Articles tagged with: Small Walker Press

  • Small Walker Press publications examine colonial histories, love poems

    The Small Walker Press held a book fair in the James A. Gibson Library for the students and public to explore and learn about their publications.


    Originally published in The Brock News | WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2022 | by Charles Kim

    Brock’s Small Walker Press (SWP) has launched its newest publications.

    On Oct. 4, as part of its Walker Cultural Leaders Series, the SWP and Centre for Studies in Arts and Culture (STAC) hosted authors, editors, artists and the public to mark the release of BENEATH A VELVET MOON: Early Love Poems and Possible Grounds: Redrawing Relations in Toronto.

    The SWP publishes collaborative work that brings together authors and artists from the Niagara region as well as the Canadian or international contexts. Fields covered include all disciplines and creative practices taught and researched at the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts as well as creative writing.

    Possible Grounds: Redrawing Relations in Toronto features artists Adrian Blackwell (settler) and Bonnie Devine (Anishinaabe), who share their thoughts on and experiences of mapping the complex colonial histories of these lands, and question the region’s historical records. Blackwell and Devine also offer commentary on their works exhibited in 2018 and 2019.

    In BENEATH A VELVET MOON, Early Love Poems, Canadian artist Landon Mackenzie selects nine poems by E. Pauline Johnson Tekahionwake, and reimagines the amorous relationship between the Mohawk poet and the artist’s settler great-grandfather, Michael Mackenzie, in the 1880s. For these autofictional explorations, Mackenzie takes her title from one of Johnson’s early love poems in The White Wampum, first published in 1895 by John Lane’s Bodley Head publishing house.

    The launch event featured guest speaker Derek Knight, Associate Professor of History of Art and Visual Culture and founding co-editor of the SWP, who led a lecture exploring the text, images and connections some of the publications shared with the Niagara region.

    Following the launch, the SWP also held a book fair in the James A. Gibson Library. Many students stopped to explore the SWP collection and learn more about the press and the academic opportunities with STAC. Catherine Parayre, Editor of the SWP and STAC Professor, shared her insights on the publications and introduced many students to the details each book had to offer.

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    Categories: Announcements, Current Students, Department/Centre News, Events, Faculty & Instructors, Future Students, News, Walker Cultural Leader Series

  • Concepts of land and ownership in Canada at centre of upcoming Brock panel discussion

    Image caption: Artist and educator Adrian Blackwell (left) and architect David Fortin (right) will be co-moderating an upcoming online roundtable discussion about land ownership in Canada.

    WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 03, 2021 | by 

    An upcoming Brock University panel discussion will bring together distinguished Indigenous and other artists, designers and architects to reimagine Canadian cities towards a more inclusive future.

    Presented by the Centre for Studies in Arts and Culture (STAC) and Department of Visual Arts (VISA), “Rethinking Property in c\a\n\a\d\a” will be hosted as a Zoom webinar on Wednesday, Nov. 10 from 1:30 to 3 p.m. and is open to the Brock and wider community.

    The online event will be co-moderated by artist and educator Adrian Blackwell, Associate Professor, School of Architecture at the University of Waterloo, whose art practice spans photography, video, sculpture, urban theory and design; and David Fortin (Métis Nation of Ontario), a LEED-accredited professional and registered architect. Fortin is also a member of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada (RAIC) Indigenous Task Force that seeks ways to foster and promote Indigenous design in Canada.

    The discussion will bring together a diverse group of panelists, including artist Bonnie Devine (Genaabaajing First Nation), Founding Chair of the Indigenous Visual Culture program at OCAD University and winner of the 2021 Governor General Award in Visual and Media Arts; landscape architect Tiffany Kaewen Dang, a territorial scholar from Treaty 6 Territory in Edmonton, Alta.; and Luugigyoo Patrick Reid Stewart (Nisga’a, B.C.), the first Indigenous president of an architectural association in Canada and the first Indigenous person in B.C. to own and operate an architectural firm.

    Rethinking Property in c\a\n\a\d\a is the first of four events in a series called Fictive Architecture presented by STAC. The series is funded through a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) Connection Grant, with matching funds from the Office of the Vice-President, Research at Brock University.

    Catherine Parayre, Associate Professor and Director of STAC’s Research Centre in Interdisciplinary Arts and Creative Culture, said these events will provide a creative and intellectual environment for all participants to express and debate views, sharing experiences that touch on personal perspectives or matters of social urgency.

    “This series is part of the activities of the Research Centre in Interdisciplinary Arts and Creative Culture, whose vision is predicated on the fact that researchers and creators, no matter their discipline, share a passion and drive for their subject in which creativity is often at the root of their unique vision or forms of inquiry.”

    The series is also connected to STAC’s Small Walker Press (SWP), a small innovative publishing house that produces two companion books each year as part of the Walker Cultural Leader Series. Blackwell is one of the artists (along with Landon Mackenzie) who will contribute to the 2022 SWP publications informed by the roundtable discussion.

    Derek Knight, Associate Professor, History of Art and Visual Culture and co-editor for the Small Walker Press, said this timely panel promises to be informative, far-reaching and will posit new, inclusive ways of re-imagining the land, concepts of ownership and shelter in Canada.

    “Blackwell is committed to thinking about new ways of interacting with our built environs, especially at this critical time in which decolonialization brings into focus the pressing need to resolve the challenge of unceded territories and respect the role of First Peoples as integral to how we re-envision Canada in the future,” Knight said.

    The webinar is free to attend, although registration is required through the Zoom event web page.

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    Categories: Announcements, Department/Centre News, Events, Faculty & Instructors, In the Media, Media Releases, News, Uncategorised

  • Small Walker Press launches publications exploring music, choreography

    Image caption: The Small Walker Press has announced two new spring publications: Arc, a choreographed poem and Improvising Places / Improvising Time.

    Originally published in The Brock News on TUESDAY, MAY 04, 2021 | by 

    The Small Walker Press (SWP) is announcing two new spring publications with an online book launch page.

    With in-person book launches still on hold due to public health restrictions, the innovative publishing house within Brock’s Centre for Studies in Arts and Culture at the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts (MIWSFPA) opted for a virtual celebration.

    The online launch page features two new books: Arc, a choreographed poem written by Paul Savoie with accompanying choreography by Mélanie Mesager, and Improvising Places / Improvising Time with music notation by Devon Fornelli, creative writing by Thomas Ayouti and essays by Derek Knight and Matthew Royal. Graphic design for both publications was done by Bernhard Cella.

    The concept for the books, “music and choreography,” was outlined by Small Walker Press editors Catherine Parayre, Associate Professor and Director of the Centre for Studies in Arts and Culture, and Derek Knight, Associate Professor of Visual Arts. The creative texts were inspired by these themes, drawing on inspiration from participating artists incorporating dance, music and creative writing.

    The book launch page features excerpts from the publications as well as notes from both SWP editors.

    To learn more about The Small Walker Press, please visit the website.

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    Categories: Alumni, Announcements, Current Students, Department/Centre News, Events, Faculty & Instructors, Future Students, In the Media, Media Releases, News, Uncategorised, Walker Cultural Leader Series