In 2016, Hannah Jickling and Helen Reed teamed up with Queen Alexandra Elementary School in Vancouver to set up Big Rock Candy Mountain<\/em>. This ambitious artist residency project was conceived in collaboration with curator Vanessa Kwan and the organization Other Sights for Artists\u2019 Projects. In recent years, Jickling and Reed have developed a remarkable expertise in collaborative projects, using confectionery as a means for reflecting on such hefty topics as wealth distribution, economic exploitation, natural resource extraction, and generational divides.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Big Rock Candy Mountain<\/em> consists of a series of workshops, school outings, classroom reflections with Jickling and Reed, and meetings with guest artists, culminating in the production and sale of limited-edition candies. Third- and fourth-grade students conceived a chocolate bar, Sour vs Sour<\/em>, illustrating the dichotomy between adult tastes \u2014 candied lemon zests and dried sour cherries \u2014 and children\u2019s (at least as projected by marketing teams) \u2014 lemon-cherry Nerds candies. A year later, sixth- and seventh-grade schoolchildren proposed Qa Chew\u2019s Bubble Trouble<\/em>, a mysterious-tasting chewing gum based on chicle responsibly harvested in the Mayan nature reserve in Guatemala. Although the project was inspired by relational practices linked to social networking, the distribution of these candies recalled the dissemination of artist books or prints of a photograph or video work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Through Jickling and Reed\u2019s collaboration with the Queen Alexandra students, the school becomes by turns an artist\u2019s studio, a lab, a confectionery, a socially responsible enterprise, even a factory. Elementary school education has rarely been taken into account in reflections on the commercialization of education that has been going on for a decade. Yet it lies at the centre of the issue. The candy sale enabled the students to raise the funds required to pursue creative projects at their school, showing both the relative precariousness of the arts in elementary education and the immense potential for artistic collaborations in an educational context.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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$\"Hannah$
Hannah Jickling & Helen Reed, Big Rock Candy Mountain
<\/strong>Qa Chew\u2019s Bubble Trouble<\/em>, 2018.
Photo : Terry-Dayne Beasley<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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$\"Hannah$
Hannah Jickling & Helen Reed, Big Rock Candy Mountain
<\/strong>Qa Chew\u2019s Bubble Trouble<\/em>, 2018.
Photo : Terry-Dayne Beasley<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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$\"Hannah$
Hannah Jickling & Helen Reed, Big Rock Candy Mountain
<\/strong>Flavour mixing workshop, 2018.
Photos : Terry-Dayne Beasley
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$\"Hannah$
Hannah Jickling & Helen Reed. Big Rock Candy Mountain
<\/strong>Amy Nugent, champion of the bubble blowing workshop, 2018.
Photo : Kylie Joe, project supported by the City of Vancouver Art Program & Other Sights for Artists\u2019
Projects<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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$\"Hannah$
Hannah Jickling & Helen Reed, Big Rock Candy Mountain
<\/strong>Sour vs Sour, flavour drawings workshop, 2016.
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$\"Hannah$
Hannah Jickling & Hannah Jickling & Helen Reed, Big Rock Candy Mountain
<\/strong>Display of the student chocolate bars, Queen Alexandra Elementary School, 2016.
Photos : Meichen Waxer, courtesy of the artists, supported through BCAC and Other Sights for Artists\u2019 Projects<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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