Events

  • Brock cello instructor to take stage for Music@Noon

    Cellist Gordon Cleland will perform on stage for the RBC Foundation Music@Noon series on Oct. 16 at the Cairns Recital Hall of the FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre.


    (From The Brock News, Monday, Oct. 15)

    The 2018-19 RBC Foundation Music@Noon series continues with its second performance of the season on Tuesday, Oct. 16.

    Generously sponsored by the RBC Foundation and hosted by the Department of Music, the free concert series performance will feature Brock cello instructor Gordon Cleland. All are invited to attend the recital, taking place in the Cairns Recital Hall of the FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre in downtown St. Catharines.

    Currently performing with the Niagara Symphony as the principal cellist, Cleland has also performed as a soloist for the Debut Series in Montreal as well as across North America.

    Music@Noon takes place at the FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre most Tuesdays at noon during the academic year.

    For more information on upcoming performances, please visit ExperienceBU.

     

     

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    Categories: Department/Centre News, Events, Faculty & Instructors, News

  • Public talk and exhibition explore selfies and homeownership

    In his exhibition running until Nov. 7, Alejandro Cartagena has curated a selection of Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto’s vast collection of publicly shared selfies. (Photo courtesy of Alejandro Cartagena, from the official website of the office of the President of Mexico)


    (From The Brock News, Friday, Oct. 5, 2018 | by Sarah Moore)

    While acclaimed artist Alejandro Cartagena’s work focuses mainly on suburban life in Mexico, the themes expressed in his photographs bear uncanny resemblances to issues also currently impacting Canadians.

    Brock Visual Arts Professor Amy Friend said it’s that universality that made Cartagena’s work so appealing and was why she invited him to this year’s Walker Cultural Leaders Series at the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts (MIWSFPA).

    Alejandro Cartagena, an international award-winning artist, self-publisher and editor who lives and works in Monterrey, Mexico, will present a lecture and exhibition as part of the Walker Cultural Leaders Series Oct. 17. (Photo courtesy of Alejandro Cartagena)

    “I’ve seen Cartagena’s work making an impact in how he is able to question political issues, mostly focused in Mexico, but I think there is a really universal message in what he is presenting,” she said. “It’s also important for students and the public to interact on a personal basis with a successful, working artist. To see that these are real people making real work in the real world — and it’s creating a dialogue.”

    Cartagena is presenting an exhibition, Presidential Guide to Selfies, and giving a public lecture titled Visualizing space and some ideas of homeownership 2006 to 2018.  The exhibition opening reception and the lecture both take place on Wednesday, Oct. 17 and are free and open to the public.

    Hosted in the VISA Gallery and Student Exhibition Space, Presidential Guide to Selfies asks people to question the motives behind Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto’s vast collection of publicly shared selfies.

    Cartagena has curated a selection of these selfies (currently posted to the President’s Official website) as a means to examine whether these images are being shared to show the Mexican President’s engagement with the people of his country, or whether it is merely an exercise in vanity as he ‘poses with his fans.’
    Cartagena has also created an accompanying photobook for this exhibition in which he details the events surrounding each selfie.

    Friend noted that in an age of cell phones and social media, and with Canada’s own Justin Trudeau often affectionately and critically called ‘Prime Minister Selfie,’ the exhibition’s exploration of politics, social media connectivity and celebrity culture is exceptionally timely.

    Following the gallery opening, Cartagena will explore the interdependence of humans and landscape in the face of urban expansion in a lecture drawing from his own body of work.

    Carpoolers, for example, is comprised of a series of photographs taken of migrant workers travelling around Mexico in the beds of pickup trucks.

    In his public lecture on Oct. 17, Alejandro Cartagena will explore issues of home and ownership through the use of his work such as Carpoolers, which documents migrant workers riding in the back of vehicles. (Photo courtesy of Alejandro Cartagena)

    The images of hardworking labourers travelling from job to job during the harvest season can conjure connections to Niagara’s own large migrant worker population.

    In Ontario alone, tens of thousands of migrant workers come to farms, orchards and greenhouses as part of the Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program every year. They work and live in communities in the Niagara Fruit Belt, often spending six to eight months working in the agricultural hub of the province.

    “The idea of ownership floats around in Cartagena’s work, looking at suburban Mexican homes, border issues, migrant issues, issues of poverty and wealth,” said Friend. “It’s quite poignant now, in particular with what is happening with migration issues worldwide, and it also makes us question how we treat our own migrant workers. How do we decide how housing is built? Do we even know what is happening here in Canada?”

    The lecture is being held in the Robertson Theatre at the FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre.

    Steve Solski, Executive Director, FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre, said hosting the event in conjunction with the MIWSFPA is another example of the close community partnership between the two establishments.

    “The FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre and our neighbours at the Marilyn I. Walker School have together truly become the cultural hub for our city and region,” said Solski. “The synergy between bringing together the very best artists from across our country and world paired with nurturing and developing local artists and young creative minds, is key to our thriving arts community.”

    Tickets to the lecture are free, but registration is required by visiting the FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre website.  The exhibition runs until Nov. 7.

    Presidential Guide to Selfies
    Exhibition opening: Wednesday, Oct. 17, 5 p.m., VISA Art Gallery and Student Exhibition Space, MIWSFPA
    Exhibition runs: Oct. 4 to Nov. 7

    Visualizing space and some ideas of homeownership 2006-2018
    Wednesday, Oct. 17, 6 p.m., Robertson Theatre, FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre

    The Walker Cultural Leader series brings leading artists, performers, practitioners and academics to the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts at Brock University. Engaging, lively and erudite, these sessions celebrate professional achievement, artistic endeavour and the indelible role of culture in our society. Please join us. This education program is generously founded by Marilyn I. Walker.

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    Categories: Events, Walker Cultural Leader Series

  • Walker Cultural Leaders Series Presents: Zine Making Workshop

    The Centre for Studies in Arts and Culture celebrates book-making!
    Join us for a zine-making workshop as part of our 2018 Walker Cultural Leaders Series. This is a free event open to the university and the general public.

    When: Thursday, October 18, 2018 (4:30 – 7:30 pm)
    Where: MIWSFPA 229A (inside the Learning Commons)
    What: Zine-Making Workshop, with Christine Cucciniello

    A zine is a small, non-commercial, often homemade publication.

    In this 3-hour-long workshop, zine author Christine Cucciniello will help participants in the creation of a common zine. Please join us for a fun, creative experience. Each participant will receive a copy of the zine. To reserve a spot, please contact Catherine Parayre at cparayre@brocku.ca

     The event is presented by the Centre for Studies in Arts and Culture for the Walker Cultural Leader Series, generously founded by Marilyn I. Walker.

    The Walker Cultural Leader series brings leading artists, performers, practitioners and academics to the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts at Brock University. Engaging, lively and erudite, these sessions celebrate professional achievement, artistic endeavour and the indelible role of culture in our society. Please join us. This education program is generously founded by Marilyn I. Walker.

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    Categories: Events, Walker Cultural Leader Series

  • RBC Foundation Music@Noon recital series returns for another season

    Flutist Patricia Dydnansky is the first performer in the 2018-19 RBC Foundation Music@Noon Series, opening on Oct. 2 at noon at the Cairns Recital Hall of the FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre in downtown St. Catharines.


    (From The Brock News, Wednesday, Sept. 26, 2018 | by )

    The popular RBC Foundation Music@Noon series is returning this fall with another stellar lineup of free recitals in downtown St. Catharines, beginning Oct 2.

    Generously sponsored by the RBC Foundation, and hosted by the Department of Music, the series features noon-hour performances by faculty, guests and music students that take place at the Cairns Recital Hall of the FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre most Tuesdays throughout the year.

    The 2018-19 season will open with a performance by Brock’s own flute instructor, Patricia Dydnansky.

    Currently performing with the Niagara Symphony Orchestra as the Second Flute and Piccolo, Dydnansky has also performed with the Shaw Festival Orchestra, the Stratford Festival Orchestra and the Hamilton Philharmonic. A veteran performer in the Music@Noon series, Dydnansky said patrons can look forward to hearing repertoire from around the world in her recital.

    “This program includes music by composers inspired by the Native American flute and Japanese shakuhachi, a set of Celtic tunes on my new Windward Irish flute, and a delightful set of short dances for piccolo inspired by British folk songs,” Dydnansky said. “Ibert’s gorgeous Pièce pour Flûte Seule is on the bill, as well as pieces by the Baroque composers Telemann and Marais, both displaying the ability of a solo instrument to play polyphonically.”

    The series will continue with performances by Music faculty members Gordon Cleland, Zoltan Kalman, Tim Phelan, Karin Di Bella and Devon Fornelli, and conclude with student performances at the end of each semester.

    Music Chair Matthew Royal said this allows students studying at the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts (MIWSFPA) to watch their instructors perform on stage before having the opportunity to perform in a professional environment themselves later on in the year.

    “We are so grateful for our generous sponsors, the RBC Foundation, that allow us to host these concerts every year,” he said. “They provide a great opportunity for students to learn all that’s involved in performing in a professional-level recital, and for our talented faculty and students to showcase the hard work they have put into their performances with the local community.”

    A line-up of talented guest performances will also round out the programming this year, including Maltese-Canadian flutist Rebecca Hall, who will perform with Brock pianist Karin Di Bella on Jan. 8.  The performers first connected over their shared interest in the work of Jack Behrens, a Canadian composer, and will be continuing to work together after their early 2019 show.

    On Jan. 29, percussionist Devon Fornelli will perform with pianist John Sherwood. Fornelli, a percussion instructor at Brock, has a wide range of experience performing as a soloist, an orchestral percussionist and as a chamber instrumentalist, and Sherwood, the piano tuner at Brock, is listed as being among the top jazz pianists in Ontario.

    Royal encourages both students and those from around the community to come and experience the talented musicians that Brock University has to offer.

    The Music@Noon Recital series is generously sponsored by the RBC Foundation and will run most Tuesdays at noon throughout the academic year. The concerts are performed in the Cairns Recital Hall at FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre. This is a free event that is open to the public.

    For more details about future performances, please visit brocku.ca/miwsfpa/music/concerts

    2018-19 RBC Foundation Music@Noon Series:

    Oct. 2: Patricia Dydnansky (flute)
    Oct. 16: Gordon Cleland (cello)
    Oct. 23: Zoltan Kalman (clarinet) and Gary Forbes (piano)
    Oct. 30: Piano, vocal and instrument students
    Nov. 6: Tim Phelan (guitar)
    Nov. 20: Voice, guitar and piano students
    Nov. 27: Instrumental students
    Dec. 4: Piano students
    Jan. 8: Rebecca Hall (flute) and Karin Di Bella (piano)
    Jan. 29: Devon Fornelli (percussion) and John Sherwood (piano)
    Feb. 5: Voice, guitar and piano students
    Feb. 12: Instrumental students
    Feb. 26: Karin Di Bella (piano)
    March 5: Walker String Quartet: Vera Alekseeva and Anna Hughes (violins), Faith Lau (viola) and Gordon Cleland (cello)
    March 12: Piano students
    March 19: Instrumental students
    March 26: Voice, guitar and piano students
    April 2: Piano students

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    Categories: Announcements, Current Students, Events, Faculty & Instructors, News

  • Michael Snow’s work featured at MIWSFPA

    Lesley Bell (BA ’88), former Learning Commons Co-ordinator at the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts (MIWSFPA), has been researching the history of Michael Snow’s Timed Images, Frame Three piece that has recently found a new home at the School.


    (From The Brock News, Thursday, Sept. 27, 2018 | by Sarah Moore)

    Just in time for Culture Days this weekend, the work of internationally regarded artist Michael Snow has found a new home at the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts (MIWSFPA).

    Previously installed in the C-Block of Brock’s Mackenzie Chown Complex, Snow’s Timed Images, Frame Three, can now be viewed on the second floor of the Walker School.

    “Having the work of such a culturally significant artist on display in our building promotes interaction and connection between our two Brock campuses and with the community,” said MIWSFPA Director Elizabeth Vlossak. “The piece inspires us to remember our history, both as a university and a city, as we look ahead to the future.”

    Framed within a mirror, the photograph features a staged image of then-President James A. Gibson, Professor Ian Shaw, Brock student Anna Bernardo, Professor Peter Peach (seen as a mirror reflection) and Students’ Union Vice-President Fred Ford. They are photographed walking in front of a mirror frame that still hangs on the wall in D-Block today.

    Frame Three is part of a larger installation that Snow created for Brock University during the construction of the Mackenzie Chown Complex in 1972. Working with architect Raymond Moriyama, Snow created a number of multimedia pieces that interacted with one another in various locations around the building.

    When the installation was active, a video camera placed across the hallway captured footage of anyone walking by Frame Three, and then transmitted that footage to a live-feed video monitor further down the hallway.

    Lesley Bell (BA ’88), former Learning Commons Co-ordinator at the MIWSFPA, has been conducting extensive research on the installation. She said the work was ahead of its time, with technological elements that undoubtedly sparked the interest of students on campus at that time.

    “I wonder if Snow knew how much fun it would be for students — I imagine it would have been a gas,” she said of the installation. “People tell me that students would look at themselves in one frame and then run down the hall to see themselves in another one, making whoever is going by a part of the installation.”

    Bell is also working with a videographer to complete a documentary about the work, its rich history at Brock and its commentary on the sweeping changes many universities were undergoing at that time.

    Scott Henderson, Associate Professor in Communication, Popular Culture and Film, has also done his own research on the installation, even taking his students on popular “Snow Walks” to introduce them to Snow’s work and foster discussion on the ideas explored within his pieces.

    “In this photo, there is a beautiful layering of people, and that’s reflective of the way that knowledge constantly builds and of its fluidity,” he said of Frame Three. “I imagine the work to relate to the notion of a student arriving with their preconceptions of who they are, who they will encounter and how that constantly changes. Their time is fleeting, but they have become part of the broader history, and whatever they said or did adds to the knowledge base of the University in the future.”

    Although the installation no longer functions as it once did, Henderson argues that it remains as relevant today as when it was first installed.

    “We could be disappointed by the decay of Timed Images, except that it is a piece about time and its impact on us,” explained Henderson. “The natural transformation of change is that the piece itself has decayed, which works exactly with what the piece wanted to say. It invites that discussion about our history and having it on display at the MIWSFPA allows it to still function the way it was meant to function, to remind us that time is constantly moving.”

    Snow is an internationally-regarded filmmaker, sculptor, visual artist and musician who has been the recipient of numerous awards including the Order of Canada and a Doctor of Laws degree from Brock University in 1974.

    His work has been presented at museums and galleries around the world and is perhaps best known locally for Flight Stop at the Toronto Eaton Centre (1979) and The Audience (1988-89) at the SkyDome (now Rogers Centre).

    Timed Images, Frame Three is currently installed in the MIWSFPA, with viewings taking place Friday, Sept. 28 to Sunday, Sept. 30 from 1 to 5 p.m., as part of Culture Days, and any time during normal school operating hours.

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    Categories: Current Students, Events, News, Walker Cultural Leader Series

  • Get creative with Brock and the MIWSFPA during Culture Days

    The Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts (MIWSFPA) and Rodman Hall Art Centre (pictured) will be giving area residents a chance to meet artists and exercise their creativity as part of the national three-day Culture Days festival, Sept. 28 to 30.


    (From The Brock News, Friday, Sept. 21, 2018 | by Alison Innes)

    Brock’s arts facilities are welcoming in the public for a series of activities and performances during the annual Culture Days celebration later this month.

    Rodman Hall Arts Centre and the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts (MIWSFPA) will be giving area residents a chance to meet artists and exercise their creativity as part of the national three-day festival Sept. 28 to 30.

    “We are so pleased to host another weekend of art and culture during Culture Days 2018,” says Rodman Hall Administrative Assistant Danny Custodio. “This year we’ve partnered with local artists and arts organizations to provide more activities, turning Rodman into a cultural hub.”

    Rodman Hall Arts Centre is hosting free hands-on workshops by area artists in addition to tours of their current exhibition, Up Close and In Motion: Selected Works from the Permanent Collection.

    Local artist Geoff Farnsworth, who specializes in portraiture, will be demonstrating drawing techniques and leading a drop-in workshop on expressive drawing Friday, Sept. 28 from 5 to 9 p.m. and Saturday, Sept. 29 from 12:30 to 4:30 p.m..

    For those who would like to try their hand at painting, artist Jana Simms-Bergsma will lead workshop participants through a colourful exploration of expressive landscapes. Visitors can also work with artist Diana Williamson to capture the historic façade of Rodman Hall in a collaborative mural.

    Both Simms-Bergsma’s and Williamson’s offerings will take place Saturday and Sunday from 12:30 to 4:30 p.m.

    Rodman Hall will also host two performances. The Drama Garden, by Carousel Players, is a promenade-style theatre experience with opportunities for audience participation on Saturday from 1 to 4 p.m.

    DJ Marinko Jareb will be animating the Walker Botanical Gardens with an electro-acoustic soundscape performance Sunday from 2 to 4 p.m.

    The MIWSFPA will be offering guided and self-guided tours all weekend. Visitors are invited to view current VISA Gallery exhibition “Three to Eight” by Associate Professor Murray Kropf. Proceeds from Kropf’s exhibition will support student scholarships.

    The downtown St. Catharines arts school will also be bringing back a classic piece of Brock artwork. Michael Snow’s Frame 3 was initially commissioned by Brock University for a site-specific photo and video installation in the Mackenzie Chown Complex in 1972-73.

    In addition, the MIWSFPA will host the St. Catharines Poetry Slam workshop Spoken Word Poetry and You, which will teach participants the fundamentals of creating and delivering spoken word pieces.

    Culture Days is an annual festival giving Canadians the opportunity to meet creative professionals in their community and to foster an appreciation of artistic and cultural life.

    A full listing of St. Catharines events, including Rodman Hall workshops is available online.

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    Categories: Announcements, Department/Centre News, Events, News

  • Brock prof and alumna explore circus performance in joint publication

    Associate Professor of Dramatic Arts Karen Fricker and MA graduate Hayley Malouin at the conference Circus and its Others II in Prague this past August. The two have recently published a special double issue of Performance Matters, titled “Circus and Its Others,” exploring questions around circus performance and gender, difference and dis/ability. (Photo by David Konecny)


    (From The Brock News, Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2018 | by Alison Innes)

    For many people, the circus is a place of mystery and wonder, filled with the extraordinary, unusual and strange.

    But what does it mean to be different and what does it mean to perform those differences?

    For Associate Professor of Dramatic Arts Karen Fricker and Brock alumna Hayley Malouin (BA ’15, MA ’17), these questions have led to a joint publication in the emerging field of circus studies.

    The pair launched a special double issue of the journal Performance Matters, titled “Circus and Its Others,” Aug. 28 in Prague at the similarly named Circus and Its Others II conference.

    Inspired by the inaugural Encounters with Circus and its Others conference organized by Fricker with assistance from Malouin in 2016, the publication features contributions from established scholars, graduate students and circus artists from around the world. Many of the contributors were in Prague to participate in the second conference and celebrate at the launch.

    The conference series brings together scholars from around the world to explore questions about the place of difference and “otherness” in contemporary circus.

    “We’re asking questions about circus in a way that allows people who have been working at these questions from different perspectives and different places to jump on board,” says Fricker.

    Malouin, who has an undergraduate degree from Brock in Dramatic Arts, explored ideas of public performance, political protest and public performance of the grotesque as part of her MA in Studies in Comparative Literature and the Arts.

    “Circus is an interesting cultural touchstone because it reflects societal norms about people, community and politics. This is in contrast to the image of circus – which circuses themselves cultivate – as existing on the margins of society,” says Malouin.

    The special issue of Performance Matters was her first foray into academic publishing. In addition to co-editing the issue with Fricker, Malouin worked with other circus scholars, including Brock student Taylor Zajdlik (BA ’15, MA ’17), on a section of the journal exploring questions of queerness and freakery in the circus.

    “It was a great experience to establish myself as someone with those skills,” says Malouin. “I really care about the work, I feel it’s important. It’s a substantial contribution to an emerging field.”

    The special edition also includes work by DART Associate Professor David Fancy on disability and the circus, making reference to a creative research project in which he participated involving intellectually disabled survivors of institutional abuse.

    The questions Fricker and Malouin are researching have application beyond the circus to culture as a whole.

    “What we’re looking at is how questions about difference and otherness play out in certain practices in the contemporary moment,” says Fricker. “And more broadly we’re asking, how do we work to make culture more inclusive?”

    The full issue can be read online for free.

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    Categories: Alumni, Events, Faculty & Instructors, News

  • Vocalist Fides Krucker to open Walker Cultural Leaders Series

    Internationally acclaimed artist and vocalist Fides Krucker, far right, will be the first presenter in the 2018-19 Walker Cultural Leaders Series, presenting on Sept. 19. (Photo by Cam MacLennan)


    (From The Brock News, Wednesday, Sept. 12, 2018 | by Sarah Moore)

    An innovative lecture and performance by renowned vocalist Fides Krucker will open the annual Walker Cultural Leaders Series when it returns to the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts (MIWSFPA) on Wednesday, Sept. 19.

    Krucker, a teacher, interdisciplinary artist and singer, will present in Studio C, located in room MWS 251 of the MIWSFPA.

    Working across Canada and internationally, Krucker has devoted 35 years to contemporary vocal practice. Her experience as a singer of contemporary opera and her interest in non-verbal human sound textures, as well as her strong belief in sustainable vocal practices serves as the basis for her emotionally integrated voice teaching method.

    Brock Assistant Theatre Professor Danielle Wilson is especially looking forward to bringing Krucker to the series this year, as her own research on voice and embodiment techniques in the rehearsal process has links to the work Krucker does.

    “I am excited for her to share her unique perspective on the connectivity of breath, voice, body and creative impulse,” said Wilson. “I had heard of Fides for years as a pioneer of voice work and when I saw In This Body, her show at Canadian Stage this past spring, I knew I had to work with her.”

    In her lecture and performance, Krucker will explore voice through non-verbal vocalization. She offers a unique opportunity for connection through breath; to slow down and connect to the deeply felt, unseen parts of body and mind.

    Wilson and Brock Associate Theatre Professor Gyllian Raby had the opportunity to work with Krucker once before on Sabina’s Splendid Brain, a production opening Friday, Sept. 14 at the Walker School.

    That collaboration further cemented Krucker’s well-deserved place as the series’ opener this year.

    “The connection to breath is at the heart of life,” Raby explained. “Fides is an acting teacher who can sing in five octaves and knows the human shape of poetry. I am honoured and inspired to see her work with our students.”

    Krucker’s concert and demonstration is free and open to the public.

    Seating is limited and is being offered on a first-come, first-served basis.

    The concert marks the first event in another great lineup of workshops and performances in this year’s Walker Cultural Leaders Series, bringing leading artists, performers, practitioners and academics to Brock’s MIWSFPA.

    Elizabeth Vlossak, Director of the Walker School, said the series aims to engage students and the community with outstanding programming and cultural opportunities.

    “Our dynamic and impressive lineup of professionals in this year’s series will present content that is engaging and lively while also being challenging and thought-provoking,” she said. “These sessions celebrate artistic endeavour and achievement, as well as the indelible role of culture in our society.”

    2018-19 Walker Cultural Leader Series:

    Alejandro Cartagena

    Public lecture: Oct. 17, 6 p.m., Robertson Theatre, FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre
    Exhibition opening: Oct. 17, 5 p.m., VISA Art Gallery and Student Exhibition Space
    Exhibition runs: Oct. 4 to Nov. 7

    Christine Cucciniello

    Zine-making workshop: Oct. 18, 4:30 to 7:30 p.m., MWS 229A (inside the Learning Commons).
    To reserve a spot, please contact Catherine Parayre at cparayre@brocku.ca

    David Jalbert

    Masterclass for piano students: Nov. 16, 2:30 to 4 p.m., Cairns Recital Hall, FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre
    Public recital (part of the Encore Series): Partridge Hall, FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre, at 7:30 p.m.

    David Psalmon

    Public talk and workshop: Towards a Contemporary Political Theatre
    Jan. 10 at 7 p.m., Marilyn I. Walker Theatre

    Alinka Echeverria

    Public lecture: Looking Back to Look Forward: The History of Photography in Contemporary Image-Making
    March 7 at 6 p.m., Robertson Theatre, FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre
    The Road to Tepeyac: Opening Reception March 7 at 5 p.m., VISA Gallery
    Exhibition runs March 5 to 26

    Walker String Quartet

    Vera Alekseeva and Anna Hughes (violin), Faith Lau (viola) and Gordon Cleland (cello)
    RBC Music@Noon performance: March 5, Cairns Recital Hall, FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre

    Adam Dickinson

    Author’s talk: March 18 from 1 to 2 p.m., MWS 156

    Shawn Serfas, Adam Dickinson and Lorène Bourgeois

    Serfas, Dickinson and Bourgeois will be celebrated during a book launch through Small Walker Press, which publishes books by professors and students at the MIWSFPA and in the Humanities.
    Guest speaker: acclaimed artist/critic John Kissick
    TBD, week of May 6, MWS 156

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    Categories: Announcements, Events, News, Walker Cultural Leader Series

  • Sabina’s Splendid Brain opens at MIWSFPA Sept. 14

    Cellist Grace Snippe (BMus ’16), left, and Danielle Wilson bring the story of 20th century psychoanalyst Sabina Spielrein to life in Sabina’s Splendid Brain. The performance opens on Sept. 14 at the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts. (Photo by George Enns.)


    (From The Brock News, Wednesday, Sept. 5, 2018 | by Sarah Moore)

    While Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung have become synonymous with psychoanalysis, the name Sabina Spielrein might leave you drawing a blank.

    The Stolen Theatre Collective hopes to change that by bringing the rarely told story of the Russian-Jewish psychoanalyst to life in a new production at Brock beginning next week.

    Sabina’s Splendid Brain, which opens Sept. 14 at the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts (MIWSFPA), chronicles the life of the tenacious and passionate Spielrein as she struggles through the circumstances of her family, her education and her therapy, the professional barriers facing women and wartime anti-Semitism.

    Spielrein was often known in relation to her famous colleagues: first as a patient, then as a lover of Jung, and later as a student and friend of Freud. As a psychoanalyst in her own right, however, she moved beyond them both to become one of the great thinkers in 20th century psychology.

    Her work was all but wiped from the history books due to Joseph Stalin’s repression of intellectuals and the Nazi invasion of her hometown of Rostov-on-Don, where she and her daughters were killed. Her diaries were recently discovered, however, and her publications were re-examined to reveal the profound impact that her work had on her teachers and peers.

    “Sabina had to fight for her voice,” said Brock Associate Theatre Professor Gyllian Raby, the production’s Director. “She walks the boundary between genius and delusion, and this production invites the audience to experience her journey from a screaming teenager with spittle in her hair to the woman who wowed Freud’s intellectual Vienna Circle.”

    Scripted by Carol Sinclair, Sabina’s Splendid Brain is rendered on stage in sets by Nigel Scott, projections by Karyn McCallum and lighting by James McCoy (BA ’14), and features performances by Brock Assistant Theatre Professor Danielle Wilson and cellist Grace Snippe (BMus ’16).

    “This is a project that fully explores the interdisciplinarity between the arts that was the founding dream of the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts,” said Wilson, who is also the co-founder and co-artistic director of Stolen Theatre Collective. “Music, theatre and philosophy are a natural trio in this story of how psychoanalysis helped shape modern consciousness.”

    Fides Krucker, a Canadian interpreter, vocalist, opera singer and teacher, collaborated on the interdisciplinary production with Stolen Theatre. Her innovative vocal techniques and interdisciplinary work will be further highlighted later this month as part of the Walker Cultural Leaders Series on Wednesday, Sept. 19 at the MIWSFPA.

    Sabina’s Splendid Brain opens with back-to-back weekend performances Sept. 14, 15, 20, 21 and 22, all beginning at 7:30 p.m. Additional matinee performances will take place on Sept. 16 and 23 at 2 p.m.

    All performances are held at the Marilyn I. Walker Theatre in the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts, located at 15 Artists’ Common in St. Catharines.

    Tickets are pay-what-you-can-afford ($10, $25, $40 and $55) and can only be purchased in advance through the FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre box office.

    Limited paid parking is available on-site, but city parking is available within close proximity to the venue.

    For more information on the production, please contact info@stolentheatrecollective.ca

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  • Three to Eight exhibition to support student scholarships

    Professor Murray Kropf is exhibiting his most recent collection of paintings in Three to Eight, an exhibition opening Tuesday, Sept. 4 in the VISA Gallery at the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts. The paintings are being sold to support student scholarships. (Photo by Lorraine Zandvliet)


    (From The Brock News, Wednesday, August 28, 2018 | by Sarah Moore)

    When Brock Associate Professor Murray Kropf puts brush to canvas, his inspiration tends to stem from an academic problem he is currently working through.

    In Three to Eight, his new exhibition opening Tuesday, Sept. 4, Kropf challenged himself to create movement in a piece by using only tone, hue and intensity and painting on square canvases with a very limited colour palette.

    “I was trying to find a better way to teach students about colour theory,” he said of the work that he began last year in early fall. “I was looking for a way to create a harmonious and structured composition that is asymmetrical, but still balanced, using only a palette of between three to eight colours.”

    The result was a series of paintings — the first purely abstract of his career — that Kropf will be selling to fund visual arts scholarships for students in the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts (MIWSFPA).

    While he is mainly a location and still-life painter, Kropf said he welcomed the change of pace for this work.

    “It went better than I thought it could,” he said of his first stab at abstractionism. “It’s always a problem for painters approaching a canvas, because it’s blank, but everything that came out of this was a surprise and that was lovely. It was a refreshing thing to do.”

    He also said the process will “further inform his teaching” in the future, making him more “appreciative” of what can be accomplished with a limited range of colours.

    Assistant Professor Amy Friend, Chair of the VISA Gallery Committee, said this is the first time a professor has hosted a solo show as a fundraising initiative since she has been involved with the gallery operations.

    “To showcase the work that Murray, one of our senior professors, accomplishes behind-the-scenes in his studio, is really important,” she said. “It also shows the way that art can support community, the generosity of our relationship with our students and the ongoing need to fund student studies.”

    Kropf, who has been teaching at Brock for more than 30 years, said simply that it was “time” to give back to the students and the institution he has been connected to for so long.

    “I want to show my gratitude to my students, to my colleagues, and to the university because I have been very lucky to work here, and I’ve enjoyed it a great deal,” he said. “I’ve always wanted to contribute to awards for students because I’ve been a student and I know how badly support is needed.”

    Three to Eight will be displayed in the VISA Gallery, located on the first floor of the MIWSFPA, beginning Tuesday, Sept. 4, with an opening reception taking place Friday, Sept. 7. The reception will run from 4 to 7 p.m., also in the gallery, and is free and open to the community. The VISA gallery is open to the public Tuesday to Saturday from 1 to 5 p.m.

    All proceeds from the sales of Kropf’s pieces will be donated to scholarships for students in Visual Arts immediately after the exhibition.

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