Woman of the Week Before – Margaret Dragu

Presenting:

Margaret Dragu

Lady Justice in Pillowbook at grunt Gallery photo by Merle Addison

Here’s a little bit about her:

“Margaret Dragu is a warm-hearted, fearless and indomitable spirit who has left her mark across disciplines and across the country. Dragu’s astonishing output of work spans back to 1969 and includes forays into visual art, theatre, film, video, writing, choreography and above all, performance art. Dragu assured her place in Canadian art history with a series of massive, people-friendly events that retained an eccentric, personal touch (from her 1983 solstice mega-spectacle “X’s and O’s on the Longest Day of the Year” to her 1988 film project I VANT TO BE ALONE, which reads as a who’s who of the Toronto art scene
of the 1980s). As she has matured, her work has focused on creating intimate monuments of the everyday (from her Same Day Edit video and ‘zine projects to her walk’n'roll performance parades and instant, interactive X’s and O’s improvisational movement works for untrained audiences). Dragu is a pioneer in the feminist politics of domesticity, to which she brings a fierce humour and just a hint of James Bond glamour.”

Written by Paul Couillard (artist, academic, curator, founder of FADO

And here’s how she answered my 6 questions about creativity:

What inspires your creativity?
My first discipline was dance. In 1971, I moved to New York to study dance but became immersed in the experimental art scene with painters, composers, sculptors, photographers, conceptual and performance artists (although there was no word for ‘performance art’ at the time). I received a scholarship to study jazz dance in Montreal but also became engrossed in the artists’ community of Galerie Vehicule. While researching “found” movement patterns, I began working in striptease/burlesque: this ‘experiment’ lasted 20 years and continues to inform both my art practice and my politics. At Vehicule, I worked with experimental filmmakers from NFB including Bozo Moyle who introduced me to the “new” B/W videotape portopack. I also began a 10+ year collaboration with Tom Dean who coined the term “art dancer” to describe me for two reasons: my solo work employed sculpture, photography, video, found-sound music collages, etc. and looked more like visual art than dance; and because I collaborated with so many visual artists.

I moved to Toronto first meeting and choreographing for General Idea then collaborating with Rodney Werden, Colin Campbell, Kate Craig, Elizabeth Chitty, etc. I made work that was durational and big-scale eg. “X’s & O’s for the Longest Day of the Year”. I made solo, low-tech work for small galleries eg. “Joy of Multi-Discipline”. I made site-specific work, community-based work, and agit-prop. I worked in commercial film, television and radio as an actor, producer, writer, and director. I choreographed for theatre, film and television. I worked as a performance art and dance curator. I began writing about art, culture and politics. In 1986, I moved to Vancouver. I continued to work in performance and video. In 1990, I began working in installation/performance as well as new media. My work draws on relational and community-engaged practices, personae/embodiment practice, politically engaged practice … and still dance….my first discipline, informs and deepens all my work.

How have you reinvented yourself thru your creativity?

I like Linda Montano’s ART/LIFE quote:

“For many years I have been framing my life and calling it art, so that everything – washing dishes, making love, walking, shopping, holding children – is seen as art. Formerly, I would separate out activities – run to the studio and what was my “creative time”. Gradually I found this separation unnecessary and felt that it was important for me to be attentive all of the time – not to waste a second. That became the Art/Life task that I have given myself until I die.”

I would like to be as “awake” as Montano; but in the meantime, I try to incorporate all aspects of my life/art practices so they “blur”…to enjoy the moments my Personal Trainer Practice is like/same as and informs/crosses over to my Performance Practice; Video with Cooking; Yoga Practise with Installation.

At the moment, I have a severe multi-personnae disorder operating as Lady Justice and Verb Woman and perhaps even more …

Based on response to your creativity, how do you involve others?
I belong to many communities, tribes, teams, groups all overlapping like a complex Venn Diagram. I see leading an aerobic class as another version of being a square dance caller; everyday gesture/movement as an exciting source of choreography; I am committed and engaged to Cage-ian, Beuys-ian, and Rainier-ian principles in my art/life practice(s).

What is the wildest journey your creativity has taken you on?
The next one.

What is your most memorable moment in the act of being creative?
The next one.

What’s next for you?

a. LADY JUSTICE (with 7 Virtues/Vices & Rose Man) join 5 other groups to create Procession of Performing Circles (a night parade/procession in DTES) for Bright Light Festival in March.

b. VERB WOMAN tours DTES with MENDING; then takes other verbs to Sarnia/Hamilton/St. Catharines and Toronto in April and May.

c. I am making a 2 part comic book “LADY JUSTICE and the LOST SWORD” and “LADY JUSTICE and the LOVER SWAN”

And here’s something that inspires her creativity:

Stephen Lewis speeches are free to read and download at this site as long as when used they are a) properly sourced and b) you send a note to : dircom@stephenlewisfoundation.org.

http://www.stephenlewisfoundation.org/news_speeches.cfm

Thank you Margaret for DANCING, CREATING, and VERBING!