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Music

Anders: platinum plaque and sold-out shows

The Concordian sits down with Toronto R&B artist Anders after his Osheaga performance to talk about his first platinum record, sold-out shows and the powerful team behind him

Anders is nowhere to be found. His team greeted me and sat me down on a park bench in Osheaga’s “Artist World” where we’re supposed to meet for  our interview, but the man of the hour isn’t in my line of sight. There’s talk that he’s eyeing down some sunglasses at a nearby pop-up shop, or that he may be refuelling after an exhausting hour of work. After all, performing in front of a crowd of hundreds in the blistering heat of the summer isn’t always easy.

Mere minutes later, Anders joins our table and introduces himself. Whatever he was off doing, he made sure to make himself comfortable after his performance, grabbing a glass of wine and opting out of his “Off-White” Jordan 1s for red Palm Angels sliders that matched his t-shirt. Anders is an extrovert – made most evident by his bubbly personality and genuine desire to want to speak about his craft. At just 24-years old, the Toronto R&B singer has a lot to be proud of.

Anders has most recently achieved his first platinum record as a for his collaborative track with Canadian DJ duo Loud Luxury’s Love No More. He compared the timing of the release of this song to the story of David and Goliath, since it came out following the worldwide success of Loud Luxury’s multi-platinum single, Body – a truly hard song to follow.

“Me and LUCA, who is kind of my right-hand guy, we created the song one late night in a studio called DAIS back in Toronto and it was originally called: I Don’t Want Your Love,” said Anders. “But I linked up with Loud Luxury, who were like ‘Yo, we wanna work, we wanna do some shit.’ At this time they had just put out their hit song, Body, and it hadn’t  blown up yet. It was just sort of starting to– I remember at the time it was like two million plays and they wanted to do some shit so I was like, ‘Yo, I got this one I already recorded if you guys want to do something to it.’ I sent them the vocals, and then they bounced me back Love No More saying ‘We’re gonna roll it out, we’re gonna go with it.’”

The success of Love No More wasn’t Anders’ first prominent feature in the music industry. Following the release of the artist’s second EP, Twos, Anders sold out his debut performance at the Phoenix venue in Toronto that holds over 1000 people. This accolade was documented in detail with the release of The Road to Phoenix, a YouTube documentary curated by NST – the team, friends and label that Anders wholeheartedly stands by.

Anders and interviewer Jacob Carey discuss music and Toronto’s influence at Osheaga’s “Artist World” – Photo by Jackson Roy

“Me and my two team members, Derek [Hui] and Will [Nguyen], when we started coming in the scene and making music, we wanted something that was more than just being an artist,” Anders said. “We kind of wanted a brand to go with it as well. So we created NST. In the beginning, we were just selling merch and hats, but eventually, we want to do music, labels, you know. Film, fashion – everything. That’s just a brand we created to kind of rally behind and it’s also something good for, you know, if ever I want to take some time to chill, we still have NST. It’s not like we’d have nothing to do.”

Anders’ relationship with NST is a two-way street, with both sides often consulting one another before making their next moves. Anders’ relationship with music, which dates back to his early childhood when he was forced into piano lessons and band practice, allows him to play a hands-on role in his songs’ productions. While he takes care of the musical aspect of NST, his teammates help boost the brand and market the products.

“In the beginning, me, Derek, Will – we were just independent artists with no connections to labels, wondering, ‘Ok, how do we market? How do we push the music?’” said Anders. “Will and Derek came from a background of producing events, so we said ‘Let’s do what we’re good at. Let’s put events out.’ So we did a little run of going from city to city to do these listening parties, because that’s kinda what we knew. We didn’t know that other shit. I don’t know how to get on a playlist.”

While Anders relied on real-life networking from city to city to build a fan base, the artist is aware of the role that his own city played in his success. Toronto is home to countless of international superstars, namely Drake and The Weeknd– two of Anders’ inspirations and influences. Without these catalysts, Anders thinks that musicians wishing to make it in Toronto would have a harder time doing so.

“It’s tough cause you know, even Drake, if it wasn’t for Drake I wouldn’t make music,” said Anders. “When you have somebody around you to look up to and say ‘Oh, they did it. Why can’t we do it?’ Right? But if you’re in the middle of fucking nowhere, where nobody made it, you kind of have to lead by example… There’s so much inspiration but if there’s nobody around you to see that, you kinda gotta draw from other places and pave that path on your own. It’s definitely a blessing to have an example.”

Similar to his idols, Anders does not want to box himself in as just an R&B artist, or just a rapper, but a multi-faceted artist with a lot to show for. In the short time that he’s been in the scene, Anders is proving just how far a strong network, devoted fan base, and loyal team can take you.

Categories
Music

Christian French brings his first headlining tour to Le Ministère

Christian French is gearing up to hit the stage at Le Ministère on Sept. 11. Photos by Angela Kritikos

22-year-old Indiana singer-songwriter Christian French brings his alt-pop sound to Montreal 

Often times, an artist’s biggest dream is to travel around to different cities as the main act on a tour. For Indiana-born singer-songwriter Christian French, that dream is about to become a reality.

For the first time ever, the 22-year-old is going to be headlining his very own tour. After performing in various opening-slot shows on Quinn XCII and Chelsea Cutler’s latest tours, French’s “Bright Side of the Moon” tour is nearing its debut  on Sept. 4, in Michigan.

Set to hit Montreal’s Le Ministère on Sept.11, French couldn’t help but reminisce on some of the earlier parts of the journey that many often overlook when discussing artists and their success. For him, his latest tour is the product of all of the work that came before this, whether it be sleepless nights or awkward shows in front of not-so-stellar crowds.

Speaking with The Concordian, French credits his family with being the origin of much of his musical interest. His family always had music playing – a common thread amongst talented musicians and performers. His sister was a member of a successful band throughout his high school years, another thing he said boosted his understanding of the music industry and how things work in the competitive and sometimes inconsistent profession of a musician. Artists like John Mayer and Eric Clapton also had a heavy influence on him, as he admired their songwriting abilities and deep connection to their music.

He began dabbling in singing even before entering high school, posting acoustic covers of some of his favourite songs to SoundCloud, and teaching himself how to play the piano, his passion truly blossomed at Indiana University, where he studied pre-med, played on the school’s hockey team, and was a member of a fraternity.

“It was really difficult to manage at first, but like with anything, you get into a sort of routine that kind of normalizes everything,” said French. “I tried to keep a healthy balance and not burn out on any of the three, and I think that really helped me. Of course, there were a lot of nights where I didn’t sleep much, but I just knew what was important and what I had to get done every day to continue to elevate.”

Having that many responsibilities in university is demanding, to say the least. French continued to hone his musical skills, with the crucial support of a close group of friends. With their unwavering support from the start, he was able to push through the barrier of uncertainty and shyness that holds many talented musicians back from reaching that next level– one that gets them their very own cross-country tour.

“I’ve had a close group of friends that have been supporting me since I started making covers,” he said. “They didn’t know what to make of it at first, but after they saw me continue to pursue it, they knew how much I cared about it and were behind me. I was in a fraternity, and everyone in the fraternity supported my music, showing their friends across the country, and it allowed for a country-wide awareness a lot faster than it would have been if I wasn’t in college with supportive friends.”

French continued to balance a heavily-filled platter of responsibilities throughout university. Meanwhile, he was continuously uploading music to SoundCloud and was performing at small local venues. Then, he finally got his first big break. 22-year-old American singer and multi-instrumentalist Chelsea Cutler invited him on tour; this was proof that his hard work and perseverance had paid off.

As university students, many of us know what it feels like to have a lot of things to worry about on a day-to-day basis, whether it’s related to school, loved ones, hobbies, or passions. When asked if he had any advice to students going through similarly-demanding situations, French said one thing:

“Do not be scared to take a leap and follow a passion. It’s important to have a plan and to know what you’re going to do, but nothing is going to happen unless you take action. There is no better time to start than now.”

You can catch Christian French’s performance at Le Ministère on his BSOTM tour, on Wednesday, Sept. 11 at 10 p.m.

Tickets available online here:

https://fanlink.to/CFMontrealPresale

Following the tide of artistic creation

Lin has been teaching at Concordia since she was a graduate student in 2001. Photo by Gabe Chevalier.

Part-time studio arts instructor Jenny Lin on how her practice continues to evolve

“I’ve been working in a really introspective way,” Jenny Lin said of her recent artistic endeavours. The visual artist and part-time Concordia professor has found herself in what seems to be a creative ebb—drawing back from her usual schedule to make room for new projects and pursuits.

One glance at Lin’s resume will reveal how busy she’s been over the past couple of decades, with most of her artistic work taking place during her teaching career at Concordia. “I feel like I can be a better teacher when I’m actually making work,” she said. A 2018 recipient of the Fine Arts Distinguished Teaching Award, Lin is soft spoken yet firmly present.

Lin began teaching at the university during her master’s degree in print media in 2001. She taught a screenprinting course in her third year, but upon graduating, found herself unsure about a career as a teacher. Instead, Lin worked in the studio arts office for a few years before Tony Patricio, the office administrator, convinced her to apply for a teaching position. She got her first teaching job in 2004 and has been an instructor at Concordia ever since.

“It made me a bit more confident and sure that I wanted to do this,” Lin said about landing her first gig. What started as a few occasional classes developed into a steady schedule, and by 2007, Lin had solidified her place at the university.

Lin’s screenprinted zine, avoid taking too personally or literally, 2018. Photo courtesy of the artist.

Lin said her job as a professor influences her creative career, and vice versa. “It’s inspiring to be around people making art and [to] get to talk about what they’re doing, and help guide them through the process,” she said. “The teaching really inspires me to keep making work.” Keeping an open creative channel between work and play is essential for both aspects of her practice to succeed, Lin said. “[I’m] lucky to be able to work in the studio art [department]. Both things feed each other.”

It’s fair to say that she’s found the balance, because Lin’s artistic biography is staggering. Since her time as an undergraduate student at the University of Calgary, Lin has racked up over 150 credits in group and solo exhibitions, video screenings, residencies, artists’ book collections and workshops. But her list of accomplishments isn’t what Lin considers to be most important—it’s the people she’s been able to work with, and certain projects that have her particularly inspired.

Although Lin completed her master’s degree in print media, she also took video courses while studying at Concordia. At the time, Lin was interested in creating art through non-physical means. Though she has shifted gears a little since her graduate work, this is a sentiment the artist continues to investigate. “I feel interested in [the] different ways that people can be reached by an artwork,” she said. “It’s interesting that someone could see something on the web, in their house, or on a random computer, and enter into this world—like a story—that they get immersed in.”

In her recent projects, Lin has been more focused on print media and zine work. These works can be immersive in their own way, she explained. In addition to being a tangible medium that the viewer can interact with, “artists’ books can fit in many spaces,” she said. Opposed to more traditional work that only appears in a gallery, for example, zines and artists’ books facilitate a more intimate relationship between work and viewer, Lin said.

The artist said she feels more distant from the virtual world now than she did while creating video and digital work. “The way that I was presenting it, or the way that people were accessing it felt a little unsatisfying,” she explained. Lin refocused her practice, leading her to build quite an extensive collection of artists’ books, host bookmaking and zinemaking workshops, and participate in zine fairs across the country with her partner Eloisa Aquino, who is also an artist. Lin and Aquino publish some of their collaborative work under the name B&D Press.

The artist’s 2016 poster/zine titled That which separates you and I or here and there. Photo courtesy of the artist.

As for why she’s drawn to bookmaking and published work specifically, Lin said “[zinemaking] is a way to create a space for more marginalized voices, and also to create a different space where it’s about encountering different people.” She has worked with a variety of groups in efforts to showcase art from marginalized groups, such as the Qouleur collective, which focuses on art and activism of people of colour within the LGBTTQ+ community. According to its Twitter page, Qouleur also hosts a “festival celebrating racialized queer/trans* identities and experience.” Lin said she connected with many people, and was inspired by the time she spent working with Qouleur.

In 2015, Lin helped create the Queer Print Club at Concordia. The artist said she “felt there was a need to bring something more collective and more political into the studios, [and] it seemed like the perfect thing to bridge the community, and the art studios, and teaching in this institution.” According to Lin’s website, the club encourages undergraduate students to “[create] projects that explore the collaborative, community-based and democratic aspects of print.”

Although some may see print media and zine work as disposable, Lin believes in its ability to connect with and create space for those not reflected in the mainstream art scene. In mainstream publishing, for example, “there’s way more distance between the artist and the audience,” Lin said. She also finds smaller, physical artworks refreshing in an age of social media and technological inundation. “A physical object touches and impacts a person differently, and stays with them in a way that’s different than looking at something online and scrolling through or clicking through,” she said.

“[Zine work] is a way to create a space for more marginalized voices, and also to create a different space where it’s about encountering different people,” said Lin. Photo by Gabe Chevalier.
This is not to say that Lin considers virtual or computer-generated art forms to be inferior to her recent endeavours in print media. The artist referenced Montreal-based publishing company and studio Anteism as a current example of how to bridge the gap between virtual experience and physical work. According to Lin, Anteism experiments with artificial intelligence (AI) and augmented reality (AR) in tandem with publishing. Lin is particularly inspired by the work the studio does with artists’ books. Although she has worked in the fields of AR and print media throughout her creative career, Lin admitted, “I’m not at a point where I know what to do with it myself.”

This artist also cited Zohar Kfir’s Testimony virtual reality (VR) project as insight into how computer-generated content can be used to express reality. Kfir’s project involves testimonies from sexual assault survivors that the viewer is told through VR—they are confronted with looking at the subject while they tell their story, as if they were face to face. “I like the idea that people identify issues with technology,” Lin said. “If there’s a lack of something […], people try to make work that addresses that. There are more and more people that are trying to humanize the experience of VR.”

Lin’s home studio. Photo by Gabe Chevalier.

As of now, Lin has a few projects in the works, and although she admits they’re progressing slowly, she knows which direction they’re headed in. The artist’s recent introspection has highlighted key ideas that she wants to explore further. Lin explained that she wants to create works by “trying to pinpoint emotional responses to different situations, and gathering really random and fragmented thoughts and fragmented images, and pairing them together […] to create something that feels cathartic.”

Lin mentioned that her teaching schedule has reduced, allowing more time for creative pursuits, whatever those may be. She is currently working on a project with Aquino involving the Quebec Gay Archives. According to their website, “the Quebec Gay Archives have a mandate to acquire, conserve and preserve any handwritten, printed, visual or audio material which testify to the history of the LGBTQ+ communities of Quebec.” Lin and Aquino are interested in exploring queer people’s responses to their collections.

Lin has also started an AR book in collaboration with Anteism, however it’s still in its early stages. “I feel like I’ve opened up more time purposefully,” the artist said, and although she has a few projects on the horizon, Lin is still waiting for them to take shape. “It’s just part of the process,” she said with a reassuring nod.

See more of Lin’s work on her website: jenny-lin.ca

More of Lin and Aquino’s collaborative work can be found on their website: banddpress.blogspot.com

Feature photo by Gabe Chevalier

Categories
Sports

Recovered and ready for a title

Katherine Purchase was born in St. John’s, Newfoundland, but moved to Halifax, Nova Scotia at 9 years old. Photo by Hannah Ewen.

Goalie Katherine Purchase kept positive during concussion recovery

Concordia Stingers women’s hockey goalie Katherine Purchase earned a shutout in her first start this regular season on Jan. 13 against the Carleton Ravens. Purchase missed the first half of the season due to a concussion, and felt relieved when she was able to play hockey again.

“It’s pretty frustrating [to recover from a concussion], especially when it’s your first one,” Purchase said. “There are a lot of ups and downs, and it’s not really a steady comeback […]. Some days, I would feel really good and the next, terrible, so it would be discouraging. I just had to keep believing I was going to get better.”

The fifth-year goalie suffered the concussion while at a training camp with the Canadian national team in Dawson Creek, B.C. in September. In an exhibition game against a men’s Junior B team, an opposing player collided with her, with his leg hitting her head.

While Purchase was recovering from the head injury, she was also diagnosed with mononucleosis, but ultimately the concussion was what kept her out of action for so long. “The toughest thing was to not be around the team at all, and I went a whole month without seeing them,” Purchase said. “Especially with all the rookies this year, I wanted to get to know those new girls.”

Purchase won her first RSEQ championship last season and is aiming for a second. Photo by Hannah Ewen.

The accounting student also had to stay away from school for a while, but returned in November and passed her classes last semester. When she returned to the ice, Purchase said she couldn’t put the emotions she felt into words. “It felt like I had to relearn how to play hockey, because I hadn’t been on in so long,” she said.

Purchase hadn’t played for the Stingers since winning bronze at nationals last March, and returned to action at the Theresa Humes Tournament in December. After allowing six goals in a losing effort to the Syracuse Orange on Dec. 30, Purchase said it helped shake the dust off and get back to her usual skill level.

In the team’s first regular-season game of 2019 against the McGill Martlets, Purchase replaced Alice Philbert, who allowed five goals in the third period, and she’s played every game since. With Purchase as the starter, the Stingers have a 5-0-1 record, while she has a 1.28 goals-against average and .948 save percentage. She’s helped the Stingers climb into second place in the Réseau du sport étudiant du Québec (RSEQ), and the fifth-year just wants to keep winning.

“Knowing that I’ve missed a lot of time and that our team is trying to get some momentum going into the playoffs, I don’t think there’s time to think about anything else,” Purchase said. “Everytime you step onto the ice, you’re trying to go for a win and nothing else matters. [Playing] has kind of helped block out all the noise that creeps into your head.”

Purchase and the Stingers are focused on one thing, and that’s to defend their RSEQ championship and have success at nationals. “We still have a very talented team and we have the ability to win a national championship, so that’s always the expectation in this program,” she said, adding that she’s well-rested after missing the first few months of the season.

For a second consecutive year, Purchase was voted co-captain, along with Devon Thompson, by her teammates. Goalies can’t wear the ‘C’ on their jersey but, despite this, head coach Julie Chu praises Purchase for her vocal leadership on and off the ice.

“We’re always emphasizing communication as much as we can, and it’s not just our forwards with the forwards, the defencemen with the other defencemen, but everyone involved, including the goalies,” Chu told The Concordian in an interview in October. “Katherine is really understanding that role.”

Thompson, the only one to have played alongside Purchase for five seasons, also told The Concordian in November that her goalie is a big leader. “People think that because she’s a goalie, she sticks to herself, but she’s always had a really big voice in the locker room,” Thompson said.

This is Purchase’s last season with the Stingers, and she said it feels surreal that her journey at Concordia is coming to an end. She will be moving to Toronto in May to complete her Chartered Professional Accountant courses, and has a job lined up for September. Toronto has two teams in the Canadian Women’s Hockey League, the Markham Thunder and Toronto Furies. At the moment, Purchase isn’t sure if she will be able to play professionally while working a full-time job.

The goalie said she’s enjoyed the family culture the Stingers have developed, and how she’s gotten along well with her teammates throughout the years.

“I’m going to miss Julie and Mike [McGrath, an assistant coach] so, so, so much, and just that feeling of coming to practice in an environment where everyone supports you and wants the best for you,” Purchase said.

“I really can’t complain about my time here,” she added. “If someone gave me the chance to redo everything over again, I wouldn’t take it because I would be scared to mess up. I wouldn’t want to be at any other school in Canada or the U.S., I can’t believe how lucky I am that I ended up here.”

Main photo by Hannah Ewen

Categories
Music

From Bell Centre to Phi Centre

RnB singer's stage presence captivates hundreds in attendance at EP show. Photo by Jacob Carey.

Sara Diamond is more than an opening act

Montreal’s 23-year-old Sara Diamond is used to singing in front of a crowd of more than 20,000, but on Nov. 29, all 300 eyes at the Phi Centre were there to see the R&B artist shine her own light.

Diamond is most known throughout the city as one of the Montreal Canadiens’ national anthem singers. She began performing the American national anthem throughout the 2013-14 Habs playoff season and has since been asked back regularly, having become a fan favourite. However, Diamond’s lengthy and complex career with music began years before she made her way to the Bell Centre.

“My mom started a label when she was pregnant. When I was 5 or 6, she started recording stuff and writing, and she was like ‘my daughter can sing! Produce her.’” said Diamond.

At 10 years old, Diamond began working with a vocal coach who helped her apply for a FACTOR (Foundation Assisting Canadian Talent on Recordings) grant, a non-profit organization that provides financial assistance to Canadian musicians. After getting accepted, a representative on the board of FACTOR told her that she was talented and that they wanted to manage her.

From a young age, Diamond had a lot of support from the people around her when it came to her future in music. Her manager then brought her to audition in Los Angeles for a girls group that was being formed by Interscope Records. Just four days after arriving in L.A., Diamond was signed and would go on to spend the next year and a half living in California with her mother. While the Clique Girlz group only lasted three months due to management and parental disputes, Diamond stuck around to see what the city had to offer her as a solo artist. However, her shyness, loneliness and lack of organization as a teenager prevented her from growing as an artist so she decided to leave L.A.

“I kept telling myself, ‘I wish I were home. I don’t want to be here,’” Diamond said. “It wasn’t the right time. By the end of it I was like ‘if I’m in L.A., I want to be famous. I don’t want be here. I’m homesick. I’m sad.’”

When Diamond returned to Montreal, she felt like her experience in L.A. had ruined singing for her, at least for the time being. She instead spent her teen years experiencing everything she had missed out on years before. “When I got home, I got to experience everything I wanted to do. The heartache, the love, the high school drama and all that stuff to write about,” Diamond said.

When she turned 19, Diamond was thrust back into music when offered the chance to audition to sing the national anthem for the Montreal Canadiens. At the age of 12, Diamond had sung for the Alouettes and always wanted to sing for the Habs. After auditioning and getting the gig, the singer performed the National Anthem during the playoff season. Once the season was over, Diamond was unsure whether she would be asked back.

“I guess because I wasn’t really doing anything music-wise, feeling that passion again from the Habs stuff kind of brought that back to me and I found that love again,” Diamond said. “I started working on music again. Just recording, and writing.”
Diamond began working with friends who also hoped to help her thrive in the Montreal music scene. However, she was initially rejected after applying for a FACTOR grant. Behind-the-scenes complications, along with more heartbreak, resulted in her aspirations falling apart.

Diamond described her journey with music as a lot of “almosts.” She once had a handshake deal with Universal Canada that almost went through, but management restructuring weeks later stopped them from taking on any new signees. It was not until Diamond recorded a song with Rebel House Records and the Montreal Children’s Hospital for P.K. Subban’s event that the pieces started coming back together again.

“Everything’s kind of happened super organically,” Diamond said. “Ever since I came back from L.A., there’s been this struggle between ‘I don’t want to do music, but something pulls me back towards it.’ It’s cool cause I’m really just riding the wave.”

And riding the wave seems to be what Diamond does best. After being accepted for a FACTOR grant last December, Sara Diamond released her first seven-track EP entitled Foreword. On Thursday night, the artist performed her biggest solo show in front of family, friends, and fans at the Phi Centre. It was clear the crowd had been waiting a long time to see Diamond in the spotlight after years of build-up in anticipation of the musician’s local debut.

Sara Diamond wows spectators at Phi Centre during Foreword’s Montreal debut. Photo by Jacob Carey.

After opening act Toito performed, Diamond hit the stage and sang all seven songs from Foreword. The artist also paid homage to her inspirations by performing covers of “If I Ain’t Got You” by Alicia Keys and “Thinkin Bout You” by Frank Ocean. Diamond finished the night by singing “Ride,” a track that has yet to be released. The crowd was visibly wowed by her natural stage presence and her radiant smile that she frequently shone to fans.

Sara Diamond may have had a busy 2018, and 2019 shows no signs of slowing down. Her single with Montreal electronic duo Adventure Club, “Follow Me,” was released last week. She just debuted her music video for “Know My Name” on Billboard, and Diamond just finished opening for Tyler Shaw in Montreal and Quebec City. Next week, she’ll be premiering new music. And, she promises more to come in the New Year.

“I think it’s just the beginning, I hope,” Diamond said. “It’s like part two—the next chapter.”

Feature photo by Jacob Carey.

Categories
Arts

The domino effect

Zoé Pelchat-Ouellet’s series, Dominos, was filmed over the course of eight days. Photo courtesy of Zoé Pelchat-Ouellet.

Concordia alumna’s web series nominated in CANNESERIES

When Zoé Pelchat-Ouellet first started working as a director, several of her more experienced friends and colleagues in the film industry recommended she start off as an assistant director. “I said no, I don’t want to be an assistant. I want to be a director. I am going to direct,” Pelchat-Ouellet recalled.

A few years later, Pelchat-Ouellet’s web series, Dominos—which she wrote, cast and directed—was nominated for Best Digital Series at CANNESERIES, the Cannes International Series Festival. Shot in only eight days, the web series is composed of five short episodes and is Pelchat-Ouellet’s largest fiction project to date.

Yet, the up-and-coming director wasn’t always interested in the arts, let alone being a director. Pelchat-Ouellet described herself in high school as shy and insecure. When she moved from Quebec City back to her birth city of Montreal to enroll in Concordia’s communications studies program, she developed an interest in photography. The program gave her the chance to explore her artistic talents as she played around with film, editing and sound design.

Each episode of the web series is centred around a different character, each of them linked to one another in the overarching theme. Photo courtesy of Zoé Pelchat-Ouellet.

While on a trip to London, a year after she finished her bachelor’s degree, Pelchat-Ouellet received a call from a friend that helped guide her toward a directing career. The friend had just broken up with her boyfriend, and suggested she and Pelchat-Ouellet collaborate and create short films together.

“I made this classic list of my qualities and flaws, and what I wanted in life,” Pelchat-Ouellet said. “The conclusion, really, was to be a director. I really liked writing and photography, and I think directing is a mix of both. It made sense. When my friend called, she put it in play for me.”

Pelchat-Ouellet decided to pursue a career in filmmaking, and graduated from L’inis, a private film institute, in 2016. Her first projects were experimental photography, poetry and short films, which she often collaborated with friends to create. Shortly after graduating, Pelchat-Ouellet started getting contracts to make music videos for artists such as Fanny Bloom, Kroy, Heartstreets and Di Astronauts.

In 2015, her first fictional web series, Les Presqu’histoires, aired on Urbania, a cultural multiplatform media producer. Pelchat-Ouellet has also produced commercial advertising content for Énergie 94.3, the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, Keurig, Bell Media and Fondation Québec Jeunes, among other companies.

“I took a bigger risk in the beginning that spinned off pretty well,” said Pelchat-Ouellet, attributing this success to her determination to start out as a director rather than an assistant.

The filmmaker was inspired by the youth of Montreal, as well as each actor’s individual personality. Photo courtesy of Zoé Pelchat-Ouellet.

Dominos tells the story of two brothers, Toto and Adib, as they cope with their mother’s sudden death. The drama series also follows the intertwining stories of a group of teenagers whose paths cross with the brothers’. Pelchat-Ouellet said the show reminded her of Skins, a British drama which gained attention for its cutting edge and raw portrayal of youth. Although every episode of Dominos is centred around a different character, the two shows share similar themes.

Showcasing the hazards of life, Dominos explores personal issues with touching, poetic and comedic tones. Pelchat-Ouellet said she was not only inspired by the youth in Montreal, but by each actor’s individual “vibe” and personality while shooting. This led to a fresh, in-the-moment experience on set.

As the character Toto describes in the series: “We’re like little dominoes that fall on each other; we just have to learn how to fall right.”

You can watch Dominos on TV5’s website. 

Photos courtesy of Zoé Pelchat-Ouellet

Categories
Arts

Embracing femininity, oddity and violence

Lucy Stamler (right) poses with a friend in an image reminiscent of Thelma and Louise. Photo courtesy of Lucy Stamler.

Concordia photography student Lucy Stamler discusses her artistic inspiration

Concordia photography student Lucy Stamler combines elements of fear, humour and feminine prowess in her series titled Femme Fatale.

Drawing inspiration from the elusive divas of film noir, Stamler bridges the gap between reality and total whimsy. Many of her photographs feature young women dressed in neo-noir attire yielding weapons and other destructive objects.

“I want to explore the connection between femininity and violence, something often overlooked by mainstream media,” said the 20-year-old Toronto native.

Alluring and mysterious, Stamler appears to be something of a femme fatale herself. She is petite, with ivory skin and enormous blue-green eyes. Her face is framed by a roughly chopped fringe of jet-black hair, and her torso and stomach are decorated with black tattoos. Often the subject of her own work, Stamler emulates a delicate combination of fragility and danger.

Despite her bold and gritty appearance, Stamler is sweet, shy and gentle. At social events, she often lingers in the background, observing the scene around her through the lens of her camera. Although the majority of her work is staged, Stamler still enjoys producing candid photography inspired by her day-to-day life.

Stamler is somewhat of a femme fatale herself. Photo courtesy of Lucy Stamler.

“Wherever I go with my camera becomes my studio, whether that be the top of a mountain or my own bedroom,” Stamler said.

Much of Stamler’s work is created using her favourite 35mm camera, and she develops all of her film in Concordia’s darkrooms. When she does choose to stage her photographs, Stamler creates makeshift scenes and extravagant costumes, pulling much of her inspiration from film and television.

“I think mainstream media and pop culture play a huge role in our lives, which is something I very much want to embrace,” she explained.

Stamler gives topics such as femininity and Hollywood a surrealist twist, often with an unnerving and sometimes humorous finish. In one image of the Femme Fatale series, she and a friend pose Thelma-and-Louise-style, complete with a desert background and plastic guns. In another, Stamler poses with a black studded belt clenched between her teeth. A third image shows a model posing in black and white, with a steak knife pressed against her lips.

“I love how, through image-making, I can create alternate worlds that could never exist in the realm of reality,” Stamler said. “Self-representation and perceptions of gender and identity are themes I tend to focus on in my work.”

An avid sketcher and painter since the age of five, Stamler has long expressed a keen interest in art. Her relationship with photography and film began while making short movies with her sister. Later, in high school, Stamler took a black-and-white photography class, and said she truly fell in love with the medium.

“[I] became so enchanted with the camera,” she said. “Pursuing art just felt natural.”

Stamler also draws inspiration from artist Cindy Sherman, known for her conceptual and often politically charged self-portraits.

“After viewing her series, Untitled Film Stills, I came to realize photography is about more than just creating a pretty picture,” Stamler said. “[It’s] a tool to change perceptions of how we view the world.”

The living, breathing femme fatale can be found on Instagram at @helpimbleeding.

Photos courtesy of Lucy Stamler

Categories
Arts

Printing with the colours of winter

Students in a Concordia print processes class were given the opportunity to display the work they produced this term. Photo by Mackenzie Lad.

Australian exchange student exhibits work as part of Concordia printmaking class

During Ali Watson’s first Canadian winter, she featured her artwork in a Montreal gallery. The 21-year-old exchange student from Australia’s Curtin University faced a starkly different reality this semester compared to the year-round heat of her hometown of Morley.

Her series, featured in Atelier Galerie A.Piroir, contextualizes her experience of being in Canada. It is a response to this new environment and the environment she sees outside.

While on exchange, Watson has lived on Concordia’s Loyola campus, where the view outside her window inspired her artwork, a series of four seven-by-seven-inch woodblock prints. “It is a study of a bush outside of my room’s window […] depicting different weather conditions at various times of day,” she said. “I look out my window everyday and see the bush.”

“I mixed my own ink for my series,” she added. “The colours I used reflect what I saw outside, particularly greys, whites and light purples.”

Watson is a printmaker in her last semester of a fine arts degree. “I was chosen in my print processes class to be featured in the annual printmaking exhibition; it focuses on woodblock printing,” she said. Along with other Concordia students, Watson had the opportunity to help set up the opening of the exhibit, which consisted of curating the works and displaying them in the space.

Ali Watson’s piece is made up of four seven-by-seven-inch woodblock prints. Photo by Mackenzie Lad.

“I really didn’t think much about it before I did it,” Watson said with a laugh, reflecting on the inspiration for her project. She described her untitled series as being “about winter and the visibility that winter has on nature. I tried to focus on snow and how it changes the outside landscape.”

A theme throughout her work is the connection she feels with places even when she is not there. “It is kind of like a tactile memory that forms. I focus on structural surroundings that create a sense of memory and familiarity—the constant things that are always there,” Watson said.

Places that evoke nostalgic memories subconsciously create the meaning behind her work. “My work is always about what’s around me. In Montreal, everything I have made has been about being here.”

According to their website, the Atelier Galerie A.Piroir specializes in the creation and exhibition of printmaking. Although she was familiar with the printing process, Watson had never used woodblock prior to this experience, and the carving element was new to her. “I haven’t worked with imagery in a while, because I usually focus on installations. To actually have to design something was challenging.”

Woodblock printing is a detailed and timely process. Once the artist has carved the wood with chiseling tools, it is inked with a roller and run through a press. Every print goes through the press at least three times and holds multiple layers of ink. Printmakers carve out different sections and print on top of them to achieve intricate designs.

“My work portrays home, but not in the traditional sense,” Watson said, referring to the typical use of people to symbolize home. Instead, the colours and textures she chose reflect this theme, and she relied on icons to “reflect a sense of home and belonging.”

“I think home is a feeling that is created,” she added.

When Watson started printmaking three years ago, she did not like it. “I came to realize that it let me produce the most exciting outcomes,” she said. Since learning the process in Australia, printmaking has been Watson’s focus for the past three years.

“I was a boring painter,” she said with a sigh. “I do like sculpture though, and some of my prints become sculptural, as in they aren’t just flat on a wall. The paper itself becomes a sculpture.”

Watson said she hopes to work as a practicing artist and business owner in the future. “I want to eventually do a master’s degree in something that isn’t necessarily art. I would like to maybe do social work and then find a way to link the two,” she said.

The exhibition, which features the work of Concordia printmaking students, is on display at Atelier Galerie A.Piroir until April 7. The gallery is open from 12 p.m. to 6 p.m., Tuesday to Friday.

Photos by Mackenzie Lad

Categories
Arts

Still life is anything but lifeless

Belliveau uses bronze and aluminum casting to transform living objects, like flowers and fruit, into solid, permanent works of art. Photo by Mackenzie Lad.

Elisabeth Belliveau discusses inspiration for her exhibition, Ballroom

Elisabeth Belliveau, an award-winning Concordia alumna, still life animation artist, sculptor and art professor, opened the doors to her new exhibition, Ballroom, on Feb. 2.

The exhibition will be open for a month, and will feature a two-channel, seven-minute animation loop along with related sculptures.

The works in this exhibition were created during a residency at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity in 2016. Photo by Mackenzie Lad.

“Fragile, vibrant and transformative,” are three words Belliveau used to describe the works in Ballroom.

The exhibition reflects on historically female art practices, such as genre painting, which portrays scenes from ordinary life. In the past, women were not permitted to paint religious portraits or court paintings, which limited them to painting still life.

“I look at the work of artists who were creating floral arrangements, still lifes or food that were coded and symbolic,” Belliveau said. “They could bury narratives, meanings and stories within these still life paintings that seemed really innocuous but were really complex. I think that’s really exciting to think about; women painting and finding their way into that world within those limitations.”

Belliveau has participated in an array of residencies across Canada and internationally. She began the works included in Ballroom during a residency at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity in 2016. The theme of the residency was still life, which focuses on the arrangement of inanimate objects. Throughout the residency, Belliveau had the opportunity to work with bronze and aluminum casting.

Envisioning and crafting the transformation of materials was one of the artist’s favourite processes while creating the exhibition. These transformations are often done using delicate and temporary objects, such as food and flowers, that are casted into more permanent objects using metal. “It’s still fragile, but I really love that transformation, which is why I think I love animation too,” Belliveau said. “There’s something still, and then it transforms into something with emotion. I like that moment, that flip.”

Inspiration for Ballroom came from a selection of novels written by Brazilian author Clarice Lispector, including The Stream of Life and The Hour of the Star. These novels, as well as paintings by Giorgio Morandi, an Italian still life painter, sparked Belliveau’s ideas about time, transformation and still life. These ideas became intrinsic to Belliveau’s own work.

“Thinking a lot about Giorgio Morandi’s practice, reading Clarice Lispector and really reflecting on the history of still life inspired me,” the artist explained. “I’m an animator, so I think about what it means to bring still objects into life, into movement and into emotion.”

Belliveau elaborated on her work in another residency in Japan last summer, where she focused on Japanese traditions of still life and the genre of vanitas art, and was inspired by the rules of Ikebana—the Japanese art of flower arrangement. “In terms of still life, there’s this kind of European tradition. I tried to mix it up with some of the things I was really interested with in Japan,” she said.

Photo by Mackenzie Lad.

For Belliveau, still life is about domestic life and the objects surrounding us. “Paying close attention to what things are and where they come from link to ideas about labour, production, who makes things, how they get to our table and all the political movement around that,” Belliveau said.

Taking part in residencies is a crucial aspect of Belliveau’s creative process. As a full-time assistant professor at MacEwan University in Edmonton, Alta., Belliveau is constantly busy throughout the academic year. “Residencies are the best way for me to have a total break from thinking about school and my students,” she said. “Usually, during the year, I’m stirring up ideas and I can’t wait to get back to the studio, so residencies have been incredibly important to me.”

Belliveau is currently preparing for her upcoming month-long residency in Fukuoka, Japan, this May where she will work with a 3D printer.

“I love to travel to see work, and I think that’s sort of what I do; I collect things, I read things and I try to see as much art as I can,” the artist said.

Ballroom is on display at La Centrale Galerie Powerhouse (4296 St-Laurent Blvd.) until Mar. 2. The gallery is open from Tuesday to Friday, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. and on Saturday from noon to 5 p.m. Entry is free.

Feature photo by Mackenzie Lad

Categories
Arts

Sharing stories of family and cultural identity

The Toronto-born filmmaker has received three awards from TIFF. Photo by Charles Duquet.

Concordia student Carol Nguyen shows self-discovery and reflection in captivating films

Carol Nguyen is the director, writer and editor of eight short films—she is also 19 years old. The undergraduate student at the Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema found success at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) as a three-time winner of the Jump Cuts award for young filmmakers in 2014, 2015 and 2016. Nguyen is also an ambassador of the Share

Her Journey campaign, a TIFF initiative to raise awareness about gender equality in film. Additionally, she attended the 2018 Sundance Film Festival as an Ignite fellow to establish and develop connections in the film industry.

The common thread among the Toronto-born filmmaker’s notable works, like How Do You Pronounce Pho? (2014), This Home is Not Empty (2015), and recently, Every Grain of Rice (2017), is her use of distinct aesthetic forms and voiceover presences.

Born from personal struggles and understandings, the films don’t adhere to traditional documentary mediums, varying in their use of live action, animation, archives and miniatures. Nguyen’s work plays with the way we perceive reality and embraces creative techniques that are truthful to the filmmaker’s stories. She is a committed filmmaker and returns to consistent themes throughout her body of work.

As a child who grew up in a hybrid Vietnamese-Canadian household, Nguyen’s cultural identity is a prominent feature of her films. In one of her first shorts, How Do You Pronounce Pho?, she explores this hybridity. Told from her perspective as a teenager, the film shows Nguyen as she realizes the cultural differences between her school peers and herself. “Food was a metaphor for me trying to blend into another culture,” the filmmaker explained. “When you are young, you don’t think about complex ideas like that, and it comes out in the most simple things, like your school lunches and comments, as microaggressions.”

Nguyen’s film, Every Grain of Rice (2017), explores the relationship between food and cultural assimilation.

In this work, Nguyen shows her interest in the topic of hybrid culture. Her narration describes her experience tasting “culturally unstable” Western concepts of ethnic cuisine versus authentic Vietnamese meals cooked by her mother. The film empowers the candid young voice while still considering it in the process of learning about cultural hybridity.

How Do You Pronounce Pho? reflects on the process of learning not to limit ourselves to certain groups and languages. For Nguyen, it’s important to interact, collaborate and share ideas with others in a multicultural society. “Not to do so would mean missing enriching and impending stories and experiences,” she said.

As beautiful as hybrid culture can be, it can also be frightening. Three years after making How Do You Pronounce Pho?, Nguyen explored her fears in Every Grain of Rice, a film that delves into the relationship between food and cultural assimilation. She addressed the cultural assimilation that follows each generation. While emotionally attached to some of her parents’ Vietnamese traditions, the young filmmaker doesn’t substantially continue them, but holds the last tie with Vietnamese culture in her family.

“When my parents die, everything that goes along with my Vietnamese culture will die with them,” Nguyen said. “I’m not going to carry the recipes and the stories that they have.”

Thinking of topics for her films wasn’t always so clear for Nguyen. In 11th grade, Nguyen experienced a bout of writer’s block and became extremely uninspired. “I was stumped. I didn’t know what to make a film about,” she said. “Something that helped me was my teachers getting me back to the roots of film, back to my personal roots, asking questions like: ‘Why are you making this type of film? Why does it matter to you?’”

This Home is Not Empty (2015) is centred around a miniature paper replica of Nguyen’s childhood home.

What followed was This Home is Not Empty, in which Nguyen tried to portray her nostalgia for childhood. Using paper, she created a highly detailed miniature of her childhood home. The small-scale house is abandoned, sitting in a studio. Shots of the replica are contrasted with lively family photographs. The miniatures are constrained to dark grey tones on an insignificant scale. Objects are on the ground, her childhood fish tank is smashed and food is left out on the miniature table. With this film, Nguyen builds a paper collage of archives and reconstructions. She compares the photographs to the paper replica so the viewer can interpret their nostalgic relationship.

The filmmaker confronts the audience with a unique approach to represent her thoughts.  The film’s universe isn’t constrained to fictionalized memories. In a delicate way, the viewer is brought outside the paper house. Nguyen presents her work while embracing the process of making it. The filmmaker shows the hands that place the objects of the paper house, and the studio in which it is lit. The film presents her memories with honesty.

Nguyen’s films depict her internal explorations, and their highly controlled aesthetic gives a sense of restrained emotions. This February, Nguyen will direct her ninth film, the second to be produced within the Mel Hoppenheim film production program.

You can see This Home is Not Empty and How Do You Pronounce Pho? on Nguyen’s Vimeo page.

Feature photo by Charles Duquet.

Categories
Music

Ralph joins The Darcys on tour

The singer released her first EP in March and has been working on her next album since.

Toronto natives to debut new material at M for Montreal this week

Canadian singer-songwriter Ralph grew up listening to the 70s music her parents would play around the house. She was later drawn to 90s and contemporary pop. So it comes as a bit of a surprise to her when people say her music seems inspired by the 80s.

The Toronto native, who describes her music as “pop, synth, disco-soul,” explained that the reason her songs have been dubbed as “80s-esque” is probably due to the prevalence of synthesizers in her most recent EP. Although she said she “can appreciate elements of the 80s” in her music, Ralph wants to progress toward a more contemporary sound and experiment with genres she is more naturally drawn to.

The singer released her self-titled EP in March and has since been working with a handful of writers and producers to expand her artistry and highlight perspectives outside of her own in her music. Ralph said that before putting out this EP, she hadn’t realized all of its tracks dealt with common themes of love and relationships. Most of the singer’s creative inspiration comes from personal experiences, whether from her own life or that of others. “I don’t really know how to write songs that aren’t personal,” she said. “I like to be as honest as I can in my music because if it’s honest, people will understand it.”

Ralph is currently on tour with The Darcys. Their second stop will be in Montreal on Nov. 17.

Ralph recently began working with fellow Toronto musicians, The Darcys. She approached them with a song she wrote called “Screenplay,” hoping to develop it into a duet between exes. The song describes the all-too-familiar situation of seeing an ex in public and pretending their presence doesn’t affect you. Ralph explained that The Darcys helped add a male perspective to the song, which provided depth and made it relatable.

After completing “Screenplay,” Ralph and The Darcys continued to write together and cultivate a strong creative relationship. “It came about very naturally, in the sense that their music is similar in theme and that we [also] liked each other,” Ralph said. The possibility of going on tour together at the end of 2017 came up, and it seemed like the best move for everyone. Ralph said they want to “see as many people as possible” and share new material with their combined audiences, both of which continue to grow.

Ralph is working with Canadian producer Stint, who is based in Los Angeles, as well as a team of songwriters from various studios in anticipation of her full-length album. The album is slated to be released next year. Ralph said that, although she is extremely grateful for the male artists who have had a hand in developing her sound, she is currently seeking to collaborate with more women. “As much as I love men and I support men, I want to keep working with as many females in the industry as I can,” the singer said. “If [I] can employ women in music and grow those careers, I want to.”

Ralph and The Darcys will be performing at Petit Campus on Nov. 17 as part of the local music festival M for Montreal. Their tour will conclude with a show in Waterloo, Ont., on Nov. 18.

Categories
Arts

Incorporating culture in her artwork

Sai Li tattoos a client in her studio at Slick Styled Steel. Photo by Mackenzie Lad.

Local tattoo apprentice Sai Li draws inspiration from traditional Chinese art

Sai Li wanted to get her first tattoo when she was 15, but her parents wouldn’t let her. Born in Dongbei, the northeast region of China, Li immigrated to Montreal when she was 21. She is now a tattoo artist.

Li’s work is heavily inspired by traditional Chinese art, which sets her apart from other artists in Montreal’s tattoo scene. To add to her knowledge in digital drawing, Li paid a tattoo artist working at Lili Tattoo Studio in China to teach her how to use the needling machines. She would arrive at the shop everyday at 9 a.m. and stay until 9 p.m. At home, she would practice tattooing on artificial skin using a very heavy needling machine, which helped her learn the craft quickly.

In 2012, Li graduated from the Communication University of China, Nanjing with a bachelor of plastic arts and a major in 2D animation for video games. Following her move to Canada, Li graduated from the Université du Québec en Abitibi-Témiscamingue in 2015 with a degree in creation and new media. Li didn’t like computer animation, so she decided to follow another career path. After earning her second degree, Li opened a Chinese restaurant with a friend, but started drawing tattoo designs for clients in her spare time. She said she has always admired the artistry behind tattooing and wanted to find a lifelong career that would allow her to grow as a visual artist.

Li was in China from​ January to April this year, and had the opportunity to tattoo people after just one month of apprenticing at Lili, which is quick in this industry. In Canada, apprentices must wait a minimum of two years before they are allowed to tattoo clients. Her teacher allowed her to tattoo five clients for free, and she began with lettering. According to Li, cursive writing is more difficult to tattoo than it appears, because the needle has to move in one continuous line. When asked about the tattoo artists who inspire her, Li said she admires the work of an artist named Chen Jie (@chenjie.newtattoo) from Beijing, China. “Her work looks like watercolour traditional paintings on skin,” Li said. “I want to represent traditional Chinese culture in my tattoo style and show it in a unique way.”

After her apprenticeship in China, Li returned to Montreal. She spent months emailing tattoo shops and looking for an apprenticeship in the city. One day, she was walking on Ste-Catherine Street when she discovered the Slick Styled Steel tattoo parlour. She decided to go in and ask if they were hiring. She has been an apprentice at Slick’s for six months now.

Li said she has had many clients ask for tattoos of a Japanese mask without knowing the cultural meaning of the symbol. The mask, called Onryo, represents a girl who died from jealousy and turned into a ghost. Li said she finds it strange that people want this tattooed since the Onryo are vengeful spirits whose souls try to harm humans. In Japanese culture, these ghosts are considered bad luck.

Li creates soft, delicate images of dragons, flowers and calligraphy. She loves the exchange between customers when she draws an image for them and they share secrets with her.

Check out Li’s work on her website or Instagram: @sai_tattoo. To book an appointment with Li, call Slick Styled Steel at 514-842-8999.

Feature photo by Mackenzie Lad

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