The ReCreation Room, 2005, Xchanges Artist coop; spontaneous collaboration with Victoria Edgar

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The ReCreation Room was a project initiated by Jessica Demers, Gallery Coordinator at Xchanges Gallery in Victoria, BC. In this project, artists freely exchanged or donated various cast-offs from their studios to be used in the creation of new works. I took the opportunity to bring in a bag of my children’s old stuffed toys and as fate would have it another artist, Victoria Edgar of Ground Zero Printmakers, was keen to work with me to do something with these gorgeous toys. We decided to insert the toys into the exterior concrete bricks of the building. I returned several times to add more toys and replace any that had been abducted or borrowed by the passing by public in the meantime. For the opening I offered people the chance to get their portrait taken with their toy which I printed ion the spot using a Kodak EasyShare printer. In return the person would make a modest donation to the gallery if possible. Once again, I found reinforcement for working collaboratively with another artist and interacting with the public. In many ways the gifting of the toys worked on 3 levels: creating a spontaneous playful outdoor installation that any passerby could take a toy from if they needed or wanted one, providing a segue for audience participation and exchange with the gallery and an opportunity for collaboration between artists. The toys also created a startling contrast to the harsh exterior of Xchanges and the neighborhood in general. I had a strong sense of the vulnerability of these toys not only as the comforting playthings of children but as toys due to their materials.