The Prud’homme Library collection, curated by Heather Jessup and Claire Battershill, is accessible to the public through four distinct platforms: a series of exhibitions, public engagement activities, a digital archive, and a published book.
A selection of objects will be on display for one-month-long exhibitions in Spring of 2019 in cities across Canada. We will be exhibiting in:
HALIFAX:
The Chase Gallery at the Nova Scotia Archives in Halifax (located on the lobby level of the Nova Scotia Archives Building, 6016 University Avenue, Halifax, NS, B3H 1W4) - Exhibition up March 5th to March 28th. Opening Reception: Wednesday March 6th 7pm to 9pm. Workshops at the Halifax Central Library Public Creative Writing Workshops: Saturday March 9th (adults) and Sunday March 10th (teens) - Halifax Central Library (5440 Spring Garden Rd, Halifax, NS B3J 1E9) Public Makerspace Design Workshops and Demos: Thursday March 7th and Friday March 8th.
TORONTO:
The Robertson Davies Library at Massey College in Toronto (4 Devonshire Pl, Toronto, ON M5S 2E1) May 3-24th, 2019. Opening Reception: Friday May 3rd 6-9pm. Public Creative Workshops: Saturday May 4th and Sunday May 5th also at Massey College.
SASKATOON:
The Gallery in the Frances Morrison Central Library (311-23rd Street East Saskatoon, SK S7K 0J6) - Exhibition up May 29th to June 27th) Opening Reception: Thursday May 30th 7pm-9pm. Public Creative Writing & Makerspace Workshops: Avatars, Magic, and Make Believe (For Teens) Wednesday May 28th, 6:30-8:30pm; For the Love of Letterpress (For Adults) Friday, May 31st 4-6pm; Songwriting and Pseudonyms, Saturday Jun 1st 10:30am-12:30pm (Check out the Summer Program Guide for the SPL for more details and descriptions!)
VANCOUVER:
The Vancouver Public Library Central Branch Exhibition Area and Montalbano Family Theatre (350 W Georgia St, Vancouver, BC V6B 6B1) Exhibition: July 5 - August 21 Opening Reception and Literary Reading: July 10th, 6:30-8:30pm; Teen Gala Art Opening: July 11th, 7:00-8:30pm; All-Ages Family Opening and Concert: July 20th 11:00am-1:00pm; Creative Writing Workshop: History, Forgery, and Fiction: July 20th, 2-4pm Central Branch VPL; August 14 6:45-8:30pm Meeting Room, Britannia Branch VPL; See For Yourself: Walk and Workshop with Artist and Accessibility Advocate Carmen Papilia: July 25th, 6:30pm-8pm; Creative Writing Workshop for Teens: Avatars, Magic, and Make-Believe: August 14th 4:00-6:00pm Kensington Branch VPL
Along with the display of the library’s objects and their backstories, a series of public lectures and guided tours lead by each host-city’s local storytellers, artists, and writers will accompany and animate the Prud’homme materials. The tours will ask participants to question their distinctions between national myth and fiction, and to examine more deeply the role of the museum and the archive in the creation of Canada’s history. Public engagement includes specifically-designed programming including closed-eye tours designed by blind artist and accessibility activist Carmen Papilia. We will also offer creative writing workshops and Makerspace interactive projects for adults and children in each city, asking public participants to imagine what it would be like to create their own spurious documents, and to imagine the lives of their own imagined writers and artists.
The project’s writings and photographs of the art, along with critical writings on the experience of making and viewing the project will be collected and published in a book, which will follow the exhibitions in 2020.
This web exhibition accompanies the in-person events occurring through Spring 2019 and archives the holdings of Prud’homme’s strange library. Here you will find digital mediations of the artefacts and stories from Make Believe!
This is one of the 200 exceptional projects funded through the Canada Council for the Arts’ New Chapter program. With this $35M investment, the Council supports the creation and sharing of the arts in communities across Canada.