The CAFAD Newsletter

Le septembre – 2005 – September

                                                                                                                                            

Published by the Canadian Association of Fine Arts Deans

                                                              Publié par l’association canadienne des doyens des arts

 

 

Chair’s Message

 

 

Welcome back to a new academic year. I hope everyone is rested and full of plans for attending the Annual Meeting in Montreal.  The program is more extensive this year, and includes some valuable presentations, including a keynote address by Ken Robinson, a brilliant commentator on the arts, the value of creative work, and its place in cultural and economic development. I think you will find the events very stimulating and hope you will attend.

 

The Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council 2005 Research/Creation competition is complete, and many strong projects were funded for three year programs.  The SSHRC Officer responsible for Research/Creation, Susan Bernard will be attending the conference in Montreal, and a time slot in our Sunday morning activities, before our formal business meeting, will be assigned for her to give a fuller report about the competition outcomes, seek input and answer questions.

 

In July, I was able to attend the joint meeting of the International Council of Fine Arts Deans and the European League of Institutes of the Arts in London.  The sessions gave me a chance to learn about a number of new curriculum initiatives at London institutions, meet leaders of European fine arts schools, and see some inner workings of museums, galleries and theatres. 

 

On behalf of the members of CAFAD, I would like to thank Judith Rice Henderson for her work as Secretary of the organization.  She has been a thorough, wise and reliable contributor to our association, and her willingness to manage our records and meeting documents is appreciated.  She will move to another administrative post at the University of Saskatchewan, but I know she will continue to be a strong champion for arts education. I am very grateful for her contribution.

 

See you in Montreal!

 

Ann E. Calvert

Dean, Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Calgary

Chair, CAFAD

 

 

Creating Space for Art –

A special symposium in conjunction with

the annual meeting of the

Canadian Association of Fine Arts Deans

 

October 13 – 16, 2005 - Montreal, Quebec

 

Dean Christopher Jackson of Concordia’s Faculty of Fine Arts and Dean Don McLean of McGill’s Faculty of Music launch exciting additions to arts education and research in Canada with a special symposium – Creating Space for Art.  

 

This two-day symposium will extend our usual CAFAD gathering and approach the theme from several perspectives:  physical space, academic space, multicultural space, virtual space, industrial space, and personal space. 

 

Join us in Montreal, as we welcome fine arts administrators and colleagues from across Canada, along with keynote guests from the international artistic and architectural communities, to engage in two days of provocative discussion, as we sound out and envision the future.

 

Keynote speaker: Sir Ken Robinson, PhD

Sir Ken Robinson is an internationally recognized leader in the development of creativity, innovation and human resources. He has advised public, educational and commercial organizations in Europe, Asia and the USA. They include the European Commission, UNESCO, and the Council of Europe; the J Paul Getty Trust in Los Angeles, etc. In June 2003 he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II for his outstanding achievements as a leader, writer and speaker in creativity, the arts and education. 

 

Dr. Bernard Shapiro, O.C., Ethics Commissioner of Canada, Principal and Vice-Chancellor Emeritus of McGill University, and a great champion of music and the arts in society and the academy will act as respondent to Sir Ken Robinson’s address.

 

Discussions

Academic Space

John Rea, Composer, Professor, and former Dean of Music of McGill University leads a panel discussion of the ongoing and emerging challenges facing university-based and other institutional models for education in the fine and performing arts.

                                   

Global Space

Multiculturalism and globalization in the academy: richness of ethnicities and cultures and the performance of “difference”.  Moderated by Gage Averill, Dean Faculty of Music, University of Toronto.

                                   

Physical Space for Art

Lead architects of the new Concordia Fine Arts and McGill University new Music Building projects discuss the challenges perceived and experienced by creators of spaces dedicated to arts education and praxis. Phyllis Lambert, founding Director and Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Canadian Centre for Architecture, moderates the panel.

                                   

Virtual Space

Lynn Hughes, Associate Professor at Concordia and Stephen McAdams, Director of CIRMMT facilitate a discussion on "Technology: shaping art and/or transformed by art; what can we expect next in technology? And when?"

 

Industrial and Personal Space

Sandy Pearlman discusses the changing nature of the creation and consumption of art and the exploration in music of individuality, intimacy, and modularity. Mr. Pearlman is an Adjunct Professor at McGill University and Associate Member of CIRMMT and a renowned producer of heavy metal music.

 

Visit www. cafad.com  (click on Information, Annual General Meetings) or the symposium website at www.spaceforart.concordia.ca to view schedule, to register and arrange hotel accommodation.

WHAT’S NEW at SSHRC

 

SSHRC is pleased to report that 2004-05 was an outstanding year for fine arts scholars:

 

Standard Research Grants:

Fine Arts Committee 3 reviewed an unprecedented 117 submissions for funding; 46 grants were awarded; $3,108, 891 will be distributed to successful researchers over the next three years.

 

Some interesting and comprehensive application stats on SRG 2005 can be found on the SSHRC web site at: http://www.sshrc.ca/web/winning/prog_stats/research_2005.xls

 

As you know, the competition cycle is starting up again with the Oct. 15th application deadline rapidly approaching. SSHRC staff has been busy over the streamlining the process. Any changes that have been implemented appear on the SSHRC web site in the program description and the application instructions (see links below).

 

As always, abiding by SSHRC format guidelines is mandatory (and works in the researcher’s favour!)

Program: http://www.sshrc.ca/web/apply/program_descriptions/standard_e.asp

Application & Guidelines: https://webapps.nserc.ca/sshrc/logon_e.htm

 

Research/Creation Grants in Fine Arts:

The second competition wrapped up in May. The committees reviewed 156 applications, a phenomenal amount of requests for a pilot program. In all, 26 grants were awarded to successful artist/researchers - $4,361,869 will fund some very exciting projects, listed at the following link: http://www.sshrc.ca/web/winning/comp_results/2005_arts_e.asp

 

SSHRC in Montréal:

Not one to miss a golden opportunity, SSHRC has arranged for a Fine Arts Program Officer to deliver a short presentation at the CAFAD AGM Sunday Oct. 16th in Montréal. Susan Bernard, the fine arts program officer for Standard Research Grants Committee 3 and the recent Research/Creation competition (with Senior Officer Craig McNaughton, whom you will remember from last year’s AGM), is well-positioned to respond to questions directly concerning the fine arts and can also provide a general overview of the current climate at SSHRC.

 

Bring your feedback - your comments and recommendations will be funnelled directly back to Ottawa!

 

Individual appointments for Oct 15 & 16th can be pre-arranged by contacting

susan.bernard@sshrc.ca, 613-232-7384.

 

Emily Carr Institute

 

Dr. Ron Burnett, President, was awarded a prestigious Pixel award in recognition of his significant achievements in new media over the past year in the “Educator of the Year Award” category of the 2005 Canadian New Media Awards (CNMA). The CNMA awards were held in Toronto, May 30^th, 2005. More information about the 2005 award recipients can be found on: www.cnma.ca.

 

Greg Bellerby, Curator of the Charles H. Scott Gallery, ECI, (Commissioner) and Chris Macdonald, Director of the UBC School of Architecture (co-curator) have been selected to curate Canada’s participation at the 10^th International Biennale for Architecture, in Venice, Italy, September 2006. 

 

Fiona Bowie, Media Arts faculty, (along with artist Rebecca Belmore and engineering scientist Sidney Fels), has been awarded a public art commission for an electronic media project to be integrated into the architecture of the Mount Pleasant Civic Centre at 1 Kingsway. ‘Flow’ will conflate past and present through a dynamic blending of projected imagery onto shifting architectural surfaces and landscapes. The Mount Pleasant Civic Centre is scheduled for completion in June of 2007 and will house the Mount Pleasant Branch Library, Mount Pleasant Community Centre, day-care facility, market rental housing, and a café.

 

Landon Mackenzie, Visual Arts faculty, was awarded a Canada Council Creation/Production Grant in the category of ‘Established Artists’, August 2005.  Mackenzie will create a series of large-format paintings that engage with contemporary developments in neuroscience."

 

Position Available: ECI, a leading Canadian institution for the education of artists, designers, and media practitioners, invites applications for a full time, tenure-track, Assistant Professor Position in Visual Arts to teach painting and painting-related subjects, beginning August 1, 2006 (Competition F003-2005).  For complete details, please see the website, www.eciad.ca or email hr@eciad.ca.

 

ECI is pleased to announce the following tenure track faculty appointments in Industrial Design, effective August 1, 2005:

Duane Elverum holds a Bachelor Degree in Architecture and a Bachelor of Arts in Germanic Studies and Language from the University of British Columbia. Duane has taught as sessional faculty at Emily Carr and in the School of Architecture at UBC.

Louise St. Pierre holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Industrial Design from the University of Alberta and is currently Chair of Industrial Design at the University of Washington. Louise is co-author of Okala Ecological Design, a course guide for the North American context for product design education.

 

Ryerson Reports

 

The Faculty of Communication & Design is pleased to announce highlights of our new faculty appointments:

 

Daniel Doz has been appointed Dean, Faculty of Communication & Design.  Dr. Doz was head of the Division of Architecture and Art at Norwich University in Northfield, Vermont.  Born in Montreal, and educated largely in France, Dr. Doz is fluently bilingual and has an exceptional range of academic experience that spans both the communication and design disciplines including art, cinema, photography, theatre and design (architecture).  He holds a Doctorate in Theatrical and Cinematographic Studies from the Université de Paris, and is licensed as an architect by the French government. He was an Adjunct Professor of Art in the Department of Theater at Roanoke College ( Virginia) and taught at Ball State University (Indiana) where he served as assistant chair of the Architecture Department before moving to Norwich, one of the oldest universities in the U.S.

 

Abby Goodrum has been appointed Velma Rogers Graham Research Chair in News Media and Technology for an initial term of five years as she assumes a full time faculty position in the School of Journalism.  Dr. Goodrum comes to Ryerson from Syracuse University where she has been a professor in the School of Information Studies as well as a research scientist at the Information Institute of Syracuse and research associate for the Convergence Center for Communication and Media Studies.  

 

Abhay Sharma joins the School of Graphic Communications Management as Chair, coming from the University of Western Michigan, where he was Associate Professor.  Dr. Sharma combines an active scholarly and research agenda with ongoing involvement in the printing and imaging industries.  Recent publications include a book, Understanding Color Management, and numerous articles for academic and trade publications that relate to color and photography.

 

James Nadler has studied Drama/Film at Dartmouth College and Law at the University of Western Ontario; Professor Nadler also has an M.B.A. from INSEAD in France.  James Nadler is a writer/producer who has won a Gemini for best television program.  He’ll be teaching in the School of Radio and Television Arts

 

Steve Daniels has previously taught at the School of Image Arts in New Media and is an award winning artist and web designer.  Professor Daniels has had extensive individual and group exhibitions and screenings across Canada. 

 

Caralee McLellan joins the School of Image Arts. She has an MFA from the Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University in New Jersey and has taught at the University of Toronto, Department of Fine Art (Visual Studies), at OCAD and at Acadia University.    

 

Waterloo Writes

In September and October 2005, the career of Art Green, professor of fine arts at the University of Waterloo since 1977, will be celebrated in a joint exhibition at the University of Waterloo Art Gallery and the Kitchener-Waterloo Art Gallery (Art Green: A Survey).  The exhibition is curated by Gary Michael Dault and there is an accompanying catalogue.  Of the thirteen artists represented in Sampler: The 2^nd KWšAG Biennial, curated by Andrew Hunter, five are instructors in the University of Waterloo Fine Arts Department--Doug Kirton, Cora Cluett, Paul Dignan, Robert Linsley and Eva McCauley–and several others are UW Fine Arts alumni. 

Professor Bruce Taylor from Fine Arts and Professor Rob Gorbet from Electrical and Computer Engineering have been invited to participate in the Carnegie Research Institute for Scholarship of Teaching and Learning as part of a select group of new scholars applying their research skills to study their own teaching.  Taylor and Gorbet are studying the effectiveness of cross-disciplinary learning in which students collaborate on technology-mediated sculptural work as part of their novel interdisciplinary course ‘Technology Art Studio’.  The Fine Arts Department has been awarded a grant from the J.W. Graham Trust to fund visiting professors in digital media as part of the department’s continuing liaison with computer science and electrical engineering.  Professor Robert Linsley was awarded a Research/Creation Grant in Fine Arts (SSHRC).

The MFA Shantz internship enjoyed another successful year with MFA students working with David Mach and Christopher Le Brun in London, Chen Cheng-Shun in Taiwan and John Kørner in Denmark.

The UW Fine Arts Department is hosting a week-long symposium, “Monuments, anti-monuments and the limits of sculpture”, November 7-11, 2005.  Participants include David Mach, Alexandra Parigoris, Aganetha Dyck, Greg Forrest, Fastwürms, Ruth Abernethy, Sheila McMath and Mike Ambedian.

The Fine Arts Department continues to offer courses abroad.  In May 2005, in conjunction with the Italian Studies Department, forty-five students spent three weeks in Florence studying Tuscan art and culture with Gabriel Niccoli, Joan Coutu, Jane Buyers and Cora Cluett.  A course trip to Vienna, Prague and Kasel is planned for spring 2007.  Please go to our dynamic new website, http://www/arts/uwaterloo.ca/FINE/index.html, for more information about the department.

An Invitation from OCAD 

 

In celebration of Artsweek 05 and the arrival of our new President Sara Diamond, OCAD invites colleagues, friends and members of the general public to tour behind the scenes.  On Wednesday, September 28, 2005, from 6 to 8 pm, OCAD studios will be open for self-guided tours.  From 8 pm to 9 pm, visitors are invited to join in a celebration of the new school year, and the beginning of Sara Diamond’s term as the 19^th President of OCAD.    

 

 

New Faculty

at UBC Okanagan

 

The Faculty of Creative and Critical Studies (FCCS) at UBC – Okanagan will play a central role in the cultural education of students at UBC Okanagan by mobilizing creative expertise and critical acumen to help students balance their study across subject boundaries. FCCS strives to produce students who are not only great performers or artists, but who also understand the academic and philosophical connection that the creative and performing arts and their related academic and theoretical disciplines have to the other endeavours of the University. In doing this, FCCS brings together in one administrative unit -- separated from the Irving K. Barber School of Arts and Sciences -- the disciplines of art history; creative writing; English, French, Japanese, and Spanish language and literature; film studies; media studies; theatre; and visual arts. With these interconnections -- and with further ties to the humanities, social sciences and natural sciences represented in the Barber School -- FCCS students will understand the global context in which they think about and create creative writing, critical and historical assessments of creative acts, performances, visual art, and the like.

 

FCCS offers Bachelor of Arts degrees with majors in Creative Writing; English; French; French and Spanish; and Spanish; and the Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in visual arts. FCCS will also participate in offering interdisciplinary MA and PhD programs and, subject to Ministry approval, an interdisciplinary MFA program that requires student engagement outside the Faculty (as distinct from a "conventional" interdisciplinary MFA). Within the year, FCCS also hopes to propose new undergraduate BA majors in art history and studio visual arts, as well as conventional MFAs in each of its creative disciplines (and combinations thereof).

 

FCCS consists of two departments, Creative Studies and Critical Studies, of which the respective Heads are Briar Craig and Dr. Kenneth Phillips. Joining the current complement of about forty faculty are new hires Sharon Thesen and Anne Fleming (creative writing); Neil Cadger (theatre and performance); Jody Castricano, Lisa Grekul and David Jefferess (English); Jelena Jovicic (French); and Mercedes Duran-Cogan (Spanish).

 

Dalhousie Theatre

 

Costume Studies Professor Patrick Clark designed the Stratford Festival’s Hello Dolly, The Constant Wife for the Guthrie Theatre and Much Ado About Nothing for the Chicago Shakespeare Theatre.  Patrick is now busy working on To Kill A Mockingbird for Neptune Theatre.

 

In December of 2004, Undergraduate Advisor Roberta Barker’s edition of Common Conditions was published by Oxford University Press for the Malone Society.  A SSHRC Standard Research Grant (2005-08) will allow Roberta to work on her new research project: “Cultural Drag: Gendered Negotiations in Shakespearean Performance”. 

 

Out-going Chair, Jure Gantar, is looking forward to a sabbatical year to be spent in Ljubljana, Slovenia.  Last year, Jure  published an article on “Black Humour and the Psychopathology of the Petit-Bourge! ois Everyday” for the City Theatre of Ljubljana.  His book entitled The Pleasure of Fools: Essays in the Ethics of Laughter (published by the McGill-Queen’s University Press) is now available.

 

During the past year, David Overton directed the DalTheatre production of Danton’s Death and supervised the Director’s Showcase and the Independent Student Production of William Finn’s Elegies.  David was also actively involved in bringing the Tony-award winning Mr. Finn to the Department for a lecture/discussion of his work.

                                                                                Peter Perina has survived a most interesting summer, what with 28 Dalhousie University students descending on Krumlov in the Czech Republic where Peter continues his restoration work in the baroque theatre of the town’s castle (Cesky Krumlov).  2005 saw the inaugural session of the half-credit course entitled ! s24 Advanced Seminar in Baroque Culture (THEA4733) which Peter helped to establish.

 

Newly appointed Chair, Susan Stackhouse, began her duties on July 1, 2005.  Susan directed the final production of the DalTheatre 2004-05 season - Pride and Prejudice for which she was successful in securing an Innovation Grant from the Centre for Learning and Teaching, as well as a grant from External Relations, to enable Michael Doherty, Composer/Sound Designer to work with students on the production.

 

We welcome the following to our 2005-06 academic year: Rob McClure (Assistant Professor, Acting); Dragana Varagic (Assistant Professor, Acting); Elizabeth Severin, Lecturer, Costume Studies.

Letter from Lethbridge

 

Awards

 Jason Mosher’s (BFA Art-05) submission The Trip South and the Mattress that Followed was selected as the Alberta winner in BMO Financial Group's 1st Art! Invitational Student Art Competition 2005. The award includes $1,000 prize, inclusion of his work in an exhibition at the First Canadian Place Gallery and an expenses paid trip to Toronto for the private reception at the gallery.  Canadian Art Magazine will include an announcement of work in their fall issue. This is the second time in three years that the University of Lethbridge has had the Alberta winner in this competition. Brad Kinley (BFA New Media–04), working for White Iron Productions in Calgary, won a 2005 Alberta Film and Television Awards for his graphics on the Subway/CFL ‘Locker Room’ project, which won the Best Commercial category.

 

Faculty Updates

Drama professor Ron Chambers’ play “The Knowing Bird” received honourable mention in the biennial Herman Voaden National Playwriting Competition sponsored by the Drama Department at Queen’s University. His play “Dirt” is being produced by The Mad Scene Theatre Company in Los Angeles, Nov. 10 to Dec. 18, 2005. Brian Parkinson. (Theatre & Dramatic Arts) was nominated for the inaugural Lieutenant Governor of Alberta Arts Award this spring. The awards were presented in Banff in April. Josephine Mills (Director/Curator, U of L Art Gallery) has been elected Vice-President of the University and College Art Galleries Association of Canada. Adrian Cooke (U of L Art Gallery preparatory), had work in the exhibition Form, Space, Concept, Metaphor: 30 Years of Alberta Sculpture, at the Triangle Gallery  in Calgary over the summer.

 

Other News

It is interesting to note that three U of L alumni hold prominent positions with major public art galleries and museums in Alberta. Marilyn Smith is the Director of the Southern Alberta Art Gallery in Lethbridge. Val Cooper is Executive Director the Art Gallery of Calgary and Janine Andrews is the Executive Director of Museums and Collections Services and the LSE Group at the University of Alberta.  Not bad for the smallest University in the province.

 

Art faculty and alumni selected for the Alberta Biennial exhibition in Banff and Edmonton were among the artists with work at the Ottawa Art Gallery as part of the Alberta Scene, celebrating the province’s Centennial. Those represented in Ottawa are U of L Art faculty Michael Campbell, Janice Rahn, Mary-Anne McTrowe, Nick Wade, alumnus David Hoffos, and former student Faye Heavyshield.

 

Grant MacEwan College

Theatre programs feed thriving arts community

 

Recognized internationally as one of the largest and most successful Fringe events in the world, the Edmonton International Fringe Theatre Festival has become as highly anticipated in Alberta’s capital city as summer itself.

 

The success of the event attracts artists from around the world, but MacEwan theatre students, faculty, and alumni remain a big part of the theatre showcase.  This year, over twenty of the festival’s shows featured the work of our talented actors, directors, playwrights, choreographers, musicians, musical directors, and stage managers. 

 

For 25 years, MacEwan has produced some remarkable entertainers and technicians that have helped bring about a greater awareness of the performing arts in Edmonton at shows like the Fringe Festival.  This year, that contribution was recognized with the Elizabeth Sterling Haynes Award for Outstanding Contribution to Theatre in Edmonton, handed to MacEwan’s theatre arts and theatre production programs

 

¯¯Western Launches Pop Music Degree

In September 2005, the Don Wright Faculty of Music at the University of Western Ontario will become the first music school at a Canadian university to offer a four-year Bachelor of Arts with a major in Popular Music Studies.

Western has the largest group of popular music specialists at a North American university, and their combined expertise provides students with training in both the creative and critical aspects of popular music. The program prepares
students for careers in pop music through courses in songwriting, arranging, and desktop music production, as well as the critical study of songs, recordings, styles, artists, and the place of popular music in contemporary culture. Students will compose, arrange, perform, record, and produce their own songs.

“We’ve been offering courses in pop music for the past five years, and our new major builds on the success of the popular music stream within our music business program (the first music-business class graduated in June),” said Dr.
Robert Toft, Chair of the Department which developed the popular music area at Western.

 

Workshops with well-known performers and producers provide students with excellent learning opportunities. A multi-media centre houses 28 workstations where students study desktop music production, editing and post-production, as
well as the integration of music and moving images.

“There is a real demand for this type of training, especially when it’s provided by an institution that offers the breadth of courses that Western does,” said Dr. Toft. “It’s a radical departure from traditional studies in music at North
American universities.”

Students may audition for the program on electric guitar, electric bass, keyboard, drums, or as a singer.  The module in Popular Music Studies consists of 6.0 courses (usually taken as twelve separate one-term courses) selected from introductory courses, devoted to rock, jazz, world music, and musical theatre, and advanced courses which
focus on musical creativity, as well as the critical study of popular music and other aspects of contemporary culture.

 

 

 

 

Acadia University

 

Art Department

Ron Hayes has been appointed painting instructor for Acadia University's Studio program. Ron has been an active member of the arts community since moving to the Wolfville area from Toronto in 1996. He has served on the board of directors for Visual Arts Nova Scotia and participated in the early planning for the Ross Creek Centre for the Arts.

 

Editorial Cartoons by Robert Chambers (Sept. 18 – Nov. 6) This collection of political cartoons by editorial cartoonist for the Halifax Herald, Robert Chambers, deals with Canadian politics during the tenure of George Nowlan as Finance Minister and MP from Kings-Hants, Nova Scotia. Wolfville was home to both Mr. Chambers and his subject, whose son Patrick Nowlan, also an MP, donated the collection to Acadia, his Alma Mater.

 

Maritime Art (November 10 - January 15)

Canada’s first art magazine, Maritime Art, was published at Acadia University by Walter Abell, professor of Art and Aesthetics. Organized by the National Gallery of Canada, the exhibition will be complemented by paintings in Acadia’s collection by artists who were featured in Maritime Art.

 

The Art Gallery and the School of Education will combine to present a new youth program.  Once a month, Super Saturday art workshops will be offered to children 6 years of age and over.  

 

Grow with Art, the Gallery’s art rental program for children and schools, continues to introduce the world of art to its young members.  The program is approaching its fifth birthday. 

 

Acadia Theatre Company

In November, the Acadia Theatre Company will present Bertolt Brecht’s The Threepenny Opera, directed by Michael Devine.

 

Music

The first Acadia Classical Guitar Festival was a great success this summer.  The program of daily masterclasses, ensemble playing and superb evening concerts was created by the Amadeus Duo (Dale Kavanagh and Thomas Kirchhoff) who organize one of Europe¹s biggest and most prestigious classical guitar festivals in Iserlohn, Germany.

 

In May/June of 2005, Acadia University reached out to two rural Nova Scotia Schools over advanced networks through videoconferencing.  A brainchild of Acadia’s School of Music, the remote videoconference setup brought not only drum and guitar lessons, but also Chemistry and Biology labs.  To watch a five minute video, visit:

 

http://ace.acadiau.ca/mediadownloads/FundyWeb_KWIK.mov

 

 

 

¯¯Dalhousie Music

 

Dr. Jennifer Bain had an article appear in the latest issue of Plainsong and Medieval Music, “Tonal Structure and the Melodic Role of Chromatic Inflections in the Music of Machaut”.

 

Pianist Lynn Stodola performed in the 2005 Ottawa Chamber Music Festival including the Opening Gala Concert and an open air concert on the grounds of Rideau Hall. She also performed on the Philips Collection Series in Washington D.C. last season with cellist Susan Salm.

 

Violinist Philippe Djokic performed in summer music festivals in Sitka Alaska, Domaine Forget (P.Q.), and Ottawa (International Chamber Music Festival). 

 

Dalhousie University welcomes two newly appointed professors in 2005/2006: Professor Peter Allen (Piano) and Dr. Steven Baur (Musicology).

 

Dalhousie University has acquired a new 5 ½ foot Yamaha Marimba, the first of its kind in a Canadian Music Institution.

 

Dale Sorensen, trombone, will perform as soloist with the Prince Edward Island Symphony Orchestra on October 24, 2005. The concert will feature the world premiere performance of Canadian composer Jim O'Leary's Trombone Concerto, which was commissioned by the PEISO with assistance from the Canada Council for the Arts.

 

Composer Dr. Jerome Blais will have several of his compositions performed during the 2005 fall term: Plugged 1.2 in Kitchener-Waterloo on September 17; Inventio in Halifax on October 15; Donna Nobis (premiered by the Dalhousie Chamber Choir) on November 30; Plugged 1.5 (premiered by Janice Jackson) at Acadia University on November 18.

Marcia Swanston, mezzo soprano starts off the academic year with “Aspects of Love” a voice/piano recital with Dalhousie alumni and faculty member at Albion College, Michigan, Michelle Beaton.  In October she heads for the University of Alberta for “An Enchanted Evening” of chamber music with Aaron Au, viola and Michael Massey, piano as well as give a masterclass for UofA voice students

. 

 

 

Printmaking at U of Alberta

 

Faculty and graduate students working in the area of printmaking have been actively participating in international projects this past year, as part of the dissemination of results from a major SSHRC research/creation grant. Last December Professors Walter Jule and Liz Ingram participated as speakers and exhibitors in the prestigious International Symposium of Print Art at the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music.  They took eight graduate students to attend the proceedings, visit museums and galleries, and to participate in portfolio exchanges with their peers from two Tokyo universities.

 

By invitation, Prof. Ingram has curated “Synergies: Prints from the University of Alberta”, an exhibition of staff and graduate student prints for the Kloster Bentlage Museum and Gallery in Rheine, Germany. In October, eight graduate students from our Department will accompany three faculty to participate in a one week workshop with students from two German art programs in a residency at this marvelous cultural centre (a converted monastery).

 

Full time faculty, sessional instructors and technicians will be exhibiting their works in a collaborative print exhibition with Tama Art University in Tokyo and Sipalkorn University in Bangkok. The exhibition will open in November 2005 in Bangkok, February 2006 in Edmonton and April 2006 in Tokyo. Professors Sean Caulfield, Walter Jule and Liz Ingram will be attending opening receptions and giving presentations to accompany these exhibitions.

 

Beginning in September, a recent MFA graduate from Musashino Art University in Tokyo will be in residence in our graduate studio to work alongside our students for one year. We will also be hosting visiting artists Thavorn Ko-Udomvit, (Thailand) and Robert Jankovic (Slovakia) during this year.

 

Dramatic News                                from the University of Alberta

 

People and Programs

Professor Kim McCaw will be acting as Department of Drama Chair while Professor Jan Selman takes administrative leave throughout the 2005-2006 academic year. 

 

The Department will welcome a stellar line-up of distinguished guest artists this year.  Vern Thiessen, Artistic Associate of the Citadel Theatre and Governor General Award winning playwright (Einstein’s Gift), will teach Playwriting in the Fall Term.  Conni Massing, renowned playwright and screenwriter will teach Script Writing in the Winter Term.  Jonathan Christenson of Catalyst Theatre will teach a new senior level BA Drama course in Performer Created Theatre.  Stephen Heatley returns to Edmonton as Studio Theatre’s guest director of The Myth of Summer by Conni Massing in December.   

 

The Department of Drama at the U of A is excited to announce the launch of a new Theatre Voice Pedagogy specialization in theirMFA program.  First intake will take place in September of 2006. For program details please check out the pages for prospective graduate students at the Department website www.ualberta.ca/drama or contact Professor Betty Moulton by email at betty.moulton@ualberta.ca .

 

Bearing Witness

University of Alberta’s Department of Drama and Faculty of Nursing are collaborating to present Bearing Witness, a play written by Twilla Welch, a mental health nurse and her husband Mark Welch, a nursing professor.  Based on research and clinical work with people who have experienced trauma, Bearing Witness revolves around the parallel stories of a man who survived torture for his political beliefs and a younger woman who remembers her sexual abuse.

 

The play was first produced in Australia by Shadowhouse Pits Theatre Company and professionally staged in Canberra, ACT.  Under the direction of Assistant Drama Professor Kathleen Weiss and featuring a cast of U of A Drama alumni, the U of A production runs September 9 – 17, 2005 in the Second Playing Space at the Timms Centre, University of Alberta campus.

Lee Playwright In Residence

The University of Alberta’s Department of Drama invites applications from established Canadian playwrights for the inaugural term of the Lee Playwright In Residence. This innovative new residency offers a unique opportunity for a Canadian playwright to devote time to his or her writing and to make a significant contribution to new play development within the university and professional theatre community in Edmonton.  Application deadline is October 15, 2005.  For more information, please see the job posting section at www.ualberta.ca/drama

Positions Available at U of Alberta

The University of Alberta invites applications from Designers with considerable experience in all three areas of design (sets, lights and costumes) but with particular emphasis on costume design.  The closing date for applications is November 7, 2005.  For a full position description and application details, please see the job posting section on the Department of Drama website www.ualberta.ca/drama .

NSCAD News

 

Fifty-six NSCAD University students, faculty and staff participated in a cultural tour of Spain in late April/early May. The 17-day trip included visits to museums and sites in Barcelona, Madrid, Valencia, Bilbao, Cordoba and Granada. The tour of Spain is the third World Travel excursion lead by President Paul Greenhalgh, and follows on successful trips to Greece in 2002 and Italy in 2003. A number of students completed credit work in the new courses World Travel Research and World Travel Studio Projects through participation in this year’s tour. World Travel to France is now being planned for the spring of 2006.

 

Associate Professor Bryan Maycock (Foundation Division) and Dalhousie University colleague Dr. Ray Klein (Department of Psychology) have been awarded a Standard Research Grant through the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council. Professors Maycock and Klein will work on a three-year project entitled Patterns of looking when drawing from observation: Implications in training, which will investigate the relationship of eye movement to observation during the activity of drawing. The project, to be housed on the NSCAD University Granville campus, will allow graduate students from both Fine Arts and Psychology to work together at many stages of the research.

 

NSCAD University welcomes Assistant Professor Glen Hougan, the newest member of faculty, to Halifax. Professor Hougan holds a Master of Environmental Design from the University of Calgary, and a Bachelor of Environmental Studies from the University of Waterloo. He joins the Design Division, where he will lead academic and research initiatives in Product Design. His special interests are in sustainable design for the community and user-centred and discovery design. Professor Hougan’s background includes five years teaching experience in the Industrial and Interaction Design program ay Syracuse University.

 

NSCAD University lost highly-esteemed artist and teacher Nancy Edell earlier this summer. Nancy died at home on June 9, after a lengthy illness. Originally from Omaha, Nebraska, Nancy had taught drawing and printmaking at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design since 1982. Her work in those media, and in contemporary rug-hooking, has been exhibited in many national and international venues. A celebrated exhibition of 78 works, entitled Nancy Edell: Selected Works 1980-2004, was on view from October 2004 through February 2005 at the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia.

 

¯Music at Brandon University

 

The School of Music, Brandon University has appointed renowned violinist James Ehnes Francis Chaplin Guest Professor of Violin. Early in his career, James studied with Francis Chaplin at Brandon University and regards him as a major influence on his playing and career. James will visit Brandon for one or two residencies each year. His first residency occurred in September 2005. He performed a solo recital with New York pianist Eduard Laurel, gave private lessons to several string students and participated in chamber music and string master classes.

 

Brandon University School of Music hosts short- and long-term residencies on an annual basis. Last year pianist Marc-André Hamelin and his wife, soprano Jody Applebaum, spent a week at Brandon University. Marc performed a solo recital (Albeniz’ Iberia), gave a joint recital, taught many private lessons, and met with piano literature and pedagogy students (at the graduate and undergraduate levels). Marc and Jody also joined faculty members Kerry DuWors (violin) and Mark Rudoff (cello) in a Shostakovich song cycle and Marc and faculty member Alexander Tselyakov (piano) performed Grainger’s Fantasy on Themes from Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess. Hamelin returns to the campus for a second residency in November 2006.

 

Other visitors to the campus this term include the Turning Point Ensemble, jazz multi-instrumentalist Don Thompson, cellist Shauna Rolston, flutist Susan Hoeppner, pianist/composer Heather Schmidt, and the Penderecki String Quartet. Rebecca Campbell and Carol Ann Weaver appear in November in a program entitled Awakenings, songs set to texts by Dorothy Livesay and Brandon University writer-in-residence Di Brandt. With Brandon University’s new programs in visual arts and creative writing now up and running (more on this next time around), more interdisciplinary arts collaborations are on the horizon.

 

Among the honourary degree recipients last spring were musicians James Ehnes and popular singer/songwriter Tom Cochrane, originally from Lynn Lake, Manitoba. In the summer, a workshop for instrumental teachers attracted more than 30 participants from across the province, with the largest contingent from Winnipeg. Clinicians included faculty members Greg Gatien (jazz studies) and Wendy McCallum (Director of Bands). Tom Van Seters, a jazz pianist whose CD “Narrative” was named one of the top ten Canadian Jazz Albums of 2002 by JAZZ FM 91.1, has joined the full-time faculty in our jazz studies program.

 

Fine Arts at the University of Windsor

 

School of Visual Arts

 

School of Visual Arts Professor Emeritus Iain Baxter, will exhibit a retrospective of early works from the N. E. Thing Co. at Gallery Vox, centre de l’image contemporaine as part of Le Mois de la Photo à Montreal (10 September – 22 October). This is the 9th year of this photography festival which celebrates over 60 international artists. Also exhibiting is Professor Sophia Isijiw, whose recent installation has been included in Intersection, an exhibition of Contemporary Ukrainian Canadian Artists at Toronto's Harbourfront centre.

 

The School of Music

 

The School of Music has a new Director, Dr. Sandi Curtis.  "The School of Music is heading out of the conservatory – in terms of the music we embrace, the students we reach, and the places in which we make and celebrate music," says Dr. Curtis.  "We are opening up to a much broader understanding of music, embracing music of a rich diversity of cultures, styles, places, and times.”

 

The places where students will find themselves making and celebrating music are also changing. We are creating learning communities where students and faculty learn alongside one another within the traditional classroom and without characterized by innovation, creativity, and interdisciplinarity.

 

The Humanities Research Group in collaboration with the University of Windsor School of Music presents Anton Kuerti in recital on September 23.   Mr. Kuerti will also give a public lecture “When Arts and Politics Collide” on September 22.    

 

The School of Dramatic Art

 

Dr. Erica Stevens Abbitt will be directing a staged reading of a new work by renowned contemporary Berlin novelist and playwright, Jenny Erpenbeck, Cats Have Nine Lives.  The work has been translated by award-winning poet Di Brandt of our English Department and is co-sponsored by the School of Dramatic Art and the Goethe Institut.

 

 

Professor Lionel Walsh performed in Off the 401 by Judith Thompson at International Michael Chekhov Association Festival and Workshop, in Amherst, Massachusetts.  Professor Tedfred Myers continues as Resident Lighting Designer at Showboat Festival Theatre.  Faculty members Professor Sonia Norris, Dr. Erica Stevens Abbitt and Professor Lionel Walsh are involved in the governance of the Association for Theatre in Higher Education. 

 

Some financial news is also causing excitement at the School of Dramatic Art.  Mr. George Graeme Hutchinson has bequeathed $250,000 for Dramatic Art scholarships and subscription sales for the University Players have sharply increased from last year.