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Friday, 7 July, 2006
Nancy Hermiston returns
home to perform at Westben
Hermiston returned to her family home last week to perform in
Westben’s Canada Day Birthday Bash and their production of HMS Pinafore
on July 8 and 9. Besides having the fun of performing Gilbert and Sullivan
again on a Campbellford stage, it provides something of a reunion with one
of her own students, Westben’s Donna Bennett.
"When I was going to university," she
said, "Donna was this young kid in the festivals. When I came home,
I’d teach her during my undergraduate and opera school years at
university."
Later on the two would reconnect in
Germany when Donna moved to Munich, not far from Nuremberg where Hermiston
worked for the state opera company. "She was a very gifted student,
and it was obvious she had a great deal of talent. When she and Brian were
married, he used to play for me sometimes."
She is proud of the part she played in
mentoring Donna during her early years as a student, and thinks Donna
probably feels that same way about her own protégé, Virginia Hatfield, who
now enjoys a successful career with the Canadian Opera Company.
Read more HERE
Honeymoon
For Three continues at the Capitol
A Romantic Comedy by Alicia Martin
June
29th – July 15th
Maddie and Donald are getting married the next day and they’re
preparing a romantic dinner for two. Then a knock on the door heralds the
arrival of her not-so-amicably divorced parents. Shortly after, her
ex-husband arrives and what started as a romantic interlude for two turns
into an evening no one is likely to forget.
Alicia Martin is a Canadian born playwright now
residing in British Columbia. A former teacher, she started
writing plays six years ago and in her own words, "I started out
writing the Great Canadian tragedy but my characters always ended up having
way too much fun and every dramatic scene ended in laughter, so I
thought I might as well stick to comedy."
Honeymoon for Three is her first
produced work although she has had two other plays workshopped with a local
theatre group.
Barbara Howard’s Seeking Light at the AGN
Throughout her five decades
as a professional artist, Barbara Howard was committed to making images
that could transmit her profound experiences of the natural world. In the
1950s she lived in London, following her graduation from the Ontario
College of Art, immersing herself in European art and the English
landscape. Returning to Canada, she travelled to Vancouver Island to
experience the power and mystery of the Pacific Ocean at Long Beach. Her
drawings and paintings during the 1960s and 70s reveal a fascination for
certain aspects of landscape: views across water, fields and forests by
moonlight, shorelines, colour and light.
read more HERE
Writers in Warkworth
returns September 15 and 16, 2006 to the
Warkworth Town Hall Centre for the Arts. It will be a literary feast for
aspiring pen-smiths and anyone interested in the words, wisdom and writing
processes of some of our most beloved First Nation authors.
The authors this year are; Lee Maracle
“Will’s
Garden” and “Daughters
are Forever”, Ruth Clarke “What
We Hold Dear: Treasured Memories of Alderville First Nation” and Drew Hayden Taylor
“Me Funny”.
This weekend event begins Friday at 7:30 pm with A Gala Evening featuring
selected readings by our esteemed guest authors followed by short question
and answer sessions. Emceeing the evening will be Spirit member and popular
Jazz singer, Arlene
Smith. Pianist Shelagh Purcell will open the evening with further musical
interludes provided by blues harmonica player Dave Mowat
and guitarist Ben Sures.
Each author will conduct a 2 hour Writing Workshop on Saturday. The workshops are
designed to be both intimate and informative and are spaced apart so you
can attend one, two or all three sessions.
Read more HERE
Creative sculpture is
where you find it
by Brian Schuette Community Press Online
The sculptures of Lakefield artist, David
Hickey, are currently on exhibit at the Paul Portelli Gallery. Natural
elements and found materials play pivotal roles in his pieces, often
combining stone with weathered metals and wood, punctuated by textures of
leather or burlap. Hickey says these objects often dictate the direction in
which his creativity will move, but his work isn’t confined to their
original uses or nature. Old bits of metal don’t translate into works that
are nostalgic or reflect the area’s history in some way. He transforms them
into "something uniquely different and contemporary," with a
touch of humour showing through many pieces.
read more HERE
Canoe Dreamings at the
Art Gallery of Peterborough
features a series of
sculptural installations inspired by the form and cultural symbolism of the
canoe and its iconic relationship to Canadian history and ideology. Using a
wide variety of natural and industrial based media, the Newcastle-based
artist, Sally Thurlow, explores environmental, Native, feminist, spiritual
and political issues, transforming the boat-like forms into ethereal
objects that carry a mythological and dream-like resonance. Thurlow invites
viewers to “enter the diverse wilderness environments (sometimes urban,
often hostile) that we have created.” The exhibition will run to September
3.
On Saturday, July 8, 2006, at 1:30 p.m., Sally Thurlow and Dr. Jonathan
Bordo, Professor at Trent University in Cultural Studies and Philosophy
will discuss Ms. Thurlow’s work for viewers in the gallery. Dr. Bordo wrote
the main essay for the Canoe Dreamings catalogue. His writings have been
published widely in international and national journals and collections.
Sally Thurlow has recently shown her work in numerous solo and group
exhibitions in Ontario; she has also given numerous artist talks and has
often been a guest artist instructor at Trent University, Peterborough. Her
work is in private collections across Canada.
This collaborative exhibition is organized by The Robert McLaughlin Gallery
and co-produced with the Art Gallery of Peterborough and four other Ontario
galleries. While in Peterborough, a parallel exhibition of Thurlow’s works
will be featured at the Canadian Canoe Museum.
For further information call the AGP at (705) 743-3661 or (705) 743-9179.
Admission to The Art Gallery of Peterborough is free.
Memory Junction Railway
Museum offers commemorative stamp
by John Chambers The
Independent
To help mark the 10th
anniversary of the Memory Junction Museum, in conjunction with the 150th
anniversary of the Grand Trunk Railway, Ralph and Eugenia Bangay are
releasing a limited edition postage stamp featuring the museum’s fully
restored 1929 caboose.
Available only at the Memory Junction Museum, after July 1, the new stamp
is designed to commemorate and celebrate a rich railroading history.
A year after the Grand Trunk Railway, the first railway running between
Toronto and Montreal, opened on November 4, 1856, the Brighton train
station along with 32 Station others were constructed.
Today only nine of those original 32 remain standing, and Brighton’s 1857
station was the only one built by a local brick manufacturer.
The limited edition stamp was possible through Canada Post’s Picture
Postage program.
“We felt this was a great way
to help celebrate the railroading history we have right here in Brighton,”
said Mr. Bangay. “What better way to celebrate Brighton’s part in that
history than with a stamp featuring the museum’s 1929 caboose.”
Are you a
woman who lacks the confidence to be creative - or has had your
creative juices repressed , suppressed or discouraged.
This
is the workshop for you - given by artist and puppet builder Nina Keogh (aka Dr. Beryl Freud)
in a fun, supportive, estrogen-infused environment at her studio on
County Road 29. You cannot fail - you are a child again working with
user-friendly materials.
In this workshop - there is no such thing as
'bad' art!
Read more HERE
From
Arlene Smith, Jazz Singer
I have a gig at the McLaughlin band shell in
Oshawa on Thursday, August 3rd from 7:30-9:00 p.m. Norm Amadio will be
accompanying me on piano and Rick Homme on bass. The sound system is very
good, with comfortable fixed park benches facing the raised band
shell.
Weather cooperating, it is a lovely way to spend a summer
evening. Funded by Toronto Musicians Association .I have been doing this
gig for the past 7 years--We get to sing/play --all the
oldies/goodies.
from neighboring
communities
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Stouffville,
cultural policy a first
It took almost 20 years, but
culture has finally been formally recognized by the Town of Whitchurch-Stouffville.
The policy, which is a first in York Region's nine municipalities, aims
to heighten the profile of local culture, assist local cultural groups
and promote access to cultural opportunities to all residents.
If you're part of
Whitchurch-Stouffville's cultural scene, the future of your art, music,
dance or theatre group should be more positive with the guidance of the
municipal cultural policy.
Whitchurch-Stouffville's first
cultural document "is worthy of celebrating", Mayor Sue Sherban
said. "Culture has finally been recognized by the
municipality."
read more HERE
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The Arts Matter. Support! Enjoy!
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" ...all, art and
politics are profoundly public enterprises, engaging audiences and voters
in a vital social and cultural dialogue. Mature democracies understand that
freedom of speech is fundamentally important to this dialogue. They know
that artists can be the most trenchant critics of hypocrisy, autocracy, and
the status quo. They also value the artist's visionary ability to imagine
possible worlds and construct alternative futures. In the political realm,
these are amongst the most valuable roles that artists can play"
Andrew David Terris,
Nova Scotia artist, arts administrator,
Your Virtual Library For The Home
Collection Tim
Spalding created a website where "members can create library-quality
catalogs of the books they own and display their collection to fellow
online bookshelf browsers. He launched LibraryThing.com in August as a way
to bring the organizational joys of the librarian to a wider array of book
nerds. Ten months later, his concept has blossomed into a vibrant community
with 47,670 registered members - some paying - and a user-created catalog
that includes more than 3.6 million volumes. In theory, that makes
LibraryThing the 58th largest library in the U.S." Wall Street Journal 06/29/06
Hollywood In China?
"The Chinese film industry and Chinese
politicians want their own version of Hollywood, to create blockbusters of
Titanic proportions. It's a strategy that's half-succeeding; the Chinese
industry is managing to make a few films that sell in the United States.
But the other side of Hollywood—domestic box-office success—is proving
elusive. As a result, the Chinese industry is increasingly making films
designed to fit American tastes, like the Wal-Mart factories in China that
make baseball mitts for American Little-Leaguers."
Why Has Toronto Theatre Tanked?
"Toronto audiences have simply gotten out of the habit of going to the
theatre, a trend far different from periods in the 1990s when audiences
were enticed by a number of big, concurrent productions, which then lent
extra vitality to mid-sized theatres and the grassroots fringe scene.
Theatrical productions, particularly independent shows not included in
package theatre subscriptions or unusual cases such as Rings, which needed
to attract sell-out crowds to survive, are struggling to get arty, urban
audiences to fill the seats."
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arts northumberland
