Events

• Rodman Hall hosts Visual Arts honours exhibitions

  Thursday, April 05, 2018 | By dtemprile

  

  The opening reception for the first instalment of the honours exhibitions on Friday, March 23 drew a large crowd to the Rodman Hall Art Centre. Photo: Danny Custodio.

  Graduating students from the Honours Studio course (VISA 4F06) have been busy all semester creating their pieces for the two-part Brock University Department of Visual Arts Honours Exhibition. Students were mentored by Rodman Hall Art Centre gallery staff and Visual Arts Professors Donna Szoke, Shawn Serfas, Derek Knight, and Donna Akrey.

  The first instalment of the honours exhibition: Just Resting My Eyes is currently on display at the Rodman Hall Art Centre (109 St. Paul Crescent). The current exhibition features work from students: Denise Apostolatos, Victoria Morinello, Jill Newman, Jacob Primeau, and Aaron Thompson.

  These honours exhibitions are vital to students’ education in the Brock Visual Arts program because “the nature, purpose and intended outcome of Honours Studio is that once the students graduate from the art program, they become practicing artists. Art making, as a practice of research-creation, is inherently experiential learning” says Szoke.

  The collaboration with the professional team of the Rodman Hall Art Centre is a essential learning experience for Brock Visual Arts students. Akrey says the Rodman Hall staff’s “consultation with each student teaches them the importance of the entire process of art making and exhibiting, and the importance of their individual work in a collaborative event.” Serfas adds that the importance of having Rodman Hall embedded into the Bachelor of Arts program is that “it gives our students a distinctive experiential learning opportunity.”

  Knight says that the audience can expect to see “broad cultural themes with emphasis on the impact of mass media, environmental or social issues” throughout the work created by these honours students in this two-part exhibit.

  The second instalment, Turnin’ This Car Around, is set to be exhibited from Saturday, April 14 to Sunday, April 29, with the opening reception on Friday, April 13 from 7 to 9 p.m. This upcoming exhibit will feature pieces by Rachel Dove, Lauren Mucciarone, Victoria Reid, Brittany Thomas-Clapp, and Lorraine Zandvliet.

  For more information about Rodman Hall Art Centre and their programs see brocku.ca/rodman-hall

  ---

  see the article by John Law in the St.Catharines Standard: Brock’s top art students gather for one last show

  see the video report by Stephen Parr for YourTV Niagara

  Tags: Brock University, Brock University Visual Arts Honours Exhibition, Department of Visual Arts, Derek Knight, Donna Akrey, Donna Szoke, Honours Exhibition, just resting my eyes, Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts, rodman hall, Rodman Hall Art Centre, Shawn Serfas, VISA 4F06, visual arts
  Categories: Current Students, Events, Faculty & Instructors, News

• Three exhibits this week for Visual Arts

  Monday, April 02, 2018 | By dtemprile

  

  This is a busy week for exhibitions under Brock’s Department of Visual Arts (VISA).

  From April 2 to 6, students in the VISA department are presenting three exhibitions: CORE, SITE-SEER, and (un)hidden.

  Now open in the Rodman Hall Art Centre is the exhibit CORE. VISA students will have their smaller works in Rodman Hall’s Flex Space, which will be imagined as a larger site and a centre from where the work branches out to the other destinations in the show. CORE is open to view at Rodman Hall from now until April 13. Gallery hours can be found on their website and admission is by donation, but free for members and students.

  When visiting Rodman Hall be sure to see the Brock University Department of Visual Arts Honours Exhibition: just resting my eyes, on display until April 8.

  The second exhibit, SITE-SEER, is an extension of the first. SITE-SEER is a one-night exhibition being held Wednesday, April 4 from 4 to 9 p.m., where the downtown area of St. Catharines will serve as gallery space. Students from Donna Akrey’s Advanced Art Practices course are taking their creations from the CORE exhibit and dispersing them throughout downtown St. Catharines in hopes that their pieces will lure locals into seeing sites in a new way.

  Participating artists for both CORE and SITE-SEER include: Hani Ahmed, Jess Angelevski, Teresa Badgley, Jessica Bradley, Tom Denton, Isabella Domaradzki, Kylie Haveron, Emma Hutchison-Hounsell, Laura Levesque, Avery Mikolic-O’Rourke, Amanda Misale, Anna Podvalni, Victoria Reid, Kourtney Spadoni and Desiree Veino.

  Maps with more information about the artworks, their locations and times will be available at the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts on Wednesday night when SITE-SEER is held.

  

  Change, a contemporary exploration of Hidden Mother photography. One of many polaroid emulsion lifts featured in the upcoming show (un)hidden by Amber Lee Williams.

  A third show, (un)hidden by Brock Visual Arts student Amber Lee Williams, opens in the Visual Arts Exhibition Space of the MIWSFPA on Thursday, April 5 with a reception from 5 to 9 p.m. Williams is both a student and a mother of two, who gave birth to her second child while preparing for this exhibit. She is now in the process of installing her show while carrying her two-month-old baby in a sling.

  In the (un)hidden exhibit, Williams presents photographs, sculptures and installations investigating motherhood, relationships within the family and loss. (un)hidden will be open at the MIWSFPA until Saturday, April 28. Regular gallery hours are Tuesday through Saturday from 1 to 5 p.m.

  Tags: (un)hidden, Amber Lee Williams, Amy Friend, Brock University, CORE, downtown St. Catharines, exhibition, Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts, miwsfpa, photography, Rodman Hall Art Centre, SITE-SEER, The Brock News, VISA, VISA 3M90, VISA Honours Exhibition, visual arts
  Categories: Current Students, Department/Centre News, Events, Faculty & Instructors, In the Media, News

• Music@Noon season to end on high note

  Monday, April 02, 2018 | By dtemprile

  

  Sherry Yu is one of six pianists who will perform in the last Music@Noon concert of the 2017-18 season on Tuesday, April 3.

  The curtain will close next week on this season’s RBC Foundation Music@Noon Recital Series.

  The final performance of the 2017-18 season takes place Tuesday, April 3, with first- and second-year Bachelor of Music piano students taking the stage at Cairns Recital Hall.

  Short videos of this season’s Music@Noon performances are available on the Department of Music Instagram page.

  The free recital series will return to the FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre in late September.

  Tags: Brock University, department of music, downtown St. Catharines, FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre, free, Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts, miwsfpa, music, music@noon, rbc foundation, The Brock News, Tuesday Tunes
  Categories: Announcements, Current Students, Department/Centre News, Events, In the Media, News

• HRI Spring Term Symposium: The Elephant in the Room

  Monday, April 02, 2018 | By dtemprile

  

  Image: Jo-Anne McArthur/We Animals.

  The Humanities Research Institute will be hosting its Spring Symposium on Tuesday, April 17, 12:30 to 4:30 pm at the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts room 406. The public is welcome to attend! No registration required.

  This year’s theme, “The Elephant in the Room: Making Space for Animals in Our Research and Teaching,” explores the use and depictions of animals in history, literature, art, and society. Faculty members from the Faculty of Humanities and the Faculty of Social Science will share their work on various aspects of animal studies, including critical animal studies and human-animal studies.

  Opening remarks: Michael Carter, Associate Dean, Research and Graduate Studies, Faculty of Humanities

  Session I: 1:00 p.m.

  Chair: Keri Cronin (Visual Arts)

  • John Bonnett (History), “Turns, Convergences and De-Stabilization: Is the Animal turn the next Big Thing in History?”
  • Barbara Seeber (English Language & Literature), “Animals and the Country House Tradition Revisited in Mary Leapor and Jane Austen”
  • Elizabeth Neswald (History), “Feeding the Dog”
  • Adam Dickinson (English Language & Literature), “Anatomic: Microbes, Chemicals, and Metabolic Poetics in the Anthropocene”

  Coffee/tea break: 2:30 p.m. – 2:45 p.m.

  Session II: 2:45 p.m.

  Chair: Keri Cronin (Visual Arts)

  • Kendra Coulter (Labour Studies), “The Elephants are Working: Animals, Labour, and Care”
  • Keri Cronin (Visual Arts), “Surveillance or Sanctuary?: The Power and Potential of Live Cams for Humane Education”
  • Lauren Corman (Sociology), “Vile Creatures: Abject Animals at the Limits of Society and Culture”

  Presentation of Faculty of Humanities Award for Excellence in Research and Creative Activity to Professor Donna Szoke

  Donna Szoke (Visual Arts), “Invisible Animals”

  Closing remarks: Carol Merriam, Dean, Faculty of Humanities

  Limited parking available on site. Members of the Brock University community and guests are welcome to park on a first-come first-served basis. City parking lots are available nearby.
  See www.stcatharines.ca/en/livein/ParkingLotsGarages.asp

  Tags: Brock University, Carol Merriam, Department of Visual Arts, Donna Szoke, Faculty of Humanities, HRI Spring Term Symposium, keri cronin, Michael Carter, The Elephant in the Room, VISA
  Categories: Events, Faculty & Instructors

• Dramatic Arts students explore the theme of Expectation and Reality

  Thursday, March 15, 2018 | By dtemprile

  

  The popular One Act Festival is coming back to the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts this weekend. Pictured is the performance of All by Myself from the 2017 One Act Festival directed by Naomi Richardson, designed by Chelsea Wilson and featuring Rebecca Downing, Jessica Johnson, Alex Boychuk, Lauren Reed and David Poirier.

  The popular One Act Festival is returning to the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts this weekend.

  Students from the Dramatic Arts Directing II course (DART 3P54) have been hard at work developing their plays under the supervision and guidance of instructor Neil Silcox and teaching assistant Kevin Hobbs. The experiential course offers students practical and real-world experience as directors, dramaturges, performers, designers and theatre technicians, often for the first time.

  Silcox says “Brock does a great job of balancing out the theoretical and experiential aspects of dramatic arts” compared to the other programs he’s worked for.

  “Developing a strong understanding of theories and then being able to get on your feet and actually do it is the only way to learn to do performing arts,” Silcox says.

  Directing II students are responsible for selecting a script, auditioning a cast, rehearsing, designing the show and co-ordinating with the dramatic arts production team on all technical needs.

  This year, the festival is presenting six shows under the theme “Expectation and Reality.”

  Silcox says he discovered the theme “after reading through each of the students’ chosen acts side by side.”

  “We didn’t offer this theme to the students and make them try to select something,” he says.

  This process allows the students to have full control and individuality with their acts, but also challenges them to tweak their shows in a way that highlights the theme more.

  “Although it may seem cliché, audience members should expect the unexpected,” says Silcox.

  The shows range from century old to extremely contemporary, absurdism to strongly political, all exploring this year’s theme from a unique angle.

  Shows being presented this year include Articulation by Alicia Richardson, Your Mother’s Butt by Alan Ball, Echo by Joseph T. Shipley, The Little Stone House by George Calderon, The Lesson by Eugene Ionesco, and The St. Valentine’s Day Massacre by Allan Knee.

  All shows take place in the Marilyn I. Walker Theatre of the MIWSFPA on Saturday, March 24 and Sunday, March 25 starting at 7 p.m. each night. Admission is pay-what-you-can and limited paid parking is available nearby. For more information on the 2018 One Act Festival, visit the Dramatic Arts website.

  Tags: Applied Theatre, Brock University, dart, Department of Dramatic Arts, downtown St. Catharines, dramatic arts, Expectation and Reality, Kevin Hobbs, Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts, miwsfpa, Neil Silcox, One Act festival 2018, Pay-what-you-can, The Brock News
  Categories: Current Students, Events, In the Media, News

• Encore! Professional Concert Series presents Pat & Emilia

  Wednesday, March 14, 2018 | By dtemprile

  

  Encore! Professional Concert Series presents: Pat & Emilia: A Mixed-Media Chamber Opera

  Pat & Emilia is a new mixed-media chamber opera based on the lives of two Windsor, Ontario artists – photographer Pat Sturn (1910-2011) and opera singer Emilia Cundari (1930-2005). Act One, created by Tara Sievers-Hunt, features opera arias from Emilia’s repertoire alongside monologues inspired by newspaper interviews given by the singer from the 1950s to 1970s. Act Two showcases new music by Canadian composer Jeff Smallman with text by Windsor Poet Laureate Marty Gervais.

  Tara Sievers-Hunt (soprano) as Emilia | Jocelyn Zelasko (soprano) as Pat
  Margaret Gillie (clarinet) | Velda Kelly (violin)
  Nadine Deleury (cello) | Mary Siciliano (piano)

  The concert includes familiar arias from Italian opera as well as new music by composer Jeff Smallman. Text by Marty Gervais.

  Preceded by the documentary film, ‘Imagining Angels’, on the making of the opera

  Friday March 23, 2018

  Time: 7:30 p.m.
  Location: Partridge Hall, FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre, 250 St. Paul Street, St. Catharines

  Tickets: $28.50† adults; $22.50† seniors/students; $12.50† child (14 and under); $5* eyeGo program. General admission. † Includes the $2.50 FOPAC Cultural Capital Improvement Fund (CCIF); other applicable fees and taxes are extra. *No CCIF applied; other applicable fees and taxes are extra.

  Order tickets from the FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre Box Office: 905.688.0722 or Long Distance Toll Free: 1.855.515.0722; online: firstontariopac.ca.

  Tags: Brock University, chamber opera, department of music, downtown St. Catharines, Encore! Professional Concert Series, FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre, Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts, miwsfpa, Mixed-media chamber opera, music, Partridge Hall, Pat & Emilia
  Categories: Announcements, Department/Centre News, Events

• Art exhibit receptions to mark International Women’s Day

  Wednesday, March 14, 2018 | By dtemprile

  

  The opening reception of “Silent Areas: The Spaces in Between,” Cat Stambolic and Sarah Martin, takes place Thursday, March 8 at the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts.

  Brock’s arts community will mark International Women’s Day on Thursday, March 8 with two art exhibition receptions.

  On display at the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts Visual Arts Gallery and student exhibition space, “Silent Areas: The Spaces in Between” features the work of third-year Visual Arts student Sarah Martin and recent Brock Visual Arts graduate Cat Stambolic (BA ’17).

  The exhibition, which initially opened Feb. 15 and runs until Saturday, March 24, explores the disconnect between mind and body, deemed ‘silent areas.’

  Exploring the theme separately through their previous work, the pair came together to create the exhibit, which investigates “connections between mind and body; specifically, what happens if and when that connection is interrupted,” explained Stambolic.

  Both women are strong advocates of mental health.

  “Our work hangs in conversation with each other’s,” Stambolic said, and is “truly representative of the open dialogue we need to create regarding mental illness.”

  Her work featured in the show is directly related to her own sensory experiences, which resulted in feeling a disconnect from her physical body.

  “The process of making these pieces was a way to resolve these sensations and emotions, re-envisioning them as tangible sculptures,” she said.

  Martin uses her photographs to create visual representation of “restlessness and unconsciousness, how feelings of anxiety can create out-of-body experiences and feelings of existentialism.”

  Her work in this exhibit depicts women exclusively in order to “refocus the narrative of women creating work featuring women, instead of from a male perspective,” she said. “Using the female figure in a powerful way reclaims ownership of the female body and creates a new narrative of empowerment and self-reflection.”

  Both artists will be at the exhibition’s reception to discuss their work on Thursday, March 8 from 5 to 8 p.m.

  Also that evening, from 6 to 8 p.m., is the opening reception of “Expressions of Today/Expressions d’aujourd’hui” at the Niagara Arts Centre, 354 St. Paul St.

  Featuring work from Brock’s Studies in Arts and Culture, and French Studies students, the exhibit explores contemporary expressions in art and literature, with pieces creating unusual stories mixing narrative and art-making.

  “Expressions of Today/Expressions d’aujourd’hui” will be on display at the NAC until Friday, March 16.

  For information on upcoming events, visit the MIWSFPA website.

  Tags: Animation, Brock University, Cat Stambolic, Catherine Parayre, downtown St. Catharines, Drawing, exhibition, Expressions d'aujourd'hui, Expressions of Today, french studies, International Women's Day, Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts, miwsfpa, NAC, Niagara Artists Centre, opening receptions, photography, Sarah Martin, Sculptures, Silent Areas: The Spaces in Between, stac, studies in arts and culture, VISA, visual arts, Visual Arts Gallery
  Categories: Alumni, Current Students, Events, In the Media, News

• Dramatic Arts offers three-day lineup of events

  Wednesday, March 14, 2018 | By dtemprile

  

  Ruth Howard of Jumblies Theatre, Kerr Mesner of Arcadia University, and Lina de Guevara of Puente Theatre, will be part of three days of programming presented by Brock’s Department of Dramatic Arts from March 15 to 17.

  It will be a busy week for Brock’s Department of Dramatic Arts, with a theatrical performance, panel discussion and series of public workshops all lined up in a matter of three days.

  The programming, sponsored by the Walker Cultural Leader Series, takes place Thursday, March 15 to Saturday, March 17 at the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts (MIWSFPA) in downtown St. Catharines.

  Kerr Mesner, of Pennsylvania’s Arcadia University, will kick-off the three-day lineup Thursday with the debut of In Transit: Artistic Interventions in Precarious Times. The one-person performance piece combines multimedia, live theatrical performance and audience engagement to create an evocative and thought-provoking dramatic experience. His autoethnographic theatrical piece explores the intersections of queer identities, Christianity’s contributions to anti-queer violence and the challenges of embodying transgender identities within current political contexts.

  Mesner weaves a story arc between live theatrical performances from his 2017 piece, In Transit, and multimedia excerpts from the film version of his 2014 play, Intervention, that was part of his doctoral dissertation.

  He performs in the Marilyn I. Walker (MIW) Theatre Thursday, March 15 from 7 to 9 p.m.

  On Friday, March 16, a panel discussion, “Tensions of Engagement in the Canadian Immigrant Theatre Context,” will take place in the MIW Theatre at 7 p.m.

  Ruth Howard of Jumblies Theatre, Lina de Guevara of Puente Theatre and Professor Yasmine Kandil of Brock University will discuss how applied theatre with immigrants and refugees in Canada has evolved over the past few decades. Moderated by Brock Professor Natalie Alvarez, the panel will examine whether the medium has had a positive and tangible impact on this community, and on settler Canadians.

  Kandil began her immigrant journey in Victoria, B.C., where she worked on multiple projects exploring celebration as a means for immigrant youth to claim a space in their new home. She is currently engaged in the second phase of devising a theatre piece that examines narratives of immigration and settlement for Brock students and local immigrants and refugees in relation to expectations, obstacles and assimilation.

  Beginning Saturday, March 17, Brock’s visiting scholars and theatre makers, including two panelists from the previous evening’s event, will present workshops about their work in the Dramatic Arts field.

  Howard, founder of Toronto-based Jumblies Theatre, explores her recent Four Lands touring project in a workshop held in Studio B of the MIWSFPA from 10 a.m. to noon. Her work on issues of diversity has won many awards. Jumblies Theatre is known for its work with minority groups, engaging non-artists and a larger spectrum of participants through community-based theatre.

  Following from 1 to 3 p.m. in Studio C will be de Guevara’s workshop, which examines the different tools used to research immigrant and refugee narratives. She was the first immigrant artist to establish a theatre company in Victoria that focused solely on promoting the narratives of immigration and settlement, with the purpose of bridging the gap between the minority group and predominantly white culture of Victoria. Her work has spread to other provinces in Canada since she began her Canadian journey almost 40 years ago.

  Admission to all three days of programming is free thanks to sponsorship from the Walker Cultural Leader Series, founded by Marilyn I. Walker. However, participants are asked to register for the March workshops in advance through Eventbrite.

  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.

  Tags: Applied Theatre, Brock University, dart, Department of Dramatic Arts, drama in education, dramatic arts, In Transit: Artistic Interventions in Precarious Times, Lina de Guevara, Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts, miwsfpa, natalie alvarez, Ruth Howard, Tensions of Engagement in the Canadian Immigrant Theatre Context, The Brock News, Walker Cultural Leader Series, Yasmine Kandil
  Categories: Announcements, Department/Centre News, Events, In the Media, News, Walker Cultural Leader Series

• MIWSFPA offers ticket promotion in honour of International Women’s Day

  Tuesday, March 06, 2018 | By dtemprile

  

  Brock Dramatic Arts students Manchari Paranthahan and Meryl Ochoa in the production of Top Girls playing at the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts March 2 to 10.

  (Source: The Brock News | Wednesday, March 13, 2018)

  The Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts is offering a special Top Girls promotion in honour of International Women’s Day.

  Tickets for the Brock production’s March 9 and 10 performances will be two for the price of one when buyers mention International Women’s Day.

  The promotion will be available in person at the FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre box office or by phone at 905-688-0722. Box office hours are Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

  Top Girls, Brock’s second mainstage production of the year, is a contemporary play that takes a critical look at women and their relationship to power and success.

  More information on the show is available on the Brock News.

  Tags: BOGO free, Brock University, dart, downtown St. Catharines, dramatic arts, FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre, FOPAC, Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts, miwsfpa, plays, The Brock News, Ticket Promotion, Top Girls
  Categories: Announcements, Events, In the Media, News

• Recital series to showcase student talent

  Thursday, March 01, 2018 | By dtemprile

  

  Second-year violinist Jessica Tigchelaar takes centre stage at the Concordia Seminary Chapel on Friday, March 2 at 7:30 p.m.

  The stage is set for the stars of Brock’s Department of Music to shine.

  Student talent will be highlighted during a month-long recital series that begins Friday, March 2.

  The inaugural performance will feature violinist Jessica Tigchelaar, a second-year student, accompanied by Luis Molina on the piano. The show will take place at the Concordia Seminary Chapel on campus, where half of the recitals will take place. The remaining shows will happen at the FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre in downtown St. Catharines.

  

  Fourth-year pianist Luis Molina accompanies Jessica Tigchelaar on stage Friday, March 2. Molina then has his own solo performance Monday, April 2 at 7:30 p.m. in the Cairns Recital Hall of the FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre.

  The series will feature Brock’s most talented performers, who enrol in recital courses for credit following a rigorous audition process.

  Details for the following performances are available at the respective links:

  •   Friday, March 2: Jessica Tigchelaar and Luis Molina
  •   Monday, March 5: Rebecca Heathcote and Karen Lam 
  •   Friday, March 9: Alyssa Shanghavi and Gary Forbes
  •   Monday, March 19: Ryan Baxter
  •   Saturday, March 24: Jesse Luciani
  •   Sunday, March 25: Eric Godfree
  •   Monday, March 26: William Sadler and Lesley Kingham
  •   Monday, April 2: Luis Molina

  Tags: Brock University, Cairns Recital Hall, Concert, Concordia Seminary Chapel, department of music, FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre, Instrumental students, Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts, miwsfpa, Student Solo Recitals
  Categories: Current Students, Department/Centre News, Events