The Highwayman

On February 16, I was at The Isabel Bader Centre for the Performing Arts performing a shadow puppet play I created to accompany Dean Burry’s gorgeous, haunting composition, The Highwayman. The Highwayman featured the incomparable mezzo-soprano Kristina Szabó. It was a wonderful evening. Students Zoe Sulisz and Sarah Wolstenholme performed with me, and they had worked on the project in the months leading up to the performance. My daughter Simone Scala-Conley stepped in to help with overhead projections when we decided to add text and therefore needed another person.

Mask making in Haliburton

This was possibly the busiest summer of my life, but good busy. I love building and teaching and talking about art - all the things I managed to spend almost every moment of my summer doing. Being that busy meant that I was somewhat rushed with the paperwork side of my job, which includes updating my website. It’s in need of a major overhaul (with many more photos), but in the meantime, I’ll update the news page.

First up this summer, I spent a week teaching in Haliburton at the Haliburton School of Art & Design. My students were fantastic, the setting beautiful, my classroom perfect, and we made masks! My 13-year-old came with me and took an excellent course down the hall with artist Rebecca Reynolds. My daughter and I stayed in the sweetest little cabin surrounded by deer-filled woods, and we capped off our week with a hike around the sculpture garden. I am already excited about teaching at HSAD next summer. And I’m thinking that maybe I’ll take a class too.

Meet the River 2022

Had great fun making these cardboard masks for Meet the River 2022, a Belle Park Project arts, community and environment-focused event. “Look into the river, and through time, and see fish…”

Decorate your own fish mask on Saturday September 3, 2pm to - 4:30pm, at the “fish sign” at the South end of Douglas Fluhrer Park. The event is free and open to all ages; no registration required. Please bring a folding chair or a blanket. Rain date: September 10, 2022, from 2pm to 4:30pm @belleparkproject

https://facebook.com/events/s/meet-the-river-2022/2188304724685238/

#meettheriver #belleparkproject #cardboardmasks #kingstonontario #biodiversity #fishmasks

To learn more about Swimming Upstream:
https://belleparkproject.com/projects/swimmingupstream

Summer Mask and Puppet Workshops at the Haliburton School of Art & Design

I’m looking forward to teaching mask making and puppet design at the Haiburton School of Art & Design this August. Spending time in pretty cottage country while designing and building with groups of creative people sounds like a perfect way to spend a couple of weeks.

Mask Making runs from August 1-5. https://flemingcollege.ca/continuing-education/courses/mask-making

Puppet Design & Construction runs August 8-12.
https://flemingcollege.ca/continuing-education/courses/puppet-design-construction

HSAD offers lots of great courses throughout the year. Check out their full catalogue: https://flemingcollege.ca/school/haliburton-school-of-art-and-design

BU's Women & Masks Conference April 23, 24, 30

On April 23, I’ll be presenting my artist talk, “Finding form in mask making” at Boston University’s online Women & Masks conference. I’m looking forward to the weekend and checking out all of the presentations and workshops. https://sites.bu.edu/womenandmasks/events/schedule-for-april-weekend/

Talking Masks & Puppets on the Cookie Jar on CICK

This spring, I had a great time chatting with Christine Bruce on her podcast, The Cookie Jar. We talked and masks, puppets, youth mental health, Edward Gorey, Tim Burton and lots of other stuff. Below is a clip from our interview that Christine posted on Facebook. The full episode is HERE. Christine show delves into many important social topics including logging, basic income, green burials, and animal welfare. Links to her shows are HERE.

SPAF Next Door: Micro-Macro

The Skeleton Park Arts Festival (SPAF) in Kingston, Ontario has once again turned the North Side of Kingston into a big, glorious, walkable art gallery. In 2020, when the pandemic forced arts festivals to shut down or to reimagine their focus, SPAF came up with the idea of having a series of outdoor arts installations, which were scattered outdoors throughout Kingston’s Skeleton Park area. In its second year, SPAF Next Door is brilliantly curated by Nicole Daniels and it “showcases the work of twenty-six artists based in Katarokwi/Kingston, taking shape in the form of sixteen eclectic installations, from painting and sculpture to performance art and augmented reality.” I’m delighted to have my work included. My piece, Micro-Macro, is installed at Central Public School on Sydenham Street. The purpose of my piece is to explore elements of the ecosystem of a tree in an Eastern Ontario forest, with a focus is on the less popular and understood categories that make up our natural environment.

Photos by Chris Miner.

AFLOAT: Avian Articulation

This spring, artist Todd Minicola and I made a big blue heron puppet for the Calliope Collective’s HYDRA :: A Story on Water. In early June, we had a test run. Our piece, Avian Articulation, will be further developed, but we’re pretty happy with what we’ve built so far. Thanks to Calliope Collective for once again organizing a spectacular event. Thanks to Randy deKliene Stimpson for the photos.

Click HERE for a video of this year’s test run. The film was made by Josh Lyon.