Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Denise Chong's new book 'Egg on Mao'



The Ottawa launch for Denise Chong's new book:
Egg on Mao:
The Story of an Ordinary Man Who Defaced An Icon and Unmasked a Dictatorship

A reading by the author!

7:30 pm
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Library and Archives Canada
395 Wellington

A free public event
Please come and spread the word!

Tuesday, September 8, 2009

EN VIN - Lana Morton


Bonjour à tous. Voici un nouvel extrait de EN VIN sur YouTube de Izabel Barsive

Hello everyone, Here is a new excerpt of EN VIN on YouTube by Izabel Barsive


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gIvzzZzInIA

Lana Morton

Production Gestuelle

Alan Cumyn's 'Dear Sylvia' on youtube



Alan Cumyn thought people might enjoy the Youtube debut of a clip from his book, "Dear Sylvia" by the talented young filmmaker Jasmine Murray-Bergquist:

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mt5o_2Zva7s> .


"Dear Sylvia" is the third and final volume in the epic Owen Skye/Sylvia Tull love story, the first two being "The Secret Life of Owen Skye" and "After Sylvia."


Invitation to the launch of GUERILLA HEART JUICE


On Saturday, September, 12, 2009, the Ottawa theatre community is going to get JUICED!


Theatre artists Andy Massingham, Peter Ryan, and Alix Sideris have joined forces to create Guerilla Heart Juice, an exciting new physical theatre training company that will operate out of a beautiful studio in the heart of downtown Ottawa.

Workshops in movement, dance, mask and clown will be led on an ongoing basis.

"Brash, daring, innovative...and that's only the beginning!"


Come celebrate with Alix, Peter and Andy as they open an exciting new chapter in the arts and culture scene in Ottawa.

Join us on Saturday, September 12 at Guerilla Heart Juice's new home at 111A Rideau Street, 3rd floor, in the heart of the Byward Market, 7:00-9:30 p.m.


There will be nibblies, libations, sensual sonic selections performed by special guest composer/musician Amir Amiri, official announcements from the Guerillas themselves, and at least a few surprises...show up and get down!


Be a part of Ottawa's theatre future, now!


Questions and additional information: Phone (613) 883 0083

Email guerillaheartjuice@gmail.com


Visit our blog: www.guerillaheartjuice.wordpress.com

Wednesday, June 3, 2009

Comité Art-ère





Les élèves de la 9e à la 12e des écoles francophones Gisèle Lalonde, De Lasalle, Béatrice Desloges et l’école Alternative  ont participé à une activité enrichissante et excitante sous la forme du Théâtre 24 heures. Ce projet fut organisé par le comité ARTère, la direction jeunesse de l’organisme MASC dont la mission est de servir de passerelle entre l’éducation et les arts. Les jeunes du comité ont monté ce projet du début à la fin avec l’aide de la coordonnatrice Magalie Houle. Ils sont allés chercher eux mêmes le financement en faisant avec succès une demande de subvention à l’organisme communautaire Centraide. Le défi : monter une pièce - répéter le texte, faire la mise en scène, trouver les costumes, créer le décor, pratiquer et présenter - en l’espace d’une journée. La pièce a été présentée gratuitement à la communauté à la fin des 24 heures, soit le samedi 25 avril 2009 à 19h30 - à l’école secondaire publique De La Salle. Une nuit et une journée complète passée à l’école à travailler et à créer pour monter la pièce « Les murs de nos Villages ». Participants et participantes ont eu l’occasion de perfectionner plusieurs techniques artistiques en compagnie du metteur en scène Pier Rodier et de l’artiste visuelle Manon Doran de la compagnie Vox théâtre.  Les jeunes qui ont participé ont aussi pu mettre ce projet comme ajout à leurs heures de bénévolat requises par leur école. Bravo à l’équipe d’Art-ère pour un projet très réussi!

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

L'art au Nicaragua - 4 écoles, 4 artistes, un projet


Un artiste du secteur Aylmer, Michel Martel, s’est impliqué à fond dans ce projet d’art pour le Nicaragua. Une école de métiers est en construction au Nicaragua et un projet d’art fut mis sur pied. Quatre écoles jumelées à des artistes pour mettre sur pied ce projet d’art. Grand projet mais peu de temps pour le réaliser. 

C’est l’organisme MASC qui est derrière ce symposium, ce projet. MASC, c’est un réseau de 70 artistes, qui font profiter et découvrir l’art à plus de 150 000 étudiants chaque année. MASC est l’acronyme de Multi culturalisme et art scolaire et communautaire. L’organisme s’engage à donner aux écoles et collectivités l’amélioration de la créativité et l’excellence artistique. 

Toutes les sphères de l’art sont représentées que ce soit l’art visuel, la littérature, la danse, les spectacles. 

Apprentissage 

L’artiste Michel Martel a passé 6 heures avec les étudiants de l’école DeLasalle pour leur apprendre les rudiments du verre. 

Six heures où on a dû créer le dessin, les couleurs de la vitre qui est comme les lampes Tiffany, décider ce qui sera inclus dans le mobile de 24 morceaux qui sera acheminé au Nicaragua. 

Pour compléter l’œuvre qui fut exposée durant deux jours à la galerie AxeNeo7, 3 écoles ont complété le tableau soit l’école élémentaire de la Vallée des Voyageurs (Luskville), le Collège Catholique Samuel Genest et l’école élémentaire de la Traversée. 

Les artistes Marc Walter, Shaun Elie, Luis Abanto et Leo Brooks sont les artistes qui ont travaillé avec les élèves. 

Ces élèves ont tra-vaillé sur des projets de type nature, multimédia et musical. Les quatre projets mis ensemble soit les œuvres faites avec le bois, le documentaire, le vitrail et la musique composée par les élèves, ont donné un résultat spectaculaire selon les pa- rents et amis venus voir le résultat final. 

Michel Martel 

Michel Martel s’implique depuis plusieurs années dans des projets similaires. Nouvellement revenu dans la région depuis un an et demi, il a auparavant fait des projets au Territoire du Nord-Ouest et au Nouveau-Brunswick. Il possède le studio Martel, situé au 68 rue Principale, depuis trois mois. Il fait la vente de matériel, donne des cours, fait des œuvres sur demande. Il pratique depuis plus de 18 ans son art d’artisan-verrier. Il invite les gens à venir le rencontrer, en apprendre plus sur ses projets, en connaître plus sur le verre. 

Michel Martel et ses étudiants. 


Josiane Hardy ...... Bulletin d'Aylmer

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

St. Patrick students learn to act out

Kids gets special arts classes thanks to grant

BY MARGARET SAMBOL  February 16, 2009
Students at St. Patrick Catholic School in Barrhaven are learning to find the drama in stories and to project their emotions outward. In just a few days, actor, director and writer Eleanor Crowder and storyteller Katherine Grier have managed to have a big impact on the kids.

Eleanor Crowder/Katherine Grier

“We learned how to use our voices and cool techniques to warm our voices up where you vibrate your face, and your arms and your ribs,” says Grade 6 student Chelsea Atwood.
“We learned how to project our voices,” adds classmate Gabriel Correoso.

“We learned to write music to a song – like a remix – to a story,” says another Grade 6 student Emma Bissonnette. “I loved the games: geometry, gears and spotlight.”

Crowder explains that gears is a game to teach the students how to m
ove a lot of people safely and in a dramatic fashion. Once they learn the skill in the game, they don’t have to think about it and can instead focus on developing their character.

“It was all signals with the eyes,” Chelsea says, explaining how the students had to learn how to move on stage without touching each other and without speaking.

“You can’t bump into people or you’re out,” adds Emma.
The games help Crowder move much quicker into more advanced skills.

“It lets them be successful at something which is difficult,” Crow
der says.

The artists have been working with classes from Grade 1 to 6 at
 St. Patrick so each lesson is tailored to the level of the students.

Grier began by telling the children stories that resonate with them because of their use of universal themes and myths that they understand innately.

Then Crowder was able to build on that base as she taught skills to dramatize the story and the characters.

“My job is to get some material into them so the others have stories to work with,” Grier explains. Each class has been entrusted with a story to keep along the theme of stewards of God’s creation. “They’ve taken their story to Eleanor who has been able to take aspects to work with movement and theatre.”

Without much time, Grier works on ensuring the students grasp the shape of the story using imagery and by challenging them to put themselves in the story and look at it from a first person view. The exercise of feeling and seeing what the character does is an excellent preparation f
or drama.

“By the end of the class, they were doing very expressive, full body movement,” Crowder reports.

Grier tells traditional stories that have been handed down over generations.

“Stories are interesting because they are about us; us under 
different circumstances,” Grier says.

One story she passed on is the Kindly Ghost, an old folk tale from the Sudan. The main character is abandoned by his brothers in a drought, but through kindness wins the help of animals and a friendly ghost. His goodness is rewarded when he gets a pouch that grants wishes and he uses it well, but his brothers steal it from him and use is wrongly. But those animals he had helped return the favour and help him retrieve the pouch and restore the land after the brothers’ wishes had damaged it and the brothers are justly banished.

“They soak it in,” Grier says, noting that themes such as justice, right and wrong and bullying resonate through the ages.
Crowder’s lessons focus on teaching the children to express themselves, through voice, movement and body language.

“I find theatre to be the most powerful thing you can do – it’s the most effective way of communicating,” Crowder says, explaining her passion. “Acting is a natural as breathing.”

However, if children aren’t exposed to drama, Crowder sees that they stop exploring their capacity and begin to think that they could never do it.


GRANT

Teacher Ann Powers applied to MASC for the grant to have the artists come into the school.

“I love the arts and I wanted to ensure the students have a rounded experience,” Powers says.

And it’s not over yet. Another two artists, dancer and choreographer Maureen Shea and eco-sculptor Marc Walter will be spending a week with the student
s in mid-February.

Marc Walter/MaureenShea 

Powers says she applied for the grant hoping the children would develop an interest in the arts and discover their own gifts and talents.

“The arts help children who are less prone to academics find their voice,” Powers says.

As well the teachers are learning new skills that they can use to continue to develop an appreciation of the arts in their students.

Grade 6 teacher Tina Dougan says she’s already used some of the games in different ways in her classroom. One game required the students to focus to jump back and forth from solo to group activities and another had the students visualizing the character they are reading about in their novel.

As well, the arts lessons tie in well with the curriculum in developing language, comprehension, visualization and drama.

She says her students have been very receptive to the stories as well as the theatrical games.

“They’re learning to put themselves in a scene and dramatize it effectively,” Dougan says. “It’s opening them up to what being dramatic means. They have a better idea of what that entails and how to bring it out of themselves.”

MASC is a non-profit organization that connects artists with schools to promote the arts.



margaret.sambol@nepeanthisweek.com