Faculty & Instructors

  • Expressions of Today / Expressions d’aujourd’hui

    Saturday, February 24, 2018 | By

    Art by Mat Vizbulis.

    Students in Studies in Arts and Culture as well as in French Studies at Brock University explore contemporary expressions in art and literature and create unusual stories mixing narrative and art-making. Their starting point is a graffiti artwork by artist Mat Vizbulis.

    Des étudiants en Etudes en français et en Studies in Arts and Culture à l’Université Brock explorent des expressions contemporaines dans l’art et la littérature, et construisent des histoires inhabituelles mélangeant narration et création d’art. Leur point de départ est un graffiti de l’artiste Mat Vizbulis.

    Exhibition: Saturday Mar. 3 to Friday Mar. 16 / samedi 3 mars à vendredi 16 mars

    Gallery hours: Wednesday 10-5, Thursday 12-9, Friday 12-9, and Saturday 12-5 / mercredi 10-5, jeudi 12-9, vendredi 12-9, et samedi 12-5

    Opening Reception: Thursday Mar. 8 from 6-8 pm / jeudi 8 mars 6h-8h en soirée

    Location: Niagara Artists Centre (NAC)

    354 St. Paul Street, St. Catharines, ON

    This is free community event!

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    Categories: Announcements, Events, Faculty & Instructors

  • Community collaboration leads to a new play by Brock prof

    Wednesday, February 14, 2018 | By

    (Source: The Brock News | Monday, February 12, 2018 by Alison Innes)

    It was a simple, yet powerful statement.

    “We need to pay attention to the lives of Niagara’s migrant agricultural workers,” René Lopez, a worker advocate, said to Brock University Associate Professor David Fancy in 2010.

    That conversation began a journey of community collaboration that lead to the production of Our Lady of Delicias by the Essential Collective Theatre, which runs from Friday, Feb. 23 until Sunday, March 4 at the FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre.

    Fancy, a professor with the Dramatic Arts program, collaborated with dozens of migrant workers and Dramatic Arts students for two years to develop the play. The story features the character of Rangel, a Mexican migrant worker who has been travelling to Canada for years to work in the vineyards and greenhouses of Niagara.

    “I’m excited by this new script,” says Essential Collective Theatres’ Monica Dufault, a long-term Brock instructor who is directing the production. “It explores migrant worker issues in considerable depth with a real artistry that I’m keen to share with audiences.”

    “Having lived in Niagara for more than a dozen years now, I still feel that this is a reality that is consciously ignored: the lives of people who are our neighbours,” says Fancy.

    The cast of four, including Carla Melo, Juan Carlos Velis, Camila Diaz-Varela and Josée Young, features an exceptional range of Canadian acting talent with extensive stage and screen credits. Brock Dramatic Arts graduates James McCoy and Jo Pacinda are creating the design and costume design for the production.

    What: Our Lady of Delicias, performed by the Essential Collective Theatre

    When: Friday, Feb. 23 to Sunday, March 4

    Where: Robertson Theatre, FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre

    SPECIAL OFFER: Present your ECT show program or ticket stub to receive a 20% discount on tickets for Top Girls presented by the Department of Dramatic Arts!

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    Categories: Events, Faculty & Instructors, Uncategorised

  • The Viva Voce! Choral Series welcomes back the Avanti Chamber Singers

    Wednesday, February 07, 2018 | By

    Avanti Chamber Singers conducted by Rachel Rensink-Hoff

    The Avanti Chamber Singers performing under the conduction of Rachel Rensink-Hoff from a previous Viva Voce! Choral Series concert in 2017.

    Special guests, The Walker String Quartet, joins the Avanti Chamber Singers at the St. Thomas Anglican Church on Saturday Feb. 17. Pictured from left to right is Anna Hughes (2nd violin), Faith Lau (viola), Gordon Cleland (cello) and Vera Alexeeva (1st violin).

    The Avanti Chamber Singers come back “With Strings Attached” for another round with Brock’s Viva Voce! Choral Series. This time around they’re bringing special guests, The Walker String Quartet!

    This concert will feature Ola Gjeilo’s Dark Night of the Soul, Eric Whitacre’s Hebrew Love Songs and Telemann’s Laudate Jehovam, with other works of love and longing by Lassus, Pearsall, Hassler and contemporary composers Laura Hawley, John Butler, Jared Tomlinson and Jonathan Quick.

    The Chamber Singers will bring their signature sound to the St. Thomas Anglican Church, 99 Ontario Street in St. Catharines, Saturday, Feb. 17 at 7:30 p.m. The group is conducted by their Artistic Director, Rachel Rensink-Hoff, who is also Director of Choral Activities and Assistant Professor of Music Education at Brock University.

    Advance tickets are $20 for adults, $15 for seniors and students, and $5 under the eyeGo program. They can be purchased at Thorold Music, 289 Glendale Ave., and Booksmart, 350 Scott St., or online.

    Tickets at the door will be $25 for adults, $20 for seniors and students, and $5 under the eyeGo program.

    Visit the Department of Music’s Concert Series page for more information.

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    Categories: Events, Faculty & Instructors, News

  • World-class photographer with a Brock connection

    Monday, December 18, 2017 | By

    One of Them Is a Human #1. (Erica: Erato Ishiguro Symbiotic Human-Robot Interaction Project.)

    “One of Them Is a Human #1” by Maija Tammi won third place in this year’s Taylor-Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize. Tammi studied photography at Brock in 2008-09 with Visual Arts professor Amy Friend. (Image copyright Maija Tammi; Used by permission).

    (Source: The Brock News | Friday Dec. 15, 2017 by Alison Innes)

    At first glance, the photo is a portrait of a young woman.

    On closer inspection, the ‘woman’ isn’t human at all. It is, in fact, an android called Erica, developed by Hiroshi Ishiguro Laboratories in Osaka University, Japan.

    The photograph, taken by Finnish artist Maija Tammi and titled “One of Them is a Human #1,” won third prize in this year’s prestigious Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize.

    The photograph also has a surprising Brock connection.

    Finnish artist Maija Tammi, who studied at
    Brock University in 2008-09

    Tammi spent a year studying film and art at Brock University in 2008-09. Although she already had a background in photojournalism, her experience at Brock, and in particular a course with Professor Amy Friend, encouraged her towards art photography.

    “The Visual Arts program at Brock offers an abundance of opportunity for one-on-one interactions in class with students and professors,” says Friend.

    Such interactions allow for personalized and concentrated instruction that allow students to reach their potential.

    “Maija flourished in this environment and took advantage of the surrounding community with her interactive installations and thought-provoking course projects,” says Friend.

    Tammi cites the film Five Obstructions, which she first saw in Friend’s course, as particularly influential.

    The 1967 film shows the remaking of the same story five times, each with a different obstruction. This process of rethinking and reframing inspired Tammi.

    “Once you have thought of a concept,” she explains, “you rethink it several times from different perspectives.”

    Tammi was immediately interested in the ways obstructions can encourage creativity and used the idea in her class project, redoing the same photograph multiple times with different obstructions.

    This experience in Friend’s course influenced her approach to photography. She gives herself obstructions, such as limiting her camera gear, to encourage her own creativity.

    Tammi is particularly attracted to portraiture, which she says tells us more about ourselves as viewers of the photograph than the subject of the photo as we project our stereotypes on them.

    One of Them is a Human #1 has attracted a lot of attention in the arts community. Although the Taylor Wessing contest rules state that the subject needs to be alive, Tammi’s photograph was accepted because it raises important questions about what it means to be human.

    “I’m very excited about the conversation that has arisen,” Tammi says. “It is time to think about what it means to be alive.”

    Tammi doesn’t shy away from difficult subjects; she is currently completing a practise-based PhD exploring representations of sickness in art photography.

    “I like topics that are very difficult and people don’t like to talk about,” she says.

    Friend, who exhibited work in the same show as Tammi in New York in August 2015, has been watching her former student’s success closely.

    “Her success is indicative of the connections that many students make with classmates and professors,” Friend says. “When I see opportunities that fit her areas of expertise I send them her way. These are the types of extended interactions that happen when we are given space to know our students.”

    Tammi’s work was one of three finalists chosen from more than 5,717 submissions. Selected submissions, including the shortlisted portraits and competition winner, are on display at the National Portrait Gallery in London, England.

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    Categories: Alumni, Announcements, Faculty & Instructors, In the Media, News

  • A Special One Night Art Exhibition

    Monday, December 11, 2017 | By

    Invasive species video freeze frame

    On January 17, students from Donna Akrey’s 3M90 Advanced Art Practices will be “transplanting their work into the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts building”. Everyone is invited to explore this one night exhibition between 4 and 9 p.m. Maps will be given out to help navigate the space to see the works – some easy to find, others more hidden.

    Invasive Species is a collection of self-directed works from third and fourth year students in the 3M90 ADVANCED ART PRACTICES course. This exhibition focuses on themes of information, architecture, the archive, regionality, subjectivity and objectivity, death, resilience, ecology, mental health, space, the institution, invasive and symbiotic species, and site-specific art. The works are comprised of painting, drawing, video, projection, animation, performance, and installation. All of the artists respond to the unique specificities and conditions of the facility and its site.

    Victoria Reid, visual arts student in Donna Akrey’s 3M90 course says her objective is “to personify objects in the architecture and space around us to show our connection to the architecture. I chose to do this in order to bring awareness to our relationship and contribution to the growing industrial landscape around us.”

    This event marks the mid-year point as the student progress to a final site-specific exhibition proposed to take over parts of downtown St. Catharines in April 2018.

    In order to provoke creativity and thought into this exhibition, Akrey asked her students, “if your work was to fit in this space (the MIW) and not the white cube – where might it go?” She says, “This allows the students to consider their work outside of the gallery and in effect pushes research further (as well as the logistics of mounting visual art in difficult spaces). The students have risen to it and are doing a great job.”

    Reid comments on what this course and the opportunity of this exhibition has taught her, “Through the process of making this work, I learned how to step outside my comfort zone and I learned that art can be art, even when in unconventional spaces apart from the gallery.”

    Donna Akrey is a part-time instructor of visual arts at Brock University. Her exhibition, Also Also held at Rodman Hall from February to April of 2017, was nominated for Exhibition of the Year: Budget Under $20, 000 (Monographic) Award by the Ontario Association of Art Galleries (OAAG). Her collaboration as a member of the Hamilton Perambulatory Unit was recently seen in the Downtown/s – Urban Renewals Today for Tomorrow: The 2017 Windsor-Essex Triennial of Contemporary Art.

    Isabella Domaradzki, artist, member of the organizational team for Invasive Species, and student in the 3M90 course says what she looks forward to most about this one night exhibition “is seeing our hard work in creating our art and planning this show come to life. We have learned so many valuable lessons throughout this experience that have shaped our identity as artists, and I think it will be exciting to visualize our growth and progress!”

    This one night exhibition is a free event held at the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts from 4 to 9 p.m. on Wednesday Jan. 17. Refreshments and snacks will be served in the MIWSFPA lobby. Visit the Invasive Species Facebook event page to stay updated with this exciting event.

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    Categories: Announcements, Current Students, Events, Faculty & Instructors, In the Media, News

  • Acting exercise helps prepare co-op students for workplace

    Thursday, December 07, 2017 | By

    Dramatic Arts returns to the SOS

    First-year Dramatic Arts student Dawson Strangway, from Mirror Theatre, and co-op students Michelle Geremia, Julio Trevino Silva, and Hamza Mallick act out a ‘reception desk’ scene with the help of Professor Joe Norris, foreground.

    From small talk at the water cooler to encounters with testy photocopiers, students embarking on co-op work-terms never quite know the situations they may experience in their new workplace.

    To help lessen stress and increase comfort heading into a new environment, Brock Dramatic Arts students recently visited their co-op peers to share some scenarios they may be faced with.

    Comprised primarily of Dramatic Arts students under the direction of Joe Norris, Dramatic Arts Chair and Professor of Drama in Education and Applied Theatre, Mirror Theatre spent time in three Co-op Education classes over the past few weeks to provide guidance and reassurance by acting out scenes in Sean O’Sullivan Theatre.

    Dramatic Arts exercise in co-op class

    Co-op students Daniel O’Leary, left, and Marsel Avdic, right, play tug of war with fourth-year Dramatic Arts student and Mirror Theatre member Sumer Seth during an ‘Awkward Elevator’ scene.

    The group write and present interactive scenes on a variety of social issues, with the latest art-based research project exploring the interpersonal dynamics of work placements from entry to exit.

    Using applied theatre, experiential and problem-based learning theories and techniques, the students present scenes that address worker safety, on-site learning, asking for help, dealing with unreasonable demands and degree of personal sharing and assessment. Audience members redirect the scenes from their seat and, at times, come on stage to try to act out their thoughts through role-play.

    The initiative was intended to generate discussion amongst the co-op students on a variety of work-related topics in the 0N90 class.

    Students were asked to put themselves in the actors’ shoes in order to understand how they would handle each of the given situations in real life.

    “I would recommend this type of interactive learning in future classes,” said second-year Public Health co-op student Micaela Snow following the exercise. “I feel like the presentation gave us a deeper understanding of expectations and work etiquette rather than if we just listened to the professor talking about it.”

    Julia Zhu, Brock’s Associate Director of Co-op Education, hoped the experience helped to “facilitate ‘a rehearsal for life’ by offering an opportunity for students to safely test out their approach to impromptu social, ethical and culture situations.”

    Course facilitator Ashley Haroutunian said she was impressed by the level of engagement students displayed as they watched the vignettes and participated in the discussions and re-enactments.

    “They demonstrated a keen ability to reflect and contribute thoughtful observations and suggestions to help the players navigate the challenging workplace scenarios and conflicts,” she said. “Professor Norris and his students did an excellent job of supporting their learning by inviting, encouraging and involving students in the process.”

    Mirror Theatre has previously worked with Brock’s English as a Second Language Services in addressing academic integrity issues; Student Health, examining mental health and drinking issues; Health and Safety, discussing violence in the workplace; a Health Sciences class, articulating challenges of patient care; and the Centre for Pedagogical Innovation’s TA training sessions. The group’s members are heading to New York in April to present their arts-based research at the American Educational Research Association.

    Mirror Theatre members who participated in the recent co-op exercises include fourth-year Con-Ed Dramatic Arts students Mike Metz and Lindsey Abrams, third-year Psychology and Dramatic Arts student Nadia Ganesh, fourth-year Dramatic Arts and Education student Aaron Drake, fourth-year Con-Ed student Abby Rollo, second-year Con-Ed Dramatic Arts student Dani Shae Barkley, fourth-year Dramatic Arts student Sumer Seth and first-year Dramatic Arts student Dawson Strangway.

    Speaking with Mirror Theatre members on how this group has impacted their lives, Mike Metz, fourth year Con-Ed Dramatic Arts student says, “When I started Mirror Theatre in my first year, I was a Con-Ed math student. Mirror Theatre was one of the major reasons I decided to switch my major to Drama.”

    Lindsey Abrams, fourth year Con-Ed Dramatic Arts student adds, “Mirror Theatre has given me the opportunity to explore my love for theatre through different lenses as an actor, prospective educator, and learner.  I get the opportunity to explore all different areas of theatre that can be presented, and feel as though I am always a part of a team.”

    When Nadia Ganesh, third year Psychology and Dramatic Arts student was asked what she enjoys about participating in Mirror Theatre, she said, “I love the fact that Mirror Theatre gives me the ability to impact the lives of others even if it is only in a minor way. If it’s just making one person laugh, I’m happy that I’ve had the opportunity to affect that individual in a positive way.”

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    Categories: Announcements, Current Students, Faculty & Instructors, In the Media, News

  • Viva Voce! First concert of the 2017-18 season

    Friday, November 10, 2017 | By

    Dr. Rachel Rensink-Hoff

    Pictured above: Rachel Rensink-Hoff, newly appointed Artistic Director of the Avanti Chamber Singers.

    On Saturday Nov. 18 at 7:30 pm at the St. Thomas Anglican Church (103 Ontario St, St. Catharines), the Avanti Chamber Singers present their first concert of the 2017-18 season as part of our Viva Voce! Choral Series: Semper Avanti | Ever Forward. This will be the first performance by the Avanti Chamber Singers with Rachel Rensink-Hoff as the Artistic Director.

    The Avanti Chambers Singers are a Niagara community-based mixed chamber choir.  They perform mainstream choral literature, both accompanied and a cappella. For the November 18th concert the repertoire includes Kyrie-Gloria pairings by Palestrina, Mozart & Corlis,  Selections from Dove’s Passing of the Year,  and works by Mendelssohn, Esenvalds & Dolly Parton!

    Rensink-Hoff is the Director of Choral Activities and Assistant Professor of Music Education at Brock University, and the newly appointed Artistic Director of the Avanti Chamber Singers.

    Tickets may be purchased from Thorold Music (289 Glendale Ave.) and Booksmart (Scott/Vine Plaza, 350 Scott St.), or by members of the Avanti Chamber Singers. Additionally, tickets will be sold at the door the night of the concert.

    Visit our ExperienceBU page and avantichambersingers.com for further information.

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    Categories: Events, Faculty & Instructors, News

  • The Department of Music on stage!

    Monday, November 06, 2017 | By

    Encore: Professional Concert Series presents: The Walker Quartet with Karin Di Bella, and Guitar Extravaganza III

    Pictured above is a previous season performance of the Guitar Extravaganza (top), The Walker Quartet (left to right: Anna Hughes (2nd violin), Faith Lau (viola), Gordon Cleland (cello) and Vera Alexeeva (1st violin)), and pianist Dr. Karin Di Bella (bottom right).

    This weekend the Department of Music is presenting two spectacular concerts that will surely be among the highlights of the fall season.

    On Friday Nov. 10, as part of the Walker Cultural Leader Series, Encore! Professional Concert Series presents: The Walker Quartet with faculty pianist Karin Di Bella. The Walker Cultural Leader Series was generously founded by Marilyn I. Walker.

    Now in its second season, the Department of Music’s resident Walker String Quartet and Karin Di Bella present a program of two of the most iconic works in the string quintet repertoire, the Piano Quintets by Schumann in E-flat Major and Shostakovich in G Minor.

    This concert takes place on Friday Nov. 10, 2017 in the Partridge Concert Hall at the FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre, starting at 7:30 pm. For more information, please visit the Department concert events webpage and the ExperienceBU page.

    Then on Saturday Nov. 11 as part of our continuing celebration of Canada’s 150 year of Confederation, the FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre is once again the venue for the ever-popular Guitar Extravangaza III including a special Canada 150 performance of Carpe Noctem.

    Brock University’s annual celebration of the guitar commences at 7:30 pm on Saturday Nov. 11 in the Cairns Recital Hall.  An orchestra of 60 guitars comprised of Brock students, local amateurs and professionals will be directed by Brock University Guitar Instructor, Timothy Phelan. Special guest soloists include Matthew McAllister (Scotland) and Emma Rush (Canada).  The concert features a tribute to the late Warren Stirtzinger with George Kane (USA) and James Bryan McCollum (Canada), music composed by Timothy Phelan and the World Premiere of Carpe Noctem – a six-movement work written especially for this occasion by Niagara composer Floyd Turner.  For more information, please visit the Department concert events webpage and the ExperienceBU page.

    Tickets for both events can be ordered from the FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre Box Office (905.688.0722) or from their website.

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    Categories: Department/Centre News, Events, Faculty & Instructors, Walker Cultural Leader Series

  • HOT TALKS 2017-2018: Professor Derek Knight speaks at Rodman Hall, November 09

    Sunday, November 05, 2017 | By

    Geoffrey Farmer, “A Way Out of the Mirror”, 2017, Canada Pavilion, 57th Venice Biennale. Image courtesy of Derek Knight.

    HOT TALKS

    Artist Talks and Gallery Conversations at the Rodman Hall Art Centre
    Admission by donation ($5 suggested); Members and Students Free
    Sponsored by Partridge Wealth Management/RBC Dominion Securities Inc., St. Catharines

    November 09: Professor Derek Knight,
    Department of Visual Arts, Brock University

    “Art Confidential: Trends and Obsession(s) in Recent Art”

    Thursday, November 9, 7 pm
    2017 saw the confluence of the Whitney Biennial, Münster Sculpture Project, Kassel’s Documenta 14, and the Venice Biennale. Derek Knight, Associate Professor, Visual Arts, Brock University discusses the pros and emerging cons of the international blockbuster exhibition as well as his top picks, from Pierre Huyghe to Phyllida Barlow to Geoffrey Farmer.

    Rodman Hall Art Centre, 109 St Paul Crescent, St Catharines, ON L2S 1M3

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  • Donna Szoke’s work featured in New Media Caucus.

    Tuesday, October 24, 2017 | By

    Szoke_Lexie_Mountain

    Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Visual Arts, Donna Szoke’s work is discussed in the on-line journal New Media Caucus in an article by Lisa Moren, Professor of Visual Art and Graduate Program Director of Intermedia + Digital Art, MFA Program at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County [UMBC]. Her interactive video installation and all watched over by machines of loving grace is a humorous intervention in the dystopian reality of contemporary dataveillance and societies of control.

    Image courtesy of Tim Nohe.

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    Categories: Faculty & Instructors, In the Media, News

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