Material Type

Artifact

Other Name

COMIC "MEET JOSIE"

Date

2020

Materials

PAPER, INK

No. Pieces

1

Length

28

Width

21.5

Description

COMIC PRINT. BLACK INK ON WHITE 8.5” BY 11” PAPER. SERIES TITLE AT THE TOP SAYS “SLAUGHTERHOUSE SLOUGH BY ERIC DYCK”. 4 PANELS. THE NARRATIVE IS ABOUT JOSIE MASON AND POSTERS SHE MADE AND HUNG IN WINDOWS AT HER AND HER NEIGHBOUR’S HOUSE. SIGNED IN PENCIL AT THE BOTTOM “MEET JOSIE” “APRIL 17, 2020” AND PRINTED IN INK AT THE BOTTOM IS "©ERIC DYCK 2020". PRINT IS IN MINT CONDITION.

Subjects

ART

Historical Association

FINE ARTS

History

LOCAL CARTOONIST AND EDUCATOR ERIC DYCK DONATED 9 OF HIS COVID 19-RELATED ARTWORKS TO THE GALT MUSEUM, AND ON THE 17TH OF JUNE 2020 MET WITH COLLECTIONS TECHNICIAN KEVIN MACLEAN TO DISCUSS THEM. THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION ABOUT THE “MEET JOSIE” PRINT CAME FROM THEIR MEETING. ERIC GAVE A DESCRIPTION OF THE COMIC: “SLAUGHTERHOUSE SLOUGH IS THE NON-FICTION COMIC ABOUT LETHBRIDGE HISTORY AND PEOPLE AND CRITTERS AND PLANTS ESSENTIALLY EXPRESSING STORIES THAT ARE AROUND ME FROM A COMMUNITY THAT I’M NOT PART OF. SLAUGHTERHOUSE SLOUGH IS THE FIRST SETTLER NAME FOR HENDERSON LAKE, THE CIVIC PARK IN THE MIDDLE OF THE CITY AND SINCE 2013, I’VE BEEN CREATING NON-FICTION COMICS UNDER THAT NAME.” ON THE BACKSTORY BEHIND THIS PARTICULAR PRINT, ERIC STATED: “THE COMIC, ‘MEET JOSIE’ IS A DEPICTION OF THE CONVERSATION THAT I HAD WITH MY NEIGHBOUR AND FORMER STUDENT AT THE CASA CARTOONING CLASS. SO, JOSIE IS A THIRTEEN/ FOURTEEN-YEAR-OLD CARTOONIST WHO, VERY ABRUPTLY, FOUND HERSELF STUCK AT HOME WITH HER PARENTS WHEN THE SCHOOLS SHUT DOWN AND CHOSE TO USE MATERIALS THAT HAD BEEN PURCHASED AND ACQUIRED FOR SCHOOL PROJECTS THAT WERE NO LONGER HAPPENING; POSTER BOARD, AND MARKERS WERE SITTING THERE, READY TO GO AND JOSIE CHOSE TO PRODUCE UPLIFTING MESSAGES BUT ALSO MESSAGES ASKING EVERYONE TO STAY SAFE OR MESSAGES ASKING PEOPLE TO ‘KEEP THE PEACE’ AS [WAS] ON THE POSTER SHE GAVE TO HER NEIGHBOUR. SHE PRODUCED THESE POSTERS AND PUT THEM UP IN HER WINDOWS. SHE MADE TOO MANY ‘CAUSE THEY WERE HAVING FUN AND GETTING EXCITED AND ENDED UP GIVING SOME TO THEIR NEIGHBOURS TO THE EAST. WE SAW THE POSTERS POP UP QUITE QUICKLY JUST BECAUSE...[WE ARE A] A NEIGHBOUR [TO JOSIE TOO] AND WE WALK PAST WITH OUR DOG. BUT WHAT REALLY GOT ME TO REACH OUT TO JOSIE WAS ACTUALLY SEEING HER HOUSE SHOWING UP IN PHOTOS ONLINE OF PEOPLE THAT I KNEW EITHER DIDN’T KNOW JOSIE OR…EVEN I DIDN’T KNOW AND THEY WERE JUST GOING PAST DOWN 9TH AVENUE OR, FOR SOME REASON, THEY NEEDED TO SEE THESE POSTERS AND THEY DID SEE THEM.” ERIC APPRECIATED THE INFLUENCE OF JOSIE’S POSTERS: “SO, I REACHED OUT TO HER – I WANTED TO TALK TO HER ABOUT WHY SHE MADE THEM BUT, AS WITH ANY CARTOONIST…PART OF YOUR MOTIVATION FOR MAKING THINGS IS THE CONNECTION YOU’RE MAKING TO THE PEOPLE WHO ARE CONSUMING IT AND I KNOW THAT JOSIE DOESN’T PRODUCE DRAWINGS OR COMICS PUBLICLY OR ON SOCIAL MEDIA IN SUCH A WAY THAT SHE WOULD HAVE A LARGE AUDIENCE, OR THAT SHE WOULD HAVE THE EXPERIENCE OF SHARING HER WORK. SO I WAS VERY CURIOUS TO KNOW WHAT HER EXPERIENCE WAS ABOUT KNOWING THAT PEOPLE WERE SEEING AND CONSUMING THE THINGS THAT SHE MADE. AND SO, MY FOCUS IN TALKING TO HER WAS ABOUT HER OWN BEHAVIOR IN RELATION TO THE POSTERS FACING OUTWARDS OF HER HOME, AND IT BECAME VERY CLEAR THAT A BIG PART OF HER DAY WAS WATCHING OUT THE WINDOWS AND WATCHING PEOPLE SEE THE POSTERS- TAKING PICTURES, DOING SELFIES WITH HER ARTWORK, AND SEEING HER COME TO TERMS WITH THE IDEA THAT, ‘OH I MADE THESE TO MAKE OTHER PEOPLE FEEL BETTER’... THE CONSUMPTION OF THEM, THE EXPERIENCE OF BEING WITH THE ART WORKS IS HAVING AN IMPACT ON ME AND HOW I’M SEEING THE COMMUNITY AROUND ME AND THAT’S A LOT FOR A FOURTEEN-YEAR-OLD TO TAKE IN.” ERIC COMMENTED ON THE POWER CREATION HAS IN GENERAL: “I KNOW THAT FOR MYSELF...A BIG PART OF, AS A KID, WHY I WOULD MAKE THINGS WAS BECAUSE OF MY INABILITY TO SOCIALLY INTERACT VERY WELL WITH A LOT OF PEOPLE AND MY WAY TO ENGAGE WITH PEOPLE EVEN IN MY IMMEDIATE SURROUNDINGS WAS THROUGH THE ART WORK, WAS THROUGH MAKING THINGS THAT MAYBE OTHER PEOPLE WERE UNCOMFORTABLE MAKING OR AT LEAST WEREN’T MAKING JUST OUT OF PRINCIPLE... SO THE COMIC ABOUT THAT WAS INTRODUCING JOSIE AND I KNOW THAT PEOPLE HAVE GONE TO SEE HER HOUSE BECAUSE OF THE COMIC. BUT ALSO, IT WAS MY WAY OF LETTING JOSIE KNOW THAT THIS REALLY WAS A SPECIAL THING TO DO. THIS REALLY WAS A MEANINGFUL GESTURE THAT SHE’D MADE AND I WAS ALSO – I ENCOURAGE MY STUDENTS TO SHARE BECAUSE SEEING OTHERS, LIKE IT OR NOT, CONSUME YOUR COMICS THAT YOU’RE MAKING IS A BIG PART OF MAKING MORE AND, MORE OFTEN THAN NOT, THAT BUG IS CONTAGIOUS AND YOU EXPERIENCE THE SATISFACTION OF SEEING SOMEONE GET SOMETHING OUT OF SOMETHING YOU MADE AND IT MAKES YOU WANT TO MAKE MORE THINGS... ESPECIALLY WITH THE EXPERIENCE I’VE HAD WITH MY STUDENTS, IN THE PRESENT FEW MONTHS, WAS THEY WERE SHUTTING DOWN, THEY WERE BECOMING OVERWHELMED. THEY WERE NOT MAKING THINGS AND TO SEE JOSIE OVERCOME THAT, AT LEAST ONCE OR TWICE, AND HOPEFULLY ENCOURAGE HER TO PUT VALUE IN THAT EXPERIENCE AND TO KEEP MAKING THINGS EVEN THOUGH I’M SEEING MY OTHER STUDENTS SHUTTING DOWN AND CLOSING UP.” ON MAY 20TH 2020, GALT MUSEUM COLLECTIONS TECHNICIAN KEVIN MACLEAN SAT DOWN WITH JOSIE MASON AND HER MOTHER NAOMI MASON TO TALK ABOUT THE SERIES OF POSTERS JOSIE CREATED AND PLACED IN THE WINDOWS OF HER AND HER NEIGHBOUR’S HOMES DURING THE COVID-19 LOCKDOWN. THREE OF THE POSTERS WERE DONATED TO THE MUSEUM. JOSIE’S INITIAL THOUGHTS ON THE PANDEMIC: “WE ARE DOING SCHOOL ONLINE, SO IT IS KIND OF WEIRD. IT IS JUST WEIRD TO SEE ALL OF MY FRIENDS ON SCREEN RATHER THAN IN PERSON. IT IS WEIRD TO BE AT HOME INSTEAD OF AT MY ACTIVITIES OR AT SCHOOL... I NEVER THOUGHT IT WOULD ACTUALLY COME TO THIS; I DIDN’T THINK IT WOULD GO THIS FAR. BUT, HERE WE ARE.” JOSIE HAD BEEN ACQUAINTED WITH LOCAL CARTOONIST AND EDUCATOR ERIC DYCK PREVIOUSLY, AFTER TAKING A DRAWING CLASS HE WAS TEACHING. AFTER HEARING THAT ERIC WAS GOING TO MAKE A COMIC ABOUT THE POSTERS, JOSIE SAID SHE WAS “WAS SUPER EXCITED BECAUSE HE IS A GREAT ARTIST. HIS ART IS AMAZING, AND WHEN HE GOT IN TOUCH WITH ME TO MAKE A COMIC ABOUT THIS, I WAS REALLY EXCITED. THE FINAL COMIC, IT WAS GREAT. I LOVED IT... ERIC SENT ME FEW SIGHTINGS [OFF LOCAL SOCIAL MEDIA] AND IT WAS HONESTLY JUST REALLY COOL TO SEE THAT SOMEONE TOOK A PICTURE OF MY CREATIONS AND SHARED IT. I JUST THINK THAT WAS REALLY AMAZING.” JOSIE REVEALED WHAT INSPIRED HER TO CREATE THESE POSTERS: “WELL IT WAS A REALLY TOUGH, AND STILL IS A REALLY TOUGH TIME THAT WE ARE GOING THROUGH, AND EVERYONE NEEDS SOME ENCOURAGEMENT. WE LIVE ON A SUPER BUSY STREET SO WE DECIDED WE NEEDED SOMETHING TO MOTIVATE PEOPLE; LIKE, WE CAN DO THIS AND WE CAN GET THROUGH THIS. A LOT OF PEOPLE WALK BY, AND OBVIOUSLY DRIVE BY AND BIKE, SO WE DECIDED TO MAKE SIGNS AND PUT THEM UP IN OUR WINDOWS SO PEOPLE, WHEN THEY WALK BY, CAN LOOK AND GET SOME MOTIVATION, GET SOME ENCOURAGEMENT AND KEEP GOING.” JOSIE EXPRESSED HER MOTIVATIONS BEHIND THE CONTENTS OF THE POSTERS: “SO THE WORDS THAT WE CHOSE, WE KIND OF JUST CAME UP WITH PHRASES. WE WROTE THEM ALL DOWN ON PAPER AND WE CHOSE THESE ONES AND OBVIOUSLY SAW OUR NEIGHBORS' ONES, SO THOSE WERE THE SIX [EXPRESSIONS] THAT WE CHOSE. EVERYONE NEEDS SOME ENCOURAGEMENT AND THESE WERE ENCOURAGING, AT LEAST FOR ME. IT KIND OF SHOWS THAT WE ARE ALL IN THIS TOGETHER, AND THAT WE CAN GET THROUGH THIS. THAT’S WHY I CHOSE THOSE.” ON THE EXPANSION INTO THE NEIGHBOURING HOME: “WE JUST KIND OF GRABBED THREE AND TOOK THEM TO OUR NEIGHBORS. WE DIDN’T REALLY THINK MUCH OF IT. WE ACTUALLY ALREADY HAD THESE IN OUR WINDOW AND WE JUST TOOK THE EXTRA THREE THAT WE HAD.” JOSIE TALKED ABOUT THE INFLUENCE OF HER POSTERS: “I GUESS EVEN SOMETHING SMALL CAN CHANGE SOMEONE’S DAY. LIKE IF THEY DON’T HAVE FAMILY HERE, IF THEIR FAMILY DOESN’T STAY IN TOUCH WITH THEM, IF THEY DON’T HAVE FRIENDS HERE; OBVIOUSLY YOU CAN’T SEE ANYONE RIGHT NOW, SO…IF YOU’RE OUT FOR A WALK YOU CAN SEE THE POSTERS...I JUST THINK IT BRINGS A LOT OF ENCOURAGEMENT TO PEOPLE…WELL I HOPE IT DOES. FOR MORE INFORMATION ON ERIC DYCK'S PRINT, PLEASE SEE THE PERMANENT FILE P20200015001-GA. FOR MORE INFORMATION ON JOSIE MASON'S POSTER DONATION PLEASE SEE P20200013000-GA.

Catalogue Number

P20200015001

Acquisition Date

2020-05

Collection

Museum

Less detail