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Allow<br />
Yourself<br />
to Fully Bloom<br />
with Dr Deanna Geddo DDS<br />
• holistic dentistry<br />
“Submission” (video still from Step into the Ring), 2011-12<br />
Leather, vinyl inflatable, lead shot, 42 x 30 x 84 inches<br />
“Submission” is a seven-foot-tall realization of the logo used by<br />
the Canada Council for the Arts. Like much of her sculpture work,<br />
“Submission” is intended to be a full body experience. Dickie explains<br />
that “the work is participatory—it comes alive when people interact<br />
with it.” In this case, her sculpture is made of soft tan leather and leather<br />
stitching, encases a bop bag (of Bozo the Clown fame) so that you<br />
can punch, push and grapple with the piece without ever completely<br />
knocking it down. It always comes right back at you. “Submission” is<br />
fun and beautiful too, but it’s intended as a critique of the Canada<br />
Council’s granting system.<br />
Every year, artists from all over Canada submit applications for grants;<br />
grants that, if received, will help cover the burdensome costs of art<br />
making. Megan Dickie received a grant in 2004; she’s also been rejected<br />
several times, so she understands the impact the Canada Council can<br />
have on an artist’s career and on an artist’s sense of self. She says, “They<br />
control what we value in arts. Receiving a grant adds enormous credibility<br />
to your practice. You feel like you are doing something significant.<br />
If you don’t get it then you feel the opposite, which isn’t necessarily<br />
true. I want to acknowledge that it’s a driving force in the Canadian<br />
art scene. And it’s ok to be critical of the driving force.”<br />
She goes on to say that it’s “not just critiquing granting systems,<br />
but [rather] the relationship we have with them. They are a huge organization,<br />
based in Ottawa, and not very personal. This project is about<br />
creating an intimate relationship with the Canada Council.”<br />
This is what we all want, isn’t it To feel that we have some control<br />
over the governing bodies in our lives, or any force larger and more<br />
powerful than ourselves, for that matter. Often times it’s much easier<br />
to concede defeat, to simply bask in the complacency of powerlessness.<br />
Questioning the status quo is not for the weak at heart; there’s such<br />
potential for ridicule and defamation. Fortunately there are a few artists<br />
and others, people like Megan Dickie, who are willing, as she says, to<br />
make themselves “totally vulnerable.”<br />
Christine Clark is a Victoria-based artist who writes<br />
about artists in Victoria and beyond. See her blog at<br />
http://artinvictoria.com.<br />
• aesthetic work emphasizing<br />
your natural smile<br />
• amalgam removal<br />
• crowns, bridges, dentures<br />
• relaxation techniques<br />
for sensitive patients<br />
• other healing treatments<br />
available<br />
THE BEST RESOLUTION for <strong>2012</strong> is health and beauty.<br />
Give yourself a dazzling new smile in the new year.<br />
Dr. Geddo can enhance your natural smile, often in<br />
as little as one or two hours.<br />
Dr. Geddo believes a visit to the dentist should be a<br />
pleasurable and healing experience.<br />
Dr. Deanna Geddo, DDS • 250-389-0669<br />
HOLISTIC DENTAL OFFICE AND HEALING CENTRE<br />
404 - 645 Fort St (across from Bay Centre)<br />
doctor_dg@shaw.ca<br />
www.integrateddentalstudio.ca<br />
www.focusonline.ca • January <strong>2012</strong><br />
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