Erin Garber-Pearson will be featured in the upcoming biennial issue of Women Cinemakers, highlighting her short film City Steps. A cool accomplishment, no doubt, and one more accolade on her artistic canvas. Garber-Pearson’s a welder. A sculptor. A filmmaker. A master of circus arts. A photographer. An instructor. Oh, and an aerial artist.
Balancing act
Where does one get the energy to pursue all these creative paths? It comes down to one simple practice: Time management.
“Really it comes down to prioritizing time,” said Garber-Pearson. “Making art is and always has been a huge priority for me, it gives me a sense of who I am. I get a lot of ideas from reading about art, or other artists’ projects. The more art you make, the more ideas you get. If I take a long break, I have to restart myself by walking through the Toledo Museum of Art, traveling to see an exhibition, or reading a new book, and it usually doesn’t take long to get fired up. It’s a good strategy for anyone struggling with motivation and we are lucky to have some great accessible resources around here.”
The plucky Garber-Pearson grew up in the desert of the Southwestern United States, hailing from Tucson, Arizona. Her parents were both ceramic artists and as a kid, she was surrounded by creativity. “I knew I was going to be an artist ever since I was a kid, and always made objects and drawings,” she said. “If I was bored, my parents would tell me I was boring and set me in front of some art supplies, so I have them to thank for instilling a sense of practice in my life.”
That sense of discipline has served Garber-Pearson well throughout her life. Moving to the Toledo area in 2011, she took a job as an art instructor at Bowling Green State University. Always the entrepreneur, she founded Birds Eye View Circus in 2012 as a school for circus arts. Currently the school has 11 instructors, teaching everything from trapeze artistry to aerial and ground acrobatics.
Step by step
And oh yes, there’s City Steps, her short video project, featured by Women Cinemakers magazine in its forthcoming edition. According to Garber-Pearson, City Steps is an “experimental video that uses the meditative practice of tightwire dancing as a metaphoric guide for traveling through urban landscape.” The film can be viewed on Vimeo.
Birds Eye View Circus will also present performance art titled My Best Self on Saturday, December 1 at the Collingwood Arts Center. For Garber-Pearson, it’s just art and work as usual. “I love what I do and I’m blessed to have my life.”
The new issue of Women Cinemaker’s will be out in early 2019.
The Birds Eye View Circus showcases “My Best Self on Saturday, December 1 at the Collingwood Arts Center.
2413 Collingwood Blvd
Doors at 6:30pm, show at 7pm | December 1
$12 (presale), $20 (couples), $15 (door).
Buy tickets at birdseyeviewcircus.com. For more info, visit eringarberpearson.com.
