A New Path to the Waterfall

Over the course of the 2017-18 school year *A New Path to the Waterfall* was a collaborative art project that situated a CAG satellite gallery space within MaryAnn Persoon’s grade 6/7 class at Lord Strathcona Elementary School.

In 2015 the Contemporary Art Gallery invited Portland-based artist Harrell Fletcher for a residency at our Burrard Marina Field House. Growing out of that period of research, Fletcher proposed a yearlong project in a classroom connected to issues and topics in the school curriculum. The project was conceived to open up new ways for the students to engage with art and the wider world while re-shaping the ways in which we consider contemporary art, gallery spaces and public schools.

Within *A New Path to the Waterfall*, MaryAnn Persoon’s grade 6/7 class engaged in five projects created and led by six Vancouver-based artists; Justine A. Chambers, Elisa Ferrari, Hannah Jickling, Carmen Papalia, Helen Reed, and T’uy’t’tanat Cease Wyss.

The students were encouraged to take creative risks and experiment with different ways of making to investigate local ecosystems and issues surrounding accessibility, inclusion, power structures and taste and consumption across all sensorial experiences. Aspects of each project in A New Path to the Waterfall were presented to the public through exhibitions, interventions, performances and public programming at six week intervals onsite at the school and in the surrounding Strathcona neighbourhood.

A limited edition publication of six printed pieces by each of the artists and students will be available for purchase in CAG's Book Shop.

*A New Path to the Waterfall* was generously supported by the Vancouver Park Board, the City of Vancouver, The Vancouver Foundation, TELUS Community Board, the Hamber Foundation and Artstarts/Artists in the Classroom.

Two smiling children in a classroom looking at a handmade herbarium book. Other herbarium books surround them on the table.   

thumbnail_FE1-24496.jpg

FE1-24496.jpg

A New Path to the Waterfall 

Cease Wyss

Harrell Fletcher

With *A New Path to the Waterfall*, the Contemporary Art Gallery situates a new satellite gallery space within a Vancouver elementary school. Initiated by US artist Harrell Fletcher at CAG Burrard Marina Fieldhouse Studio, the project places artists in Maryann Persoon’s grade 6/7 classroom at Lord Strathcona Elementary School to re-shape the ways in which we consider contemporary art, gallery spaces and public schools.

Coast Salish ethnobotanist, community gardener and interdisciplinary artist T’uy’t’tanat Cease Wyss is the first artist to collaborate with Maryann Persoon’s class. Through a series of foraging trips to Capilano River, Harmony Garden, Trillium Park and Stanley Park, Cease and the students gathered plants, fungi, moss, lichen and more from different local habitats. They identified species – learning both their Skwxwu7mesh and Latin names – and pressed their plants. The class then composed these into a series of individual, hand-stitched herbarium books, inviting students to open their senses to local natural environments and encounter first-hand the deep interconnectedness of our ecosystems. Together, the pressed plants form not only a beautiful collection but also a historical document of biodiversity and a way to measure change in our natural landscapes.

Please join Cease Wyss, the Lord Strathcona Elementary community, and our primary supporter, Telus Community Board, for the public launch and discussion of these unique herbariums.

A New Path to the Waterfall is generously supported by TELUS Community Board, the Hamber Foundation, Artstarts/Artists in the Classroom, the Vancouver Foundation and the Vancouver Park Board.


Various sheets of paper with pressed plants on them are scattered over a table covered in blue cloth.

thumbnail_IMG_2987crop-920x300.jpg

IMG_2987crop-920x300.jpg

T’uy’t’tanat Cease Wyss: The Strathcona Herbarium Launch

Elisa Ferrari

Join Elisa Ferrari, Harrell Fletcher, and the Lord Strathcona Elementary community for *the sound of a cactus being touched by a raindrop*, a communal listening event inspired by the early days of radio broadcasting. In addition to listening to sound collages and field recordings produced by the group, a selection of sound maps and graphic scores will be presented.

A launch of the limited edition publication *The Herbarium Project*, produced by artist Cease Wyss and the students of Strathcona Elementary, will follow the presentation.

This event is part of *A New Path to the Waterfall*, a new satellite gallery space within a Vancouver elementary school, re-shaping the ways in which we consider contemporary art, gallery spaces and public schools.

In *A New Path to the Waterfall*, over the course of six-week periods, each artist collaborates with students to explore different issues and investigate a variety of topics connected to their curriculum. Each artist’s tenure at the school will end with a public presentation that could take many forms.

*A New Path to the Waterfall* will be presented to the public through exhibitions, interventions, performances and public programming at six week intervals throughout the school year. The public are welcome to attend these events and programs during set hours provided on the project website.


thumbnail_IMG_3123crop-920x300.jpg

IMG_3123crop-920x300.jpg

Elisa Ferrari: the sound of a cactus being touched by a raindrop

Carmen Papalia

For the third part of *A New Path to the Waterfall*, artist and disability activist Carmen Papalia introduced Ms. Persoon’s grade 6/7 class at Lord Strathcona Elementary to *Open Access*; the model of five guiding principles for accessibility he produced in 2015. In a weekly program that included exercises ranging from running with eyes shut to staging a solidarity march for *Open Access* on school grounds, the group engaged in a dialogue about their subjective access needs leading toward a new model for mutual support.

Join them on March 1 as they share points in their process and reveal their collective statement for accessibility in the classroom.


A photograph of a piece of white cloth on a wall of a classroom. A phrase, '"open access is..." is printed in the middle of the cloth, and other handwritten ideas, including "not being judged" are written in the margins. 

thumbnail_20180301-183818-FE1_web.jpg

20180301-183818-FE1_web.jpg

Carmen Papalia: Open Access: Practicing Accessibility Together

Helen Reed

Hannah Jickling

Over the course of April, artists Helen Reed and Hannah Jickling have led Ms. Persoon’s Grade 6/7 class on weekly explorations of the human senses as they relate to experiences of taste. Analyzing flavours in chocolate bars, evaluating kid-centric candy advertising, and exploring relationships between smell and memory, the students have been encouraged to question marketing tactics to children, issues of consumption, and what it means to mark the scents around us as only “good” or “bad.” Through olfactory adventures and taste-making brainstorms, the class have brought these explorations together to develop ideas for their own soda creations.

Please join Hannah, Helen and the students on May 3 for a soda-tasting celebration at Strathcona Elementary! 


A still image of hands placing cans of soda on a green backdrop. 

thumbnail_20180503-173642-FE1_webUSE (1).jpg

20180503-173642-FE1_webUSE (1).jpg

Helen Reed and Hannah Jickling: A subtle lemon, mild skunk-ish and sweet potato sign

Justine A. Chambers

In the fifth and final project of A New Path to the Waterfall, artist Justine A. Chambers and MaryAnn Persoon’s grade 6/7 class have collaborated to create and lead silent walks throughout the city, responding to the notion of “choreography as a way of seeing the world” (Klein, Valk, Gormly). Inspired by Vancouver based composers and sound artists Hildegard Westerkamp and R. Murray Schaeffer, Chambers and the students have created a final walk reflecting on the ways that bodies are choreographed by the city as a means to question power, everyday dances, performances, patterns and dynamics.

Please join Justine A. Chambers and Ms. Persoon’s Grade 6/7 Class for *the intersectors*, a choreographed walk through the Strathcona neighbourhood. The walk will start promptly at 5.45pm from the classroom, leading visitors outside of school grounds and into the local area.

Thank you to Alana Gerecke for her contributions to the project.  


A photograph of children and adults walking down a narrow alley between houses. 

thumbnail_20180614-175609-FE2_webUSE.jpg

20180614-175609-FE2_webUSE.jpg

Justine A. Chambers: the intersectors

Gabi Dao

Join CAG and artists at Lord Strathcona Elementary for the launch of the limited-edition volume *A New Path to the Waterfall*, celebrating the year-long collaborative art project between local artists and students from MaryAnn Persoon’s 2017-18 grade 6/7 class. A special screening of an experimental film created by this year’s class with artist Gabi Dao will accompany the launch.

A New Path to the Waterfall

Talks & Events