Loon and Moon
A story that invites us in
Loon and Moon began as a story, but it was never intended to remain quietly between the covers of a book. Created collaboratively with visual artist Tracie Stewart, Loon and Moon is an illustrated allegory exploring relationship, belonging, longing, fear, greed, transformation, and the possibility of finding another way. At its heart are questions about right relationship—with ourselves, with one another, and with the living world.
And questions, we discovered, are wonderful doorways into participation. From the beginning, we imagined Loon and Moon as something that could move outward into communities—through readings, conversations, classrooms, circles, book clubs, exhibitions and participatory workshops. Rather than telling people what the story means, we invite them to enter it and notice what it awakens in them.
From story to shared experience
Our public engagement workshops have combined readings from Loon and Moon with guided meditation, reflective inquiry and collaborative art-making. Participants might begin by listening to the story, then slow down and explore a question from their own lives:
Where are my roots?
What connects me to others?
What does belonging feel like?
What happens when fear tells us there isn’t enough?
What might right relationship look like?
From there, thought becomes experience. People make marks, tell stories, contribute words, create together and add something of their own to the unfolding work. At Darts Hill Garden, participants explored their personal relationship to roots and how those roots might weave into the wider web of life, creating a collaborative artwork together.
At the Terrace Art Gallery, community workshops invited participants to contribute work that became part of the exhibition itself. And when a Grade 11 and 12 art class visited the gallery to talk with us about the conceptual art process, each student offered a single word in response to Tracie’s artwork. I gathered their words and wove them into a poem.
I love that kind of exchange. The artist offers something. The community responds. The response changes the work. And something appears that none of us could have made alone.
The story keeps travelling
For me, this is where Loon and Moon becomes public engagement art. The book may begin the conversation, but it doesn’t finish it. Each reading, workshop and gathering allows the story to meet another group of people and become something slightly different. Participants bring their own memories, questions, imagination and ways of seeing—and the world of Loon and Moon grows a little larger because they entered it.
Perhaps that was always the invitation at the heart of the story: Don’t simply watch Loon search for another way. Step into the story and wonder what another way might look like for all of us.