MennoFolk is an organization celebrating music and art from people associated with the Mennonite community, either culturally or religiously. It seeks to provide opportunity for expression for those art forms that may not ordinarily be found in church, providing a welcoming atmosphere for people regardless of age and level of connectedness to the Mennonite Church to come together and appreciate the music and art of the Mennonite community.
I have been involved with Mennofolk Manitoba for nearly 10 years, exhibiting as an artist for the first time in 2010. Since then, I have been a part of the planning comittee three times--in 2014, 2017, and again in 2018.
My main involvement in the committee has been as a graphic designer. This has always involved creating a guiding concept that serves as the core art direction for posters, tshirts, and buttons.
Love buttons.
This year the call for submissions asked for handmade work, or for pieces that reflected on the theme in some way.
These years I merely helped that year's committees create call for submissions graphics.
This year, Mennofolk's call for submissions invited artists to reflect on the socio-political anxiety that had arisen in the wake of the 2016 US presidential election and its ensuing populist ripples that tore across the world. However, there was a touch of hope in the phrasing, and the decision to cast Godzilla consumed with his (or her) own fears felt like the right amount of comic relief.
In 2018, Mennofolk Manitoba celebrated 20 years, the occasion also serving as the theme - "Pause to Celebrate."
Pausing in Public
The 2018 poster featured photographs from a piece of performance created by myself in conjunction with that year's Mennfolk - a spontaneous microparty at the intersection of Portage and Memorial in Winnipeg. The images you see below are not photoshopped - they are the result of an a elaborate effort to "party" on the intersection in the time between green lights heading east on Portage.
For the occasion, I also shot and produced a documentary with the support of the 2018 Mennofolk Committee about the origins of Mennofolk Manitoba, featuring interviews with artists and members at large of current and past Mennofolks events.
Built with love in Webflow.
