Luskville’s Leystone Farms opened its doors to the community on Saturday for the farm’s annual artist-in-residence exhibit, a program which every year invites an artist to spend time on the farm and create a body of work inspired by the concept of nurture.
This year’s artist Sandra Bernier displayed a series of pieces which were inspired by writings of co-artist Julie Westeinde. The multisensory exhibit enabled guests to view Bernier’s final pieces and read Westeinde’s writings, which could also be listened to using a smartphone device.
Bernier said that her art can be described as simplicity and connecting to energy. She said she was inspired by mystic writings of Anastasia Magdalena. She worked with Westeinde who produced what she refers to as channeled writing, based on the works of Magdalena.
“Channeling is when these writings come through me,” Westeinde said. “It’s the idea that it’s come from some sort of spirit.”
Westeinde works as a life and business coach and said that she shared some of these writings with her clients, who encouraged her to share them with more people. Despite being initially hesitant to do so, Westeinde shared the writings with Bernier and this project was born.
“Sandra would read the writings and then she’d come up with images according to them, and that’s what this book is about, the combination of those writings and images,” Westeinde said.
When Bernier first started her residency at Leystone Farms, her artwork represented the nature and animals she was seeing at the farm. In her conversations with Karri Munn-Venn, one of the owners of Leystone Farms, they talked about synergy with nature, love and nurture. It was this conversation that inspired the name for their book, titled Synergy: Nurture in Mystery.
The artist residency program started when Leystone Farms opened four years ago. Munn-Venn said that the core thing they look for in their artists is a focus on the idea of nurture.
“The core value that we have centred upon here at Leystone is nurture and there’s a real connection between what we do in terms of caring for the land and caring for ourselves and one another in the community. With that in mind, we decided to take on this artist in residence program,” said Munn-Venn.
The artists describe the artwork as being inspired by the idea of the “divine feminine” and love. It was through these ideas that they connected with the idea of nurture.
At the exhibit, images from the book were printed and hung on the walls. The writings were published beside the artwork and guests could use their smartphones to listen to the texts being read aloud in either English or French.
“It’s very important to look at the image and have the writings spoken to you so you have the full experience,” Bernier said.
Bernier moved to the Outaouais in 1992 and suffered a cycling accident in 2018. She said this stopped her in her tracks and she had to refocus herself.
“To respond to my creativity, I just focused on words that I was reading and the energy that I was feeling in the room,” said Bernier. “And I started to draw.”
Leading up to the exhibit on Saturday, Bernier said she was feeling many different things.
“I’m feeling ready, excited,” said Bernier. “I feel blessed and grateful. All the emotions. Julie and I are stepping into ourselves, and this is a big event for us.”
Westeinde, for her part, said she was looking forward to public feedback.
“I’m feeling kind of intrigued because the real value of this comes more for me when I see other people’s responses to the art.”
