To most people in the developed world, time is calculated by the unrelenting ticking of a clock and activities set according to a calendar.
Alarms get many of us up at a specified time, work begins and ends by the clock, stores and services are open according to the same kind of calculations and celebrations are determined by a date on the calendar.
But what would happen if, at least for a while, we forgot the clock and moved to other rhythms.
We would become much more aware of the planet and the creatures that live here, says artist Cathy Stubington, who has been examining the notion in a project she calls Calendario.
“I’m curious about learning how to recognize the passage of time, not according to the clock and calendar, but according to the changes in the sky, the sequence of events in nature and their correlation with our own human activities,” she says.
Stubington points out that people who live in a particular area for an extended period of time often become aware that when certain things happen every year, other things occur near or at the same time.
For example, it might be something like knowing it’s time to plant the potatoes when the Saskatoon berries are in bloom.
Stubington says people who grow their own food become more aware of how nature is telling them to do something.
Wild and domestic animals and plants have cycles and people can gain their own sense of time from those things, she says.
“Part of recognizing myself is seeing myself as being a part of it all,” she adds, noting that while the concept seems simple, it really is a complex process.
Stubington says her interest in time was sparked by a mural she saw on a wall in a school, high in the Peruvian Andes.
The mural depicts time in a cyclical manner with pictures of seasonal indicators in traditional farming, harvesting and the celebrations around those activities.
Stubington has been compiling a list of seasonal indicators that, while they may be similar from one area to another, can occur at different times.
“If a person is in a place for a very long time, they become aware of that,” she says. “Indigenous people around the world know this very well.”
Not only is Stubington studying the concept of seasonal indicators, she has become involved in several other Calendario projects.
She is working with a Grindrod farmer and school children to make a large felt rug with wool harvested from local sheep.
An ethno-ecologist is collecting data on seasonal indicators local people are aware of, and last year, with a list of resident birds provided by naturalist Tom Brighouse, Stubington created a poster based on what birds are in the area at a particular time.
“I live on a farm and see the correlation between the birds we see and what is happening (in terms of season),” she says.
Stubington is also working with an artist in Vernon to create a line of clothing that’s specific to seasonal indicators, including some with sayings that she hopes can become part of local lore.
“What I would really like would be some public art that contains this information that people can see and learn and develop a connection to the Earth,” she says. “We’re also interested in the different ways artists might interpret it and we’re hoping to make at least two or three public installations of some kind of local calendar. It’s a kind of a simple idea, but it’s also a big idea and, in some ways it’s like the Farmer’s Almanac.”
Area artists have been invited to share their individual conceptions of this notion at SAGA Public Art Gallery’s annual juried members’ exhibition, “Signs of the Seasons,” which opens with a reception at 7 p.m. Friday, Jan. 25.
Other art projects are on tap at the gallery too.
On Saturday, Jan. 26, the Art Centre’s free Family Saturdays art program celebrates Family Literacy Week with creative book-making stations.
From 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., families are invited to create three different styles of books made from a variety of materials.
Get out those needles because the Odd Socks Knitting Studio resumes from 1 to 3 p.m. Friday, Feb. 1.
Knitters of all levels gather in the gallery lounge Fridays to work on their projects in a companionable atmosphere.
It may seem that spring is still far away, but plans are already in place for spring break art days and it’s time to reserve a spot for children between the ages of nine and 13.
The arts centre will once again offer art on Mondays during the March break, with “Kahlo Monday” on March 18 and “Klimt Monday” on March 25.
Experienced local artists facilitate each session. The cost is $20 per participant per day.
