About Art Building Community | Schedule | Artists | Minerva Cuevas | Curator | Panelists | Responses
Becky Thiessen is a self-taught artist, inspired by many. For seven years she worked at Art City, a community based art centre and source of much of her inspiration. She did not know that she could be an artist until she moved to Winnipeg. It is a city where she has been pushed, challenged, inspired, included, and encouraged to make and do her own art. Although she has been making art her entire life and giving it away, she is learning to sell and be paid for what she makes and does.
Becky Thiessen has created a series of handmade postcards, abstractly and thoughtfully depicting the beauty and difficulty of her neighbourhood, Point Douglas. Often profiled as "disadvantaged", "in crisis", or at the very least undesirable, Thiessen celebrates the complexity of this community, her home. She has mailed a postcard to every household in North Point Douglas, encouraging residents to pick up free pre-stamped postcards themselves from three "depots", the offices of political representatives and a women's centre. Participants are encouraged to send this mailable art to a friend or a politician. In this way the project becomes an ongoing gift (from Thiessen to her neighbours, from her neighbours to others) and an encouragement to get politically involved. The project creates a conversation about assumptions regarding this historic neighbourhood, and a pride in community.
Untitled, multimedia, 2007
Untitled, multimedia, 2006
Untitled, markers, 2007
Untitled, indiaink, 2006
