Articles by author: jmacanuel

  • Brock University Annual Homecoming Weekend and Ontario 150 Presents … A Free SESQUI Virtual Reality Experience

    Tuesday, September 12, 2017 | By

    SESQUI Virtual Reality Experience poster

    Saturday, September 16, 2017 from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm
    Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts, 15 Artists’ Common, St. Catharines, Ontario

    SESQUI, in collaboration with the James A. Gibson Library’s Makerspace, will be bringing a free Virtual Reality Experience to the Marilyn I. Walker Campus. The VR experience features 5-minute stories about Canadians who are shaping their world through creativity.

    Visitors can also make their own Sesquatch, allowing Canadians to explore their identity in an interactive and playful way.  Alongside virtual reality, the Makerspace will also be showcasing some of the emerging technologies, such as 3D printing, robotics, and circuitry, available at the James A. Gibson Library.

    Tags: , , , , ,
    Categories: Alumni, Announcements, Current Students, Department/Centre News, Future Students, News, Uncategorised

  • Suzanne Rochon-Burnett’s contribution to indigenous arts honoured in new exhibit

    Wednesday, August 30, 2017 | By

    Suzanne Rochon-Burnett

    published WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 30, 2017 | by The Brock News

    Before Suzanne Rochon-Burnett passed away, she asked that her daughter Michele-Elise take over where she had left off.

    “She gave me instructions for her art,” said Michele-Elise Burnett. “She said, ‘you’ve been fortunate to see and know this art, but it will be your responsibility to continue to share the knowledge, the teachings and the messages that are being told through our people’s art.’”

    The desire to continue advocating and sharing indigenous art is the driving force behind a new art exhibition opening next week at Brock University’s Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts (MIWSFPA).

    Daphne Odjig (Odawa - Potawatomi) "In touch with her spirit"

    Daphne Odjig (Odawa – Potawatomi) “In touch with her spirit”

    Brock University, The FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre and Kakekalanicks Indigenous Arts Consultancy are joining together to present Awakening Her Spirit — Select Works from the collection of Suzanne Rochon-Burnett as part of the first Celebration of Nations event.

    The exhibit opens at the MIWSFPA Visual Arts Gallery Thursday, Sept. 7 at 7 p.m.

    The exhibition follows Suzanne Rochon-Burnett’s journey to empower and support indigenous arts in Canada and globally through a collection of paintings, mixed media, sculpture and personal objects. Curated by Samuel Thomas (Cayuga), the show will feature never-before exhibited original works by Norval Morrisseau, Daphne Odjig, Carl Beam, Roy Thomas, Vince Bomberry, Simon Brascoupe, Bruce King and more.

    “My mom was an advocate and champion of indigenous art before it was being recognized as legitimate art,” Michele-Elise Burnett said. “She helped build recognition and respect to ensure that indigenous artists were compensated fairly like everybody else. She championed artists and their work and encouraged them to find value in it.” Samuel Thomas, a master bead worker and family friend, will lead an interactive Curator’s Talk on Sunday, Sept. 10 at 1 p.m. at the Visual Arts Gallery. “My mother took beading lessons from Sam’s mother,” Michele-Elise explained. “When I told Sam about the Celebration of Nations exhibit of my mother’s art, he was pleased and honoured to help pull it together.”

    Rochon-Burnett was a Métis broadcaster and businesswoman who started her career as a journalist in Quebec. Among her many accomplishments, she and daughter Michele-Elise became the first indigenous Canadians to own a CRTC broadcast license as owner and operator of Spirit 91.7 FM radio in Niagara.

    Rochon-Burnett would also become co-founder and first vice-chair of the Métis Nation of Ontario, and sat on boards at TV Ontario, the Ontario Arts Council and the Canadian Council of the Arts, among others. In 2002, Rochon-Burnett received an Honorary Doctorate from Brock in recognition of her contributions to Canadian cultural life.

    She has left many legacies, including the Suzanne Rochon-Burnett Scholarship at the University, which has to date helped 18 indigenous students embark on a university education they may have otherwise never had. Fiercely proud of her heritage, Rochon- Burnett has shown that an individual who is inspired can wake up every day and follow and achieve their dreams.

    Awakening Her Spirit is part of Celebration of Nations, a gathering of indigenous arts, culture and tradition set for Sept. 8-10. The gathering features ticketed performances by Buffy Sainte-Marie, Kaha:wi Dance Theatre, DJ Shub as well as free workshops, performances and teachings all weekend long. The full schedule is available at www.celebrationofnations.ca

    The exhibit continues through Sept. 30 at the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts located at 15 Artists’ Common in downtown St. Catharines. Situated on the lower level of the MIWSFPA, regular hours of the Art Gallery are Tuesday through Friday from 1-5 p.m. Additional open hours for Celebration of Nations include:

    Thursday, Sept. 7 from 6-9 p.m.
    Friday, Sept. 8 from 1-8 p.m.
    Saturday, Sept. 9 from 11 a.m. – 7 p.m.
    Sunday, Sept. 10 from 11 a.m. – 5 p.m.
    Saturday, Sept. 30 from 10 a.m. – 5 p.m.

    For more information or for assistance arranging interviews:

    * Dan Dakin, Media Relations Officer, Brock University ddakin@brocku.ca, 905-688-5550 x5353 or 905-347-1970

    Tags: , , , ,
    Categories: Announcements, Department/Centre News, Events, Media Releases, News

  • Teutloff loved art — and how it looked on Brock’s campus

    Monday, August 28, 2017 | By

    The Path of Possibilities sculpture outside of Brock University

    Pathfinder: In 1990, The Path of Possibilities was installed at Brock, the first sculpture of what would become the Teutloff Collection.

    This article was originally published by Kevin Cavanagh in the Brock News on Friday, August 25, 2017.

    Lutz Teutloff made his mark on Brock University’s landscape like few others have ever done.

    The philanthropist and art collector died in Germany this month at the age of 79, leaving a remarkable legacy that included populating the Brock campus with major pieces of contemporary sculpture that today are landmarks as familiar as the Schmon Tower.

    Lutz Teutloff in 1990: He saw Brock’s campus as an ideal place to display public sculptures.

    The Teutloff Collection is 12 art pieces that made their way to Brock during the 1990s, works owned by Teutloff but created by such international artists as Ilan Averbuch, Buky Schawrtz, Pit Kroke, Fabrizio Plessi, Grimsby resident Reinhard Reitzenstein and others.

    The artwork’s destiny for Brock can be traced to a campus tour that Teutloff had with then-president Terry White in 1988. Teutloff, who had homes in Germany and in Niagara-on-the-Lake, thought the campus’s natural setting was an excellent showcase for strong artwork. They worked out a plan in which Teutloff and his wife Hannelore would loan sculptures that the young University could put on public display.

    The first piece arrived in 1990, when Averbuch’s The Path of Possibilities was installed in front of Schmon Tower. In 2015 it was moved to its present site near the busy pedestrian mall between Cairns Research Complex and Chown D Block.

    Other pieces followed, two of the most high-profile being Kroke’s Gran Golar, placed in the traffic circle of University Road East; and Averbuch’s She Wolf, the huge copper sculpture that resides in Isaac Brock Circle, and which has enjoyed a special status with many students over the years.

    In 1997, Hannelore Teutloff told Brock’s Collections Coordinator, Lesley Bell, that the idea for the Brock collection started in 1987, when her husband acquired Path of Possibilities at the Chicago Art Fair.

    The sculpture Gran Golar welcomes campus visitors at the Glenridge Avenue entrance.

    “He was fascinated by the expression of this work,” said Hannelore, “but had no place for the work at that time. That same year he met former President Terry White who toured him through the Brock campus. Lutz was fascinated from the power and engagement behind Brock, and the different nations of the students impressed him. So Lutz asked Terry White and later, (White’s successor) President David Atkinson …. who was thrilled to bring Ilan’s work in front of the Schmon Tower. So it started – very pragmatic.”

    The Teutloffs chose works specifically for a student audience, and when Lutz Teutloff received an Honorary Doctorate from Brock in 2003, he told the Convocation audience that Path of Possibilities “signals the possibilities open to you who are studying here, the opportunities and privilege you should make the most of.”

    Visual Arts Associate Professor Derek Knight worked with Teutloff to produce the 2002 catalogue The Teutloff Collection at Brock University: Nature, Spirit, Matter, available in Brock’s James. A Gibson Library.

    “It was Mr. Teutloff’s penchant for sculpture that drew him to Brock,” said Knight.  “He saw the potential of the University environs, its broad green spaces and pedestrian concourses, as an ideal context in which to display a collection of public sculpture. To the University’s credit, it was a willing partner in bringing a dozen unique works of contemporary art to Niagara. It is a cultural legacy that Mr. Teutloff intended us to enjoy in perpetuity.”

    Born in Berlin in 1938, Teutloff had been a successful fashion entrepreneur, enabling him to pursue his passion for art. He eventually left fashion behind, accumulated pieces by artists and photographers around the world, and opened galleries in Cologne and in the German town of Bielefeld-Theesen.

    In reporting Teutloff’s death this summer, the website Neue Westfalische noted that (translated from German), “In his ‘second home’ Canada, he donated 12 sculptures from renowned artists to Brock University, Ontario.”

    The Brock sculptures were originally installed on loan, but in 2008 the University began a process to acquire the works permanently. They now belong to Brock.

     

    The artists, works and current locations for the complete Teutloff Collection are:

    Ilan Averbuch:

    • She Wolf (1991) — Isaac Brock Circle
    • The Path of Possibilities (1988) — East pedestrian mall
    • The Endless March (1991) — on extended loan off campus
    • Bleeding Harp (1989) — Thistle West corridor

    Reinhard Buxel:

    • Das Tor [The Gate] (1989) — Isaac Brock Blvd N.

    Pit Kroke:

    • Gran Golar (1987) — traffic circle, University Rd. E.

    Fabrizio Plessi:

    • La Stanza della Parole (1992) — Academic South corridor

    Reinhard Reitzenstein:

    Buky Schwartz:

    Unterbezirks Dada:

    • Fin de Siècle (1994-97) — University Rd E

     

    Tags: , , , , ,
    Categories: Announcements, In the Media, News