Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Valerie Durant. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Alright, Valerie thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?

The most meaningful project I’ve worked on involved bringing awareness to the challenges of homelessness in our City, through the arts.

I conceptualized a project called Out of The Rain: A Project for Homelessness in the CIty of Vancouver many years ago.

Begining with a core group of four women artist with unique skills and connections , we introduced the concept thoughout the community and it expanded and took on a life of it’s own.

Artists from all over the lower mainland donated artwork for an auction that supported an art centre for street entrenched youth and a gallery that supported artists with mental health challenges.

Elementary school students and Community Centre participants painted and decoratedumbrellas.  The  artworks and umbrellas were auctioned during an evening of lively community participation. All levels of government participated in a roundtable and plenary to address  the challenges of housing and  homelessness in our city.

This was significant due to the project’s collaborative nature, which developed organically within the community, fostering a profound desire to assist those in need and highlighting that together we can achieve more than alone.

Valerie , before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

For as long as I can recall, I have been a creative challenge-solver and artist. I returned to complete a BFA as a mature student, after raising two children and during a career in Interior space planning, design and project management. For as long as I can recall, I have been a creative problem solver.

My BFA, in visual arts, focused on sculpture, installation art, photography and sound installation. I received at Canada Council Grant in 2006 in New Media and completed a project called Points and Perforations. Points and Perforations was a theoretical proposal, a conceptual sculpture, sited in the heart of the shipping and transportation area of Vancouver in a landscaped park called Portside Park and on the edge of the Downtown Eastside.

A sound environment immersed the participant in their own imagination and internal physiological and psychological space, a direct physical and perceptual experience, using sound and space as the primary materials. Sounds collected specifically from the area were mixed binaurally, to create entrainment with sounds of the intimate external world.

Sounds collected from the local urban environment including, sirens, trains, and human utterances of life on the street, combined with intimate sounds of the human body in space, resulted in   a dynamic journey of self awareness and social consciousness.

The Binaural Soundwork, created from sounds collected on the streets of Vancouver’s DTEside begins as a medic rushes to the scene of a drug overdose, interrupting a rally to demand answers regarding the missing and murdered women. A CP Rail conductor offers me a ride on a train, which I wisely declined. Finally, the walk meanders along the banks of the ocean exploring lapping waves and the vestiges of birds in the sparsely treed Portside Park on the edge of the sea.

The work highlights the economic vibrancy of the Port of Vancouver alongside the stark contrast of poverty in Canada’s poorest neighborhood.
It was during the creation of this work,   I discovered that I was losing my hearing.

For more information about the project it can be listened to on https://vimeo.com/manage/videos/931126832

As I completed this project, my husband was offered an assignment in South Africa and off we went on an adventure that started as one year and  turned into five.

While living there, I was offered a contract to complete a Climate Action Plan to reduce the Carbon Footprint of the UK Government’s land holdings which included Embassies and residences. I wove into the work, visual arts and graphics and engaged collaboratively with local artists working on climate change projects who assisted in illustrating the meaning of local change  to solve a larger global problem.

As well, I travelled extensively, meeting with people in small rural communities who where subsistence farmers, and who were directly experiencing  the impact of climate change.This project led to the Face of Africa and later, after returning to Vancouver, Interweave, a photographic exhbition which was part of the Capture Photography Festival.

While in South Africa,  returned to University and completed my MA in Community and Regional Planning and my dissertation delved into  the topic of urban agriculture and forestation. After  Ireturned to Vancouver, I worked as a Housing planner with the CIty of Vancouver, working on Homelessness and Housing Projects.

All the while I was creating  artwork, mostly photographic,  with a focus on climate change.

In 2019, I was able to begin working  fulltime in my art practise.

Since that time, I have created numerous gallery installations  about human relationship with the natural world.

Recently, I have embraced my hearing loss and have begun  integrating it into my art making process. I have received a Canada Council,  Explore and Create Grant  to create  sensorial art that can be experienced by hearing and non hearing individuals.

The work is named Understory: The delicate  connections  that exist beneath the forest floor.

My research delves into the  forest  understory & the underground networks which lie below  the surface of the  forest  ecosystem. I’m  fascinated by the function of fungus (mycelium)  and the  delicate threads of the (mycorrhizal ) network of communication and consciousness, as  nearly invisible connections of diverse collaboration and inclusivity.  I am excited to see how this new work unfolds.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

I care deeply about the impact of climate change on human health and wellbeing, particularly the effects on the most vulnerable. I am concerned about the impact we are having on future generations as a result of our material consumption,  recognizing  that as humans we are of nature and not beside it. My objective is to create work that reflects upon  our relationship with nature.

I enjoy self-expression, exploring and expanding on concepts that are meaningful to me and I thrive on working with other artists and community who inspire my own creative output. I am always exploring new ideas and never stop learning, delving deeper in the meaning of what it means to be human on this shared planet of ours.

I enjoy self-expression, exploring and expanding on concepts that are meaningful to me and I thrive on working with other artists and community who inspire my own creative output. I am always exploring new ideas and never stop learning, delving deeper in the meaning of what it means to be human on this shared planet of ours.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.valeriedurant.ca
• Instagram: valeriedurant.art
• Other: Vimeo Silence of the Sea https://vimeo.com/107356238
  Vimeo Points and Perforations https://vimeo.com/931126832 https://vimeo.com/manage/videos/931126832
  Vimeo Reach https://vimeo.com/939331315
  Vimeo Well https://vimeo.com/manage/videos/934641199

Image Credits

Valerie Durant