News & Achievements
History in Art
2013
26th Annual Medieval Workshop: Stories of Gold
Saturday February 9, 2013
The Bob Wright Centre Room B150
Gold has been prized by humans for thousands of years. One of the few metals to occur in its pure form on the surface of the earth, gold is a remarkably malleable material that can be formed into any shape. To celebrate the fiftieth (golden) anniversary of the University of Victoria, we have chosen to explore the many roles of this rare and beautiful metal within Medieval society. Gold was used for sacred purposes ranging from reliquaries and liturgical items to the ornamentation of buildings and manuscripts with gold leaf. The metal had a central role in economic life, with gold coins circulating across the known world. There are also metaphorical dimensions of gold; these include the Medieval
bestseller, the Golden Legend, and the pervasive concept of lost “Golden Ages.” We hope to bring you a workshop that is
worth its weight in gold!
2012
Alisa Smith
History in Art alumna Alisa Smith was honoured as one of five outstanding members of UVic's alumni community at the Celebration of 50 Years of Excellence.
Legacy exhibit offers art, with honours
Legacy Art Gallery director Mary Jo Hughes opened the 50th anniversary exhibit Honoris Causa: Artist Honorary Degree Recipients in December. Running through to March 2013, Honoris Causa showcases more than 25 prominent artists, living and dead, who have received honorary UVic degrees over the past half-century—including the likes of Jack Shadbolt, EJ Hughes, Robert Bateman and Mary Pratt.
The Collections at 50
The Legacy Art Gallery fall exhibit The Collections at 50: Building the University of Victoria Art Collections—guest-curated by former Maltwood Art Gallery director and retired History in Art professor Martin Segger—received some nice attention from local media in October.
Allan Antliff in London
History in Art professor Allan Antliff was in England this fall, presenting papers at the University of London.
Co-op student and alumni in the media
History in Art Co-op student Emerald Johnstone-Bedell created a video about her experience working at the Firefighters Museum of Calgary in the annual Co-operative Education and Career Services video contest. And History in Art alumna Dianne Carr made the news recently in her role as guest curator at the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria’s exhibit Back to the Land: Ceramics from Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands.
HIA at MEICON
UVic's History in Art department will host the next conference of the Middle East and Islamic Consortium of British Columbia in March 2013. They also had a strong presence at the 2012 conference.
History in Art Christmas Quiz
Welcome to the History in Art Christmas Quiz, created and presented by Dr. Marcus Milwright!
On each slide you will see a composite picture. Identify each image and follow the instructions (you will be asked to find letters from the name of the artist, or the painting, or the place/country the object is located) and use this information to reconstruct a word. To take part in the quiz, put the eight completed words (or as many as you have been able to complete) on a postcard with your name and contact email. Drop this postcard in to the front office of History in Art by January 7, 2013.
- This quiz is open to all students in the University, and you may compete as teams (but only one postcard submission per team).
- The winners will be announced on January 14, 2013. Good Luck!
- Top prize is a hand-painted leather drum. Other exciting prizes for runners up.
Christmas Quiz - Revised
October 2012
The Arbutus Review publishes three History in Art Students' Research Papers
The Arbutus Review was created to showcase the articles, projects, and installations that result from the Jamie Cassels Undergraduate Research Award (JCURA) Program. JCURA was instituted in 2009-10 as the Undergraduate Research Scholarship program by the then Vice-President Academic and Provost, Dr. Jamie Cassels. It was designed to provide support and create truly formative learning experiences for exceptional undergraduate students who might not otherwise obtain direct research experience. The Learning and Teaching Centre (LTC) administers the award nomination process on behalf of the Provost’s Office.
Sara Fruchtman, Regan Shrumm, and Ryan Church are featured in the latest review (Vol. 3, No. 1).
Three Jamie Cassels Undergraduate Awards
This year the History in Art department is proud to announce that three History in Art majors have been awarded each a 2012 Jamie Cassels Undergraduate Award. We would like to congratulate Sara Fruchtman, Alexandra Macdonald, and Christine Oldridge. Please visit the abstract page for more info on their individual projects.
September 2012
8th Annual History in Art Faculty Research Symposium:
Acts of Intervention: The Arts and Social Change
Collaborating Faculty organizers, Dr. Carolyn Butler-Palmer and Dr. Erin Campbell, are happy to present this year's research symposium. Included in this year's symposium are two ORION guest lecturers, Luigi Ferrara and Dr. John O'Brian. The symposium is open to the public at the cost of free admission. It will held September 28th, 9:00 - 5:00 pm, in the Visual ArtsBuilding, room A146.
Learn more:
June 2012
Medal for achieving the highest GPA
History in Art student Genevieve Neelin wins the Victoria Medal for achieving the highest GPA in the Faculty of Fine Arts. She's already back at her drafting table in Ottawa, before heading to Carleton University in the fall.
Award-winning Medieval Studies
Award-winning Medieval Studies student Courtney Burrell is on her own elf quest, as she heads off to a prestigious European folklore conference.
Legacy Gallery
Legacy Gallery undergoes a transformation, thanks to the current exhibit by honorary doctorate Duncan Regher. Transformation, a retrospective of his visual art and poetry, can be seen until August 18.
March 2012
Students know how to ARTiculate
History in Art graduate students celebrate the launch of their new peer-reviewed, online art historical journal ARTiculate. Founding co-editors Randip Bakshi, Sara Checkley and Jennifer Cador realized a year ago that the dearth of publishing opportunities for graduate students in art history was a serious problem for those aspiring to a career in academia—but rather than just accept this situation, they decided to create new publishing opportunities for their colleagues themselves.
Dr. Erin Campbell
Dr. Erin Campbell has recently co-organized three panels of presentations for the 58th Annual Meeting of the Renaissance Society of America, to be held in Washington D.C., March 22-24, 2012. She will be presenting her own paper entitled: “Objects of Time: Family Portraits and Temporality in the Early Modern Domestic Interior.”
Dr. Campbell is also scheduled to present in the 33rd Congress of the International Committee of the History of Art, being held in Nuremberg, Germany, July 15-20, 2012. She will presenting her paper entitled “Good Housekeeping: Objects and Agency in the Early Modern Domestic Interior.”
Dr. Marcus Milwright
In other Milwright news, the director of UVic’s Medieval Studies program and associate professor of Islamic Art and Archaeology has also been invited to speak at an international conference devoted to the Hajj, running March 22-24 at the British Museum. “The British Museum has a major exhibition on the history and culture of this Muslim pilgrimage,” says Milwright, “and the conference is associated with it.” He will speaking on the topic of "Trade and the Hajj: Archeological and Historical Perspectives".
February 2012
Dr. Marcus Milwright
Director of Medieval Studies and History in Art associate professor Marcus Milwright furthered his current standing as one of the most buzz-worthy Fine Arts faculty members with his weekend appearance on CHEK News. Milwright was briefly interviewed as part of CHEK’s coverage of the 25th Annual Medieval Workshop on Saturday February 4th. Click here, then scroll along to Feb. 4 and the “Medieval Fair” clip.
The 4th Annual Interdisciplinary Undergraduate Conference
The 4th Annual Interdisciplinary Undergraduate Conference "Conflict and Compromise" will occur on February 25th in HHB 105. This is a student-organized conference that provides undergraduate students with the opportunity to share their own research in front of their peers and professors. This year, five students will present on the theme of "Conflict and Compromise" in history, literature and art. Of those five students, four are History in Art students: Erica Bloom (3rd Year Honours); Calvin Freeman (3rd Year); Genevieve Neelin (4th Year Honours) and Alison Fraser (4th Year Honours).
History in Art Student Association (HASA) New York Trip 2012
History in Art undergraduate students, along with Dr. Allan Antliff, are currently touring New York City's art world during this year's Reading Break (February 13-17). Here is a link to the HASA New York Trip 2011. You can follow up on the trip via their facebook page.
January 2012
Dr. Marcus Milwright
'An Introduction to Islamic Archaeology' by History in Art associate professor Marcus Milwright has been named an Outstanding Academic Title of 2011 by Choice magazine. “An outstanding introduction that can be read with profit by general readers as well as professionals,” the listing notes. “Highly Recommended.” read more
PhD Graduate Student honoured with teaching award
Catherine Nutting, a History in Art PhD candidate, has been awarded the Andy Farquarson Award for Excellence in Graduate Student Teaching . Catherine taught HA 240 "The Visual Arts in Early Modern Europe" in the Fall 2011; she is currently teaching HA 342B "Art and Material Culture of Holland in the 17th Century."
Visual Impetus - Intersec+ions
Visual Impetus is an annual symposium organized and run by graduate students in the Department of History in Art. In 2012, the symposium will mark its fifteenth year. Our aim is to provide a venue for graduate students in art history and related fields to share their research with other students, faculty, and the community, and to gain valuable critical feedback. Visual Impetus is open to graduate students at any university.
November 2011
Dr. Allan Antliff
A revised and expanded edition of Dr. Allan Antliff’s ground-breaking study, Anarchy and Art (2007), has just been released by German publisher Verlag Edition AV. “The book begins with artist Gustave Courbet’s activism during the 1871 Paris Commune, and ends with an examination of anarchist art during the fall of the Soviet empire,” explains Antliff.
Dr. Marcus Milwright
Dr. Marcus Milwright, director of UVic’s Medieval Studies program and associate professor of Islamic Art and Archaeology, has been awarded the position of scholar-in-residence at Shangri La, a Centre for Islamic Arts and Cultures, in Honolulu, Hawaii. His position there will run April 14 to May 6, 2012, during which time he will be studying Syrian artifacts in the collection.
Dr. Milwright has also been elected a Fellow of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, with whom he has previously published articles in their Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society. And he also recently acquired a facsimile of the 12th-century Arabic book, Kitab al-Diryaq (Book of Antidotes), for the McPherson Library.
September, 2011
Anarchist Archive Goes Digital
In collaboration with History in Art professor and Canada Research Chair Dr. Allan Antliff, UVic's Special Collections and Archives has been gathering materials relating to the anarchist movement, with a special focus on Canada, since 2005. The Anarchist Archive is composed of personal papers, journals, art work, monographs, posters, broadsides, videos, musical and spoken-word recordings, zines, and other material.
Join Dr. Antliff and UVic Libraries at this inaugural event to debut the Anarchist Archive online. Recent acquisitions include the papers of anarchist activist and author Ann Hansen, who will be joining Dr. Antliff at the Anarchist Archive’s opening celebrations.
- Anarchist Archive @ the library
ARTiculate
ARTiculate is a peer-reviewed graduate student journal published by the University of Victoria. It is a forum in which to present scholarly art historical student work to a larger audience.
July, 2011
Former UVic curator honoured
Martin Segger named an ambassador of the arts
Historian, curator, University of Victoria professor and connoisseur of art and architecture Martin Segger is being honoured as this year's ambassador of the arts by the Metchosin International Summer School of the Arts.
The celebration gala is July 8.
March, 2011
Dr Evanthia Baboula
Assistant Professor
On March 4-5, 2011, Dr. Evanthia Baboula organized an interdisciplinary workshop entitled The Unexpected Mediterranean. The aim of the event was to bring together academics from across campus and the globe to reflect on the theme of surprise in their research and discuss the Mediterranean as an entity that unite or divides people, ideas, and things. (more)
Laura Marchiori
Postdoctoral fellowship
Laura Marchiori has been awarded a SSHRC Postdoctoral fellowship for 2011-2012 to research the representation of gender in medieval wall paintings in Rome under the guidance of Dr Catherine Harding at the University of Victoria. This research examines messages about gender roles, chastity and sexual transgression in visual narratives dating from the ninth to the fourteenth centuries from the perspective of audience reception to discover how gender served to communicate social identity during the Middle Ages. While much of the first year will be spent in residence at the British School at Rome researching, the second year will involve a period of residence in Victoria to complete writing up and dissemination of research. While Laura completed her Ph.D. at Queen’s University, she received her BA and MA from the University of Victoria.
January, 2011
Dr Carolyn Butler-Palmer,
Williams Legacy Chair
New exhibition: 'Connect the Blocks', opening at the Legacy Gallery and Cafe, in downtown Victoria, at the end of January. There is an article featured in the January 2011 edition of The Ring (UVic campus newspaper).
- Connect the Blocks - exhibition website
- Access Health - exhibition website
- Article from The Ring - encourages community to curate and create
Dr Marcus Milwright
Associate Professor
Featured in the January 2011, The Ring (UVic campus newspaper) regarding the recent purchase of a very high-quality facsimile of one of the most important surviving illustrated manuscripts from the high periodof Arab manuscript paiting in the 12th and 13th centuries: the Maqamat of al-Hariri, copied and illustrated by Yahya al-Wasiti. (read more) Marcus has also recently published two books: The Fortress of the Raven: Karak in the Middle Islamic Period (1100-1600), Islamic History and Civilization. Studies and Texts 72 (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 2008) and An Introduction to Islamic Archaeology, The New Edinburgh Islamic Surveys (Edinburgh University Press, 2010). For further information on these publications, see:
October, 2010
Dr Allan Antliff
Canada Research Chair
Interviewed about anarchist theory and practice in Canada for a German-language publication, From Jakarta to Johannesburg: World-Wide Anarchism (Unrast Verlag). The book will be out in October 2010 (English-language edition is forth coming in 2011).
Dr Antliff is also supervisor to Melissa Berry, PhD candidate, who was awarded one of several of the 2010 European Studies Program Grants for use in travel and research. This grant facilitated travel to England and France, to research the 19th Century painters who worked in London and Paris, her area of study.
Dr Evanthia Baboula and Dr Marcus Milwright,
arthistorians/archaeologists
Have been awarded a 2010 SSHRC grant to research the Ottoman architecture and topography of southern Greece.
- Further information may be found in the Fall 2010 article featured on page of eight of the Office of International Affairs Newsletter.
Music
Spring 2013
Alumnus Mark Reid named Teacher of the Year
School of Music alumnus Mark Reid has been named teacher of the year by MusiCounts, the music-education charity associated with the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (CARAS). The award, one of the highest honors in Canadian Music, was presented to Reid by country super-star Shania Twain at a private ceremony in Las Vegas. Reid also received $10,000, which he will put toward his post-graduate studies. He is currently pursuing a master’s degree from Chicago’s Vandercook College to add to his bachelor’s degree in music education from UVic. Reid has been teaching at Vancouver Technical Secondary School for the past seven years, and the students will receive an additional $10,000 in instrument inventory as part of the CARAS award.
Photograph by: AEG Live
CUMS awards Composer prize to UVic grad
The Canadian University Music Society (CUMS) announced that recent UVic graduate, Robert Hansler, is one of the recipients of their 2013 Student Composer Competition. The jury selected two outstanding works to share First Prize: Robert Hansler’s “Broken Branch” as well as André Mestre’s “Zikr.” Both pieces will be performed by faculty members of the UVic School of Music, as part of a concert of contemporary music to be presented on Friday June 7, 2013 at the Phillip T. Young Recital Hall. Read the media release for more details about the two winning composers.
Fine Arts Benefit CD Nominated for Juno
School of Music Professor Emeritus Ian McDougall‘s 2012 album The Very Thought of You, has been nominated for a Juno Award! A gorgeous collection of 13 jazz standards featuring McDougall’s signature trombone backed by a lush string section, The Very Thought of You—produced by Ian’s wife, Barb McDougall—has been nominated in the “Instrumental Album of the Year” category.
Conceived of as a benefit album for Fine Arts students in financial need, $10 from every $20 copy of The Very Thought of You goes directly to McDougall’s student benefit fund—officially titled the Ten Mile Fine Arts Student Assistance Fund. Back in December 2012, McDougall presented Fine Arts with a cheque for $16,000, the first payback from the CD to the fund.
You can pick up a copy of the CD in the Fine Arts office, UVic’s Bookstore, Arts Place cafe, the School of Music Office, and Phoenix Theatre, as well as Lyle’s Place, Larsen Music and Munro’s Books. Online, you can find it at CD Baby or through McDougall’s own website.
Winners of the 2013 Juno Awards will be announced on April 21 at a gala ceremony in Regina.
Read more about this story on the Fine Arts blog, Artsy Type.
John Celona
School of Music composition professor, screenwriter and filmmaker John Celona recently returned from having a “terrific experience” at the 2012 California Film Awards, where his screenplay for an unproduced sci-fi black-comedy thriller called Lady Smoke earned a Diamond Award in the screenwriting category.
The awards were held on January 26 at the swish Bahia Hotel in Mission Beach, San Diego. “They really do it up right,” says Celona. “First-class, ballroom, formal dress, podium speeches, representation, studio execs like Harvey Weinstein.”
This isn’t Celona’s first time to attend this awards ceremony. Celona picked up honorable mention at the same awards two years ago for his neo-noir thriller Nightfreight.
For more about Lady Smoke, visit Artsy Type.
Bruce More publishes book about UVic Chamber Singers
Former conductor of the UVic Chamber Singers, Bruce More, recently published The Conductor is the One in Front - 37 years with the UVic Chamber Singers. The 135-page book about More’s long history of what is possibly the most widely travelled university choir in Canadian history (having performed 200 cities in 142 countries) also speaks to the milieu in which Canadian university choirs and choral conductors have existed from 1974 to 2010. The book contains over 70 colour photographs as well as a CD of selections from Chamber Singers tour performances.
Pick up a copy from the UVic Bookstore for $25 (www.uvicbookstore.ca). Former members of the Chamber Singers can contact Bruce More at bmore@uvic.ca for a complimentary copy.
Composition Student Finds Inspiration in Apeldoorn
Fourth-year School of Music student, Lynne Penhale, had the opportunity to attend the 19th Young Composers Meeting in Apeldoorn, the Netherlands this past February. The meeting, which is chaired by iconic Dutch composer, Louis Andriessen, offers a select group of young composers (14 this year from around the globe) the opportunity to exchange ideas about contemporary music. “It was the most enriching experience of my life!” describes Panhale. “I learned more about society, myself and music in an experience which seemed to have lasted three weeks but was really only one.” Each composer came prepared with a three-minute piece composed for the 23-instrument ensemble-in-residence, Orkest de Ereprijs. Participants engaged in rehearsals, lectures, and lessons with composers Martijn Padding, Richard Ayers, Dmitri Kourliandski, Carola Bauckholt, and Ted Hearne. The meeting culminated in a performance of the young composers’ works. “As intense a learning experience this was...my most favourite learning experience was getting to engage with the other young composers, and being completely inspired and challenged by everyone's individual strengths they had brought with them,” says Penhale, who thanks the UVic School of Music for supporting her in this opportunity.
Fall 2012
School of Music Welcomes New Director
The School of Music is pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Susan Lewis Hammond as Director of the School of Music. Dr. Lewis Hammond joined the School of Music in 2001 in the musicology area and received promotion to Associate Professor in 2007. Bringing a wealth of experience to this position, Dr. Lewis Hammond has served two terms as Acting Director of the School of Music, presently serves her third term on University Senate, and participates in the Early Modern Research Collective at the University of Victoria. She teaches courses in Renaissance and Baroque music and has authored two books, The Madrigal: A Research and Information Guide (Routledge, 2011) and Editing Music in Early Modern Germany (Ashgate, 2007). We congratulate Dr. Lewis Hammond on her appointment.
Suzanne Snizek
Suzanne Snizek’s essay, ‘It’s Growing like an Asparagus’: British internment and Gál’s Huyton Suite trio’, describing the composition of his exceptional chamber piece written under repressive conditions for one flute and two violins, was published in November 2012 in the Armand Colin publication Captivité de guerre au XXème siècle: des archives, des histoires, des mémoires. The essay was presented at a conference of the same title, in Paris, France at École Militaire in November 2011. The conference (and book) were organized into four themes: artistic and intellectual life in captivity; the laws and regulations that governed the lives of prisoners; the relationships between prisoners and society at large; and prisoners’ and captors’ perceptions of each other. The publication is available for purchase on the Armand Colin website.
Ian McDougall donates $16,000
School of Music Professor Emeritus and Juno Award-winning musician Ian McDougall presented the Faculty of Fine Arts with a cheque for $16,000 in early December—the first significant payment in the "one potato fund" (more formally titled the Ten Mile Student Assistance Fund) created by the sales of his Fine Arts benefit CD, The Very Thought of You. Read more about the Ten Mile Student Assistance Fund and where you can buy a copy of the CD here.
Andrew Schloss presents Jaron Lanier
He's often described as the “father of computer science,” so to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the birth of Alan Turing, Andrew Schloss and the Music and Computer Science program hosted acclaimed futurist Jaron Lanier for a special appreciation of Turing’s Spiritual Legacy in November. Lanier—a computer scientist, composer, visual artist and influential author who was named one of the 100 most influential people in the world by Time magazine in 2010—is also famed for coining or popularizing the term “virtual reality.”
LSQ Health Series returns
The Lafayette String Quartet's seventh annual Lafyette Health Series was presented in the David Lam Auditorium September. This year's topic was “Weighing in on Fat: What makes us obese and what we can do about it,” and featured guest speakers Priya Manjoo, Mary Kay Nixon, Hanh Huynh, Allen Hayashi and Darlene Hammell.
Christopher Butterfield
Christopher Butterfield yielded a great deal of coverage for the recent Cage 100 Festival he curated in November. “I think Cage’s whole point is that he wants people to be acutely aware of the kind of aural world or acoustic world around them and to be able to actually, I don’t know, rejoice in the sheer idea of consciousness or of being sensitive to the world, and you don’t need the kind of conventional constructs of music,” Butterfield told Globe and Mail arts writer Marsha Lederman. “It’s much more about a much larger world of sound possibilities than simply the ones put together for people to learn on the piano or the violin or an orchestra or whatever.” He also appeared in articles in the Times Colonist, on CFUV’s U in the Ring show with Phoenix Bain (hear the podcast here), and an interesting review of the Cage 100 fest appeared in the Coastal Spectator blog. School of Music Adjunct Faculty member, Gordon Mumma, who worked closely with John Cage in the mid-60's and 70's, presented a lecture during the festival. Mumma also supplied the Art Gallery of Victoria with numerous pieces from his personal collection for the John Cage installation entitled Devoted Play, curated by Butterfield.
Steinways on TV
Shaw TV ran a segment between November 19th and 25th about the School of Music’s Steinway pianos featuring piano professor Arthur Rowe and dedicated UVic piano tuner Jim Anderson speaking with Shaw host Nikki Ewanyshyn. The segment showed Anderson working on one the Steinways, as well as some students at the keyboards. If you missed the episode, you can now watch it online. For information on the School of Music's Steinway initiative, visit Adopt a Piano.
George Tzanetakis
Computer Science and Music prof George Tzanetakis talked about robotic musicianship and other electronic music notes in the Saanich News on October 19. “When you play sound, a musician hears what is happening. We are trying to add the ability to understand music to an artificial agent that performs,” he told reporter Edward Hill. “The idea is to make the system musically intelligent, to have robotic musicianship.”
Jonathan Goldman
Musicology professor Jonathan Goldman appeared on Vancouver’s Radio Canada—that’s the French CBC station—on September 24, discussing the Learning Without Borders program through which he won a course development grant to develop his Mus 391: Global Music class. The class hosted an end-of-semester Global Music Fair on Wednesday, November 28.
Robert Silverman plays for Steinway pianos
Distinguished pianist Robert Silverman performed at the School of Music in September as a fundraiser is to help cover the costs of the 63 new Steinway pianos that made UVic the first and only All-Steinway School in Canada. Silverman, himself a Steinway artist, performed Brahms’ Rhapsody in B Minor and Six Pieces for Piano, as well as Schumann’s Piano Quintet with the Lafayette String Quartet—with whom he has had a longstanding professional relationship.
Dániel Péter Biro
Congratulations to Dániel Péter Biró, whose composition for solo bass flute, Kivrot HaTa'avah (Graves of Craving), was selected as an independent submission for the ISCM (International Society of Contemporary Music) 2013 World New Music Days in Kosice, Bratislava, and Vienna. Founded in 1922, ISCM is an international network of members from around fifty countries, devoted to the promotion and presentation of contemporary music. Each year they present an international festival hosted annually by a selected country of one the of ISCM’s Section Members. The festival focuses on contemporary music across a broad range of contemporary practice. It provides an opportunity for composers, ISCM members and audience to converge and experience a showcase of activity from around the world.
Additional Canadian works to be performed at 2013 ISCM World New Music Days include Anna Pidgorna's solo accordion piece Light-play through curtain holes, and Patrick Saint-Denis' multimedia work Trombe.
Summer 2012
Harald Krebs
After meeting with the Society for Music Theory‘s program committee in Louisville, Kentucky, and taking a research visit to Berlin and the Stuttgart area, professor Harald Krebs participated in the Vancouver International Song Institute, as well as finished editing a collection of essays on Bartók’s string quartets for Oxford University Press (co-edited by fellow Music prof Dániel Biró).
Dániel Péter Biró
As well as teaching workshops on electronic music and on rhythm, extended techniques and notation with the Meitar Ensemble in Kiryat Ono, Israel, and lecturing on the history of Jewish Torah cantillation signs (the te’amim) at the Genootschap voor de Joodse Wetenschap—that’s the Dutch Society for Jewish Studies—Biró visited the Netherlands to conduct field recordings of Jewish and Islamic chants. That’s all on top of teaching at the Matrix Academy for Electronic Music in Amsterdam, as well as leading colloquia at the Harvard Summer Composition Institute. In addition, Biró’s composition Vayiru Et (And They Saw) Version II was performed by the Meitar Ensemble at the Center for New Music and Technology in Tel Aviv.
Christopher Butterfield
School of Music associate professor and head of composition Christopher Butterfield earned some strong media attention—as well as audience appreciation—with his recent Toronto concert Contes pour enfants pas sages: 8 cautionary entertainments. Based on poet Jacques Prévert‘s 1947 collection of fairy tales (which loosely translates to Fables for Naughty Children), Butterfield’s composition for Toronto’s Continuum Contemporary Music got a lengthy write-up in the Globe and Mail, as well as playing to full houses both nights at the 918 Bathurst Centre.
While Butterfield’s world premiere of Contes may be noteworthy in itself, it also warrants attention here due to the collaboration with the other Fine Arts faculty involved in its performance—Christopher’s equally talented tenor brother, Benjamin Butterfield (head of voice); Benjamin’s wife, soprano Anne Grimm (music performance instructor); and Visual Arts painting professor Sandra Meigs, who provided projected images to accompany the music. (Also involved in the production were acclaimed choreographer Laurence Lemieux and Choir 21, led by David Fallis.)
Continue reading on Artsy Type
Youth Orchestra tours with three of UVic's outstanding players
Every January, young orchestral musicians across the country audition for a spot in the National Youth Orchestra of Canada’s summer program and tour. This year, three talented UVic School of Music students landed a seat in the coveted Orchestra. Jiten Beairsto and Lindsey Herle (both violinists) as well as Tazmyn Eddy (trumpet) will take part in the NYOC tour, which stops in six Southern Ontario cities, Montreal, and two cities in the US, all under the baton of Alain Trudel, one of the most sought after conductors on the Canadian Scene.
Faces of UVic Research series launched
As one of Canada’s leading research universities, the University of Victoria is home to a wealth of world-class expertise across a broad range of disciplines. More than 800 faculty researchers are at the forefront of discovery—on everything from aging to music to zoology and sculpture—and are working with community, government and business partners to turn that new knowledge into action.
Who are these researchers? What do they study? And how is their work relevant to our lives? Find out in the newly launched “Faces of UVic Research” video series, in which individual researchers give a short and succinct “elevator pitch” on their work—in everyday language—that quickly gets to the heart of what they do and why it matters.
Sixty short one-minute videos have now been released on UVic’s YouTube channel, and Fine Arts is well-represented in this first batch by the likes of Andrew Schloss (Music), Lorna Crozier, Maureen Bradleyand David Leach (Writing), Warwick Dobson and Conrad Alexandrowicz (Theatre), Daniel Laskarin (Visual Arts), and Marcus Milwright (History in Art).
Read more about this initiative on the Fine Arts blog, Artsy Type.
April 2012
Concerto Competition Winners
Congratulations go out to this year’s winners of the School of Music’s annual Concerto Competition: Jiten Beairsto (violin), Daniel Jordan (piano), Erin Ronningen (mezzo soprano) and Sabrina Sun (flute).
The competition took place in April in front of a panel of judges that included one member from each section of the Performance Faculty along with the UVic Orchestra conductor, Ajtony Csaba. The winners, selected by ballot, will have the opportunity to perform in the Concerto Concert this coming spring alongside the students & faculty of the Concerto Orchestra. The program for the January 25 concert will include Chausson’s Poeme, Op. 25 with Beairsto as soloist, Jordan in the spotlight performing Rachmaninoff’s Concerto No. 1, Ravel’s Scherezade sung by Ronningen, and Martin’s Ballade with Sun on flute.
Suzanne Snizek
Suzanne Snizek’s chapter titled "'Spiritual Vitamins:' Music in Huyton and Central internment camps May 1940 to January 1941" was recently published in the Routledge publication Cultural Heritage and Prisoners of War: Creativity behind Barbed Wire. Inspired by a conference held at Cambridge in April 2010, the book focuses on the numerous examples of creativity produced by POWs and civilian internees during their captivity. At the conference, Snizek presented a paper as well as a concert of works for flute and piano with works composed by Hans Gál and Franz Reizenstein during their British internment (during WWII). The nature of the book is interdisciplinary and international in scope. Contributors include archaeologists, musicologists, cultural studies scholars, visual art curators, military historians, dance and theatre specialists and scholars in Eastern European studies. The publication is available for purchase on the Routledge website.
March 2012
A Taste of SALT
Tsilumos Ensemble, Victoria’s new music ensemble co-directed by School of Music faculty Dániel Péter Biró, Ajtony Csaba, and Joanna Hood as well as Kris Covlin was recently awarded grants from the Ernst von Siemens Foundation for their 2013 SALT Festival. With the objective of presenting first-rate performances of new and challenging works by Canadian and international composers, the grant will fund the commissioning of new works by Wolf Edwards (M.Mus ’03), Bernhard Gander (Austria), Steven Kazuo Takasugi (USA), and Gianluca Ulivelli (Italy).
Biró received an additional grant from the Ernst von Siemens Foundation for the commissioning of a new work for ensemble and electronics to be performed this year by Tel Aviv’s Ensemble Meitar.
- Read about this year's SALT Festival, which included the UVic Orchestra's North-American premiere of Chaya Czernowin's Zohar Iver and the world premiere of Lovely Monster Reloaded by Bernhard Gander on Artsy Type.
February 2012
Jonathan Goldman
Jonathan Goldman, Associate Professor of music history, musicology and theory for the School of Music has been awarded an Opus Prize in the category “Book of the Year” for his latest publication, The Musical Language of Pierre Boulez by Cambridge University Press.
Awarded annually by the Quebec Music Council, Goldman describes the Opus Prize as “kind of like the Quebec classical music Grammys.” This latest prize comes on the heels of Goldman’s previous “Article of the Year” Opus win for “Charting Mémoriale: Paradigmatic Analysis and Harmonic Schemata in Boulez’s … explosante-fixe …”
January 2012
Michelle Fillion
The Faculty Advisory Committee has selected Dr. Michelle Fillion as the winner of this year’s Award for Teaching Excellence in Fine Arts, a prize awarded to one Fine Arts Faculty member each academic year. Dr. Fillion teaches musicology and music history while also serving as Graduate Advisor at the School of Music.
Michelle Fillion joined the School of Music faculty in 2002, after almost two decades at Mills College (Oakland California) where she served as Professor and Head of the Music Department. While at Mills, Fillion was acknowledged on more than one occasion for her teaching excellence, having received the Phi Beta Kappa Northern California Teaching Award and the Mary S. Metz honorary Chair for Excellence and Creativity in Teaching. Dr. Fillion will be honoured at the UVic Faculty Excellence Awards reception this spring.
Harald Krebs
There is much to be lauded of long-time UVic faculty member Dr. Harald Krebs, professor and Head of Theory at the School of Music. While 2011 marked his 25th year at the University, Krebs was also named a University of Victoria Distinguished Professor in 2010 - the highest academic honour that the university can bestow on a faculty member. “I am very grateful to the University for this award. It's wonderful when your own university recognizes you for your research as well as your teaching,” says Krebs, who is using the award to fund research and conference travel, and to invite guest speakers and performers to the School of Music.
As the eleventh recipient of the prestigious award, Krebs has been invited to give a public presentation for UVic’s Distinguished Professor Lecture Series. “I am happy to have the opportunity to give a talk on campus. It is a way of saying ‘thank you’ to the University,” says Krebs. The talk, intended for a broad audience, grows out of his recent research on how song composers manipulate the rhythm of poetry for expressive purposes. “It was during this research that I became enthralled with Robert Schumann's late songs, which are not sufficiently appreciated by scholars and performers. I look forward to acquainting the audience with this wonderful music, both by talking about and performing it,” says Krebs, who will be joined by his wife, soprano Sharon Krebs, for the performance portions of the presentation.
In addition to his work at UVic, this past October Harald Krebs became President of the Society for Music Theory, the primary scholarly society in the field. Although the position is one of many demands, Krebs finds the work rewarding. “I'm enjoying it all very much—especially because I like and admire all the people with whom I am working,” expresses Krebs, who previously served on several committees of the Society, and as its vice president.
Krebs’ lecture, Robert Redeemed: The Beauty of Schumann’s Late Songs, will be held on Tuesday, January 24th at 7:30 p.m. in the Phillip T. Young Recital Hall. Admission is free.
Reinventing the Piano: Trimpin Visits UVic
Trimpin, the famed sound sculptor, composer and inventor, brings his latest innovations to Victoria in Spring 2012 with a project titled (CanonX+4:33=100). In collaboration with Open Space and Dr. Andrew Schloss (co-creator of UVic’s Music and Computer Science program), a team of emerging sound engineers, musicians, and visual artists from UVic will have the opportunity to work directly under Trimpin’s mentorship while assisting with the creation and installation of the work, scheduled to open on March 16.
With 2012 marking the centennial celebration of some of the most influential composers of the last century, namely John Cage and Conlon Nancarrow, (CanonX+4:33=100) celebrates a continuum and extension of the important work of both composers. Combining ancient concepts and methods with the latest in digital technology, Trimpin will give new life to an array of transformed abandoned pianos, by constructing visually dynamic and aurally stunning acoustic and electroacoustic sculptures and automatons out of their carcasses. “The pianos will be ‘prepared’ with mechanical actuators, small robotic devices to play the piano strings in a way which both composers, more than a half century ago, started to experiment with, compose, and perform,” describes Trimpin. “With the tools of today’s technologies, this experimentation can be extended to the next level of investigation.” Believing in our capacity to experience sound visually, Trimpin will accentuate this concept with the use of video cameras and sensors to translate movement and colour into gestures that activate the instruments.
Trimpin will visit UVic from January 17 to 20 to conduct workshops with participants and will introduce the project in a public lecture on Tuesday, January 17th at 2:30 pm in Rm. A162 of the Visual Arts Building. A screening of Peter Esmonde’s documentary, TRIMPIN: the sound of invention will be presented on Wednesday, January 18th at 8:00 pm in Rm. A146. Trimpin will return in March to install (CanonX+4:33=100) at Open Space, present an artist talk, and perform with the UVic collective, MISTIC. Until the close of the installation on April 28th, the UVic team will lead demonstrations and workshops at Open Space as well as have the opportunity to develop unique methodologies for activating and “performing” the installation as an enormous musical instrument.
One of the most stimulating and inventive forces in music today, Trimpin’s installation will skew your everyday assumptions about sound and technology and engage your senses of perception, surprise, and joy, in an extraordinary and intricate audio-visual experience unlike any other.
November, 2011
Honourary Doctor of Laws awarded to internationally renowned music education advocate
Internationally renowned music education advocate, Dennis Tupman, was awarded an honourary Doctor of Laws at the UVic Fall convocation on November 9th, 2011.
In his convocation address, Dr. Tupman used the children’s song “Row, row, row your boat” as a metaphor for the well-lived life and had the convocation audience singing in 3-part harmony! He stressed putting children first in educational matters and paid tribute to the large community of colleagues, family, and friends who were present to honour him. As one colleague remarked at the luncheon following the ceremony, “There hasn’t been a convocation address like that for some time!” Moving, authentic, and passionate, Dr. Tupman highlighted the importance of music and the arts as key to children’s and society’s health.
Tupman, born on May 19, 1936 in Victoria, BC, received a Bachelor of Education from UBC in 1964 and a Master of Education from the same institution in 1969. He taught music, English and math in Kitimat from 1957-1971 when he became District Principal for the Performing Arts at the Vancouver School Board, a position he held until 1992. In 1992, he became a Faculty Advisor at UBC. Mr. Tupman has been president of the British Columbia Music Educators Association, the Canadian Music Educators Association, and the British Columbia Choral Federation and has been involved with many other music organizations, notably the International Society for Music Education. He has adjudicated numerous music festivals throughout BC and beyond and has won prestigious awards, including the Governor General Award for Lifetime Arts Leadership (1995) and the Coalition for Music Education in Canada Award (2010). Mr. Tupman has a regular column in the Canadian Music Educator and has been a lifelong advocate for arts education, in particular, music education. He has touched and influenced the lives of many as the support letters demonstrate.
This year marks a significant milestone in the careers of four School of Music faculty members. At a reception on October 4 at the University Club, long service employees from all areas of campus were honoured. Among those celebrated were our very own Alexandra Pohran Dawkins (Head of Woodwinds) and Harald Krebs (Head of Theory) for 25 years, Eva Solar-Kinderman (piano performance) for 30 years and Eugene Dowling (tuba, euphonium, and trombone performance), for 35 years with the School of Music.
Dr. Gerald King, the School of Music’s Director, is grateful for their commitment to the School of Music. “We are so honored to have such talented and dedicated faculty who have given so much to the School of Music and the University. Four faculty members who have served the University for 25, 30 and 35 years—this is a remarkable milestone. Such longtime service is an indicator of the quality of our School. We thank Alexandra Pohran-Dawkins, Harald Krebs, Eva Solar-Kinderman, and Eugene Dowling for their outstanding contribution to the UVic School of Music.”
Student voices fly on Dutchman stage
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This October, eight School of Music students took to the Royal Theatre stage for Pacific Opera Victoria’s production of Wagner’s The Flying Dutchman. As members of the massive 50 plus-person chorus, Andrew Buckley, Josh Lovell, Mary-Ellen Raynor, Jeremy Roszmann, Anna Shill, Cedric Spry, Claire Stewart, and Marlee Wetter brought their dynamic voices to the stage with verve.
Having the opportunity to work with the Opera Company has given these students a valuable glimpse into the world as a professional musician. "POV has shown me what the real world is like. The ability to study professionals in their element without feeling like an intruder is invaluable experience and education," says fourth year student, Jeremy Roszmann. First year Master’s student, Anna Shill, felt honoured to be a part of the production: “What can't you learn from your peers and those ahead of you? Sharing space with people that spend their lives living the career you hope for puts everything that we learn at school into perspective.”
POV will stage the world premiere of the new opera, Mary’s Wedding, this November, and we can look forward to hearing Andrew Buckley, Anna Shill and Cedric Spry, in this chorus as well. In addition, the lead female role will be performed by School of Music alumna, Betty Wayne Allison (B.Ed & B.Mus ’05).
Bruce Vogt has had a productive year in the recording studio. In addition to his latest CD release of the piano music of Franz Liszt (Volume 1), Vogt has further released two CDs this year, both recorded in the Phillip T. Young Recital Hall with soprano, Susan Young (chorus director and voice instructor at UVic).
Paul Hindemith’s Das Marienleben (The Life of the Virgin Mary) is a rarely heard masterpiece. Although a more practical, revised version exists of this song cycle for soprano and piano, Vogt and Young recorded Hindemith’s original, more powerful and demanding 1922-23 version. “The later version is more singable,” says Vogt, “but not nearly as fresh or beautiful. Susan is that rare singer who can handle the difficulties.”
The 10th Anniversary Celebration CD, a live recording commemorating the period of Young and Vogt’s collaboration, includes works by Strauss, Schubert, Brahms, Liszt, and Debussy. The recording “beautifully captures Susan's voice in four languages and many musical styles,” describes Vogt.
Credits to the production of the CDs include School of Music faculty Alexandra Pohran Dawkins (producer), Kirk McNally (mastering), and alumni Andrea Young (B.Mus ‘01) (sound editor, graphic design and producer).
These CDs and others are available for purchase on Vogt’s website.
September, 2011
With 25 years under their belt, the Lafayette String Quartet uniquely holds the title as the only all-female ensemble in the world to still feature its original members. If that wasn’t enough of an accomplishment, since forming in 1986, the Quartet has performed across Canada, the US, and internationally, won major prizes, received awards for their recordings, and have been the subject of a book. As artists-in-residence at the School of Music for the past two decades, they still manage to maintain a rigorous touring schedule in addition to their teaching duties.
“UVic has shown a strong commitment to us,” says LSQ violinist Sharon Stanis. “I feel very fortunate to be here. Not all universities have a resident string quartet, and there's a real mentoring by having all of the string teachers in one ensemble."
For their silver anniversary concert season, the Quartet has invited some exceptional friends to join them on stage. On Saturday, September 17th, pianist Flavio Varani will join the Quartet in performing Dvorak's Piano Quintet in A major Op. 81. And on Saturday, February 4th, violinist James Dunham and cellist Paul Katz will help form the sextet in Brahms' Sextet in G major, Op. 36. Both concerts will take place in the Phillip T. Young Recital Hall. Tickets are $25 and are available from the University Centre Box Office.
Lafayette Health Awareness Forum
On Thursday, September 22 at 7 pm, the Lafayette String Quartet will host its annual Health Awareness Forum, Shades of Grey: Understanding the Mental Health Continuum, at UVic. The forum will approach subjects about mental health that aren’t often publicly discussed, covering a wide spectrum of topics by a top-notch panel of five physicians. The evening will address some of the main concerns common in various stages of our lives and how we might better discern what would be considered a health issue and what is expected as part of our life experience. Aptly subtitled, Everything you wanted to know about mental health, but were afraid to ask, the forum will include presentations by each panelist as well as a moderated Q & A. As has become the tradition, the Quartet will begin the evening with a short musical presentation.
Leading British composer visits UVic
Composer Michael Finnissy, a major voice in British music, will visit the University of Victoria School of Music as an Orion Lecturer this fall. Renowned for his broad aesthetic range, he is equally at home with complex and simple musics. Well-known as a pianist, he will give a recital of his work on Monday September 12th at 8 p.m. in the Phillip T. Young Recital Hall. On Wednesday September 14th at 4:30 p.m. he will present a lecture entitled 'Writing anything and everything'. This event will take place in room B016 in the MacLaurin Building. Both events are free and open to the public.
In addition, Finnissy will be joining Victoria’s Aventa ensemble for their annual Composer Workshop. Participants in this year’s workshop include UVic Alumni Anna Höstman (MMus ‘05), Mason Koenig (BMus ‘10), and Christopher Reiche (MMus ‘08), whose works can be heard in a reading session on Saturday September 10th at 2 pm. As well, alumnus Chedo Barone (MMus ’04) and current student Alex Jang will have works performed by Aventa in a concert that includes music by Finnissy on Sunday, September 11th at 8 pm. Both events will take place in the Phillip T. Young Recital Hall. Please visit Aventa’s website for further details.
Andrew Schloss is the latest UVic faculty member presented on the BC government’s Year of Science website as a featured scientist. Renowned for his innovative work with sound technology, Schloss is one of the pioneers of the Radiodrum, an instrument developed in the 1980s at Bell Labs. The Radiodrum is played in three-dimensional space using two drumsticks to control MIDI signals. Schloss’ work with electronic musical instruments is described on the Year of Science website in words, photos and a video.
John Celona received the award for Best in Category in the 2010 California Film Awards for his thriller screenplay, Nightfreight, as well as an invitation to the awards ceremony in San Diego. This is the second win for the yet-to-be-made film, which follows his 22-minute 2009 HD film, The Strange Case of DJ Cosmic; the first was an award for his self-made minute-and-a-half trailer, which picked up Best Art Direction in the 2010 International Movie Trailers Festival in August 2010. As for the future prospects of Nightfreight, Celona says, “I am in the long process of raising a budget for the feature-length. You know how that goes.”
Dániel Péter Biró won the 2010 Giga-Hertz-Award for electronic music—one of the most prestigious composition awards in Europe. Bestowed by the Centre for Arts and Music in Karlsruhe, Germany, and the Experimental Studio in Freiburg, the award honours composers working in the areas of electronic and acousmatic music for a particular composition. "Ancient Jewish and Christian chant traditions were an inspiration for this piece, as was the Qur'an recitation of Indonesian reciter Hajjah Maria Ulfah," says Biró.
Harald Krebs received the University of Victoria Distinguished Professor award in 2010 - the highest academic honour that the university can bestow on a faculty member. The title is awarded to individuals who have achieved great distinction in teaching and research, and who have made a substantial contribution to the university and the wider community. Krebs is the university's 11th Distinguished Professor and the first from the School of Music. Read the feature article about Krebs in UVic’s publication, The Ring.
Theatre
Fall 2012
Department of Theatre alum Catherine Plant is Phoenix Theatre's new audience and client services liaison.
Good Person of Setzuan
Good Person of Setzuan is Phoenix Theatre's fall production. Director Conrad Alexandrowicz discusses the ideas behind the show.
Good Person of Setzuan gets good reviews.
Summer 2012
Fringe Festival
Phoenix Theatre students and alumni one again make a strong showing at Victoria's annual Fringe Festival.
July 2012
Victoria Foundation
Victoria Foundation establishes new theatre award in memory of late Phoenix grad, Megan Newton.
June 2012
Theatre Awards
Phoenix alumni win a wide range of theatre awards. Atomic Vaudeville's Ride the Cyclone, Peter N' Chris, and Meg Roe all take home various awards
February 2012
Learning from a Legend
Can you imagine getting the chance to work with a legendary Shakespearean master? This was the opportunity offered to more than a dozen talented actors, designers and aspiring directors at the Department of Theatre when the illustrious playwright, director and critic Charles Marowitz came to UVic this spring to direct his reinterpreted version of Hamlet.
Chocolate Woman Changes the World
Acclaimed Guna and Rappahannock actor and playwright Monique Mojica follows up the production of her play, Chocolate Woman Dreams the Milky Way at Vancouver’s Talking Stick Festival, with a UVic public lecture on the five-year process of creating the production.
A
ncient Myth, New Life
The recent Phoenix Theatre production of Euridyce attracted quite a bit of attention from the media, primarily thanks to the dazzling visual design by Mary Kerr.
Say It With Dance
Assistant Theatre professor Conrad Alexandrowicz picks up $175,000 in grant funding to collaborate on an interdisciplinary project with famed poet and Writing professor Lorna Crozier, as well as Applied Theatre graduate student Kate Bessey, School of Music head of woodwinds Alexandra Pohran Dawkin, and associate Writing professor and experimental filmmaker Maureen Bradley.
Theatre Calgary’s Dennis Garnhum to Speak
Theatre Calgary artistic director and Department of Theatre grad Dennis Garnhum took a break from directing Pacific Opera Victoria's recent production of Carmen to visit the Phoenix and talk with the current crop of Theatre students.
January 2012
Critics' Choice Awards
It's seven nominations and two wins for Phoenix Theatre productions in the 10th annual Critics' Choice Spotlight Awards
December 2011
Legacy Awards?
Who's behind the creative work for the actual awards given out at UVic's recent Legacy Awards? None other than our own Dean of Fine Arts, Sarah Blackstone, who's also in the Department of Theatre faculty.
November 2011
Bindon Kinghorn
Phoenix Theatre’s latest production, Rookery Nook, is getting plenty of local media coverage. This 1920s British farce written by Ben Travers and directed by Bindon Kinghorn got some good reviews, and Kinghorn himself was well-quoted about it. FFarce is a fine line between satire, which makes a point, and just a gentle prod in the ribs,” explains Kinghorn. “No one is meant to be offended by any portrayal of themselves on the stage; it’s written for pure fun and enjoyment.”
Spotlight on Alumni
Are you a Department of Theatre grad who has a killer show just aching for a large audience? If so, you're in luck: Phoenix Theatre is currently accepting proposals for the upcoming 2012/ 2013 Spotlight on Alumni, which will form part of UVic’s 50th Anniversary season. (With that in mind, proposals that consider themes related to the 50th anniversary are encouraged.) Take your place in a proud Spotlight on Alumni lineup that includes past shows like Legoland, The Ugly Duchess, Love Kills, The Josephine Knot and Death of a Clown.
Will Weigler
Applied Theatre sessional instructor Will Weigler’s doctoral dissertation about why audiences connect to live performances—what he describes as “ah-ha!” moments—was featured in both the Times Colonist and the Calgary Herald, as well as the Victoria News, and was interviewed for CFUV’s campus news show, U in the Ring, and on-air at CFAX 1070.
October 2011
Jennifer Wise
Theatre historian and Department of Theatre professor Jennifer Wise was announced as a finalist in the 2011 Herman Voaden National Playwriting Competition for her original UVic play The Moons of Jupiter. Written by Wise for 2009′s International Year of Astronomy, directed by Dean of Fine Arts Sarah Blackstone and workshopped by Theatre students and faculty, The Moons of Jupiter looked at the the family dynamics between famed astronomer Galileo and his children.
Brian Richmond
Department of Theatre professor Brian Richmond has been nominated for the People’s Order of British Columbia, a grassroots initiative spearheaded by scrappy online magazine, The Tyee. And while Richmond has done admirable work as part of UVic’s theatre faculty, it’s his brainchild Blue Bridge Theatre Company that has earned this stage veteran the nod.
March 2011
M Awards
UVic’s Fine Arts faculty are once again well-represented as nominees on the ballot for Monday Magazine’s annual M Awards. Included in the many categories now open for voting are Phoenix Theatre’s production of Yerma and Blue Bridge Theatre’s UVic-heavy A Streetcar Named Desire (Favourite Overall Production); the Belfry’s new play The Life Inside, which featured associate professor Jan Wood (Favourite New Play) . . . there’s even a theatre student project on the ballot: Jay Mitchell’s Fringe Festival favourite Z-Day: Anthem for the Post-Zombie Apocalypse (Favourite Musical).
Visual Arts
News
Spring 2013
UVic Visual Arts Undergrads Recieve Awards
Bronwyn McMillin was awarded the C.D. Howe Scholarship for Art and Design, administered by the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts.
The Visual Arts Achievement Award of $500 each (funded by the office of the VP Academic and Provost, Dr. Reeta Tremblay) was awarded to Carson Wronko, Emma Palm, and WonSeok Seo
Fall 2012
New Audain Professor Announced
Nicholas Galanin, the 2012 Audain Professor in Contemporary Arts of the Pacific Northwest, wins a $50,000 US fellowship grant.
Katie Lyle among RBC winners
Visual Arts alum Katie Lyle wins honourable mention and $15,000 in 14th annual RBC Canadian Painting Competition. And instructor Thomas Chisholm was also shortlisted for the second year in a row.
Vikky Alexander at National Gallery
Photography instructor Vikky Alexander participates in the Toronto edition of Nuit Blanche, and has a set of her photographs displayed at the National Gallery of Canada.
Jennifer Stillwell in Winnipeg Now
New video and drawing professor Jennifer Stillwell is represented in the Winnipeg Now exhibit at the Winnipeg Art Gallery.
Megan Dickie exhibit
Busy instructor Megan Dickie takes her kinetic sculpture to an exhibit in Nelson.
Two exhibits for Tara Nicholson
Instructor and busy local photographer Tara Nicholson has exhibits at both Deluge Gallery and the Slide Room Gallery.
Jason Bourque shoots a movie
Visual Arts alum Jason Bourque returns to campus to film a sci-fi action movie.
Jackson 2Bears goes high tech
Visual Arts alum and Fine Arts interdisciplinary PhD Jackson 2Bears is now teaching for the Technology and Society minor program.
Autumn Visiting Artists announced
The fall lineup for the long-running Visiting Artists program is now up.
Summer 2012
Robert Chaplin earns a Guiness
Visual Arts alum Robert Chaplin is now in the Guiness Book of World Records for creating the smallest book in the world.
Vikky Alexander in the news
Photography professor Vikky Alexander is profiled in Vancouver online arts mag Here and Elsewhere.
Spring 2012
A pair of alumni exhibits
Visual Arts alumni Rick Leong and Emilio Portal both have exhibits on view in Victoria.
July 2012
Visual Arts grad Melanie Jewell
Recent Visual Arts grad Melanie Jewell has been announced as one of the winners of the 2012 Canadian Aboriginal Writing & Arts Challenge.
June 2012
RBC Canadian Painting
Visual Arts grad Thomas Chisholm named as one of 15 finalists in the RBC Canadian Painting Competition. This is Chisholm's second nomination in as many years.
Alumna Crystal Przybille
Visual Arts alumna Crystal Przybille has won the national competition to create a series of public art sculptures to celebrate Victoria's 150th anniversary.
Canadian collage exhibition
Two Visual Arts professors—Vikky Alexander and Lynda Gammon—are among 30 artists included in the Canadian collage exhibition, Cut and Paste, at Vancouver's Equinox Project Space.
May 2012
Rick Leong and Emilio Portal
Visual Arts alum Rick Leong and Emilio Portal both launch exhibits in Victoria. Leong's The Phenomenology of Dusk is on view at the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, and Portal's islands is at Open Space.
Vikky Alexande
Photography prof Vikky Alexander gets a nice profile in online Vancouver arts mag, Here and Elsewhere.
MFA
MFA Thesis Exhibition takes over the Visual Arts building.
April 2012
BLINK
The annual BFA exhibit is on now in the Visual Arts building. BLINK offers work by more than 40 emerging artists.
February 2012
Megan Dickie Throws It Down
Limited-term Visual Arts professor and ongoing sessional instructor Megan Dickie has a pair of new shows: she's part of the AGGV group exhibit Throw Down and has her own exhibit Get the Gleamer at Calgary's Stride Gallery.
Daniel Barrow Brings Art to Life
The ongoing Visiting Artist series continues to bring top talent to UVic. Most recently, we've had an appearance by famed Montreal-based manual animator and $50,000 Sobey Art Award-winning artist Daniel Barrow.
November 2011
Paul Walde
The Department of Visual Arts has announced that London, Ontario, visual artist Paul Walde has been named as the newest associate professor. “The Department is excited to have Paul join our ranks,” says Visual Arts chair Daniel Laskarin. “His expertise and enthusiasm will complement and augment the range of learning available to our students, and his creative work will be a welcome addition to the discourse of the visual arts at UVic and beyond.”
Franke James
Artist, writer, environmentalist and recent thorn in Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s side, Franke James, was profiled in the Autumn 2011 issue of the alumni mag, The Torch. One of the first two graduates of UVic’s MFA program way back in 1981, James has made something of a name for herself since 2007 with her unique fusion of artistic and environmental concerns as seen on her website, My Green Conscience—but, most recently, as a result of the Federal government blacklisting a planned European art tour blasting the ongoing Canadian tar sands development.
October 2011
Robert Youds
Robert Youds, professor of painting in Visual Arts and a leading practitioner of light-based art, recently had an exhibit of new sculptures and paintins called Turn On Your Electric on view at Toronto’s Diaz Contemporary gallery. Youds also participated in an exhibit at Winchester Contemporary alongside iconic Visual Arts professor emeritus Mowry Baden.
Daniel Laskarin
The work of Visual Arts chair Daniel Laskarin has made it into the pages of Sculpture magazine. The current issue features Rachel Rosenfield Lafo’s review of Laskarin’s 10-year survey exhibit, Agnostic Objects (things persist), which was on view at the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria earlier this year.
August 2011
maegan rose mehler
Visual Arts grad maegan rose mehler has won the BC regional prize in BMO Financial Group’s national 1st Art! Invitational Student Art Competition. Only the second UVic student to win in the competition’s seven-year history, mehler's 36 x 36 oil-on-canvas portrait Josh turned out to be just the piece to mesmerize the judges. With 250 entrants across the country and 38 in BC alone, mehler is one of 12 regional winners to pick up a $2,500 prize. mehler credits her instructors and mentors in our acclaimed Visual Arts department for her success—specifically Daniel Laskarin, Robert Youds, d. bradley muir and Sandra Meigs. "I asked a lot of questions and was a real pain in the butt, that’s for sure—but I wouldn’t have even applied for this competition if it wasn’t for them,” she says.
May 2011
Rebecca Belmore
Noted aboriginal artist Rebecca Belmore was the obvious choice to become the Visual Arts department's inaugural Audain Professor in Contemporary Art Practice of the Pacific Northwest. “She’s a First Nations artist of substantial repute, a person with a strong international reputation who had represented Canada at the Venice Bienale, and one who could give our students the benefit of her skills and experience,” explains department chair Daniel Laskarin. With her her enviable 25-year international legacy of multi-disciplinary art, the Vancouver-based Belmore talks about the challenges and successes of her UVic teaching gig. “I was trying to share with [students] my process as an artist—which is kind of spontaneous, and involves more short-term planning than long-term," she says.
Everett Wong
Fourth-year Visual Arts major Everett Wong designs the 2011 Distinguished Alumni Award. Read about what inspired the artist to create his limited-edition serigraph print here.
April 2011
John G. Boehme
Adjunct Visual Arts faculty member John G. Boehme is heading off to the Venice Biennale in June.
March 2011
Martineau, Meigs and Youds
Three Visual Arts faculty members were represented in the National Gallery of Canada’s 2010 Canadian Biennial exhibit, It Is What It Is: Luanne Martineau, Sandra Meigs and Robert Youds.
Mowry Baden
Iconic UVic Visual Arts professor emeritus Mowry Baden was profiled in the Winter 2010/2011 issue of Canadian Art magazine, as part of their second annual “Art School Special” issue. The The same issue also recognizes the Visual Arts department as offering “Innovative Options” in the realm of Digital Art education “boasting an impressive inventory of high-tech studio equipment” and noting such graduates as Althea Thauberger and Jackson 2bears.
Lynda Gammon
Associate Visual Arts professor Lynda Gammon is one of three Canadian artists participating in Silent as Glue, the new contemporary exhibit at the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria.
Sandra Meigs
Visual Arts professor Sandra Meigs was recently profiled in the summer 2010 issue of Canadian Art magazine. The article, “Eminent Victorian”, was written by former Globe and Mail art critic Sarah Milroy and included four glossy images of Meigs’ work, noting that she “is known for her eclectic influences—country-and-western hurtin’ songs, movies, children’s television, opera—but the art-historical backstory is also dense, with Meigs surveying painting’s history with characteristic eccentricity.”
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Writing
Fall 2012
Cody Klippenstein wins Zoetrope prize
Recent Writing grad Cody Klippenstein wins first place in the Zoetrope All-Story Fiction Contest. A notable U.S. prize sponsored by Francis Ford Coppola, the Zoetrope puts her work in front of the eyes of some of America's biggest literary talent agencies.
Madeline Sonik a human book
Writing instructor and City of Victoria Butler Book Prize Winner Madeline Sonik was a "book" in the Greater Victoria Public LIbrary's recent Human Library Project.
Maureen Bradley wins NSI film initiative
Writing professor and filmmaker Maureen Bradley has been selected as one of the winning teams for the National Screen Institute's Features First program.
Dan Hogg wins NSI script prize
Fine Arts staffer Dan Hogg has been named one of the winners of the National Screen Institute's Script to Screen development initiative.
All Star Reading Night
10 graduates of the Writing department held Fine Arts celebrate UVic's 50th anniversary.
Madeline Sonik wins City of Victoria Book Prize
Writing instructor Madeline Sonik won the City of Victoria Butler Book Prize this October for her non-fiction memoir, Afflictions and Departures.
Patrick Friesen wins ReLit Award
Writing instructor Patrick Friesen wins the 2012 ReLit Award for poetry for his book Jumping in the Asylum. While there's no cash purse for the ReLit.
Tamas Dobozy wins Writers Trust prize
Writing grad Tamas Dobozy wins the $25,000 Rogers Writers Trust prize for his short-story collection, Siege 13.
UVic Writers in abundance at Writers Fest
Plenty of Writing faculty and alumni were on deck for the inaugural Victoria Writers Festival.
Connor Gaston goes to TIFF, WFF
Writing MFA student Connor Gaston has films accepted at both the Toronto International Film Festival and the Whistler Film Festival.
Arno Kopecky launches book
Writing grad and international journalist Arno Kopecky launches his first book, The Devils Curve.
G&M talks to Bill Gaston
Writing chair Bill Gaston is interviewed by the Globe and Mail for his thoughts on the number of emerging writers currently flooding the Can-lit market
Marjorie Celona makes Giller longlist
Writing grad Marjorie Celona makes the Giller longlist for her debut novel Y.
Judy Leblanc wins Antogonish Review prize
Writing grad Judy Leblanc has won The Antogonish Review's eight annual fiction award.
Kevin Kerr joins Writing department
Governor General's Award-winning Canadian playwright Kevin Kerr joins the Writing department, bringing a vast body of experience to his speciality in drama.
Lorna Crozier releases new book
The soon to retire Lorna Crozier launches her latest volume, The Book of Marvels, to a packed house at UVic's Bookstore.
Bill Gaston launches new novel
Writing chair Bill Gaston launches his latest novel, The World, alongside Writing alum and Giller Prize longlister Marjorie Celona, who is launching her own novel, Y.
Summer 2012
Richard Van Camp returns
Writing alum and acclaimed aboriginal author Richard Van Camp returns to campus to kick off the department's participation in UVic's 50th anniversary celebrations.
Sketch Ed goes live
The students of Ryan Harper-Brown's summer Writing 410 course are taking their comedy writing skills out of the classroom and onto a local stage by mounting Sketch Ed—a night of live comedy based on their course work.
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