WORK OF ART
Matt Olson talks to a musician and a visual artist about how they are inspiring a new generation of budding young creatives.
Forrest Eaglespeaker and Nevada Freistadt both work as local artists in the city. Eaglespeaker performs with his band North Sound and is working on more music and writing with the help of a grant from the Saskatchewan Arts Board, and Freistadt is a visual artist who produces pieces out of her home.
They both ran workshops for the National Arts Centre’s Music Alive program in Saskatoon in August, and spoke to the StarPhoenix about teaching their art to young people in the city.
Q What pushes you to want to work with kids in your artistic fields?
Eaglespeaker I can’t imagine doing what I’m doing and not finding a way to give back . ... At a certain point, the youth have to be a priority. I don’t know what that point is, but I might as well make it right now and dedicate as much time as I possibly can outside of my music to making a difference with the youth.
Freistadt If i’m able to have that knowledge now, my goal is to be able to share it the way i was taught. Just passing it on to the youth, because that’s when I found it was most beneficial to me ... is that I had access when I was young.
Q Why is an NAC program like this important for Saskatoon?
Eaglespeaker Because it’s important for everywhere to have a program like this. Everywhere needs a place like this — everywhere there is a youth, there needs to be a program to engage that youth.
Freistadt In a smaller city like this, some might say there are less opportunities, less things going on ... so for the NAC to bring the programs here, that’s a step in the right direction in being able to engage the youth and keep them going.
Q You have a young daughter together. How does she influence your work?
Freistadt She’s Blackfoot ... When I had to step into the family and learn how to create her tr a di- tional pieces and her traditional wear, that’ s really when what I’m doing now took off for me. I had to learn from the family ... and that kind of guided me to be able to create for her and now for other family members and friends.
Eaglespeaker Her influence on me is much bigger than art. She became areas onto keep myself together, something bigger than music. When you don’t have much that you really see a point in, and something as incredible as that comes around, it’s lifechanging.
Q You each ran different workshops for the program. How do you see kids develop in the workshops?
Freistadt The outcome from the kids who painted for one hour is no different than the kids who painted for eight hours because they feel like they poured their creativity and expression into what they were working on.
Eagle speaker For me, it’ s amazing to see the satisfaction that the youth get in themselves once they’ve completed the project. That, for me, is the best part— because they did it, and nobody can take that away from them.
Q What do you want the kids you work with to take away from your workshops?
Eaglespeaker My biggest thing is if the kids leave feeling like they’re confident enough to not be afraid to dream, not to think that they have a cap on their potential.
Freistadt To have these kids know that there’s somebody who has interest in what they’re doing artistically and creatively, to hold them accountable and push them along ... I’m grateful for the NAC being able to provide that opportunity.