News & Achievements
Writing
April 2012
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Student Film Fest Winners
The 8th Annual UVic Sunscreen Student Film Festival is proud to announce the winners: |
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Edugyan, Price, and Wilson lead the way at the BC Book Prize
The BC Book Prizes will be awarded on May 12th, and UVic's Writing department is once again well-represented. Instructor Steven Price (Into That Darkness), Esi Edugyan (Half-Blood Blues), and alumni D. W. Wilson (Once You Break a Knuckle) are vying for the fiction prize, with adjunct professor Patrick Lane (The Collected Poems of Patrick Lane) nominated for poetry, and former instructor Pamela Porter (I'll Be Watching) nominated for children's literature. Good luck to all! |
| Summer classes in writing
Get a leg up on planning your summer classes. All of the Writing Department's summer classes have prerequisites of only second-year standing. Check out the special topics classes we're offering:
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March 2012
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Student Film Fest Calls for Entries
The 8th Annual UVic Sunscreen Student Film Festival is looking for your short films. Sunscreen .is juried and open to any UVic student making narrative, documentary, or experimental films. Deadline for submissions is Monday April 2nd, with the festival happening on Thursday, April 12th at the David Lam Auditorium. |
February 2012
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CBC Short Story Contest
Writing grad D.W. Wilson makes the CBC Short Story Contest shortlist, and fellow alum Yasuko Thanh is now the subject of a song, tied to the launch of her new book. |
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Live at Open Word, It’s Sheila Heti!
The long-running collaboration between the Department of Writing and Open Space continues with an appearance by acclaimed Toronto-based author, writer and cultural innovator Sheila Heti. |
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Eating Dirt was nominated
BC author Charlotte Gill, whose Eating Dirt was nominated for this year's $25,000 Charles Taylor Prize for Literary Non-Fiction, stopped in at UVic for a special reading and class session. |
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Victoria Film Festival
UVic filmmakers and graduates were out in force for the recent Victoria Film Festival. |
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Alumni team claim national drama prize
Academic assistant Daniel Hogg and alumni Jeremy Lutter have been named to the NSI Drama Prize, awarded annually by the National Screen Institute to develop the career of emerging filmmakers. Their short film project Floodplain, adapted from the short story of the same name by alumni D.W. Wilson, earned the team three week's worth of boot camps at the NSI from industry mentors, as well as the opportunity for $10,000 cash and $30,000 of in-kind services to produce the film this year. |
| Submit to The Warren Undergraduate Review
The Warren is seeking submissions from all UVic students for its March 2012 issue. The Warren is an open-concept literary and arts journal that aims to foster the growth of a vibrant multidisciplinary creative culture at the University of Victoria. |
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January 2012
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Madeline Sonik
Department of Writing instructor Madeline Sonik is one of five authors shortlisted for the prestigious $25,000 Charles Taylor Prize for Literary Non-Fiction, for her 2011 book Afflictions & Departures: Essays. |
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Esi Edugyan
2011 was definitely the year for Fine Arts alumna and former Writing instructor Esi Edugyan. Get up to speed on Edugyan's accolades and her widespread year-end coverage |
December, 2011
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Crozier on CBC
Writing professor and recent Order of Canada winner Lorna Crozier's spot guest-hosting a special December 2 episode of CBC's The Current proved so popular that she was invited back again on December 8. Read the whole story and find links to the original episode here. |
November, 2011
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This Side of West call for submissions Submit your work to the writing student union's 2012 edition of journal This Side of West. Deadline Thursday, December 1st. For more details visit http://thissideofwest.uvic.ca
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Esi Edugyan wins Giller Prize for Half-Blood Blues
Congratulations to former instructor Esi Edugyan on winning the 2011 Giller Prize, which awards $50,000 to the author of the best Canadian novel or short story collection published in English. It's been a great year for Edugyan who was also short-listed for the Governor-General's Literary Award for Fiction, the Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize, and the Man Booker Prize. |
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Joan McLeod wins Siminovitch Prize
A big congratulations to faculty member Joan MacLeod for winning the Elinore & Lou Siminovitch Prize. The largest theatre award in Canada, the award recognizes career accomplishments in design, direction, and playwrighting in three-year cycles, which features a $75,000 cash prize and a $25,000 prize for a protegé of her choosing. At the ceremony, Joan announced her protegé would be Toronto-based playwright Anusree Roy. |
October, 2011
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Edugyan's Half-Blood Blues adds Giller Prize & GG nominations
Hot on the heels of her Man Booker Prize Nomination for her second novel, Half-Blood Blues, former instructor Esi Edugyan has been nominated for both the Giller Prize and the Governor-General's Literary Award for Fiction. The Giller Prize, which awards $50,000 annually to the author of the best Canadian novel or short story collection published in English, will be awarded at a gala on November 8th in Toronto. The Governor-General's Prize, with a $25,000 award, will be announced on November 15th in Toronto. With these nominations, Edugyan has been nominated for all three major Canadian fiction prizes this year (Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize). |
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Playwright up for $100,000 Siminovitch Prize
Faculty member Joan MacLeod has once again been nominated for the Elinore & Lou Siminovitch Prize. The largest theatre award in Canada, the award recognizes career accomplishments in design, direction, and playwrighting in three-year cycles. The winner will be announced on Nov. 7 at a ceremony in Toronto. |
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Recent grad a nonfiction finalist
Congratulations to recent grad Will Johnson. The Malahat Review just announced their 2011 Constance Rooke Creative Nonfiction Prize, where Johnson was named a finalist for his work "Whatever You're On, I Want Some". |
September, 2011
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Alumni wins big across the pond
Recent graduate D.W. Wilson has won the BBC National Short Story Award for his story "The Dead Roads", also published as part of his first collection of short fiction, Once You Break a Knuckle. Now a PhD student at East Anglia, Wilson beat out critcally acclaimed authors Jon McGregor and M.J. Hyland to win the £15,000 award. |
| Student jobs - work study placements available now
Looking for work this fall? Plenty of on-campus jobs are available to students who qualify the workstudy program, including two positions in Writing, and many more in the Fine Arts. Visit the complete list of jobs by department, or to learn more about workstudy placements, check out their web site. |
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Esi Edugyan nominated for Man Booker Prize
Congratulations to former instructor Esi Edugyan. Her second novel, Half-Blood Blues, is one of six books shortlisted for the 2011 Man Booker Prize for Fiction. The winner of the 2011 Man Booker Prize for Fiction will be announced on Tuesday 18 October at a dinner at London’s Guildhall and will be broadcast on the BBC. |
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Instructors shortlisted for Butler Book Prize
Instructors Carla Funk and Stephen Hume have each been short-listed for the 2011 City of Victoria Butler Book Prize, Funk for her book of poetry, apologetic, and Hume for his book of nonfiction, A Walk with the Rainy Sisters: In Praise of B.C.’s Places. Also on the short-list is writing Professor Emeritus Jack Hodgins, for his book The Master of Happy Endings. The winners will be announced at the awards gala to be held at the Union Club of Victoria on October 12th. For more information, visit the Victoria Book Prizes Society website. |
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Alumni breaks in with debut anthology
Recent graduate D.W. Wilson has published his first anthology of short fiction, Once You Break a Knuckle, with Hamish Hamilton Canada. Wilson was born and raised in the small towns of the Kootenay Valley, British Columbia. He is the recipient of the University of East Anglia’s inaugural Man Booker Prize Scholarship–the most prestigious award available to students in their MA program. His stories have appeared in literary magazines across Canada, Ireland, and the United Kingdom, including the Malahat Review, Grain, and Southword. |
August, 2011
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Alumni releases debut novel
Congratulations to recent alumni Barbara Stewart on the release of her first novel, Campie, released by Heritage House Publishing. A view from the bottom of the oil barrel into work-camp culture, Campie is an entertaining, compelling account of how an ordinary person survives when things fall apart and there’s no “eat pray love” holiday to put them back together. Barbara will next be reading at Vancouver's Word on the Street Festival on September 25, 2011. |
| Writing department expands, hiring a new prof
The Department of Writing, University of Victoria, invites applications for an Assistant Professor, tenure-track position in writing for stage and/or screen. The appointment will be effective July 1, 2012. The successful candidate will have an established record of professional engagement as a screenwriter and/or playwright. Applicants should also have experience teaching in their respective genres. See the complete job description. |
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July, 2011
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Meet Lee Henderson
We are pleased to welcome a new faculty member, assistant professor Lee Henderson. Prior to coming to the Writing Department, Lee Henderson lived in Vancouver, where he made a living writing on the visual arts, publishing fiction, and teaching creative writing at UBC. He has also lead writing workshops for the Summer Literary Seminar in Montreal as well as at the Banff Centre for the Arts, and with U of T's online writing program. Read his bio here. |
June, 2011
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Crozier named to Order of Canada
Prof Lorna Crozier has been named an Officer of the Order of Canada by Governor General David Johnston. One of Canada’s most beloved and talented poets, this latest honour comes on the heels of Crozier being recognized as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in 2009, and her winning of UVic’s Craigdarroch Award for Excellence in Artistic Expression in 2010. With 15 books of poetry behind her and a number of awards—including the Governor General’s Literary Award—as well as a pair of honourary doctorates for her contributions to Canadian literature and her designation as a Distinguished Professor at UVic, Crozier is in the enviable position of being highly regarded by her peers and universally loved by the students and writers she has mentored over her 20 years at UVic. The Officer of the Order of Canada recognizes a lifetime of achievement and merit of a high degree, especially in service to Canada or to humanity at large. |
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Freshman's Wharf honoured with Leo Award
Congratulations to the cast and crew of Freshman's Wharf on winning a 2011 Leo Award for Best Web Series. Students Julia Dillon-Davis and Eliza Robertson (producers) and Rachel Warden (writer) joined mentors and producers Maureen Bradley and Daniel Hogg at the glitzy Leo Awards Gala at the Fairmont Hotel Vancouver, where they rubbed shoulders with other stars and filmmakers of Hollywood North. The Leo Awards celebrate and recognize excellence in the BC film and television industry. |
May, 2011
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Student showcases film at Cannes
Third-year Department of Writing student Katherine Walkiewicz’s 20-minute movie, Une Mémoire Courte, has been accepted in the Short Film Corner, a showcase of international work by emerging filmmakers at the Cannes International Film Festival. A fictional drama about whether or not a young couple is truly in love, Une Mémoire Courte was created as a term project for her International Film Writing course this year and was selected by a jury presided over by acclaimed director Michel Gondry (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind). |
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Fisher's short earns the grand prize from PRISM International
Third-year Writing student Erin Fisher is $2,000 richer, thanks to her first-place win for a story originally written as a first-year assignment. Fisher, winner of the 2009 Cadboro Bay Book Prize for Fiction, was selected as the Grand Prize Fiction winner in the 2011 PRISM International poetry and fiction contest for her 2,500-word short story “Bridges.” Sessional instructor Matthew Hooton says it has been a “humbling experience” to read Fisher's work. “I've found myself in the paradoxical position of trying to engage with her work in class and get out of her way at the same time,” he says. “This prize is the literary equivalent of a warning shot over the bow of the establishment. It won't be the last time you read her name—trust me, I've seen what she's got coming next.” |
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Crozier tops UVic's researchers
Department of Writing professor Lorna Crozier was named one of UVic's top seven researchers for 2011. Crozier, a much-loved poet, essayist and public speaker, picked up the Award for Excellence in Artistic Expression at the 2011 Craigdarroch Research Awards on May 3rd. |
Visual Arts
News
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.”
Catalogues
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Previous Graduate & MFA Shows:
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Theatre
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.
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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).
Music
April 2012
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.
History in Art
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.
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