Jerry-Faye Flatt | Positive Phrases Decorate Phoenix Square: Katrina Slade
Katrina Sade stands in front of her art installation, Weathergrams for Good. (Photo by Jerry-Faye Flatt)
Since July, hundreds of bright pieces of paper have decorated the trees of Fredericton’s Phoenix Square, in front of City Hall. The well-known brown, brick landmark was brought to life with Katrina Slade’s latest art installation, Weathergrams for Good.
All 800 plus weathergrams share a positive message, one that’s part of the loving-kindness or maitrī meditation.
“I'm really hoping that people get inspired by what they see here and they in turn, go out into their day and pay kindness forward to somebody else in their life. . .when somebody is really kind to you, you feel happier and then you want to be kind to other people,” said Katrina.
Katrina spent three weeks creating this instillation. She picked out six phrases from the loving-kindness meditation practice and asked local artist Haley Bungay to design a font for them. Flewwelling Press Ltd made Haley’s font into stamps, which Katrina then stamped onto each piece of paper. Each weathergram is English on one side, and French on the other.
Katrina said she wanted to share the loving-kindness meditation messages with everyone.
“Everybody deserves them, everybody needs them.”
Weathergrams are inspired by a Japanese tradition called Tanzakua that takes place during Tanabata, or the Star Festival. The Japan Society says it’s “a summer festival based on an old story which tells of the annual reunion of two lovers in the Milky Way.” Tanzakua is a part of the festivities, people write a wish on a coloured strip of paper and hang it up. The late Oregon-based Lloyd J. Reynolds developed the weathergram from this tradition as a way for people to share their calligraphy with others.
Katrina said when the City of Fredericton put out a call for proposals from professional artists to install a temporary public art piece in front of Fredericton City Hall, she knew she wanted to do something, but she didn’t know what.
“The prompt that the city gave us was they wanted the artist to respond to the pandemic in some way. And I thought, well, a lot of people might respond in a negative way, but I want to respond in a positive way.”
She was inspired to present this project because of all the acts of kindness she was seeing around her once the pandemic hit.
“Everyone was being really kind and caring towards each other and trying to give each other support and care. And I thought that was really inspiring. I just love seeing that in the world. And I want to see more of it.”
The weathergrams have phrases on them like “May you experience the ease of well-being,” “May you be healthy and whole to whatever degree possible,” and “May you get all of the happiness that you deserve in life.”
Katrina’s favourite one says, “May you be awakened to the light of your true nature.”
“That [quote] really speaks to me because I still feel like I'm finding myself and I need to be awakened.”
The public is invited to participate in this project. There are blank weathergrams in the Fredericton Tourism Visitor Information Centre for people to write their own positive messages on. Every week Katrina is going to collect them and hang them up. You can also message the @weathergrams.for.good Instagram account with your message and Katrina will write it and hang it for you.
Katrina continues to share positivity with her newest project Empowered Art Heart Journal, a course dedicated to mindfulness, creativity and journaling. She created it to help people cope with the stress and uncertainty of the current times. You can sign up for the course here.
The installation will remain up until the fall. As time passes, the weathergrams will deteriorate, something that’s intentional. Weathergrams for Good will evolve and change with the seasons, much as our lives will continue to evolve as we navigate the “new normal” of living in a pandemic.
Jerry-Faye Flatt is a summer reporter for CreatedHere Magazine. She’s a recent St. Thomas University grad who double majored in journalism and communications. Jerry-Faye spent her final year at university as the Managing Editor of The Aquinian, STU’s official student newspaper, after working as the Arts Editor in her previous year. When she’s not busy out getting the latest scoop, you can find her playing in bands or driving around in her red 1981 Ford econoline van. If you have a story tip, you can contact her at flatt.jerryfaye@gmail.com.