Lögberg-Heimskringla - 13.12.1991, Blaðsíða 2

2'# Lögbe'rcf-Heimskringla • Föstudagur 13. deáember 1991
Free Spirit
TThíðrft EEirilCkði
By Hulda Karen Daníelsdóttír
“There’s a young woman of Icelandic
descent who is very interestcd in taking
Icelandic lessons at the Scandinavian
Centre. She lives quite close to you, and
do you think she can get a ride with you
to the classes?” asked a mutual friend on
the phone. “Her name is Erika. You’ll
like her and she’ll be calling you soon,”
said my friend before hanging up.
Half a year passed and I never heard
anything from Erika, but finally she did
call.
“Hi, I’m Erika. I’ve been very busy
lately, but now I’m ready to take Icelan-
dic.” By this time I had become very
curious to meet Erika MacPherson. We
had run an article in the L-H about her
brother, Arne, who is an Edmonton-
based actor, so, I felt I knew a little bit
about her already.
We arrangcd that she would come to
my house cvery Thursday night, and ride
with me to the classes. And one night,
there she was, all bundled up at my door,
again saying, “Hi, I’m Erika.”
This was my fírst introduction
to Eríka’s humour, which she has
in abundance. She is also very
intelligent and possesses a
certain teasing wit.
After classes Erika would sometimes
come in for a cup of hot chocolatc and a
chat. Oncc, as I was standingat my stove
pouring cocoa for all of us ladling with a
very small cup into largcr ones; Erika
watched mc for a while and then began
opening drawcrs. “What arc you looking
for?” I asked. “Wcll I don’t know, maybc
something smaller to
pour that cocoa
with—a small tea-
spoon, or a thimblc
perhaps.”
This was my first
introduction to
Erika’s humour,
which she has in
abundance. She is
also very intelligent
and possesses a cer-
tain teasing wit.
“This is a nice
place,” she said
about my apartment.
“Maybe I can come
here earlier on
Thursdays and take
showers. Wc don’t
have a shower where
I live,” she said
laughing. “Hey, by
all means,” I said, but
she never did.
Erika lives at the
newly-founded St.
Norbert Arts and Cultural Centre, lo-
cated at the Guest House of the former
Trappistmonastery in St. Norbcrt, Mani-
toba. The building is huge, isolated, and
surrounded by a beautiful prairie land-
scape.
What Erika and her friends, Shane
Stewart and Louise Loewen, have been
workingtowards, forquiteafcwyears, is
creating a community-orientcd artistic
group. Thcy fcel that the Centre is an
opportune setting for exchange between
practicing artists and community mem-
bers, and they want to provide a rural
setting for the Winnipeg arts commu-
nity.
They have already planned the Art-
ists-in-Rcsidence program, which they
feel is the foundation for the St. Norbert
Arts and Cultural Centre. The purpose of
the program is to bring together contem-
porary professional artists of different
disciplines to foster a creative commu-
nity atmosphere. The artists will be in-
vited for terms ranging from a weekend
to four months. The participating artists
will facilitate workshops, classes, com-
munity art projects, collaborative pieces,
or utilize their skills to contribute to the
administration ofthe centre. The accom-
modations and studios, workshop, class
and performance
spaces for the par-
ticipatingartistsare
the rooms that once
ho used guests of the
former monastery,
and are ideal for
personal study in a
communal environ-
ment.
Erika, who is the
Centre’s assistant
project co-ordi-
nator and an artist
in residence, says
they want to pro-
vide participants
with a healthy envi-
ronment in which
to createartandfos-
ter cross-discipli-
naiy discourse and
collaboration. “Art
will be produced
from the artists’ im-
mcdiate cnviron-
ment—where they eat, sleep and inter-
act. It’s an all-inclusive lifestyle thing,”
she says.
When Erika was asked about her ed u-
cation and how she became involved
with the Centre, she said it was a long
story. “I was born in Seattle, but brought
up in Edmonton and Canmore, just out-
side Banff. My parents, Lorne and Lillian
MacPherson, are both lawyers. My
mother is a Law librarian at thc Univer-
sity of Alberta and my father is an inde-
pendent film producer. I attcnded a
numberofartschools, suchas, forexam-
ple, Fort San School for the Arts in
Continued on page 3
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