HRM Residency Initiative
Gatekeeper's Lodge, Point Pleasant Park

Since 2009 HRM has provided HRM artists with access to the Gatekeeper’s Lodge in Point Pleasant Parkthrough Open Projects, providing them with the opportunity to research, develop and create new works. In the summer of 2011, artists invited artists to submit proposals to take part in Pilot Program: HRM Residency Initiative- Point Pleasant Park. Artist Lisa Lipton is working in the Point Pleasant Park Lodge as part of this program.Through this initiative, HRM provides an artist or collective with space in the Gatekeeper’s Lodge in Point Pleasant Park, an honorarium and administrative support.

Organizational Support

Five organizations are currently being supported through the Residency Initiative (Pilot Program). They include:

• Atlantic Filmmakers Cooperative
• Centre for Art Tapes
• Neptune Theatre
• Alderney Landing and the Craig Gallery
• Mount Saint Vincent University Gallery

In total, $15,000 is going towards artists through this program.

Through this initiative, HRM provides an honorarium to arts organizations facilitating artist residencies within HRM. In exchange, organizations are responsible for the administrative support required to host an artist-in-residence. This includes the selection process, residency logistics and organization, program promotion, and any residency-related programming.

Organizations must be located within HRM, and provide dedicated arts programming and activities to be eligible to facilitate an HRM Residency Initiative. Relevant arts disciplines include visual arts, media arts, literary arts, music, performance, theatre, dance, film, audio works, craft, design, architecture, and new media. Cross-disciplinary collaboration, contemporary arts practices, and the enhancement of pre-existing arts activities are encouraged.

All residencies supported by the HRM Residency Initiative must:

• Have a public access component,
• Take place within HRM, and
• Be executed and completed prior to March 2012.

The Residency Initiative advances four out of the six outcome areas identified in HRM’s Corporate Plan 2010-2011, including Safe and Welcoming Communities, Well Planned and Engaged Communities, Economic Prosperity, and Diverse Recreation, Leisure, and Cultural Choices.  The intention of the Residency Initiative is to advance its strategic outcomes of the Cultural Operating Strategy (2008) including a sustainable cultural industry, a culture based regional economy, and culturally rich, engaged, active citizenry.

In total, $20,000 is going towards artists through these two Residency Initiative programs.

Current Residencies

Lisa Lipton
December 21, 2011- March 31, 2012

HRM is pleased to announce Lisa Lipton as artist-in-residence at the Gatekeeper’s Lodge, Point Pleasant Park.

During her residency, Lisa will continue developing BLAST BEATS, a project which investigates the history and spirituality of drumming.  Lisa is preparing to stage the project in Halifax, and during her residency she is creating textile-based components for a performance, practicing drumming rituals, and conducting research on drumming and collective beats. She explains, “I am interested in establishing a sense of community and communication told through rhythmic unity within a new context—in this case, within the nature environment of Halifax’s Point Pleasant Park.”

The public is invited to drop by the Lodge and take part in double drumming sessions with the artist Friday afternoons from noon – 4 p.m. until March 30 (excluding February 3). During the sessions, participants will share their drumming experiences and drum with the artist. The Gatekeeper’s Lodge is located in Point Pleasant Park at 5718 Point Pleasant Drive.

Born in the Maritimes, Lisa is a multidisciplinary artist and musician who received her Bachelor of Fine Arts from the NSCAD University, and Master of Fine Arts from the University of Windsor.  Her installations exemplify a diversity of interest within the arts, combining sculpture, video, knitted costume and paint with performances that involve dance and music.  She has exhibited her work on both a national and international level including Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal, Windsor, Banff, New York, Detroit, Texas, North Carolina, Berlin and Amsterdam. Lipton recently arrived home from a series of residences at The Banff Centre for the Arts, University of Windsor and Yellowknife Centre for the Arts. 

Lisa’s residency coincides with the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia’s Emerging Artist Series. From February 10 to April 29, 2012 Lipton’s exhibition Stop @ forever, will be on view at the gallery. Stop @ forever includes installation, video, musical and sculptural work that describes Lisa's sometimes romantic, sometimes nostalgic, always carefully considered, take on the world around her. Curated by Sarah Fillmore.

In May 2012, through HRM Open Projects, Lipton will remount Window Ballet, a collaborative, performance-based project which crosses boundaries between the fields of music, theatre and visual arts.

MSVU Art Gallery
January 9- February 17, 2012

Ursula Johnson performing Elmiet Photo by Krista Comeau

MSVU Art Gallery is currently hosting Mi’kmaw artist Ursula Johnson. Johnson is working in a studio space within the gallery, hosting basket-making workshops, open studio days and other events. As an activist, Johnson employs contemporary, theatrical and traditional Aboriginal practices to engage viewers in social situations. A skilled basket maker, she frequently combines basketry with performance and relational aesthetics. With her most recent work, she interprets the “Urban Aboriginal.” Johnson has exhibited widely and participated in artist’s residencies across Canada.

Visit the artist online and watch A Minute with the Artist - Ursula Johnson, Artist-in-Residence, MSVU Gallery on HRM's YouTube Channel.

Artist in Residence Programming at MSVU Art Gallery:

Open Studio Days

Ursula Johnson welcomes visitors to her studio during these times:

• 10 a.m.- 5 p.m. Saturday, January 14, 2012
• 10 a.m.- 5 p.m. Tuesday, January 17, 2012
• 10 a.m.- 5 p.m. Thursday, February 9, 2012

Basketry Workshops

Free to attend. To register contact (902) 457-6160 or art.gallery@msvu.ca

• Part 1: 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday, January 28, 2012
• Part 2: 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday, February 4, 2012

Public Lectures

• 5:30-7:30 p.m. Thursday, February 2, 2012 –  Ursula Johnson in conversation with artist and writer Shirley Bear, C.M.
• 1 p.m. Saturday, February 11, 2012 –  Ursula Johnson, artist's talk
  

Cataloging Party

12-3 p.m. Saturday, February 18, 2012 - Enjoy a drumming performance and refreshments at Johnson's end of residency celebration. All are welcome to view the pieces she created during her residency and to assist in naming them. The pieces will be catalogued and tagegd for a future exhibition.

Celebrating its 40th anniversary in 2011, MSVU Art Gallery reflects the university’s education mission by emphasizing the representation of women as cultural subjects and producers. Its exhibitions explore various forms of cultural production, highlighting the achievement of Nova Scotia artists and themes relevant to academic programs offered by the university. MSVU Art Gallery promotes critical access to its exhibitions through publications, lectures and other educational programs.

AFCOOP

September 2011- March 2012

Now in its third year, the  Atlantic Filmmakers Cooperative (AFCOOP) Filmmaker in Residence program provides a local filmmaker with the resources and guidance to create a completed film work with the support and participation of the community.

This year’s AFCOOP Filmmaker in Residence is Eva Madden-Hagen. Eva's residency project is a documentary entitled POSE. The film will explore the unique experience of posing as a nude model through the eyes of Halifax based comic book artist Dave Cullen. Dave has spent his life studying the human form but recently realized sitting behind the drawing board wasn’t fulfilling the complete experience. A study in contrast and contradiction, Dave wants to see what it would be like to be the subject of the artist’s eye rather than the executor the vision. POSE will go with him on his journey.Follow Eva's recidency progress with her blog with The Coast.

Eva Madden‐Hagen is a versatile filmmaker working in both drama and documentary. Her current films Winter Wave Riders, profiling Nova Scotia winter surfers, and the short drama What Remains, chronicling a family coming to grips with dementia, have screened internationally and on Canadian television. In 2007 she directed the National Screen Institute of Canada/CBC Drama Prize film Eastern Shore, garnering “Best Original Score” at the 2007 Atlantic Film Festival with appearances on CBC Television’s Canadian Reflections and Movieola: The Short Film Channel. Eva has competed in the Toronto International Film Festival’s “Pitch This!” competition and in 2011 was selected for the “Women In The Director’s Chair” workshop at the Banff Centre with her latest feature film script, Top of the World. A board member of WIFT Atlantic, Eva is also an enthusiastic workshop instructor, mentoring emerging filmmakers through programs at Viewfinders Film Festival and AFCOOP.

Filmmaker in Residence Programming at AFCOOP:

During the residency period, AFCOOP and the artist will host several public sessions as part of the residency's commitment to sharing the creation of the film work with the public. These sessions will consist of artist talks, works-in-progress screenings, and open studio editing sessions. A gala screening of the work will be held once the residency has completed.

Unless otherwise noted, all programming takes place at AFCOOP, 5663 Cornwallis Street, Halifax.

The Naked Truth – 7 p.m. Thursday, December 1, 2011 –  A special presentation of Eva’s previous Super 8 films followed by an introduction to her latest work in progress, Pose. Eva will be joined by the subject of this new film, artist and raconteur, Dave Cullen, for a discussion about Zen and the art of nude modelling.

Exposed-An artist talk and raw work screening, 7 p.m. Thursday, February 16, 2012, at the Carbon Arc, 1588 Barrington Street, 3rd Floor –  In this session Eva will screen the raw footage from “POSE” and will share her process and techniques as well as invite feedback and discussion from the audience about the work. This is an exciting opportunity to observe a creative film in the making and to be a part of it’s progress.

Final presentation, Thursday, March 15, 2012 –  The final presentation will be a workshop in designing sound for experimental film. Participants can meet to learn and discuss sound design in theory and practice in relation to “POSE” and their own work.

Madden-Hagen will also hold ‘in-studio’ sessions in late February/March as she edits POSE at AFCOOP’s facilities.  Please telephone or email in advance for an appointment. Limited appointments available.

For more information, please contact Chris Spencer-Lowe, Production Coordinatorat the Atlantic Filmmakers Cooperative at 902-405-4479 or production@afcoop.ca.

Based in Halifax, AFCOOP is an accessible centre for the production and presentation of creative films in a collaborative, learning environment. The AFCOOP Filmmaker in Residence program is an HRM Residence Initiative hosted with the support of the Halifax Regional Municipality and the NFB-ONF.

Centre for Art Tapes

November 2011 - April 2012

Coinciding with the Electronics and New Media Lab, the Centre for Art Tapes is proud to present artist Michael McCormack as their Electronics Lab Resident. The Electronics Residency gives an opportunity for local artists to complete a project involving electronics. The program provides the resident with full access to equipment and facilities, mentorship with the Electronics Lab Technician, CFAT electronics workshops and an opportunity to exhibit at Nocturne 2012. During Michael's residency, he will explore the many uses of short-wave radio as a tool for both disseminating and monitoring social and political messages, and its role in the formation of (and impact on) social networking today.

The Centre for Art Tapes, existent since 1979, is a non-profit artist-run centre that facilitates and supports emerging, intermediate, and established artists working with electronic media such as video, audio and new media. It provides production facilities, annual programming, and training to a diverse membership and public, whose creative abilities contribute to social and artistic goals.

Michael McCormack will be keeping an artist blog throughout his residency.

More information about past Residency Initatives can be found here.