Events

  • Concrete Cloud: A Brock Sculpture Class Mobile Exhibition.

    Professor Donna Akrey’s Visa 2F05 sculpture class is mounting an exhibition titled Concrete Cloud: A Brock Sculpture Class Mobile Exhibition at the Niagara Artists’ Centre.

    July 5 > 21
    345 St. Paul Street

    On July 5th, 2017, students from the Marilyn I Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts will be sharing their exhibition Concrete Cloud, on the streets of downtown St Catharines. Between 10am and 1:30pm students will be transporting their interactive sculptures to the Niagara Artists Center (354 St. Paul Street East) where they’ll be on display until July 21 2017.

    see the route map for the travelling exhibit on July 5 between 10 am and 1:30 pm here

    Several stops will be made along the route, as students hope to engage with the public through their sculptural works. Everyone is invited to enjoy Concrete Cloud as students tour their artworks from the MIWSFPA to NAC, by paths both playful and responsive, to anyone they encounter. This combination of performance and art walk will conclude with an opening reception at Niagara Artists Center, on July 5th from 2-5pm. The works will then be on display for the next two weeks; the exhibition is open to everyone, and gallery hours are Noon to 5 PM, Wednesday through Saturday. 

    Concrete Cloud is a collective of works from 16 artists, focusing on themes of information, the ‘natural world’, and public art. The sculptures are made from a diversity of materials, including wood, metal, plaster, cardboard, textiles, and found materials.

    Participating student artists are: Rachel Anderson, Ahmed Bader, Renz Baluyot, Christian Bebis, Tom Denton, Syerra Jasmin, Michaela Laurie, Jess McClelland, Madison Mcfayden, Jill Newman, Anna Podvalni, Victoria Ridley, Chardon Trimble-Kirk, Amber Lee Williams, Jiahui Xu, and Jingwen Zhang.

    See the Facebook event for more documentation about the mobile exhibition.

    Read the article by art critic Bart Gazzola.

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    Categories: Current Students, Events, Exhibitions, Future Students

  • Post-Industrial Ephemera: Soundings, Gestures and Poetics

    close up of an industrial building and window

    Photo credit: Derek Knight

    Post-Industrial Ephemera: Soundings, Gestures and Poetics
    Silo-City welcomes you to an exhibition featuring artists on both sides of the Niagara River

    April 22 – 29, 2017
    105 Silo-City Row, Buffalo, NY 14203, U.S.
    Opening Reception: Saturday, April 22 from 2 – 5 pm
    http://www.silo.city
    Click here for directions
    Free community event

    Buffalo, New York and St. Catharines, Ontario are neighboring cities separated by a river and a border, but they also nurture a strong sense of regional togetherness and cultural kinship. Colleagues in Sculpture, Arts, Comparative Literature, English Studies, Visual Arts, Studies in Arts and Culture, and French Studies at SUNY on the U.S. side and Brock University on the Canadian side will share a common space at Silo-City, Buffalo between April 22 – 29. Coming from different places and practices, we wish to foster interdisciplinarity.

    Together, we want to reflect on the notion of dispersal. A concrete monument, an overwhelming structure, Silo-City is also a crucible of ephemeralities – sounds dissipating as they echo up the walls, the wind blowing through hollow buildings, the decay of objects deposited in the empty halls, the temporary presence of others, productive resonances of creative experiences. Is Silo-City a memorial? Silos are built to maintain large networks of commodity exchange for human and animal sustenance. Here, however, the workers are gone; the buildings are exposed to inclement weather; the projects we bring with us will disappear, be dispersed or displaced. Silo-City, despite its imposing constructions, invites visitors to become more perceptive to the transience of human endeavours.

    We will plant colourful seedpods, install a neon sign in tribute to the Buffalo river that flows by Silo-City, crush words out of their discourse, scatter mourning songs for long gone lives, bring images, noise and stories from other places. We will capture the brilliance of a moment.

    A follow-up one-day symposium at Rodman Hall Art Centre, St. Catharines will document and revive the exhibition on September 16, 2017.

    The opening will include performances by Harmonia Chamber Singers, Reinhard Reitzenstein, Lauren Regier, Continuous Monument, Catherine Parayre and Jim Watkins 

    Curators: Catherine Parayre, Reinhard Reitzenstein

    Click here to download the performance program.

    For more images and information, please visit the exhibition website.

     

    University of Buffalo art dept, Rodman Hall, Harmonia, Marilyn I Walker, Silo City and Brock University faculty of Humanities logs in a row


    Participating artists: 

    ArtIndustria+
    Untitled (neon sign)

    ArtIndustria+ was formed in 1995 by Derek Knight and Franc Petric, two Canadian artists who reside in the Niagara region. Motivated by the desire to work collaboratively, they have developed projects over the years with a focus on art, research and technology. Underlining their concerns with the dialectical relationship between ecology and industry, their conceptual models combine installation techniques and situational aesthetics to further examine the artist’s role in post-industrial society.

    Continuous Monument
    Silo Sessions at the American (noise/drone performance)

    Continuous Monument is an affiliation of interdisciplinary culture-makers working among design, text, architecture and sound fields. Born from the ashes of a contaminated political landscape, Continuous Monument gathers to spatialize sound and signal in temporary, site specific soundscape improvisations. Monument will perform at The American in Silo City as an acoustic inhabitation; live ghosts active in remnant industrial anatomy.

    Akasya Crosier
    Likeness (typeface study)

    Akasya Crosier is a multifaceted artist based in Western New York. She is currently a senior at UB studying Studio Art and Communication. In her artwork, she focuses on effective communication skills, idealized spaces, and bright imagery.

    Catherine Parayre (assisted by Josh Dawson, SUNY and Paul Savoie, Brock U)
    Ingrained Words (14 posters: assembled fragments from texts by 33 writers)

    Catherine works in Arts and Culture, and in Modern Languages, Literatures and Cultures at Brock University. She is particularly interested in contemporary Occitan literature, as well as the co-presence of literatures and visual arts. She includes her four languages in her creative work.

    Catherine Parayre and Jim Watkins
    The Silo-Minder (recording, reading)

    Jim Watkins lives in Silo-City and is our silo-minder/keeper. His passion for the arts and for Silo-City is central to our cross-border project.

    Lauren Regier
    Where I stand is fair and square (performance/grass seed & dirt)

    Lauren Regier is Honours graduate from Brock University’s Visual Arts program, and is an emerging artist based in the Niagara Region. Much of her work is inspired by the notion of functionality and relationships between the industrial world and the natural realm. Interested in the experiential nature of contemporary art, her practice includes photography, installation, performance, drawing and video.

    Reinhard Reitzenstein
    ArbreTreeBaum (vocal piece in 5 languages)

    Reitzenstein has held over 100 solo exhibitions and over 300 group exhibitions globally, and has completed over 25 public and private art commissions. His work is represented in more than 50 public and corporate collections internationally. Reitzenstein has been Director of the Sculpture Program at, SUNY, Buffalo since 2000. He is represented by the Olga Korper Gallery in Toronto.

    Casey Ridings
    Untitled Emotion (acrylic paint)

    Casey Ridings is currently a Graphic Design student at the University at Buffalo. She is intrigued by the geometric nature of organic patterns; through a spontaneous and intuitive process she creates intricate paintings and drawings inspired by the exploration of her experiences and emotions.

    Cody Schriever
    Vanity Case / Skeletons of Perception (painting/sculpture)

    Cody Schriever is a student in the University at Buffalo art department. His paintings and sculptures deal with human nature, and the structures of its self-perception. By combining various styles of painting and modes of expression he creates a complex narrative of the global condition.

    Shawn Serfas
    Alloyed (acrylic)

    Shawn is an Assistant Professor in the Visual Arts Department, Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts at Brock University. His research interests include contemporary painting, drawing and printmaking practices concerning relational abstraction, environmental aesthetics, religion, the landscape as well as issues bordering abstraction and representation.

    Lucas Veraldi
    2mp (inkjet prints)

    Lucas is an artist currently residing in Buffalo, NY. His practice examines the different methods of representation that exist within the realm of photography and explores the truth value that a photograph holds as a piece data that showcases life.

    Sophia Yung
    Voyage Voyage 

    Sophia Yung is a Chinese American graphic designer and artist from Brooklyn, NY. Her most recent work involves the analysis of Asian American culture shock, language barriers, mixed martial arts and the role of financial capital in the precarious 21st century.

    Jean Zhu
    bacteria (video)

    Jean Zhu is currently a Media Study student at the University at Buffalo. She is both a photographer and a filmmaker. Her experimental films and straightforward photographs of everyday objects and scenes are noted for their color combination, explicit composition and rich content.


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  • The Presumably Absent Meeting Place

    Name of Artist: Becca Marshall
    April 11 – June 2, 2017
    Opening Reception: April 13 from 5 – 7 pm
    Art Gallery, Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts
    15 Artists’ Common, St. Catharines
    Gallery Hours: Tues. – Sat. from 1 pm – 5 pm
    Free community event

    Made possible by the generosity of The Huron County Museum and Archives in Goderich, ON.

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  • Time and Space

    Thursday, March 30, 2017 from 8 – 10 pm
    Market Square, 91 King St., Downtown St. Catharines
    Free community event!

    An Intermedia exhibition featuring new media, performance art, sound art, and installation by VISA 2P98 Students.

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  • Denouement

    Department of Visual Arts Honours Exhibition
    March 25 – April 30, 2017
    Opening Reception: Friday, March 24, 2017 at 7 pm
    Artist Talk: Friday, April 21, 2017 at 7 pm
    Rodman Hall Art Centre, 109 St. Paul Crescent, St. Catharines
    Gallery hours: Tues.-Fri. 10 am – 5 pm, Sat./Sun. 12 noon – 5 pm
    Free community event

    This exhibition displays the work of selected graduating Brock University Visual Arts students. Occupying Rodman Hall’s third floor studios during the academic year, students in the Honours Studio course are mentored by gallery staff and professors Murray Kropf and Shawn Serfas, and learn to develop a focused body of work from concept to public exhibition.

    Such exhibits from the Department of Visual Arts are a key part of the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts’ mandate to build connections between the community and the breadth of talent and creativity at Brock University.

    Image: Kylie Mitchell, bracelets, 2017, video still

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  • Common Groundz

    Department of Visual Arts Exhibition
    March 14 – April 7, 2017
    Opening reception: Wednesday, March 15 from 6 – 9 pm
    Art Gallery, Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts
    15 Artists’ Common, St. Catharines
    Gallery Hours: Tues. – Sat. from 1 pm – 5 pm
    Free community event

    Image 1: Cold Feet by Stephanie Handy

    Image 2: Venezia by Stephanie Rogers

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  • Upcoming exhibition at Rodman Hall: Donna Akrey’s “Also Also”

    (Source: Rodman Hall Art Centre)

    DONNA AKREY
    Also Also

    Curated by Marcie Bronson

    February 11 to April 30, 2017

    Opening Reception: Saturday, February 11, 3 pm

    HOT TALK: Thursday, March 2, 7 pm
    Donna Akrey in conversation with Marcie Bronson

    Donna Akrey is interested in how habit shapes the way we experience and engage with the world around us. Rooted in her astute observation of patterns of communication and consumption, her work humorously intervenes to raise discussion about social and environmental issues, often responding directly to a particular site or community. Using common, surplus, and discarded materials to construct sculptures and installations that she describes as “ruminations on the spectacle of the unspectacular”, Akrey draws attention to the futility of the notion of “the ultimate” and the richness in the space between intention and result. Akrey explains: “I imagine the absurd as real, because sometimes the real is so absurd.” Alongside selected works from the last 15 years of her practice, this exhibition presents a site-specific outdoor installation created in collaboration with neighbourhood residents.

    Donna Akrey, Middle Ground, 2016, mirror, wood, foam, casters.

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  • Brock Talks: “Finding Photographs” by VISA Professor Amy Friend

    Brock Talks Logo“Finding Photographs” by Brock Visual Arts Professor Amy Friend
    The process artists undertake in their studio practice involve various amounts of experimentation and discovery. Professor Amy Friend, Department of Visual Arts, will present behind-the-scenes aspects of studio practices by several photographic artists working with found photographs and highlight the complex navigation and issues related to the specific act of ‘finding photographs.’

    Wednesday, February 15, 7 – 10 pm
    St. Catharines Public Library
    54 Church Street, St. Catharines

    For more information, connect with us on our Facebook event page.

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  • The Contemporary Body: A Photo-Based Exhibit

    February 4 – 28, 2017
    Opening Reception: Saturday, February 4, 2017, 7 – 10 pm
    Mahtay Café and Lounge, 241 St. Paul Street, St. Catharines

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  • Dropped Threads

    VISA 3F99 Independent Study
    February 9 – March 10, 2017
    Opening Reception: Thursday, February 9 from 6 – 9 pm

    A Fibre Arts installation created from community donations – come out and be a part of the opening reception and see how the donations have been recycled!

    The opening will be held in the Art Gallery in the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts on Feb 9th from 6 – 9 pm. The exhibition will be installed until March 10th, 2017. Gallery Hours: Tues. – Sat. from 1 – 5 pm

    Want more information? Connect with us at our Facebook event page.

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