Heather Bishop on our Doorstep!

By Judy Scott

Heather Bishop is coming to Kingston! She will be in concert Sat., May 23 at the Octave Theatre, 8 p.m. for the sole purpose of raising funds for the Ban Righ Centre at Queen’s University. This will be her only Ontario appearance in 2009.

The Ban Righ Centre is a 1920s era brick house on campus, founded by female alumni, and a friendly haven for full and part-time women students. There is always hot soup simmering on the stove and quiet areas for studying and writing.

A talented, determined, enthusiastic and tireless Canadian proponent of women’s rights, activism and song, Order of Canada Member, painter, advocate for racial equality, same-sex rights, environmental awareness and protection, Heather is a top-selling independent singer based in rural Manitoba. She pioneered independent distribution through the creation of the Mother of Pearl label and has performed all over the world to rave reviews. She has released 13 albums, including four critically-acclaimed albums for children.

Heather lives on a large farm and along with her musical and artistic endeavours, is an experienced tradeswoman, carpenter, electrician, plumber and auto mechanic. She initiated and taught the first Pre-Trades Training for Women course in Canada and was a  founding member of the national Women in Trades organization. She leads a big life.

In an exclusive interview, Heather spoke to Dorothy’s Closet this week.

DC: Did you grow up in Manitoba or choose to live there? If the latter, why?

HB: I grew up in Regina and came to Manitoba in 1975. I was drawn by a larger gay community and by the music scene around the Winnipeg Folk Festival which was and is the largest in Canada.

DC: Are you a self-taught painter? How do you choose your subjects?

HB: I studied Fine Art at the University of Regina and received my degree there. My subjects usually jump out at me as a painting when I see them and then I take some photos and away I go. Sometimes I work from photos people give me as I also paint commissions – an example is the lady in the purple dress (on her website) - entitled Annie Louise. I painted her for her family. But again, I need to see a painting in the photos people send me before I proceed with it.

In particular, I feel that people’s faces are maps of their time here and that is what I want to capture. When portraiture was in favour, and as far as I can tell that was centuries ago, the wealthy got painted and I look at those faces and I see nothing. The faces I paint are people who have lived very real and exacting lives that infuse them with a quiet wisdom that usually shines out their faces. I paint the very young and the older faces because I also feel there is a connection there to where we come from – in the old because they are soon on their way back home and from the young because they are not long here yet and have not yet forgotten, on some deep level, the beauty from where they come and they wear that on their little faces.

DC: Do you have farm/pet animals on your property?

HB: I had four cats and two dogs but last year one of my dogs and two of my cats passed on – tough year – so now I have my dog Cutter and my two cats, Hiker and Pippi.

DC: What prompted you to build a labyrinth in your field? Did you design it yourself or replicate it? What kind of machine did you use to make it? What meaning does it have for you?

HB: I have a close friend who is very much into labyrinths and she turned me on to them. As I have 320 acres of land here, in particular, a large open field directly south of my house, it seemed like a great idea at the time to make a huge one in the field, so with her help we walked it out, and then I opened it up first with my tractor and brush cutter (ed. Note: her tractor’s name is Beulah). I maintain it all the time now with my smaller riding mower and it’s been a great, great addition to the land here and people’s experiences. I love how it connects me to the variances in life’s journey as it loops back in on itself just when you think you’ve arrived and how, by seeking the peace in the journey, you get so much more out of the traveling.

DC: What do you do to motivate yourself to paint, write songs, speak, etc.?

HB: I was once told by a horoscope reader that my creative house is jammed with almost all of my planets and if I wasn’t being creative in one form or another, I would wither and die. And I have known that to be true from the time I was a very small child. Whether I’m writing or painting or singing or building something, I’m always being creative. It’s the air that I breathe. And I am blessed with a lifetime of the privilege of being a creative person. The motivation is in my blood…I feel plugged into that universal energy and spiritual connection. I must say, at the moment, I feel so strongly that the energy on this planet has shifted and the creative people I know are all experiencing the amazing rush of energy all around us and are feeling quite driven by it.

I also have come to understand that it is the process that I must live in and I love it, I am blessed by it and I am anchored by it.

DC: Will all your CDs be available at the Kingston concert for sale?

HB: Yes and – ta-da - I will have my new CD (may the universe cooperate) with me. I’m in the middle of recording it now and if all goes well, Kingston will be the first place to see it.

DC: Could you give us a short quote re your feelings about facilities like the Ban Righ Centre and why you support it?

HB: There’s an incredible book entitled Three Cups of Tea. It’s the story of an American guy, Greg Mortinsen, who has been building schools in the poorest and most remote areas of Pakistan and Afghanistan. The point that is always obvious in the book is that education is the key to everything – the only real way to combat terrorism - educating the girls and arming women with the tools to defeat sexism and misogyny. It matters not if it’s in Afghanistan or here in Canada, education is the key.

Tickets to Heather’s concert are $25 and are available at the Ban Righ Centre and Brian’s Record Option. Two Roads Home is also on the bill (www.tworoadshome.com). Call 613-533-2976 for details. For more details on Heather’s extraordinary career, her website is www.heatherbishop.com. For more information about the Ban Righ Centre, please visit www.queensu.ca/dsao/ind/banrigh/index.htm