Michael Belmore -Shapeshifter: Video by the Ontario Arts Council

Transcipt:

I am Michael Belmore. I am originally from Thunder Bay. I grew up in Upsula, which is just about 90 miles north on the Trans Canada and I work mainly in sculpture.

A lot of my work is inspired by the northern landscape especially the north shore of Superior. A lot of my works actually deals with water, it deals with time. It deals with rocks and rivers and how this land is formed, especially here, that is it important to me.

So a lot of my work is in essence conceptual but it is very much grounded in the traditions of where my grandparents came from, where I come from, and it’s about being connected to the land.

I got my first OAC materials grant when I was 16. So I’ve always known about it. I think for me, it has been very beneficial. They have really helped my career, as far as applying for grants because a lot of my materials are extremely expensive and also my work is time-consuming. The grant gives you time.

My experience from writing grants is that you often do it in a bubble, so you really don’t know what you’re doing. You basically are looking at a form, a piece fo paper. They are asking questions and it seems quite ridiculous to you often, about having to explain why. Because often as an artist you don’t actually spend time doing that.

If somebody was applying for a grant for the first time I would tell them to tell a story, I think that is the most important thing. To use simple language. And I think also that your images are really important, especially for the visual arts. Artists are looking at them, so they will judge you on the quality of your images.

I think that the possibility of creating art full-time is a difficult process. I think there’s very few artist that actually do it. I think the majority of artists don’t make money but they make a living and they make themselves happy. I think that’s what you can look for as far as success, and success is basically doing what you want and creating things that are meaningful to you and your community. And that is the best that you can hope for.