Posts from the ‘Artforms’ Category
Nov
10
Looking for a way to get involved in the Alberta Ave community, make some friends and make music at the same time? You are invited to join a passionate group of music makers on our fair Ave, The Alberta Avenue Choir!
Alberta Avenue Choir is a new initiative that aims to use the love of singing as a great platform to enhance relationships in the general Edmonton community. Our singers are from broad backgrounds and different musical abilities, but our love for singing is what we all have in common. We have decided to focus our repertoire on music from all over the world, and since our director is from Africa, we have started our first two seasons by learning some music from Southern Africa.
Contact: Garth at albertaavenuechoir@gmail.com
Tags: Alberta Avenue, alberta avenue choir, choir, Music, Opportunities
Posted in Music, Opportunities | Comments Off
Nov
4
This is going to be a strange post. I want to throw an idea out and I want to hear your thoughts on it. I’m going to tell you to touch art. I know, I know, you’re not supposed to. But I think you should. Here’s why.
My favorite way to spend a day off is to visit a gallery and give myself time to wander. It’s even better when my wife comes along. I love to experience art with someone, watching and learning from their reactions to the work. If I miss something, she often catches it. She pulls me back into pieces I breeze by. I’m fascinated by our different tastes, and where those tastes overlap tells me that beauty is not always subjective, “in the eye of the beholder”. Sometimes our trips bring a real revelation as we chat about what we see. That happened yesterday on Jasper ave near 124th street.
My wife made a tiny, fast comment. She told me that she likes work that invites her to touch it. Not that she does, of course, as touching the work is almost always forbidden. But she wants to when the work is good. It is work with layers, work that literally pulls her into itself. Often it is work with texture, employing gels or wax or mixed media collage. Work, she says, that makes her want to feel its surface and discover how it was made. There is something beautifully uninhibited and child-like about that response.
Do our "don't touch" rules about art keep us out of an experience?
I try to hide my cringing forward lurches, designed to pull her back from the canvas. I am an obsessive rule-follower, she will tell you. Taking my kids to a gallery, as much as I love it, sometimes fills me with more stress than pleasure as I think to myself over and again, “don’t touch!”, their eyes getting within inches of a piece. Especially when that piece is a Renoir or a Warhol.
But why not touch? Why this ironclad rule? Sure, I understand the motivation. We want to preserve work for future generations to enjoy. The oils in our skin can ruin a piece. I get this. But I wonder if preservation is always the top aim, or if preservation for future enjoyment sometimes eats away at potential enjoyment now. Are we stopping ourselves from experiencing part of art with this rule? Is touch not a vital sense, a potentially potent part of our experience of art? When my wife wants to reach out and feel a work because it speaks so loudly to her, does this not compliment the work and its creator. Don’t artists long for viewers to engage with their work? Touch is a sure form of engagement. I wonder, on a larger scale, does this “untouchable rule” contribute to the distance a large portion of society feels from “the fine arts”? Does the prohibition to touch artwork contribute on some level to an separation from it? Some of you may know better than I if these rules were always in place, or when they came into being. And what was the driving motive?
As we are looking to create an art space in the near future, one goal is engagement. We don’t want people to simply look at the work and pass by, we want them to interact with it. Sure, this happens mentally. It happens in relationship and conversation, but could it also happen literally? What if we curated a show where viewers were encouraged to touch every work? How would their perception of the work, and of the gallery itself, change?
Taking it further, what if we had a “touch, don’t look” gallery? Artists are invited to create work that will be experienced only through touch. “Viewers” are blindfolded, or sent into a pitch-dark room. They are rendered “blind” and must experience the work through other senses. How would this change our experience of art? How would it impact the artists involved?
Earlier this year I took the family to another art show, this one by sculptor Brian Jungen at the AGA. A sign at the entrance encouraged us to not only take photos (something forbidden in every other exhibit space), but to share those photos publicly online. Before I even saw the work, I felt encouraged to engage with it. I took photos. The kids posed with the massive plastic dinosaur skeletons, sometimes standing within the ‘bones’. They were still not supposed to touch, as far as I know, but even the change in attitude made us all relax and enjoy the work on a different level. I wonder if this invitation could be cultivated intentionally in all art shows? I wonder how that sort of invitation would change our approach to fine art?
This post offers more questions than answers, because what I am wrestling with here is not an answer, but a question. Should touch play a greater role in our experience of the arts, and particularly visual art?
What do you think?
Tags: bleeding heart art space, curation, senses, touch
Posted in Art Shows, Essays and Reflections, Painting | 8 Comments »
Oct
6
A
nyone planning to join Edmonton’s Arty Social Club this Thursday evening for live improv already knows there is no shortage of great theatre on Alberta Avenue. But if you needed a reason to believe, boy do I have one for you.
My friend (I love it when I can say that) Michael Peng stars in Bashir Lazhar, a play produced by his Wishbone Theatre company, and until now performed overseas and in Ontario. It’s a great chance to catch great theatre in a great, local venue, The Avenue Theatre.
I’ll let Michael take it from here, with his original email …
My theatre company, wishbone theatre, thought it would be prudent to take advantage of our recent international (UK, Edinburgh) and sell-out (Kitchener) successes and remount “Bashir Lazhar” here in Etown. Then we get to put it to bed for awhile (I promised Kate…). We’ve chosen to run it at The Avenue Theatre on 118th Ave. next weekend, Oct.12-15th @ 8pm and Oct. 16th @ 2pm. Nicola Elbro is joining me on stage for this run – she’s a gifted actor and a wonderful human being!
It was important for us to tell this story in the place where many new Canadians choose to settle when they come to Edmonton. Our goal has been to strengthen connections we made with the immigrant community in 2009 and to invite even MORE people to meet Bashir. To that end, on Saturday (the 15th), we’ve planned a series of discussions and workshops on themes raised in the play – namely justice, tolerance, education and artistic expression. More details will be forthcoming on those ancillary events. Keep your eyes glued to our facebook page:www.facebook.com/wishbonetheatre
There are only 5 shows at The Avenue Theatre and seating is limited, so if you didn’t get a chance to see Bashir two years ago at the Fringe, or you’ve seen it but you want to reacquaint yourself with this moving production of a rich and very rewarding play (made more resonant by the changes taking place in the Arab world), we hope to see you at the show.
Attached please find a poster advertising the show. Send it to your co-workers. Your mother. Your taxi driver. We want as many as possible to experience the beauty of Bashir. Tickets are available online at http://www.tixonthesquare.ca/event/run/detail/463/ or at TixOnTheSquare: (780) 420-1757.
Did you catch this exciting bit?
“on Saturday (the 15th), we’ve planned a series of discussions and workshops on themes raised in the play – namely justice, tolerance, education and artistic expression.”
I’m thankful to Michael for bringing this to us, hope I can make it out, and I hope to see you there, too.
Tags: avenue theatre, Bashir Lazhar, michael peng, theatre
Posted in Events, Theatre | Comments Off
Jul
6
For the first time in our events five year history, we are making all of the lyrics to Bridge Songs: ?rogress available. They are downloadable for free, just below, in a beautiful little booklet that includes original photos by Aaron Maxwell Vanimere and Dave Von Bieker. We hope you enjoy this companion to the album, “Bridge Songs: ?rogress”. If you have yet to get your copy, drop me an email at info@iloveartists.ca.
Bridge Songs ?rogress Lyrics Booklet (click do download the PDF)
PS >> This is the first of a few Bridge Songs: ?rogress goodies coming over the next few days. Keep your eyes and ears peeled for more.
Tags: Bridge Songs, bridge songs progress, download, lyrics, Songwriters Group
Posted in Bridge Songs: Progress, Music, Poetry, Writing | Comments Off
Jun
3
Our friend Lillian Patz at Visible Echo is giving away a free photo shoot to the person/group with the most creative shoot concept. Sounds like fun! Here is some more information from Lillian …
We are giving away a free photo shoot to the most creative photo shoot idea. To keep us creative, and to support other creatives, we thought we would collaborate and support the art community by giving away a photo shoot.
Here are the details. 
http://visibleecho.tumblr.com/post/5771263216/visible-echo-photography-an-edmonton-photographer
Tags: contest, creative idea, Lillian Patz, opportunity, Photography, Visible Echo
Posted in Opportunities, Photography | Comments Off
Jun
3
painting by Randy Hayashi
Friend Randy Hayashi is having a show this month. Here is an invitation from Randy;
Summer is here and I’m having an art show to kick it off!
For the month of June, Art Beat Gallery in St. Albert is featuring my latest work.
http://www.artbeat.ab.ca/a_hayashir.html
Tags: landscape, nature, Painting, Randy Hayashi
Posted in Galleries, Painting | Comments Off
May
17
The Accident Will
Here is some information from a friend whose looking for a bass player in the city …
“THE ACCIDENT WILL is an up and coming Edmonton-based rock band and we need a new bass player or guitar player (I can play either) going forward. TAW formed in July 2010, and have gigged frequently around Edmonton in 2011 and released a 5-song EP “THE OTHER SIDE OF FOREVER.” TAW believes in rock music as communicative art with meaning, while going out and killing it live with a tremendous live performance. One rehearsal a week (the occasional extra), a couple gigs a month, people who are dedicated & willing to put in time practicing & learning songs and covers on their own, and take it seriously while having fun.
INFLUENCES/RIYL:
Smashing Pumpkins, Project 86, Stavesacre, Thrice, Foo Fighters, 30 Seconds to Mars, Blink 182, Circle of Dust, Argyle Park, Nine Inch Nails, Massivivid, The Tea Party, MuteMath, mewithoutYou, Grammatrain, Blindside, POD, Skillet, Bif Naked, Econoline Crush
http://www.theaccidentwill.com
http://theaccidentwill.bandcamp.com
http://www.sonicbids.com/theaccidentwill
http://www.facebook.com/accidentwill
To audition or talk more, contact Ryan at booking@theaccidentwill.com“
Tags: bass player, Music, Opportunities, the accident will
Posted in Music, Opportunities | Comments Off
Apr
25
photos by Aaron Vanimere
Well, this takes a lot of explaining, but perhaps I’ll just let you imagine what we were doing during the recording of the Bridge Songs ?rogress album, and you can find out if you were right on June 17.
Some things are posted just for fun.
Tags: animation, behind the scenes, bridge songs progress, recording
Posted in Bridge Songs: Progress, Photography | Comments Off
Mar
26
Posted in Arts Group, Music, Workshops | Comments Off
