Larissa Blokhuis
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See it live!  

8/1/2015

3 Comments

 
I recently listened to live music in Calgary, and saw a radio play in Vancouver.  I suppose what’s special about that is not that I went, but that I hadn’t been in so long.  When I lived full-time in Calgary, I went to see live music regularly.  After moving to Vancouver, I was focused on art-making to the exclusion of other things.  I wanted to build a network of artists, I wanted to make work, and I wanted my work to be seen.  I still want all those things. 

In Calgary, I never really though about my network, and it included creative people of all kinds.  My regular course of activities was developed naturally over time, and so it resembled an old meandering river.  In Vancouver I started out alone, so I built a set of activities around my goals as an artist.  In keeping with the river metaphor, this was a highly controlled river you might find between two large walls in a city. 

Now many of the friends I made in art school are far-flung across the country or elsewhere, and my interactions with non-visual artists is a bit limited in Calgary as well.  Somehow I have got out of the habit of seeing live performance.  I am inspired by the performances I saw recently, and have resolved to make a better effort to get back in the habit.  Interacting with different art forms and artists working outside your medium allow a greater understanding of what art can be, and that is always beneficial. 


I saw Peter and the Wolves at the Ship and Anchor in Calgary.  I hadn’t been in a while, and I hadn’t expected the music.  My friends and I had drinks, a meal, and a good chat, and then we noticed the stage was being set.  The band soon took the stage and excellently played a 50s-inspired rockabilly set with some Elvis covers.  The 3-piece band included an upright bass, which is a great sound.  I hope they keep at it, and I recommend seeing them play if you are in the area. 

Peter Cormier – Vocals/Guitar

Theo Waite – Upright Bass

Angela White – Drums/Vocals


I went to the Cultch and saw All That Fall, a 1956 play written by Samuel Beckett.  I’m glad say the play passed the Bechdel test.  Beckett wrote the piece with the intention that it be heard as a radio play, and he refused any requests to allow stage performances.  His estate recently began to allow stage productions, but with the restriction that it be presented as a radio play, and so that is what I saw. 

The director, actors, and production team did an excellent job making use of visual cues while sticking to the restriction.  The play follows an old Irish woman named Maddy Rooney, as she makes her way to the train station to meet her husband as a surprise for his birthday.  When she finally gets there, the train is delayed, and her husband won’t tell her why. 

I enjoyed use of different sound filtering and lighting for Maddy’s internal voice.  It seemed that it was a challenge for the actors to not use their bodies to express the emotion and experience of the characters they played.  The dialogue became quite dark at times, which was balanced nicely by the great energy of the actors.  There were humorous moments, including mention of a sermon delivered on the subject of ‘how to be happy though married.’  I recommend seeing this play if you are in the area. 

Leanna Brodie played Miss Fitt and Jerry

Chris Cutress – Sound Design

Duncan Fraser - Director

Jeff Harrison – Lighting Design

Adam Henderson played Mr. Barrell and Mr. Slocum

Gerard Plunkett played Mr. Tyler and Tommy

William Samples played Dan Rooney and Christy

Joanne P.B. Smith – Stage Manager

Lee Van Paassen played Maddy Rooney

Marti Wright – Set/Costume Design

3 Comments

Travelling Light

16/6/2014

0 Comments

 
The goal of government should be to elevate the people.  In 2013, Calgary’s public art commission, Travelling Light was completed, and it was not immediately liked.  When Mayor Nenshi called the new sculpture “AWFUL,” he set the tone of public discussion around the piece.  What followed was the reactionary decision to reduce the 1% of capital budgets dedicated to public art, to 0.5% for projects over $50 million, with a cap of $4 million.  Reactionary policy never elevates the people.  As any professional artist knows, once a person with so much public sway labels art as ‘bad,’ it severely hinders thoughtful conversation and critique. 

The $4 million cap may still appear to be a lot of funding, but consider that this is 1 percent or less of the total cost of the project.  It seems as though this cut to public art funding is a way for the city to cover itself for ignoring its own policy.  Calgary did not originally allocate a dime to public art for the 1.4 billion West LRT project, which was allowed to run 60 million over budget for a total cost of 1.46 billion.  Eventually 3.5 million was found for public art, so the 4 million cap is very convenient.  The West LRT line was open at the end of 2012, and now in June 2014 the public art portion of the project is beginning.  Nenshi’s 2013 comment followed by a swift policy reaction certainly helped the city avoid responsibility for this public art oversight. 

Including more members of the public (up to 3 from 1) in the selection committee for public art projects is not necessarily a bad thing.  People should have a say in the way their community looks.  But true art is controversial.  Many new styles and ideas are not accepted at first by the general public.  Acceptance of a piece of public art can, admittedly, take many years.  Allowing people without any professional experience in the field to make decisions that will be visible for many years is questionable, and diminishes the role of professional artists.

To put this in a different context, most people would probably not want the city to solicit input from structural engineers when looking to create a healthy diet guideline.  A structural engineer may be very healthy and follow an excellent diet, but maybe not.  Either way, health is not her/his field of expertise.  Likewise, a city may receive excellent critique of an art piece from a citizen with a different area of expertise, but it is not guaranteed and should not be expected. 

What this adds up to is the fact that Calgary is now the sort of city that will say it wants quality arts and culture, while writing policy that will have the opposite effect.  Nenshi had an opportunity to guide a respectful debate about public art in Calgary, but he failed to do so.  He had an opportunity to elevate the people with insightful, well-informed information about - or critique of - Travelling Light, but he didn’t.  He simply reacted by dismissing it as “awful.” 

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