The countdown to the final day is in full swing.
Monday: I spent much of the day decompressing from the trip to Elsipogtog. Turns out, Laura and I had gone at the right time, as the protesters had another confrontation with SWN and the RCMP. This one wasn't as major as the one that grabbed headlines in October, thankfully.
I also had another meltdown related to what I've been going through this semester. I could feel it bubbling just under the surface after I read the thing that triggered said meltdown that morning. I waited until late that afternoon before talking with Jake and Alex about it--and crying. And Chris (another tech) now knows some of what I've been going through this semester. This time of year is busy for everyone, techs included, so I'm really thankful that they managed to find time to comfort me.
Tuesday: I had another appointment with Joan--my last for this semester. And I discussed the events of the previous day with her (it was one of those times where, yes, I had an appointment the next day--but I needed to talk with someone right then).
That day Mom told me that she wanted some of my photos from Elsipogtog for the Christmas newsletter. She also wondered why some people are pro-fracking, which I happily researched (see here and here).
Wednesday: Crit Day. I did really well and I'm proud of what I've accomplished this semester. To paraphrase Neil Gaiman: going through a hell that keeps recurring? Make good art. I'm going to deviate from talking about the crit to share this passage from that address with you guys because it's so awesome: "Fourthly, I hope you'll make mistakes. If you're making mistakes, it means you're out there doing something. And the mistakes in themselves can be useful. I once misspelled Caroline, in a letter, transposing the A and the O, and I thought, 'Coraline looks like a real name...'
"And remember that whatever discipline you are in, whether you are a musician or a photographer[!!!], a fine artist or a cartoonist, a writer, a dancer, a designer, whatever you do you have one thing that's unique. You have the ability to make art.
"And for me, and for so many of the people I have known, that's been a lifesaver. The ultimate lifesaver. It gets you through good times and it gets you through the other ones.
"Life is sometimes hard. Things go wrong, in life and in love and in business and in friendship and in health and in all the other ways that life can go wrong. And when things get tough, this is what you should do.
"Make good art.
"I'm serious. Husband runs off with a politician? Make good art. Leg crushed and then eaten by mutated boa constrictor? Make good art. IRS on your trail? Make good art. Cat exploded? Make good art. Somebody on the Internet thinks what you do is stupid or evil or it's all been done before? Make good art. Probably things will work out somehow, and eventually time will take the sting away, but that doesn't matter. Do what only you do best. Make good art.
"Make it on the good days too."
And now, back to the blog post.
While my crit went well, I had to rewrite part of the contextualizing statement. I was okay with that, though I'd planned to be done with the thing: once I'd gotten the final draft down to seven hundred and fifty words and was happy with it, I planned to never touch it again. Turns out, I had to dig it back out after all. I spent the afternoon rewriting the statement during the open studio.
Mom had told me that she and Tom were going to work on the annual Christmas newsletter the next day, so I chose photos from the Elsipogtog trip, edited them and wrote a couple hundred words on the experience. I sent everything that night.
Thursday: I worked on the statement and some other things that needed to get done, including getting some Christmas presents. Early that evening, I found out that Nelson Mandela had died and I emailed Mom with the news. She hadn't yet found out. As I was writing this on Saturday night, I was listening to CBC Music's Essential Classics channel and as I was writing about what happened on Thursday, the folks at CBC had Barber's Adagio on. I wanted to include something in this post to honour Mandela, and the Adagio is perfect. Thanks, CBC!
And this, from another wonderful human:
Friday: I didn't get a whole lot done, which I wasn't thrilled about. Though I managed to finish the contextualizing statement. That evening I went to an end-of-semester/birthday/some-classmates-are-done-this-semester-and-are-moving-away party. I was there during the first half of said party, while it was still fairly small and intimate. We played music on the host's (Greg, one of my classmates) turntable and iPad Mini and iPods from a couple of his friends. This was the first record that he put on. Also, I tried blueberry wine for the first time. I liked it and would happily have it again, but I was expecting more of a blueberry taste.
That day, SWN finally backed down. I wish I could go to Elsipogtog again just to give everyone involved with the protest a high five. However, the fight isn't over: SWN will be back. Some sources are saying in '15, others say they don't know when the company will try again.
Saturday: Saturday was the Met's first radio broadcast of the season: Verdi's Rigoletto, which was wonderful as always. I've missed the Met (and their wonderful orchestra, complete with a horn section that could give the BSO's violin section a run for its money when it comes to knocking peoples' socks off), so it was great to hear them again. Here's Questa o quella from act one (the Met's current production is set in Vegas in 1960):
I spent the day getting a bunch of things done.
Sunday: I worked on several things not related to school, including my packing list and a surprise for the techs, as I want to thank them for supporting me through this semester's bumps and scrapes.
Today marks ten years since my worst violin lesson ever. I hadn't practiced all week, and Lynn knew right away. It took her three tries to get me to tell the truth--the first time I don't think I really gave an answer, the second time I probably said something along the lines of "maybe...?," the third I admitted to what I'd done. I'll never forget her telling me that the lesson was a waste of money (hers don't come cheap, but they're so worth it as she's a really good teacher). And I'll never forget the times that I wanted to find a small corner in her house, curl up into a ball and sob--and the times that I came close to tears on the way home. Simply put, I was miserable. For the last few years, I've been suspicious that that lesson was an early sign of what would culminate in me quitting lessons in April 2004. I can't believe it's been ten years.
The next time I write, I'll be enjoying a much-needed and -deserved break at home. And a week after that is Nutcracker weekend for the BSO. Here's a version of the entire ballet that was performed as a concert (you read that right--no dancers were involved in this performance). My god! We're only two weeks away from Nutcracker weekend!!! **squeals**
Showing posts with label First Nations. Show all posts
Showing posts with label First Nations. Show all posts
Sunday, December 8, 2013
Sunday, December 1, 2013
gogogogogo!
I've officially entered the homestretch.
Monday: I returned Food, Inc. to the VRC and spent much of the afternoon editing the contextualizing statement. I also read chapter six (which wasn't part of the readings for APC) from Of Cigarettes, High Heels and Other Interesting Things. And I finally got my contextualizing statement back down to seven hundred and fifty words (while I got it down to that number for the rough draft, I wrote about a hundred more than I needed when writing the final draft and had to whittle it down, just as I did for the rough draft. This time, though, I was able to do it on my own.).
Tuesday: I had another meeting with Joan.
While I finally had the time to make it to a Feminist Collective meeting, no one else except Kelly (the woman who runs the meetings--she's a fellow student) showed up and the meeting was cancelled. An hour later I went to what was billed as material-making for an event to welcome the new provincial government but that ended up being event planning for said welcome--at least while I was there: I eventually had to leave because I had to be up early the next day.
Wednesday: We met at the Port Loggia gallery this week instead of our usual classroom to discuss the show and what the students who are in charge of talking with the gallery people found out. Afterward, we wended our way back to Granville. I spent the rest of the day in the computer lab, where Adrian helped me fix the colour in some of my images--which took a while and I finally felt some of that old finals-induced stress as, for a while, I felt that the images would never be finished. We did a dress rehearsal of sorts and had a look at one of the corrected images on the classroom's G5 iMac(!) and projector. I had several moments throughout the day where the realization that my final photography course was almost over hit me. I felt very nostalgic for my time as a photography major and had to keep reminding myself that it wasn't over yet. Even when I'm done my photography courses, I'll probably still come to the photography dept. next semester, as I like the feel of the place, it's easy to get to (which is saying something, given the maze that is the Granville Campus) and it has a regular laser printer (which is important when you're writing essays). And I'll have access to the photo printers until mid-April. I then went over to the Academy Building to replace the old, yucky images with the newer ones.
That night there was a huge storm in Halifax, with high winds. The gusts hit 115 Km/h around 1:30 Thursday morning, and from when I got home that evening to when I went to bed around 2:00 AM, the gusts were powerful enough that they were causing the glass in my bedroom windows to bend in toward my room, which scared me. I could also hear the windows shifting around on their tracks (they're mostly glued shut--mostly) and could feel the building swaying slightly.
Thursday: Before I left my building that day, I paid a visit to the rental office and asked one of the landlords about what I'd experienced the night before. She reassured me that what I'd felt was completely normal. Wednesday night is officially my first time regretting my decision to live as high up as I do: I haven't been that scared of a storm since I conquered my fear of thunder and lightning when I was seven.
I didn't do a whole lot that day, though I did come a little closer to making my final decisions for the photos that I want to print and give as Christmas presents. I also noticed just how off my laptop's calibration is (factory--I've never calibrated it myself), as I had it open next to one of the Photo Dept. computers (which are properly calibrated). My computer has a very blue colour cast, whereas the school computers have a slight magenta colour cast. I asked Alex what the Photo Dept. has for calibration equipment. They have two options, one of which won't work with OS X Lion (what I have on my computer). The other does, and I made a note to calibrate my computer when I come back next semester. Because my computer's a laptop, the colours will never match those of a desktop, but once it's calibrated they will be closer to the colours on a calibrated desktop monitor.
I could tell that finals were in full swing, as the Photography Dept. was a hive of activity that day. I kind of liked it, though: plenty of people around, we were all doing our thing and flitting around...
That afternoon, a friend, Laura, posted on Facebook that she would be going to Elsipogtog (pronounced El-sip-pug-tug) on Sunday. I expressed interest, and that evening we messaged back and forth on FB, figuring things out.
Friday: I devoted the day to doing the final edits on my contextualizing statement. It isn't due until Wednesday (due with the project), but as I knew I would lose a whole workday by going to NB, I wanted to make sure it got done and that I didn't have to stress about it. I printed it off about half an hour before The Cage closed.
I also discussed show stuff with a classmate, also named Alex. He and another classmate, Caitlin, are in charge of talking with the gallery people. I will be showing my project at the Anna Leonowens Gallery instead of the Port Loggia Gallery, where everyone else will be. While it sucks to be separate from my classmates, it's better for my project, as the Anna has monitors and media players, is insured and I won't have to go and turn on said equipment every day, which would be a pain.
Saturday: Another day of hard work. This time I focused on doing the final version of the video, also due to the loss of a workday. My day started with going to the Academy building and doing some tweaks on the video (the original plan was to just export the most recent version as a QuickTime file--turns out, I had a few edits to make before that step) and then exporting the final version. I then went to the Photo Dept. where I had a look at the video on one of the computers (I'd made some edits to a photo and wanted to make sure everything looked okay on the computers that I'd used to do all the other edits, as I don't know what the calibration situation is at the Academy Building). I was bothered by some of the photos, as there was some really noticeable white in the upper-right-hand corner. No one had mentioned it in crits, but it was bugging me. Besides--when I did a Freeman Patterson/André Gallant workshop in '08, one of my photos had some white that was out of place and André and Freeman noticed. Getting rid of the light spots might translate into a better crit.
Sunday: Up bright and early on a Sunday (which is amazing for me) and off to NB. I waited at my favourite coffee shop for Laura to pick me up. After what felt like forever (because I was eager to get going), she arrived. We stopped at the Granville Campus and she picked up a six-pack of film (each roll has thirty-six exposures) and then we headed off to NB. Due to staying up too late the night before, I snoozed for over an hour on the way to Elsipogtog. Because a picture's worth a thousand words, I'll share some of the photos that I took at the encampment. Not seen in these photos is an SWN truck parked right next to said encampment.
We spent a couple hours there, talking with the people at the camp, taking photos (Laura shot a couple rolls for a school assignment--she's also a NSCADian), listening to the singing and drumming, listening to Maude's speech... Laura was interviewed by APTN. People driving by honked their horns (the protest has a lot of support from people in the surrounding area, settler and aboriginal alike). We then drove back to Halifax, where Laura dropped me off at the school. On the way, she asked me what I thought. I'd come with an open mind, not knowing what to expect--and it turned out to be an amazing experience. When she dropped me off, we talked some more, discussing my desire to learn more about First Nations issues and history (which can be a challenge, as one sometimes has to dig through a bunch of racism in order to find the truth). We agreed to meet sometime next semester and she'll share what she knows (she's Dene, BTW). I also plan to speak with the woman who's teaching Contemporary Indigenous Arts next semester, Carla Taunton, and meet with her, as I've heard from at least one former classmate that she's a really good resource for that kind of thing (I'd want to discuss everything--not just art). I just want to learn as much as possible and be able to sort the truth from the racism and myths.
Monday: I returned Food, Inc. to the VRC and spent much of the afternoon editing the contextualizing statement. I also read chapter six (which wasn't part of the readings for APC) from Of Cigarettes, High Heels and Other Interesting Things. And I finally got my contextualizing statement back down to seven hundred and fifty words (while I got it down to that number for the rough draft, I wrote about a hundred more than I needed when writing the final draft and had to whittle it down, just as I did for the rough draft. This time, though, I was able to do it on my own.).
Tuesday: I had another meeting with Joan.
While I finally had the time to make it to a Feminist Collective meeting, no one else except Kelly (the woman who runs the meetings--she's a fellow student) showed up and the meeting was cancelled. An hour later I went to what was billed as material-making for an event to welcome the new provincial government but that ended up being event planning for said welcome--at least while I was there: I eventually had to leave because I had to be up early the next day.
Wednesday: We met at the Port Loggia gallery this week instead of our usual classroom to discuss the show and what the students who are in charge of talking with the gallery people found out. Afterward, we wended our way back to Granville. I spent the rest of the day in the computer lab, where Adrian helped me fix the colour in some of my images--which took a while and I finally felt some of that old finals-induced stress as, for a while, I felt that the images would never be finished. We did a dress rehearsal of sorts and had a look at one of the corrected images on the classroom's G5 iMac(!) and projector. I had several moments throughout the day where the realization that my final photography course was almost over hit me. I felt very nostalgic for my time as a photography major and had to keep reminding myself that it wasn't over yet. Even when I'm done my photography courses, I'll probably still come to the photography dept. next semester, as I like the feel of the place, it's easy to get to (which is saying something, given the maze that is the Granville Campus) and it has a regular laser printer (which is important when you're writing essays). And I'll have access to the photo printers until mid-April. I then went over to the Academy Building to replace the old, yucky images with the newer ones.
That night there was a huge storm in Halifax, with high winds. The gusts hit 115 Km/h around 1:30 Thursday morning, and from when I got home that evening to when I went to bed around 2:00 AM, the gusts were powerful enough that they were causing the glass in my bedroom windows to bend in toward my room, which scared me. I could also hear the windows shifting around on their tracks (they're mostly glued shut--mostly) and could feel the building swaying slightly.
Thursday: Before I left my building that day, I paid a visit to the rental office and asked one of the landlords about what I'd experienced the night before. She reassured me that what I'd felt was completely normal. Wednesday night is officially my first time regretting my decision to live as high up as I do: I haven't been that scared of a storm since I conquered my fear of thunder and lightning when I was seven.
I didn't do a whole lot that day, though I did come a little closer to making my final decisions for the photos that I want to print and give as Christmas presents. I also noticed just how off my laptop's calibration is (factory--I've never calibrated it myself), as I had it open next to one of the Photo Dept. computers (which are properly calibrated). My computer has a very blue colour cast, whereas the school computers have a slight magenta colour cast. I asked Alex what the Photo Dept. has for calibration equipment. They have two options, one of which won't work with OS X Lion (what I have on my computer). The other does, and I made a note to calibrate my computer when I come back next semester. Because my computer's a laptop, the colours will never match those of a desktop, but once it's calibrated they will be closer to the colours on a calibrated desktop monitor.
I could tell that finals were in full swing, as the Photography Dept. was a hive of activity that day. I kind of liked it, though: plenty of people around, we were all doing our thing and flitting around...
That afternoon, a friend, Laura, posted on Facebook that she would be going to Elsipogtog (pronounced El-sip-pug-tug) on Sunday. I expressed interest, and that evening we messaged back and forth on FB, figuring things out.
Friday: I devoted the day to doing the final edits on my contextualizing statement. It isn't due until Wednesday (due with the project), but as I knew I would lose a whole workday by going to NB, I wanted to make sure it got done and that I didn't have to stress about it. I printed it off about half an hour before The Cage closed.
I also discussed show stuff with a classmate, also named Alex. He and another classmate, Caitlin, are in charge of talking with the gallery people. I will be showing my project at the Anna Leonowens Gallery instead of the Port Loggia Gallery, where everyone else will be. While it sucks to be separate from my classmates, it's better for my project, as the Anna has monitors and media players, is insured and I won't have to go and turn on said equipment every day, which would be a pain.
Saturday: Another day of hard work. This time I focused on doing the final version of the video, also due to the loss of a workday. My day started with going to the Academy building and doing some tweaks on the video (the original plan was to just export the most recent version as a QuickTime file--turns out, I had a few edits to make before that step) and then exporting the final version. I then went to the Photo Dept. where I had a look at the video on one of the computers (I'd made some edits to a photo and wanted to make sure everything looked okay on the computers that I'd used to do all the other edits, as I don't know what the calibration situation is at the Academy Building). I was bothered by some of the photos, as there was some really noticeable white in the upper-right-hand corner. No one had mentioned it in crits, but it was bugging me. Besides--when I did a Freeman Patterson/André Gallant workshop in '08, one of my photos had some white that was out of place and André and Freeman noticed. Getting rid of the light spots might translate into a better crit.
Sunday: Up bright and early on a Sunday (which is amazing for me) and off to NB. I waited at my favourite coffee shop for Laura to pick me up. After what felt like forever (because I was eager to get going), she arrived. We stopped at the Granville Campus and she picked up a six-pack of film (each roll has thirty-six exposures) and then we headed off to NB. Due to staying up too late the night before, I snoozed for over an hour on the way to Elsipogtog. Because a picture's worth a thousand words, I'll share some of the photos that I took at the encampment. Not seen in these photos is an SWN truck parked right next to said encampment.
 |
| Yes, that's Maude Barlow. |
Sunday, November 24, 2013
for the love of Tchaikovsky--and the Bangor Symphony
Despite the fact that I'm only doing nine credits this semester, I've hit that point where I'm randomly freaking out about how little time is left between now and the end of the semester.
Monday: On the way to school, I got my bus tickets. The bus will be boarding at 7:05 AM, and it seems that every time I get tickets the boarding time is earlier than it was the previous trip. On the plus side, I can snooze on the bus (I never sleep in moving vehicles) and I'll get to see my parents and cats sooner.
I returned Helvetica to the VRC and as usual I discussed the documentary with Rebecca Young (the librarian--and a former NSCAD Photog). While it was well-made, I found the documentary boring. Though I'm amazed that one could do a whole eighty-minute film on a font.
The NSCAD Queer Collective is doing a project on the accessibility of NSCAD's bathrooms (in general, NSCAD is up to its eyeballs in accessibility issues, especially the Granville Campus). That day I finally found the time to fill out the lists for the two bathrooms that I'd been assigned to do.
Tuesday: When I had one of those freak-outs that I mentioned in the intro on Monday night, I was really glad that I'd scheduled some time in the Academy computer lab for Tuesday. A couple hours there and I was back in control (I find that the best stress-reliever is just buckling down and getting 'er done--never underestimate the satisfaction of crossing stuff off of a to-do list).
Wednesday: Class was devoted to work-in-progress (WIP) crits and studio time. We also had meetings with Adrian. He and I discussed editing my contextualizing statement (I'd written two hundred and twenty-seven words more than I needed and this was one of those times where I would look at what I'd written, think, "what's not important? What can I cut?" followed by, "IT'S ALL IMPORTANT!" I needed someone who wasn't as emotionally attached to the statement to go through it and cut out the unimportant parts.). I spent the rest of the afternoon applying Adrian's edits to the statement. Several of us hung out in the computer lab, figuring out the title for the show (we'd gotten confirmation that we had a spot in the Port Loggia gallery in January the day before).
During my WIP crit, one of the things mentioned was that a couple of the pieces needed more photos. One of those pieces meant braving the cold at night with my camera. Because I wanted to get it done with ASAP, I took the photos as soon as I got home that night, downloaded them to my computer and got rid of the worst of the bunch.
Thursday: Another cooking day. And as a result, I didn't get over to NSCAD until late-afternoon. I didn't do much in the way of schoolwork, though I did edit the photos.
Friday: I took more photos for another series that needed different photos (the ones that I had were too similar), edited them and added them to the slideshow. I also bought a 2014 calendar at ViewPoint Gallery and checked out Food, Inc. from the VRC (you never know what you're going to find there). And I added another goal for this year: watch as many movies and documentaries from the VRC catalogue as possible between now and April. Bonus: although the usual limit for DVDs is three at a time for two days (the whole weekend if you check them out on Thursday or Friday), students are allowed to check out more than that and take them home over breaks, which I might do when I go home next month.
On the way home I took some photos of the Waverley Inn's Christmas decorations.
That day, a judge in NB ruled in favour of SWN, "ordering protesters not to interfere with the company’s shale gas exploration [on Elsipogtog First Nation] and giving police power to enforce that order." Reading those words still makes me incredibly sad and angry: the land is Mi'kmaq territory--the Mi'kmaq are the ones in charge of it. Also: whatever happened to freedom of peaceful assembly? Whether settler or aboriginal, we all deserve that right. The way the case was handled was crappy, too: the First Nation "had no time to hire lawyers." I can imagine how it would feel for the people of Elsipogtog: I'd be angry, too, if some company wanted to come drill for some resource or another on my land and wouldn't take no for an answer.
This documentary, which I watched recently, is a really good overview of what aboriginals have had to deal with over the last few hundred years. The things we settlers have inflicted on our fellow human beings--who were here before we were--makes me so angry and sad--and ashamed to be white. This is my own race that has done these things and if I could somehow make it all go away, I would. The fact that I have the tiniest drop of Mi'kmaq ancestry (one person) intensifies those feelings.
Saturday: Once again, I spent a few hours in the Academy computer lab. I also edited the photos that I took Friday night.
Sunday: I've spent the afternoon and evening whittling down my contextualizing statement. The whole thing is supposed to be seven hundred and fifty words. Four years ago (in '09) I would've looked at that number and said something along the lines of, "**gulp** I'm supposed to write how many words?? HELP!!!!" and freaked out. Now, I think nothing of a thousand-word essay. Some of my blog posts have been around two thousand words. And I'm still ridiculously proud of the three-thousand-word monster that I cranked out for my Questions of Obsolescence final this past spring. The thing with the statement that I'm currently editing is that my project combines three things (music, dance and photography) that I could talk about for hours and easily write a thousand to two thousand words on. Art means everything to me, and the way I write about it, including how many words I could devote to writing about it, reflects that passion.
Today the Bangor Symphony did a Totally Tchaikovsky program. They started with his Coronation March, which features a passage also heard in the Marche Slave (which at times sounds like a mashup of other works by Tchaikovsky, which I really like). Brace yourself for awesomeness.
The concert also included one of my favourite concertos for any instrument, by any composer: Tchaikovsky's first piano concerto. What I would give to have the BSO knock my socks off with that piece. Bonus: the violin part is pretty awesome.
I finished Saturday night by listening to Tchaikovsky's fifth symphony, which I'd never heard before. It was the last piece on today's program. My verdict: it's awesome. Thanks, BSO! Also: Bernstein. Need I say more?
As you've probably noticed by now, I usually only post one or two pieces when posting works that the BSO's performing. Today is an exception: all three pieces have that "oh, my gosh, wow!" factor. Why must your music be so wonderful, Tchaikovsky? I've been listing to nothing but his music all day. This is your doing, BSO!
I found out yesterday that students at the University of Maine get two free tickets per semester to events at the Collins Center for the Arts. The Collins Center is the BSO's home stage, so if I went to that school I'd save at least one ticket each year for a BSO concert. Dear UMaine students: I'm officially jealous. And for non-UMainers, student tickets to BSO concerts are $13 including the processing fee--and it's the same price no matter where you sit. Talk about an awesome deal!
Monday: On the way to school, I got my bus tickets. The bus will be boarding at 7:05 AM, and it seems that every time I get tickets the boarding time is earlier than it was the previous trip. On the plus side, I can snooze on the bus (I never sleep in moving vehicles) and I'll get to see my parents and cats sooner.
I returned Helvetica to the VRC and as usual I discussed the documentary with Rebecca Young (the librarian--and a former NSCAD Photog). While it was well-made, I found the documentary boring. Though I'm amazed that one could do a whole eighty-minute film on a font.
The NSCAD Queer Collective is doing a project on the accessibility of NSCAD's bathrooms (in general, NSCAD is up to its eyeballs in accessibility issues, especially the Granville Campus). That day I finally found the time to fill out the lists for the two bathrooms that I'd been assigned to do.
Tuesday: When I had one of those freak-outs that I mentioned in the intro on Monday night, I was really glad that I'd scheduled some time in the Academy computer lab for Tuesday. A couple hours there and I was back in control (I find that the best stress-reliever is just buckling down and getting 'er done--never underestimate the satisfaction of crossing stuff off of a to-do list).
Wednesday: Class was devoted to work-in-progress (WIP) crits and studio time. We also had meetings with Adrian. He and I discussed editing my contextualizing statement (I'd written two hundred and twenty-seven words more than I needed and this was one of those times where I would look at what I'd written, think, "what's not important? What can I cut?" followed by, "IT'S ALL IMPORTANT!" I needed someone who wasn't as emotionally attached to the statement to go through it and cut out the unimportant parts.). I spent the rest of the afternoon applying Adrian's edits to the statement. Several of us hung out in the computer lab, figuring out the title for the show (we'd gotten confirmation that we had a spot in the Port Loggia gallery in January the day before).
During my WIP crit, one of the things mentioned was that a couple of the pieces needed more photos. One of those pieces meant braving the cold at night with my camera. Because I wanted to get it done with ASAP, I took the photos as soon as I got home that night, downloaded them to my computer and got rid of the worst of the bunch.
Thursday: Another cooking day. And as a result, I didn't get over to NSCAD until late-afternoon. I didn't do much in the way of schoolwork, though I did edit the photos.
Friday: I took more photos for another series that needed different photos (the ones that I had were too similar), edited them and added them to the slideshow. I also bought a 2014 calendar at ViewPoint Gallery and checked out Food, Inc. from the VRC (you never know what you're going to find there). And I added another goal for this year: watch as many movies and documentaries from the VRC catalogue as possible between now and April. Bonus: although the usual limit for DVDs is three at a time for two days (the whole weekend if you check them out on Thursday or Friday), students are allowed to check out more than that and take them home over breaks, which I might do when I go home next month.
On the way home I took some photos of the Waverley Inn's Christmas decorations.
That day, a judge in NB ruled in favour of SWN, "ordering protesters not to interfere with the company’s shale gas exploration [on Elsipogtog First Nation] and giving police power to enforce that order." Reading those words still makes me incredibly sad and angry: the land is Mi'kmaq territory--the Mi'kmaq are the ones in charge of it. Also: whatever happened to freedom of peaceful assembly? Whether settler or aboriginal, we all deserve that right. The way the case was handled was crappy, too: the First Nation "had no time to hire lawyers." I can imagine how it would feel for the people of Elsipogtog: I'd be angry, too, if some company wanted to come drill for some resource or another on my land and wouldn't take no for an answer.
This documentary, which I watched recently, is a really good overview of what aboriginals have had to deal with over the last few hundred years. The things we settlers have inflicted on our fellow human beings--who were here before we were--makes me so angry and sad--and ashamed to be white. This is my own race that has done these things and if I could somehow make it all go away, I would. The fact that I have the tiniest drop of Mi'kmaq ancestry (one person) intensifies those feelings.
Saturday: Once again, I spent a few hours in the Academy computer lab. I also edited the photos that I took Friday night.
Sunday: I've spent the afternoon and evening whittling down my contextualizing statement. The whole thing is supposed to be seven hundred and fifty words. Four years ago (in '09) I would've looked at that number and said something along the lines of, "**gulp** I'm supposed to write how many words?? HELP!!!!" and freaked out. Now, I think nothing of a thousand-word essay. Some of my blog posts have been around two thousand words. And I'm still ridiculously proud of the three-thousand-word monster that I cranked out for my Questions of Obsolescence final this past spring. The thing with the statement that I'm currently editing is that my project combines three things (music, dance and photography) that I could talk about for hours and easily write a thousand to two thousand words on. Art means everything to me, and the way I write about it, including how many words I could devote to writing about it, reflects that passion.
Today the Bangor Symphony did a Totally Tchaikovsky program. They started with his Coronation March, which features a passage also heard in the Marche Slave (which at times sounds like a mashup of other works by Tchaikovsky, which I really like). Brace yourself for awesomeness.
The concert also included one of my favourite concertos for any instrument, by any composer: Tchaikovsky's first piano concerto. What I would give to have the BSO knock my socks off with that piece. Bonus: the violin part is pretty awesome.
I finished Saturday night by listening to Tchaikovsky's fifth symphony, which I'd never heard before. It was the last piece on today's program. My verdict: it's awesome. Thanks, BSO! Also: Bernstein. Need I say more?
As you've probably noticed by now, I usually only post one or two pieces when posting works that the BSO's performing. Today is an exception: all three pieces have that "oh, my gosh, wow!" factor. Why must your music be so wonderful, Tchaikovsky? I've been listing to nothing but his music all day. This is your doing, BSO!
I found out yesterday that students at the University of Maine get two free tickets per semester to events at the Collins Center for the Arts. The Collins Center is the BSO's home stage, so if I went to that school I'd save at least one ticket each year for a BSO concert. Dear UMaine students: I'm officially jealous. And for non-UMainers, student tickets to BSO concerts are $13 including the processing fee--and it's the same price no matter where you sit. Talk about an awesome deal!
Sunday, November 17, 2013
making connections
Just when I think the world of visual art is small, I take a good look at the classical music world: there are connections between composers all over the place. Also, the weeks are going by way too fast.
Monday: As it was Remembrance Day, NSCAD was closed (I didn't really celebrate--how could I when Harper pretends to support the troops while cutting services that vets need, especially mental health services?)--but I showed up, anyway. I spent probably several hours staring at my contextualizing statement, trying to come up with a better beginning and ending--and failing.
Tuesday: I met with Joan again and we talked some more.
I then headed over to the Academy Building to make a QuickTime version of my APC project. What I thought would take five minutes max ended up taking an hour or so because I found out that A. I'd done the video in 4:3 ratio (the ratio used by old CRT TVs) instead of 16:9 ratio (widescreen) and B. I'd done it in standard definition instead of HD. I knew something was up because the images looked low-resolution--but I knew that every single one was 300 DPI. I asked the technicians for help a couple of times. The first time I went back down to the basement and tried to solve the problem myself and when that didn't work I went back up and asked again. This time the technician came down with me and helped me sort out the issues. I then made the QuickTime file and headed back to Granville.
Wednesday: This week was the last week of doing readings. Several of us wanted to do work-in-progress crits, including me. Mine went extremely well. It was also the first time I saw my slideshow projected BIG and heard the music on good speakers (In the Hall of the Mountain King BOOMING above my head and a little to the right? Yes, please!). As a result, I could barely speak for a few seconds afterward.
Thursday: I spent most of the day glued to Twitter (though I don't have an account) following the hashtag "Elsipogtog", as there was another blockade/confrontation between the First Nation and SWP (which was protected by the RCMP--seriously! And police weren't wearing name tags, which also happened during the G20 protests and they got in trouble for doing that as wearing a name tag is a must.). Thankfully, there wasn't any violence this time around. Here's a really good article from the Toronto Star about the facts about First Nations peoples that are often completely ignored. These three paragraphs are especially important:
Friday: I worked on my project, making the changes that I'd written down during my crit. Afterward, on my way to the Photo Dept., I stopped in at the NSCAD Visual Resource Centre and checked out Helvetica for the weekend.
As I've mentioned before, we've been reading Of Cigarettes, High Heels and Other Interesting Things as part of APC. However, we skipped the preface and chapters six and seven. I loved the book so much that I didn't feel right skipping any part of it so right from the beginning I planned to read the parts that were skipped on my own time by the end of the Winter '14 semester. I read the preface that day and plan to read a chapter a week, meaning that the last week of term will be the only week that I don't have to read anything. It felt weird to not have to take notes while reading.
Saturday: On my way to school on Thursday, I'd stopped to have a look at the Remembrance Day wreathes at the cenotaph in the Grand Parade. One of them had been laid on behalf of Norway, which made me wonder about the connection between that country and Halifax. I spent part of the afternoon researching the ties between Halifax/Canada and Norway. Turns out, Canada and Norway have had some form of connection for about a thousand years, and Norwegian military trained in Lunenberg, NS during World War II (Norway being part of the Allies). One of the ships involved in the Halifax Explosion was a Norwegian ship (the other was French). The Norwegian embassy's Canadian site has a good section on the history of the partnership between the two countries--though some of it sounds like it was written in the pre-Harper days (Canada interested in sustainability and being good to the environment? Only if Harper gets kicked out.). This makes me even more excited and proud to count two of Norway's best composers as favourites--and the grandson of one of those composers as one of my favourite violinists. That, and the fact that all three have a habit of knocking my socks off (not surprising for Trond: the ability to knock the audiences' socks off seems to be a requirement for BSO violinists).
Sunday: I finally got back in the Academy computer lab. However, I arrived a full hour early: on weekends the lab doesn't open until 1:00 PM. I went over to Granville, where I wasted time on Facebook until just before 1:30, and then went back to Academy. I spent a couple hours there, tweaking my project, figuring things out and asking myself questions. Afterward, I went back to Granville again, where I spent the rest of the day.
When I met with Adrian a couple weeks ago to fix the white balance of one of the series for my project, we discussed what sorts of things I could include in the contextualizing statement. I told him about my discovery of Tchaikovsky writing to Rimsky-Korsakov and praising the Capriccio Espangnol and some other connections that I knew about and it got me to thinking: what other composer connections are there? I'm talking everything: composers writing to each other, being from the same city, rivalries--you name it. This week, I decided to see if I still had MindNode on my computer and, if so, map out the connections. Below is a screen shot of what I've got so far.
Monday: As it was Remembrance Day, NSCAD was closed (I didn't really celebrate--how could I when Harper pretends to support the troops while cutting services that vets need, especially mental health services?)--but I showed up, anyway. I spent probably several hours staring at my contextualizing statement, trying to come up with a better beginning and ending--and failing.
Tuesday: I met with Joan again and we talked some more.
I then headed over to the Academy Building to make a QuickTime version of my APC project. What I thought would take five minutes max ended up taking an hour or so because I found out that A. I'd done the video in 4:3 ratio (the ratio used by old CRT TVs) instead of 16:9 ratio (widescreen) and B. I'd done it in standard definition instead of HD. I knew something was up because the images looked low-resolution--but I knew that every single one was 300 DPI. I asked the technicians for help a couple of times. The first time I went back down to the basement and tried to solve the problem myself and when that didn't work I went back up and asked again. This time the technician came down with me and helped me sort out the issues. I then made the QuickTime file and headed back to Granville.
Wednesday: This week was the last week of doing readings. Several of us wanted to do work-in-progress crits, including me. Mine went extremely well. It was also the first time I saw my slideshow projected BIG and heard the music on good speakers (In the Hall of the Mountain King BOOMING above my head and a little to the right? Yes, please!). As a result, I could barely speak for a few seconds afterward.
Thursday: I spent most of the day glued to Twitter (though I don't have an account) following the hashtag "Elsipogtog", as there was another blockade/confrontation between the First Nation and SWP (which was protected by the RCMP--seriously! And police weren't wearing name tags, which also happened during the G20 protests and they got in trouble for doing that as wearing a name tag is a must.). Thankfully, there wasn't any violence this time around. Here's a really good article from the Toronto Star about the facts about First Nations peoples that are often completely ignored. These three paragraphs are especially important:
"In 1997, the landmark Supreme Court Decision in Delgamuukw finally clarified that even under Canadian law, Aboriginal title to most of the land within British Columbia’s provincial borders had never been extinguished. This ruling had immediate implications for other areas of the country where no treaties ceding land ownership were ever signed [Annapurna's note: this includes much of the Maritimes]. One day, Canadians woke up to a legal reality in which millions of acres of land were recognized as never having been acquired by the Crown, and that elephant has been occupying our national room ever since.
"Unfortunately, this glaring issue did not seem to percolate into the wider Canadian consciousness, and many people remain unaware of it. In 1999, the Supreme Court passed down another judgement confirming that the Peace and Friendship Treaties of 1760-1761 did not cede land or resources. This cannot be emphasized strongly enough: the Mi'kmaq never gave up legal rights to their land or resources. Canada does not own the land that the people of Elsipogtog are defending.
"This is not conspiracy theory, or indigenous interpretation. This is Canadian law, interpreted by the Supreme Court of Canada, applying Canadian constitutional principles. Yet somehow, this most important fact is left out of most reports on Elsipogtog as though it is barely relevant."I have come up against the sorts of myths that this article debunks being presented as fact, and even just thinking about it makes me a bit mad at those who believe those lies.
Friday: I worked on my project, making the changes that I'd written down during my crit. Afterward, on my way to the Photo Dept., I stopped in at the NSCAD Visual Resource Centre and checked out Helvetica for the weekend.
As I've mentioned before, we've been reading Of Cigarettes, High Heels and Other Interesting Things as part of APC. However, we skipped the preface and chapters six and seven. I loved the book so much that I didn't feel right skipping any part of it so right from the beginning I planned to read the parts that were skipped on my own time by the end of the Winter '14 semester. I read the preface that day and plan to read a chapter a week, meaning that the last week of term will be the only week that I don't have to read anything. It felt weird to not have to take notes while reading.
Saturday: On my way to school on Thursday, I'd stopped to have a look at the Remembrance Day wreathes at the cenotaph in the Grand Parade. One of them had been laid on behalf of Norway, which made me wonder about the connection between that country and Halifax. I spent part of the afternoon researching the ties between Halifax/Canada and Norway. Turns out, Canada and Norway have had some form of connection for about a thousand years, and Norwegian military trained in Lunenberg, NS during World War II (Norway being part of the Allies). One of the ships involved in the Halifax Explosion was a Norwegian ship (the other was French). The Norwegian embassy's Canadian site has a good section on the history of the partnership between the two countries--though some of it sounds like it was written in the pre-Harper days (Canada interested in sustainability and being good to the environment? Only if Harper gets kicked out.). This makes me even more excited and proud to count two of Norway's best composers as favourites--and the grandson of one of those composers as one of my favourite violinists. That, and the fact that all three have a habit of knocking my socks off (not surprising for Trond: the ability to knock the audiences' socks off seems to be a requirement for BSO violinists).
Sunday: I finally got back in the Academy computer lab. However, I arrived a full hour early: on weekends the lab doesn't open until 1:00 PM. I went over to Granville, where I wasted time on Facebook until just before 1:30, and then went back to Academy. I spent a couple hours there, tweaking my project, figuring things out and asking myself questions. Afterward, I went back to Granville again, where I spent the rest of the day.
When I met with Adrian a couple weeks ago to fix the white balance of one of the series for my project, we discussed what sorts of things I could include in the contextualizing statement. I told him about my discovery of Tchaikovsky writing to Rimsky-Korsakov and praising the Capriccio Espangnol and some other connections that I knew about and it got me to thinking: what other composer connections are there? I'm talking everything: composers writing to each other, being from the same city, rivalries--you name it. This week, I decided to see if I still had MindNode on my computer and, if so, map out the connections. Below is a screen shot of what I've got so far.
Tuesday, March 19, 2013
we won't shut up
After I-don't-know-how-many ridiculously busy weeks, this weekend felt almost too good to be true.
Monday: We started the first round of Electronic Culture presentations.
Tuesday: Once again, the students marched to Province House--this time with red ribbons in hand. We also wrapped the NSCAD lions in red fabric. I was a bit later leaving my place than I'd intended, so I called a cab. When I got to the school (with about twenty minutes to spare), work had already started on the wrapping, so I stopped and watched--and took photos. Slowly a small crowd of students and media gathered to watch and film the wrapping. Some of the SUNSCAD execs were interviewed by CBC. Some students tore red fabric into ribbons and I took a handful. I was asked to carry the Canadian Federation of Students (CFS) flag, which I was proud to do. You can see it in this photo from the February sixth manifesto delivery (albeit backwards):
We then marched over to Province House, chanting the whole way. Once there we tied the ribbons to the Province House gate and chanted some more, playing Red Rover with the provincial government: "RED ROVER RED ROVER WE CALL DEXTER OVER,
"YOUR SILENCE IS PUBLIC, OUR CAUSE WON'T BLOW OVER,
"RED ROVER RED ROVER WE CALL MARILYN'S PHONE,
"OUR NEEDS, AS WE'VE OUTLINED, WILL NOT BE POSTPONED!
"RED ROVER RED ROVER WE CALL NDP OUT,
"YOU SAY YOU VALUE ARTISTS BUT NOW WE'RE IN DOUBT!
"RED ROVER RED ROVER WE CALL NSCAD PROUD,
"YOU KEEP BEING SILENT, WE'LL KEEP GETTING LOUD!"
The last chant was my favourite.
We then headed back to the school. That afternoon, the Halifax Chronicle-Herald published an article about the protest.
You can see photos from the protest here.
I spent much of the afternoon walking around the Granville Campus, photographing for my project for the Writing for the Arts show. I ended up getting completely turned around in North Block. I wandered around, went up and down some stairs and eventually found an entrance off of Granville Plaza that I hadn't known about.
I spent the rest of the afternoon working on my Graphics homework.
That evening was the candidates' forum for next year's SUNSCAD executive. Two of the positions are contested and the president (Sarah Trower) is running for a second term (due to the turmoil at NSCAD, having a veteran SUNSCAD exec as president would be easier for the student union: Sarah knows the issues extremely well and because she's done this before, she doesn't need any training).
Wednesday: I took a photo for the Writing for the Arts show catalogue and spent the afternoon finishing my Graphics project.
That evening we had a work-in-progress critique--turns out, the project wasn't due that week as I'd thought. It's due this week. My crit went fairly well, though I had to redo the logo. Thankfully, version two was a lot simpler to do.
Thursday: I did my presentation for Reconfigured on Monica Lacey (NBCCD Class of '11).
I finally finished my stuff for the next day's Writing for the Arts.
That evening we had a council meeting--the first in several months.
Friday: Friday was, to put it mildly, interesting. It started with me sleeping through my alarm by seven minutes, which has never happened before. I ended up being late for class and calling a cab. I then had a close call with my tripod at Starbucks: I thought I'd lost it or someone had made off with it. I started to panic and searched for it, telling one of the baristas when she asked if there was anything wrong, but ended up admitting defeat and left. I got three-quarters across the street before realizing that I'd left my coffee in the café. I went back, got my coffee--and there was the barista with my tripod! I felt like the happiest woman in Halifax: although my tripod probably isn't the most expensive out there, I was not looking forward to breaking the news to my parents. I thanked her and went on my merry way, coffee in hand. I ended up being ten minutes late to class.
After all that excitement, I was glad that Obsolescence was as uneventful as ever (more research presentations).
As for Writing for the Arts, the next group of students presented, and their presentation was on the appropriation of First Nations and Native American culture. It seems that we settlers can never get it right, particularly in the movies (Dances with Wolves comes close, but even it fails in some ways). Also, I didn't know that until white people arrived, native peoples didn't have chiefs--they had tribe mothers. White folks didn't want to talk with the women, hence the chiefs. Since Idle No More started, I've realized just how little I know about First Nations peoples and what they've suffered at the hands of white people. This summer I'm determined to change that.
After the presentation, one of my classmates who's also in my photo classes (and a fellow NBCCD transfer student), Michael, borrowed my camera and tripod and took photos for the students who hadn't yet documented their work for the show catalogue.
I didn't realize this at the time, but that day marked one year since I received my acceptance package from NSCAD.
Saturday: I spent the afternoon getting work done. Unlike the last few weeks, I don't have much to do, and the work that I do have is stuff that I've already started.
Sunday: I'd planned to photograph at the Port Campus and then head over to Granville to work on my Graphics homework, but I decided to only go as far as Port because they also have a computer lab.
On my way over, I stopped at the Seaport Farmers' Market. I didn't buy anything, but I watched a performance by a local Irish step-dance school.
I spent the rest of the afternoon working on Graphics homework.
On my way home, I decided to check out some pipes (at least I think they're pipes) that I'd noticed since September but never seen up close. Once I saw them, I just had to photograph them. So I went back to my place, grabbed my camera, changed the lens and went back. Here are two of the photos:
I spent the rest of the evening doing some research for Obsolescence and I started my journal entry for Writing for the Arts.
Monday: We started the first round of Electronic Culture presentations.
Tuesday: Once again, the students marched to Province House--this time with red ribbons in hand. We also wrapped the NSCAD lions in red fabric. I was a bit later leaving my place than I'd intended, so I called a cab. When I got to the school (with about twenty minutes to spare), work had already started on the wrapping, so I stopped and watched--and took photos. Slowly a small crowd of students and media gathered to watch and film the wrapping. Some of the SUNSCAD execs were interviewed by CBC. Some students tore red fabric into ribbons and I took a handful. I was asked to carry the Canadian Federation of Students (CFS) flag, which I was proud to do. You can see it in this photo from the February sixth manifesto delivery (albeit backwards):
We then marched over to Province House, chanting the whole way. Once there we tied the ribbons to the Province House gate and chanted some more, playing Red Rover with the provincial government: "RED ROVER RED ROVER WE CALL DEXTER OVER,
"YOUR SILENCE IS PUBLIC, OUR CAUSE WON'T BLOW OVER,
"RED ROVER RED ROVER WE CALL MARILYN'S PHONE,
"OUR NEEDS, AS WE'VE OUTLINED, WILL NOT BE POSTPONED!
"RED ROVER RED ROVER WE CALL NDP OUT,
"YOU SAY YOU VALUE ARTISTS BUT NOW WE'RE IN DOUBT!
"RED ROVER RED ROVER WE CALL NSCAD PROUD,
"YOU KEEP BEING SILENT, WE'LL KEEP GETTING LOUD!"
The last chant was my favourite.
We then headed back to the school. That afternoon, the Halifax Chronicle-Herald published an article about the protest.
You can see photos from the protest here.
I spent much of the afternoon walking around the Granville Campus, photographing for my project for the Writing for the Arts show. I ended up getting completely turned around in North Block. I wandered around, went up and down some stairs and eventually found an entrance off of Granville Plaza that I hadn't known about.
I spent the rest of the afternoon working on my Graphics homework.
That evening was the candidates' forum for next year's SUNSCAD executive. Two of the positions are contested and the president (Sarah Trower) is running for a second term (due to the turmoil at NSCAD, having a veteran SUNSCAD exec as president would be easier for the student union: Sarah knows the issues extremely well and because she's done this before, she doesn't need any training).
Wednesday: I took a photo for the Writing for the Arts show catalogue and spent the afternoon finishing my Graphics project.
That evening we had a work-in-progress critique--turns out, the project wasn't due that week as I'd thought. It's due this week. My crit went fairly well, though I had to redo the logo. Thankfully, version two was a lot simpler to do.
Thursday: I did my presentation for Reconfigured on Monica Lacey (NBCCD Class of '11).
I finally finished my stuff for the next day's Writing for the Arts.
That evening we had a council meeting--the first in several months.
Friday: Friday was, to put it mildly, interesting. It started with me sleeping through my alarm by seven minutes, which has never happened before. I ended up being late for class and calling a cab. I then had a close call with my tripod at Starbucks: I thought I'd lost it or someone had made off with it. I started to panic and searched for it, telling one of the baristas when she asked if there was anything wrong, but ended up admitting defeat and left. I got three-quarters across the street before realizing that I'd left my coffee in the café. I went back, got my coffee--and there was the barista with my tripod! I felt like the happiest woman in Halifax: although my tripod probably isn't the most expensive out there, I was not looking forward to breaking the news to my parents. I thanked her and went on my merry way, coffee in hand. I ended up being ten minutes late to class.
After all that excitement, I was glad that Obsolescence was as uneventful as ever (more research presentations).
As for Writing for the Arts, the next group of students presented, and their presentation was on the appropriation of First Nations and Native American culture. It seems that we settlers can never get it right, particularly in the movies (Dances with Wolves comes close, but even it fails in some ways). Also, I didn't know that until white people arrived, native peoples didn't have chiefs--they had tribe mothers. White folks didn't want to talk with the women, hence the chiefs. Since Idle No More started, I've realized just how little I know about First Nations peoples and what they've suffered at the hands of white people. This summer I'm determined to change that.
After the presentation, one of my classmates who's also in my photo classes (and a fellow NBCCD transfer student), Michael, borrowed my camera and tripod and took photos for the students who hadn't yet documented their work for the show catalogue.
I didn't realize this at the time, but that day marked one year since I received my acceptance package from NSCAD.
Saturday: I spent the afternoon getting work done. Unlike the last few weeks, I don't have much to do, and the work that I do have is stuff that I've already started.
Sunday: I'd planned to photograph at the Port Campus and then head over to Granville to work on my Graphics homework, but I decided to only go as far as Port because they also have a computer lab.
On my way over, I stopped at the Seaport Farmers' Market. I didn't buy anything, but I watched a performance by a local Irish step-dance school.
I spent the rest of the afternoon working on Graphics homework.
On my way home, I decided to check out some pipes (at least I think they're pipes) that I'd noticed since September but never seen up close. Once I saw them, I just had to photograph them. So I went back to my place, grabbed my camera, changed the lens and went back. Here are two of the photos:
I spent the rest of the evening doing some research for Obsolescence and I started my journal entry for Writing for the Arts.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)