All in Arts Essentials
Long-time patrons of Arts Commons, as well as avid supporters of the arts, Rodney and Karen McCann along with their family, wanted to find a meaningful way to give back to our essential workers who have given so much to get us safely through the pandemic. The idea that they came up with, in collaboration with Arts Commons, is the Season of Gratitude program which aims to bring essential workers to productions by the Resident Companies of Arts Commons.
The Ledge Gallery at Arts Commons is the current home of Nurgül Rodriguez’ exhibition In the Vessel of my Skin, which delves into the coexistence of body and soul and the conflict that can arise from both sharing space––a concept born and exemplified to her during the pandemic. Immigration, gender disparity, and the desire to belong in a new country are all touched upon in a multitude of ways, each expressed using carefully molded porcelain.
Christopher Savage’s work, along with three other artists, is currently on exhibition in the Window Galleries at Arts Commons, and available now for online 3D tours. The design surrounding Savage’s artwork is logical and intuitive, wanting to draw the viewer in and help them look closer at the network of lines and gestural strokes spanning across his work. But how does such intention translate when the Window Galleries—where Savage along with many other RBC Emerging Visual Artists are showing—are closed to the public? Technology steps in.
Prior to every new work they created over the past four decades - and there have been a lot of them - the company members of One Yellow Rabbit asked a very existential question.
“Who are we now?” says Rabbit Blake Brooker. “It’s a question we always ask of ourselves. So, when we sit down as a group, we always ask who are we now?
“And then that [question] starts to bake and gently move into other questions: Who do you want to be? Who were you? Who are you this moment?”
They may have started asking those questions back in the mid-1980s when Reagan was president, a Mulroney was the prime minister, and phones hung on walls in kitchens - when they launched a performing arts festival called the High Performance Rodeo - but 35 years later, as 2020 turned into a year unlike any other for performing artists around the world, the question seemed more relevant and more poignant than ever.
I recently had the pleasure of being a Zoom fly on the wall for my mother’s 50-year High School Class reunion. I was a powerful fly (or a Zoom host, whatever you want to call it) who had the ability to mute everyone in the room, provide in-chat tech support, and spotlight participants at random while staying unnoticed in the background. This virtual version of what should have been a real-life celebration with her classmates back home, turned out to be an emotional and unforgettable night for my mother. And I got to witness it all as the Zoom ghost that I have become in the past 8 months.
If you work in the arts sector, whether as an artist or an arts administrator, you are likely familiar with the crucial role the Rozsa Foundation plays in the Calgary and Alberta arts community. On the 30th anniversary of the Foundation, we sat down with Simon Mallett, Executive Director, and Mary Rozsa de Coquet, Board Chair, to reflect on the past three decades.
Art has power. Studies have shown that engaging with arts and culture reduces stress and leads to longer, happier lives. As we move into the sixth month of the global pandemic, the arts have never been more important, to our children, our elderly, ourselves.
Many of our beloved arts institutions in Calgary have had to make the difficult decision to cancel their 2020-21 season due to ongoing COVID-19 restrictions and safety concerns. Fortunately for us, some resourceful groups have found ways to continue to present the arts - social distanced of course. So check out this list to see what our city has in store for September!
