Carmen Hathaway refers to herself as an independent media artist, which she explains is basically a polymath, having been trained in some schooling in creative communications at Red River College several years ago. Her art showing to be presented beginning April 1 at Prairie Fusion Arts & Entertainment is the first of its kind for the local gallery. But it's not in the gallery.

Art of Centricity: COVID-19 is the first fully digital showing by Prairie Fusion and will be displayed solely online starting April 1.

Hathaway outlines what her form of art is all about and how it has evolved since she started out.

"The technology at the time seemed really primitive and I wasn't too terribly interested in going that route, so I actually segued into being a traditional painter for approximately 20 years," says Hathaway. "Glass art -- Traditional arts -- Graphite -- Pen and ink -- Acrylic paint -- Oil paint. I segued into glass for almost 20 years and then a good friend of mine, who was a very high-end artist and I admire his work tremendously, suggested that I get into a computer. He says, 'You're going to soar, Carmen.' He was right. I have - just like that, she said modestly."

She notes this was back in 1997.

"The first computer was all of two gigs," continues Hathaway. "My files now are two gigs -- many of my graphic files, videos and so forth! But it was a wonderful, long learning journey, and continues to be. It's morphed into animation. I got into digital 3D modeling in 2010 and it just keeps evolving. I know the next route that I'm going to go, but I won't divulge that quite yet, but it's within the digital realm as well."

Hathaway says it's a virtual exhibition. 

"I had a solo show here in 2011, which was a multimedia show," explains Hathaway. "And I had a giant video projected on the back wall, which is enormous. I think it runs 14 by 26 feet, or something. Not quite the same thing as seeing it on a virtual platform. It's an eight-minute video I was awarded a grant for last year in July. The Manitoba Arts Council graciously funded this project. The support of that grant was an offshoot of the investment by the provincial government in Manitoba in March of 2021. There was a $6 million investment into the arts and cultural sustainability, and that aspect of the arts projects was administered by the Manitoba Arts Council. When I saw the information about that I thought, 'Well, I'm going to toss my hat in the ring.' And it was interesting, too, because it was a one-month turnaround. Usually, if you apply for a grant with the Manitoba Arts Council, it's a three-month turnaround."

She stresses it's not a show that you'll be required to attend the gallery to see. It's completely online.

"I'll have the appropriate link for you to go to the page where there will be an active link as of April 1st," adds Hathaway. "It'll take you to the virtual exhibit. You'll see a little turquoise bar about 3/4 of the way down the page, and click, and you'll be in. You can let it run. It's in high-def, so I recommend viewing it, if you can, in 1920 by 1080 (resolution), and you're good to go. You can watch it on a phone, too. I've done it on a number of different monitors and it all looks great."

Hathaway notes there is usually a night for the showing where the artists meet people and discuss their artwork, but this is being done via media, as with this news article.

"'Art of Centricity: COVID-19' is the name of my presentation," adds Hathaway. "It's my narrative -- my journey -- as everyone has, through the pandemic since, basically, 2020. All the artwork started to reflect my anxieties, my aspirations -- like everybody was feeling what is going on. That's what was happening, and I channelled all of that into my art, primarily with stills. Some of them could be the 60-inch by 40-inch piece. It could be printed as small, as in 8 by 10, but most of my stills will print on average 40 inches square or bigger - - that type of thing. So, I thought, 'Well, you know,' since this opportunity came up with Manitoba Arts Council to propose an exhibit, I thought, 'Why don't I do that?' The idea of centricity focused on the pandemic thing -- my experience of the pandemic. And I am an optimist, as in one part (I will give one part away) I said my optimism prevails'."

She explains, if you have never seen a presentation such as this, "Grab a soft drink or a coffee, or whatever -- whatever suits your fancy -- get a decent-size monitor, and come along for the ride. For people that had a preview already with me, the exhibit team have indicated what I have achieved to set out to do. It's to recreate that unease that we all experience from one day to the next -- 'What is going on?' The chaos, the iterative nature of the pandemic, of all the issues with the pandemic -- the funding, the everything that people were going through."

Hathaway notes animations are involved.

"A good part of my work is now in animation, and it's in varied forms," continues Hathaway. "It's really hard to describe. You have to see it, and I think that it's kind of like unwrapping a present. You want to just let it flow. It's a fun video. It's eight minutes. And it definitely is animated. There's one portion where you will see quite a display of the stills, but everything is framed and contained within other animations. It's a journey. It's an experience, and I look forward to people leaving comments on the channel because it'll be on a YouTube channel under Prairie Fusion Arts. And there's room for comments -- yay or nay? Give 'er."

She says more showings like this could very likely follow.

"This is the first and I love that premise," adds Hathaway. "This is an exclusive premiere. It's running for three months. So, that's quite a nice extended stay."

As a reporter, I had the chance to view the art, and it was both haunting and extremely artistic in flavour, as well as possessing that sense of hope, as Hathaway explained. It was just the perfect length to watch, and I think it should win actual short film festival awards! You will not forget it after viewing the work.

Prairie Fusion Arts & Entertainment gallery operations manager Lee Beaton says there were several virtual exhibitions during the pandemic, but this one's different.

"Carmen has done the whole entire thing rather than us having to do to put the artwork, taking photos, and put the artwork onto the virtual platform," says Beaton. "Carmen has recreated her own virtual exhibition. We're really excited about it to share it with people. I mean, people are going to have different reactions when they see it and watch it, and we want to hear those reactions. We want to hear - 'What are your thoughts? What are your feelings? What are the emotions that this artwork that she's creating in you? What are you feeling? We want that open discussion. So, we want people to maybe email us and let us know, or give us a call or stop in and say, 'Hey, you know what? I watched that and this is what I felt."

She notes they'll share that information with Hathaway so she knows how her artwork has touched other people.

Beaton adds for any artists thinking outside the box without, necessarily, a painting on the wall, and perhaps thinking more digital, there's definitely potential for more similar exhibitions to come.

Check out more information at: 

https://www.prairiefusion.ca/events-all/art-of-centricity-covid-19