AGSM hosting drag workshop, performance

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This article was published 11/03/2022 (1465 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Art Gallery of Southwestern Manitoba is hosting a unique workshop designed to help participants explore their creativity and bring out their inner drag persona.

The idea behind the upcoming AGSM presents Flora Hex drag show and workshop was to help foster a positive space for the LGBTQ2S+ community within the gallery, said organizer Koda Maxon.

“At the AGSM, there’s a lot of focus on fostering creative exploration and in order for that to be accessible to everyone I really wanted to create something that is a little bit different from other workshops that we have done before,” Maxon said. “Doing a drag workshop is its own artform, and I really wanted to see something like that happen at the art gallery.”

They were exploring different events to facilitate in the community, and one of the ideas they repeatedly returned to was hosting a drag show.

Maxon soon connected with drag queen Flora Hex, and what started as a seed of an idea blossomed into a “really big event.”

They are excited to see the workshop take place and create an LGBTQ2S+ space in Brandon, Maxon said.

One of the reasons Hex first began performing drag was to create more space for queer individuals in the artistic community. Her goal is to reflect this mission in the workshop.

“We’ll spend some time getting to know who we are and our relation to drag and what that means to us,” Hex said. “I’m excited to see the diversity and to let people get to know themselves through that creative process.”

The workshop will centre on the interests of participants and why they chose to participate in the project. The process of creating a drag persona makes the practice an work of art, Hex said, along with the use of colour and all of the elements of art that would be seen in a two-dimensional work.

“You are using shape, you are using line, you are making choices for yourself to represent things that are within you. All of those facets occur in conventional art, and so I think that’s what makes drag an art form,” Maxon said. “Also, there is this massive level of expression in it. It’s, in my opinion, one of the purest, it reminds in some ways of dance, it’s a very pure raw expression of part of yourself.”

She added it can be an incredibly vulnerable experience because while performing with an audience you are the work.

The event is open to everyone and anyone, Hex added, because “drag is for everyone.”

There is no experience needed with drag to participate in the workshop. The only thing needed is an interest in the art form and a willingness to be creative and embrace the experience of the moment.

During the workshop, she will go through how to apply a face of makeup and the different techniques that can be used when getting ready for a show.

“Even though it is this extremely creative process and this artistic journey, so to speak, it does kind of get pigeonholed into one thing. In my opinion, it isn’t one thing. It’s many things,” Maxon said. “Everyone should have access to create art if they so choose to, and it’s in the same realm to me as drag. I’m of the opinion that anyone who chooses to can.”

Hex said one of the keys to finding success during the workshop will be building trust to ensure the comfort participants have in making art and getting creative. The goal is to help people develop their own processes and find their voice in drag.

“No one who has done drag looks as finished as they want to be from the beginning. It’s a process, it’s just like learning, I think it will be a lot of just building trust with people and letting them know that it’s OK to mess up,” Maxon said. “The more you can get out of your own way the better. Just enjoy the experience.”

Looking to the future, Maxon said, they see the upcoming show as a great opportunity for people to explore more about themselves and their identity. It also offers a chance to find other people who are like them and who think like them and have similar experiences.

If the drag show goes well, they are hoping to build off momentum to host other similar events at the AGSM.

“It’s something that is going to expand the boundaries of what the art gallery has to offer as well,” Maxon said. “It’s going to be really neat to facilitate something that is so creative-based and so personal.”

The Drag Makeup Workshop runs from 3 to 6 p.m. on March 19. It is $25 for AGSM members and $35 for non-members. Participants need to bring their own makeup for use during the project.

The Drag Show featuring Flora Hex and the Wheat City Ramblers begins at 7:30 p.m. Doors open at 7 p.m. The show is for 18-plus only.

For more information, visit agsm.ca/.

» ckemp@brandonsun.com

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