Community Engagement Activities (ARTS IN THE PARKS ZONE):
Community Picnic Painting with Philip Cote and Monica Wickeler, in celebration of Arts in the Parks. Philip and Monica will support participants to paint one of two picnic tables designed by each. Philip will work in the medium of paint, while Monica will work with crayon wax.
Philip Cote, MFA
Young Spiritual Elder, Artist, Activist, Historian and Traditional Wisdom Keeper. Moose Deer Point First Nation. First Nations Affiliation: Shawnee, Lakota, Potawatomi, Ojibway, Algonquin, and Mohawk. Philip Cote is a Sundancer, Pipe Carrier and Sweat Ceremony leader recognized by Elder Vern Harper, Buffalo Chief - Floyd Looks for Buffalo Hand. Mentors: Buffalo Chief James Dubrey, Verdell Red Cloud Jr. and Chief Oliver Red Cloud Sr. Cote received his Indigenous name Noodjmowin (The Healer) in 1979 from Joe Couture and was made a member of the Falseface Society at the Seneca longhouse in 1992.
Monica Wickeler
Monica is an LGBTQ2S+ /Luxembourg/Canadian artist with a passion for public art. Working out of her Toronto and Northern studio in Port Severn. Monica is a seasoned public artist and an emerging designer developing her three-dimensional style and building techniques. Also known as monicaonthemoon, Monica was originally trained in the craft of hand-painted outdoor advertising in the ’90s and has moved her practice towards community-based public art installations, in Toronto, and across Canada. When Monica isn’t found on the boom-lift reaching the far top corner of a mural, she can be found in her studio planning her next creative placemaking adventure.
