News

  • Walker Cultural Leaders Series: John Fekner, street and multimedia artist

    Friday, October 30, 2020 | By

    Next up in the 2020-21 Walker Cultural Leaders Series is famed street and multimedia artist, John Fekner.

    WALKER CUlTURAL LEADER: John Fekner

    • Sunday, Nov. 1, 2020
    • Presentation live at 7:00 p.m. on the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts YouTube channel

    The Department of Visual Arts (VISA) is thrilled to present this compelling conversation between Fekner and Denise St. Marie. Fekner is a street and multimedia artist, who created hundreds of environmental, social, political, and conceptual works consisting of stenciled words, symbols, dates, and icons painted outdoors around the world. Since 1968, Fekner has addressed issues involving concepts of perception and transformation, as well as specific environmental and sociological concerns such as urban decay, greed, chemical pollution, mass media, and tributes to North America Indigenous Peoples. 

    “The social injustice and environmental issues we face today have roots in the civil rights and protests movements of the 60s’. As an undergraduate college student in New York (1968-1972), I participated in student demonstrations and peaceful moratoriums against the war in Vietnam. The SDS (Students for a Democratic Society) spread through university and college campuses throughout the United States and the entire world”, Fekner says. “Grassroots organizations always do the footwork, shining the light of truth through the thick hedge of falsehoods and lies in our mainstream political dialogue. Most importantly, the solutions they seek are not expedient but are foundational in improving conditions for generations to come. In every instance, they challenge the fabricated narratives of the powers that be.”   

    More information about the Walker Cultural Leaders available online.

    Tags: , , , , , ,
    Categories: Announcements, Current Students, Events, Faculty & Instructors, Future Students, In the Media, News, Walker Cultural Leader

  • Celebrated artist Birthe Piontek opens 2020-21 Walker Cultural Leader Series

    Tuesday, September 29, 2020 | By

    The Department of Visual Arts (VISA) is excited to announce the first offering of the 2020-21 Walker Cultural Leader Series (WCL). Artist and accomplished photographer Birthe Piontek will take the WCL virtual spotlight on an easily accessible digital platform:

    Walker Cutural leader: Birthe Piontek

    • Thursday, October 1, 2020
    • Presentation live at 11:00am on the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts YouTube channel

    Born and raised in Germany, Birthe  moved to Canada in 2005 after receiving her MFA from the Folkwang University of the Arts in Essen, Germany. Birthe’s art practice explores the relationship between memory and identity, with a particular interest in the topic of female identity and its representation in our society. Her primary focus is photography, but she also utilizes other art forms like installation, sculpture and collage to investigate to what degree our complex identities can be visualized. 

    Her work has been exhibited internationally, in both solo and group shows, and is featured in many private and public collections such as the Museum of Contemporary Photography in Chicago and the Museum of Applied Arts in Gera, Germany. 

    Birthe’s project The Idea of North won the Critical Mass Book Award 2009 and was published as a monograph in 2011. Her most recent work, Abendlied, received the Edward Burtynsky Grant in 2018 and was nominated by Time Magazine as one of the best photo books in 2019. 

    Birthe is an Assistant Professor of Photography in the Audain Faculty of Art at  Emily Carr University of Art and Design in Vancouver and a member of the  Cake Collective. 

    For this year’s WCL Series, Birthe is joined by an inspiring list of artists, innovators and cultural influencers who will be sharing their perspectives. For more information on the event details, please visit the full WCL Series listing. 

    Department of Visual Arts upcoming WCL virtual events:

    • John Fekner – November 1, 2020
    • Jamelie Hassan & Ron Benner – January 11, 2021
    • Johnathan Forrest – February 1, 2021

     

     

     

    Tags: , , , ,
    Categories: Announcements, Events, Uncategorised, Walker Cultural Leader

  • New podcast challenges ideas of history of Western art

    Friday, September 18, 2020 | By

    Associate Professor of Visual Arts Linda Steer stands outside amongst flowers and greenery.

    (Including content published FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 2020 | in The Brock News by 

    A new podcast hosted by Associate Professor of Visual Arts Linda Steer will guide listeners through the canon of Western art with provocative critiques.

    “Unboxing the Canon,” which launched Sept. 9, will connect the past to the present through critiques of the canon and explore what might not be immediately apparent in Western art.

    “We might be seduced by the pretty packaging, such as soft brush strokes, brilliant colours, grand gestures, expert carving, even traditional iconography of art,” says Steer. “But what happens when we take a deeper look? When we open the packaging and see what might have been invisible, or what is a cultural blind spot?”

    The podcast is part of Steer’s course material for VISA 1Q99: Introduction to the History of Western Art, but is also publicly available on Apple, Google, Podbean and Spotify.

    The course contemplates big questions about art, such as the connections between museums and the history of Western colonization and imperialism, and who gets left out of the history of western art. Steer will be using the work of contemporary artists, such as Cree artist Kent Monkman and Black American artist Titus Kaphar, alongside traditional Western art to investigate themes of power, imperialism, race, gender and appropriation.

    Steer was concerned about the amount of time students may spend in front of their computer screens during remote learning.

    “The podcast provides students with a much needed break from computer screens,” she says. “A podcast is portable. Students can take a walk while listening. Moving away from the screen allows us to contemplate, a necessary activity when considering those big questions about course material.”

    The podcast will be included in Brock Library’s digital repository, along with episode notes and transcript, so it can be found through Google Scholar and OMNI search

    Tags: , , , , ,
    Categories: Announcements, Faculty & Instructors, News, Podcast, Uncategorised

  • Fall Visa Art Stores & Equipment Kiosk Announcement.

    Tuesday, September 08, 2020 | By

    We are happy to announce Visa student access to the services of the Visa Art Stores & Equipment Kiosk for the coming semester has been approved by Brock Administration. Students will access these services on-line and will be able to pick up their materials orders or loan requests in person in the MWS151 Foundation Studio. Please enter the MIWSFPA via the main lobby entrance (east end), bring a mask and have your Brock ID with you. This service will commence Monday, September 14.

    How to file your orders/loans:

    Kiosk loan requests are done by visiting this link:
    https://brocku.ca/miwsfpa/visual-arts/programs/visual-arts-facilities/equipment-request-form/

    Art Stores materials requests are done by emailing the Visa Art Stores at: VisaArtStores@brocku.ca
    Important note re. Art Stores orders: Art Stores orders are only available to students who have studio fee funds remaining on account from previous years. As first year students (ie. Visa 1p93, 1p95, 1p96 etc.) do not have funds remaining on account they are not able to order materials.

    Once you’ve filed your request it will be processed and you will be emailed when it is ready for pickup in MWS151. Loan/order pickups are available on the following days in MWS151:

    Mondays: 9:00 am to 5:00 pm
    Tuesdays: 9:00 am to 5:00 pm
    Wednesdays: 9:00 am to 1:00 & 2:00 pm to 6:00 pm
    Thursdays: 9:00 am to 5:00 pm

    Categories: Announcements, Current Students, Faculty & Instructors, News

  • Welcome to Visual Arts: Orientation for 2020!

    Monday, September 07, 2020 | By

    (a screen shot from the welcome by Professor Shawn Serfas. Watch the video below.)

    Brock University is launching the first-ever Virtual Welcome Week.
    During this year of the pandemic the Orientation activities are all online.
    Watch the welcome below and visit the official Orientation page for all the details!

    The Department of Visual Arts (VISA)

    Welcome new VISA students to our asynchronous orientation video! It’s always nice to put a name to face, so we took some time to prepare this video, so that you can get acquainted with some of the awesome people in the Department of Visual Arts. We look forward to meeting you in person in the near future. Stay safe, VISA.

    Professor Shawn Serfas, Chair of the Department will be holding office hours on September 8th from 2-3 pm on Teams.
    Drop-in and say hi! (click here)

    The Department of Dramatic Arts, Music, Visual Arts, and the Centre for Studies in Arts and Culture are all part of the Faculty of Humanities.

    The Associate Dean, Dr. Neta Gordon, Professor of English, welcomes you to Brock University! She’s prepared an 11 minute video to introduce to you to the Faculty of Humanities:

    Michael Gicante is your Academic Advisor for studies at the MIWSFPA.
    He prepared this video for the April open House:

    Koreen McCullough is the Experiential Education Coordinator for the Faculty of Humanities.
    Watch her 3 minute presentation about Experiential Education opportunities at Brock University:

    The Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts

    Located at 15 Artists’ Common in downtown St. Catharines, the MIWSFPA is home to four academic programs. We are right next door to the FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre on the main street of St. Catharines, St. Paul.

    Each program at the MIWSFPA is offering a special welcome to their students.  For example, if you are a beginning your studies as a major in Dramatic Arts, check out what that Department has scheduled for you and plan to join in the fun.  You are also welcome to join the activities of each program at the School even if you are only taking one course or beginning a minor program.  The activities and welcome messages from each program are listed below.

    Professor David Vivian, of the Department of Dramatic Arts (he teaches design and production for theatre), is the Director of the School:

    David will be hosting office hours on September 8, 2020, from 12-3:00 pm,on Teams.
    Drop in and say hi! (click here)

    We all wish you a very successful year at the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts.

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

  • Brock receives $655,000 to support early-stage research

    Tuesday, August 25, 2020 | By

    an excerpt from the article originally published in The Brock News on THURSDAY, AUGUST 20, 2020 | by Cathy Majtenyi

    Brock University researchers have been awarded more than $655,000 in funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada’s (SSHRC) Insight Development Grant program.

    “We are happy but in no way surprised by this level of success,” says Brock University Vice-President, Research Tim Kenyon. “SSHRC’s investment in our researchers and scholars continues to enable Brock University to develop and contribute expertise on topics and problems of importance to society.”

    The 11 researchers and their projects receiving funding are spread out over the Faculties of Applied Health Sciences, Social Sciences, Humanities and the Goodman School of Business.

    This year’s recipients of SSHRC’s Insight Development Grants are:

    • Antony Chum, Faculty of Applied Health Sciences, “Understanding disparities in substance-use related crisis across sexual orientations in Canada”
    • Keri Cronin, Faculty of Humanities, “Navigating Niagara’s human-animal history”
    • William Hall, Faculty of Social Sciences, “Climates of inclusion: Creating positive interpersonal dynamics in STEM”
    • Valerie Michaelson, Faculty of Applied Health Sciences, “How do Indigenous undergraduate students experience the decolonization and reconciliation initiatives that are taking place in their university? A participatory action research study
    • Sylvia Grewatsch, Goodman School of Business, “Reimagining the role of government in catalyzing solutions to grand challenges: Lessons from a 20-year experiment”
    • Amna Mirza, Faculty of Social Sciences, “Do oral language skills predict reading acquisition? Profiles of EL1 and ELL second and third grade children and their response to vocabulary intervention”
    • Elizabeth Greene, Faculty of Humanities, “Entangled mobilities across the Mediterranean: Archaeologies of migrant displacement
    • Jason Hawreliak, Faculty of Humanities, “Accessible scholarship: Examining the role and impact of middle-state publishing in game studies”
    • Kemi Anazodo, Goodman School of Business, “A second chance in sight: Employer perspectives of employment for individuals with a criminal history”
    • Colin Rose, Faculty of Humanities, “Mapping the crimescape of renaissance Florence”
    • Shawna Chen, Goodman School of Business, “From thinking to doing to being: Women entrepreneurs and experiential programs”

    Insight Development Grants support research in its initial stages. The grants enable the development of new research questions, as well as experimentation with new methods, theoretical approaches and ideas. Funding is provided for short-term research development projects of up to two years that are proposed by individuals or teams.

    Congratulations to Dr. Keri Cronin, Associate Dean, Faculty of Humanities (Research & Graduate Studies), Director, Humanities Research Institute
    Chancellor’s Chair for Teaching Excellence, 2019-2022 and Associate Professor in the Department of Visual Arts at the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts!

    Tags: , , ,
    Categories: Announcements, Faculty & Instructors, In the Media, News, Uncategorised

  • Humanities podcast features Visa Art History Associate Professor Linda Steer.

    Friday, August 21, 2020 | By

    The sixth episode of Foreword, a new podcast from the Faculty of Humanities, explores the complexities of drug photography with Linda Steer, Associate Professor of Visual Arts.

    Steer discusses her research on the complicated connections between empathy and photography in art and documentary photographs of drug use from the 1970s to present. Her research encourages people to engage more empathetically with issues of drug users and drug use. She has examined the work of drug photographers Chris Arnade and Tony Fouhse through the lens of entangled empathy, which encourages being responsive and responsible to others in a way that promotes agency and positive change.

    Episodes are released every Wednesday on Apple, Google Podcasts, Spotify and Podbean. Transcripts are being made available on the Faculty of Humanities website.

    Categories: Alumni, Current Students, Faculty & Instructors, News

  • Visual Arts Professor’s short video presented in Photophobia

    Wednesday, August 05, 2020 | By

    Donna Szőke. Midst, single channel video loop, 2019 (Invisible Animals series, 2012-2019). (photo: D.Szőke)

    Professor Donna Szőke of the Department of Visual Arts is thrilled to announce that her new short video “Midst” screens online in the “Photophobia” festival the weekend of Friday August 7, at 7pm.

    Photophobia is an annual festival of short-format contemporary media, film, video and moving image hosted in partnership between the Art Gallery of Hamilton and Hamilton Artists Inc. Established in 1999, Photophobia is Hamilton’s first film and video festival dedicated to the development of experimental time-based media. Not confined by restrictions or themes, Photophobia is a free, juried festival that invites the community to experience a showcase of contemporary work that tests the boundaries of each medium.

    All three nights of the screening are free to watch online at 7 pm each night on August 6, 7 & 8 This year’s festival will be a virtual presentation. A link to view each program will be posted at the page below prior to each event.  Each program will be available to view online for a period of 72 hours after its initial screening. All three screenings will be free.

    See the complete program on the Photophobia website.  

    Installation view of Midst, part of the Industrial Niagara Exhibition at Rodman Hall Art Centre, Brock University, Spring 2020. (photo: D. Knight)

    Program 1: Thursday, August 6, 7:00 pm Online, Followed by a Live Q&A Conversation With the Filmmakers

    Program 2: Friday, August 7, 7:00 pm Online, Followed by a Live Q&A Conversation With the Filmmakers
    ***Donna Szőke (St. Catharines) – Midst, 2019 (4:00)***

    Program 3: Saturday, August 8, 7:00 pm Online, Followed by a Live Q&A Conversation With the Filmmakers 

    Szőke was an invited Walker Cultural Leader for the Centre for Studies in Arts and Culture for 2020.  In January she presented her Artist’s Talk “On Invisibility” at the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts.

     

    Tags: , , , , , ,
    Categories: Announcements, Faculty & Instructors, In the Media, Media Releases, News, Uncategorised

  • Visual Arts and Interactive Arts and Science grad wins Daytime Emmy

    Sunday, August 02, 2020 | By

    Karlee Morse (BA ’11) has been recognized with an Emmy for her special effects makeup on the children’s program Dino Dana.

    (Published WEDNESDAY, JULY 29, 2020 | in the The Brock News by )

    Karlee Morse (BA ’11) wasn’t sure at first what she wanted to do when she graduated from Brock University.

    But the Brock alumna has clearly found her calling having won a Daytime Emmy last month for Outstanding Special Effects Costume, Makeup and Hairstyling for her work on an episode of the children’s show Dino Dana.

    Morse worked with a team of three artists to transform four actors into dinosaurs for the episode of Dino Dana. Working from CGI illustrations and the costume design by Christine Toye, Morse seamlessly transformed the actors.

    “It’s just amazing,” she said of her win. “Truthfully it was really hard. It was a lot of work.”

    Morse started her career in film and television as an assistant for the art department on a production called Android produced by Sinking Ship, the same company that produced Dino Dana.

    “From there, I just made connections and once I started focussing on prosthetic work, they brought me in to do some specific episodes,” she said.

    Morse didn’t plan on working in special effects make up while she was completing her combined major in Visual Arts and Interactive Arts and Science.

    “I kind of fell into it,” she said. “I wanted to do concept work for video games, but I realized I’m not content working on the computer for more than an hour. I thought about it and the happiest I was when I was working in the studio.”

    Morse said she loved working in Brock’s painting studio and sculpture classes.

    “I’m so thrilled for Karlee,” said Donna Szoke, Associate Professor of Visual Arts, who taught Morse at Brock. “She has always had a deep love of drawing. Film makeup and special effects makeup is such a wonderful continuation of her lifelong pursuit of drawing and sculpting.”

    After her time at the University, Morse went on to do Sheridan’s special effects makeup program, where she now teaches.

    “I didn’t realize this was a career at all,” she said. “It’s like painting, but on people’s faces. It’s like sculpting, but on a living model.”

    Morse finds herself working in the video game industry from a different perspective than she had originally thought. As a makeup artist, she does life casting— making casts of actors’ body parts — and placing motion capture markers on actors for game giant Ubisoft.

    Morse has worked on Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, Far Cry 5, and the newly released Far Cry 6.

    “My favourite part of this career is that every day is vastly different,” said Morse. “I usually have multiple things on the go and it’s just fun. I get to go to cool places, meet people and do cool things.”

    Morse has stayed connected with her passion for sculpture and is currently working on some custom sculptures for a corporate client. She sculpts in oil-based clay, then makes a silicon mold and casts the sculpture in resin.

    Tags: , , , , , , , ,
    Categories: Alumni, Faculty & Instructors, In the Media, News, Uncategorised

  • New History of Art & Visual Culture course: Visa 3V99

    Tuesday, July 14, 2020 | By

    History of Art & Visual Culture course is happy to announce the launch of a new course this winter term. For more information on this “timely” addition to our course offerings please contact Professor Linda Steer.

     

     

    Categories: Announcements, Current Students, News

1 2 3 … 18