The Tile Project Gratitude

Issue 105 June 2011 Subscription: A Donation Towards our Work • 22nd Annual Golf Tournament • Thank You to Our Generous Supporters • Jim Erb’s Extended table • A True Master of Ceremonies • Mayors’ Dinner over 24 Years • Memories of Dinners Past • Robert Will Be Missed • Six Faces of Love Film Festival • GROW Herbal Gardens Update • Community Access Bicycles Community Art: A Roadmap for Human Connection The Tile Project By Rachel Wunder cately shape pieces of their identity on a terracotta tile. Walking past The Working Cen- Carol Bradley notes that both tre in downtown Kitchener you may the process and product of The Tile not notice the art installation on Project were of equal importance. the Charles Street side of the build- The product of her efforts yielded ing amidst the construction that is an artifact of each person’s gifts and transforming our roadways and city talents that could be carried forward blocks. Fixtures that were once new to the larger community. The pro- gradually become unnoticed as we cess became a display of the need keep our city in a constant state for individuals to be given the tools of flux. Buildings and roadways are to express themselves and develop Gratitude brought forward from the past to be partnerships with each other in a changed or altered in response to community context. The project By Stephanie Mancini others. One person in this mix can shifting social dynamics and needs, called on non-artists to engage in feel daunted by how much there is so as we navigate our journeys in As we prepare this spring issue a process with an outcome entirely to do. But none of this is the work these engineered landscapes, we of Good Work News there is a sense shaped by their unique perspectives of one person – every piece, every must ensure that the projects that of gratitude – for the good things and experiences. In an attempt to project, draws together the work of keep our communities enriched and around us, for the warm weather bring out the silent, underlying is- many people – the spirit of working connected do not become fragment- approaching. We reflect in this issue sues that are generated in our so- together. ed or forgotten. on the celebration of the Mayors’ ciety, this project was an artistic The Working Centre is held to- The Tile Project, a community- Dinner, and on the many people approach to give voice to some in- gether as pockets of diverse activi- based art venture facilitated in 1996 who contribute financially to make dividuals who may have otherwise ties, and these pieces weave togeth- by Carol Bradley as part of the City our work possible. This makes us gone unheard. er as a whole. of Kitchener’s Artist in Residence feel strengthened and surrounded The only constraints were that • The bike project scrambles to program, proposes a tool to make by the wider community around us. people had to visually represent their refurbish and repair bicycles as our journey an opportunity to learn Our work is always very full, stories on a square terracotta tile, the spring weather gets people from each other, and create dialogue lively and dynamic. As the spirit which would later be glazed in one riding; and they explore ways to among its participants and audi- of community grows, more and of six colours. Some of the younger ence. The Tile Project, which found more people come to contribute, participants challenged the bound- its home at The Working Centre to find assistance, to be among continued on page 3 aries of this project by rebelliously in 2006, can be seen as a process writing “LSD” and other drug-relat- of reclamation where participants ed references on the surface of their were given room to discover and tiles. However, these pieces were in- claim their individual and collective Community cluded alongside everyone else’s in identities as a way to recast them- the mosaic to celebrate each story in selves as meaningful members in the Access whatever form they were presented. community. The Tile Project displays com- The concept was wonder- munity art as a way of seeing, docu- Bicycles fully simple: each participant was menting, and engaging in critical given some clay which they rolled reflection to stimulate relationships into a square tile, and then wrote, Kitchener’s New Bike Sharing Program among participants and viewers. painted, or sculpted anything they Public art therefore becomes a type The Working Centre and the City of Kitchener are working on wished onto its surface. The indi- of creativity that uses its immediate launching a pilot project for Community Access Bicycles in downtown vidual tiles would then be placed environment as an artistic medium. Kitchener over the summer. We hope to get started by early August. side by side to create a collective, The community around it becomes Viable bike sharing needs to be inexpensive and accessible. A vi- quilt-like mosaic. The process be- its frame wherein viewers are invit- brant community can easily develop the ethic of bike sharing that makes gan and ended over the course of ed to reconsider their everyday sur- getting around easy and convenient. We are looking for your participa- several weekends in the fall of that tion to help make this happen. year and saw over 260 pairs of busy See page 8 for more details. hands working together to deli- continued on page 2 June 2011 Good Work News Page 2 Twenty-Sixth Year The Tile Project Issue 105 June 2011 continued from page 1 for creative expression is a rare opportunity. There are seldom neigh- Good Work News roundings. In this way, art serves to bourhoods or communities that Good Work News was first produced in September 1984. It is published integrate those who might otherwise allow equal access to means for four times a year by The Working Centre and St. John’s Kitchen as a remain strangers to one another by public communication, and there- forum of opinions and ideas on work and unemployment. Four issues of valuing the attachment to its loca- fore meaningful opportunity to Good Work News constitutes our annual report. There is a circulation tion and encouraging people to feel document people’s stories. For this of 12,000 copies. Subscription: a donation towards our work. that they belong together. reason, art is a social asset that cre- Interestingly, the old adage about ates opportunities for dialogue and Editors: Joe Mancini, Stephanie Mancini, Jennifer Mains, John R. life reflecting art holds true for The connection between individuals in Smith Tile Project. Similar to the journeys our community. that the tiles represent, the proj- Contributors: Joe Johnson, Rebecca Mancini, Rachel Wunder, ect itself has been on its own Azam Fouk Aladeh, Dave Thomas, Barb Crockard, journey. Upon its completion in Adam Kramer, Dwight Storring, and Thomas Mancini. 1996, the tiles were displayed Editorial comments, changes of address and new subscriptions should at the Kitchener City Hall dur- be directed to: ing the Festival of the Night celebration in December of that The Working Centre year, and in 2001 the piece was 58 Queen St. S., Kitchener, Ontario, N2G 1V6 installed on the Schreiter build- Phone: (519) 743-1151 • Fax: (519) 743-3840 ing in three separate segments where it remained until 2005. E-mail: [email protected] Following this, the pieces of the Web: www.theworkingcentre.org project were removed from their Canada Post Bulk #05306256 hanging, and stored in boxes until they found their current home at What makes The Tile Project Charitable Registration #13092 9607 RR0001 The Working Centre in 2006. Here, such a triumph is its ability, through the three segments were unified a simple framework, to use the cre- into one large and connected piece ative gifts that are so inherently hu- that was fixed to the brick wall fac- man to convey each participant’s Please join us for the ing Charles Street. The narrative story. With many hands at work, that forms from this move, where carried forward from their own the separated tiles of the piece are unique past and experiences, the nd mounted on the wall of an organi- participants collaborated to create zation that builds community, is a a beautiful piece of art that would wonderful example of the beauty have been otherwise impossible 22 that can unfold when art projects from a single set of hands. The proj- are put to work in communities. ect shows us the power that each Annual The arts contribute to the ways of our journeys can occupy when in which we experience our world they are harmoniously placed beside and what it means to exist as mem- those of other members of our com- bers of a community. They are munity. This serves not only to form forms of dialogue that can respond connections to those around us, but more effectively to the ambiguous also to adhere the cracks that can and often conflicting nature of form between ourselves and our sur- what it is to be human. They also roundings. enable us to cultivate awareness Rachel Wunder has just completed and receptivity to people’s pain, a 9-month placement at The Working struggles, and growth. For many Centre through the Renison College In support of The Working Centre people, accessibility to public space Bachelor of Social Work program. and St. John’s Kitchen 43 Queen St. S. th nd Wednesday, August 17 , 2011 (2 Floor), Kitchener Shop Hours: at Rockway Golf Course Tuesday - Friday: 10am - 5pm $120 per Golfer plus a $15 Golf Bonus Package Saturday: 10am - 2pm To reserve your spot, Last year, Recycle Cycles repairs and recycles call Kara at (519) 743-1151 x119 over 4000 bikes, including about 3200 bikes brought in for repairs, and 800 bikes sold.

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