Visual Arts Department instructor Irene Loughlin announces the following exhibitions:

Dowsing
Nov 17-Dec 5, 2014
Digital Wall, Matheson Learning Commons
James A. Gibson Library
Brock University

Dowsing is a video performance of an invented ritual and a meditation on the rotation of time disassociated from a specific historical moment, but also referencing a time outside of the present via the signifiers of the central figure's clothing. The woman is submerged in an environment that will no longer exist in the future. The objective of this ongoing body of work is to create obscure rituals of modernity 'at and for the end of the world'. The title of this series refers to both a geographic location and a psychic space. Dowsing (and other works in this series presented concurrently at the Sean O'Sullivan Theatre Gallery) take place within island and coastal areas (the west coast of Canada, the west coast of Ireland, and Guatemala City) - loci where the presence of water or a lack thereof hangs in the balance.

Concept by Irene Loughlin and Naufus Ramirez-Figueroa, Direction by Naufus Ramirez-Figueroa. Performance and video editing by Irene Loughlin. Created at the Banff Centre for the Arts and made possible through the financial support of the BC Arts Council.

Irene Loughlin is an Interdisciplinary artist who works at the intersections of performance art, video, installation, sound, painting, drawing and writing. Since 2010, she has lead classes in Interdisciplinary practice, Intermedia, and Foundation Studio at Brock University in the Visual Arts Department.

Concurrent to the screening of Dowsing on the Learning Commons Digital Wall, photographs and drawings from the series 'Clare Projects' and 'Rituals at/for the End of the World' will be featured in the Sean O'Sullivan Theatre Gallery from Nov

​17​-Nov 30th 2014.
____________________________________________________________

Clare Projects
Rituals at/for the end of the world
Irene Loughlin
Nov​ ​17​​ - Nov 30th 2014​
Sean O'Sullivan Lobby, Sean O'Sullivan Theatre,
Brock University

Opening reception:

​Monday, Nov 17th 4-6 pm​
Clare Projects is a series of

​​​ink drawings created in County Clare, Ireland during a residency at the Burren College of Art in the summer of 2014. The images are reflective of the artist's central studio practice of walking, and were imagined via the frameworks of historical referent, feminism, spiritism, and magic.
Rituals at/for the End of the World is a series of photographs and text constructed in three locations. The first image captures a moment during the Enabled Manifesto collective performance in Berlin, Germany and is accompanied by a manifesto text on neurodiversity that was read aloud during the performance. The second image was constructed in a west Irish field to emphasize the artist's heightened concentration, as if she is looking through time and space. Her body is perched on a bale of hay re-imagined as a sculptural platform. The third image was composed on a rooftop in Guatemala City, and relays a moment of disappearance in which the artist is simultaneously present and absent. The play between aesthetic and physical balance is a central theme of all three images.

Clare Projects and Rituals at/for the End of the World were made possible through funding by the Canada Council for the Arts. 

Many Canadian orchestras have brought Classical Kids’ Beethoven Lives Upstairs program to their stages over the years, but the Niagara Symphony has brought a fresh new approach to this classic event.  Brock Dramatic Arts student Elizabeth Pereira and alumnus Evan Mulrooney will play the roles of Christoph and the Uncle respectively, in performance with the Niagara Symphony (led by music director Bradley Thachuk) in April 2015.  They earned the roles through competitive auditions at the school, and will be directed by Brock Professor of Drama Virginia Reh.

from the article posted September 17 in the Orchestra News, Weekly Newsletter
at http://orchestrascanada.org/2014/09/17/new-partnership-for-the-niagara-symphony/

Visual Arts graduate Emma German has curated an exhibition celebrating the 50th anniversary of partnerships between Brock University and the City of St. Catharines. 

Dreams made real and the people behind them. This exhibit of photographs celebrates the people who inspired the creation of Brock University, and the latest partnership with the City of St. Catharines that is changing the face of downtown.

Brock & St. Catharines: 50 Years of Partnerships is presented by the City of St. Catharines in collaboration with Brock University. The exhibit was developed from photographs, artifacts, and artwork found in the St. Catharines Museum Standard Collection, Brock University’s Special Collections, and Brock University’s Art Collection.

The exhibit is curated by Emma German, Curatorial Assistant for the City of St. Catharines and graduate from Brock University’s Visual Arts program in the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts.

September 16- 28, 2014
Sean O’ Sullivan Theatre Lobby, Brock University
Reception: Monday, September 22, 2014 at 4:00pm

Sculpture and foundation instructor Donna Akrey is part of the exhibit Possible Futures: What is to be done? The 2014 Windsor-Essex Triennial of Contemporary Art. The exhibition features the work of: 

Participating artists: Donna Akrey (Hamilton), Kiki Athanassiadis (Windsor), Corrie Baldauf (Detroit), Collette Broeders (Windsor), Stephen Brookbank (Hamilton), Colin Carney (Guelph/London), Patrick Cull and Barbara Hobot (Kitchener), Kate Daughdrill (Detroit), Christian Ernsten and Corine Vermeulen (Detroit), Natalie Hunter (Waterloo), Svava Thordis Juliusson (Hamilton), Tavis Lea (Warwick Township), Patrick Mahon (London), Mike Marcon (Windsor), Laura Moore (Chatham), Natalie Nadeau (Essex), Jenna Faye Powell (London), Jay Raven (Windsor), Graeme Skelton (Windsor), Dennis K. Smith (LaSalle), Peter Solly (Windsor), Denise St. Marie and Timothy Walker - Timeanddesire (Windsor/Sarnia), TH&B (Hamilton), Ben Wolf (Detroit)

Commissioned artists: Marco D'Andrea (Hamilton), Arturo Herrera (Windsor), Kelly Jazvac (London), Charlie O'Geen (Detroit), Brandon Vickerd (Hamilton), Jennifer Willet (Windsor)

This exhibition was curated by Srimoyee Mitra with the curatorial committee: Melissa Bennett, Curator of Contemporary Art, Art Gallery of Hamilton; Lucy Howe, artist, Windsor; Stuart Reid, Director/Curator, Rodman Hall Art Centre, Brock University, St. Catherines; Gregory Tom, Gallery Programs Director, Eastern Michigan University Art Department, Ypsilanti.

Art Gallery of Windsor
October 4, 2014 – January 11, 2015

Click HERE for more information on this exhibition.

www.donnaakrey.com

Associate Professor Duncan MacDonald’s recent group exhibition in Cambridge, Ontario entitled ‘5 over 4’ has recently been reviewed in Canadian Art’s 30th year edition. The exhibition featured artworks by artists working with sound in a variety of mediums. Artists included: Eleanor King, Christof Migone, Marla Hlady, Duncan MacDonald and Ursula Nistrup.

For more info click HERE.

Photography Instructor Amy Friend is part of two upcoming exhibitions:

Reframe: An Exploration of Memory and Nostalgia.

September 18 to October 8, 2014.
Photoville
Pier 5, Brooklyn Bridge Park, Brooklyn NY.

Curated by Alison Zavos, Jenna Garrett and Amanda Gorence.
Featuring Audrée Anid, Joachim Fleinert, Amy Friend, Andres Galeano, Jennifer Greenburg, Faye Hobson, Lisa Kokin, Diane Meyer, Bianca Morra, Jackson Patterson, Evie Woltil Richner, Mikolaj Rogowski, Sarah Steffen

Throughout history, photography has been upheld as a source of truth.
 Reframe: An Exploration of Memory and Nostalgia examines those histories which are unclear, questioning our belief in what was and re-interpreting what
can be learned from the past. The show includes work from 10 international photographers and artists who are taking work created long ago and making it their own.

PHOTOVILLE – New York City’s premier photo destination – is a modular venue built from re-purposed shipping containers. Combining photo exhibitions, outdoor photo installations, talks, and workshops, PHOTOVILLE welcomed 58,000 visitors during its sophomore year in 2013 and is projected to reach over 80,000 visitors in 2014. Immersion and interactivity are at the heart of what makes Photoville such a successful event – allowing it to become the largest annual photographic event in New York City, and among the most-attended photographic events nationwide in its second year.

For more information click HERE.

Image: Constructed :: Constructed : Image

September 5, 2014 – October 11, 2014
Wellington B. Gray Gallery
East Carolina University School of Art and Design
Greenville, North Carolina.

Image : Constructed :: Constructed : Image in the main space of the Gray Gallery East Carolina University is curated by SoAD photography faculty member Angela Franks Wells. This national invitational photography exhibition features the work of twelve artists from eleven states and Canada. The artists in the show are Thomas Allen, Tracy Longley-Cook, KK DePaul, Amy Friend, Amy Theiss Giese, Dan Herrera, Aspen Hochhalter, Heidi Kirkpatrick, Louviere and Vanessa, Emma Powell, Liz Sales and Kris Sanford.

The artists' work encompasses a wide range of photographic processes: cyanotype, gum bichromate, type C color prints, digital pigment prints, images on found objects and mixed media. In describing the exhibition, Angela Franks Wells states," Over 300 million photographs are uploaded to Facebook every day. We will take more than 380 billion pictures this year. Our society is consumed with the activity of taking pictures. As an artist and educator, I am deeply invested in the practice of making photographs, rather than taking them. The twelve artists in this exhibition exemplify the diverse nature of contemporary photographic practice. They make photographs; from creating the subject of the photograph to building the camera to making images without a camera; these artists are constructing the image. The image constructs conversation and challenges our ideas of what makes a photograph—well, a photograph."

For more information click HERE.

Break-a-leg! to the student directors, cast and crew, faculty and staff who are opening the One Acts Festival TODAY!

Every year as the final assignment for the Third Year Directing class each student choses a one act play to produce for the One Act Festival.This years One Acts Festival is approaching and the dates are as follow:

Group A's shows are:
The Feast
Overtones
Hide & Seek
Fourteen

Group B's shows are:
Tales of the Grotesque
Don Juan in Chicago
Playwriting 101
Rat Snake

Friday March 21st Group A starting at 2pm Group B at 7pm

Saturday March 22nd Group B starting at 2pm & Group A at 7pm.

Come out and support the 3rd year directors and all the students involved in this years Festival. Seating is limited so please show up early to get your seats!

see the FB events page here

One Acts Festival

see the FB events page here

“When I came to Brock I had done exactly one small part in one play. I had only ever seen two plays and one of them was Cats. I knew nothing about acting, nothing about theatre, nothing about life really. I was an English major planning to become a lawyer who thought that theatre would be a fun elective. When I left, five years later I couldn't conceive of doing anything else with my life.” Wes Berger, class of 1999.

Department of Dramatic Arts alumnus Wes Berger, who has just directed the world premiere of George F. Walker’s Parents Night in Hamilton, has certainly made good use of the 15 years since he left DART. He has an extensive acting resume which includes stage, film and TV. Theatre credits include Tarragon, Young Peoples Theatre, Manitoba Theatre Centre and the Blyth Festival. He has worked as director on several Walker plays at this point, as well as Fringe and Summerworks shows in Toronto and projects with Lyndesfarne here in Niagara.

Parents Night is a one-act, three-character comedy/dramedy set in a Grade Three classroom. The action takes place in real-time, starring Sarah Murphy-Dyson as concerned and unhinged teacher Nicole, sitting down for a serious discussion with the parents of two of her most troublesome students. John (Matthew Olver) a wealthy and neurotic businessman whose wife has recently walked out on him and Rosie (Dana Puddicombe) a brassy and strong-willed working class woman with a drug-addicted husband, each star as delightfully defensive parents, loyally and valiantly advocating for their children against Nicole, one another and society itself. John’s son and Rosie’s daughter may be having their problems in Nicole’s class – mostly with each other – but when these parents go to school for a Parent/Teacher interview, their own problems soon bubble over and take over the classroom.

A funny, touching and truthful play for anyone who’s ever been a teacher. Or had a teacher. Or had a parent. Or wanted another kind of parent.

Read Review from Gary Smith at The Spec

There’s still time to catch the show. Parents’ Night runs through October 12 at the Pearl Company, 16 Steven Street in Hamilton. For more information, go to thepearlcompany.ca

Break-a-leg! to the student directors, cast and crew, faculty and staff who are opening the One Acts Festival TODAY!

Every year as the final assignment for the Third Year Directing class each student choses a one act play to produce for the One Act Festival.This years One Acts Festival is approaching and the dates are as follow:

Group A's shows are:
The Feast
Overtones
Hide & Seek
Fourteen

Group B's shows are:
Tales of the Grotesque
Don Juan in Chicago
Playwriting 101
Rat Snake

Friday March 21st Group A starting at 2pm Group B at 7pm

Saturday March 22nd Group B starting at 2pm & Group A at 7pm.

Come out and support the 3rd year directors and all the students involved in this years Festival. Seating is limited so please show up early to get your seats!

see the FB events page here

One Acts Festival

see the FB events page here

An ongoing series of cultural events, workshops and performances is returning this academic year to Brock University, providing new learning experiences for students, and in many cases, to the public at large. 
 
The third Walker Cultural Leader Series, presented by Brock’s Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts, will see a pair of Canadian artists visit the University for a run of events that will take place on campus as well as in the community.
 
This year’s Walker Cultural Leader Series will feature: 
 
* Brett Polegato, a renowned Canadian baritone, celebrated for his musical artistry and rich, nuanced voice
 
* Janet Werner, an acclaimed Canadian painter with an international reputation who teaches at Concordia University
 
The series is being funded thanks to the Marilyn I. Walker Fund, an endowment created in 2008, when Marilyn Walker donated $15 million to Brock’s School of Fine and Performing Arts.
 
Derek Knight, director of the Walker School, said the main objective of this year’s series is to continue to culturally engage both the Brock and Niagara communities. 
 
“The series is committed to inviting a variety of preeminent guest speakers,” said Knight. “It will be engaging, lively and erudite. These sessions celebrate professional achievement, artistic endeavour and the indelible role of culture in our society.”
 
Brock University’s Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts is comprised of the departments of Dramatic Arts, Music, Visual Arts, and the Centre for Studies in Arts & Culture.
 
For more info and media inquiries: Marie Balsom, Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts, Brock University, 905-688-5550 x4765; mbalsom@brocku.ca<mailto:mbalsom@brocku.ca>

Brock University
MEDIA RELEASE
 
October 24, 2014
Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts
905.688.5550, x4765

The Belle's Stratagem drags eighteenth century London into Rob Ford’s Toronto, mocking romance, the city, and other first world problems!

The Department of Dramatic Arts presents Hannah Cowley’s classic play The Belle’s Stratagem to be held at the Sean O’Sullivan Theatre at Brock University on November 13 - 15, 2014. A new adaptation by Gyllian Raby and Nicholas Leno makes Hannah Cowley’s characters the super-rich kids of Yonge and Bloor, as well as rappers and Spoken Word artists.
 
Hannah Cowley's hit comedy of 1783 demonstrated “how to get your man and keep him.” This production frames her outspoken, funny heroines within twenty-first century culture – and grapples with the conundrum that they have quite a lot in common with contemporary women who obsess over romance.
 
The director, Dramatic Arts Associate Professor Gyllian Raby, seeks to provoke audiences with text, graphics, music and dance – think consumerism, superficiality, and social media addiction. A witty kaleidoscope of romance, privilege, and desire, The Belle’s Stratagem sets out to query today’s emphasis on lifestyle, and our fantasies about fabulous wealth, celebrity and true love.
 
Scenographer Kelly Wolf’s set and costumes travel us to Toronto, city of the elite. The set is designed as a giant QR code, reminding us of our media-constructed consumer society where iGizmo users seek immersion in completely designed environments without questioning where they came from. Lighting is by Jenny Jimenez, and the show is animated with projections by Caitlin English and David Bernard. Music is set, arranged and composed by Joe Lapinski, (assisted by Bri Lidstone), and the actors are choreographed by hip-hop artist Rachel Romanoski.
 
The Belle’s Stratagem cast: Emily Ferrier (Letitia Hardy); Daryl Hunter (Doricourt); Katelyn Lander (Mrs. Racket); Cole Larsen (Mr. Hardy); Chloe Coyle (Frances); Mark Harrigan (Sir George Touchwood); Sean Cottrell (Courtall); Jonah McGrath (Saville); Angelina Colosimo (Kitty Willis); Nicola Franco (Mr. Flutter); and Marie Barros (Miss Ogle). Street band cast members include Lena Hall, Gordon Graham and Jesse Heichert — they also play the servants in the play and perform the Spoken Word interacts. The cast is rounded out by beloved Brock alumni David MacKenzie and dance aficionados Rachel Romanoski and Rory Vandenbrink. Nicholas Leno is the assistant director and the stage manager is Nicole Titus.
 
Director Gyllian Raby states, “We want the rhyming women of Georgian times to high-five our contemporary Spoken Word rhymers…I know it’s bizarre, but numbers from Rick Ross, Lil' Mama, and Salt’n’Pepa somehow mash up well with Hannah Cowley’s language.”
 
The Belle's Stratagem performances will be held in the Sean O’Sullivan Theatre at Brock University onNovember 13, 14, and 15, 2014 at 7:30 p.m., with a matinée performance on Nov. 14 at 11:30 a.m.Tickets are $18 for adults, $15 for seniors and students, $12 for groups, and $5 for the eyeGo high school program, and are available from the Centre for the Arts Box Office: 905.688.5550 x3257, or visit: http://Arts.BrockU.ca
 
Follow The Belle’s Stratagem social media campaign via Twitter and Instagram: @RacketLife; YouTube: Racketlife; or read the blog: http://www.keepingupwithmrsracket.com
 
Such programs from the Department of Dramatic Arts are an integral part of the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts' mandate in building connections between the community and the breadth of talent and creativity at Brock University. For more information about the Department of Dramatic Arts visit: http://www.brocku.ca/dramaticarts
 
Media Day: Thursday, Nov. 6, 2014 at 6 p.m., held in the Sean O’Sullivan Theatre, Brock University.

For interviews please contact:
Marie Balsom, Communications
Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts
T: 905-688-5550, ext. 4765 | E: mbalsom@brocku.ca  | W: www.brocku.ca/finearts
 

Saturday, November 15, 2014, marks the release of the Avanti Chamber Singers’ third CD “Beauty is Before Me,” the fifth installment in the “Voices of Niagara” CD series, featuring works by local composers.
 
The release will occur in conjunction with the Avanti Chamber Singers’ (ACS) season-opening concert, Viva La Musica!  Presenting compositions from 1600 to the present day, this concert is a celebration of the joy and power of music. Rising Toronto oboist Aidan Dugan will perform as the featured guest artist.
 
The CD is a collaborative project by ACS, Brock University's student choirs, and the former Niagara Vocal Ensemble, all conducted by Harris Loewen.  The sequence of works on the album flows through a variety of themes: the beauty of nature, the patron saint of music (St. Cecilia), the War of 1812, elegiac reflections, and a group of spirituals.
 
The occasion also marks the re-release of the first two CDs in the series, recorded by the Niagara Vocal Ensemble, an all-women's ensemble that was active in the Niagara Region between 1991 and 2011.  All CDs are available through ACS and the Department of Music at Brock University.
 
As with all five recordings in the "Voices of Niagara" CD series, the music on every track is written or arranged by composers with a Niagara connection, most recorded for the first time.  Composers represented on this latest recording include Penny Blake, John Butler, the famous Nathaniel Dett (1882-1943), Erik Gero, Brock professors Peter Landey and Harris Loewen, Gail Poulsen, folk singer Stan Rogers, Matthew Tran-Adams, and Ronald Tremain (1923-98), Brock’s first Professor of Music.
 
The concert opens with a rousing fanfare written especially for the occasion, based on the familiar round "Viva La Musica."  The program includes works by the great Renaissance composers, Jacob Handl and Orlandus Lassus, as well as a variety of more modern pieces.  Canadian composers (e.g. Stephen Chatman, Eleanor Daley, Ruth Watson Henderson) are well represented, and the concert also provides samples of works from the latest CD.  Oboist Aidan Dugan will perform lyrical pieces by familiar 19th century composers Felix Mendelssohn and Robert Schumann.
 
Conductor Harris Loewen states, “This latest album marks an exciting milestone in this multi-choir CD project that has been developed and released to the public over the last few years.  I'm so extremely grateful for the fine and energetic musicianship that all the singers and instrumentalists have contributed in both concert and recording.  It's a truly wonderful choral legacy for the region.”
 
The Viva Voce Choral Series, presented by the Department of Music, is a key part of the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts' mandate in building connections between the community and Brock University.
 
Come and enjoy this choral celebration and CD release on Saturday, November 15 at 7:30 p.m., held at St. Barnabas Anglican Church, 31 Queenston Street, St. Catharines.  Admission at the door is $25 for adults; $20 for seniors & students; $5 for the eyeGo program for high school students.  A $5 discount is available for advance tickets (excluding eyeGO) and can be purchased at two St. Catharines locations: BookSmart (Scott & Vine Plaza) and Thorold Music (Glendale Avenue).
 
For more information contact: Marie Balsom, Communications
Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts
T: 905-688-5550, ext. 4765 | E: mbalsom@brocku.ca | W: http://www.brocku.ca/finearts
 

Seven students from DART attended the Council of Ontario Drama and Dance Educators (CODE) conference in Ottawa from October 17^th until October 19^th, 2014. The title of the conference was “Mirrors in Drama and Dance: A Journey to Identities.” 

DART instructor Helen Zdriluk, in collaboration with Faculty of Education Professor Kari-Lynn Winters, first thought to organize DART DIE/AT students to help at the 40^th annual CODE conference, in 2010, held at Niagara on the Lake. It has been an annual tradition for our students to attend CODE since then.

At the conference the students’ tasks varied.  They helped presenters set up and tear down their workshops, thanked workshop leaders, assisted attendees, and participated at the book fair. When they were not helping out the organizers, DART students attended workshops and keynote presentations. 

DART instructors Helen Zdriluk, Suzanne Burchell, and recently retired Professor Glenys McQueen-Fuentes were all presenters at CODE.  Their topics were (respectively): “Through the Looking Glass: reflections for Primary/Junior teachers,” “Shakespeare: Mirror to the Soul,” and “Movement and Music based on Le Coq’s Structures Approach.”

Our students applied for the Student Initiative Grant from the Brock Student Union, which helped cover their transportation and accommodation fees. Upon their return, the students were asked to do class presentations about their experiences, what they had learned, and what inspired them at CODE this year. Here are some of the responses they shared with their professor:

Being at the CODE conference around many drama and dance teachers enhanced my excitement to begin teaching in the near future.
Michelle Sundborg

Being at CODE was an incredibly inspirational experience. Not only have I become excited for my future as a drama teacher, but I also feel that by attending workshops my drama tool belt has grown substantially.
Allyson Yates

The CODE conference was an incredible experience that allowed me to experience and interact with teachers of a very diverse age range and hear their thoughts and opinions on the way drama and dance is taught and current issues that have emerged in our society today.
Keith Childs

The Code Conference was an amazing experience. Being able to interact with and experience the workshops of so many amazing, brilliant dance and drama professionals is something that I will never forget.
Amber Hussey

Volunteering at the CODE conference was so valuable for me as a future drama teacher. Such great opportunities to interact with and learn from professionals in the field. An unforgettable experience!
Charlotte Ristich

Going to CODE was an amazing experience. It felt great to be surrounded by professionals working in our field. It was also nice knowing that in that space we were all equal and we could share our experiences and ideas. It didn’t matter what training, education, or degree you had: we were all there to collaborate, learn and enjoy the arts.
Rory Vandenbrink

DART students Amber Hussey, Rory Vandenbrink,
and Charlotte Ristich with renowned dancer Luca "lazylegs" Patuelli.

Associate Professor Duncan MacDonald’s recent group exhibition in Cambridge, Ontario entitled ‘5 over 4’ has recently been reviewed in Canadian Art’s 30th year edition. The exhibition featured artworks by artists working with sound in a variety of mediums. Artists included: Eleanor King, Christof Migone, Marla Hlady, Duncan MacDonald and Ursula Nistrup.

For more info click HERE.

Brock University’s Rodman Hall Art Centre was recognized with two prestigious prizes this week at the 37th annual Ontario Association of Art Galleries (OAAG) Awards, presented at the Gladstone Hotel in Toronto Nov. 5.

Jimmy Limit: Recent Advancements, curated by Marcie Bronson, was recognized as Exhibition of the Year, Monographic.

The exhibition catalogue Milutin Gubash - co-published by Rodman Hall Art Centre, Carleton University Art Gallery, Kitchener-Waterloo Art Gallery, Southern Alberta Art Gallery and Musée d’art de Joliette - received an Honourable Mention in the category of Art Publication of the Year.

Find the Full Story HERE on the Brock News Page.

Visual Arts Alumni Alicia Kuntze and Carrie Perreault will be mounting a participatory performance work at YYZ Artists' Outlet in Toronto, ON. November 22 to December 4. For more information click HERE.

Visual Arts Instructor Irene Loughlin will be mounting two exhibitions on the Brock Campus.

Dowsing
Nov 17-Dec 5, 2014
Digital Wall, Matheson Learning Commons
James A. Gibson Library
Brock University

Dowsing is a video performance of an invented ritual and a meditation on the rotation of time disassociated from a specific historical moment, but also referencing a time outside of the present via the signifiers of the central figure's clothing. The woman is submerged in an environment that will no longer exist in the future. The objective of this ongoing body of work is to create uncertain and mysterious rituals for modernity as it is currently poised 'at and for the end of the world'. The title of this series refers to both a geographic location and a psychic/cyclical space. Dowsing (and other works in this series presented concurrently at the Sean O'Sullivan Theatre Gallery) take place within island and coastal areas (the west coast of Canada, the west coast of Ireland, and Guatemala City) - loci where the presence of water is implicit. Concept by Irene Loughlin and Naufus Ramirez-Figueroa, Direction by Naufus Ramirez-Figueroa. Performance and video editing by Irene Loughlin. Created at the Banff Centre for the Arts and made possible through the financial support of the BC Arts
Council.

Irene Loughlin is an Interdisciplinary artist who works at the intersections of performance art, video, installation, sound, painting, drawing and writing. Since 2010, she has lead classes in Interdisciplinary Practice, Intermedia, and Foundation Studio at Brock University in the Visual Arts Department. Concurrent to the screening of Dowsing on the Learning Commons Digital Wall, photographs and drawings from the series 'Clare Projects' and 'Rituals at/for the End of the World' will be featured in the Sean O'Sullivan Theatre Gallery from Nov 17-30, 2014.

____________________________________________________________

Clare Projects
Rituals at/for the end of the world
Irene Loughlin
Nov 17​- Nov 30th 2014
Sean O'Sullivan Theatre Lobby
Brock University

Opening reception:
Mon​ ​Nov 17, 4-6 pm​

Clare Projects is a series of ink drawings created in County Clare, Ireland during a residency at the Burren College of Art in the summer of 2014. The images are reflective of the artist's central studio practice of walking, and were imagined via the frameworks of historical referent, feminism, spiritism, and magic.

Rituals at/for the end of the world is a series of photographs and text constructed in three locations. The first image captures a moment during the Enabled Manifesto Project presented in Berlin, and is accompanied by a manifesto text on neurodiversity that was read aloud during the performance. The second image was constructed in a west Irish field to emphasize the artist's heightened concentration, as if she is looking through time and space. Her body is positioned on a bale of hay reimagined as a sculptural platform. The third image was composed on a rooftop in Guatemala City, and relays a moment of disappearance in which the artist is simultaneously present and absent. The play between aesthetic and physical balance is a central theme of all three images.

Clare Projects and Rituals at/for the end of the world were made possible through funding by the Canada Council for the Arts.

Visual Arts Associate Professor Keri Cronin's research is featured in a Brock News article titled Passion for animals blends seamlessly into Cronin’s research and teaching. Click HERE to view the article.

Visual Arts Department instructor Irene Loughlin announces the following exhibitions:

Dowsing
Nov 17-Dec 5, 2014
Digital Wall, Matheson Learning Commons
James A. Gibson Library
Brock University

Dowsing is a video performance of an invented ritual and a meditation on the rotation of time disassociated from a specific historical moment, but also referencing a time outside of the present via the signifiers of the central figure's clothing. The woman is submerged in an environment that will no longer exist in the future. The objective of this ongoing body of work is to create obscure rituals of modernity 'at and for the end of the world'. The title of this series refers to both a geographic location and a psychic space. Dowsing (and other works in this series presented concurrently at the Sean O'Sullivan Theatre Gallery) take place within island and coastal areas (the west coast of Canada, the west coast of Ireland, and Guatemala City) - loci where the presence of water or a lack thereof hangs in the balance.

Concept by Irene Loughlin and Naufus Ramirez-Figueroa, Direction by Naufus Ramirez-Figueroa. Performance and video editing by Irene Loughlin. Created at the Banff Centre for the Arts and made possible through the financial support of the BC Arts Council.

Irene Loughlin is an Interdisciplinary artist who works at the intersections of performance art, video, installation, sound, painting, drawing and writing. Since 2010, she has lead classes in Interdisciplinary practice, Intermedia, and Foundation Studio at Brock University in the Visual Arts Department.

Concurrent to the screening of Dowsing on the Learning Commons Digital Wall, photographs and drawings from the series 'Clare Projects' and 'Rituals at/for the End of the World' will be featured in the Sean O'Sullivan Theatre Gallery from Nov

​17​-Nov 30th 2014.
____________________________________________________________

Clare Projects
Rituals at/for the end of the world
Irene Loughlin
Nov​ ​17​​ - Nov 30th 2014​
Sean O'Sullivan Lobby, Sean O'Sullivan Theatre,
Brock University

Opening reception:

​Monday, Nov 17th 4-6 pm​
Clare Projects is a series of

​​​ink drawings created in County Clare, Ireland during a residency at the Burren College of Art in the summer of 2014. The images are reflective of the artist's central studio practice of walking, and were imagined via the frameworks of historical referent, feminism, spiritism, and magic.
Rituals at/for the End of the World is a series of photographs and text constructed in three locations. The first image captures a moment during the Enabled Manifesto collective performance in Berlin, Germany and is accompanied by a manifesto text on neurodiversity that was read aloud during the performance. The second image was constructed in a west Irish field to emphasize the artist's heightened concentration, as if she is looking through time and space. Her body is perched on a bale of hay re-imagined as a sculptural platform. The third image was composed on a rooftop in Guatemala City, and relays a moment of disappearance in which the artist is simultaneously present and absent. The play between aesthetic and physical balance is a central theme of all three images.

Clare Projects and Rituals at/for the End of the World were made possible through funding by the Canada Council for the Arts. 

Assistant Professor Donna Szoke recently launched a smartphone app. Developed as an art project, this app gives the user a means to visualize the history of irradiated mice used in nuclear research. Site specific to the Niagara Falls Storage Site (NFSS) the app gives the user geo-locative feedback. Animated mice run across the viewer’s screen and function as a compass: they run towards the NFSS. Follow the radioactive ghost mice to find their final resting place. As the user draws closer the epicenter—the burial site of 280,000 irradiated mice—the volume of animated mice on the users’ screen indicates their proximity. Funded by a research grant from the Brock Humanities Research Institute.