Articles tagged with: Shawn Serfas

  • Visual Arts students, alumni unite for collaborative exhibition

    Image caption: Artwork from CODA artists Lillian Pasqua, Curt Richards, Aidan Frenette displayed in the Visual Arts (VISA) 4F06 Honours Exhibition at Rodman Hall Arts Centre.

    Brock’s fourth-year student artists and Visual Arts (VISA) graduates are showcasing their contemporary artwork in a new collaborative exhibition entitled CODA.

    CODA not only features the work of current students, but of VISA alumni who were unable to present their final works to the public due to pandemic-related event closures last spring.

    Through the bodies of work of 14 artists, CODA is an overarching contemporary exploration of individual voices and visual languages. The exhibition considers the engagement of traditional material with unconventional installation.

    Mounted at the Rodman Hall Arts Centre (RHAC), CODA is now available to view virtually through a 360 gallery tour and virtual exhibition. The show is curated by Shawn Serfas, Associate Professor of Studio Art and Chair of VISA and Sarah Martin (BA ’19), Gallery Assistant at the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts (MIWSFPA) gallery.

    As no in-person exhibitions were held in the MIWSFPA gallery this past year, Martin understands first-hand the devasatting effects that the COVID-19 pandemic has had on the arts community.

    “Being able to make this show a reality for these students was about celebrating their work and sharing that as much as possible,” she said.

    The capstone studio arts course culminates in a public, professional exhibition historically featured at RHAC. In 2020, Brock University announced the sale of the RHAC property and the formation of a community-based group (RHAC Inc.) whose stewardship has ensured the art collection remains a community asset with a sustainable future.

    Martin acknowledges the significance of CODA being the final exhibition to be held in the space.

    “Having shown my own work in an Honours Exhibition at Rodman Hall, it is easy to say that it was the highlight of my experience at Brock. Now, being able to help put this show together feels very special and fulfilling for me,” she says.

    Student Aidan Frenette expressed how meaningful it is to have her work be part of the collaborative exhibition.

    “Like many of my fellow students and alumni, the VISA 4F06 culminating exhibition means a great deal to me,” she says. “The opportunity to display a year’s worth of hard work within a renowned gallery is a rewarding experience in and of itself. However, to have the privilege of participating in the final show held at Rodman Hall is an honour.”

    Zachary White, an alumnus and CODA participating artist, appreciates the opportunity to engage with his art in a professional setting.

    His involvement in the exhibition had him thinking critically about the production of his work.

    “I had to consider the curation process, installation of the work and how to connect pieces together in a cohesive way to let each piece of art shine individually — and as part of a collection,” he said.

    White added that throughout the studio art program at Brock, he worked through different styles and mediums to build his ‘artistic toolbox.’

    “This exhibition gave me the opportunity to let everything I learned speak through a style that is unique to me,” he said. “Ultimately, this show does more than just exhibit work; it highlights a culmination of the studio art program and provides a bridge between the student and the professional art experience.”

    CODA ran from May 12 to 26 at RHAC (closed to the public) but can be viewed virtually through the VISA website.

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

  • The MIWSFPA welcomes Landon Mackenzie to Niagara

    Signal (Red Star), 2017-2018. oil and synthetic polymer on linen, 82 1/2 x 126 in.

    Walker Cultural Leader Public Lecture and Artist Talk by Landon Mackenzie 

    March 12, 2020 at 7:30 p.m.

    Robertson Theatre, FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre, 250 St. Paul Street, St. Catharines, L2R 3M2 Walker Culture Series logo

    reception: March 12th, 5 p.m. at the VISA Gallery and Student Exhibition Space, Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine & Performing Arts. (This is also the reception for the CrissCross exhibition, above.)

    Niagara welcomes one of Canada’s most celebrated painters!Landon Mackenzie

    The Moon is the Message: A survey of works traversing over four decades.  A revealing personal exploration of creativity, painting and mapping.

    Landon Mackenzie is an acclaimed visual artist based in Vancouver. Her international exhibiting and teaching career has been awarded the inaugural Ian Wallace Award for Excellence in Teaching, the Golden Jubilee and Diamond Jubilee Queen Elizabeth II Medals for outstanding contribution to culture in British Columbia and Canada, and the Governor General’s Award in Visual and Media Arts (2017), among others.

    Blue Star / Red Light, 2018-2019. oil and synthetic polymer on linen, 82 1/2 x 126 in.

    Blue Star / Red Light, 2018-2019. oil and synthetic polymer on linen, 82 1/2 x 126 in.

    This is a free community event. No tickets required. Join us for the reception at the MIWSFPA at 5 p.m. and then walk over to hear Landon talk about her work in the Robertson Theatre of the FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre at 7:30 p.m.

    For more information about her work visit www.landonmackenzie.com


    Landon Mackenzie is an acclaimed visual artist based in Vancouver. The National Gallery of Canada, Vancouver Art Gallery, Art Gallery of Ontario, Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal, and Confederation Centre for the Arts are among the institutions that collect her paintings. As well, her large format works are in several Canadian embassies. Her works have been shown in over 100 exhibitions in Canada and internationally. Recent exhibitions include a 40-year touring survey of her works on paper, “Landon Mackenzie: Parallel Journey, (1975-2015)”, accompanied by a book by Black Dog publishers; “Landon Mackenzie: Nervous Centers” at the Esker Foundation in Calgary; “Emily Carr and Landon Mackenzie: Woodchopper and the Monkey” at the Vancouver Art Gallery; and “Tracing Mobility: Cartography in Networked Space” at HKW, Berlin.

    Mackenzie is a passionate educator starting at Concordia University followed by 33 years at Emily Carr University of Art + Design in Vancouver where she was appointed the university’s first full Professor. She has been a visiting artist at over 75 universities, art departments and galleries in Canada, US, UK, Europe and China. She has served on many juries including the Canada Council for the Arts, VIVA, BMO 1st, and RBC Painting Award. She has been a trustee of the Vancouver Art Gallery, Royal Canadian Academy of Arts and Joseph Plaskett Foundation. Her work is represented by Art 45 and Nicholas Metivier Gallery.

    Mackenzie holds a BFA from NSCAD and an MFA from Concordia University. Her work has been extensively written about and she has received many awards including the inaugural Ian Wallace Award for Excellence in Teaching, both the Golden and Diamond Jubilee Queen Elizabeth II Medals for outstanding contribution to culture in British Columbia and Canada and the Governor General’s Award in Visual and Media Arts (2017).

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

  • New art exhibition the product of student collaboration

    Quality Family Time (and Space), a piece by Brock alumna Emily Andrews (BA ’11), is part of the new Erasures exhibit that will run from April 2 to 27 in the VISA Art Gallery and Student Exhibition Space at the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts. An opening reception is set for Thursday, April 4 from 5 to 8 p.m.


    (From The Brock News, March 27, 2019 | By: Jaquelyn Bezaire)

    While they’re known for correcting errors, erasures are signs of progress and an expanding imagination.

    Students in Brock’s Visual Arts (VISA) and Studies in Arts and Culture (STAC) programs will explore this theme in a new collaborative art exhibit on view from Tuesday, April 2 to Saturday, April 27.

    The exhibit, Erasures, will be open to the public in the VISA Art Gallery and Student Exhibition Space at the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts (MIWSFPA) in downtown St. Catharines.

    An opening reception will be held in the gallery on Thursday, April 4, from 5 to 8 p.m.

    Led by Shawn Serfas, Associate Professor of Visual Arts, and Catherine Parayre, Director of the Centre for Studies in Arts and Culture, students enrolled in VISA 4P03/4P04 and STAC 3P01 worked together to create a show that features paintings and text that thematize different types of erasures.

    The work ranges from the exploration of scenes lacking important elements, simplified adaptations of existing artworks and abstracted forms of figurative objects.

    Short written statements commenting on well-known recent artworks accompany the paintings to provide further context.

    Serfas and Parayre frequently bring students from different backgrounds together to collaborate on creative endeavours.

    “It has been an enriching learning experience, for both the students and the instructors,” Parayre said of working with the students on Erasures.

    The exhibition evokes transformations and process, an important theme in both Serfas’ senior studio courses and Parayre’s Media Transformations in the Creative Arts course.

    Whether in visual expressions or in texts, Parayre added, erasures are invitations to scrutinize, read and interpret, which is exactly what the public is encouraged to do at the upcoming exhibition.

    Erasures runs from April 2 to 27 in the VISA Art Gallery and Student Exhibition Space at the MIWSFPA in downtown St. Catharines. The gallery is open to the public Tuesdays to Saturdays from 1 to 5 p.m.

    Tags: , , , , , ,
    Categories: Current Students, Events, Exhibitions, News

  • Students exhibit at Die Bäckerei in Innsbruck, Austria UPDATED

    We are very excited to announce an exhibition by the students of the MIWSFPA in Innsbruck, Austria!

    see photographs from the exhibition, below.

    Geographies of Process

    presented at …

    Die Baeckerei

    13 June – 6 July 2018 (Opening 13 June 2018, 19:00)

    Learning is process. Students in Visual Arts at the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts, Brock University, Canada put together a series of paintings to illustrate the process of abstraction at work in referencing urban, industrial, domestic, and natural landscapes. Students in Arts and Culture and French Studies continue the process of abstraction through the creation of written texts responding to their peers’ paintings.

    Curators: Catherine Parayre and Shawn Serfas

    With the generous support of the Canadian Studies Centre, University of Innsbruck

    Geographien als Prozess

    Lernen ist ein Prozess. Studierende der bildenden Kunst der Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts an der Brock University (Kanada) haben eine Reihe von Bildern zusammengestellt, um den Prozess des Abstrahierens zu illustrieren, der abläuft, wenn auf städtische, industrielle, häusliche und natürliche Landschaften Bezug genommen wird. Studierende der Fächer Kunst, Kultur und Französisch setzen diesen Prozess fort, indem sie Texte verfassen, die auf die Bilder ihrer KollegInnen
    reagieren.

    KuratorIn: Catherine Parayre und Shawn Serfas (Brock University)

    Eröffnung: 13. Juni 2018, 19:00 Uhr

    13. Juni – 6. Juli 2018
    Bäckerei Innsbruck, Dreiheiligenstraße 21a, 6020 Innsbruck

    Geographien als Prozess / Geographies of Process / Géographies en formation

    Lernen ist ein Prozess. Studierende der bildenden Kunst der Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts an der Brock University (Kanada) haben ein Reihe von Bildern zusammengestellt, um den Prozess des Abstrahierens zu illustrieren, der abläuft, wenn auf städtische, industrielle, häusliche und natürliche Landschaften Bezug genommen wird. Studierende der Fächer Kunst, Kultur und Französisch setzen diesen Prozess fort, indem sie Texte verfassen, die auf die Bilder ihrer KollegInnen reagieren.

    Learning is process. Students in Visual Arts at the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts, Brock University, Canada put together a series of paintings to illustrate the process of abstraction at work in referencing urban, industrial, domestic, and natural landscapes. Students in Arts and Culture and French Studies continue the process of abstraction through the creation of written texts responding to their peers’ paintings.

    Tout apprentissage est un processus. Des étudiant.e.s en Arts visuels de l’Ecole des beaux-arts et arts du spectacle Marilyn I. Walker à l’Université Brock au Canada assemblent une série de peintures illustrant un processus d’abstraction faisant référence à des paysages urbains, industriels, domestiques et naturels. Poursuivant cet enchainement vers l’abstraction, des étudiant.e.s d’Arts et Culture et d’Etudes en français répondent aux œuvres de leurs collègues par la création de textes.

    KuratorIn / Curators / Commissaires: Catherine Parayre / Shawn Serfas

    Mit der Unterstützung des Zentrums für Kanadastudien der Universität Innsbruck
    With the generous support of the Canadian Studies Centre, University of Innsbruck
    Avec le généreux appui du Centre d’Etudes canadiennes de l’Université d’Innsbruck

    KünstlerIn / Artists / Artistes

    Gianna Aceto
    Jessica Angelevski
    Elizabeth Angotti
    Denise Apostolatos
    Teresa Badgley
    Renz Baluyot
    Chris Belanger
    Marilyn Blanchette
    Brandon Boudreau
    Hannah Brown
    Andrea Caruso
    Maddy Cugini
    Thomas Denton
    Chelsea Dietrich
    Amy Doan
    Hannah Dobbie
    Isabella Domaradski
    Mariah Dubeau
    Amandine Faivre
    Alex Finlayson
    Dailia Frigault
    Jill Greer
    Stefanie Gugliucciello
    Kylie Haveron
    Gail Higenell
    Samantha Hilton
    Aimee Hu
    Syerra Jasmin
    Gabriella Jones
    Phuong Le
    Laura Levesque
    Brendan Long
    Craig Maltais
    Sarah Martin
    Jim Maunder
    Katie McGinness
    Kaitlyn Michie
    Avery Mikolic-O’Rourke
    Andrey Mintchev
    Jennie Montes
    Victoria Morinello
    Jaclyn Morse
    Lauren Mucciarone
    Michelle Nazari
    Alona Nyforovska
    Joseph Opara
    Lillianna Pagliaro
    Connor Playfair
    Anna Podvalni
    Jacob Primeau
    Brittany Reitzel
    Curt Richard
    Jessie Richard
    Cynthia Richards
    Keira Robertson-Worden
    Abby Rollo
    Kourtney Spadoni
    Samantha Stein
    Sophia Strachan
    Charlotte Tarr
    Evan Weins
    Zachary White
    Amber Lee Williams

    LISTEN to an interview (in German) by Sarah von Karger with Co-Curator Catherine Parayre for “KulturTon”, Freirad Radio, Innsbruck, Austria, 2 Juli 2018

    Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,
    Categories: Current Students, Events, Exhibitions, Faculty & Instructors, News

  • Rodman Hall hosts Visual Arts honours exhibitions

    The opening reception for the first instalment of the honours exhibitions on Friday, March 23 drew a large crowd to Rodman Hall Art Centre. Photo: Danny Custodio.

    Graduating students from the Honours Studio course (VISA 4F06) have been busy all semester creating their pieces for the two-part Brock University Department of Visual Arts Honours Exhibition. Students were mentored by Rodman Hall Art Centre gallery staff and Visual Arts Professors Donna Szoke, Shawn Serfas, Derek Knight, and Donna Akrey.

    The first instalment of the honours exhibition: Just Resting My Eyes is currently on display at the Rodman Hall Art Centre (109 St. Paul Crescent). The current exhibition features work from students: Denise Apostolatos, Victoria Morinello, Jill Newman, Jacob Primeau, and Aaron Thompson.

    These honours exhibitions are vital to students’ education in the Brock Visual Arts program because “the nature, purpose and intended outcome of Honours Studio is that once the students graduate from the art program, they become practicing artists. Art making, as a practice of research-creation, is inherently experiential learning” says Szoke.

    The collaboration with the professional team of the Rodman Hall Art Centre is a essential learning experience for Brock Visual Arts students. Akrey says the Rodman Hall staff’s “consultation with each student teaches them the importance of the entire process of art making and exhibiting, and the importance of their individual work in a collaborative event.” Serfas adds that the importance of having Rodman Hall embedded into the Bachelor of Arts program is that “it gives our students a distinctive experiential learning opportunity.”

    Knight says that the audience can expect to see “broad cultural themes with emphasis on the impact of mass media, environmental or social issues” throughout the work created by these honours students in this two-part exhibit.

    The second instalment, Turnin’ This Car Around, is set to be exhibited from Saturday, April 14 to Sunday, April 29, with the opening reception on Friday, April 13 from 7 to 9 p.m. This upcoming exhibit will feature pieces by Rachel Dove, Lauren Mucciarone, Victoria Reid, Brittany Thomas-Clapp, and Lorraine Zandvliet.

    Photographs from the exhibition have been posted to an online gallery.

    For more information about Rodman Hall Art Centre and their programs see brocku.ca/rodman-hall


    see the article by John Law in the St.Catharines Standard: Brock’s top art students gather for one last show

    see the video report by Stephen Parr for YourTV Niagara

    Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
    Categories: 4F06 Honours Exhibition, Current Students, Events, In the Media, News

  • Colour Constructs at Rodman Hall/Constructions en couleurs à Rodman Hall

    Pictured is a view of the exhibition Material Girls at Rodman Hall Art Centre. (source: RHAC)

    In fall 2017, Rodman Hall invites visitors to experience the exhibition Material Girls, which brings together Canadian and international female artists from across artistic disciplines and cultural backgrounds. Giving particular attention to the colourfulness and jubilance of this exhibition, in Colour Constructs, students in Visual Arts, Studies in Arts and Culture, and French Studies explore the materiality of colours in their own diverse ways. Student works are complemented by graffiti art by Niagara-based artist Mat Vizbulis, a classroom guest during the semester. Curators Catherine Parayre and Shawn Serfas. /

    A l’automne 2017, Rodman Hall invite ses visiteurs à découvrir l’exposition Material Girls, qui regroupe des artistes femmes du Canada et d’ailleurs, dont les pratiques artistiques et l’environnement culturel diffèrent. En s’inspirant des couleurs et de la gaieté de cette exposition, des étudiants-e-s en Arts visuels, Arts et cultures et Etudes en français explorent dans Constructions en couleurs la matérialité des coloris par le biais d’approches variées. Les graffitis de l’artiste Mat Vizbulis, établi dans la région du Niagara, complètent les oeuvres des étudiant-e-s. Commissaires: Catherine Parayre et Shawn Serfas.

    Article from the Brock News: Bilingual exhibition to shed light on Material Girls
    TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 28, 2017 | by Darien Temprile

    A new Rodman Hall exhibition aims to help visitors experience Material Girls in a new way.

    Geo, a piece created by third-year Visual Arts student Lilliana Pagliaro

    Geo, a piece created by third-year Visual Arts student Lilliana Pagliaro, will be featured in the Colour Constructs/Constructions en couleurs exhibition opening at Rodman Hall Thursday, Nov. 30.

    Colour Constructs/Constructions en couleurs, opening at the downtown St. Catharines art centre Thursday, Nov. 30, features works by students in Brock’s Visual Arts (VISA), Studies in Arts and Culture (STAC) and French Studies (FREN) programs.

    The exhibition, curated by Brock Professors Catherine Parayre and Shawn Serfas, initiates a sophisticated dialogue with Material Girls, an ongoing exhibition that opened at Rodman Hall Sept. 14.

    Material Girls is a large-scale group exhibition of work by Canadian and international emerging, mid-career and senior female artists from different artistic disciplines and cultures. Curated by a team from the Dunlop Art Gallery, a unit of the Regina Public Library, it explores material process and notions of excess as they relate to the feminized body, gendered space and capitalist desire.

    For Colour Constructs, students reacted to words, colours and visuals directly related to Material Girls.

    STAC students contributed nine texts based on words and expressions found in the curatorial statement of Material Girls; FREN students provided eight written fragments in French, describing colours from Material Girls; and VISA students, in their own paintings, reference the vividness of artwork presented in Material Girls.

    In addition to the work of students, the exhibition will include a new large commission by local graffiti artist Mat Vizbulis, who describes his work as ‘genre graffuturism.’

    “As the images unfold in layers, we understand that it is truly something unexplainable,” he said. “We are then daring to define things.”

    Earlier this year, Vizbulis led Brock students in experiential learning about graffiti and its role in both high art and popular culture.

    The opening reception of Colour Constructs/Constructions en couleurs takes place Thursday, Nov. 30 at 5 p.m. at Rodman Hall Art Centre, 109 St. Paul Cres. The exhibition will continue until March 4.

    Material Girls continues at Rodman Hall until Dec. 30.

    Admission to Rodman Hall Art Centre is free, although donations are accepted. For more information in French or English, visit ExperienceBU.

    UPDATE:

    French student Amandine Faivre, right, French student Amandine Faivre, right,  speaks about her poetry with French Professor Renee-Claude Breitenstein
    speaks about her poetry with French Professor Renee-Claude Breitenstein at the opening of Colour Constructs Thursday, Nov. 30. Curated by Professors Catherine Parayre and Shawn Serfas, the exhibition is a collaboration by students in Studies in Arts and Culture, Visual Arts and French Studies. Student artwork is complemented by work by local graffiti artist Mat Vizbulis, who worked with STAC and VISA students over the course of the semester. Colour Constructs is on at Rodman Hall Art Centre until March 4.
    Exhibition: Thursday Nov. 30, 2017 – Sunday Mar. 4, 2018

    Opening Reception: Thursday Nov. 30, 2017 at 5:00pm

    GALLERY HOURS:
    Tuesday, Wednesday & Friday: 10 am to 5 pm
    Thursday: 10 am to 9 pm
    Saturday & Sunday: 12 pm to 5 pm
    Closed Mondays, statutory and University holidays

    Free community event however donations accepted (suggested $5).

    Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
    Categories: Current Students, Events, Exhibitions

  • 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.


    Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,
    Categories: Alumni, Announcements, Events, Faculty & Instructors, News

  • Abstract/Abstracted: “This is not a tree”

    December 3, 2016 – February 12, 2017
    Opening Reception: Thursday 8 December (18:00/19:30)

    Location: Rodman Hall Art Centre,
    109 St Paul Crescent, St. Catharines, ON
    Curators: Catherine Parayre and Shawn Serfas

    Reflecting on the exhibition A Painter’s Country: Canadian Landscape Paintings Selected from the Permanent Collection (curator: Stuart Reid) presented at Rodman Hall during the summer of 2016, Abstract/Abstracted: ‘This is not a tree’ presents works by Karel Appel, Frederick S. Coburn, Hans Hartung, Kazuo Nakamura, Carl Schaeffer, and Tony Tascona. Put together, these artworks, also from Rodman Hall’s permanent collection, explore a different problematic. How much abstraction is there in representation? In turn, to what extent is an abstract work abstract? Abstract/Abstracted highlights, but also questions the contrasts between abstract and figurative art.

    Brock University students in “Intermediate Painting” respond in selected artworks, while students in “Interpretive and Critical Writing in the Arts” provide critical texts that explore these questions.
    The catalogue will appear in the 2017 issue of A Journal of Text-and-Image Criticism/Creation

    Tags: , , , , , , ,
    Categories: Events, Exhibitions

  • Visa and STAC students exhibit in Austria

    entwurf3-ausstellungStudents in the Brock University Intermediate Painting and Interpretive and Critical Writing in the Arts courses, under the tutelage of Professors Catherine Parayre and Shawn Serfas, have mounted an exhibition at the University of Innsbruck, Austria.

    Visual Appropriations and Rewritings
    June 1 – 30, 2016
    University of Innsbruck, Austria
    Click here for more information.

    Tags: , , , , , , ,
    Categories: Current Students, Events, Exhibitions, News