Sixty Minutes of Solitude: A Review of The Builders
An accumulation and performance built by unlikely architects, created and directed by Megan Stewart
written by Dillon Ramsey photos by Paula Viitanen & Ash Tanasiychuk Megan Stewart has always had an acute fascination with folk art, and her performances often take cues from this movement, possessing a vibrant, handcrafted aesthetic that is as fabulous as it is fantastic, in the original senses of those words – that is to […]
Exploring the Microcosmos: Megan Stewart’s The Builders
8pm September 10-12, SFU Woodwards at Goldcorp Centre for the Arts
Dillon Ramsey words Paula Viitanen photos Anyone who has had the privilege of experiencing Megan Stewart’s theatre & projects will no doubt remember the mesmeric environments that define each performance: wondrous and whimsical, her sets seem to enclose the audience in dreamworlds made of mixed and repurposed materials, whose visual and spatial transformations effect an […]
Words Into Actions
Five performances at the Firehall Spring Arts Festival
Written by Dillon Ramsey Every year, the BC Buds Spring Arts Festival at the Firehall Arts Centre showcases some of Vancouver’s best emerging and established talent in the fine and performing arts. For an entire weekend, dozens of acts happen concurrently and consecutively each day—most are between ten minutes and half an hour in length—giving audiences an […]
The Next Great Adventure
Wil Aballe Art Projects debuts its new location
Written by Dillon Ramsey From the corner of Frances Street, it’s easy to see where Clark Drive turns into a maze of brick and concrete, and terminates in the industrial warehouses and freight lines of Port Metro Vancouver. It might seem strange that an elegant new art gallery would be nearby – except that this […]
National Stolen Treasures
Dylan Robinson discusses art music's indigenous inclusions
Written by Dillon Ramsey Photography by Ash Tanasiychuk Go into any of Canada’s “great” museums and you will more than likely come face to face with collections of First Nations artefacts acquired by means that could be called questionable at best. Indeed, colonial Canada has long made a point of stockpiling the ceremonials of its […]
Dynamo Duos
Wrong Wave 2014 concludes at SFU's World Art Centre
Written by Dillon Ramsey Photography by Sheng Ho Wrong Wave 2014 is wrapping up tonight at the Djavad Mowafaghian World Art Centre in SFU Woodward’s. This venue is very different from the first two instalments of the festival, which were featured at the Fox Cabaret on October 16 and Western Front on October 17. Perhaps […]
The Colour of Silence
"Solitudes" at Petley Jones Gallery
Written by Dillon Ramsey All images courtesy the artist South Granville is always surging with a tide of shoppers. The sidewalk at Broadway is practically spilling over with passersby as I hurry north toward the Granville Street Bridge, and then, at West Sixth Avenue, I turn left. Suddenly I find myself steeped in a serene […]
In The Loop: Musician Chersea Talks LAUNCH Festival
Written by Dillon Ramsey Edited by Christopher Millin Photos of Chersea’s 2013 LAUNCH Fest performance by Ash Tanasiychuk Anyone who hasn’t watched a “loop artist” at work is missing out. “Looping is basically a form of live DJing,” summarises local singer-songwriter Chersea, whose unique technique of manipulating live music through electronic equipment won her the […]
Perpetual Motion: Dance Artist Meredith Kalaman Talks LAUNCH Festival
Written by Dillon Ramsey Edited by Christopher Millin For Meredith Kalaman, it seems that inertia doesn’t exist: from her full schedule, to her physically-demanding practice, to her constant creative process, the Vancouver-based performance artist is always on the move. After all, she has been honing her dance talents since she was three, has studied many […]