To Whom it May Convince

Artist’s statement

I’ve been on these unceded lands for most of my sixty years. The last three and a half have been a protest against my own privilege. Perhaps I have not always made the pretty things that people love to purchase for their walls. Rich, pleasing colours. Bold lines. 

Nonetheless, bits and pieces, warm and humourous memories, some of cruelties and inequities, mixed, heated and filtered, like shards of the rooibos tea I love to drink most days. What was on the inside for decades, oozed and trickled out just a little bit. 

Please feel to contact me at shelley.saltzwoman@gmail.com

When I entered Emily Carr, I vowed to myself that I would minimize my environmental mess. Most of my work is, therefore, created from upcycled materials. My latest project, “Little Box of Protests,” was formed from paper pulp gleaned from rag paper cuts found in the paper bin in the PrintMedia studio. In my little box of protests you will find handmade paper and zines and postcards. I only wish that you could pick it up in your hands – open the pages, peruse, flip , feel the textures, the paper soft, thick and feathery, reminiscent of a worn flannel bed sheet.

I chose to perform “A Little Box of Protests” on the steps of the Vancouver Art Gallery. To see the performance, please go to following youtube link: https://youtu.be/erZY9GQ1cjQ

Not only do I see protest as a theme across my work, but the music of my youth tends often to appear, for example in “The Blumenfeld Series,” a set of 10″ wide silkscreen prints from 2019