Canadian Art has reviewed a recent exhibition that features the work of Visa Sessional Instructor Donna Akrey. Click HERE to read the article.
Visa Instructor featured in Canadian Art article
Alumni
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Exhibition: Permanent Vacation
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 pageOpening 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.
alumni, Exhibition, Permanent Vacation
Categories: Alumni, Events, Exhibitions, News -
Associate Professor Donna Szoke’s work include in publication.
Associate Professor and Visual Arts Department Chair Donna Szoke’s work is discussed in the on-line journal New Media Caucus in an article by Lisa Moren, Professor of Visual Art and Graduate Program Director of Intermedia + Digital Art, MFA Program at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County [UMBC]. Her interactive video installation and all watched over by machines of loving grace is a humorous intervention in the dystopian reality of contemporary dataveillance and societies of control.
Image courtesy of Tim Nohe.
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Visa Alumni mounting local exhibition.
Recent Brock Alumni, Katie Mazi & Jenn Judson are mounting an exhibition of their new collaborative photo series, ‘Cooler Than Cool.’ Join the artists at their opening reception this upcoming Saturday Sept. 23 from 7-10PM at the Niagara Artists Centre. There will be good food, drinks, prizes, surprises and prints for sale.
Reception is September 23rd and the show is on from Sept. 23 – Oct. 13th at NAC.
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Assistant Professor Amy Friend exhibits in Provence, France.
Récits Photographiques
August 24 > September 30, 2017
Abbaye De Silvacane, La Roque D’Antheron
Les Terrasses Du Chateau, Lauris
Provence, Francehttps://www.facebook.com/recitsphotographiques/
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MIWSFPA participates in Culture Days 2017: Special exhibit AWAKENING THE SPIRIT
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 ArtsOpening 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-spiritCheck-in closer to the date for programming updates for CultureDays 2017!
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Award winner stresses mountains worth climbing to capture dreams
(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.
convocation, Curatorial Concentration, HVAC, MARS, Spirit of Brock award, visa
Categories: Alumni, Current Students, In the Media, News -
VISA alumna to co-host session at the SHIFT Professional Development Conference
ARTS AND CULTURE: CAREER CONVERSATIONS
Date/Time: April 28, 2017, 3 pm – 4:15 pm
Location: Plaza Rm. 410, Brock UniversityVISA alumna Shauna Daley will feature at the SHIFT Professional Development Conference for graduate students alongside DART alumna Victoria Mountain with their session, “ARTS AND CULTURE: CAREER CONVERSATIONS”. From the conference website: “A modern cultural worker can thrive in variety of careers in education, media and the arts. The reach and satisfaction of creative practice can be the cusp of personal freedom and a condition for seeking satisfying work. How do we negotiate and harness creative energies within professions that embrace those creative forces? Join our conversation!”
Shauna is an artist, teacher and business woman. She graduated with an Honours degree in Visual Arts, a B.Ed and a Master’s Degree in Art Education from Brock University, and is also Upper Elementary Montessori certified. Shauna owns and operates her own art studio in Grimsby Ontario, as well as a worldly gift shop that supports local and international artists and their work. She exhibits her artwork throughout the region, and her art studio sees approximately three hundred students from the Niagara community cycling through her visual art programs yearly. -
VISA graduate Lauren Regier & Rodman Hall’s Marcie Bronson nominated for St. Catharines Arts Awards!
The Department of Visual Arts is proud to announce that VISA graduate Lauren Regier has been nominated for an Emerging Artist Award at the 2017 St. Catharines Arts Awards! Lauren’s work explores the relationships between plants and machines through her photography. (Brock University Humanities featured her on their blog and in Brock News earlier this year.)
Marcie Bronson, acting director and curator of Rodman Hall Art Centre, has also been nominated for the “Making a Difference” award for “playing a central role in the transformation of Rodman Hall into a nationally recognized institution of excellence that promotes local artists.”
More information can be found at this news entry on the main MIWSFPA website. Congratulations to both of you, and good luck!
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Post-Industrial Ephemera: Soundings, Gestures and Poetics
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 RiverApril 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 eventBuffalo, 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.
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 VoyageSophia 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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Shauna is an artist, teacher and business woman. She graduated with an Honours degree in Visual Arts, a B.Ed and a Master’s Degree in Art Education from Brock University, and is also Upper Elementary Montessori certified. Shauna owns and operates her own art studio in Grimsby Ontario, as well as a worldly gift shop that supports local and international artists and their work. She exhibits her artwork throughout the region, and her art studio sees approximately three hundred students from the Niagara community cycling through her visual art programs yearly.
