Life imitates art at Ross Creek Centre, where young and old dabble and discover, experience and appreciate, creating an Atlantic Canadian legacy.
It's a pleasant summer afternoon at Ross Creek Centre for the Arts. Amid the tranquil, pastoral setting, there's a small whirlwind of activity. Down by the largest of several ponds, actors run through a scene for "Rockbound," the play being mounted by Two Planks and a Passion Theatre Company, while the director discusses design with the set creator. Young people disappear down one of the many trails around the property, in an exercise to connect nature and creativity.
Set on 186 acres of former farmland amid the exquisite natural beauty of the North Mountain, in Nova Scotia's Annapolis Valley, Ross Creek is a place for people to discover the arts and explore their creativity; to try new artistic endeavors at all levels, from beginner to professional. Activities range from the Family Arts Sunday programs, to the week-long summer camps and workshops for youth, and retreats and teaching opportunities for established artists.
Where other arts centres tend to focus on professional adult artists, Ross Creek welcomes all ages and all abilities. "We start with young children, introducing them to skill development and encouraging the pure joy of creating art," says Chris O'Neill, who with her husband, Ken Schwartz, founded the centre. "Then we give them the chance to work with skilled, professional artists who are also developing their own particular projects, in a way that is without precedent in Canada."
The fact that this is a multi-generational arts centre excites many of the established artists who come to work at Ross Creek. "They remember how it was not to have access to training, support, and an inspirational place to work," Chris says, adding that the centre doesn't compete with art or theatre schools.
"We help prepare aspiring artists for the challenge of finding their niche, help them find the right place for further study, and then work with them again when they finish their studies."
Like the driveway leading to the centre, the road from dream to fruition has been long, and sometimes fraught with potholes. Chris and Ken have been in theatre for more than 20 years, and have always held two long-term projects in their hearts. "Ever since we got together as teens, we intended to found a theatre company, and also dreamed of a location where artists could come together and be inspired by each others' stories," says Chris, who has had training in acting, while Ken has had training in directing. After a stint in Ireland working with several theatre collectives, the couple decided to establish their dreams at home, in Nova Scotia.
Chris's connections to the Valley-where she had lived in her youth and where her father still lives-led them initially to Sheffield Mills, a few minutes from Canning, where they first established their theatre company. The couple and their children, Aliah, 12, and twins Eamonn and Malachy, 10, now live in Canning; they purposefully established themselves away from a mainstream centre like Halifax or Wolfville.
"Art can become self-referential, and the world is about so much more than just artists," Chris says.
Ross Creek Centre is not "Banff East," as some people suggest, although in an attempt to understand just what this unique fa-cility and its programs are all about, it's an easy comparison to make.
"We were inspired by some of the ideas from [The Banff Centre], but incorporated them with Atlantic Canadian concepts and culture," says Chris. "We do things in a different way-sort of similar to the difference between the Rockies, which are dramatic, and the North Mountain where we are located, which is part of an older, more weathered and stable range."
Two summers ago, artist Sara Hartland-Rowe, who teaches painting at NSCAD University, in Halifax, spent 10 days as artist in residence at Ross Creek. She was mounting an exhibition in the gallery called "The Gods that Walk Among Us," which was structured around theatre, so she spent time watching preparations for the play that Two Planks had in production.
"I shared a house with four people from the play," she says. "It was exciting to be around people who believe so passionately in the work, though it hadn't yet come into being....
"Just being away from family and the rest of life, and being able to sink fully into my own work was indescribably productive," Sara says. "Time suspends itself and allows an artist to work at his or her speed, while the other activities around you-play rehearsals, arts camp for youth and so on-add to the overall experience."
There's a gentle hubbub of activity in the RJ Owen Studio. Once a month the studio holds Family Arts Sunday, an afternoon of projects for individuals or entire families to participate in. There's always a theme, often to do with the season or to coincide with whatever show is in the art gallery. Participants pay a donation to cover the cost of project materials.
There's fresh fruit and cheese, fair trade coffee and tea, and local apple cider. Six tables are set up with pop art projects. At one table, a mother and daughter are creating a Japanese carp windsock. At another, a volunteer guides several children through the process of making Japanese folding screens, while another has a few families creating Andy Warhol-like portraits. The chatter and laughter show the level of interaction and engagement.
"We design the Family Arts Sunday projects to connect with the current art show, so people can make links between what professionals achieve and what ordinary people can do," Chris says, pausing from running upstairs to photocopy drawings for the Warhol artists-in-training.
Chris and Ken run programs in schools to help make sure that youth know about the centre, and what's available. With schools slashing arts programs, it's important to do some type of outreach so kids get exposure to the arts. "Creating the next Alex Colville, Holly Carr or Ellen Page is one goal, of course," Chris says. "But it's equally important that the next banker or lawyer has a deep appreciation for the arts, someone who wants to help see the arts flourish in our region."
At a time when we hear so much about outmigration, Ken Schwartz and Chris O'Neill have bucked the trend; they've come home to establish their careers and dreams, and in so doing have created a place where other artists-of all ages and levels-might build their skills and careers, too. As the couple watch their children working on projects at Family Arts Sunday, Ken says, "the goal is to make Ross Creek survive well past its founders. That takes time, but there are such places in the US that have operated for 100 years. We'll take the time."
Perhaps they've taken some wisdom from a character in "Henry VIII," and know that "To climb steep hills requires slow pace...."
Ami's family affair
The arts are "all in the family" for the McKay family of Scots Bay, NS. "Our experience with Ross Creek started before there was an actual centre-when Two Planks held youth programs at the for-mer high school in Canning," says Ami McKay, award-winning author of The Birth House. When Ami's son Ian Funke-McKay was eight he took a drama class. "The centre was nothing but an empty field with a house, a barn and a dream," Ami says.
In the eight years since then Ian has dabbled in many artistic pursuits, and also volunteers at the centre. "Chris and Ken and the staff are great... I love helping out people who get things done," he says.
During the past three summers he has served as a junior councillor for camps, playing games with young campers, shepherding them around the grounds for their classes, and helping instructors with supplies and gear. For his own part, he's honing an interest in drawing, painting and charcoal.
"I get feedback from my instructors, but also see what other young artists are doing, give and re-ceive feedback, and learn how the instructors teach, in case I want to try teaching one day," he says.
Ami wrote the play "Jerome: The Historical Spectacle," produced by Two Planks last summer, and has taken time out from her writing to teach creative writing to young minds. "We just have a ball," she says, "and I come away having learned more about myself and my writing, which is a bonus."
Ami's husband, Ian McKay, says his role at Ross Creek has evolved gradually. "I'm Ian's driver," he says wryly, referring to the many trips he makes to the centre throughout a year. A computer pro-grammer, he also maintains the website for Ross Creek and Two Planks.
Eight-year-old Jonah has attended Family Art Sunday programs and annual Canada Day celebra-tions-ideal opportunities to visit the centre and realize that art is in everyone's domain-and more recently, week-long day camps and March Break programs. "People often miss out on what art can do at less professional levels," says Ami. "There are no expectations of doing something perfect-just a celebration of being creative and having fun."
A lost art?
Before there was Ross Creek Centre for the Arts, there was Two Planks and a Passion Theatre Company, founded in 1992 by Chris O'Neill and Ken Schwartz. The couple have been involved in theatrical productions for more than 20 years: Chris as an actor, Ken's passion is directing. Their company name comes from a lecture on theatre that Ken heard while a student at the National Theatre School of Canada, in Montreal. The instructor, Francis Reid, told the class, "No matter what kind of fancy technology we introduce to the theatre, the basis of the experience is two planks to stand on and the passion to do it."
Of all the lessons Ken and Chris have learned about theatre throughout the years, this one stuck: "Without the passion and the gumption to stick your neck out and be truthful as an artist, you've got nothing," Ken says.
Two Planks started out with a one-woman show called "See Bob Run," written by Daniel MacIvor, which Chris and Ken toured to a few communities and to the Atlantic Fringe Festival in Halifax. The company began to grow, taking on unique plays written about issues and stories that touch Atlantic Canadians, including "Whereverville," written by Josh MacDonald, about a community facing reset-tlement; "The Butterbox Babies" and "Westray: The Long Way Home," which Ken and Chris wrote; and several plays written by aboriginal playwright and journalist Drew Hayden Taylor.
Two Planks recently launched Theatre Off The Grid: outdoor performances set in Ross Creek's natural outdoor amphitheatre. Last year, the company mounted Thornton Wilder's classic drama "Our Town," which Ken calls one of the greatest plays about small town life ever written. He also worked with local writer Ami McKay to develop "Jerome: The Historical Spectacle," which ran in August.
This summer the company is staging Frank Parker Day's novel "Rockbound." Ken worked with playwright Allen Cole to develop the play; the company showed the production to a limited group in 2007 and again last year, to further polish the script and plot development.
"What makes theatre in this day and age a special experience is that it's based in human interac-tion," says Ken. "In our wired world there are so many layers of technology between individuals at work and at play, we are losing that primal human experience of gathering around a fire, or a piano, and sharing stories with a direct emotional engagement." He doesn't dismiss technology, of course, pointing out that it's a wonderful tool in any art form, but it isn't a substitute for artistry and imagination.