Faculty & Instructors

• Imagined Urban Gardens opens at Rodman Hall Art Centre

  Saturday, February 01, 2020 | By dvivian

  

  Imagined Urban Gardens: Student Exhibition
  Jan. 30 – March 1, 2020

  

  download the poster

  Rodman Hall Art Centre
  109 St. Paul Crescent, St. Catharines, ON

  Responding to the explorations of urban architecture and its materials in Teresa Carlesimo and Michael DiRisio: more light than heat (on exhibition at the Rodman Hall Art Centre), Imagined Urban Gardens also reflects on today’s global warming and how we could live in the future.

  We dream of green spaces and pleasantly warm cities.
  Students in Visual Arts and Studies in Arts and Culture envision in text and image what could be in a livable world.

  See the YourTV Niagara video spotlight about this exhibition, featuring interviews with the artists and curators.

  Read the article by Bart Gazzola in The Sound STC.

  Tags: centre for studies in arts and culture, Imagined Urban Gardens, RHAC, Rodman Hall Art Centre, Visual Arts
  Categories: Current Students, Events, Exhibitions, Faculty & Instructors, In the Media, News, Uncategorised

• Donna Szőke presents ‘On Invisibility’, January 21 at the MIWSFPA

  Thursday, January 16, 2020 | By dvivian

  

  On 21 January, the Centre for Studies in Arts and Culture welcomes artist Donna Szőke, Chair of the Department of Visual Arts and a member of the recently created Research Centre in Interdisciplinary Arts and Creative Culture, as a Walker Cultural leader for 2020.

  Szőke will present an artists’ talk “On Invisibility” at 7:00 pm at the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts of Brock University (MIWSFPA). This is a free community event and everyone is welcome to attend.

  Invisibility is this year’s theme at The Small Walker Press, a small press valuing interdisciplinary cooperation and the exploration of image and text, homed in the Centre for Studies in Arts and Culture (STAC) at the MIWSFPA.

  Szőke creates expanded animation, media art, video, drawing, and collaborations. She investigates immanence, embodied perception, and the fluidity of lived experience.

  In her artist’s talk, she will present her work and her current book project The Dark Redacted in cooperation with author Gary Barwin, to be published in April 2020 by the Small Walker Press.

  In an excerpt from the forthcoming volume, editors Catherine Parayre and Derek Knight write:

  Donna Szőke thoughtfully investigates the fluidity of meaning and presence. Rather than elucidating a concept or an experience, she proposes a semi-abstract perusal of collective or intimate issues. Offering a reflection on the evocative instability of the biographical and the personal, and opting for an approach close to autofiction, her work constellates subtle possibilities and its scope defies the limitations of certainty. The artist is a compelling storyteller for whom the quest for meaning and the vagrancies of that search are more significant than plain facts. For The Dark Redacted Szőke proposes traces of a fragile story and never-faltering endurance. Her sequence of images alternates beautifully detailed natural life – a buffalo, intricate vegetation – and minimally sketched-out human presence and personal objects. As a result, her work addresses the viewers’ intuition and sensitivity to the environment.

  The event is presented by the Centre for Studies in Arts and Culture for the Walker Cultural Leader Series, generously founded by Marilyn I. Walker. The Walker Cultural Leader series brings leading artists, performers, practitioners and academics to the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts at Brock University. Engaging, lively and erudite, these sessions celebrate professional achievement, artistic endeavour and the indelible role of culture in our society.

  Join us on January 21, 2020 at 7-8:30 pm.  The presentation takes place in the Art & Val Fleming Smart Classroom (MWS 156), located on the lower level of the MIWSFPA.  Limited parking is available at the MIWSFPA, with additional parking nearby at the Garden Park/Carlisle Street Parking garage and adjacent lots.

  Centre for Studies in Arts and Culture: Walker Cultural Leader Artist’s talk
  ‘On Invisibility’, with Donna Szőke
  21 January 2020, 7-8:30 pm, MWS 156

  download the poster

  Tags: Barwin, centre for studies in arts and culture, MIWSFPA, stac, Szőke, visa, Visual Arts, Walker Cultural Leader, WCL
  Categories: Announcements, Events, Faculty & Instructors, In the Media, Media Releases, News, Uncategorised

• Translations, an invitational photography exhibition to begin the new decade

  Monday, January 13, 2020 | By dvivian

  

  image: Sarah Martin

  Translations

  An exhibition of photography by visual arts students.
  A reception will be held on January 15, 2019 – 5 p.m to 8 p.m.
  Presented in the VISA Art gallery and Student Exhibition Space of the Marilyn I Walker School of Fine & Performing Arts, 15 Artists’ Common in downtown St. Catharines.

  Translations is a curated show consisting of photographs created with analogue, experimental and digital processes.  The combination of the photographs is intended to instigate a reflection on the practice of creativity and what it means to make photographs.  It is also an exhibition that contemplates what a photograph is and how we each see and experience photographs. The students were individually invited, and work was individually selected for the exhibition by Professor Amy Friend of the Department of Dramatic Arts.

  Work in the exhibition includes photographs by students from the Department of Visual Arts and other programs at Brock University.

  The gallery is open Tuesday to Saturday from 1 to 5 p.m.

  Download the Translations poster.

  see the short video produced by YourTV Niagara

  The participating artists include:
  
  Tabitha Holloway, Bachelor of Arts (Honours) Studio Art
  Chance Mutuku, Bachelor of Kinesiology
  Sarah Martin, Bachelor of Arts (Honours) Studio Art With First-Class Standing
  Amber Lee Williams, Bachelor of Arts (Honours) Studio Art
  Kaitlyn Roberts, Bachelor of Arts (Honours) Studio Art, Minor in French Studies

  Tags: alumni, Amy Friend, Photography, Translations
  Categories: Alumni, Events, Exhibitions, Faculty & Instructors, In the Media, News, Uncategorised

• Canada Research Chair (Tier II) in Indigenous Art Practice: Candidate Research Presentations

  Monday, January 06, 2020 | By dvivian

  

  The Brock and wider community is invited to attend the presentations by the three Indigenous artist/researchers who are finalists for the Canada Research Chair (Tier II) in Indigenous Art Practice at the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts.

  Our candidates are visiting the Marilyn I. Walker School in January. Each will give an hour-long presentation and engage in an additional half hour of discussion about their current research interests and focus, and about what they would hope to achieve as a Canada Research Chair at Brock University in the next five years.

  

  MATTHEW MACKENZIE

  Research presentation 5 – 6:30 pm,
  Friday January 10, 2020
  MWS 156
  
  Edmonton playwright, director and producer Matthew MacKenzie (Métis) is Artistic Director of Punctuate! Theatre, as well as the founder and an Artistic Associate with Pyretic Productions. In 2018, his play Bears won Dora Mavor Moore Awards for Outstanding New Play and Outstanding Production, was named a co-winner of the Toronto Theatre Critics Outstanding New Canadian Play Award, and won the Playwrights Guild of Canada’s Carol Bolt National Playwriting Award. This past fall, Punctuate! premiered MacKenzie’s play The Particulars, which was named one of the top ten productions of 2019 by The Globe and Mail.

  

  MARK IGLOLIORTE

  Research presentation 11:30 am – 1 pm,
  Friday January 17, 2020
  MWS 156
  
  Mark Igloliorte is an Inuk artist born in Corner Brook, Newfoundland with Inuit ancestry from Nunatsiavit, Labrador. His artistic work is primarily painting and drawing. Igloliorte’s work has been featured in several notable national exhibitions including the 2015 Marion McCain Exhibition of Contemporary Atlantic Canadian Art, curated by Corinna Ghaznavi; Inuit Ullumi: Inuit Today: Contemporary Art from TD Bank Group’s Inuit Collection; Beat Nation, curated by Kathleen Ritter and Tania Willard; and The Phoenix Art-The Renewed Life of Contemporary Painting, curated by Robert Enright. In addition, Igloliorte has been profiled in features in Canadian Art magazine and Inuit Art Quarterly. Igloliorte is an Assistant Professor at Emily Carr University of Art and Design.

  

  SUZANNE MORRISSETTE

  Research presentation 5 – 6:30 pm,
  Wednesday January 22, 2020
  MWS 207
  
  Suzanne Morrissette is a Métis artist, curator, and writer. Using various research-creation methods Morrissette addresses the philosophical roots of historical and contemporary forms of injustice facing Indigenous peoples. Her current and future research looks at the role of locally-based Indigenous knowledges within Indigenous community-based curatorial practice as a way of entering into conversations about robust and unexpected strategies for representing Indigenous art both within Canadian and international contexts. Currently she holds the position of Assistant Professor at OCAD University.r University of Art and Design.

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  Please share and post this poster in your community.

  Tags: Canada Research Chair, CRC, indigenous, MARK IGLOLIORTE, MATTHEW MACKENZIE, MIWSFPA, SUZANNE MORRISSETTE
  Categories: Announcements, Events, Faculty & Instructors, News, Uncategorised

• 300 MINUTES: A One Night Exhibition on Nov. 27th!

  Thursday, November 21, 2019 | By dvivian

  

  300 MINUTES is a public show brought to you by the VISA 3M90: Advanced Art Practice students. The collection of self-directed works by 3rd/4th year students are comprised of paintings, sculpting, drawings, installation work, performative work, sound and video displays. As viewers we value your thoughts, questions and opinions about the works, therefore open critique forms will be provided at each work site to capture your input which is greatly appreciated.

  300 MINUTES, the time length of the exhibition, is being held during the ‘new moon’ lunar phase. This phase, the first of its many phases, depicts the moon positioned between the sun and moon at the 12:00 o’clock beginning station. This lunar anecdote relates to the students and their first public exhibition which will provide inspiration as they move through their artistic phases like the hands of a lunar clock.

  The exhibition is a mid-year event for the class, which will lead the students towards their final show at the Marilyn I. Walker Gallery in April. Hope to see you there as well.

  DATE: November 27, 2019
  TIME: 4:00PM – 9:00PM
  WHERE: Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts building
  15 Artists’ Common, St. Catharines

  COST: Free

  Tags: 300 Minutes, 3M90, Akrey, Visual Arts
  Categories: Current Students, Events, Exhibitions, Faculty & Instructors, News

• Visual Art professor’s work chosen for prestigious U.K. exhibition

  Wednesday, November 06, 2019 | By dvivian

  

  “Wayfinding in Cold Light from the Multi-Verse Series” by Amy Friend, an Assistant Professor in Brock’s Department of Visual Arts, is one of just 55 photographs included in this year’s Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery in London, U.K.

  (published in The Brock News TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 05, 2019 | by Alison Innes )

  Nearly 4,000 portraits by more than 1,000 photographers from 70 countries were submitted, but only 55 were chosen for this year’s Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Exhibition in the United Kingdom.

  One of those portraits is by Amy Friend, an Assistant Professor of Visual Arts at Brock’s Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Art.

  The Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize is a prestigious annual award that attracts amateur and professional photographers alike. Only 55 of the 3,700 submissions were chosen for the exhibition. Three photos are shortlisted for the top award of £15,000 (approximately $25,000 CAD).

  “Having my work included in the Taylor Wessing Portrait Exhibition is an exciting adventure in my creative practice,” said Friend. “I had been working on this long-term project for several years, so it is uplifting to see this new work recognized. The piece has personal connections, which extends this recognition in a meaningful way.”

  Friend’s series Multi-Verse draws on her own and found photographs featuring diverse subject matter and imagery from across several time periods to explore the idea of a multi-verse. The series references both the idea of alternate realities and the numerous stories or ‘verses’ the viewer encounters in the photographs.

  She uses experimental photographic methods and manual manipulation to alter photos. While they are not overtly political photographs, her works references darker elements such as floodwaters and images of soldiers.

  “I reference the past, the here and now, the visible and invisible, literally and poetically, albeit not through overtly political photographs,” said Friend. “The medium of photography has always had a currency of possibility. In this series I work to find meaning in the chaos, to be with it and to look for an alternate story from where we are — a multiverse.”

  The exhibition opens at the National Portrait Gallery in London, U.K., on Tuesday, Nov. 5 and carries through to February 2020. The exhibition will then go on tour throughout the U.K.

  In 2017, a portrait by Finnish artist Maija Tammi, who studied under Friend, won third place in the Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize.

  Tags: Amy Friend, National Portrait Gallery, Photography, Taylor Wessing, visa, Visual Arts
  Categories: Alumni, Announcements, Events, Exhibitions, Faculty & Instructors, In the Media, News, Uncategorised

• Tier 2 Canada Research Chair (CRC) in Indigenous Art Practice

  Wednesday, September 04, 2019 | By dvivian

  Brock University’s Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts (MIWSFPA) invites applications for a Tier 2 Canada Research Chair (CRC) in Indigenous Art Practice at the rank of Assistant or Associate Professor.

  The CRC in Indigenous Art Practice will be appointed to one or more of the School’s academic units, depending on the successful applicant’s area(s) of knowledge and expertise. We recognize that in Indigenous art there may be no formal divisions between visual, theatrical, and musical art forms. Brock embraces diverse perspectives and pedagogical practices; it is hoped that the CRC in Indigenous Art Practice will help foster new collaborations across academic units and assist the School and university to move towards Indigenization. The CRC will be welcomed into a tight-knit, friendly, and dynamic community of artists, scholars, staff, and students that respects, promotes, and actively engages with Indigenous arts and culture within the University and Indigenous communities.

  Review of applications will begin on October 31, 2019, and will continue until the position is filled.

  For more information see the complete posting at brocku.wd3.myworkdayjobs.com/brocku_careers/job/St-Catharines-Downtown-Campus/Canada-Research-Chair—Tier-2—Indigenous-Art-Practice—Assistant-Associate-Professor-Tenure-Track_JR-1002413

  Tags: CRC, indigenous, jobs, position, professor, tier II
  Categories: Announcements, Faculty & Instructors, News, Uncategorised

• Summer student employment opportunites at Rodman Hall

  Thursday, April 25, 2019 | By amcbay

  Rodman Hall Art Centre has three summer student positions available, please check the link below for details on these positions:

  https://brocku.ca/rodman-hall/community/#1556118960648-db092170-9704

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

• Visual Arts students get creative career advice from international artists

  Thursday, April 25, 2019 | By Brock University

  

  Visual Arts students in Assistant Professor Amy Friend’s Introduction to Digital Photography class were given the chance to interview six successful, creative professionals from around the world thanks to an Experiential Education Teaching and Learning Innovation Grant. The class is pictured engaged in discussion with Dornith Doherty, a Texas professor who documents and collages seeds and tissue samples.

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  (From The Brock News, April 25, 2019 | By: Sarah Ackles)

  What’s it like to create a photographic archive of plant seeds and tissue samples that could one day ensure humanity’s very survival?

  What about travelling the world to capture award-winning images of the rapidly melting polar ice caps or soldiers in conflict zones?

  Students in Brock’s Introduction to Digital Photography class learned all of this and more, directly from creative professionals this past semester.

  Thanks to an Experiential Education Teaching and Learning Innovation Grant, Assistant Professor Amy Friend was able to invite six professionals in the field of photography from around the world to visit her class via video chat.

  

  British-American artist Phillip Toledano, pictured on screen, was one of six artists who participated in student-conducted interviews as part of Assistant Professor Amy Friend’s Introduction to Digital Photography class. The Visual Arts students were given the opportunity to interact with these creative professionals thanks to an Experiential Education Teaching and Learning Innovation Grant.

  Visual Arts students researched and subsequently interviewed guest speakers one-on-one, before ending each session with a group discussion.

  The exercise provided valuable insight into the artistic process and the challenges involved with working in different areas of photography, Friend said.

  “The students responded quite well; you could see a sense of excitement,” she said. “They heard interesting stories about how artists work through their processes and different insights about how and why specific choices are made, and the methods used to get this work out into the world.”

  Participating artists included Dornith Doherty, a professor and Guggenheim Foundation Fellow from North Texas who documents and collages plant seeds and tissue samples in her Archiving Eden project; Cig Harvey, an artist whose work has been exhibited at major museums and collections in the United States and Europe;  Spanish artist Alfonso Almedros; award-winning photojournalist Louie Palu, whose work has been featured in National Geographic and numerous international collections; Jacqueline Bates, Photography Director of The California Sunday Magazine; and British-American mixed-media artist and author Phillip Toledano.

  Fourth-year Visual Arts student Rachel McCartney was tasked with interviewing Toledano, whose work is similar to what she aspires to create herself one day.

  “Interacting with visiting artists in a classroom setting was an extremely useful and gratifying experience,” she said. “It allowed for direct one-on-one communication and to dissect the brain of someone who is a successful future version of what I aspire to be.”

  The grant was one of 18 that were awarded in 2018-19 to support the development of new experiential learning courses and experiential opportunities within existing courses.

  The Teaching and Learning Innovation Grants were supported financially by Experiential Education at Brock and external funding through the province’s Career Ready Fund.

  Sandy Howe, Associate Director, Experiential Education, said the new interview series went “above and beyond” expectations and offered a “highly impactful” experiential learning opportunity for participating students.

  “It’s always amazing to me to see faculty members trying something new in their courses and how this impacts their own learning and engagement with their teaching,” she added. “This is an excellent example of how different types of experiences can be used to improve both teaching and learning.”

  Friend said the calibre and range of artists who participated also exposed students to the range of career opportunities that exist for someone with a Fine Arts and Photography background.

  “It was one of the best things I’ve ever experienced in my teaching strategies,” she said. “I was stunned by how much information the students were able to learn in a short period of time.”

  For McCartney, the experience armed her with more confidence as an artist and a wealth of advice for ensuring success in her future career.

  “I find it really important that we constantly look for new ways to teach and learn because it promotes better student engagement,” she said. “Actively changing the curriculum to integrate new ways of learning creates a more personalized education that is beneficial to students. I’m very thankful to the artists who participated and immensely thankful for Professor Friend for organizing this experience.”

  Tags: Amy Friend, Department of Visual Arts, Experiential Education, marilyn i. walker school of fine and performing arts, MIWSFPA, Rachel McCartney, Sandy Howe, Teaching & Learning Innovation Grant, visa
  Categories: Current Students, Faculty & Instructors, News

• Applications being accepted for Visa Student Assistants/Monitors for Fall/Winter 2019-2020.

  Wednesday, April 17, 2019 | By amcbay

  

  Applications now being accepted for Visual Arts Student Assistants/Monitors for Fall/Winter 2019-2020.

  Qualifications:
  • Must be a Brock University Visual Arts major (priority given to upper year students)
  • Able to consistently lift up to 30 lbs
  • Knowledge and interest in the Arts
  • Strong communication skills
  • Team oriented, willing to support where the greatest need is
  • Flexible – hours may vary. Call-in shifts may occur

  Duties include: Monitoring/clean-up duties of assigned areas, and other related duties assigned by supervisor.
  Compensation: $14.00/hour. Apply by: Fri, April 26, 2019.

  To apply send resume & cover letter to Monika Lederich at [email protected] (please use your Brock student email account) with you student number, major, year of study & relevant qualifications.

  You may also apply on-line at the Brock HR page: https://brocku.wd3.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/brocku_careers/job/St-Catharines-Downtown-Campus/Student-Assistant-Monitor-Visual-Arts-Student-Monitors_JR-1002509-1

  Categories: Announcements, Current Students, Faculty & Instructors