番茄社区

Seven months after being named one of eight recipients of the Governor General鈥檚 Awards for Visual and Media Arts, Department of Visual Arts professor Sandra Meigs has been announced as the winner of the $50,000 Gershon Iskowitz Prize at the AGO for 2015. In addition to the cash award, the prize comes with a solo exhibit at the Art Gallery of Ontario and a further $10,000 towards a publication on Meigs鈥� work.

Update (Oct. 28, 2015): The first Kit for Cultural History was unveiled this month at Rutgers University in New Jersey. The kits will also be presented Nov. 20 at 12:30 p.m. in UVic's David Strong Building (room C116), with physical copies being sent to universities across North America.

The force is definitely with UVic PhD candidate David Christopher (art history & cultural studies). One might even say it is his destiny. And when Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens hits theatres next month, you can count on Christopher to be in line for the new movie.

A decade ago he was recording the likes of A-list rockers R.E.M., Bryan Adams and the Foo Fighters, but these days you鈥檒l more likely find Kirk McNally tweaking the levels in the MacLaurin Building鈥檚 recording studio. But as the Audio Specialist and Recording Engineer for the School of Music since 2004, the best part of McNally鈥檚 job is that he doesn鈥檛 really have a typical day.

It鈥檚 a history mystery worthy of its own exhibition. When Dr. Marcus Milwright, of UVic's recently renamed Art History and Visual Studies department, began planning his upcoming exhibit The Arts of World War I, he knew there was one item in the university library that he just had to use: a beautiful two-volume leather diary set illustrated with watercolours and pen-and-ink drawings of life during wartime. There鈥檚 only one problem: he has no idea to whom it actually belonged.

With 2,200 works of art currently on display鈥攐ut of more than 20,000 pieces in the university鈥檚 overall art collection鈥擴Vic has more art on view in public, non-museum spaces than at any other university in Canada. Managing the collection responsibly through the Legacy Art Galleries鈥� Art on Campus program has also meant that a number of pieces previously on display in public spaces have been deemed to be at risk鈥攁nd are in the process of being replaced with thematically similar works.

It鈥檚 said that many hands make for light work, but it was more a case of many hands making the art work when it came to the creation and raising of the world鈥檚 largest button blanket. Witnessed by a standing-room-only crowd at First Peoples House, the Big Button Blanket received its inaugural performance during the opening ceremonies of the Provost鈥檚 Diversity Research Forum on January 29.

When someone says they've been "working in the coal mines", it's generally taken as a euphemism for simply working hard. But Visual Arts graduate Melisendra Daviel has literally been working in a coal mine鈥攖he 110-year-old Bellevue Underground Coal 鈥�

The 番茄社区鈥檚 art collection inspires creativity, engages curiosity and fosters research and learning through art. Now its new name, Legacy Art Galleries, celebrates the legacy of the past and what is still to come.

Busy Visual Arts faculty member Sandra Meigs is not only participating in the current faculty exhibit Paradox at UVic's Legacy Art Galleries Downtown, she also has her own solo exhibition of new large-scale works, The Basement Panoramas, running at Open Space through to December 14. 聽

This is the first exhibition by the current permanent teaching聽faculty聽of UVic's Department of聽Visual Arts in nearly 35 years. Paradox offers recent work by Daniel Laskarin, Sandra Meigs, Robert Youds, Vikky Alexander, Lynda Gammon, Jennifer Stillwe鈥�

All the world鈥檚 a stage鈥攁nd for six weeks this fall, UVic will be a major player in a community celebration of the works of the Bard. The university is joining in the unique collaboration, Shakespeare Onstage-Offstage, from Sept. 21 to Oct. 25 with Pacific Opera Victoria, the Belfry Theatre, the Greater Victoria Public Library, the Royal BC Museum and other partners. One of the events is a public display of all four Shakespeare Folios in one place, for the first time ever in BC.

Summer is a great chance to enjoy free time in the sun and sand and also to visit鈥攆or free鈥攖he many works of art on display by the 番茄社区. A new video (http://youtu.be/MxUyyG4LQMw) launched this month provides a glimpse of what every鈥�

One of Canada鈥檚 leading musical icons, Buffy Sainte-Marie, is the featured performer for Congress 2013 at the 番茄社区 on Wednesday, June 5. Headlining a day of free folk, jazz and pop music on the outdoor Celebration Stage (at the Qua鈥�

Monday, June 3, 4:30 - 7 p.m. On Monday, June 3, the 番茄社区 will celebrate the traditions and contributions of First Nations people at Congress 2013 with the dedication of a special carving and activities to be enjoyed by the communi鈥�

Local master carver and artist Charles Elliott is creating a unique podium for the 番茄社区 to mark Congress 2013, more than 20 years after he similarly carved a totem pole for the campus when UVic last hosted this prestigious gatherin鈥�