By Emily Putnam

Artist-in-Residence has closed their residency at 杏吧原创 with two student-led performances.

Shortt is a storyteller and performing artist working across Turtle Island and internationally. They are a vocalist, saxophonist, noisemaker, improviser, composer, sound designer, video artist, curator, administrator, and producer.

Shortt has been on campus since January 2024. While here, they’ve taught a course called Music Producing 101 (MUSI 4200) and ran the Performer-Composer Lab ensemble. They also gave a masterclass, presented a concert at 杏吧原创 Dominion-Chalmers Centre, and took part in music auditions and juries.

They say 杏吧原创鈥檚 music program hosts a uniquely diverse range of musicians in study.

鈥淭he program here is really great because I’m meeting students from a plethora of genres. I have metal guitar players, I have singer-songwriters, I have classical musicians and jazz musicians, people who are self-taught, and people who have had lessons their whole life. I think it creates a really interesting dynamic that’s fun to work with.”

Shortt says the students they鈥檝e worked with have been open and eager to the new challenges they鈥檝e been assigned.

鈥淪tudents here are super keen. They have been absolutely amazing to work with. I don’t think I’ve met that many people who are just happy to try things out.鈥�

Shortt focussed on teaching students how to prepare artist bios, build their resume, and send email pitches in hopes of helping artists become more well-rounded experts of their craft.

The 杏吧原创 Music that occurred on April 1 took place at local venue .

The showcase featured the music of ABBA, Gotye, Andrea Bocelli, and several original compositions from 杏吧原创 music students.

The ensemble also collaborated with 杏吧原创鈥檚 radio station where students Robyn Lichaa, Sarah Peters and Anastasia Wasylinko  and performed pieces that will be featured at the showcase.

Shortt says connections and community can be one of the keys to success.

鈥淚 think it’s the advice everyone gives, and not everyone takes 鈥� which is: ask the local artists you’re interested in for coffee, because you learn so much from these conversations. I’ve done that so many times. I still do it.鈥�

Shortt also advises aspiring artists to refrain from being discouraged when things don鈥檛 go according to plan.

They say Ottawa鈥檚 community has welcomed them with open arms.

鈥淚 really like that Ottawa seems to have specific communities. And while maybe if you look statistically, there’s less, it’s almost like there’s more, because you’re really focusing on specific places.鈥�

Shortt says they particularly connected with 鈥檚 work, one of Ottawa鈥檚 leading independent and underground music and arts presenters.

鈥淚 found people really want to connect with you. Even if they don’t have the time, even if time鈥檚 not available, they’re like: I’ll find time.鈥�

Another focus of Shortt鈥檚 teaching was improvisation and interpreting music beyond traditional notation.

鈥淚 did all this training for so long, and then someone introduced me to improvisation. It really opened my eyes and reshaped how I looked at my previous training and classical music.鈥�

鈥淭here’s now these different ideas and ways of approaching improvisation, but they all coalesce, and they all come together. I just think it’s good to make sure you’re working all the different parts of your brain. I think they all work together in the end, and I’m just hoping that I can help make people into full and complete musicians, so that they’re not just only looking at music one way.鈥�

Shortt鈥檚 most recent artistic expression-of-choice is creating that encompass all components of their creativity.

鈥淚 really like video art because it kind of became a substitute for theatre, which I had really fallen in love with.鈥�

The second student-led performance will be taking place on Friday, April 5 at the Kailash Mital Theatre at 杏吧原创 University.

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By Emily Putnam

Those from the 杏吧原创 community tuning-in to the this weekend may get to see a familiar face on screen.

, who is now a Juno nominated composer, started her journey at 杏吧原创 in 2002 to study jazz guitar.

Brandon says she feels overwhelmed and excited for her first-time nomination.

鈥淚t鈥檚 wonderful to have this acknowledgement from my peers and to be in the company of the other nominees I admire so much, such as Dinuk Wijeratne, Emilie Lebel and Nicole Liz茅e.鈥�

Brandon is nominated for Classical Composition of the Year for , a piece recorded with and cellist , who she says she wrote the piece for.

鈥淪imulacra is essentially a sonification of my own experiences with identity鈥�, says Brandon. 鈥淟ike many others, I鈥檝e often felt intense pressure to alter aspects of my fundamental self in order to better 鈥榝it in鈥�.鈥�

鈥淚 express this in the piece by making the timbre of the cello a metaphor for this kind of self-inhibition and self-suppression 鈥� it travels from the narrowest of timbral ranges to the fullest, undergoing continuous transformation, eventually ending in an uneasy balance.鈥�

Brandon鈥檚 compositions have been described as 鈥�…gut wrenching and horrific鈥� (Critipeg), and “otherworldly, a clashing of bleakness with beauty” (Minor Seventh).

鈥淚 get great satisfaction from creating music that has a certain physicality, although sometimes that quality is not necessarily beautiful in the traditional sense. But to me, this manipulation of timbre is what carries the most communicative aspects of music.鈥�

The piece, conducted by , was first performed at the in 2023 and was supported by , and .

鈥淭he title of the cello concerto, Simulacra, refers to Baudrillard鈥檚 famous book on semiotics, and the concept of 鈥榓 copy that does not have an original鈥�. This is a nod to the idea that sometimes we create our identities out of nothing, creating a kind of hyperreal self that replaces us in the real world.鈥� says Brandon.

She says her education at 杏吧原创 helped to instill important values that she carries with her today.

鈥淚 worked with Wayne Eagles, Garry Elliott, Tim Bedner and , all of whom had a profound impact on me musically and as a person. I was lucky to have had the chance to work further with Roddy beyond my degree – we toured a little together on the East Coast and he is featured on my first album, ‘‘ which was released in 2016. He’s a brilliant guitarist and composer.鈥�

鈥淚 also took classical guitar lessons from Garry even after I graduated. His approach to teaching gave me a foundation of discipline which I relied on later in life as I moved into composition. He taught me that nothing good comes without effort and practice, which is a philosophy I use to this day twenty years later.鈥�

Brandon says 杏吧原创鈥檚 music program was always encouraging of her innovative and unique sonic interpretations.

鈥淥ne thing I appreciated about 杏吧原创 as a whole was its openness to musical ideas and influences from beyond the traditional conservatory system. I never felt that my musical ideas, however outlandish, were considered unwelcome. This musical openness definitely laid the foundation for my later approach to composition and performance in more experimental and free improvisational styles.鈥�

She says her compositions help bring her internal emotions outward.

鈥淔or me, composing is as simple as wanting to take everything that I hear inside, and bringing it outside. Simulacra, and all my pieces are these kinds of personal communications to ‘the outside world’.鈥�

鈥淚’m grateful that other people have found these expressions to be something worthwhile, and I cherish all the collaborations with performers that have come from that.鈥�

This year鈥檚 winners will be revealed in Halifax, Nova Scotia at the  Presented by Music Canada on Saturday, March 23 and The on Sunday, March 24, live on CBC.

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As the room began to fill up before her lecture, film studies professor Malini Guha wanted to test the AV for the film she鈥檇 be screening 鈥� directed by John Akomfrah and produced by the Black Audio Film Collective.

The film flashed across the screen, and for a moment, there was a familiar voice singing the blues.

鈥淎re we watching a documentary about Robert Johnson?鈥� music student Mubarak Farah enthusiastically called out from the back of the classroom. 鈥淗e鈥檚 the best singer of all time.鈥�

鈥淪ort of!鈥� replied Guha. 鈥淭he music students in the room will like this one. It鈥檚 a film about music.鈥�

The course, titled Race and Representation in the Arts, took place in the fall of 2023 and was co-taught by School for Studies in Art and Culture Professors Malini Guha (Film Studies), G眉l Kale (Art and Architectural History), and Kathy Armstrong (Music).

It used an interdisciplinary approach to equip students in and outside arts programs with skills to examine representation in the arts and influence positive change in their future career endeavors.

Guha, sharing her vision for the course, expresses, “By resisting the traditional boundaries of 鈥榙iscipline鈥�, our course opens up space for students and instructors alike to share their existing knowledge on these topics as represented across music, architectural history, and film while also learning from each other.”

The lectures were split into three-week segments taught by Armstrong, Kale, then Guha. Students engaged in cross-disciplinary and collaborative work along the way, building a portfolio of their work together in small groups, and exploring everything from city soundscapes, to race in modern architectural discourse, to Afrofuturism and Indigenous Futurism.

Armstrong, a percussionist who studies Ghanaian music and participatory music-making, underscores the course’s impact by pointing out how students, right from the first class, spoke to one another about personal experiences.

“We wanted the course to engage with lived experiences rather than being merely theoretical reflections,” says Kale, a trained architect and architectural historian, who hopes the course empowers students to implement positive changes in their interactions with the world and diverse communities.

Mubarak Farah, a music student and professional pianist, says he loved the long discussions that took place with his peers and instructors throughout the course, and “appreciate[d] that every voice was heard.”

“I think the value that can be gained here is people from each of these disciplines can take what they’ve learned from the course and use it to make their respective industries much more fair and inclusive,” says Farah.

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By Emily Putnam

Meet literary trailblazer Tyler Pennock, 杏吧原创鈥檚 newest Artist in Residence whose unique approach to poetry and storytelling challenges convention and celebrates the contemporary.

Pennock hails from the Lesser Slave Lake region of Alberta as a member of the Sturgeon Lake Cree Nation.

Armed with a Creative Writing MFA from Guelph University, Pennock鈥檚 literary career has been nothing short of remarkable.  In 2022, they released their celebrated second book, 鈥�鈥�, following up the resounding success of their debut work, 鈥�鈥�, which was shortlisted for the Gerald Lampert Memorial Award and the Indigenous Voices Award for Poetry.

Pennock also commits to fostering cultural understanding and knowledge through their teaching role at the Centre for Indigenous Studies at the University of Toronto.

This is an ethos that Pennock is excited to bring to 杏吧原创 University 鈥� which they consider a homecoming of sorts.聽聽“I spent nine of my formative years in Ottawa, so this experience feels like a return to a familiar place.”

While at 杏吧原创, they aim to expand their literary repertoire.

鈥淚鈥檓 working on a collection of poetry to follow up Blood, which will again be more oral tradition in terms of how I conceive of it,鈥� says Pennock. 鈥淚鈥檓 also working on a couple of short stories, and a sort-of literary criticism that I鈥檝e been considering in terms of how we lose and then recover para-textual information in the context of oral traditions.鈥�

鈥淚鈥檝e also liked reading a lot of theory lately, because it’s not something you get access to so much in undergrad. And in graduate studies you get tossed in it, like radishes in a salad. And you still don’t get enough of it in terms of depth.鈥�

One of Pennock鈥檚 signatures as a literary artist is that they challenge traditional ideas of poems and choose to go without titling many of their works. “I imagine the poems themselves as audience members, actually speaking to each other, so not titling a poem brings forward a sense of how oral cultures work. It’s not a disembodied title or name,鈥� says Pennock.

鈥淚f I named a poem, you could just state the name, but it gives no understanding of the poem. Whereas if I asked you what your favourite poem is, you would tell me according to your descriptor.” In this way, Pennock鈥檚 act of naming, or rather not naming a literary work, becomes one of discovery.

Though often given the 鈥榯itle鈥� of a spoken word poet or performance artist, Pennock declares, “I’m not [a spoken word poet], although I’ve been invited to spoken word events.” Rather, they see the performance of poetry as a continuation of oral traditions and cultures.

Pennock takes inspiration from all over, including from the likes of singer-songwriters such as Tori Amos, PJ Harvey, and Bj枚rk, and enjoys playing Elder Scrolls on their PlayStation to engage in the art of story. 鈥淭hey put so much into world building, you could at any point in any of the games, going back to 2000, pick up a book and read it,鈥� says Pennock. 鈥淵ou can now pick up a book and it refers to a time in a game you played [and] refers to a story you already know. And I love that part.鈥�

They also enjoy the outdoors and are quite familiar with Ottawa鈥檚 trails, saying, 鈥淚 like to ride my bike, and I’ll go for exceptionally long walks, because, why have legs if you’re not going to use them.鈥�

When considering advice to aspiring writers at 杏吧原创, Pennock notes, 鈥淭ake the word 鈥榓spiring鈥� out is what I would say to them. There鈥檚 no such thing as aspiring, you just are.鈥�

Pennock鈥檚 tenure at 杏吧原创 spans from September 1 to December 2023. All students are welcome to drop by to engage with Pennock and fellow students for a poetry-focused workshop on Wednesday, Nov. 8 in Gordon Wood Lounge on the 18^th Floor of Dunton Tower. You can also email them at tyler.pennock@carleton.ca.

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The Raven Saxophone Quartet will be competing in the semifinals of the International Chamber Ensemble Competition at the New England Conservatory in Boston on March 7, 2020.

The Music Department’s saxophone Instructor and Director of Saxophone Ensembles (including The Raven Saxophone Quartet), Mike Tremblay says the Quartet has achieved this amazing feat through talent, diligence, and fantastic chemistry.   

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Friday, 13 January 鈥� Sunday, 22 January 2017

Opening reception: Friday, 13 January 2017, 12鈥�1 pm

invites you to submit your artwork to The 4th 杏吧原创 Community Art Exhibition.

This exciting and popular exhibition celebrates the creativity of the 杏吧原创 community. The artworks showcased are all created by 杏吧原创 students, faculty, staff, and alumni!

You are invited to submit up to two (2) examples of your artwork, including painting, photographs, sculpture, textiles, drawings, and prints.

You are eligible to submit your artwork if you are:

1. A current 杏吧原创 University student
2. A current or retired 杏吧原创 University staff member
3. A current or retired 杏吧原创 University faculty member
4. A graduate of 杏吧原创 University

For more details, please download the FAQs, or contact cuagcommunity2017@gmail.com.

To confirm your participation, download the submission form below, or grab a form at CUAG鈥檚 front desk. Fill it out and return it via email to cuagcommunity2017@gmail.com or in person at the gallery by the 5 January deadline.

Once your participation has been confirmed, you can drop off your artwork at CUAG on Monday, 9 January, or Tuesday, 10 January, from 9:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Please make sure your paintings, drawings, prints, and photographs are framed and ready to hang.

The exhibition鈥檚 official opening reception will take place at CUAG on Friday, 13 January, from 12:00 鈥� 1:00 p.m. See you there!!!

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Director of the School for Studies in Art and Culture and Professor of Art History Featured in CBC Radio Documentary for curating 1920s Modernism in Montreal: The Beaver Hall Group

Brian Foss, Director of the School for Studies in Art and Culture and Professor of Art History, has spent the bulk of the last decade researching an unsung but intriguing collective of Canadian artists known as the Beaver Hall Group.  Professor Foss鈥檚 tenacious research culminated last fall in an exhibition for the titled 1920s Modernism in Montreal: The Beaver Hall Group, which contains nearly 200 items from a number of institutional collections as well as from 42 private collections. The exhibition features many paintings, sculptures, drawings and miscellaneous objects, borrowed from approximately 75 institutional and private collectors scattered across the country. Foss followed the lead of the primary curator of the show, Jacques Des Rochers, the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts Curator of Qu茅bec and Canadian Art before 1945.  Their teamwork paid tremendous dividends and was a fine example of scholarship undertaken jointly by the university and outside institutions.

1920s Modernism in Montreal: The Beaver Hall Group received 92,000 visitors over the course of its three-month showing at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts and has won this year鈥檚 highly coveted Canadian Museums Association鈥檚 Award of Outstanding Achievement for Art Exhibitions. In addition, the exhibition catalogue has captured the 2016 Melva J. Dwyer Award, given to exceptional reference or research tools relating to Canadian art and architecture.

The Beaver Hall Group was a diverse assortment of like-minded Montreal-based artists, many of whom shared a studio and exhibition space on the city鈥檚 Beaver Hall Hill in the early 1920鈥檚. Like Toronto鈥檚 celebrated Group of Seven, the Beaver Hall Group offered a creative portrayal of life in Canada; but they did so in a very different way. 鈥淯nlike the Group of Seven鈥檚 vast interpretations of Canada鈥檚 natural, unblemished backdrops, Beaver Hall Group art featured portraits of contemporary Canadian individuals, rural life and urbanized, populated cityscapes,鈥� explains Foss.

Listen to CBC Radio鈥檚  featuring 杏吧原创 University鈥檚 Brian Foss and Montreal Museum of Fine Arts鈥� Jacques Des Rochers.

For more information about Foss and the exhibit read: Remembering The Beaver Hall Group 鈥� Canada鈥檚 Unsung Modernists (PDF), the cover story fo FASSinate 2016.

Post Image Description: Mabel May | Housetops, View from My Studio, University Street | 1925 | Oil on canvas 61 x 76.2 cm | Private collection | Photo credit: Michael Cullen

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Art History Prof. Ruth Phillips Receives CMA Lifetime Achievement Award

Professor of Art History, Ruth Phillips has been awarded the coveted American Anthropological Association – .

In the citation, the CMA recognized the impact of Phillips’s work in the field of museum anthropology, her “vision to create infrastructures鈥hat connect people, artifacts and knowledge systems” and her work in mentoring and influencing the careers of students and colleagues.

Cross-appointed with the PhD program in Cultural Mediations in the , Prof. Phillips finds herself in familiar territory as the recipient of a prominent honour.

Phillips has held a since 2003. In 2012, her critically acclaimed book, , was shortlisted for the Donner Prize and won the in the non-fiction category. However, for Phillips, this award is a touch different.

鈥淎lthough I didn’t set out to work in museums, I鈥檝e divided my career between the very separate realms of museums and academia,鈥� explained Phillips. 鈥淪o, I was surprised and very honoured to receive an award which exclusively credits my museum work.鈥�

Phillips was drawn into the museum world when she was asked to curate the Northeast component of The Spirit Sings: Artistic Traditions of Canada鈥檚 First Peoples held at the Glenbow Museum exhibition for the 1988 Olympics in Calgary. The international boycott of the exhibition organized in support of the unresolved Lubicon Cree land claim created a divisive and painful controversy but also led to the formation of a national Task Force on Museums and First Peoples. Phillips’s involvement with the debates, the exhibition and the task force made her aware of the potential of museums to build cross-cultural understanding and further social justice.

鈥淚鈥檝e always believed you learn more from controversy than smooth sailing. This was a period of enormous learning for me, and for many others in the museum world. It led, ultimately, to much more ethical and effective ways to work with culturally diverse communities.”

This knowledge was put to the test during her term as director of the University of British Columbia Museum of Anthropology. She remembers the exhibition she and the staff organized there in 2001 “The Spirit of Islam: Understanding Islam through Calligraphy” as one of the high points of her career.

The exhibition was planned years before the World Trade Centre attacks of September 11, 2001, but it opened a month later during a period when Muslims in the B.C. Lower Mainland felt very vulnerable. Overcoming these ominous circumstances, the exhibition was a stunning success and delivered a potent and positive message at a time when it was most needed. For Phillips, this was a bright light in her ongoing illustrious career.

鈥淭he 鈥楽pirit of Islam’ confirmed my belief in the power of museums to make a difference in society and to bring people together to correct misunderstandings, even under such terrible odds,鈥� said Phillips.

Phillips鈥� contribution to the world of museums is multidimensional and has focused, in recent years, on the mobilization of digital technologies to provide access to Indigenous heritage scattered around the globe and to allow researchers to collaborate in virtual space. The CMA award recognizes her role in conceptualizing the UBC Museum of Anthropology’s Reciprocal Research Network and the digital database of the ), an organization she founded at 杏吧原创 in 2005. Through GRASAC, Phillips and her colleagues have brought together researchers in Aboriginal communities, museums, and other universities around the world.

鈥淚鈥檝e always hoped to foster open access to museum collections, most of which were amassed during the colonial era. Democratizing access, especially for members of originating communities, is a contribution to decolonization.”

鈥淪uch projects can also help to fulfill some of the recommendations for cultural renewal in the Truth and Reconciliation report. Museums can be key partners in reaching this end, and Canadian museums are well positioned to be world leaders鈥� she stressed.

Although working in the world of museums wasn鈥檛 a piece in her original career playbook, Phillips is grateful that curating and museum-based research became a significant part of her life.

鈥淚 love working in museums. In academia, you鈥檙e working from a distance, but in curating, there is a sense of closeness to the physical traces left to us by past lives and historical processes. I find this material connection deeply satisfying,鈥� said Phillips. 鈥渁nd when it can be combined with projects that work toward social justice museum-based research becomes tremendously fulfilling. For me, there鈥檚 the activist side and the more personal and intimate side. I love them both.鈥�

When one receives a lifetime achievement award, a natural response is to take pause and reflect. Phillips has certainly done this, but the award has also brought on the opposite 鈥� to think about the future of museum and curating work.

鈥淔or years I鈥檝e seen digital media as having great potential to make museums even more accessible. We did this successfully at the Museum of Anthropology and we are currently trying to implement a digital strategy with GRASAC.鈥�

鈥淎s we move towards this digitization, we need to continue in the spirit of partnership and collaborations with the relevant people, communities and organizations.鈥�

In many ways, this spirit of collaboration is symbolic of Prof. Phillips curating career.

鈥淓verything I鈥檝e achieved to date has been with the help of other people. All of it has been through teamwork,鈥� she said.

CMA is an all-volunteer membership organization that serves anthropologists and museum professionals. The Council for Museum Anthropology is a section of the American Anthropological Association. CMA鈥檚 mission is to foster the development of anthropology in the context of museums and related institutions.

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