Gemini nominated Canadian artistAli Eisner opens her premiere photography exhibit Favourite Thingsat The Gladstone Hotel’s Art Bar next week. Eisner launched her career in children’s television 18 years ago as a host on YTV. Puppeteer, composer, photographer, writer and director, Ali has certainly had plenty of experience in the arts.
Serena Ryder Photo: Ali Eisner
Einser describes herself as “always been a photographer.” She began doing so as a teen and calls her “quiet time Art.” As suggested in the exhibit’s title, Favourite Things features stills taken from some of Eisner’s most exciting and memorable moments. “I’m attracted to people and things that go unnoticed and joyous moments that quietly hide,” explains Eisner.
Toronto Landmark Honest Ed’s Photo: Ali Eisner
The exhibit shows pieces from Eisner’s North American travels, nature, architecture and work as a puppeteer with a loving eye on the Canadian music and arts scene, including shots of musicians like Kathleen Edwards, Serena Ryder and Ron Sexsmith. The exhibit’s will run for 10 days with an opening night reception on Thurday, January 9th starting at 7 pm. All pieces being shown are available for purchase. Eisner’s photos are shot on a Nikon D700. Favourite Things runs January 9 – 19th, 2014 from 12:00 – 5:00 pm daily. Eisner is an 18 year veteran of the children’s entertainment and puppeteering industry in North America. Pieces will be available for viewing prior to the reception, starting January 3rd.
The Rock Cries Out to Us Today By Maya Angelou A Rock, A River, A Tree Hosts to species long since departed, Marked the mastodon. The dinosaur, who left dry tokens Of their sojourn here On our planet floor, Any broad alarm of their hastening doom Is lost in the gloom of dust and ages. But today, the Rock cries out to us, clearly, forcefully, Come, you may stand upon my Back and face your distant destiny, But seek no haven in my shadow. I will give you no more hiding place down here. You, created only a little lower than The angels, have crouched too long in The bruising darkness, Have lain too long Face down in ignorance. Your mouths spilling words Armed for slaughter. The Rock cries out today, you may stand on me, But do not hide your face. Across the wall of the world, A River sings a beautiful song, Come rest here by my side. Each of you a bordered country, Delicate and strangely made proud, Yet thrusting perpetually under siege. Your armed struggles for profit Have left collars of waste upon My shore, currents of debris upon my breast. Yet, today I call you to my riverside, If you will study war no more. Come, Clad in peace and I will sing the songs The Creator gave to me when I and the Tree and the stone were one. Before cynicism was a bloody sear across your Brow and when you yet knew you still Knew nothing. The River sings and sings on. There is a true yearning to respond to The singing River and the wise Rock. So say the Asian, the Hispanic, the Jew The African and Native American, the Sioux, The Catholic, the Muslim, the French, the Greek The Irish, the Rabbi, the Priest, the Sheikh, The Gay, the Straight, the Preacher, The privileged, the homeless, the Teacher. They hear. They all hear The speaking of the Tree. Today, the first and last of every Tree Speaks to humankind. Come to me, here beside the River. Plant yourself beside me, here beside the River. Each of you, descendant of some passed On traveller, has been paid for. You, who gave me my first name, you Pawnee, Apache and Seneca, you Cherokee Nation, who rested with me, then Forced on bloody feet, left me to the employment of Other seekers–desperate for gain, Starving for gold. You, the Turk, the Swede, the German, the Scot … You the Ashanti, the Yoruba, the Kru, bought Sold, stolen, arriving on a nightmare Praying for a dream. Here, root yourselves beside me. I am the Tree planted by the River, Which will not be moved. I, the Rock, I the River, I the Tree I am yours–your Passages have been paid. Lift up your faces, you have a piercing need For this bright morning dawning for you. History, despite its wrenching pain, Cannot be unlived, and if faced With courage, need not be lived again. Lift up your eyes upon The day breaking for you. Give birth again To the dream. Women, children, men, Take it into the palms of your hands. Mold it into the shape of your most Private need. Sculpt it into The image of your most public self. Lift up your hearts Each new hour holds new chances For new beginnings. Do not be wedded forever To fear, yoked eternally To brutishness. The horizon leans forward, Offering you space to place new steps of change. Here, on the pulse of this fine day You may have the courage To look up and out upon me, the Rock, the River, the Tree, your country. No less to Midas than the mendicant. No less to you now than the mastodon then. Here on the pulse of this new day You may have the grace to look up and out And into your sister’s eyes, into Your brother’s face, your country And say simply Very simply With hope Good morning.
Maya Angelou, NYC, 1972. Source: mayaangelou.com
Maya Angelou, born on April 4th, 1928, in St. Louis, Missouri, is an American poet and author. Dr. Angelou was raised in St. Louis and Stamps, Arkansas. She has published seven autobiographies, three books of essays, and several books of poetry, and is credited with a list of plays, movies, and television shows spanning more than fifty years. She has received dozens of awards and over thirty honorary doctoral degrees. Angelou is best known for her series of seven autobiographies, which focus on her childhood and early adult experiences. The first, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (1969), tells of her life up to the age of seventeen, and brought her international recognition and acclaim.
I do not usually make ‘end of the year‘ lists nor ‘new year resolutions‘ but I will say that 2013 has been a fun year. It’s had its moments, but all in all, I’ve had a great time.
I’ve met new friends, solidified old friendships, met new artists, and discovered new places in this big city of Toronto…
I hope you’ve all had a good year, and that 2014 brings you many happy moments.
And I sincerely hope you continue to follow my musings here for more Arts and Culture tidbits in Toronto.
Miguel Angel Asturias Rosales (October 19, 1899 – June 9, 1974) was a Nobel Prize-winning Guatemalan poet, novelist, playwright, journalist and diplomat. Asturias helped establish Latin American literature’s contribution to mainstream Western culture, and at the same time drew attention to the importance of indigenous cultures, especially those of his native Guatemala.
Inside Llewyn Davis, Joel and Ethan Coen’s tale of a folk singer making his way through Greenwich Village, 1961, won two top prizes at the 2013 awards of the Toronto Film Critics Association (TFCA).
Inside Llewyn Davis was named Best Picture, with Oscar Isaac winning the Best Actor prize.
The awards were voted by the TFCA at a meeting Dec. 15. The membership also chose the three finalists for the Rogers Best Canadian Film Award: The Dirties, directed by Matt Johnson, Gabrielle, directed by Louise Archambault; and Watermark, directed by Jennifer Baichwal and Edward Burtynsky.
The 2013 BMO Allan King Documentary Award is given to The Act of Killing; director Joshua Oppenheimer will receive a $5,000 cash prize.
The 2013 TFCA Awards will be presented at a gala dinner at Toronto’s Carlu on Tuesday, January 7, 2014, hosted by Cameron Bailey, Artistic Director of the Toronto International Film Festival. There the TFCA will also reveal the winner of the Rogers Best Canadian Film Award, which carries a record-setting $100,000 cash prize, the richest arts award in the country. The runners-up will each receive $5,000.
The TFCA named A Touch of Sin the year’s Best Foreign-Language Film. Jia Zhang-ke’s ambitious, stylized look at life in contemporary China stars Zhao Tao and Jiang Wu as ordinary citizens forced into violent confrontations by an apathetic and amoral state.
“It’s been an unusually thrilling year for cinema,” said TFCA President Brian D. Johnson, film critic at Maclean’s. “And these awards celebrate a remarkable diversity. Among our distinctive Canadian finalists, each offers an inspired take on a compelling issue—from school bullying in The Dirties to sexual liberation among the disabled in Gabrielle to epic environmental crisis in Watermark.”
Also the January 7 Gala, the TFCA will also announce the winner of the Manulife Financial Student Film Award, which carries a $5,000 cash prize. It will be presented to a short film that the critics select from student entries submitted by film programs at Humber College, Ryerson University, Sheridan College and York University.
Previously announced, the 2013 recipient of the Technicolor Clyde Gilmour Award is Norman Jewison who will present a filmmaker of his choice with $50,000 worth of services at Technicolor. The winner of the Scotiabank Jay Scott Prize for an emerging artist, Matt Johnson, will be presented with a $5,000 cheque for The Dirties, which he directed, starred in and co-wrote.
The full list of Toronto Film Critics Association Awards winners and runners-up:
BEST PICTURE “Inside Llewyn Davis” (Mongrel Media) Runners-up “Her” (Warner Bros.) “12 Years a Slave” (Fox Searchlight) BEST ACTOR Oscar Isaac, “Inside Llewyn Davis” Runners-up Chiwetel Ejiofor, “12 Years a Slave” Matthew McConaughey, “Dallas Buyers Club” BEST ACTRESS Cate Blanchett, “Blue Jasmine” Runners-up Julie Delpy, “Before Midnight” Greta Gerwig, “Frances Ha” BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR Jared Leto, “Dallas Buyers Club” Runners-up Michael Fassbender, “12 Years a Slave” James Franco, “Spring Breakers” BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS Jennifer Lawrence, “American Hustle” Runners-up Lupita Nyong’o, “12 Years a Slave” June Squibb, “Nebraska” BEST DIRECTOR Alfonso Cuarón, “Gravity”
Runners-up Joel Coen & Ethan Coen, “Inside Llewyn Davis” Steve McQueen, “12 Years a Slave” BEST SCREENPLAY, ADAPTED OR ORIGINAL Spike Jonze, “Her” Runners-up Richard Linklater, Ethan Hawke & Julie Delpy, “Before Midnight” Joel Coen & Ethan Coen, “Inside Llewyn Davis”
BEST FIRST FEATURE “Neighboring Sounds”, directed by Kleber Mendonça Filho Runners-up “Fruitvale Station”, directed by Ryan Coogler “In a World …”, directed by Lake Bell BEST ANIMATED FEATURE “The Wind Rises” (Touchstone Pictures) Runners-up “The Croods” (20th Century Fox) “Frozen” (Walt Disney Pictures) BEST FOREIGN-LANGUAGE FILM “A Touch of Sin” (Films We Like) Runners-up “Blue Is the Warmest Color” (Mongrel Media) “The Hunt” (Mongrel Media) BMO ALLAN KING DOCUMENTARY AWARD “The Act of Killing” (Films We Like) Runners-up “Leviathan” (Films We Like) “Tim’s Vermeer” (Mongrel Media) ROGERS BEST CANADIAN FILM AWARD FINALISTS “The Dirties” (Phase 4 Films) “Gabrielle” (Entertainment One) “Watermark” (Mongrel Media)
There you have it, an interesting list of winners and runners-up. Some bold choices in my opinion like Best Documentary Act of Killing, and a surprising non-win for The Hunt in the Best Foreign Film category.
I have some catching up to do when it comes to watching some of the other films on this list. Curious what other film aficionados have to say about this list of winners. Leave a comment and share with the rest of us. And see you at the movies!
somewhere i have never travelled,gladly beyond by E. E. Cummings
somewhere I have never traveled,gladly beyond any experience, your eyes have their silence: in your most frail gesture are things which enclose me, or which I cannot touch because they are too near
your slightest look easily will unclose me though I have closed myself as fingers, you open always petal by petal myself as Spring opens (touching skillfully, mysteriously)her first rose
or if your wish be to close me, I and my life will shut very beautifully ,suddenly, as when the heart of this flower imagines the snow carefully everywhere descending;
nothing which we are to perceive in this world equals the power of your intense fragility:whose texture compels me with the color of its countries, rendering death and forever with each breathing
(I do not know what it is about you that closes and opens; only something in me understands the voice of your eyes is deeper than all roses) nobody, not even the rain, has such small hands
E. E. Cummings, Edward Estlin Cummings (October 14, 1894 – September 3, 1962) was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He began writing poems as early as 1904. In his work, Cummings experimented radically with form, punctuation, spelling and syntax, abandoning traditional techniques and structures to create a new, highly idiosyncratic means of poetic expression. His body of work encompasses approximately 2,900 poems, two autobiographical novels, four plays and several essays, as well as numerous drawings and paintings.
Only a few weeks remain to see Ghost Dance: Activism. Resistance. Art.currently on view at the Ryerson Image Centre (RIC) until December 15, 2013. Guest curated by Steve Loft, the newly appointed Coordinator of Aboriginal Arts at the Canada Council for the Arts, this exhibition examines activism as a culture of resistance in contemporary indigenous art. This exhibition presents photographs from the Black Star Collection with contemporary works by aboriginal artists to examine the role of the artist as activist, as chronicler and as provocateur in the ongoing struggle for indigenous rights and self-empowerment.
Ghost Dance: Activism. Resistance. Art. features the work of prominent indigenous artists, including Sonny Assu, Vernon Ah Kee, Dana Claxton, and Skawennati. In describing the exhibition, Loft writes, “Colonialism has been the cause of the suffering, oppression and violence perpetuated against Indigenous people in Canada and many other countries, for centuries… As a curator and art historian I would posit that Aboriginal art is innately political. It is the culmination of lived experiences, from pre-contact customary societies through the colonial enterprise. It is tied up in histories that include both pre- and post-contact epistemologies, narratives empowered by continuity, inextricably inter-linked; and it is the assertion of cultural autonomy and sovereignty.”
This Wednesday, December 11 at 6pm, you can hear more from Steve Loft and a special guest, for a guided walk-through of the exhibition.
You can also join in the conversation online on the exhibition blog at imagearts.ryerson.ca/ghostdance, by contributing knowledge or memories of the individuals and places captured in the 99 Black Star photographs, which are displayed on the Salah J. Bachir New Media Wall during off-gallery hours. The blog provides an online forum for you to contribute knowledge or memories of the individuals and places captured in the 99 photographs from the Black Star Collection.
Whether you make it to the exhibition or not, I recommend going online to read more about it, learn about the history of Canada’s First Nations, and how their art is a means to chronicle the “struggle for Indigenous rights and self-empowerment”.
Michael Abramson, “Untitled” (American Indian Movement: Lakota Indians), Wounded Knee, South Dakota, USA, 1973, gelatin silver print. Reproduction from the Black Star Collection at Ryerson University. Courtesy of the Ryerson Image Centre. BS.2005.285357 / 187-546
Force, no matter how concealed, begets resistance. (Lakota saying)
In which she describes rationally the irrational effects of love Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz
That my heart is suffering from love pangs is plain, but less clear by far is the cause of its pain.
To make fancy come true my heart strains but, thwarting desire, only gloom remains.
And when most I plead and lament my plight, though I see my sadness, its cause escapes sight.
I yearn from the chance to which I aspire, yet when it impends, I shrink from desire, lest, sensing at hand that longed-for day, my misgivings spoil it, fear drive it away.
And if, reassured, I clasp it tight, with the slightest pretext, all pleasure takes flight.
My timid misgivings turn boon into bane and for love’s very sake, I must show disdain. *(Translated by Alan S. Trueblood)
En que escribe racionalmente los efectos irracionales del amor
Este amoroso tormento que en mi corazón se ve, se que lo siento y no se la causa porque lo siento
Siento una grave agonía por lograr un devaneo, que empieza como deseo y para en melancolía.
y cuando con mas terneza mi infeliz estado lloro se que estoy triste e ignoro la causa de mi tristeza.
Siento un anhelo tirano por la ocasión a que aspiro, y cuando cerca la miro yo misma aparto la mano. Porque si acaso se ofrece, después de tanto desvelo la desazona el recelo o el susto la desvanece.
Y si alguna vez sin susto consigo tal posesión cualquiera leve ocasión me malogra todo el gusto.
Siento mal del mismo bien con receloso temor y me obliga el mismo amor tal vez a mostrar desdén.
Source: Wikipedia
Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz was a self-taught scholar and poet of the Baroque school, and Hieronymite nun of New Spain. Although she lived in a colonial era when Mexico was part of the Spanish Empire, she is considered today both a Mexican writer and a contributor to the Spanish Golden Age, and she stands at the beginning of the history of Mexican literature in the Spanish language.
When I see birches bend to left and right Across the lines of straighter darker trees, I like to think some boy’s been swinging them. But swinging doesn’t bend them down to stay. Ice-storms do that. Often you must have seen them Loaded with ice a sunny winter morning After a rain. They click upon themselves As the breeze rises, and turn many-colored As the stir cracks and crazes their enamel. Soon the sun’s warmth makes them shed crystal shells Shattering and avalanching on the snow-crust– Such heaps of broken glass to sweep away You’d think the inner dome of heaven had fallen. They are dragged to the withered bracken by the load, And they seem not to break; though once they are bowed So low for long, they never right themselves: You may see their trunks arching in the woods Years afterwards, trailing their leaves on the ground Like girls on hands and knees that throw their hair Before them over their heads to dry in the sun.
But I was going to say when Truth broke in With all her matter-of-fact about the ice-storm (Now am I free to be poetical?) I should prefer to have some boy bend them As he went out and in to fetch the cows– Some boy too far from town to learn baseball, Whose only play was what he found himself, Summer or winter, and could play alone.
One by one he subdued his father’s trees By riding them down over and over again Until he took the stiffness out of them, And not one but hung limp, not one was left For him to conquer. He learned all there was To learn about not launching out too soon And so not carrying the tree away Clear to the ground. He always kept his poise To the top branches, climbing carefully With the same pains you use to fill a cup Up to the brim, and even above the brim. Then he flung outward, feet first, with a swish, Kicking his way down through the air to the ground. So was I once myself a swinger of birches. And so I dream of going back to be. It’s when I’m weary of considerations, And life is too much like a pathless wood Where your face burns and tickles with the cobwebs Broken across it, and one eye is weeping From a twig’s having lashed across it open.
I’d like to get away from earth awhile And then come back to it and begin over. May no fate willfully misunderstand me And half grant what I wish and snatch me away Not to return. Earth’s the right place for love: I don’t know where it’s likely to go better. I’d like to go by climbing a birch tree, And climb black branches up a snow-white trunk Toward heaven, till the tree could bear no more, But dipped its top and set me down again. That would be good both going and coming back. One could do worse than be a swinger of birches.
Robert Frost circa 1910 Photo: Wikipedia
Robert Lee Frost (March 26, 1874 – January 29, 1963) was an American poet. His work was initially published in England before it was published in America. He is highly regarded for his realistic depictions of rural life and his command of American colloquial speech.Frost was honored frequently during his lifetime, receiving four Pulitzer Prizes for Poetry. He was also awarded the Congressional Gold Medal in 1960 for his poetical works.
Now in its second year, the Blood in the Snow Canadian Film Festival (BITS) continues with its mandate “to highlight the best in contemporary horror film making in Canada”.
As someone who’s come to horror and genre films more recently, this is my first year taking a peek at BITS and what it has to offer. Bear this in mind when perusing down my list of suggested films below.
Friday, Nov. 29th – 7pm EVANGELINE (dir. Karen Lam) Screening with short film To Hell, With Love (dir. Gavin Michael Booth) Evangeline is a revenge fantasy about a young woman who is brutally killed by a group of sociopathic college frat boys, and comes back from the dead to seek vengeance.
Saturday, Nov. 30th – 4pm THE GHOSTKEEPERS (dir. Anthony Mann) Screening with short film A Certain Kind of Monster (dir. Mike Moring) The cast of a horror movie reunites to celebrate their success and get more than they bargained for in Marlowe House. Can they survive a horrifying night of Ghosts, Demonic Possessions, Murder and Revenge?
Saturday, Nov. 30th – 9:30pm CLEAN BREAK (dir. Tricia Lee) Screening with short film One More For The Road (dir. Navin Ramaswaran) A psycho girlfriend, Tracy, moves in with her boyfriend Scott and his two roommates, Cam and Dan, only to start targeting them when they get in the way of her plans for the perfect relationship.
Sunday, Dec. 1st – 7pm DISCOPATH (dir. Renaud Gauthier) Screening with short film Lively (dir. Jay Clarke) The mid-70’s: a timid young New Yorker leads an uneventful life until he is fatefully exposed to the pulsating rhythms of a brand-new genre of music: disco. Unable to control his murderous impulses that stem from a traumatic childhood experience, Duane Lewis transforms into a dangerous serial killer exiled to Montreal.
If you do not mind seeing blood, gore, and are interested in seeing what independent horror filmmakers are creating, BITS is the place to be this weekend.
The 2013 Blood in the Snow Canadian Film Festival will be screening in full gory at the Carlton Cinema from November 29 – Dec 1st. For more details about box office, full listings and schedule, visit bloodinthesnow.ca.
