Expanding the Boundaries of Theatre and Art Marking
Lane Shordee is a Calgary-based artist working at the crossroads of theatre, public art, and sustainability. His work challenges traditional ideas of set design and public art installations by prioritizing the incorporation of found objects and repurposed materials. Whether creating theatre sets or props, community-engaged art projects, or unconventional storytelling spaces, Shordee’s practice is rooted in the belief that art-making should prioritize sustainability as much as being in community with one another. In a conversation with Community Manager Sam Woods, Lane shares how his work invites audiences to rethink their relationships with their belongings, what they might consider garbage, and how they interact with everyday objects.
Materials as Collaborators
At the heart of Shordee’s work is a desire to challenge traditional boundaries between art forms. He approaches materials as his collaborators, allowing their textures, histories, and imperfections to guide his creative process. This methodology not only breathes new life into discarded objects but also fosters a deeper connection between Lane and his creations.
“I’m interested in walking down alleyways and being inspired by the things that people throw away. I ask myself; why do people get rid of things, and why do people bring things into their life? What is our relationship to things? I’m constantly seeing patterns. It’s a very spiritual activity for me to observe the patterns of the city, our waste, and relationship to waste.”
For Lane, the inherent limitations of working with unconventional and found materials drives his creativity. The problem is the solution; the unique properties of the materials Lane invites into his creative practice end up leading to limitless potential for innovation when he looks at these discarded objects with a lens of care, respect, and value.
“I see it as a means for me to always have material at my disposal to be able to work and make things. In my undergrad, I didn’t have lots of money, but I wanted to make things. I saw people throwing out really valuable material that may not always be easiest to work with, so I had to learn how to work with it. That really was the impetus of starting to look at the world and look at materials with my underlying ethics.”
A Connection to Puppetry and the Old Trout Puppet Workshop
Beginning as a visual artist, Lane’s journey into the performing arts has ties to puppetry, a discipline that has profoundly influenced his approach to designing for theatre. Selected by the Old Trout Puppet Workshop to receive an Emerging Artist Grant after collaborating with them on works like Ghost Opera and Peter and the Wolf, Lane found a natural connection between his interest in objects and the Old Trout’s ability to breathe life into discarded materials. Lane’s artistic work shares puppetry’s ethos of transformation—finding magic in the everyday and imbuing inanimate objects with new purpose and meaning. Lane’s connection to the Old Trouts reflects his deep respect for hands-on craftsmanship
The General Store: A Living Installation
One of Lane’s most compelling projects, The General Store, co-created alongside artist Nikki Klawuahboe, exemplifies this ethos. More than an installation, The General Store is an evolving, participatory space where materials, objects, and people come together to tell stories through trade. It is a traveling performance space where theatre, history, and everyday objects merge, fostering new ways of seeing and experiencing the world. At The General Store, customers are invited to trade for goods using eight different forms of capital: Material, Intellectual, Living, Spiritual, Financial, Social, Experiential, and Cultural. The General Store recognizes that it is the sum of these eight forms that contribute to a thriving, holistic, and sustainable community. The store acts as Lane’s research tool to see how these different forms of capital intermingle and coexist. Each iteration of the store begins with a varied stock of goods that gets us going: coffee, jokes, pins, and haircuts for example; but our inventory is primarily sourced from what the community has to offer and is willing to trade. Trades range from the ephemeral to the tangible, and together become an all day act of participant/artist based performances driven by the question of value.
“Ultimately we are asking our beloved customers what has value to them, how do we measure that value, and how do we come to an equally beneficial exchange?”
Reimagining Creativity Through Sustainability
In a world that often prioritizes the new and the disposable, Lane Shordee’s practice offers a compelling alternative—one that values resourcefulness, storytelling, and a profound respect for materials. Through his innovative work, he continues to reshape the landscape of theatre and visual art, proving that creativity can be both sustainable and deeply transformative. Lane is currently pursuing his Masters of Fine Arts in Set Design at the University of Calgary.
Learn more about Lane here: https://laneshordee.com/
