For immediate release
May 6, 2014
Sudbury is rubbing off on me
Building community with charcoal
SUDBURY – Artist Leesa Bringas hopes a little bit of Sudbury rubs off on patrons of this week’s FAAS4 (foire d’art alternatif de Sudbury). Bringas, who runs Cambrian College’s Open Studio, has developed an interactive display that showcases well-known and off-the-beaten-path landmarks throughout Greater Sudbury.
“My contribution to FAAS4 is called Sudbury is Rubbing Off on Me; it’s a way to engage the city and community through the act of making and giving away buttons,” Bringas explains. “The buttons are made from charcoal rubbings of walls, buildings, sidewalks, nature, pre-Cambrian rock, as well as overlooked corners inside and outside the Rainbow Centre and downtown Sudbury.”
Bringas plans to take her work to the streets.
“Throughout the festival, folks may see me on the street, pushing a shopping cart and taking the rubbings, and then making buttons on site – as long as the weather cooperates.”
This year’s theme, Not for Sale, challenges notions and perceptions of capitalism, and encourages artists to incorporate the motif of a shopping cart into their works of art.
After moving to Sudbury from Windsor, Ontario – where she earned a Master of Fine Arts degree from the University of Windsor – Bringas set out to learn about her new city by examining its architecture, infrastructure and natural settings.
“I am hoping to learn more by immersing myself into the landscape, as well as interacting with the public,” she says. “I also find interesting the idea of mark-making through the rubbings, like a kind of souvenir or an act of remembering. By breaking down the rubbings into multiple buttons, I can share a place with others – this builds a sense of community.”
FAAS4 is coordinated by La Galerie du Nouvel Ontario and features more than 30 contemporary artists from across the country, who will come together to create new art in public spaces. It takes place May 6-10 at the Rainbow Centre in downtown Sudbury, near the food court.
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The Sudbury working-group site is no longer being updated and has been archived.