl Pope. Image courtesy of the artist and Monique Meloche Gallery, Chicago. Photo credit: LaMont Hamilton.

Cheryl Pope. Image courtesy of the artist and Monique Meloche Gallery, Chicago. Photo credit: LaMont Hamilton.

Pope’s 7 most important elements for designing collaborative art projects

  1. “Generating content with people through conversations, workshops, text submissions and free writes is rooted in the value of discovering together, of asking, looking, listening and finding.”
  2. Creating collaboratively “respects and celebrates the individual and highlights that individuals together make a community.”
  3. Pope’s works “offer the possibility to hear both the individual and the community.”
  4. “Working in this way, I find that it is possible to avoid assumptions and, instead, hear and better represent the voice of the people I am collaborating with.”
  5. “Research through conversations and workshops draws a foundation to the work that it is for the people, by the people and with the people. I see myself as a journalist; this is extremely important, as the work is understood as a voice of many.”
  6. “Being physically present with people and listening offers me the opportunity to hear the call and reactions, the community speak, the value and weight of the voice, of the body, the temperature in the room, the cadence and the progression, the silence, the comfort and discomfort. These aspects are most important in the research, the physicality of language.”
  7. “The workshops are focused opportunities for reflecting, sharing, questioning and listening. They offer the opportunity for members of the same community to hear one another, in a safe, respected and valued space. The awareness that their voices are being listened to as part of the research seems to call forward a heightened intention to the contribution and exchange.”

 

Lisa Deanne Smith is the curator of Onsite Gallery, OCAD University’s experimental curatorial platform and professional gallery of art, design and digital media.

Author: 
Lisa Deanne Smith
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Protection Necklace Workshop with Cheryl Pope

Wednesday, June 15, 2016 - 6:00pm to 10:30pm

Wednesday, June 15
2 to 6:30 p.m.

OCAD University’s Great Hall
100 McCaul St., Second Floor

Meet and join Chicago-based designer and artist Cheryl Pope and create a protection necklace, unique to you and for you to keep.

Pope designs objects and situations for listening. Through sculpture, installation and performance, she creates works that explore often uncomfortable issues concerning power, inequality, race, gender, identity and violence. Pope frequently makes her art in collaboration with others. When working in this manner, the pieces she designs set up a framework addressing a specified topic. Such frameworks bring forward the thoughts, feelings and experiences of the people she collaborates with.

Event is FREE, all are welcome
Complimentary workshop supplies are provided
The space is wheelchair accessible through use of elevators from the ground floor
Fully accessible with gender-neutral washrooms

This workshop is an extension of Pope’s exhibition, Objects for Listening. Runs from June 8 to July 4 in OCAD U’s Great Hall.

Stick around and join us for You Can Show With Us Digital Image Slam! Event begins immediately following the workshop.

Image credit:
Cheryl Pope, I WANT TO BE PROUD, 2016
Text by: Debora Puricelli 
Nylon and tackle twill
3 x 5 ft
Image courtesy of the artist and Monique Meloche Gallery, Chicago.

Venue & Address: 
OCAD U's Great Hall: 100 McCaul St., 2nd Floor
Website: 
http://www.facebook.com/events/895827907211240/
Email: 
onsite@ocadu.ca
Phone: 
416-977-6000, Ext. 456
Cost: 
FREE
I Wanter To Be Proud banner

Cheryl Pope: Objects for Listening

Banner saying "I want to be proud"
Wednesday, June 8, 2016 - 10:30pm to Tuesday, July 5, 2016 - 2:30am

Cheryl Pope
Objects for Listening

IN COLLABORATION WITH OCAD UNIVERSITY COMMUNITY

Works created in collaboration with: Paula Burrows, Tyla Crowhurst-Smith, Atticus Edwards, Anam Feerasta, Rita Camacho Lomeli, Lizz Khan, Tori Maas, Khadijah Morley, Sophie Paas-Lang, Tak Pham, Debora Puricelli, Amanda Robertson-Hébert, Claudio S. Santander and Mary Tremonte

Curated by Lisa Deanne Smith. Read more from Smith on Objects for Listening in InStudio.

OCAD University and Onsite Gallery welcomes Chicago-based designer and artist, Cheryl Pope. The new site-specific work in this exhibition was developed through workshops with OCAD U students and the local community, creating objects for listening.

Alongside Cheryl Pope’s work is an OCAD U Student Exhibition to unite and empower our students in their diverse sexual orientations, gender identities and gender expressions.

Featuring work by Madelyn Alexander, Dominique Crowley, Adam Filek, John Holland, Lara Aphrodite Isaias, James Patrick Knott, Emily Norry, Jules Reeves, Cecilia Salcedo, Sean Sandusky, Morgan Sears-Williams, Michael Seleski, Ronald Siu and Sarah Alinia Ziazi.

Curated by Wrik Mead

Both exhibitions run concurrently:
June 8 to July 4, 2016
OCAD U Great Hall
100 McCaul Street
Second Floor

Opening party: June 8 at 6:30 p.m.

Featuring:

  • DJ Mary Mack
  • DJ Cozmic Cat
  • Don’t miss House of Monroe’s mini-Ball and performance at 8:30 p.m.

Event is FREE, all are welcome
ASL provided for opening remarks and to interpret the works
Snacks available from The Steady Café
The space is wheelchair accessible through use of elevators from the ground floor
Fully accessible with gender-neutral washrooms
Presented as part of OCAD U's Major Cultural Partnership with Pride Toronto

Cheryl Pope
Cheryl Pope is a Chicago-based artist focused in sculpture, installation and performance. Her work questions and responds to issues of identity as it relates to the private and public self. For the past four years, her research has been centred on issues of power, inequality, race, gender and segregation in the U.S. This research includes several collaborations with Chicago youth through the intersection of poetry and the visual arts. These collaborations have surfaced as performances and special edition books as well as a team of young poets under the group name Just Yell. In 2015 she was the DCASE Artist in Residence at the Chicago Cultural Center and recently exhibited at the Kunsthalle Osnabrueck (Germany), The Poetry Foundation (IL) and Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art (CO). Also, Pope studied under the artist Nick Cave for twelve years and that experience has had a dominant influence on her practice.

Onsite Gallery
Onsite Gallery, OCAD University’s professional gallery and experimental curatorial platform for art, design and digital media, fosters social and cultural transformations, serving the OCAD U community and the general public. In preparation for the launch of Onsite Gallery’s new location in May 2017, our 2016 ONSITE/ programming imagines and creates what a public gallery can be.

Image credit:
Cheryl Pope, I WANT TO BE PROUD, 2016
Text by: Debora Puricelli 
Nylon and tackle twill
3 x 5 ft
Image courtesy of the artist and Monique Meloche Gallery, Chicago.

Venue & Address: 
OCAD U's Great Hall: 100 McCaul St., 2nd Floor
Website: 
http://www.facebook.com/events/1352020268147450/
Email: 
onsite@ocadu.ca
Phone: 
416-977-6000, Ext. 456
Cost: 
FREE
Event Poster with Banner saying "I want to be proud"

Objects for Listening: Cheryl Pope Public Conversation

Cheryl Pope, A Silent I, 2010
Thursday, March 17, 2016 - 11:00pm to Friday, March 18, 2016 - 12:30am

Onsite Gallery invites you to a public conversation with Cheryl Pope. Pope will discuss her collaborative projects with youth that create objects for listening, utilizing design and art disciplines.

As Pope is an artist and a designer, she will position half of the conversation through the lens of art and the other half through design.

Cheryl Pope is a Chicago-based artist focused in sculpture, installation and performance. Her work questions and responds to issues of identity as it relates to the private and public self. For the past four years, her research has been centred on issues of power, inequality, race, gender and segregation in the U.S. This research includes several collaborations with Chicago youth through the intersection of poetry and the visual arts. These collaborations have surfaced as performances and special edition books as well as a team of young poets under the group name Just Yell. In 2015 she was the DCASE Artist in Residence at the Chicago Cultural Center and recently exhibited at the Kunsthalle Osnabrueck (Germany), The Poetry Foundation (IL) and Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art (CO). Also, Pope studied under the artist Nick Cave for twelve years and that experience has had a dominant influence on her practice.

Her upcoming exhibition with Onsite Gallery in OCAD University’s Great Hall is from June 8 to July 4, 2016, as part of OCAD U’s Major Cultural Partnership with Pride Toronto for Toronto’s first-ever Pride Month. This will be Pope’s first time exhibiting in Canada.

Event is FREE, all are welcome
The space is wheelchair accessible through use of an elevator from the ground floor
 

Onsite Gallery

Onsite Gallery, OCAD University’s public gallery and experimental curatorial platform for art, design and digital media, fosters social and cultural transformations. In preparation for the launch of Onsite Gallery’s new location in May 2017, our 2016 ONSITE/ programming imagines and creates what a public gallery can be.

Onsite Gallery’s education program is generously supported by Nexus Investment Management.

Pride Toronto
Pride Toronto is a not-for-profit organization with a mission to bring people together to celebrate the history, courage and diversity of our community. June 2016 features Toronto’s first-ever Pride Month, culminating with the 36th annual Pride Parade on Sunday, July 3. 

Image Credit:

Cheryl Pope, A Silent I, 2010
Installation at Lindblom Math and Science Academy, Chicago
Image courtesy of the artist and Monique Meloche Gallery, Chicago

Venue & Address: 
OCAD University’s Central Hall 100 McCaul St., Second Floor, Room 230
Email: 
onsite@ocadu.ca
Phone: 
416-977-6000, Ext. 456
Cost: 
FREE
Objects for Listening Poster
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