Air Ronge artist creates powerful piece to shed light on addiction in her community

Donna Langhornesaid her community of Air Ronge, Sask. has transformed in the last few years, and not necessarily for the better.

"[Addiction] has really taken ahold of our town," she said.

Langhorne, who goes by the artist name "Donna the Strange," has made art about addiction before.Her previous series,Seven Visions,had a piece about alcohol addiction.

"You can't walk downtown without seeing someone intoxicated or high or anything like that," she said.

"It's really hard, especially when you have children. You don't want them to see that."

Langhornewas recently awarded a $30,000 grant from Canada Council of the Arts and a $6,000 grant from the Saskatchewan Arts Board. She's using these tofund her current series of 20 paintings,Common Truths, which draws inspiration from symbolic animal clans or totems.

For Common Truths, Langhorne says she has the themes and totems picked out, but not the exact paintings.

"Ijust look at the canvas and the ideas just flow," she said.

"I just right away start outlining. It all comes together at that second."

Shesaid shestarted doing this style of painting only two years ago.

Of the many ways one may raise awareness about an issue in their community, why did Langhornechoose art?

"It's my way of doing it and the way I can do it... That's how I speak to others, through my art," she said.

"I'm a really quiet person in my life but my art speaks for me and it really reaches and speaks out to other people."

Air Ronge is about 340 kilometres northeast of Saskatoon.