Why Dad MMXI
Wednesday Lupypciw
Calgary 2011 DV, 11:16
WHY DAD MMXI was inspired by an unsuccessful grant
application of mine. I'd been super excited to make a project that required
major funding and was crestfallen to find out that my fellow taxpayers and
artist peers didn't feel the same way. I felt like a part of me had died, and I
moped around pathetically for weeks. While visiting my Father's house during
this time I noticed some marked similarities in our moping/coping behaviours.
My Father's art practice has been a sensitive topic in the past few years, and
making this video allowed us to have an honest talk about what exactly his
creative output and challenges are. I realized that most of the reasons why he
would stop making art are totally the reasons why I would throw in the towel at
any moment. Conversely, or rather most importantly, we discovered that the
reasons to keep producing are shared too.
Wednesday Lupypciw is
from Calgary, Alberta, where she pursues a video and pearformance art practice.
To make money she is a part-time maid. She also maintains a concurrent practice
in textiles — weaving, machine knitting, embroidery and crochet — but this is
done mostly while procrastinating on other, larger projects. One of those
projects is the performance art collective The Ladies Invitational Deadbeat
Society (LIDS), a loosely knit group of purposefully lazy womenfolk. She is a
Fibre programme undergraduate from the Alberta College of Art + Design, a proud
auntie, and a volunteer for various artist-run initiatives. She has shown work
and made projects in various spaces throughout Canada including the Textile
Museum of Canada, The Art Gallery Of Alberta, TRUCK Gallery, Stride, the
Klondike Institute of Arts & Culture, The Banff Centre, Harbourfront, Nuit
Blanche Toronto, and EMMEDIA.
