Articles tagged with: VISA

  • First-year orientation activities for DART, Music, VISA, and STAC students

    Friday, August 24, 2018 | By

    Group of students hanging out in Marilyn I. Walker hallway

    Welcome to the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts (MIWSFPA)!

    As a new student with the school, you are invited to The New Student Welcome and Academic Orientation as your official welcome to Brock University on September 4! The orientation begins at 8 a.m. in the Ian Beddis Gym, where you’ll hear from President Gervan Fearon and enjoy an inspirational keynote to begin your day and kick-start your term. Afterwards, you are welcome to connect with your faculty and upper year student mentors to receive important information about academic supports and resources. Then, go check out the vendor and welcome fair, take a campus tour and to locate your classes, and get an orientation to the Brock Library. * Don’t forget to register for this orientation at Experience BU.

    As a student in Dramatic Arts, Music, Visual Arts or the Centre for Studies in Arts and Culture, you are invited to then attend the Faculty of Humanities orientation session, beginning at 10:00 a.m. in the Sean O’Sullivan Theatre on Brock’s main campus.

     

    First-year MIWSFPA mixer and lunch

    September 4

    12 to 1:30 p.m.

    MIWSFPA lobby

    Downtown St. Catharines

    15 Artists’ Common

     

     

    There are also several department-specific orientation events that you are encouraged to attend!

    Centre for Studies in Arts and Culture

    Sept. 4:   2 to 6 p.m.
    Marilyn I Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts Room 334
    15 Artists’ Common

    Visual Arts

    Sept. 7:  3 to 4 p.m.
    Marilyn I Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts Lobby
    15 Artists’ Common
    *This will be followed by an opening of Murray Kropf’s new exhibit, Three to Eight at 4 p.m. in the VISA Gallery

    Dramatic Arts

    Sept 24: 6 to 8 p.m.
    MIWSFPA Theatre
    15 Artists’ Common

    Music

    September 11: 12 -12:50 p.m.
    Cairns Recital Hall.
    For all Music majors, single or combined.  

     

     

     

     

    Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,
    Categories: Announcements, Current Students, Department/Centre News, Events, Faculty & Instructors, News, Uncategorised

  • MIWSFPA calls for donations to revive zine culture on campus

    Monday, August 13, 2018 | By

    Lesley Bell and Victoria Reid at table of magazines

    Learning Commons Co-ordinator Lesley Bell, left, and Visual Arts graduate Victoria Reid are asking students and the public
    to submit their self-made zines to their new collection at the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts, which will
    officially open Aug. 30.

    (From The Brock News, Wednesday, June 20, 2018 | by Sarah Moore)

    Brock’s Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts (MIWSFPA) is calling on the zine-making community to help expand its collection of eclectic self-published books.

    The school’s Learning Commons currently has a small, informal collection of zines (short for magazines) that were made by students of Visual Arts instructor Gustavo Cerquera Benjumea. With other libraries and post-secondary intuitions in North America now creating dedicated zine collections and hosting zine fairs, the MIWSFPA decided to do the same.

    Brock Visual Arts graduate Victoria Reid, is spearheading a project to catalogue the zines and gather donations alongside the school’s Learning Commons Co-ordinator, Lesley Bell.

    “I’m excited to be working on this because I think it’s something we’re going to see popping up in a lot more libraries,” said Reid, who will be studying library and information science in the fall.  “A lot of people have become really excited about zines in the past year.”

    Zines can be traced back to the early 1930s, experiencing their peak popularity through counter-culture movements and the punk music scene of the ’70s, ’80s and ’90s.

    The publications, which come in a variety of styles, sizes and cover a range of subject matter, are seeing a resurgence again today and students are embracing the chance to self-publish their ideas.

    “Making and sharing zines is all about sharing your opinion without being filtered and being able to self-publish on your own terms,” explained Reid, who has made a few zines herself. “They are all about freedom of thought and the free sharing of ideas.”

    The small-circulation, self-published periodicals are often traded for little to no money and vary from micro-sized journal-style publications, with hand-stitched bindings, to large, glossy art books.

    Students and the public can donate their zines and Reid and Bell stressed there will be no restrictions on the zines they will accept. They are encouraging those in disciplines outside of the arts and humanities to participate, as well.

    “Anybody can make a zine and it’s important to not put a box around what we’re accepting and what we’re not,” said Reid. “It’s also a good tie between the main and downtown Brock campuses because it encourages people from other programs to create their work and show it here. I’d love to see people from other programs submit things to us.”

    There will be a grand opening celebration for the collection hosted in the MIWSFPA Learning Commons on Aug. 30, from 5 to 8 p.m. in room 226.

    Everyone is welcome to attend and try their hand at making buttons and a zine of their own.

    “There’s something attractive and energetic about publishing your own thing,” said Bell. “You are really going to experience something between those covers, it’s about discovery.”

    The opening will also serve as an informal goodbye to Bell, who is retiring from her long-standing post with Brock at the end of August.

    If you are interested in donating a zine, please visit the grand opening event’s Facebook page to download a donation form. You can also drop your zine donation off at the Learning Commons between 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. Monday to Friday, or contact vreid2@brocku.ca for more information.

     

     

    Tags: , , , , , , ,
    Categories: Announcements, Events, News, Uncategorised

  • Exploring family history through art

    Friday, July 20, 2018 | By

    Chidera Onyegbule and Osaze Usuanlele make cyanotypes outside building

    Chidera Onyegbule and Osaze Usuanlele make cyanotypes, an early type of archival photography, using images from their families’ histories. Fifteen youth aged 14 to 18 have been participating in the week-long workshop, which is a partnership between Rodman Hall Art Centre, the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts, and the City of St. Catharines.

    (From The Brock News, Wednesday, June 20, 2018 | by Alison Innes)

    Old family photos were given new life during a special Brock workshop held last week.

    Fifteen young artists from St. Catharines spent the week working with Visual Arts Professor Amy Friend to explore their family history and create new works of art.

    During the workshop organized by Rodman Hall Art Centre, participants used camera-less photography techniques on their familial documents as they conceptualized, planned and executed their artwork.

    “The program takes key ideas from Rodman Hall’s summer exhibition Carry Forward, such as how social and political biases get carried forward into how history is recorded, into the everyday lives of youth living in Niagara,” says Elizabeth Chitty, Rodman Hall Programming Officer.

    Chitty worked with community organizations and teachers to invite young artists from culturally diverse backgrounds to participate.

    Students spent several days at Rodman Hall exploring the ideas presented in Carry Forward, such as the complex history of documentation and power relations, engaging with colonialism, propaganda and authenticity.

    Participants were asked to consider how Rodman Hall itself is an archive, Friend says.

    “Students were encouraged to think about what an archive is, what it means to look at documents related to their own lives and how to use the archive as an art form to explore histories not well known.”

    Fifteen young artists from St. Catharines spent the week working with Visual Arts Professor Amy Friend to explore their family history and create new works of art.

    Working in the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts darkroom as well as outside, the young artists used cyanotypes, silver gelatin prints and mixed media to engage with their own histories.

    Ness Griffin never met her grandparents or her extended family. Her family’s connection with their Haudenosaunee culture was cut in the Sixties Scoop.

    Working with reproductions of family photos that she made during the workshop, Griffin scratches out faces to represent her loss of connections with extended family.

    “It was a hard decision to make to cut up the photograph because it is deeply personal,” she said.

    Chimera Onyegbule also worked with photos of family she never met. Her great grandfather was born to a British father and Nigerian mother in the colonial era in Nigeria.

    “I call this piece The White Flag,” she says. “He’s like the white flag in a war between two sides.”

    The Grade 11 student at Holy Cross Catholic High School recently visited an aunt in London, England, where she learned more about her great grandfather.

    “I’ve always wanted to know more about my family history,” she says. “It’s important to keep stuff like this alive.”

    The pieces created through the special program will be featured during a public exhibition that will run until Sept. 2 in The Film House lobby of the FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre.

    The public is invited to attend the exhibition’s opening on Tuesday, July 17 from 5:45 to 6:45 p.m.

    Carry Forward is on at Rodman Hall Art Centre until Sept. 2.

    Tags: , , , , , , , ,
    Categories: Faculty & Instructors, News

  • Closing Reception for International Scholar Canan Demir

    Tuesday, July 17, 2018 | By

    Canan Demir

    Closing reception : Canan demir
    July 23, 3:30 p.m. – 6 p.m.
    Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts Lobby
    15 Artists’ Common, St. Catharines, On

    Everyone is invited to attend a closing reception featuring Visiting International Scholar Canan Demir, from Abant İzzet Baysal University, Turkey.
    Demir’s İNSTALLATIONS intervention will be available for viewing and a meet-the-artist reception will follow, where guests can learn more about her work. Refreshments will be served and the event is open to all members of the community. It is family friendly and takes place on July 23 from 3:30 p.m. – 6 p.m.

    Demir has been working at the school as a Visiting International Scholar since last August, completing the research project “Analysis of Recycling Efforts at Canadian Universities and the Use of Scrap Materials in Sculpture Classes.” The VIS program invites scholars and researchers from abroad, who are interested in an international research and scholarship opportunity, to visit Brock and collaborate with faculty and students in a range of academic activities.

    Demir’s installations utilize found and repurposed scrap materials with a focus on the memories tied to these items. The installations will be on display for viewing outside of the front entrance to the MIWSFPA building from now until the closing reception.

     

     

    Tags: , , , , , , , ,
    Categories: Announcements, Current Students, Department/Centre News, Events, Faculty & Instructors, News

  • Three exhibits this week for Visual Arts

    Monday, April 02, 2018 | By

    CORE and just resting my eyes on display at the Rodman Hall Art Centre.

    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.

    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: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
    Categories: Current Students, Department/Centre News, Events, Faculty & Instructors, In the Media, News

  • HRI Spring Term Symposium: The Elephant in the Room

    Monday, April 02, 2018 | By

    HRI Spring Term Symposium: The Elephant in the Room

    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: , , , , , , , , ,
    Categories: Events, Faculty & Instructors

  • Art exhibit receptions to mark International Women’s Day

    Wednesday, March 14, 2018 | By

    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.

    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: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
    Categories: Alumni, Current Students, Events, In the Media, News

  • Exhibition – Silent Areas: The Spaces in Between, opens Feb. 15

    Thursday, February 08, 2018 | By

    Silent Areas Exhibit abstract artwork on left and sculpture of casted entwined hands in plaster

    Brock Visual Art student Sarah Martin and Brock Visual Arts Alumna Caterina Stambolic present photographs and sculptures investigating the interruptions between mind and body.

    Exhibition: Thursday Feb. 15 to Saturday Mar. 24

    Regular visiting hours are Tuesday through Saturday 1-5 pm.

    Opening Reception: Thursday Mar. 8, 5 – 8 pm

    Location: Visual Arts Exhibition Space, Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts, Brock University

    15 Artists’ Common, St. Catharines, ON

    This is a free community event!

    Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,
    Categories: Alumni, Current Students, Events

  • Two new exhibits open at Rodman Hall, including the work of curator and alumna Emma German

    Monday, January 29, 2018 | By

    Always Vessels and Up close and in motion exhibits at rodman hall

    Always Vessels, an exhibit by nine contemporary Indigenous artists, runs Jan. 27 to March 11 at Rodman Hall. Pictured is Nadya Kwandibens’ work — Emergence Series: Sugar Bush Sessions.

    (Source: The Brock News | Friday Jan. 26, 2018 by Alison Innes)

    The works of nine Indigenous artists will be featured in one of two new exhibits opening at Rodman Hall Art Centre on Saturday, Jan. 27.

    Curated by Alexandra Kahsenni:io Nehwegahbow, Always Vessels features nine contemporary Anishinaabek and Haudenosaunee artists who express their art through a range of media, from beads to photography.

    Using a blend of traditional and modern approaches, the artists explore the processes of learning, making and analyzing how knowledge is transferred and made. The work, informed by contemporary translation of traditional knowledge, offers insight into the range of skills, techniques and knowledge unique to Anishinaabek and Haudenosaunee cultures.

    The exhibit explores how belongings and possessions are meaningful objects that have the ability to carry, hold and transmit memory across time and space.

    Nahwegahbow will speak about the exhibit Saturday at 2:30 p.m. as part of Rodman’s Hot Talk series.

    Also opening on Saturday is Up close and in motion, an exhibit from Rodman’s permanent collection of nearly 1,000 works dating back three centuries. Curated by Brock alumna Emma German (BA ’14), the year-long, regularly changing exhibit will highlight the collection’s purpose as a tool for research, study and interpretation.

    The first installation of this exhibit focuses on recent acquisitions of contemporary Canadian art, many of which will be displayed for the first time.

    What: New exhibits opening: Always Vessels and Up close and in motion.

    Where: Rodman Hall Art Centre

    When: Saturday, Jan. 27, 2 p.m.

    Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,
    Categories: Alumni, Events, 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.

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

1 … 3 4 5 6