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and are launching a new series called 鈥淒isruptions: Dialogues on Disability Art,鈥� curated by Michael Orsini to explore contemporary art as a force for challenging ableism.

The event takes place from 7:00 – 9:00 p.m. on Tuesday, 27 February, in Room 372, Residence Commons Building, located on Campus Avenue at 杏吧原创 University. Admission is free and everyone is welcome! Light refreshments will be provided.

In this presentation, Lindsay Eales and Danielle Peers dance a quartet with disability and madness. They draw together critical disability and Mad theory, spoken word, dance performance, and film. They weave these forms into critical reflections on representations of disability and madness in the arts, access to the arts, and the generative possibilities of cripping and maddening the arts. The presentation will be followed by a discussion with Lindsay and Danielle.

Lindsay Eales is a PhD candidate in the Faculty of Kinesiology, Sport and Recreation at the University of Alberta who studies disability, madness and dance. She is the Co-Artistic Director of CRIPSiE (the Collaborative Radically Integrated Performers Society) in Edmonton, which centres dance by and for people experiencing disability as well as their artistic and political allies. She has choreographed and performed integrated dance for 10 years. Her Masters research focused on practices and performances of social justice in integrated dance. Her PhD research is on Madness and performance art. For her research-creation work weaving together critical disability studies, Mad studies and dance, she has been awarded the Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship (SSHRC), the Alberta Arts Graduate Scholarship, and the Alberta Award for the Study of Human Rights and Multiculturalism.

Danielle Peers is a community organizer, artist and Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Kinesiology, Sport and Recreation at the University of Alberta. Danielle uses critical disability and poststructuralist theories to study disability movement cultures: from the Paralympics, to inclusive recreation, to disability arts. Their research builds on their experiences as a Paralympian, filmmaker and dancer with CRIPSiE (Collaborative Radically Integrated Performers Society) in Edmonton. Danielle is the Director of the Media in Motion Lab, which supports creative methods for producing and sharing knowledges about human bodies in motion.

Michael Orsini is Professor in the School of Political Studies at the University of Ottawa. He is co-editor (with Christine Kelly) of Mobilizing Metaphor: Art, Culture and Disability Activism in Canada (UBC Press, 2016). He is currently part of a SSHRC-funded Partnership Grant, Bodies in Translation: Activist Art, Technology and Access to Life, which explores how activist art can be mobilized to promote social justice and an appreciation for diverse minds and bodies.

The full description of this event is on the CUAG site, here ().

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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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Mari Carmen Ram铆rez is the Wortham Curator of Latin American Art and Director of the International Center for the Arts of the Americas (ICAA) at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Prior to that, she was curator of Latin American Art at the Jack S. Blanton Museum of Art and adjunct lecturer in the department of art and art history, both at The University of Texas at Austin. Ram铆rez also served as director of the Museo de Antropolog铆a, Historia y Arte de la Universidad de Puerto Rico, R铆o Piedras campus. She received a Ph. D. in Art History from the University of Chicago in 1989.

In advance of the Shirley Thompson Memorial Lecture (March 30th, 2016, 6-8 pm Lecture Hall, National Gallery of Canada), FASS recently had the pleasure of chatting with Dr.Ram铆rez about array of topics and issues.  Enjoy!

The Shirley Thomson Memorial Lecture that you are giving at the National Gallery of Canada is titled 鈥�From 鈥業dentity鈥� to 鈥榯he Global鈥�: The Contemporary Art Paradigm in Latin America.鈥� I imagine it is difficult to represent Latin America as a totality, yet you鈥檙e able to do so in a way that underlines the endless complexities of 鈥楲atin America.鈥�  How challenging is this and how, tactically, do you take this endeavour on?

Engaging Latin America or Latin American art as a category is a very challenging but necessary task. We have to start by recognizing that Latin America is an invention that each generation or cultural group re-invents according to its historical needs. The term stands for a subcontinent made up of more than twenty countries and a plethora of communities and ethnicities that extend from Tierra del Fuego to the US/Canada border. And if you are surprised to hear me say this, just consider that there are 54 million Latinos in the United States today which make up approximately 17% of the population. This makes the U.S. the largest Spanish-speaking country after Mexico.

From that point of view, there is no such thing as 鈥淟atin American鈥� or 鈥淟atino art鈥� (in the sense of a readily codified and identifiable artistic style or language). Instead, there is only art produced by individual artists in the countries and communities that make up the region as whole. Those of us who work in this field are fully aware of this paradox. We knowingly and deliberately use the terms 鈥淟atin American鈥� and 鈥淟atino art鈥� as operative constructs that duly serve us to identify the traits of two broad networks of producers, agents and supporters whose culture shares the common legacies of religion, language and most importantly, a history of colonial domination and utopian aspirations. Our job is to reveal the complexities, contradictions, differences and similarities that both join and separate these complex constituencies in their relation among themselves as well as with the rest of the world.

You have a tendency to use your work, which is grounded in Latin American art, to talk about identity politics and globalizing art history, exhibitions, and museums more generally. Can you tell us how your work forwards this more global approach, and why you think it is important to do so?

For the last thirty years we have been witnessing the 鈥渁scent鈥� of Latin American art in global circuits as a result of the combined dynamics of globalization and neo-liberalism. The field has evolved from a marginalized one to with a vibrant, steadily expanding area of visual arts production, collecting, and curatorial practice. More and more artists from Latin America are exhibited and collected all over the world; an increasing number of collectors from the region are joining the ranks of the global elites; old museums are being refurbished and new ones are being constructed; and, more importantly, the markets are booming with Latin American art. In many ways, Latin American art is no longer a marginal or provincial phenomenon. Yet many of the same problems that characterized the field three or four decades ago are still present. Namely, the unequal axis of exchange that separates Latin America from the First World is still there. Latin America produces great art but has no authority to legitimize the art of other countries or regions. Its institutional infrastructure is very weak and riddled with problems. As my friend Gerardo Mosquera has pointed out, our countries have been relegated to the role of supplying artists to the global mall. Despite the success of contemporary art abroad, there is still a tendency to stereotype this art in Europe and the United States. The list goes on鈥�. This situation places a great responsibility on curatorial practices to critically engage with this art and expose the contradictions in which it is operating. Because of the complex networks in which this art is inscribed, we cannot limit our intervention to the interpretation of the art itself; instead we must look at the whole picture that includes markets, museums, agents, exhibitions etc. because all of these factors today are inter-related. Research is fundamental for this task. There are still so many artists and movements in need of visibility and so many issues that need to be tackled.

The 2016 American election is imminent, and the rhetoric of the candidates 鈥� one in particular 鈥� has breached boundaries that we have not seen in generations (if ever). Sadly, Trump seems to have achieved some success through his transparently dishonest and hateful act of 鈥榦thering.鈥� He is attacking cultures and people and is threatening to build a wall around the America. What do you make of the 2016 American election campaign, and do you see your work and the art you curate as more important than ever? 

Like many of my friends and colleagues, I find the dynamics of this campaign extremely troubling, if not scary. However, it is important to bear in mind that what is happening now has been in the making for decades and is the result of an ingrained bigotry and racism on the part of certain political parties and groups of this society that has been fueled by economic distress, rising inequality, ideological polarization and a host of other critical issues that self-interested political leaders have chosen to ignore. What scares me the most, however, are certain similarities it presents with Latin America where the rise and fall of authoritarianism has been part of the past and recent history of these nations. In the United States, however, the strength of democratic institutions has served until now to buffer us against this ugly monster. Yet we may now be witnessing the unthinkable: that monster rearing its head.

You are someone who is very sensitive and dynamic when it comes to portrayals of identity.  Your work plays with the audience self-portrait and conception of their own identity.  Often, your teachings and work are meant for an American audience.  Do you change anything when you visit and teach in Canada (or other countries)?  Are there things you must articulate to non-Americans for them to more firmly grasp American social constructs?

Yes, you always have to articulate or 鈥渢ranslate鈥� one situation into the other; when I am in the United States, I have to 鈥渢ranslate鈥� Latin American values to U.S. audiences and when I am in Latin America it is the other way around. The same applies to Europe, Canada, or wherever my work takes me since every culture is different. That is why, based on my own experience, I have characterized the function of the curator as that of a 鈥渂roker鈥� or 鈥渢ranslator鈥� of cultures. In this position you are not just converting words from one language to the other as part of your job but rather converting values intrinsic to one worldview into another. As a Puerto Rican鈥攊.e. a bicultural colonial subject鈥擨 am well equipped for this task since my entire life has been a straddling back and forth between one culture (Puerto Rican) and a radically different 鈥渙ther鈥� culture (U.S.).

What do you hope participants in your March 31^st workshop at 杏吧原创 University will walk away with? What do you hope the audience takes away from your March 30th lecture at the National Gallery of Canada?

I hope the audience that attends the lecture will put to rest any stereotypes or misconceptions that they may have about Latin American or Latin American art and are intrigued enough by what I have to say to want to learn more about it. As to the workshop participants, I would like them to walk away with a more complex sense of the relationship between theory and practice as it plays out in curatorial practice. My entire trajectory of 35 years has been about putting big ideas to work in exhibitions, publications and other initiatives such as the International Center for the Arts of Americas (ICAA) and the ICAA Ideas Council, a research center and think-tank that I direct at the MFAH in Houston. For me, theory does not work if it cannot serve to stimulate or give concrete shape to actions.

Any exhibitions, places, people, pieces you鈥檙e particularly looking forward to visiting while you鈥檙e in Ottawa?

This is my second trip to Canada, a country I always wanted to visit. I lectured in Toronto in 2013 and was fascinated by the people and the city. In a curious way, I find that there are similarities between Canada and Latin America that relate to their peripheral status with regards to Europe and the United States. Issues of identity are also very strong here and on my visit to the National Gallery in Toronto I could see how much Canadian artists have wrestled with this issue since colonial times. So I am here with my husband, the Mexican architect, writer and curator, H茅ctor Olea, who also shares this interest in Canada. We are here to see as much as we can in terms of museums, galleries and other sites and to absorb everything that can help us understand this country and its culture. Thanks to Ming Tiampo we will also be visiting some artists studios which should be very exciting

Anything you鈥檇 like to add, Dr. Ram铆rez?

Thank you.

Shirley Thomson Memorial Lecture

Dr. Shirley Thomson (1930-2010) was a leading national figure in the promotion of the visual arts in Canada.  For more than 40 years she worked tirelessly in the arts community, establishing a distinguished record of accomplishment.  She served as Secretary-General of the Canadian Commission for UNESCO (1985-87), Director of the National Gallery of Canada (1987-97), Director of the Canada Council for the Arts (1998-2002), and Chair of the Canadian Cultural Property Export Review Board (2003-07). Dr. Thomson was a Companion of the Order of Canada and Officier de l鈥橭rdre des Arts et des Lettres, and Officer of Order of Ontario. Her strong and active presence was also felt in the Department of Visual Arts at the University of Ottawa, where she served as an Adjunct Professor.

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If you鈥檝e been to one of the opening receptions at (CUAG), you probably know what to expect: every few months, on a Monday evening, students, professors, artists, and art lovers visit the St. Patrick鈥檚 Building to celebrate the debut of new exhibitions. You鈥檇 have seen the crowds mingling by the food table, chatting about and pointing at particular works of art, or perhaps taking selfies. CUAG is where you鈥檝e encountered Canada鈥檚 best contemporary visual artists. But this past January, it also became a place where art, music, improvisation, and 杏吧原创 University history came together to surprise and delight the lucky attendees.

At around 6 p.m., with everyone鈥檚 attention focused on director Sandra Dyck鈥檚 welcome remarks, a high, operatic voice resounded through the crowd. Everyone swivelled around to find where the voice was coming from, and saw artist standing on the stairs. As she began singing, she slowly started walking through the audience towards the open gallery, where an ensemble of 杏吧原创 University music students and alumni had gathered to join her in a special, improvised performance.

Sawyer鈥檚 exhibition, , was opening at CUAG that night, and the performance featured some signature pieces from Brettschneider鈥檚 repertoire. In the exhibition, Sawyer  continues her decades-long project of 鈥渞econstructing鈥� the life and work of Natalie Brettschneider, her fictional alter ego and an avant-garde performance artist active in the early-twentieth century.

The Canadian-born Brettschneider鈥檚 performances in Europe were influenced by the absurdist aesthetics of Dadaism, and incorporated fashion, opera, and improvised scores. They were typically ephemeral in nature, often only documented with a single photograph. These kinds of performances redefined art and its possibilities, and we know that Brettschneider鈥檚 work, like that of her contemporaries Emmy Hennings and Claude Cahun, pushed up against the construction of the male artist as 鈥済enius鈥� and their female contemporaries as passive muses.

After she returned in 1937 to Canada from Paris, Brettschneider must have felt isolated from her avant-garde artistic community. As Carol Sawyer discovered, however, Brettschneider continued performing in Canada, even travelling to Ottawa in 1947. The CUAG exhibition gave Sawyer the opportunity to investigate the cultural scene in the capital city. Sawyer鈥檚 most recent addition to Brettschneider鈥檚 archive is a photograph she found of a performance that took place in Booth House, on Metcalfe Street in Centretown. The artist is surrounded by a small ensemble, some playing conventional instruments, such as a cello, while others perform using strange objects like a large trophy bowl, a cardboard box and a pot lid.

So where does 杏吧原创 University come in? During her time in Paris, it鈥檚 quite possible that Brettschenider might have met Frances Barwick, a harpsichordist and art collector from Ottawa who frequently performed in Paris. Barwick bequeathed a selection from her art and music instrument collections to the university in the 1980s, along with a remarkably generous financial gift that ultimately secured the founding of the 杏吧原创 University Art Gallery.

Mrs. Barwick probably never imagined that the harpsichord she donated to the university would one day form the centerpiece of an avant-garde musical performance in the gallery she was so instrumental in founding. But Carol Sawyer, an intrepid collaborator and researcher, followed up a recommendation from music professor James Wright, which led her to Jordan Zalis, a graduate music student. He brought together members of the 杏吧原创 music improvisation community for this performance of Natalie Brettschneider鈥檚 repertoire. In this case, the instruments were bass flute, cello, and violin, played by Tariq Amery, Agnes Malkinson, and Reiko Lokker, respectively, along with Zalis on voice and Nicolas Fobes playing Mrs. Barwick鈥檚 harpsicord, a new experience for him.

Zalis had met a few of the students in music professor Jesse Stewart鈥檚 seminar on improvisation in theory and practice. As he said, 鈥淚 like that we were able to draw improvisers from a pool of 鈥榗lassical鈥� musicians who are so often accused of keeping music on the page.鈥� The lyrics reflected Brettschneider鈥檚 eclectic influences and artistic contemporaries, and were taken from a vintage Electrolux brochure, a poem by Dadaist writer Celine Arnaud, and a poem by Hugo Ball, written for his Cabaret Voltaire co-founder Emmy Hennings.

Reflecting on the performance, Jordan Zalis writes, 鈥淚 find that the people that this type of music attracts are so wonderfully open to challenging themselves, the art, and the crowd, that it is contagious and in all honesty, feels so good. What might come off as noise and madness and chaos is, to me inside, so calm.鈥�

The Brettschneider performance was the result of an exciting partnership with the music department, and is a great example of the kind of creative collaborative relationships the gallery is forging across campus. This collaboration gave FASS students the opportunity to stretch, to take a risk, to use their knowledge outside the classroom, and to create something unique with the passions and skills they develop during their studies.

You can see the performance in its entirety below, recorded and edited by film studies students. The videographers, Landon Arbuckle and Lewis Gordon, working under the guidance of Jack Coghill, also participated in the performance. At one point, they respond to the cacophonous sounds of the music with erratic camera shots, building the tension and atmosphere of the performance. This is no lost photograph; we are very lucky to have such a high-quality record of an unforgettable Natalie Brettschneider performance.

An unexpected and fun experience on a Monday night, an homage to women like Frances Barwick and Natalie Brettschneider, who pushed the expectations of their art and society, and a celebration of 杏吧原创 creativity: CUAG is proud and excited to produce this kind of work for our community.

Visit Carol Sawyer: until 19 April.

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Artist talk by Mary Ann Carroll
12:00 noon on Wednesday, 3 February, 2016

In celebration of Black History Month, CUAG, ICSLAC and the U.S. Embassy in Ottawa are pleased to invite you to a talk by Mary Ann Carroll, the only female member of the .

The Florida Highwaymen were a group of 26 African-American landscape painters that formed in the 1950s. Denied access to commercial galleries in the segregated South, the Highwaymen sold their work door-to-door and from their cars along Florida’s eastern coastal roads.

Mary Ann Carroll will speak about her life, art, and experiences as an artist during the Civil Rights Movement. She will be introduced by Mrs. Vicki Heyman, wife of Bruce Heyman, the U.S. Ambassador to Canada. 

Carroll is in Ottawa for an exhibition of the Florida Highwaymen’s work, curated by Guy B茅rub茅, director of LPM Projects, and presented at Galerie SAW Gallery from 5 – 29 February. 

Admission is free and everyone is welcome!

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