BEYOND ART
A year with Urban Canvas offers hope, inspiration
Tonia Bird is comfortable surrounded by the paint-splattered, art-covered walls of Saskatoon Community Youth Arts Programming ’s (SCYAP) downtown space. It’s a big contrast from how she felt inside her former high school. Anxiety forced her to drop out in Grade 9.
“I felt like I had failed,” she says.
OCT. 3, 2016
Bird joins SCYAP’s Urban Canvas alongside 11 other participants. The 34-week program aims to give youth with barriers to employment and education the skills to succeed in art and life. Each participant has a unique set of challenges, from mental health to legal issues.
A week in, Bird is shy but smiles easily, eyes crinkling behind her dark-rimmed glasses. She admits she still gets nervous every morning before going to the art space on Third Avenue.
Inside the old building is colourful, organized chaos. A melodic doorbell rings every time someone enters or leaves.
It’s a challenge for Bird to get up five mornings a week for a full day of lessons and workshops, but she hopes the art program can get her back on track. Going back to school is her main goal.
“Getting into this program has helped me to think I can do it. I can go back to school and get another job. I’ll be OK,” she says.
Before she was accepted as part of Urban Canvas, Bird, 18, often visited the space for drop-in art making. In that time, she learned to trust the staff, which built confidence.
Darrell Lechman founded SCYAP in 2001. Urban Canvas has a 90 per cent success rate, which means grads gain employment or return to school.
The program has also changed the visual esthetic of Saskatoon. Art can be seen on 50 local power boxes, murals at public libraries and hospitals, the Saskatoon Farmers’ Market, the Indian and Metis Friendship Centre and the Shakespeare on the Saskatchewan trailer.
AUG. 31, 2016
Lechman’s inspiration for SCYAP started in the corrections field. The Winnipeg native worked at Stony Mountain Institution, a federal prison in Manitoba, in the 1980s. Interacting with inmates taught him how to earn their trust, be tolerant and suspend judgment.
Later, he worked as a personal development coach with Boys and Girls Club Edmonton.
In both cases, Lechman noticed most people were able to connect to art.
Urban Canvas 12, which started in late September, marked a transition year for SCYAP. After 16 years, Lechman stepped out of his role as executive director. He finally found the right people to take on the rather large responsibility.
Local businessman Brian Storey is now CEO, responsible for keeping the organization financially sustainable. Clay Shaw took over as operations manager. Lechman and Shaw bonded over a shared background in corrections.
Shaw, who spent 15 years working at the Regional Psychiatric Centre in Saskatoon, says he was intimidated by the idea of taking on the job because he saw how much work Lechman put in.
“It’s more than a job, it really touches people,” he says.
He says yes because he thought it was a healthy place to work. He considers working there a privilege.
It wasn’t easy for Lechman to let go. He knows how crucial it is for the support and trust to continue even after people have left SCYAP.
Though he stepped down in the fall, Lechman maintains a strong relationship with SCYAP in the unpaid role of president. He’ll still answer his phone if students or staff need to chat.
NOV. 16, 2016
When Bird left high school, it was difficult for her to talk to others. Just over a month into Urban Canvas, she’s speaking in front of friends, family and the media at the program’s first art show.
Bird and her sister Elizabeth Fisher, 22, will be the second and third members of the family to complete Urban Canvas. Their sister took part in the previous session and went on to get two parttime jobs and started working on her GED.
After the speakers finish, Bird’s mother Mirna Fisher, admires both of her daughters’ work. She says their talent is in their blood, thanks to their late grandfather, Cree artist Sanford Fisher.
“That’s probably where they get it from. They don’t get it from me,” she says.
Bird’s piece is a colourful and playful work inspired by the Taylor Swift song Eloise.
JAN. 25, 2017
Bird sits cross-legged on the floor of SCYAP, quietly applying green paint to a large piece inspired by Emily Carr. She mixes colours, trying to get just the right shade, but admits she wants the result to be brighter.
As is so often the case with this Urban Canvas group, the concentration is intense. The participants are there to work and the mini murals mark a big step in the artistic journey.
The young people are learning how to paint on a large scale, a crucial skill needed as they work toward their final project, a new mural for the White Buffalo Youth Lodge, measuring 12 feet by 60 feet.
Bird says the experience is going by very quickly. She missed several days earlier in the month after her grandpa died. It was a difficult experience but she was happy to return to Urban Canvas when she was ready.
The program’s art co-ordinator, Jordan Schwab, says it can be hard for the participants to come back after Christmas break, especially when it’s extremely cold, but he’s proud of the work they are doing.
“Everybody this week has been back and working hard,” he says. “They’re a good group. They all seem to want to be here.”