I emceed an event on June 5 that got me thinking about the ever-prickly question of funding for the arts. The event was the announcement of local recipients of grants from the Du Maurier Arts Council. I ended up emceeing because, well, someone had to do it, and they usually look for a local actor …
Category: Art Columns
Volunteers: vital to Canadian arts
When most people attend a performance of some kind, their attention is naturally focused on the performers–the people on stage singing or dancing or acting or reading from their novel or poetry collection. And that’s all well and good–those people worked hard to get there–but there’s another group of people that work just as hard …
The Saskatchewan Film Pool: bringing filmmakers together
It’s not easy being an independent filmmaker. Of all the art forms, film is one of the most expensive, requiring specialized equipment and facilities. But filmmaking is like any other complicated endeavor: it gets easier when you pool resources with other individuals involved in the same pursuit. That’s the philosophy behind the Saskatchewan Filmpool Cooperative. …
Neutral Ground: art from the edge
“Edgy” is an adjective frequently used–maybe overused–these days to describe everything from movies to fashion. The avant-garde, it seems, has become just another marketing niche. But the concept of the avant-garde has a long and honorable history in the art world, where artists are always seeking to be on the edge, to provoke and disturb, …
Fauna Secreta
The current exhibit at the Dunlop Art Gallery in the main branch of the Regina Public Library may confuse you at first glance. It doesn’t look like it belongs in an art gallery; it looks like it belongs in a museum. There are stuffed animals; artifacts in glass boxes; yellowing photographs and excerpts from scientific …
In defense of sweetness and light
It’s Christmas, a time many people claim to dread because of what they might call “sappy” music, or “sickly-sweet” sentiment, or “corny” expressions of goodwill and happiness. For some reason, there are critics–a majority of them, I sometimes think–who believe art is only worthwhile if it’s “edgy” or “dark” or “explores the seamy underbelly of …
The shock of the new
The Apple Tree, the Broadway musical Regina Lyric Light Opera is presenting at the Shumiatcher Theatre in the Mackenzie Art Gallery through Sunday afternoon, is a fabulous, funny show that shouldn’t be missed. Unfortunately, judging by the half-full houses on Wednesday and Thursday, it is being missed, by far too many people. Why? Most …
Surprised by joy
South of Saskatoon on Highway 11, just before you dip into the valley where Mt. Blackstrap rears its not-so-lofty peak, there’s a bit of a rise. I’ve driven over it many times this summer, as I head back and forth to Rosthern to appear in the musical Tent Meeting at the Rosthern Station Arts Centre. …
The Harry Potter books: more than the sum of their hype
I’d be a pretty poor excuse for an arts columnist this week if I didn’t say something about Harry Potter. Harry Potter, for those who have been living in an isolation tank for the past few months, is the young wizard protagonist of a series of children’s books by J. K. Rowling, which are selling …
Let’s free art from the shackles of gibberish!
Visual art and the text that explains it are uneasy bedfellows, I firmly believe. Maybe it’s because I’m a writer, but a visit to far too many art galleries today either leaves me in a state of suppressed fury or with a severe case of the giggles. It has nothing to do with the art …
Write what you know?
“Write what you know” is one of those tiresome bits of advice that beginning writers are forever having thrown at them. As a science fiction writer, I’ve always rejected this particular maxim out of hand, because, after all, I’ve never been a homeless street musician who ends up sharing a cheap hotel room with an …
Do It With Class Young People’s Theatre Co.
There are a lot of talented young people in Regina. Some of the most talented will be on stage this week and next, as Do It With Class Young People’s Theatre Inc. presents two musicals, Two Gentlemen of Verona and Alice in Wonderland. Do It With Class, now in its seventh season, began with just …
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