Articles by author: dvivian

• Exhibition: Permanent Vacation

  Friday, November 10, 2017 | By dvivian

  

  This exhibition will showcase a select group of recent Brock University Alumni: Katie Mazi, Jenn Judson, Matt Caldwell, Alex Muresan, Jessica Wright and Ben Mosher. As these emerging artists expand ideas and develop new work, they continue to recognize the value of the St. Catharines arts community and the impact it has on their practice. It was here at Brock University that their first investigations began and it was at Rodman Hall (2014/2015 & 2015/2016) that their first professional group exhibitions came to fruition. These artists will exhibit new and exciting work they have been producing as they navigate and emerge into the art communities locally and beyond the region. The exhibition will be curated by Asta McCann Brock alumni (Studies in Arts and Culture).

  Additionally, Alumni music students: Grace Snippe and Kurt Dunn will be performing for the night of the reception.

  Exhibition: Saturday, November 4, 2017 to Friday, December 1, 2017

  regular visiting hours for the Exhibition Space are Tuesday through Saturday from 1-5 p.m
  for additional times see: gallery webpage    gallery facebook page

  see the YourTV Cogeco video

  Opening Reception: Friday, November 10, 2017, 7:00 – 10:00 p.m.

  Location: Visa Gallery, Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts, Brock University

  A free community event.

  Tags: alumni, Exhibition, Permanent Vacation
  Categories: Alumni, Events, Exhibitions, News

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

  Thursday, November 09, 2017 | By dvivian

  

  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

  Tags: derek knight, hot talks, Rodman Hall
  Categories: Current Students, Events, Faculty & Instructors, News

• Inaugural exhibit in the VISA Exhibition Space for 2017-18: AWAKENING HER SPIRIT

  Sunday, September 03, 2017 | By dvivian

  

  Daphne Odjig (Odawa – Potawatomi) “In touch with her spirit”

  AWAKENING HER SPIRIT: Select works from the Suzanne Rochon-Burnett Collection

  Opening Reception – Thursday 7 September at 7pm

  An exhibition of one women’s journey to empower and support Indigenous arts in Canada and globally through a collection of paintings, mixed media, sculpture, and personal objects.

  Never before exhibited original works including: Norval Morrisseau, Daphne Odjig, Carl Beam, Roy Thomas, Vince Bomberry, Simon Brascoupe, Bruce King, and more. Curator’s Talk with Samuel Thomas on Sunday 10 September at 1pm.

  Awakening Her Spirit is part of Celebration of Nations, a gathering of indigenous arts, culture and tradition set for Sept. 8-10. The gathering features ticketed performances by Buffy Sainte-Marie, Kaha:wi Dance Theatre, DJ Shub as well as free workshops, performances and teachings all weekend long. The full schedule is available at www.celebrationofnations.ca

  The exhibit continues through Sept. 30 at the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts located at 15 Artists’ Common in downtown St. Catharines. Situated on the lower level of the MIWSFPA, regular hours of the Art Gallery are Tuesday through Friday from 1-5 p.m. Additional open hours for Celebration of Nations include:

  Thursday, Sept. 7 from 6-9 p.m.
  Friday, Sept. 8 from 1-8 p.m.
  Saturday, Sept. 9 from 11 a.m. – 7 p.m.
  Sunday, Sept. 10 from 11 a.m. – 5 p.m.
  Saturday, Sept. 30 from 10 a.m. – 5 p.m.

  For more information or for assistance arranging interviews:
  * Dan Dakin, Media Relations Officer, Brock University ddakin@brocku.ca, 905-688-5550 x5353 or 905-347-1970

  About Samuel Thomas (Curator)

  Samuel Thomas is a member of the Lower Cayuga Band of the Iroquois Nation. He lives in Niagara Falls, Ontario. For nearly 40 years, Sam has worked to resurrect beadwork styles from the 18th and 19th centuries. He has recovered several “lost” techniques, and in the process, has garnered international respect for Iroquois beadwork.

  Sam’s meticulous style is self-taught, based on his extensive study of museum/collector pieces, books and illustrations. He further developed his technique by training with tanner Juliette Meness-Ferguson, beadworker Faith DuBuc, and Royal Ontario Museum curator Dr. Trudy Nicks.

  Sam endeavours to bring people together and break down cultural divisions through sharing knowledge and the arts. He has led collaborative beading workshops involving over 800 people across two continents, as well as cross-cultural initiatives with East African beadwork artists.

  Sam’s current projects include Opening the Doors to Dialogue, a reconciliation-focused series of collaborative sessions. Residential school survivors, their descendants and members of the public learn beadwork techniques, which they then apply to doors salvaged from former residential schools. The creative process of these sessions provides a forum for open dialogue, in turn facilitating the healing process for participants.

  Sam is deeply dedicated not only to his art, but also to its endurance beyond his own time. As president of the arts service organization Neto Hatinakwe Onkwehowe Native Arts, he works to ensure Aboriginal artists in the Niagara region have access to training, mentorship and professional services.

  Sam’s work can be found in the permanent collections of the British Museum, the Canadian Museum of History, the Royal Ontario Museum and the Smithsonian Institution, along with museum, gallery and private collections in the Netherlands, Germany and Australia.

  Tags: art exhibition, Awakening Her Spirit, Celebration of Nations, indigenous, Kakekalanicks Indigenous Arts Consultancy, Suzanne Rochon-Burnett
  Categories: Announcements, Events, Exhibitions, News

• MIWSFPA participates in Culture Days 2017: Special exhibit AWAKENING THE SPIRIT

  Wednesday, August 16, 2017 | By dvivian

  

  On Saturday, September 30th the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts will be opening its doors to the public in celebration of Culture Days! We welcome you to stop by every hour on the hour from 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. for a guided tour of our new, state of the art facility. Not looking for a guided tour? Feel free to pick up a campus map and explore the spaces on your own! Representatives will be waiting for you at the David S. Howes entrance, adjacent to the Performing Arts Centre! Continue to check brocku.ca/miwsfpa for an updated list of events!

  Be sure to stop by our VISA art gallery to view this exhibit:

  Awakening the Spirit

  Select works from the Suzanne Rochon-Burnett Collection
  VISA GALLERY – Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts

  Opening Reception September 7th, 2017

  An exhibition of one women’s journey to empower and support Indigenous arts in Canada and Globally through a collection of paintings, mixed media, sculpture, and personal objects. Never before exhibited original works including: Norval Morrisseau, Daphne Odjig, Carl Beam, Roy Thomas, Vince Bomberry, Simon Brascoupe, Bruce King, and more

  Samuel Thomas is the guest Curator for this very special exhibit.

  For more information about the exhibit and the Curator please see:
  www.celebrationofnations.ca/awakening-the-spirit

  Check-in closer to the date for programming updates for CultureDays 2017!

  Categories: Alumni, Announcements, Current Students, Events, Exhibitions, Future Students, News

• Award winner stresses mountains worth climbing to capture dreams

  Sunday, June 11, 2017 | By dvivian

  

  (Source: The Brock News, Friday, June 09, 2017 | by Maryanne Firth. Photo caption: “Jessica Vickruck, Aniqah Zowmi, Annika Mazzarella and Grant Yocom were each honoured with a Board of Trustees Spirit of Brock award during Friday’s faculties of Humanities and Math and Science Convocation ceremony.”)

  Annika Mazzarella’s university years were filled with many ups and downs, all which contributed to an important life lesson.

  When the 22-year-old St. Catharines native focused her studies on History of Art and Visual Culture, as well as Medieval and Renaissance Studies, she encountered people along the way who were discouraging, some even disapproving, of her chosen career path.

  It was her time at Brock that taught Mazzarella the importance of striving to achieve her dreams, regardless of any obstacles in her way.

  The naysayers she encountered were offset by the optimistic community at Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts and at Rodman Hall Art Centre, where Mazzarella always felt included and supported to pursue her career ambitions.

  The experience caused her to develop a new sense of self-confidence, refusing to back down from the goals she has set for herself.

  That determination, among other impressive qualities, earned Mazzarella the Board of Trustees undergraduate student Spirit of Brock award for the Faculty of Humanities, presented during Friday’s Convocation ceremony — a joint celebration for the faculties of Humanities and Math and Science.

  The morning event also saw Grant Yocom recognized as the Humanities graduate student Spirit of Brock recipient, and Aniqah Zowmi and Jessica Vickruck honoured as the undergraduate and graduate student recipients respectively for Math and Science.

  Mazzarella said her Brock experience, both inside of and beyond the classroom, provided her with a “solid foundation” to support her future career path as an art curator.

  In addition to studying abroad in Italy last spring through International Plus, Mazzarella joined several Brock organizations, including Brock Dance, Brock Niagara Lifesaving Club, Brock Niagara Masters, Brock Student Leadership Network, and Brock’s Medieval and Renaissance Society.

  She also represented the University as a student delegate at the 2016 Canadian Conference on Student Leadership.

  “With each involvement I had different experiences, however, they proved to me that you can do anything you put your mind to and that there is always something new to learn,” she said.

  Mazzarella plans to move to Ottawa this fall to pursue her master’s degree in Art History with a concentration in Art Exhibition and Curatorial Practices.

  Her advice for incoming students, in the words of Henry David Thoreau, is to “go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you imagined.”

  For Zowmi, earning the Spirit of Brock designation meant accomplishing her final university goal.

  “I have been fortunate to have had so many great opportunities,” said the passionate advocate of youth civic engagement, who is known as a leader in the Brock community.

  “One of the best things about Brock is that it is a small community and you feel very much supported,” Zowmi said. “It is also a place that encourages you to develop yourself both professionally and personally.”

  Zowmi is the first Brock student to win a 3M National Student Fellowship Award for her efforts to empower youth and encourage equality in education.

  She served on the University’s Human Rights Task Force, was a member of the Canadian Youth Delegation to the Commonwealth Youth Forum in Malta, where she addressed more than 700 youths at the UN Headquarters, and was a Youth Advisor to the Canadian Commission to UNESCO.

  Zowmi, a National Youth Ambassador for Passages Canada, also co-founded BrockU Talks, a speaker’s series for students to promote their engagement on global issues such as peace and sustainability.

  Both Spirit of Brock graduate recipients were also recognized for their hard efforts on and off campus.

  Yocom has been a leader among graduate students of the new PhD in Interdisciplinary Humanities in its formative years.

  He twice served as the graduate student representative on the council in order to provide a student voice as the program structured its regulations and established the format for its comprehensive examinations.

  Described as an inspirational leader, Yocom brought students together and has helped to make the PhD in Interdisciplinary Humanities the exciting and innovative program that it has become.

  Vickruck has demonstrated exemplary leadership in her research group and among graduate students in Biological Sciences.

  Her Master’s of Science produced three published manuscripts on pygmy carpenter bees, and her PhD will produce four major papers on the subject.

  She has also worked with a research scientist at the Canadian National Insect Collection in Ottawa, a collaboration that led to offers from scientists at several other Canadian and American universities.

  Tags: convocation, Curatorial Concentration, HVAC, MARS, Spirit of Brock award, visa
  Categories: Alumni, Current Students, In the Media, News