Walker Cultural Leader

  • Visual Arts exhibition presents creative exploration of death

    Sunday, September 03, 2023 | By

    TUESDAY, AUGUST 29, 2023 | by 

    A new faculty art exhibition featuring the work of Linda Carreiro, Visual Arts Professor and Associate Dean of Fine and Performing Arts at Brock, is now open for viewing.

    ‘Afterthoughts’, an exhibition showcasing Carreiro’s text-based artworks, runs until Saturday, Sept. 23 at the Visual Arts Gallery and Student Exhibition Space at the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts (MIWSFPA).

    While Carreiro initially set out to make a confessional, emotive set of works about the afterlife, she found that words were inadequate to fully reflect her thoughts about the unknowable.

    “Vacillating between terror, anger and derision, the resulting writings try to express the inexpressible while acknowledging their limitations. The incongruence of the texts, alongside the ghostly ladder and boxes, come together as extracts rather than narrative,” Carreiro said.

    In her artist’s statement, Carreiro addresses the notion that the sea and space are seemingly infinite places, containing the unknown in their vastness and depth.

    “They are also environments where humans cannot sustain life without the aid of breathing apparatus. Therefore, stars and water are referenced here in the writings and application of materials. Swirls of ink, vapoury washes and hole-punched ‘stars’ with fallen perforations allude to this connection,” Carreiro said.

    All are invited to attend the ‘Afterthoughts’ closing reception at the gallery on Friday, Sept. 22 from 5 to 7 p.m. at the MIWSFPA located at 15 Artists’ Common in downtown St. Catharines.

    Summer gallery hours:

    • Monday, Aug. 29 to Friday, Sept. 1 from 1 to 5 p.m.
    • Wednesday, Sept. 6 to Saturday, Sept. 9 from 1 to 5 p.m.

    The gallery resumes its regular hours on Tuesday, Sept. 12 and will be open from 1 to 5 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays.

    For more information, please visit the MIWSFPA Visual Arts gallery website.

    Categories: Current Students, Events, Exhibitions, Faculty & Instructors, News, Walker Cultural Leader

  • Visual Arts offering learning opportunity in Spain

    Thursday, March 02, 2023 | By

    Open to all eligible Brock students, VISA 3M05 offers an immersive experience to Bilboa, Spain.

    Originally published in The Brock News | WEDNESDAY, MARCH 01, 2023 | by 

    Brock University students have the chance to study and explore in Spain this summer through a course being offered by the Department of Visual Arts alongside Chair and Associate Professor Amy Friend.

    VISA 3M05 Art Studies Abroad in Spain is a full credit spring course open to all eligible Brock students that takes place both on campus and in Bilbao, Spain.

    The course is an exploration of unique cultural events and regional settings in Bilbao and surrounding areas, featuring artist exhibitions, talks, participatory workshops/seminars and activities with various institutions. The immersive experience develops knowledge of arts, cultural programming, tourism, media and communications, with a focus on community interaction for social and economic benefit.

    To be eligible to participate in the course, students must have a minimum of 5.0 overall credits and a minimum 60 per cent overall average or permission of the instructor. There will be about 10 days of intensive study abroad with an online pre-travel component. Students are expected to pay their own expenses, including additional materials, which they must supply. Funding is available for eligible students through Brock International.

    The course will take place from May 23 to June 22. Students will be in Spain from June 6 to June 14.

    The deadline to register for the course is Wednesday, March 8. For more information, please contact Friend at afriend@brocku.ca

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    Categories: 4F06 Honours Exhibition, Alumni, Announcements, Current Students, Events, Exhibitions, Faculty & Instructors, Future Students, In the Media, Media Releases, News, Walker Cultural Leader

  • Jan. 18, 2021: Walker Cultural Leaders Series features artists Jamelie Hassan & Ron Benner

    Thursday, January 14, 2021 | By

    Artists amelie Hassan & Ron Benner sit in their studio

    The Walker Cultural Leader Series continues in 2021, beginning with an engaging talk from artists Jamelie Hassan and Ron Benner on Monday, Jan. 18. The series continues in a virtual format for the 2021 season.

    Monday, Jan. 18, 2021 at 7 p.m.

    View the presentation premiere and join in the chat on the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts YouTube channel.

    Jamelie Hassan, born in London, Ontario, of Arabic background, is a visual artist and long-time member of CARFAC who is also active as a lecturer, writer, and independent curator. She has organized both national and international programs including Orientalism and Ephemera, a national touring exhibition, originally presented at Art Metropole, Toronto and most recently Dar’a/Full Circle for Artcite Inc. Windsor, ON. She was one of the founders of two artist-run centres in London, Ontario: the Forest City Gallery (1973-present) and the Embassy Cultural House (1983-1990). Her work is represented in numerous public collections in Canada and internationally, including the National Gallery of Canada, the Morris & Helen Belkin Art Gallery, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC ; and the Library of Alexandria ,Alexandria, Egypt. Other recent projects and group exhibitions where her works have been featured include, Here: Contemporary Canadian Art, curated by Swapnaa Tamhane, Aga Khan Museum (2017); Toronto: Tributes + Tributaries, 1971 -1989, curated by Wanda Nanibush, Art Gallery of Ontario (2016 – 2017); In Order to Join: the Political in a Historical Moment, organized by Museum Abteilberg in Monchengladbach, Germany (2013-14) and Mumbai, India (2015). Receipient of numerous awards, in  2001 she received the Govenor General’s Award in Visual Arts and in 2018 an honorary doctorate from OCAD University, Toronto. For more information visit: www.jameliehassan.ca 

    Ron Benner is an internationally recognized, London, Ontario – based artist whose longstanding practice investigates the history and political economy of food cultures. Benner originally studied agriculture engineering at the University of Guelph 1969/70. Finding himself ethically opposed to industrial agriculture and bioengineering, he began to travel and research the politics of food. In 1995, he began working with Rural Advancement Foundation International, Ottawa (RAFI). In 2000 he was awarded the Canada Council Studio in Paris. In 2005 he participated in Art, Geography and Invisibility at an international geography symposium in Olot, Catalonia, the University of Barcelona, Spain. In 2010 he was appointed Adjunct Research Professor in the Visual Arts Department, Western University, London, ON. Ron Benner’s mixed media installation works, including commissions of  photographic-garden installations, have been shown in solo and group exhibitions at Museum London, the Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, Western University, London, Ontario, Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, Ontario and many other galleries, museums and cultural institutions in Canada and internationally. His work is included in numerous public collections both in Canada and internationally including the National Gallery of Canada and the Art Gallery of Ontario. He has recently been appointed artist in residence in the Department of Environmental Science at the University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, 2020-2023. For more information, please visit:www.ronbenner.ca

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    Categories: Alumni, Announcements, Current Students, Events, Faculty & Instructors, News, Walker Cultural Leader

  • 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.

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    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

     

     

     

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    Categories: Announcements, Events, Uncategorised, Walker Cultural Leader