You are currently browsing the category archive for the ‘Education and Learning’ category.
Sunday, 25th September, 2011
Globe Theatre Upstairs
By Simone Keiran and Aidie Keiran-Arney
A collective theme runs through the short movies crafted by young filmmakers for the 2011 Youth by Youth Film Competition, an annual feature of the Calgary International Film Festival: the problems they perceive are apocalyptic in nature, overwhelming in scope, and hopes are fragile and tenuous. Even at the elementary school level, they are anxious to reach out and overcome the experience of alienation between people. The most innocuous and lighthearted of the films had philosophical inquiry at their core, not to mention crushing social critiques and violent explosions. These young filmmakers have wrestled and wrangled the monstrous scale of these problems into scenes and stories small enough to fit through the camera iris. The results were surprisingly elegant and well-realized.
Aesthetic Effect of Old Master Paintings Measured by Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI)
The University College of London recently undertook an experiment where subjects were given brain scans while they viewed a 10-second interval progression of projected images of paintings by Old Masters such as Constable, Bosch and Ingres.
John Constable, A View on the Stour, 1810, Oil on paper laid on canvas, 10 1/2 x 10 1/2 in (26.7 x 26.7 cm), Philadelphia Museum of Art (royalty-free stock photo.)
The results showed that blood flow to the medial orbitofrontal cortex, the part of the brain associated with pleasure and desire, increased by ten percent — a reaction similar to falling in love.
Oxygen: The Vital Element
This artist-run gallery in Nelson, BC, Canada is all about community.
by Simone Keiran
Published in Route 3: Life in the West Kootenay/Boundary Region
Winter 2008/2009 Issue, ed., Shelley Ackermann.
Nicola Harwood, Artist-in-Residence, manning the phones at Oxygen Artist-Run Centre, Nelson, BC, Canada
“It is important not to give into divisive political tactics, or it becomes too easy to lose courage.”
Nicola Harwood, director and founding member of the artist-run Oxygen art Centre in Nelson, spoke about the misconception of artists as elitists—people who siphon off public funding, while criticizing those who provide it.
It’s out of the kiln and onto the Western Canadian stage for twelve of the Kootenay School of Art’s best clay artists at the prestigious Gallery of BC Ceramics on Granville Island.
By Simone Keiran
Published ARTiculate, Fall/Winter 2008
Tanis Saxby, Shadow Line Four
The Kootenay School of Art has produced excellent clay sculptors, ceramic artists and potters since the program’s inception in 1990. They’ve travelled across the globe to exhibit, teach, and demonstrate their artistry. They’ve won awards at international juried exhibitions. They’ve expanded the possibilities for how clay can serve families and communities. They’ve bridged the cerebral domain of museums and conceptual clay art with the simple, practical level of everyday service and use. This is why three accomplished clay instructors at KSA, Pamela Nagley Stevenson, David Lawson and Garry Graham, held no reservations about sharing their group show at BC’s most respected clay art gallery, the Gallery of BC Ceramics, on Granville Island, this September, with nine select successful graduates.
Arts Education in the Boonies
Published ARTiculate Magazine, Fall 2004 / Winter 2006
Now that school boards are being forced to close schools, increase class sizes, and slash programs, funds once raised by Parent Advisory Councils (PACs) from field trips and cultural activities and supplies are now being allocated to general upkeep and maintenance.
“In one of my schools, it’s going for new playground equipment,” says Maggie Calladine, the performing arts teacher for Lady Grey and Nicholson Elementary Schools in Golden, BC.
When schools must choose between academics, sports, art, life-skills, or even having a school at all, PACs let everything they see as unessential slide. Maggie holds our government responsible. “Arts in the schools are taking a beating,” she says.
