Vivienne Bessette | Party line

×

Expand

Vivienne Bessette, "Party line," 2023

mixed media. Courtesy of the Gallery.

The compost hotline is just a phone number but it is also a network of gardens, an imaginary friend and an always-developing informal online collab space where artists, gardeners and community organizers can temporarily freeze the flow of the internet (spirit net) to reflect and share research, personal archives, or the 2am–4am late-night google unconscious. It is meant as an alternative to death for precious trans liminal space, digital scraps, not-to-be-forgotten embodiments, or otherwise entombed hard drive materials. To apply, upload files into the google drive as a constellation of web links, screen shots, images, a recording, or text about what is keeping you up at night. 

About the artist:

Vivienne Bessette (b. 1982) is a queer settler & interdisciplinary artist whose ancestry ties them to Ireland, Croatia, France, and the Metis settlements of Cayer, MB, and Red River. Bessette incorporates drawing, painting, woodworking, sculpting, dying, writing, fermenting and building relationships with plants into their practice. They work in and out of the studio, the garden and the kitchen, developing sustainable and alternative modes of food production and utilizing unconventional materials. The strength of entangled and interdependent community is at the stomach of Bessette’s process. Bessette holds a BFA from Simon Fraser University. They have been involved with multiple garden and food-based collectives, including Commons Garden at Sahalli Park Community Garden, Garden Don’t Care, Looking at the Garden Fence, and the project What artists bring to the table for the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria with Derya Akay and Kurtis Wilson. Bessette was a Food Coordinator for Slow Waves Small Projects on Mayne Island. They have been published in The Capilano Review (“Pattern of Pears,” 2020 and “Organize Your Building with the Support of the Vancouver Tenants Union with the Belvedere Residents,” 2018). They live and work on the stolen and unceded territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm, Sḵwx̱wú7mesh and səlí̓lwətaʔɬ Nations.

Artist Workshop:

the poetry of ugly pickles: a compost related workshop, delivered by visiting artist Vivienne Bessette.

Workshop date: February 25, 2023, 3-5pm

Location: Fort Rouge Leisure Centre, 625 Osborne Street

Accessibility information: TBA

This workshop is free to attend. Please sign up by clicking this link.

Vivienne Bessette will host the poetry of ugly pickles: a compost related workshop centred around food, composting, and community resources. Using produce and materials gathered by Bessette, participants will garble/sort/arrange them into delicious and interesting pickles to take home.

We will be sharing resources about good grocery stores, where to get dollar bags of food, seconds, and “ugly” produce. If you have suggestions or ideas (a story about abundant summer fruit trees in the neighbourhood?) regarding community resources, share your thoughts at the workshop!

Materials for the workshop will be supplied, however participants are asked to bring a knife and cutting board if possible.