It’s here! This weekend is UVic’s first Homecoming Weekend, in celebration of the 50th Anniversary. Be sure to visit the Faculty of Fine Arts, where we have a number of events planned. But you don’t have to wait until the main events get underway on September 28 & 29—we’re so keen on our side of the Ring that we’re starting a few days early!
Orion guest lecturer Luigi Ferrara
• It all kicks it all off on September 26 with a pair of Visiting Artist Talks featuring Luigi Ferrara and Susan MacWilliam. Ferrara—an acclaimed architect, designer, entrepreneur, educator and director of the Institute Without Boundaries—comes to us as part of his participation in History in Art’s annual Faculty Research Symposium (more on that below). MacWilliam—a noted Belfast artist who has an ongoing study of significant events in the history of paranormal research—is in town for a pair of shows at Open Space, F-L-A-M-M-A-R-I-O-N and Persistent Personalities. Join Ferrara and MacWilliam at 6:30pm Wednesday, September 26, in room A162 of the Visual Arts building. There will even be a bar on hand so attendees can get a drink between sessions!
• Come September 28, it’s time for History in Art’s Annual Faculty Research Symposium. This year’s theme is Acts of Intervention: The Arts & Social Change, and features Orion guest lecturers Luigi Ferrara and John O’Brien. Ferrara, who we’ve already heard about, will be presenting his Orion lecture, “Learning to Change: A Change Lab in Action,” at 11:00 am, while O’Brien—professor of Art History and faculty associate of the Peter Wall Institute for Advanced Studies at UBC—will be offering his own Orion lecture, “Nuclear Invisibilities: The Man with the Bag on his Head” at 3:00pm.
Symposium organizers Carolyn Butler-Palmer and Erin Campbell will be presenting papers, and have also invited fellow Fine Arts faculty members Paul Walde (Visual Arts), Maureen Bradley (Writing), Warwick Dobson (Theatre) and Jonathan Goldman (Music) to present papers, as well as their History in Art colleagues Evanthia Baboula, Christopher Thomas and Victoria Wyatt. Opening the day will be UVic’s Associate VP of Research, Dr. Michael Miller. Acts of Intervention runs 9:00am to 5:00pm Friday, September 28, in Visual Arts A146—and it’s absolutely free and open to the public. History in Art will also have a lobby display up in the Fine Arts building throughout Homecoming weekend.
• Also on Friday, School of Music jazz professor and famed Newfoundland trumpeter Patrick Boyle—leader of both the Jazz Orchestra and Jazz Band—will be presenting a Faculty Recital. Boyle will offer not only a program of jazz standards but also some of his own original compositions, with a little help from his School of Music friends Ian McDougall, Jonathan Goldman, Joanna Hood and Brian Anderson. The music starts at 8pm Friday, September 28, in the Phillip T. Young Recital Hall. (Tickets are $13.50/$17.50 at the University Ticket Centre.)
All of which leads up to the official Faculty of Fine Arts Open House for Homecoming on Saturday, September 29. There will be a number of events and tours happening throughout the day:
• The School of Music kicks off the day with an 11:30am Hand Drumming Workshop featuring instructor Jordan Hanson—whose music therapy work was recently featured in the local Times Colonist—in MacLaurin B037. (Bring your own drum or use one of the drums provided for free!) Music will also be hosting a “Sight Reading” open house with faculty and students playing fresh off the sheet music, from 1:00 to 3:00pm.
Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas’ “Craft”
• Be sure to visit the Visual Arts building, where you can see the new exhibit “Craft” by Michael Nicoll Yahgulaanas, holder of the 2011-12 Audain Professorship in Contemporary Art Practice of the Pacific Northwest. There will also be Visual Arts students on hand to offer tours of the building and offer insights into the creative process. (“Craft” runs through to October 8.)
• Phoenix Theatre will also be offering an open house with guided backstage tours—get a glimpse of the backstage magic with visits to props, costumes, dressing rooms and more! Gather in the Phoenix lobby, where the tours will leave every 30 minutes between 2:00 and 4:00 pm.
Filming an episode of “Freshman’s Wharf”
• Writing will be screening their Leo Award-winning web series Freshman’s Wharf—collaboratively created by Writing students, staff and faculty—from 1:00 to 2:00pm in FIA 103.
• Arts Place café will also be open from 11am-2pm so visitors can get a coffee and snack (and pick up a copy of Ian McDougall’s Fine Arts benefit CD, The Very Thought of You).
Finally, once you’re finished on campus, pop into downtown’s Legacy Gallery
and take in their current exhibit, Building the University Art Collection: 50 Years. Gallery hours are 10:00am to 4:00pm, Wednesdays to Saturdays.) Building the University Art Collection will trace the development of UVic by highlighting key collections and objects acquired over the years, and runs through to October 27.
