EMMA International Collaboration

EMMA International Collaboration The event has become a catalyst for worldwide creativity in the arts. Site Description

The Ness Creek Arts site is located near Big River Saskatchewan.

100 artists from across the globe come together in the boreal forest of Saskatchewan to share in an experience of creative collaboration.

takes place July 31–August 8, 2024. Affectionately known as 'Emma', this biennial weeklong residency takes place in the heart of the Boreal Forest in Northern Saskatchewan, a place where form and function collide. Artists at various stages of t

heir careers are challenged to step outside their usual art practice, to explore medium, technique and subject matter through hands on collaboration and exciting creative exchange. The EMMA International Collaborations are an innovative workshop model for un-structured creative collaboration between artists working in traditional craft and those engaged in contemporary method. Since adopting this new spontaneous approach to learning several collaborative events across the world have emerged. Notably: Collaboration NZ, McGregor’s Bay, New Zealand, Echo Lake, New Hope PA, Hawaii Collaboration, Holualoa, HI, Art in the Pearl, Portland OR, Collaborations, Sydney Australia. In the summer of 2012 the second chapter of EMMA International Collaboration: EMMA ‘UNPLUGGED’ (a format based in using hand-tools and minimal use of energy) will encourage people to move out of their creative comfort zones, challenging participants to re-embrace traditional processes when it comes to making. Participants will be working without the use of electricity but with the use of some compressed gases, paint materials and battery operated hand drills. On-site facilities for the EMMA conference include multiple covered work sites set up for areas in woodworking, blacksmithing, jewelry production, mixed-media and a new print-making area. Participants stay in rustic cabins or provide their own camping gear (trailers are welcome but with limited access to water and electricity), many participants embrace the northern experience, tenting in the many available camp sites adjacent to the work area. The site also has a modern bathroom complex with showers and flush toilets. There is also an on-site kitchen and several community gathering areas. Food is catered locally with an emphasis on fresh local fare, including lake trout from nearby lakes. There are many local attractions in the surrounding area including hiking trails; fishing; boating and swimming at the longest white sand beach in Northern Saskachewan - Nestlin Lake. For more information regarding the site and surrounding area visit the Ness Core website…
History

In 1982 Saskatchewan-based artist Michael Hosaluk, and the Saskatchewan Craft Council organized a Wood Turning and Furniture Making conference in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. This event brought together some of the worlds finest wood turners and furniture makers of the time and has evolved into the Emma Lake International Collaboration. The standard lecture-demonstration event has developed over the years into an innovative hands-on experience that brings together artists from around the world, every two years, to make art for a week in northern Saskatchewan. In 1996 the event moved to the Emma Lake Kenderdine Campus, an artists’ retreat in the northern boreal forest (hence the name “Emma”), operated by the University of Saskatchewan. The success of the open studio sessions at past events led organizers to drop all formal instruction in favor of the totally hands on “no format format.” To broaden the creative base from wood related disciplines, organizers decide to include blacksmithing, metal fabrication, a foundry, painting and anything that fit the spontaneous nature of the event. In 2006 Emma International Collaboration moved to the site of Ness Creek near Big River, Saskatchewan. Over the past 20 years Ness Creek Music Festival has been host to musicians from all over the world and are in the process of expanding their site into a multi-functional arts center. Emma International Collaboration is one of the five key founding organizations of the Jack Milikin Center, a planned creative cultural facility that will nurture and steward cultural activities in Saskatchewan.

“Emma” has become catalyst for worldwide creativity. Notably; CollaborationNZ, Northland New Zealand, Echo Lake, New Hope PA, Hawaii, Portland, OR, Sydney Australia, Perth Australia.

Thank you to everyone who bid in the first EMMA International Collaboration online auction and congrats to those who won...
08/16/2024

Thank you to everyone who bid in the first EMMA International Collaboration online auction and congrats to those who won!

Your support keeps this life-changing art event going, and we appreciate you so much!

This is the final day to bid on these amazing creations! Auction closes tonight at 6PM CST (Thursday, August 15)!
08/15/2024

This is the final day to bid on these amazing creations! Auction closes tonight at 6PM CST (Thursday, August 15)!

Silent auction 'EMMA2024 Auction' hosted online at 32auctions.

A HUGE thank you to our sponsors and supporters – EMMA wouldn't be able to happen without you! Gratitude goes out to: Ar...
08/13/2024

A HUGE thank you to our sponsors and supporters – EMMA wouldn't be able to happen without you!

Gratitude goes out to: Art Placement Gallery, Business / Arts, TwoSmiths, , Inland Steel Products, Golden Artist Colors, Air Liquide, and M. Craig Campbell, Blacksmith - thank you!

08/08/2024
BID ONLINE NOW (until August 15, 2024): https://www.32auctions.com/EMMAcollab2024About Our AuctionEvery two years, one h...
08/08/2024

BID ONLINE NOW (until August 15, 2024): https://www.32auctions.com/EMMAcollab2024

About Our Auction
Every two years, one hundred artists from across the globe come together in the boreal forest of Saskatchewan to share in an experience of raw creation and open possibility. Artists at various stages of their careers are challenged to step outside their usual art practice, to explore medium, technique and subject matter through hands on collaboration and exciting creative exchange. The pieces created are put up for auction as a way to raise funds for the next Collab.

Artists include:
Russel Baldon, Cynthia Blanchette, Gordon Blackmore, Andy Buck, M. Craig Campbell, Joan Carrigan, Heather Cline, Fred Coates, Bonnie Conly, Lindsay Embree, Joshua Enck, Karen Ernst, Terri Fidelak, Sam Forsythe, Gabriela Garcia-Luna, Lisa Geertsen, Rob Gilchrest, Brian Gladwell, Lyonel Grant, Amarete Gregor, Alex Gupton, Alexa Hainsworth, Robb Helmkamp, Jan Hopkins, Michael Hosaluk, Emily Johnson, Yvonne Musey Johnson, Miranda Jones, Kim Kelzer, Eveline Koljin, Adrian Legg, Frans Lotz, Adam John Manley, John Monteath, Melanie Monique-Rose, Wendy Naepflin, Jason Nemec, Levi Nicholat, Arthur Perlett, Jason Ramey, John Rizzo, Pam Robinson, Cassie Rosteski, Bob Rotche, Mike Scott, Eva Seidenfaden, Slider, Lin Snow, Melissa Squire, Lynn Szymansky, Veronica Tricker, Kimberly Winkle, Eric Wolken, Aurora Wolfe.

Day 7 of and shenanigans are in full swing (and we’re getting close to auction time)! -Join us Wednesday night at Ness...
08/07/2024

Day 7 of and shenanigans are in full swing (and we’re getting close to auction time)!
-
Join us Wednesday night at Ness Creek for our in-person & silent auction - doors at 6PM! OR stay tuned for our online action and exhibition at , starting August 8th!

Day Five and we’re feeling alive at !
08/05/2024

Day Five and we’re feeling alive at !

Meet Jason Nemec!Participant in Jason () is a woodworking educator based in Charlton, NY, where he teaches at Main Str...
08/05/2024

Meet Jason Nemec!
Participant in

Jason () is a woodworking educator based in Charlton, NY, where he teaches at Main Street Studio, a community craft hub. Nemec is dedicated to sharing his expertise and passion for woodworking with others.

Meet Jason Ramey!Participant in “Jason navigates a psychological landscape rich with existential metaphors and persona...
08/04/2024

Meet Jason Ramey!
Participant in

“Jason navigates a psychological landscape rich with existential metaphors and personal narratives through his innovative use of furniture. He addresses the historical debates between art, craft, and design by integrating elements of these dichotomies into his work. Ramey's ability to stretch vernacular signifiers through formal and material intervention transforms them into intimate emotional experiences. His extensive use of found objects highlights the storytelling and memory embedded in his pieces, creating human-scaled spaces that evoke small domestic theaters and tragicomedy plays.

While historian Glenn Adamson focuses on the political and economic aspects of craft, Ramey’s practice is less concerned with these power structures and more with the personal and emotional significance of space. Ramey explores the concept of place—specifically, the familiar, domestic environments that shape human experience. His work reflects a deep attachment to these spaces, illustrated by his reflections on the builders of his childhood home. Ramey's artist statement reveals his fascination with the people who constructed his family's walls, underscoring how these walls became integral to his sense of security and identity.

Ramey's constructions, though often open-form and minimal, remain intimate and private. By integrating one or two domestic elements, his pieces emphasize personal space and psychological depth, creating reflective environments that challenge public exchange. His work merges modernist functionalism with a nuanced narrative drive, disrupting traditional boundaries between high and low art, fragmentation and autonomy, and originality and authorship.”
- Excerpt from Essay by Michelle Grabner

Address

Big River, SK

Website

https://www.32auctions.com/organizations/120059/auctions/164332?t=category&v=EMMA2024

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