Artful Conversations 2020 Jenna Stanton and Tara Owen Interview
Welcome to Artful Conversations - a podcast about arts and cultural management. Hosts Annetta Latham and Katrina Ingram, interview leaders who help shape the world of arts and culture. We share their stories, their insights and observations. This podcast season has been brought to you with the support of MacEwan University and The Rozsa Foundation.
Welcome to Artful Conversations, I'm your host, Katrina Ingram, I'm pleased to have Tara Owens and Jenna Stanton of Alberta Craft Council with us today. Tara Owen received a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Alberta University of the Arts, also known as AU Arts in the jewelry and metals program. She graduated from AU Arts in 1996, and then Tara quickly distinguished herself as a skilled metal artist, a valued arts administrator and advocate for the cultural sector. Tara has been the board chair of the Alberta Craft Council, or ACC, for the past eight years, having served continuously on the board since 2000. Tara is also an advocate for craft within the wider cultural community, representing Alberta artists and the Alberta Craft Council nationally on the board of the Canadian Crafts Federation. Jenna Stanton received a BFA in ceramics from Alberta College of Art and Design, now AU Arts in 2003 and a master's in ceramic design from the Potteries of Stoke on Trent, England at Staffordshire University in 2012. As a connector, a creative schemer and enabler, Jenna enjoys seeing artists thrive and bringing people together, especially when engaging the broader community in the arts. Throughout her career, she has worked in arts administration and is currently the executive director of the Alberta Craft Council [ACC]. Welcome, Tara and Jenna.
TARA & JENNA: Thank you. Thank you, Katrina.
KATRINA: Well, I'm going to start out with learning a little bit more about the vision, the mission and the organizational aims of ACC. And Tara, perhaps I'll start with you. Could you speak to ACC's vision, mission and organizational aims?
TARA: Absolutely, our mission is nice and short, which is hard to do sometimes for an arts organization, it's to promote, develop and advocate for fine craft in Alberta. And one of the things that we like to strive for is representing all of the makers in craft in our province. That's what the essential mandate is for both contemporary and for heritage craft. We want to not forget our traditions, where we've come from, but we obviously are very encouraging of up and comers, very contemporary practice.
KATRINA: Great and maybe Jenna, I'll ask you to expand on some of the organizational aims from your perspective.
JENNA: Well, I think, like Tara mentioned, the big one is the artists in our communities. And the big one as well would be just connecting those artists to community and getting pride from our communities in Alberta of the amazing and internationally recognized artists that are trained and live and create in our province.
KATRINA: Wonderful. Well, you've both had the opportunity to watch ACC grow over the years, and I'm wondering if you can speak to how it's developed in the time that you've been part of it and Jenna, I'll start with you.
JENNA: Sure. Well I started at ACC right out of my degree in ceramics and so just to see the opportunities that we've created for emerging artists has been really important to me, and seeing that our growth and connections within the indigenous craft community has been a really important thing for us and just growing and enriching those connections within different craft communities and traditions in our province and giving a platform for so many of the creatives to share their work.
KATRINA: Tara, you've been around for a couple of decades. What have you seen in your time?
TARA: It's true, it's been far too long, I'm not even sure where all the time went. You know in the time that I've been with the Alberta Craft Council, I think we've really matured actually as an organization. We have learned so much, lessons learned. We've paid attention to what other art organizations, challenges and successes have been. And in that time, we've made some really good longtime friends, some allies. And I think now more than ever, we have a really important presence within the visual arts sector in Alberta. We have smaller organizations that come to us for advice and support. We attract members who make astounding work, and especially lately, I don't know, maybe that's maybe all through my 20 years, I would have said, especially lately, we've had some really interesting bumps and opportunities along the way, but we have had some major impacts to funding models and to policies at different levels of government. And I really attribute it to having spent the time building a sterling reputation over our 40 years.
KATRINA: Right. And thinking a bit broader about the craft community in Alberta in a general sense, Tara, can you maybe also share what's happened in the landscape of craft in Alberta? How has that changed and evolved?
TARA: You know, I would have said that innovation within craft was something that existed right from when I was in school, but, and this was a long, long, long time ago. But in my long time with the craft council, I can truly say that innovation has really happened lately. And I don't even mean in 2020. But there have been just more public art calls that really recognize traditional craft media. There has been more engagement with viewers in the last, I don't know, say, five years. And there have just been really different ways of being able to showcase work, more mixed media, different types of recognition of making work, maybe using traditional media, or actually using that traditional mindset about materials, but doing it in a completely new and technologically different way. And that's something I've really noticed.
KATRINA: Wonderful and Jenna did you want to maybe expand on any of that or add some of your perspective on what you've seen in terms of the craft landscape in Alberta?
JENNA: I think some of the things that I've really enjoyed seeing is just the strength of some of our institutions like Medalta rising up with international residencies, and I was fortunate enough to work there for five years. So just seeing that there's a lot of international recognition for the caliber of artists that we have here, but also that some of our institutions like the Banff Centre, that's world class and legendary in the craft scene and Madelta to AU [Alberta University] Arts and the faculty that they have there, they've all the faculty have always had really impressive international careers. And they're passing on that network to their students and opportunities. And I think with the change in social media and access, artists are able to reach their peers and have a peer group and community outside of our own provincial borders really expand nationally and internationally their relationships, their markets to customers and access to learning from all around the world, which is really exciting.
KATRINA: Yeah, it really sounds like things have matured. You both mentioned innovation and just the way that it's evolved. And so that's wonderful to hear. I want to dig in a bit to your roles at the ACC. So you both spent time on the board and I'm wondering if you can discuss what it's like to serve on the board of a not for profit. And Tara I'll start with you.
TARA: It's joyful. I tell that, I tell that to incoming new members, I'm like, you're going to love this. On most of the boards that I've been on, I've been on a couple others. There have just been so much there's been so much learning. There's been so much great discussion. So one of the ways that I tend to put this is that there's a feeling of really, truly coming home among a group of peers who share your passion. We're like minded creatives, back to that innovation. There is a really interesting place to be when you're on a board like the Alberta Craft Council with a very interested and engaged number of board members who, we have no shortage of ideas. In fact, we as the chair often I have to stop us from going down very many, many tangents of lots of great ideas. It's more a matter of trying to get us back on track with how to implement some of those great ideas. What are our capacities, what within our budget, what can we do first? Prioritization, things like that. But I always, always come away from every single board meeting and every single event that we get together in a very energized state of mind. And I completely leave everything that we do at the craft council full of joy. So it may sound crazy to say that board work has left me feeling very joyful, but it actually is absolutely true. The entire 20 years I've been with the Craft Council, I love that description.
KATRINA: Jenna, has it been joyful for you as well?
JENNA: Yeah, absolutely. I started out as a staff at the craft council and worked there for seven years and then left to pursue my masters. But as soon as I returned to Canada, I rejoined the board and was more than excited because as Tara mentioned to me, it's always been my craft counsel family. And so it's more and community. And I think for anyone who's starting their career, it's such an amazing way to build your own skills and networks and that emerging artists still have a lot to add to the conversation. And we've always had positions on our board for emerging craft artists so that we can ensure that we're representing their needs in our organization as well. And it's just been such a great way to grow as an artist and an arts administrator to serve on various boards for organizations that I'm really passionate about. And you're not only growing your own skills and networks, but you're really helping to expand your community as well and the community that serves you in return.
KATRINA: And that's a great point, Jenna. And actually, I want to dig into that just a little bit more. So you talk about being an artist, you talk about being an arts administrator in addition to having been a board member. I'm just wondering how you've brought your own expertise as an artist and an arts administrator into your role with ACC.
JENNA: I think that was almost the real driving force between me even getting into arts admin in the first place was seeing how hard my colleagues, I guess my fellow students were working at Acad and the kind of distinct work that they were creating and ensuring that there was a place that they could get started. And as an artist, I think as a craft artist in particular, we're not adverse to challenge or failure. I've opened a number of kilns for important shows and had the misfire and melt down and you just dig in and get back to it and you reach out to your peers and figure out how to get through it and you keep going. And I think that has served me really well in a life of arts admin as well as just facing adversity, getting together with the community, figuring it out and keeping on going.
KATRINA: You've dealt with literal meltdowns as well as figurative meltdowns. And Tara, I'm wondering about you the same question. How have you brought your own expertise as an artist, as an arts administrator into your role with ACC?
TARA: As an artist, I bring the mindset of someone who works in a single maker studio, I make work almost exclusively alone. I devote my own body of work. I have my own internal visual language, and I enjoy that creative experience and full immersion into the act of making things by hand. So when I'm then working in the role of being an advocate or working on the board of something like the Alberta Craft Council, I feel that I can truly, deeply understand why, why do craft artists pursue what they do? It doesn't actually make a lot of financial lifetime economic sense sometimes, but that doesn't always work that way. There's an inherent understanding from the point of view of being an artist of that passion. The artists that we have, many of them are people who cannot not make their work. And it's really valuable to be able to kind of bring that type of passion forward. So a lot of people on our board actually have either been makers or they're very heavily involved in and really, truly understanding craft. I think it's good to have a balance. You don't necessarily want everybody on your board to be a maker. You do need some other perspectives. We've had gallery owners, we've had collectors. We've had a lot of different types of roles, non craft roles on our board as well. But I think it's truly important to be able to understand what it is that your members are doing in their day to day creation of their work and then to be able to speak to that quite well.
And then in terms of arts administration, I do a lot of project management analysis, boring stuff, really. Let's be honest, running a business, how to kind of deal with logistics. A lot of the things, though, that I do have experience in is being able to kind of look great, zoom in right into the nitty gritty, but also to be able to zoom out, to be able to look at the overall where all the high concept picture in order to make sure you're maintaining your vision and aims and the intent of what the Alberta Craft Council is for. So bring able to bring forward that that vision or the passion for your members by kind of fairly deeply understanding it and then really taking a lot of time to to put the effort into the administration of it and balancing out what that means with the passion versus the actual day to day running of a really fairly involved organization like the Alberta Craft Council, or actually hiring really great staff to do the running of that, actually.
KATRINA: And speaking of hiring really great stuff, Jenna, you've had a really interesting range of roles. You mentioned starting out as a staff person and then going back to school and then being on the board and then coming back. Now, as the executive director, can you tell us a bit about that transition? What's it been like from going from the board and then coming in as the executive director? How has that been for you?
JENNA: Well, it was I mean, I loved my time at the Craft Council growing as an administrator early on in my career, I heard the then executive director who became my mentor, talked to my professional practices class at art school and knew right away that I had to join the Craft Council, learn from him, learn from the artists who are making a career of this. And so when I did leave to go back to school, it was just out of wanting to pursue that for myself, of trying to be a full time artist. But I love arts admin. It's such a part of what I love to do and part of my creative skill set that when I finished grad school, the opportunity to go back into that role as curator at Medalta came up and rejoining the Craft Council board. And eventually, after five years, when I left that role, I was still on the board and we ended up having a new hire for the ED didn't quite work out. And I was asked by the board if I'd return as interim. And that was a really easy decision for me. There was not much hesitation there to come back into that role. And I think within the first three days back in the office, I knew that I was there to stay.
KATRINA: Could you describe your current focus in the role of executive director?
JENNA: Yeah, I think for me coming in, there was a little bit of restabilizing that we had to focus on and just really focusing on increasing funding, we had opened a new location in Calgary in 2017. And over the last year, the economy in Calgary slowed down a little bit. So a big focus was just on getting more funding in nominating Tara for a Rosza award, which she won. So she won the leadership. Oh, now I'm going to have to say this again, the Rosza Award for Excellence and Board Leadership, which we were really proud of. But that's going to give us some additional revenue or funding to put into our strategic plan and move things forward on that level. And we got funding from the Edmonton Community Foundation for a full time fund development assistant with me and one that I'm really excited about, sort of looking a bit further to the future was a grant from the Edmonton Arts Council on part of our revisioning or an expanded vision for the Craft Council that will include studios in glassblowing, ceramics, indigenous craft, fiber, furniture, so that we can have an international residency and more of a cultural hub in Edmonton that people can come see makers making work, learn more about the processes, take classes. So I'm really excited about not only what we're hoping to achieve in the next short term few years, but what we can hope to achieve in the next 20 to 40 years as well.
KATRINA: That sounds phenomenal. Super exciting stuff. Tara, I'm going to ask you about your role on the board of the Canadian Craft Federation [CCF]. And I'm just curious, is there a difference in the advocacy work that's being done at the national level versus what's happening here at the provincial level?
TARA: Yes, well, it's interesting, is there a difference? Yes, but also no. At the provincial level, we work within the structure of other existing organizations, the governing bodies, partners that we have here. The specific regional differences and similarities with our members, our makers, all here in Alberta. We definitely don't limit ourselves within our confines of our province, but we're deeply rooted here. And possibly our number one grounding thought is representation for here. Whereas with the national, at the national level, there's obviously still that structure of other organizations, different governing bodies, a lot of different partners, actually. But the grounding basis of the CCF are the provincial and territorial craft councils that make up the federation. So the incredible network of the councils, one of which the Alberta Craft Council is part of, are what the CCF is deeply rooted in. And that's our here, if that makes any sense. And for all of the makers in all of Canada, it sounds kind of. I'm sorry. Go ahead. It sounds kind of obvious to say that the CCF works at that national level, but it actually is a force to be able to build all of the incredible strength of all 12 regional councils in order to focus and guide the voices of that group. It's a collaboration of allies who work together to form a strong national voice for craft. And I do have to throw this in here. I'd be remiss in not mentioning the Citizens of Craft podcast hosted by the CCF director Megan Black, which brings together the voices of craft artists, curators, educators, collectors who all speak about craft practice and the role that craft actually plays in their lives, which is incredibly exciting to be able to finally bring to fruition. It's something that we haven't had in the past, is being able to truly act in terms of having a voice. But this sounds cheesy, I suppose, but actually having voices, speaking about craft at that national level in a podcast.
KATRINA: I love it. And it proves my point that everybody has a podcast. There's literally a podcast out there for everything. So we're going to have to check that out, maybe include a link to that podcast.That sounds amazing.
So the Alberta Craft Council and both of you individually, you highlighted the importance of advocating for the sector. And I'm wondering if we could have a discussion about why you believe this is so integral to the craft community. And I think I'll start with you Jenna. Why do you believe advocacy is such an integral part of the craft community?
JENNA: I think we're just so intensely proud of the makers that we get to serve, and when I see artists who are working 60 plus hours a week, who are often volunteering so much of their time, their work to fundraisers, it's not fair that they don't make a living wage, to me. It's not fair that they don't have the recognition that they deserve. And so for me, I can't help but advocate for them, whether it's customers walking into our shop and questioning the value of an object where I can talk about process or technique or the person behind it, or whether it's to people in government who need to understand that the work that we do is important and that these artists are contributing to our economy. They're not just doing this for fun. So I don't know, I don't think the advocacy will ever end, but I don't really think I mean, there's times when I guess we get a little tired, we just take time to regroup. But we have such an amazing team of advocates nationally, the leaders of all the other craft councils, and to Megan Black, the director of the Canadian Crafts Federation, that we all get a lot of energy and empowerment from each other just because there are so many strong, strong advocates within our organizations and our membership and our boards, that it's really actually a pleasure to do that on behalf of our community.
KATRINA: Right. And Tara, what do you see as the biggest priorities in terms of the advocacy work that still needs to be done? Are there particular misconceptions or areas that need more attention? Where do you see those things landing?
TARA: I think it's really important to focus on the voice of the national body especially, and be able to really make some inroads in bringing perspective to those that are outside of our sector. So it's one of the things that the national body, the CCF, does quite a bit. We're in the midst of writing a position paper or probably two. Magan would kill me. I should know this. And we really want to be able to represent the entire sector, which is a hard thing to do. You need the language to be able to do that. You have to have different versions of what that language is, depending on who you're talking to. You have to be able to truly communicate the width and breadth of what it is that it means to be a craft maker and to show the value of what it is that's being made in Canada. And to be honest, to really show how awesome Canadian craft is, to kind of show off the notion that Canadian craft, Alberta craft from the ACC perspective, each of the regional groups that the craft is being made here is unique, important and valuable. We don't necessarily toot our own horns, actually, to be honest, we don't, we can't, I don't know this sounds negative, but we can't necessarily rely on others to toot our horns. We have to be able to speak about how awesome we are. We tend to be a humble bunch. We tend to work in our studios and make freaking awesome, beautiful, amazing objects. For me, I'm interested in wearable art, adornment, and things like that, coming from a jewelry and metals background. But I make small sculptures too. I would love to be able to at some point do an installation somewhere. That'll be fun. And a lot of our artists have the width of that type of practice. Do we need to be able to convey to those outside of our sector as to how important it is for our community to have space to be able to show the work, talk about the meaning of what it is they're making and provide a little bit of perspective about craft in Canada?
KATRINA: Yeah, that's a great point. And sometimes I find that as Canadians in general, we tend to be way too humble about some of the amazing things that we're doing. So I'm really happy to hear you have a podcast, so you can shout it out there to the world. I do want to take a moment and get a little bit philosophical, perhaps. And now, Tara, you mentioned just the challenges in finding the language to define something that's very vast. And the ACC’s website has a section which aims to define the meaning of craft. And I'm wondering if we could talk about the importance of defining the meaning of craft to the sector. And Jenna, perhaps I'll get you to comment on that.
JENNA: Well, I know I'll speak to the new definition that the Canadian Crafts Federation is working on it. I mean, there's many organizations that are working towards this and redefining it. So I think sometimes people just think of craft in terms of traditions, but it really is always evolving with contemporary culture and contemporary makers, even if they are working in traditional ways. I think the definition that they're working with right now, the short definition for craft is that craft is a form of art steeped in material traditions paired with contemporary skills and technologies. It's a broad and flexible term. But at its core, craft is a meaningful way to connect with ourselves, with each other and across borders. And then with the Canadian Crafts Federation, they're doing that work with an advocacy committee so that they can provide definitions to explain craft to government departments. But they are also working on expanding that definition so that it does speak to more of the layers of the spectrum of crafts, sort of going into more of the material and process and economic impact and other aspects of it. But it is, it can be challenging and it has changed in so many ways in the last few decades. Craft definitely had some battles of craft versus art and being seen as relevant in those spheres. But I think that's sort of in our past, our recent past, maybe.
KATRINA: Tara, are there aspects of that you wish to expand on or add to?
TARA: One of the things that comes to mind is that art, I love to say this, it sounds a little geeky of me, but art is a biological imperative. It's a foundational element of what it actually means to be human. All people are creative in some way, and the arts are a fundamental part of a functioning society. And to get kind of 2020 about the whole thing, we had some recent national introspection and it's still ongoing. It was a little more intense at the beginning of the global pandemic we've been experiencing. But it was really interesting to see so much value being placed on being creative at home.
And the value of the handmade became something that people were talking about on social media way differently than something that we would normally have been able to promote. It was really interesting to see we though the cross people noted that in these hard times, people did turn to the arts as one of their pillars of strength and resiliency, something that the Alberta Craft Council has been. I'm not going to say railing, but we have been espousing for a long, long time and that we try to embody and that we try to expand. So I have been oddly pleased to see so much emphasis on people really experimenting at home when they, I don't know, have the time or the attention, or maybe it was the will to be able to really kind of dive into what it meant for them to be creative. So that's kind of a weird way of saying that from the ACC or the CCF’s point of view, we want to be able to encourage people to value the creative impulse. And even if it's not something that they would have to pursue as an actual career, but to then be able to take that understanding of value and really be able to apply it to the art craft exhibitions, the gallery shows, the really interesting, maybe odd contemporary pieces that they aren't too sure about what the meaning of it is, and also to be able to really value something that is a traditional way of working that is thousands or hundreds of years old so that they can kind of really understand the value, the inherent handmade value of craft. That's something that we talk about trying to convey. And interestingly, I think people more than ever are really starting to understand that more.
KATRINA: Yeah. And maybe that is a lovely side effect. When the chips are down, people really kind of dig into what they actually truly value. So that's wonderful. Well, we're just going to wrap up here and I'm going to ask you what's in store for both of you and for the ACC in the future. And Tara, I'll get you to start.
TARA: Well, I'm the chair of the Canadian Craft Federation right now, and I just started so a couple of years of that, I'll probably be the past chair as well, because I'm just going to say selfishly, it is incredibly exciting to be in that role. I get to be privy to so much about everything that's happening all across the entire country. I mean, it's been amazing to be a member and then the chair of the Alberta Craft Council, but it's sort of like that, plus even more so. That's great.
And after a lot of the time, once they finally get tired of me at both of these organizations and boot me into the back end of past chair role, I think it's just more a matter of making more artwork in my studio and then really being able to have a good sense of where my work might fit best. Having taken some of that experience and knowledge from the folks that I've worked with and the places I've been.
KATRINA: And Jenna, you get the last word. What's next for you?
JENNA: Well, I think for the Craft Council, just increasing member services, we're working nationally with our partners to try and see if we can get money for craft artists to do apprenticeships. And for me, the big one is just working towards that expanded vision so that we can have studios, appropriate, affordable studio space for artists and space for our friends internationally to come and share their techniques with our communities and instructors. And really a place that the community can come and be engaged and part of that community, because it really is a pretty special place.
KATRINA: Sounds fantastic. Well, I just want to say thank you so much to the both of you for being here and to share your roles and a little bit about what's going on with the Alberta Craft Council and about craft in general. Thank you so much for being on the podcast today.
JENNA & TARA: Thank you. Thanks for having us.
Analysis
KATRINA: Annetta, I so enjoyed speaking with Tara and Jenna, and if I had to sum up this interview in one word, it would be joy. I heard so much joy from both of them in terms of their roles, in terms of their work, in terms of being crafter's, just so it was just so joyful.
ANNETTA: Oh, absolutely. And I think one of the things that for me was amazing was how if you actually put the effort in, you can have a great relationship between your executive director and your chair of your board and the way they work together. And it's kind of like this really odd marriage, really. And, you know, you could tell they spent time with each other, they respected each other and each other's roles. And one of the funny things that happened to me was when I was listening to it, I actually got confused about who had which role. It was very funny.
KATRINA: Yeah, you're so right. I mean, I hear lots of stories about these tense relationships between board chairs and ED’s. And so it is super refreshing to hear two people in those roles. And I wonder if it's having something to do with having walked in each other's shoes. The fact that Tara is herself an artist, the fact that Jenna also sat on the board, I don't know if that's something special that gives them that kind of relationship, but I thought that was fascinating. The other piece I wanted to add is, is this idea of humility of crafters in Alberta, because there is some amazing work, amazing, amazing work coming out of this community. And so I think there is some, you know, marketing and branding work for this community to kind of just talk itself up a little bit more because they do fantastic work.
ANNETTA: Yeah, absolutely, and respect. The incredible respect they had for each other, for each other's talents, for each other’s skillset. And I agree with you. You know, the crafting that is here in Alberta is the extraordinary, amazing, amazing interview.
This show was created by Executive Producer and Host Annetta Latham; Co-host Katrina Ingram. Technical Producer Paul Johnston. Research Assistants involved were Caitlian McKinnon and MacEwan bachelor of music students.
Theme Music by Emily Darfur and cover art by Constanza Pacher. Special thanks to the Rose Foundation for their support and to our guests. Artful Conversations is a production of MacEwan University and Assistant Professor Annetta Latham, all rights reserved.
Latham, A. (Executive Producer and Host). Regan-Ingram, K (Host). (2020, October 16) [Season 2: Episode 9]. Jenna Stanton and Tara Owen. Podcast retrieved from: https://www.artfulconversations.com/season-2-1/2021/2/6/ep-9-tara-owen-amp-jenna-stanton