CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS:
Third International Miniature Print Exhibition
Organized by the Ottawa School of Art, George St. campus
Exhibition dates: April 19 to May 23, 2010
Ottawa School of Art Gallery
The deadline for submitting artwork is March 26, 2010.  All work must arrive no later than 5:00 p.m. local time (EST) in order to be considered for the exhibition.
Download the Contract and Submission Criteria [PDF]
www.artottawa.ca

SADE

Soldier Of Love
www.sade.com
Dist: Sony Music Canada

Since the release of their debut album, Sade has seen all five of their studio albums land in the top 10 on Billboard's top 200 album Chart, selling a total of more than 50 million albums worldwide to date. They've been nominated for American Music Awards, MTV Video Music Awards and have won three Grammy awards - first in 1986 for best new artist, then in 1994 for Best R&B performance By a Duo or Group for "No Ordinary Love", and again in 2002 for Best pop Vocal album with Lovers Rock. Soldier of Love is Sade's first official studio album since the multi-platinum release of Lovers Rock in 2000. The new was recorded in England and produced by the band and their longtime collaborator Mike Pela. The first single also entitled, "Soldier of Love" features a pulsating and anthemic drumbeat along with haunting vocals that Sade is known for.

MASSIVE ATTACK

Heligoland
www.massiveattack.com
Dist: EMI Music Canada

Atrium Gallery
Ben Franklin Place, 101 Centrepointe Drive, Ottawa, ON
Basil Pessin: The Computer Age in Art
An exhibition of framed prints on canvas demonstrates the true artistic nature of digital art and its enormous possibilities.
August 7 to 26, 2009
Monday to Thursday 8:30 am - 9 pm, Friday 8:30 am - 6 pm, Saturday 10 am - 5 pm, Open during scheduled performances at Centrepointe Theatre. Closed for statutory holidays.
Information: 613-580-2424 ext 42263

Centrepointe Theatre Gallery
Ben Franklin Place, 101 Centrepointe Drive, Ottawa, ON
The gallery will be closed due to construction in the theatre.
July 30 - August 29, 2009
Information: 613-580-2424 ext 42263

City Hall Art Gallery
110 Laurier Avenue West, Ottawa On
Andrew Morrow:A Way Out Of The Barn
"It wasn't until I saw Jan Matejko's King Sobieski at Vienna (1883), a massive war painting in the Vatican, that I decided to work in direct opposition to the more prosaic process of making that I was seeing in some contemporary art. I decided to produce paintings that were skilful, decadent and ostentatious. My idea was to revisit the exhilarating language of history painting. I wanted to question the possibility of a unified, decisive historical moment. I wanted to amplify its heroism, to expose the circular nature of history..." -Andrew Morrow, April 2009
June 12 - September 6, 2009
Open daily from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Information: 613-580-2424, ext. 28425

Foyer Gallery
Nepean Sportsplex, 1701 Woodroffe Avenue, Entrance #1, Ottawa, ON
Wednesday - Friday 3 - 9 p.m., Saturday and Sunday 11 am - 5 pm.
Information: 613-580-2424 ext 42226 and ext. 3

Karsh-Masson Gallery
136 St. Patrick Street, Ottawa ON
Amy Schissel - Prolix X and Steven Stewart - Missing Persons
Amy Schissel and Steven Stewart are part of the University of Ottawa's first Master of Fine Arts graduating class. This exhibition presents both artists' final thesis projects.
July 31 to September 20, 2009
Vernissage: Thursday, July 30, 5:30 to 7:30 p.m.
The gallery is open Wednesday to Sunday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Admission is free.
Information: 613-580-2424, ext. 14167

Nepean Fine Arts League
Nepean Creative Arts Centre, 35 Stafford Rd Unit 11, Bells Corners, ON
Elena Deroche
August 1 - 30, 2009
Monday to Friday 8:30 a.m.-9:30 p.m., Sunday 12pm - 4 pm
For further information, please contact the NFAL Gallery Coordinators Janice Saunders  (613-692-2256) or Sandra Roberge (613-721-2915).

Studio Gallery
Nepean Visual Arts Centre, Nepean Sportsplex, 1701 Woodroffe Avenue, Entrance #3, Ottawa, ON
OMMA: Ottawa Mixed Media Artists
June 23 - September 13, 2009
Monday to Friday 8:30 a.m.-9:30 p.m., Sunday 12pm - 4 pm
Information: 613-580-2424 ext 42263

Trinity Art Gallery, Salon A
Shenkman Arts Centre, 245 Centrum Boulevard, Ground Floor, Orléans
Roxanne Brousseau-Félio: Ms. Perceptions
With over 20 years in the media industry, Roxanne Brousseau-Félio introduces a collective of paintings: Ms. Perceptions. "Realities at face value, from snapshots to slapshots. How do we give reality to images depicted in media or of anyone - including ourselves? How does perception play a role in our collective and individual consciousness? Every picture is worth a thousand stories. Whose story?"
July 30 to August 25, 2009
Monday to Sunday 9:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m.
Information: 613-580-ARTS (2787)
shenkmanartscentre@ottawa.ca
ShenkmanArts.ca

Trinity Art Gallery, Salon B
Shenkman Arts Centre, 245 Centrum Boulevard, Ground Floor, Orléans
Valerie Syposz: Whine and Cheese
"The search for my own identity has led to the creation of a series of colourful prints. They depict obsessions such as food and patterns and an overall disgruntlement with one's environment. Serious subjects are treated with playfulness and humour as a recipe for survival."
July 30 to August 25, 2009
Monday to Sunday 9:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m.
Information: 613-580-ARTS (2787)
shenkmanartscentre@ottawa.ca
ShenkmanArts.ca

For more events in Ottawa-Gatineau, check out Spotlight: Your Guide to What's Happening. Visit www.ottawa.ca/spotlight today.

Are you interested in performing in, contributing to, or attending the following? If so, please email radicalvulvasottawa@gmail.com - we would love to have you!

"The Radical Vulvas" originated in 2007 in Halifax at the Dalhousie University Women's Centre. It is a community response to The Vagina Monologues: a play that started a necessary dialogue that should absolutely not end there, or be limited only to a certain kind of woman, or limit itself to women at all. The Radical Vulvas aims to be a multi-disciplinary art and discussion forum, enabling further discourse about women's experiences and gender issues.

As such, we are inviting anyone and everyone to express themselves through any medium (song, monologue/dialogue, poetry, visual art, dance, performance, etc) on the subject of women. As a "write your own" production, the Radical Vulvas is whatever the community makes of it. Since its original performance in Halifax, it has been performed in Victoria, BC, Montreal, and here in Ottawa last summer as well! We hope that this summer's incarnation will be an empowering evening of respectful communication and a celebration of women everywhere.

The event itself will take place on August 14th at 7:00 p.m. at Mercury Lounge in the Byward Market (56 Byward Market Square). If you would like to perform or participate, that's wonderful! We are accepting submissions by email until July 30th. Please send either a copy of your text or a sound recording to radicalvulvasottawa@gmail.com. If your piece does not include text or if the bulk of the piece is made up of some other element, a description of your piece and what you are communicating would be ideal. You can perform original work or someone else's work, or they can perform yours; whatever makes you feel comfortable. We would also like to include the visual arts at the Ottawa show and are looking to display paintings, photography, etc.

Performance submissions should be under ten minutes. If you are interested in performing but are unable to meet the July 30th deadline, please contact us anyway, as soon as possible, so we can do our best to include you! Questions or comments can also be directed to us via email.

Thank you!

Alison Hunt and Hannah Morrow

With only two classes remaining, my students are likely feeling the crunch as they try to stay on top of their blogs and assemble their final projects. Thankfully we move into a universal topic for the final week: sex. Or more specifically teen sexuality. It's been a pervasive theme throughout the course, although one we haven't touched on directly. Tonight we're focusing on male sexuality, tracing the recent changes in culture and advertising that has created the "new man" who gentle, emotional and has washboard abs. Instead of watching American Pie or some other randy sex comedy, we're focusing on Larry Clark's contribution to teen films and watching two queer shorts: one Dutch (To Play or To Die), one American independent (Bugcrush) - and nary a happy ending in sight. Ideally I want my students to make the connection between these films and themes/topics from other weeks, including instances of bullying, violence, cliques and teen delinquency. Come back Thursday as we turn our attention to female sexuality.

Sample blogs:

http://iwastherebel.wordpress.com/

http://michellesblogisamazingmostdef.blogspot.com/

http://editsuite99.wordpress.com/

http://chadjico.blogspot.com/

http://stam2-stam2.blogspot.com/

- Posted by Joe

Every Wednesday (Cult)ure shares with you one of the internet's best webcomics.

Basic Instructions is comedian Scott Meyer's "all purpose guide to a life well-lived". Want to know How to Recover from the Failure of Your Broken Phone or How to Tell if Someone is Dangerously Crazy or How to Put Up with some Idiot Telling You a Story He Clearly Just Made Up? Well, in just four simple panels, Basic Instructions is there to help you out.

As the class officially tips over the halfway mark, we move into darker subject matter. Last week we screened Battle Royale, the Japanese dystopian near-future film about school kids forced by adults to kill each other and tonight we're watching Elephant, part 2 of Gus Van Sant's 'Death' trilogy (the others are Gerry and Last Days). No students signed up to provide context for the film, which prompted me to conduct my own research on the film.

For those who have seen it, the film is Van Sant's 'take' on the 1999 Columbine Massacre, in which two students killed 13 classmates and a teacher before committing suicide. The Massacre is the fourth largest school shooting in history, but received unprecedented media coverage on news sites such as Fox News and CNN, including graphic footage from security tapes as well as images such as bloodied students trying to escape the library. The film itself is interesting for its position on the cause of the shootings; that is, it doesn't pretend to understand the factors that drove the two boys to kill, although they do play videogames and watch violent movies (both were factors blamed in real life). Researching school shootings was surprisingly inconclusive: academics seem generally divided between the effects of media and videogame violence. Some suggest that these media, paired with violent or satanic music, prompt responses in the brain associated with emotional responses (anger, loss of control). Others suggest that these studies are inconclusive or suggest that the correlations discovered should not imply causation. It's an interesting debate, one that I think I'll put to the students.

We'll turn our attention to censorship and the role of the bard in these kinds of violent tales on Thursday when we screen Tim Blake Nelson's long delayed adaptation, O.

Here are what I consider the best blogs to date (don't tell the students!):
http://mattrodrigues.wordpress.com
http://teenagekicksblog.blogspot.com/
http://sosayeththewatcher.wordpress.com/
http://iwastherebel.wordpress.com
http://editsuite99.wordpress.com/

We’ve all done this at one point or another…bought under ripe and/or fresh fruit in anticipation of consuming it, only to find that time passed by rather quickly and the fruit is now well beyond ripe and not close to being palatable without some divine intervention. Take, for example, the common everyday banana that often ends up being black. Don’t toss it out! Take heart, not all is lost yet!

 If left in a brown paper bag, a banana ripens quickly. So quickly in fact, that the banana is also used to speed up the ripening process of other fruit by simply adding the unripe fruit in the same paper bag as the banana. That’s fine and dandy, but what about over ripe or black bananas and pray tell why save them, you ask? Food waste accounts for a sizable portion of material sent to the landfill. The following are a few statistics from the New York Times.

In 1997, in a rare study on food waste in the United States (U.S.), the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) estimated that in 1995, 96.4 billion pounds of the 356 billion pounds of edible food in the U.S. was never eaten. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimated that Americans generate roughly 30 million tonnes of food waste each year, which is about 12% of the total waste stream, with all (minus about 2%) of that food waste ending up in landfills. In the United Kingdom (UK), a study revealed that Brits toss away a third (about 6 million tonnes) of the food they purchase (about CDN$15.5 billion), and 30% of the food included uneaten and unopened food. In Canada, it is estimated that Canadians throw out at least 7 to 14 million tonnes of food (at least CDN$3 to 5 billion per year). The problem, however, is not unique to just these countries.

The last of our eco-symbols for this month is the Leaping Bunny logo, a symbol that was given by the Coalition for Consumer Information on Cosmetics (CCIC) to indicate that cosmetic, personal care, and household products were not tested on animals or are "cruelty-free."

Every year, the testing of cosmetics and other personal care and household products, "brings intense pain, suffering, and death to millions of animals globally." The CCIC, an international federation of animal protection organizations, banded together in 1996 to clear up the ambiguities, and loopholes associated with the many "cruelty-free" designations and to help solve the problem of misleading animal testing claims that were confusing consumers by forming the internationally recognized Corporate Standard of Compassion of Animals.

Considered to be the only international symbol that represents the toughest non-animal testing standard, the regulated Leaping Bunny logo guarantees that the finished product, as well as all of the product's ingredients or formulations  are "cruelty-free." Also that the product's suppliers and manufacturers did not conduct or commission animal testing at any stage of the product's development. Each company that signs on must agree to be independently audited in order to attest to the validity of its claim of "no animal testing," as per the standard. The CCIC warns consumers of impostors who have designed their own "bunny" labels which abide by unverifiable definitions and standards.

Founded in 1988 by Environment Canada, the Environmental Choice or EcoLogo ^M Program is a voluntary eco-labeling program designed to support a continuing effort to improve and/or maintain environmental quality by reducing energy and materials consumption and by minimizing the impacts of pollution generated by the production, use and disposal of goods and services available to Canadians.  The Program introduces new certification criteria for over 300 categories of products to help consumers identify services/products which are less harmful to the environment.  The "Environmental Choice" Eco-Logo symbol of certification is a green colored maple leaf intertwined within three doves.  

Now recognized world-wide, the EcoLogo ^M Program is a Type I eco-label, as defined by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO).  This means that the Program compares products/services with others in the same category, develops rigorous and scientifically relevant criteria that reflect the entire lifecycle of the product, and awards the EcoLogo to those products that are verified by an independent third party as complying with the criteria.  The EcoLogo ^M Program is one of two such programs in North America that has been successfully audited by the Global EcoLabelling Network (GEN) as meeting ISO 14024 standards for eco-labelling.  By certifying environmental leaders in over 120 product categories, EcoLogo helps consumers find and trust the world's most sustainable products.

 

The Closed-Bottle-Test (CBT) or the Organisation for the Economic Cooperation and Development's (OECD) 301 D  symbol guarantees that at least 60% of the product is biodegradable within 28 days according to the OECD standards.

Due to the large number of chemicals used in society, an approach that keeps the cost of testing to a minimum, while providing regulators with adequate knowledge for decision making and environmental protection, resulted in the issuance of the Test Guidelines for Degradation and Accumulation Testing in December 1979 by the OECD.  You can read more on the OECD here:  http://www.oecd.org/home/

For the analytical reader: the system for testing for biodegradability allows for the preliminary screening of chemicals using simple tests, and allows for the identification of those chemicals for which more detailed and costly studies are needed.  The system consists of three screening tiers:  ready biodegradability, inherent biodegradability, and simulation tests.  Tests may be subdivided according to the environment they are designed to simulate: a) aerobic, b) anaerobic, c) river, d) lake, e) estuary, f) sea, and g) soil.  For the 301 D test, a predetermined amount of the compound is dissolved in a mineral nutrient solution, and kept in closed bottles, without any stirring, in the dark, at a constant temperature.  The degradation is followed by oxygen analyses over a 28-day period.  In general, degradation of organic chemicals in seawater is found to be slower than that in freshwater, activated sludge, and sewage effluent.

Hi (Cult)ure readers. Welcome to what will (hopefully) be a regular blog feature: Follow the Bouncing Ball - aka read along with me for the next two months as I attempt to navigate the shark infested waters of a return to high school.

No, I'm not auditioning for Never Been Kissed 2: Drew Barrymore Boogaloo. I was recently granted my third teaching assignment as a contract instructor at Carleton University and I'm teaching on Teen Films. I previoulsy taught courses on Slasher Films and Cult Works, so this time around I'm going for something a little more female friendly.

Each time I teach, I like to change up the way I run the class. Last summer I asked students to develop their own course syllabus (with both positive and negative results), so I decided to try something new this year. I've asked students to blog about the class, the readings, and their own experiences, so, in the weeks to come, keep an eye out for featured blogs by students. It should be an interesting, immersive experiment for everyone. 

 In honour of this month's 'symbols' theme, each weekly green tip in May will concentrate on an environmental symbol.  This week, we will take a closer look at the universal recycling symbol, the enclosed Möbius loop.

The internationally-recognized symbol is used to designate recyclable materials.  It is composed of three chasing arrows that form a Möbius strip or unending loop.  In Canada, the Möbius loop within a dark circle, or "with recycled content" as it is also referred to, guarantees that the product is made from recycled materials.  The percentage of recycled fibers used is at times indicated in the centre of the logo.  If seen on packaging, this symbol means that the packaging contains recycled content.

So what is recycling?  At its simplest, recycling is a term that describes the process of converting "waste" into resources that can be made into new products (http://www.ec.gc.ca/envirozine/english/issues/62/any_questions_e.cfm).  For a recycling program to be successful there must be both a supply of recyclable materials and a demand for recycled products.  By buying recycled, you are not only reducing the amount of waste sent to landfills but it is also a way to save energy and non-renewable resources...and saving energy is essential in tackling climate change!!!  

Take the aluminum can, for example.  Aluminum is the most valuable recyclable material.  When re-melted, aluminum cans could be used in any product made from aluminum.  Making aluminum cans from recycled materials uses 95% less energy than producing them from scratch (http://cans.planetark.org/) and more than 50% (http://www.oberlin.edu/recycle/facts.html) of a new aluminum can is made from recycled aluminum.

Author, poet, television producer, journalist, columnist and intellectual activist are titles that could describe George Jonas' prolific body of work.  Digital television network ichannel puts Jonas in front of a camera to personally describe his remarkable life and career "In His Own Words".

From his childhood in Hungary, his immigration to Canada, to his long and productive award-winning career, the documentary follows Jonas' personal narrative with authentically descriptive photos and footage.  His monologue is peppered with engaging anecdotes and witty philosophical repartee.

For example, on his early years, "One of the advantages that I had was not having much of a formal education.  I had the opportunity to look into things for myself."

His perspective on writing, "Unless writing is its own reward for you, you shouldn't bother.  Writing is no fun, but I enjoy having written."

On the holocaust, "It is the human race that is genocidal, not the Germans.  In one vital sense, we are all Jews, and we are all Germans, potentially."

The assessment he gives of the Middle East, "I don't foresee a solution to the Middle East problem, because I don't believe the Jews will give up the idea of having a state of their own, and I don't believe the Arabs and Muslims will acquiesce in the idea of having the state in the Middle East."

Jonas was working for Radio Budapest when the Hungarian Revolution began in 1956.  He joined thousands of other Hungarian refugees on their exodus to Austria, where he admits that he approached Canadian Immigration because there was no one waiting in line, as opposed to the American Consulate where people were lined up for ten blocks.

Upon moving to Canada, he had to learn English very quickly before getting a job at the CBC as a script editor, and eventually a producer.  Since then, he has written 15 books, including bestsellers.  He may be best known for writing, producing and/or directing over 200 dramas and documentaries for the CBC, including the Gemini Award winning "The Scales of Justice".  His book "Vengeance" was adapted to the big screen as "Sword of Gideon" and later by Steven Spielberg for the film "Munich".
Summing up his life and career, Jonas says, "I wanted to be a writer, pure and simple."

"George Jonas: In His Own Words" airs Saturday, May 23rd at 8pm and 11pm ET and PT.  ichannel is available by subscription through local television providers across Canada; the network is owned and operated by Stornoway Communications

2009 Canada Dance Festival - Dancing Through Cultures 

A world-class presentation of diverse Canadian contemporary dance

June 26 - 27, 2009 at the National Arts Centre

Weeds!  The sheer mention of this word conjures up images of terror for any gardener or lawn owner.  Considered a nuisance plant and even noxious, not all weeds have the same ability to damage crops and horticultural plants or cause harm to animals.  Actually, not all weeds look like weeds.  If left unchecked, however, they often dominate the environment where crop plants are to be grown or cause harm to livestock; growing in areas where there are few natural controls to limit their population or their spreading. 

One of the best ways to stop those dreaded plants it is to maintain a thick, healthy lawn with a dense growth of grass.  The grass acts to shade the soil and hold water better, making it tougher for weeds to sprout and enabling your lawn to better withstand heat and dryness.  According to Canadian Mortgage Housing Corporation, you should mow your grass to a height of 6 to 8 cm (2.5 to 3 inches) so that the roots are shaded and better able to hold water.  Grass that is too short reduces the vigor of your lawn and provides weeds with a chance to sprout.  Other than digging out weeds, mulches, specifically organic mulches, both conserve moisture and suppress the growth of weeds.   The finely chopped grass clippings on the lawn should be left to mulch to return nitrogen to the lawn, and to reduce moisture loss.  Other mulches include shredded wood products, bark, pine needles and various other organic materials.  Remember to thickly apply the mulch to keep sunlight from reaching the soil and prevent weeds from sprouting.

In the war on weeds, your best arsenal is to stay ahead of the invaders by taking preventive steps, like mulching, and regularly checking for weeds.

On Saturday, the Dusty Owl publishing house hosted a reading of four Aboriginal poets: Mosha Folger and Dorothee Komangapik, both Inuit; Lisa Abel, a young poet from the M'Chigeeng Reserve on Manitoulin Island, now studying journalism at Carleton; and Rob Friday, a First Nations artist and writer.

There was a wide range in the ages and backgrounds of the poets, and in their styles. Folger, young and trim, with a slightly nervous manner,  read mainly short poems that he mostly wrote as spoken word pieces. (His "Old Indifferences," about coming across destitute Inuit on Rideau Street in Ottawa, was particularly affecting.)

Komangapik, on the other hand - originally from Germany, but who married an Inuit and has been part of the Inuit community for decades - read longer narrative poems. She deftly and subtly teased out larger truths about community and tradition from examinations of very specific objects and events: an old comb found on the ground, a particularly harsh few weeks spent at her family's summer camp.

It has not been widely reported that the Canadian Museum of Contemporary Photography (CMCP) is to be permanently closed as a stand-alone institution. Its unique collection and program of exhibitions will be absorbed by the National Gallery of Canada and the current site is to be taken over for parliamentary committee rooms.

If you wish to register your objection, you can sign an online petition at: http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/CMCP/

A website has been set up to provide some background information about the CMCP: http://www.savecmcp.ca/. The site features links to a number of recent newspaper articles about the closure of the CMCP.

(Cult)ure is at the Ottawa International Writers Festival, at the St. Brigid's Centre for the Arts and Humanities, in the Byward Market, from April 22nd to May 2nd.

On Friday night, Michael Ignatieff discussed his new book, "True Patriot Love," with Adrian Harewood of CBC Radio. It was a great opportunity to learn more about a man who may one day become Prime Minister of our country.

Ignatieff was at pains to point out, though, that he had not written a political manifesto, nor a response to criticisms from political opponents - he had simply written a book, and had in fact started to think about it and write it while on a cross-country trip with his wife in 2000, long before he became involved in politics. Nevertheless, it was difficult to separate the discussion of his literary product with his current "day job," as Harewood put it, as the Leader of Canada's Official Opposition.

(Cult)ure is at the Ottawa International Writers Festival, at the St. Brigid's Centre for the Arts and Humanities, in the Byward Market, from April 22nd to May 2nd.

On Thursday, April 23, Thomas Homer-Dixon, the academic and bestselling author, and journalist William Marsden discussed climate change. The discussion was framed around the book Homer-Dixon recently edited, called "Carbon Shift," about the twin problems of climate change and peak oil. Marsden contributed an essay to the book, about the environmental catastrophe that is the Alberta tar sands industry, which was also the topic of his own book, "Stupid to the Last Drop."

The basic premise of the talk was a little depressing: that it's already to late to prevent climate change. There are already parts of the planet that are dealing with dangerously heightened water levels, melting ice, and increased or fluctuating temperatures. The discussions we have now can only be about mitigation and adaptation to these changes.