Articles from:September 2016

• Brock participating in Culture Days with events at Rodman Hall and MIWSFPA

  Wednesday, September 28, 2016 | By Brock University

  

  (Source: The Brock News, Wednesday, September 28, 2016 | by Alison Innes. Photo: Rodman Hall.)

  Brock University will be joining local artists and culture workers in a country-wide celebration of arts and culture this weekend.

  More than 900 communities across Canada are participating in Culture Days, a three-day celebration of arts and culture Sept. 30 to Oct. 2.

  Rodman Hall Art Centre is offering free family-friendly art activities all weekend. There will be a drop-in puppet workshop in collaboration with Carousel Players, tours of the historic house and a look at the new exhibition “Houses and Whispers,” by Gunilla Josephson. Rodman Hall will be open Friday from 5-8 p.m. and Saturday from noon to 4 p.m.

  The Marilyn I. Walker School for Fine and Performing Arts is also participating in Culture Days. Guests are welcome to tour the facility, view poster presentations of research from the Faculty of Humanities, and take in the exhibition of contemporary art in the MIWSFPA Art Gallery. MIWSFPA is open Sept. 30- Oct. 2, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The art gallery hours are noon to 4 p.m.

  Percussionist Devon Fornelli will perform citySounds in the walkway between the FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre and MIWSFPA on Saturday from noon to 2 p.m. In case of rain, the performance will take place in the main lobby of MIWSFPA.

  Other venues participating in this year’s Culture Days include the St. Catharines Kiwanis Aquatics Centre, 4Cats Arts Studio, Silver Spire United Church, Odd Fellows Hall, Mahtay Café, and the FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre.

  Founded in 2009, Culture Days is a Canada-wide event held the last Friday of September. Hundreds of artists, cultural workers, and arts-related groups mobilize to offer free, hands-on activities that encourage art appreciation.

  Visit http://www.stcatharines.ca/en/experiencein/Culture-Days.asp to view the full list of local participants and to plan your culture days experience.

  Tags: 4Cats Arts Studio, art appreciation, arts and culture, carousel players, citySounds, culture, Culture Days, Devon Fornelli, mahtay cafe, Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts, Odd Fellows Hall, rodman hall, Silver Spire United Church, St. Catharines Kiwanis Aquatics Centre
  Categories: Announcements, In the Media, News

• International philosophers coming to Brock

  Wednesday, September 21, 2016 | By Brock University

  

  (Source: The Brock News, Wednesday, September 21, 2016 | by Alison Innes)

  There will be some deep thinking coming to Niagara this week.

  From Thursday through Saturday, a prestigious international conference taking place at Brock University’s Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts will draw up to 60 of the world’s leading philosophers to downtown St. Catharines.

  The 41st edition of the annual Merleau-Ponty Circle, considered one of the most significant gatherings in Continental European thought, is being hosted by Brock’s Department of Philosophy. The conference director is associate professor Rajiv Kaushik, whose research on conference namesake Maurice Merleau-Ponty includes the 2011 book Art and Institution: Aesthetics in the Late Works of Merleau-Ponty and the 2013 book Art, Language and Figure in Merleau-Ponty: Excursions in Hyper-Dialectic.

  Brock had presented a proposal to host the annual conference when the 2014 event was held in Geneva. This week, scholars from as far away as China and Australia will be in Niagara for the 2016 Merleau-Ponty Circle.

  The conference theme this year is “Merleau-Ponty: Doing Philosophy from the Outside,” and seeks to open up the meaning of philosophy to other disciplines. The theme is a play on a series of 1948 radio lectures given by Merleau-Ponty titled “Man Seen from the Outside.” Merleau-Ponty was deeply engaged with a variety of fields apart from philosophy, and the conference aims to continue this approach to philosophy by encouraging connections between philosophy and other academic disciplines.

  The conference is scheduled in a way that allows all participants to attend all presentations. This, says Kaushik, gives scholars “the rare opportunity to engage in a deep and sustained way with the research of other presenters, who are generally internationally well-regarded scholars.”

  This year’s keynote speakers include:

  Rudolf Bernet, from the University of Leuven, Belgium, who has published hundreds of articles in psychoanalysis and phenomenology, and authored a number of widely-acclaimed books.

  Veronique Foti, a Professor of Philosophy Emeritus at Penn State University. She is a leading researcher in Merleau-Ponty scholarship and works in the areas of European, Continental and Ancient philosophies, as well as philosophy of art and literary theory.

  Edward S. Casey, from Stony Brook University in New York, was the president of the American Philosophical Association (Easter Division) 2009-2010 and works in the areas of phenomenology, aesthetics, philosophy of space and time, ethic, perception and psychoanalytic theory. His research investigates place and space, including landscape paintings and maps.

  The entire conference takes place at the Marilyn I. Walker School for Fine and Performing Arts and First Ontario Performing Arts Centre.

  More information can be found on the conference website.

  The public is welcome to view the conference art work in the MIWSFPA Visual Art Gallery during regular gallery hours.

  Tags: 15 artists' common, Art and Institution: Aesthetics in the Late Works of Merleau-Ponty, Art Language and Figure in Merleau-Ponty: Excursions in Hyper-Dialectic, Edward S. Casey, First Ontario Performing Arts Centre, Man Seen from the Outside, Marilyn I. Walker School for Fine and Performing Arts, Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Merleau-Ponty Circle, Merleau-Ponty: Doing Philosophy from the Outside, philosophers, philosophy, Rajiv Kaushik, Rudolf Bernet, Veronique Foti
  Categories: Announcements, In the Media, News

• The Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts Announces their 2016/17 Season: Breaking the Surface

  Friday, September 16, 2016 | By Brock University

  

  MEDIA RELEASE
  Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts
  Brock University
  16 September 2016

  “Breaking the Surface” promotes creative and intellectual activity in the heart of Niagara

  Brock University’s Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts (MIWSFPA) announces Season 2016/17 Breaking the Surface, that celebrates the bond between the community and our arts centre in downtown St. Catharines. This year we build upon the relationship between the arts and the public realm, seeking to broaden the community’s understanding of how the arts relate to urban issues and contribute to cultural development in the Niagara region.

  This season consists of more than 45 dynamic events from performances, exhibitions, concerts and artist talks – on stage, in studios and galleries, and at regional venues.

  Some highlights of the season include:

  • The Ash Mouth Man presented by Stolen Theatre Collective and Brock University’s Department of Dramatic Arts
, runs Sept. 15-18 & 23-25, 2016, held at the Marilyn I. Walker Theatre, MIWSFPA
  • Culture Days Open House, runs Sept. 30 – October 2, held at the MIWSFPA. For more information, visit: http://bit.ly/2cu8ksl
  • Guitar Extravaganza II, 
Oct. 22, 2016 at 7:30 pm, held in 
Cairns Recital Hall, FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre
  • In Light and Darkness Exhibit, 
Nov. 22 – Dec. 9, 2016, held in the Art Gallery, MIWSFPA

  Now in our second year at 15 Artists’ Common, we are thrilled by the investment of the community in this incubator of creative expression and critical reflection. We invite Niagara to join us in a celebration of our students, faculty and guest artists’ achievements in the fine and performing arts, said David Vivian, MIWSFPA Director.

  The full program of events can be found on our MIWSFPA website, or you can download the “Breaking the Surface” Calendar of Events in pdf format.

  Stay connected to the MIWSFPA on social media by following @miwsfpa on Twitter and Instagram.

  -30-

  For more information or to arrange interviews:

  Marie Balsom, Communications,
  Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts,
  Brock University
  [email protected],
  905-688-5550 x4765

  Tags: 2016-17, Breaking the Surface, Walker Cultural Leader Series
  Categories: Events, Media Releases, News

• Mahtay Cafe opens at the MIWSFPA

  Thursday, September 15, 2016 | By Brock University

  The brand new Mahtay café is now open on the third floor student lounge area! Hours of operation are:

  Mon – Fri from 8:30 am to 2pm.

  Please note that the permanency of this café will be based on its success here at the Marilyn I. Walker School. So take some time on your breaks to get up there and enjoy reasonable prices and excellent food and drinks!

  The location is 3rd floor at the south end of the building (lobby), take that elevator to the 3rd floor (not connected to the 3rd floor at the other end) or take stairwell “D”.

  Tags: mahtay cafe, student lounge
  Categories: Announcements, Current Students, Faculty & Instructors, News