30 Years Later, the Supreme Court?
In response to meeting with Crown Appeal Lawyer Nov. 22.
Pen and Ink by Cliff Derksen
Nov. 23, 2013

NOTE: CLIFTON STUDIO CHRISTMAS SHOW AND SALE
THIS COMING WEEKEND...
SEE POSTER FOR DETAILS BELOW.

I received a request this week. A request that came as a complete surprise and which has had me flabbergasted ever since. It came from the University of Manitoba (U of M) of all places and it was a request to make a presentation. That's right, to speak at their "Celebration Week" event at the end of January, 2014!

The best way for me to present this to you is to just let you read a bit of their promotional material on the event. Here it is.

"Introduced over 30 years ago, Celebration Week: A Festival of Life and Learning, is renowned for its dynamic speaker series. Of the many events that take place during this week, the speaker series is by far the most high-profile and anticipated feature. Jean Chrétien, Dr. David Suzuki, Justin Trudeau, Rob Corddry, Jack Hanna and Ice T have all been part of the Celebration Week Speaker Series. Keep an eye out for next years' guest lecturers as they are guaranteed to be relevant and engaging with an important message for students!

Celebration Week is more than just the speakers however! It is also a multi-faceted event focusing on promoting both academic debate and the arts. Performances by the University of  
Manitoba's Faculty of Music and various cultural groups on campus and the surrounding area help create an event that is truly unique within the city of Winnipeg."

Wow! So what am I to make my presentation about? As it happens, I have some friends at the U of M who know me and are aware of the art that I do and have done. They mentioned me to the organizers and suggested I be invited to speak on the subject of healing trauma through art. (Not always so good to have friends in high places huh?)

Since I have now had a few days to think about it, I have become aware that this feels very "lead" to me. Someone is guiding me of course. For it suddenly occurred to me that I am teaching a class of kids who live in the inner city area of Winnipeg and do display levels of trauma in their behaviour and in the way they do art. It's a "win-win" situation for as I prepare, do research and process my personal experience of healing through my own art, I will become more informed for assisting my art students heal from the traumas in their lives.

As far as the university is concerned, it seems rather daunting. Hopefully it is true as someone has said, "We may not have degrees but life itself makes us experts in some of the specific things we personally experience."

Gotta think positive folks.

NOTE: CLIFTON STUDIO SHOW AND SALE:
Next weekend.
See poster for details.

"Freedom"
 porcelain clay,
15 inches high, 9 inches wide, 12 inches long,
patina and varnish finish. 

This particular piece has layers of meaning for me. The first has to do with the death of our daughter Candace. In 1984 she disappeared on her way home from school. After 6 and a half weeks we discovered she'd been abducted, hogtied and left in a toolshed to freeze to death. Though we grieved her loss we were comforted to know she'd escaped into the embrace of a loving God.

The hands of this sculpture having turned to wings, reference this "escape"  or "flight" from pain, where death is actually a means of deliverance and freedom.

The second layer of meaning for me is the "Freedom" forgiveness brings.

When this first occurred in 1984 I said I was forgiving. This came out the Mennonite culture and theology with which I was raised. As time went on an inner root of bitterness began to grow. Over time this root began to reveal itself as I would "lose it" on occasion. At first I was surprised but not concerned, thinking I was just having a bad day, I'd chock it up to something like lack of sleep or whatever. No problem, I just needed to keep an even keel.

Unfortunately that was just the beginning, for I did continue to have outbreaks of anger and rage to the point I realized I would not only lose my job but other important relationships. I did not want to lose my wife, or my family and friends etc. I realized I needed to do something about it. Which I did.

To make a long story short, it came down to revisiting "forgiveness." This time I made sure I knew what I was needing to forgive and then pro-actively took the important steps of doing just that, forgiving. Letting it go.

It changed my life. The past no longer had any grip or control over me. I was now free to start again. Delivered. Almost, like death was the escape from pain and bondage for Candace, so for me forgiveness was the way of freedom from the destructive affects of the bitterness, the rage and the anger of the past.

Forgiveness I have found is the greatest gift to mankind. It was worth all the pain and effort to embrace it, for it saved my life. I am a satisfied customer.

"Freedom" has been packed up snug for a trip to Toronto where it will be part of a silent auction at the National Restorative Justice Symposium to be held in Toronto Nov. 17 - 19, 2013.

May "Freedom' have a long and meaningful life.

I would like to introduce you to "Teddy."

Teddy came to art class with me last Wednesday. The idea was to set him up as a "still life" the students could sketch and shade in.

But Teddy did not co-operate very well with me and my plans. The minute he saw the kids he was secretly communicating with them. In fact he was encouraging things that everyone in an art class knows you do not do. He was enticing them to come and, of all things pick him up and hug him.

I tried to tell Teddy to just sit there and relax, to give the kids time to draw him and not to encourage disrupting the class for kids who were in the process of drawing him. I tried to explain that once he is picked up by anyone it is practically impossible to put him back exactly as he was before. That this would ruin the drawings up to that point and the student's would have to start again. Not good.

Despite my best efforts to explain this to Teddy, things would go awry. I would turn my back and next thing you know he'd persuaded one or two of the kids to grab him and just hug him constantly.  He know it bothered me because then I had to try and get the them to replace him into his still life position, which I was conflicted about especially when I saw the joy he was bringing to these kids.

I somehow managed to get through the class but it made me wonder about something. What was this art class really about? Was it about art techniques or something else? Did Teddy know something I had missed?

I'm thinking I'm going to bring Teddy more often, not to be drawn but to just be there and love them in his own way. I'm not sure how that works, but I know it will make the art ting go much better if he's there doing what he dose best.

Thanks Teddy.

"War of the Judges"
by Cliff Derksen

Hi Everyone. With all that's going on I have had very little time and energy to write anything about my art or my life for that matter.

First, two weekends ago, on Friday night I departed to BC to join my wife who was speaking at a Pacific Region Victim Advisory function. We then spent the weekend celebrating my birthday with members of my family and friends. It was a very good time. Had not seen some of these folk for many years.

I used my birthday as the excuse for not blogging that weekend.

Then, as many of you know, during the following week on Wednesday afternoon, at about 12:30pm we got the news that the appeal judges had come down with a conclusion regarding the trial of Mark Edward Grant who'd been found guilty for the murder of our daughter and had been sentenced to life in prison for 25 years without parole. The appeal court ruled for a re-trial as the Judge, in their opinion had made an error in not allowing some apparently relevant evidence before the jury.

Well that shocking result sent us for a loop. We had thought of all kinds of possible responses, including a re-trail, but not for the surprising reason cited. 

Immediately we began to get calls from our friends in the media so we suggested they "all" meet us at a press conference at 3pm that afternoon so we could answer their questions all at once. This they did and you can get that on the internet in papers like the Winnipeg Free Press etc. But it took it's toll on us as we had to work out how we felt about all this and how we might communicate that to the media and the world in a matter of two hours.

During and after all this we were trying to let everyone like family and friends know what happened. This of course means conversations and emotions of all kinds.

This week was also "month end" for me, which means payroll, invoicing, plus other business matters like staffing and scheduling that happen all around that.

It was a wild week to say the least. So, that is why nothing has been happening blog wise until now. This morning I was finally able to fine tune some of the wild thoughts that were flying through my head regarding how I might express what I was feeling though my art.

I have some ideas for my next pieces.

During the trial it was lawyer against lawyer. It was DNA expert against DNA expert. Now this ruling by the three appeal court lawyers is three judges against  the trial court judge. The drawing above reflects that now It's the "War of the Judges!"

Whether its a trial or an a review before the Supreme Court of Canada it will be several years before it is all over.

Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers on our behalf. I am holding it all loosely. We are trusting the process. We are wanting the "truth" and if this is what the justice system needs to do to get the "truth" then so be it. Someone greater than me is obviously in charge here and I will just go with it and even possibly get some inspiration for more art pieces. Wow.

DNA
By Cliff Derksen