News

Exhibition explores link between childhood trauma and mental illness

Thursday, November 08, 2018 | By Brock University

Brock Visual Arts student Emma Mary Sked’s Maybe You Should Drive will be installed in the VISA Gallery and Student Exhibition Space at the MIWSFPA from Nov. 13 to 27.

(From The Brock News, Thursday, Nov. 8, 2018 | By: Sarah Moore)

Emma Mary Sked’s childhood greatly impacted her mental health as an adult.

And now, the Brock Visual Arts student is channelling her life experiences into a new exhibition opening Tuesday, Nov. 13 at the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts (MIWSFPA).

Maybe You Should Drive is a mixed media exhibition featuring a collection of art books and brightly coloured fabric animals depicting the fragility and comfort of childhood, and the lived experience of adults with mental illness.

The exhibition features work that culminated from the artist’s studies in the VISA 3F99 Independent Study course at MIWSFPA. Sked completed the project under the guidance of Visual Arts Associate Professor Shawn Serfas.

“VISA 3F99 engages a heightened level of creative and critical literacy for our undergraduate students,” Serfas explained. “Emma’s exhibition explores the complex relational narratives between mental health and creativity.”

Sked felt it important to use her own experience with mental illness and addiction as inspiration for the featured work.

“When I was a kid I moved a lot, which really impacted how I coped with things and I now struggle with anxiety and depression,” she shared. “Now that I’ve grown up, I’ve met people who have developed mental illness that they also have to cope with every day and they will be able to relate to this work and make connections to their own life.”

Sked chose to explore the use of art books and tactile objects for this project so that viewers could interact with the subject matter on a more immersive level.

She also hopes the exhibition will encourage others to share their own experiences in order to find support and develop their own coping mechanisms.

“It’s not just about the negative impacts of these issues,” she stressed. “It’s about bringing hope to people and showing them that they aren’t alone.”

Maybe You Should Drive will be installed in the VISA Gallery and Student Exhibition Space at the MIWSFPA from Nov. 13 to 27.

An opening reception will also be held in the Gallery on Thursday, Nov. 15, from 5 to 8 p.m.

The event is free and suitable for all audiences.

Tags: Department of Visual Arts, Emma Mary Sked, Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts, Maybe You Should Drive, Sean Serfas
Categories: Current Students, Events, News
Award-winning pianist returns to Brock for Walker Cultural Leaders Series

Thursday, November 08, 2018 | By Brock University

Award-winning Canadian concert pianist David Jalbert will give a recital Friday, Nov. 16 as part of the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts’ 2018 performance season.

(From The Brock News, Wednesday Nov. 7, 2018 | By: Sarah Moore)

Renowned Canadian concert pianist David Jalbert is returning to St. Catharines Friday, Nov. 16 as the next performer in the Walker Cultural Leaders Series.

The performance will also open this year’s Encore! Professional Concert Series, hosted by the Department of Music at Brock’s Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts (MIWSFPA).

Jalbert, who performs regularly as a soloist and recitalist across North America and Europe, last came to Brock as part of the MIWSFPA’s 2013 performance season.

A national and international prize-winner, he has won five Opus Awards, was nominated for three Juno Awards and was the 2007 laureate of the prestigious Virginia Parker Prize of the Canada Council for the Arts.

Music Department Chair Matthew Royal said the accomplished performer will be a highlight to the School’s 2018 event season, both for the public and music students alike.

“We are delighted to have David Jalbert return to Brock to give a master class to our piano students, and to perform a solo piano recital,” he said. “He is a superbly expressive pianist whose musicality and intelligence are supported by a flawless technique.”

Jalbert will perform in Partridge Hall of the FirstOntario Performing Art Centre, where attendees will be treated to a program of solo piano works by Bach, Schumann, Liszt and Fauré. The recital will conclude with a performance of Prokofiev’s monumental Sonata No. 7, Op. 83, in B flat major.

“The highlight of this concert will, I believe, be the Prokofiev 7th Piano Sonata,” Royal noted. “This is one of those pieces that all pianists worth their salt must conquer at some point in their careers. I predict it will be a ‘tour de force.’”

Tickets are available by contacting the FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre Box Office at 905-688-0722 or firstontariopac.ca

Tickets are $29 for adults, $23 for seniors and students and $13 for children 14 and under. Special $5 tickets are also available through the eyeGo program.

The Walker Cultural Leaders Series brings leading artists, performers, practitioners and academics to Brock’s MIWSFPA.

The sessions celebrate professional achievement, artistic endeavour and the indelible role of culture in society. The education program is generously funded by Marilyn I. Walker.

Tags: David Jalbert, department of music, Encore! Professional Concert Series, FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre, Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts, matthew royal, miwsfpa, Walker Cultural Leader Series
Categories: Announcements, Events, News, Walker Cultural Leader Series
Brock prof unveils Invisible Histories at Toronto exhibition

Wednesday, November 07, 2018 | By Brock University

Invisible Histories, by Brock researcher and Visual Arts Chair, Professor Donna Szoke, is installed at the John B. Aird Gallery and CONTACT Gallery in Toronto until Nov. 23. Her work is pictured above: Donna Szoke, Invisible Histories. Geo-loactive smart phone/tablet app, 2015

(From The Brock News, Tuesday, Nov. 6, 2018 | By: Sarah Moore)

The work of Brock Professor Donna Szoke on the hidden history of nuclear waste is being featured in a Toronto group exhibition that opened last week.

Szoke, a researcher and Visual Arts Chair, has her work on display as part of Digital Animalities — a two-venue exhibition of artworks that examines how human-animal understandings and relationships are changing through the use of ubiquitous media and new technologies.

The exhibition is part of a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada(SSHRC)-funded research project titled “Digital Animalities: Media Representations of Nonhuman Life in the Age of Risk,” led by Jody Berland of York University.It brings the work of artists and researchers together to highlight the challenges and opportunities for new understandings of animals in contemporary digital culture.

Co-curated by Giovanni Aloi, Matthew Brower and Curatorial Assistant Seb Roberts, Digital Animalities divided the works into two exhibitions: Mapping (at the James B. Aird gallery) and Rendering (at CONTACT Gallery).

Szoke’s Invisible Histories (a geolocative smartphone/tablet app she developed in 2015) is featured in the Mapping exhibition.

The free app maps nuclear waste at a Niagara Falls, N.Y., storage site, where more than 270,000 mice used in radioactive experiments have been buried.The app brings public awareness to the fact that there is radioactive evidence of secret atomic testing that took place during the infamous Manhattan Project in Niagara.

Users are guided through the app to the rodent burial site through the leadership of green, glowing 3D mice that become more prevalent on-screen as the site grows near.Szoke said it’s ironic, because no one actually wants to go towards nuclear waste, but the mice guide users to their graves to reveal their tragic end.

Szoke was awarded the 2017 Faculty of Humanities Award for Excellence in Research and Creative Activity.

Her artistic work includes media art, interactive animation, installation, drawing, experimentation and printmaking.

Digital Animalities runs at the John B. Aird Gallery and CONTACT Gallery in Toronto until Nov. 23. The Invisible Histories app is available for free download at the iTunes store (OsX) and Google Play (Android).

Tags: Department of Visual Arts, digital animalities, Donna Szoke, Marilyn I. Walker School for Fine and Performing Arts, miwsfpa, VISA
Categories: Announcements, Department/Centre News, Faculty & Instructors, News
Active attacker info sessions to be held at MIWSFPA Nov. 8 & Nov. 14

Wednesday, November 07, 2018 | By sackles
(From The Brock News, Tuesday, Nov. 6, 2018)

Would you know what to do if there was an active threat or shooter on campus?

It’s a scenario most people could never imagine happening at Brock University, but one that Campus Security wants to ensure the community is prepared for.

Campus Security at the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts (MIWSFPA) will be holding two information sessions for staff, instructors, faculty and students of the School this month to discuss emergency preparedness in an active attacker situation.

Rick Fraser, Brock’s Manager, Emergency Management and Life Safety, will be presenting material on the active attacker protocol that has been adopted at the University during these sessions.

The information and training sessions will take place in MWS 156 on:
- Thursday, Nov. 8 from 8 to 9 a.m.
- Friday, Nov. 16 from 11 a.m. to noon
No registration is required, but the sessions are currently limited to those who study or work at the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts, due to space limitations.

For more information on the MIWSFPA sessions, contact Rick Tollar, Supervisor, Campus Security Services, at 905-688-5550 x 6399.

Information on the active attacker protocol adopted at Brock University is available on the Campus Security website.
Tags: campus security, Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts, miwsfpa
Categories: Announcements, Current Students, Faculty & Instructors, News
DART prof wins national award for theatre criticism

Tuesday, November 06, 2018 | By Brock University

Karen Fricker, Associate Professor of Dramatic Arts, is being honoured by the Canadian Theatre Critics Association.

(From The Brock News, Tuesday Oct.30, 2018 | By: Alison Innes)

Karen Fricker is getting rave reviews from a respected national audience.

The associate professor in Brock’s Department of Dramatic Arts is being honoured with the 2018 Nathan Cohen Award for excellence in critical writing by the Canadian Theatre Critics Association.

Fricker won the award’s short category for her 2016 Toronto Star review of Michel Tremblay’s classic Hosanna, as revived by Toronto’s Soulpepper Theatre.

Fricker, whose research areas include Quebec theatre, said the play is a complicated touchstone of Quebecois culture.

“A big challenge of writing this review was trying to use the research-based knowledge I had about the play without being overwhelmed by it,” she said. “It was a really hard review to write, so it’s gratifying that it’s being recognized.”

Fricker has a long history with theatre criticism, having written for outlets including The Guardian and Variety, as well as being the founding editor-in-chief of Irish Theatre Magazine, a publication that operated from 1998 to 2014. She has written for the Toronto Star since March 2016.

Fricker joined Brock’s Department of Dramatic Arts in 2013. Her research interests include contemporary theatre and globalization, popular performances of nation and cultural identities, and theatre criticism. Recent projects have included work on circus performance.

“The benefits between my work at Brock and at the Toronto Star flow both ways,” Fricker said.

“I try to connect students in my courses to what’s happening in GTA theatre, and we learn from each other’s responses to the work. When we publish their edited reviews on the DARTcritics website, their voices enter the broader dialogue.”

As part of her interest in arts criticism in the digital age, Fricker established the blog DARTcritics.com to provide students with an opportunity to publish their work. The site grew from a space for student coursework to a year-round source of quality arts criticism in Niagara. The site now includes reviews and features by students and graduates who are paid for their work.

The Nathan Cohen Awards were established in 1981 and are given out every two years to honour outstanding critical writing about theatre and performance in print or electronic media. The awards are named after legendary Toronto Star and CBC critic Nathan Cohen.

A history of the awards and past recipients may be found on the CTCA website.

Fricker will receive her award in December at a special luncheon in Toronto.

Tags: Canadian Theatre Critics Association, dart, Department of Dramatic Arts, humanities, Karen Fricker, miwsfpa, Nathan Cohen Award, Toronto Star
Categories: Announcements, Faculty & Instructors, News
Guitarist to conclude faculty Music@Noon performances

Friday, November 02, 2018 | By Brock University

Guitarist Tim Phelan will perform as part of the RBC Foundation Music@Noon series on Nov. 6.

(From The Brock News | Friday, Nov. 2)

Fans of Queen are in for a treat during the next RBC Foundation Music@Noon concert.

Guitarist Tim Phelan will take the stage of the Cairns Recital Hall on Tuesday, Nov. 6 with an arrangement of Bohemian Rhapsody by Niagara composter Floyd Turner.

The performance will also include Turner’s Twelve Preludes as well as solo guitar works by Tárrega, Villa-Lobos and Bach.

Phelan is a classical guitarist, conductor, composer, arranger and educator currently teaching at Brock University and Mohawk College. At the age of 18, he made his CBC recording debut as concerto soloist with Orchestre Symphonique de Québec. Since then, he has been heard in solo, concerto and chamber music performances over CBC Radio and Television, Radio France, Radio Caribbean and Cuban National Television and Radio.

The Department of Music invites faculty, staff, students and the community to come and experience his performance. The Music@Noon Series features free, one-hour concerts that occur most Tuesdays at noon during the academic year at the FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre.

For more information about upcoming performances, please visit the Department of Music website.

Tags: Cairns Recital Hall, department of music, FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre, Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts, music@noon, Tim Phelan
Categories: Events, Faculty & Instructors, News
DART Faculty co-direct a Play in Four Hours at Curriculum and Pedagogy conference in New Orleans

Wednesday, October 31, 2018 | By Brock University

Classroom Territoriality (Left to Right) Joe Norris, Rich Edmonson, Sharon Gile, Rick Breault, Janis McTeer

A Play in Four Hours

Using the playbuilding research process, Dramatic Arts Chair Joe Norris and graduate student Kevin Hobbs co-directed delegates at the Curriculum and Pedagogy conference in New Orleans, Oct. 17 and 18.

After two, one and one-half hour devising sessions, and a one-hour rehearsal, they performed their series of nine vignettes, entitled: The Shape of School, at the closing conference event. The emergent themes included territoriality of classroom spaces, the pervasiveness of heteronormativity in the school yard, forms of administrative control of students and teachers, perceived status of particular schools and competing educational philosophies. It was concluded that these and other issues are strong undercurrents that contribute to the ethos of school experiences.

Audience members participated in workshopping the scenes through body sculpting and discussions, with one conference delegate claiming that the images and issues would haunt her for some time to come.

In addition to Norris and Hobbs, the participating playwrights were Rick Breault, Ashland University; Sharon Gile, Claflin University; Janis McTeer, Kent State University; Karen Morris, RJ Reynold High School, North Carolina; Sam Tanner, Penn State University; and Miryam Espinosa-Dulanto, Rich Edmonson, and Zulema Williams all from University of Texas, Rio Grande Valley.

The Shape of Schools (Left to Right) Kevin Hobbs, Sam Tanner, Sharon Gile, Janis McTeer

Leave it at the Door (Left to Right) Sharon Gile, Janis McTeer, Kevin Hobbs and Rick Breault

Tags: Curriculum and Pedagogy conference, dart, directing, joe norris, New Orleans, playbuilding
Categories: Department/Centre News, Events, Faculty & Instructors, News
Brock Music students to take the stage for first time this season

Friday, October 26, 2018 | By Brock University

(From The Brock News, Friday Oct. 26, 2018)

For the first time this season, students in Brock’s Department of Music are set to perform on the same stage that their instructors did just weeks before.

The RBC Foundation Music@Noon Recital Series continues on Tuesday, Oct. 30 at the FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre in downtown St. Catharines.

Students have the opportunity to perform in the Cairns Recital Hall in front of staff, faculty, fellow students and the community. Performers will include piano, vocal and instrumental students.

Music@Noon is a free recital series that takes place most Tuesdays at noon during the academic year.

For more information about the series, please visit the Music@Noon webpage.

Tags: department of music, FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre, music@noon
Categories: Current Students, Department/Centre News, Events, News
Public roundtable to explore Antigone’s relevance to modern society

Thursday, October 25, 2018 | By Brock University

Students in Brock’s Department of Dramatic Arts have been working for months to bring the classic Greek tragedy Antigone to the mainstage this weekend. The production will have a six-show run at the Marilyn I. Walker Theatre in downtown St. Catharines, opening on Friday, Oct. 26. Seen during last week’s media call are actors Catherine Tait (Antigone), left, and Alexandra Chubaty Boychuk (Ismene).

(From The Brock News, Thursday Oct. 25, 2018 | By Jaquelyn Bezaire)

Gender inequality, corruption and the conflict between personal beliefs and the laws of society are all at the centre of Brock’s new mainstage production, Antigone.

And although the classic Greek tragedy is more than 2,500 years old, a roundtable discussion will be held at the University next week to discuss its relevance to today.

Elizabeth Vlossak, History Professor and Director of the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts (MIWSFPA), hopes to delve into the reasons why Antigone is one of the most read, performed and adapted plays in all of dramatic literature.

On Wednesday, Oct. 31, she will moderate the roundtable that will include a panel of professors from Brock’s departments of Classics, Political Science, Philosophy and Dramatic Arts.

Faculty, staff, students and the community are invited to join the panellists in the conversation, which begins at 3 p.m. in the Scotiabank Atrium of the Cairns Family Health and Bioscience Research Complex.

The informative and lively discussion will highlight the importance of Antigone and the connections that can be made across academic disciplines.

The panellists will explain why Antigone is not only studied in courses about Ancient Greece but is also used to explore political theory, gender dynamics and various religious and moral problems.

Panellists include professors Roberto Nickel (Classics), Adam Rappold (Classics), Athena Colman (Philosophy), Stefan Dolgert (Political Science) and Mike Griffin (Dramatic Arts).

Vlossak organized the event in part to promote the upcoming production of Antigone, which opens Friday, Oct 26. The play is presented by Brock’s Department of Dramatic Arts.

“One of my goals as Director of the MIWSFPA has been to increase student, faculty and public awareness, interest and participation in our programming at the school,” said Vlossak. “But this interdisciplinary panel discussion is also about bridging the two campuses. It’s bringing faculty from different departments together to share their expertise with students and the public, and it’s showcasing how the fine and performing arts can be incorporated into all of our teaching, learning and research, as well as our everyday lives, in meaningful ways.”

The roundtable will begin by exploring the world of Sophocles and Antigone’s significance in ancient drama and performance.

Other topics of discussion include the legacy of Antigone in the fields of politics and philosophy, the continued pedagogical value of studying Antigone, and the play’s relevance in the current political climate.

“Antigone still inspires political rebels today, who find in her obstinate resistance a role model for action in the present,” said Dolgert. “Antigone is for those who refuse to accept the tired cliché that politics is ‘the art of the possible,’ as it is her seemingly irrational affirmation of the impossible that ultimately prevails.”

Griffin, a Dramatic Arts lecturer and the production’s Director, will join the panel and explain why he chose the play for Brock’s mainstage performance.

He hopes to “paint Antigone as a strong woman,” and aims to show how themes of the #MeToo movement are reflected throughout the production.

Antigone runs Oct. 26 and 27 at 7:30 p.m., Oct. 28 at 2 p.m. and Nov. 2 and 3 at 7:30 p.m. There will also be a high school matinee on Nov. 2 at 11:30 a.m.

The production will be held in MIWSFPA’s Marilyn I. Walker Theatre in downtown St. Catharines. Tickets are available through the FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre box office at 905-688-0722 or on the PAC website.

Tags: Adam Rappold, Antigone, Athena Colman, department of classics, Department of Dramatic Arts, Department of Philosophy, department of political science, Elizabeth Vlossak, Mike Griffin, Roberto Nickel, Stefan Dolgert
Categories: Current Students, Department/Centre News, Events, Faculty & Instructors, News
Sounds of clarinet and piano to fill Music@Noon stage

Friday, October 19, 2018 | By Brock University

Clarinetist Zoltan Kalman will perform Tuesday, Oct. 23 as part of the RBC Foundation Music@Noon Recital Series.

(From The Brock News, Friday Oct. 19)

Pianist Gary Forbes.

Clarinetist Zoltan Kalman and pianist Gary Forbes will combine their sounds for the next RBC Foundation Music@Noon Recital Series performance on Tuesday, Oct. 23.

The show, which include works by composers Aaron Copland, Johannes Brahms and Luigi Bassi, is part of the free weekly concert series hosted by the Department of Music and generously sponsored by the RBC Foundation.

Kalman performs as principal clarinetist for both the Niagara Symphony and Symphony Hamilton, and also acts as the conductor for the University Wind Ensemble at Brock University.

Along with his work at Brock University as Staff Accompanist, Forbes is a freelance collaborative pianist, Director of Music at St. Cuthbert’s Anglican Church and founder of the Reverberations Concert Series.

Kalman and Forbes are among many talented musicians who will grace the Music@Noon stage throughout the academic year. Performances in the concert series take place most Tuesdays at noon in Cairns Recital Hall of the FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre in downtown St. Catharines.

For more information about upcoming performances please visit the Music@Noon web page.

Tags: department of music, FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre, Gary Forbes, Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts, miwsfpa, music@noon, rbc foundation, zoltan kalman
Categories: Current Students, Events, Faculty & Instructors, News