Ceramic student association hosts drop-in make-a-thon
You can find ceramics students nestled in the far corner of the VA building’s basement at all hours of the day. It’s a patient art. Trial and error is to be expected.
Every year, the Concordia Ceramic Student Association (CCSA) hosts a 12-hour make-a-thon where students, faculty and staff are invited to participate in handbuilding and spinning. This year, I joined them for a half hour or so, and had the opportunity to create a weird flower-like bowl, before I decided to crush it and deposit it in the clay buckets to be reused. I don’t have much experience handbuilding but I do really enjoy the act of making, once I surpass the intense feelings of frustration I associate with the medium.
“Ceramics classes are very hard to get into at Concordia, especially as a non-ceramics student,” said Fiona Charbonneau, who took ceramics in CEGEP but hasn’t yet at Concordia. “I came down to talk to people and get to know the medium more by participating in the making, it’s for a good cause.”
The funds raised from the many cups and bowls made during the make-a-thon go towards the department’s participation in the annual National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts conference. This year, held from March 25-28 in Richmond, Virginia, students attending the conference will have the opportunity to view demos, share techniques with other ceramicists, attend artist talks, gallery tours and buy special equipment.
According to its website, “the Visual Arts Center of Richmond […] has helped adults and children explore their creativity and make art since 1963. Each year, the organization touches the lives of more than 33,000 people through its classes, exhibitions, community outreach programs, camps, workshops and special events.”
Rooted in tactility, clay is a very therapeutic medium that teaches balance, stability and how to centre oneself. Even the act of cutting into clay has the serene power to calm me down. As someone who teaches basic handbuilding to children with very limited experience, I’ve learned to not sweat the small stuff, finding freedom within the “rules” (and trying not to blow up all the pieces in the kiln because of a tiny air bubble). Within this, there are techniques that are, overall, pretty helpful in day-to-day life.
What students should know about the asbestos situation
Walking through the halls of Concordia’s VA building, one might notice small red stickers warning students about asbestos contamination along the walls. It is no secret that asbestos is a topic of conversation among those who frequent the building, but what can students do to ensure they are not in any danger?
“The general message is, if there’s a sticker on the wall you shouldn’t be touching [it],” said Lina Filacchione, Manager of Industrial Hygiene and Prevention at Concordia University, during an asbestos awareness information session last Thursday. “Our goal is to inform you how to live safely and interact safely within the space.”
But what exactly is asbestos, and what are the associated risks? According to Health Canada, asbestos is a naturally occuring fibre most commonly used prior to the 1990s, primarily for insulation and fireproofing. Asbestos products generally consist of vinyl floor tiles, ceiling tiles, plaster, and cement. Since being classified as a carcinogen, a substance that can cause cancer, in the late 1980s, its use has been discontinued.
In order for asbestos to become a health risk, it must be disturbed by, for example, hammering into an asbestos-infested wall. Undisturbed, asbestos is not a health risk. Primary routes of exposure include ingestion and inhalation. However, as there is a lot of interaction within the building, it’s important to take safety precautions when working within the space.
“In the VA, vermiculite containing asbestos is present in exterior perimeter and some interior walls,” said Filacchione, noting that vermiculite contaminated with asbestos resembles cat litter.
Other materials in VA that can contain asbestos are floor tiles, mechanical insulation, and plaster.
“There are no symptoms for asbestos exposure [and there] are no reactions,” said Filacchione, adding that increased exposure can lead to an increased risk of developing illness, such as respiratory problems.
So what safety measures is the university taking to ensure students’ health and safety? Filacchione said Concordia does a lot of monitoring for asbestos. One of the precautions is routine monitoring, which consists of taking 12 samples per year in a specific location.
“We’re starting to do more [monitoring],” Filacchione said, noting that in the past, the university was only conducting six tests per year, solely where there was vermiculite. “We thought it was important for the community to report concerns.” Filacchione added that generally, any substance resembling vermiculite and pooling along the floors and windows is most probably asbestos.
Students are advised to not attempt to clean up any questionable materials by themselves, but instead, to contact a supervisor.
“The real risk is when you’re manipulating materials,” said Filacchione. “Do not attempt to stop the work, but you can ask questions and let security know.”
Students looking to get more information or to report concerns can contact Concordia University Environmental Health and Safety at 514-848-2424, ext. 4877 or ehs@concordia.ca.
The next asbestos awareness information session will be taking place on Wednesday, January 15, at 5:30 p.m. in VA 232. Further information can be found by visiting https://www.facebook.com/events/3244254108922624/.
Open Action Night offers artists a safe space to share their work
Full disclosure: When Lorenza Mezzapelle (Assistant Arts Editor) pitched Chloë Lalonde (Arts Editor) her story ideas for this week, saying she wanted to reach out to the students who started Open Action Night, Chloë laughed – the exact text reads “Omg I am ded. I started open action night.”
Painting, sculpture and film are prominent in the Montreal art scene, but where does one go to casually watch or engage in performance art?
Concordia students Merlin Heintzman Hope and Chloë Lalonde are hoping to change that with a new series called Open Action Night. Similarly to an open mic, participants are invited to sign up and perform anything.
“I think a lot of people want to see performance happening,” said Heintzman Hope, adding that most often, with the desire to perform comes an intensive application process, documentation, propositions, and juries, or alternatively, grading. “It’s not for visibility but rather, ‘oh I have these ideas, I have this live art work that benefits from being in front of people, and I want to be able to showcase it somewhere.’”
“Community-based and socially engaged artwork is a big focus for us,” said Heintzman Hope. “We started working together because we wanted to have more of that.”
With a focus on building a community around performance, Open Action Night aims to be accessible and inclusive. “We want to emphasize the child-friendliness of [the space],” said Lalonde.
“We think about age accessibility and would like that to be more of a thing, where art is for all people, where it should be,” said Heintzman Hope. “It should go for much older folk, it should go for children.”
While there are no confines as to what one can present, performers are asked to be mindful of their work, in an effort to create a safe-space.
“People should be considerate,” explained Lalonde. “They should think about what they would feel comfortable having a child witness.” Moreover, performers are expected to trigger-warn their work.
“There’s a space out there where you can feel at liberty to try things in front of a supportive community,” said Heintzman Hope.
As practicing artists, Heintzman Hope, a Painting and Drawing student, and Lalonde, an Art Education and Anthropology student, aim to draw inspiration from, and bring their practice into, the live sessions.
“Accessibility has been a consideration of mine, which ties into my practice in a few different ways,” said Heintzman Hope. “I’m a student-parent and the range of events that I can go to with my family is pretty narrow, particularly at school.” Heintzman Hope aims to share this personal experience, towards allowing for a more accessible and community-oriented space.
On the other hand, Lalonde aims to further her practice through observation. “I’m synaesthetic and I get a lot of sensation in colour, so it’s an experiment for me,” said Lalonde, who is interested in drawing sounds and movement. “If there’s nobody there, there’s also that idea of drawing the sounds of silence.” Synaesthesia is a trait that merges multiple senses, for example, someone with synaesthesia may be able to hear colors or see sound.
Described by Heintzman Hope as a space for artistic determination, Open Action Night creates an environment for performers to experience live art, or experiment with their own practice. Artists are invited to alter space, test out a new piece, or reperform an old one.
“It’s a real try space,” said Heintzman Hope. “If people want to show something rough, try something completely new, or if they don’t have a piece but they have a method of working.” He added that performers are welcome to work with instructions, in the dark, or to create a no-talking zone.
But there’s more to the project than just Open Action Night. Lalonde and Heintzman Hope have upcoming performance-related projects in the works.
“Should they know what it leads to?” asked Lalonde. “Is it too soon?”
“They should know that there are secrets,” added Heintzman Hope. ”It’s called Sessions Aléatoires, and we’ll find different ways to rope in artists into different risky schemes that have children involved.”
The next Open Action Night will take place on Dec. 12, beginning at 6 p.m., at the old Cafe X (VA-229), in the VA building. Further information about upcoming projects can be found on Facebook and Instagram (@sessions_aleatoires.)
Phillipe Tremblay began his performance, Balancing a Spoon, sitting on the window ledge in the old Cafe X.
Émile Phaneuf experiemented with new work inspired by time spent studying Mandarin in China. (Christmas seemed mostly celebrated at starbucks in Beijing)
Christmas seemed mostly celebrated at starbucks in Beijing,Émile Phaneuf, continued.
Feature photo: Balancing a spoon – Philippe Tremblay.
Happening in and around the White Cube this week… digging into the world of art & finance at Concordia and beyond
“If culture is valuable, culture works should be valued the same way, not just verbally,” said Marc Lanctôt, curator and Musée d’Art Contemporain de Montréal (MAC) union delegate.
According to an article in The New York Times, “wealthy donors are generally happy to contribute to construction projects – often drawn by naming opportunities – they are far less excited about subsidizing unsexy operating expenses, like salaries and benefits.”
Public spreadsheets that document and protest unpaid internships and unfair wages in the industry currently include over 4,000 entries from museum professionals all over the world, including Montreal.
The MAC is among the six Montreal-based entries on the spreadsheet. There are two active unions at the MAC, one of which is for front-of-house staff and educators. The other is for professionals: conservators, curators, education tour managers and workshop leaders, registrar’s office, art transportation, collections management, communications and press relations, etc.
MAC Pros striking during their break. Photo by Cecilia Piga.
The employees at the MAC were under a common agreement (like a contract) which expired in 2015, although the conditions are still applicable today and provisions in the contract are still applied. However, there have been no financial changes, no pay increases since 2015 and certain provisions no longer pertain to the reality on the ground. Their bosses have no incentives to make any changes.
Their employers are keeping that money, spending it on renovations and increasing their own salaries. Simply put, Lanctôt suggests the museum should not “spend on what we can’t afford if we can’t pay our people right.” He added that John Zeppetelli, MAC Director and Chief Curator, is “acting like his hands are tied, that he isn’t really the director of the museum, the government is.”
This is a multi-tiered problem […] how we organize work and labour needs to be rethought,” said Lanctôt.
“We want salary increases comparable to those granted to our bosses over the past five years,” wrote @prosdumacmontreal on Instagram on Oct. 6. The affected workers have been actively protesting since Sept. 17, doing public interventions and striking on their breaks and during peak museum hours, such as the Janet Werner opening on Oct. 30.
“We have nine more strike days up our sleeve that will be deployed at strategic times,” said Lanctôt. “Everything that has to do with culture in Quebec and Canada is highly accountable to the state and public funding, very arcane. Issues are bogged down in complicated spreadsheets and legal labour language. We don’t want the public to lose track of what’s a stake; we have to stop gauging away at cultural workers. It’s the people that matter. Otherwise, it’s just bricks and mortar and art stacked in a corner.”
The Art + Museum Transparency group has stated that “many of the most vigilant and vocal activists in the current movement are those working front-of-house positions […] gallery security officers, education, retail and visitor services staff.” These labour activists are fighting the institution’s growth, urging cuts of unnecessary expenses and “fancy” renovations in favour of protection from unjust firing, basic healthcare insurance coverage, paid parental leave, and so on.
“Pas de pros, pas d’expos!”
“Museums remain extremely hierarchical, with power concentrated in the hands of a very few who dictate benefits, wages and workplace procedures out of step with the economic realities of our time,” reads the same statement by the Art + Museum Transparency group.
Museum staff are unionizing across the United States with the Marciano Art Foundation Union (MAF), and continue to prove the viability of the field, urging institutions to embrace Graduate and Undergraduate student internships instead of pushing them out, forcing them to consider otherwise.
At Concordia, the VAV Gallery has just released its 2019-20 Year Plan. It discloses their financial constraints by breaking down their budget and emphasizing the measures being taken to remedy the issue. The slow, accumulated deficit was not noticeable in last year’s financial report. Dropping by big chunks every year due to the gallery’s ambitious developments, they were forced to downsize from last year’s programming.
This year, the VAV Gallery will host smaller shows, showing larger bodies of work from three or four artists, working one on one with them to create a tailored exhibition plan. The exhibitions – now numbered and not titled in order to avoid lumping artists together with broad themes – will be more cohesive, focusing on overlaps between individual practices.
Alexia McKindsey, the VAV’s financial coordinator, knew the decision would come as a shock to Concordia Fine Arts students, but the reality is that if these drastic measures aren’t taken, the gallery won’t be able to operate next year.
We never wanted it to come to this,” said McKindsey. “This is the worst case scenario.”
Having cancelled their winter artist call-out, three out of four Fine Arts students contacted by The Concordian, who have chosen to remain anonymous, said they would consider opting out of the VAV’s fee levy should it increase from $0.85 to $1 per credit.
“The gallery has already selected its programming for the entire year – why am I paying for something that is not giving me the opportunity to show my work?,” said one student, an Art Education major.
“Especially when last year’s programming was excellent, I see no reason why a top level fine arts undergrad university can’t have a student gallery that can offer the space for students to exhibit their work, attend events and be engaged in the Montreal arts scene,” said another student. The Studio Arts major said this in regards to the $5.6 million donation to the faculty from the Peter N. Thomson Family Trust, received last spring. “It feels like things are happening up top and the students don’t have a say, like an extension of Cafe X closing.”
VA Building & VAV Gallery entrance. Photo by Chloë Lalonde
Part of No. 2, two of Olivia Turchyniak sculptures shown here, with a view of the VA’s front lawn under construction.Photo by Chloë Lalonde
The faculty received this incredible donation, but where is it? In the big hole where the VA garden used to be?
Despite last year’s incident – the tragic death of art education student and sweet child of the universe, Ming Mei Ip – there are still no basic services in the building.
No one cares about the VA. We are the smallest faculty and the most neglected building on campus,” said McKinsdey. “We don’t know enough about where our fee-levies go and how we benefit from them as students.”
FASA, we love you, we know you’re doing your best, but like, the Art + Museum Transparency group stated, these institutions – universities, museums and galleries alike – remain powerful hierarchical structures out of touch with the social and economic realities they are surrounded by.
According to McKindsey, the donation isn’t reaching the VAV Gallery or any other student-run, fee-levy projects. Concordia has a weird system when it comes to money. For anyone who has ever received an honorarium or has had to be reimbursed by the university, this isn’t new information.
Unlike the gallery’s transparency, the money donated to the university and specific faculties isn’t being disclosed to students. Rumours around student organizations is that it’s a cyclical system, hinting to a new, “innovative” project unfolding towards the end of the year.
Funding opportunities for student projects
The Fine Arts Student Alliance (FASA) just released their Broke Student Handbook, which provides students with accessible and low-cost options for everything from art-making materials, funding opportunities, academic services and basic necessities.
Among these services are the Regroupement des Artistes en Arts Visuels (RAAV) and L’Artisan du Renouveau et de la Transformation Écologique (ARTÉ). RAAV is an association of artists that represent and defend the interests of Quebec artists. ARTÉ is an independent company mandated by the city of Montreal to manage the reuse centres.
Outside of student newspapers, Concordia is home to several publications. Some journals linked to various departments, like the InArte Journal,CUJAH and others offer free range to most students. Soliloquies, Yiara and l’Organe all offer a creative platform for writers and artists. Their difference lies in the language they are diffused in: l’Organe is in French, Yiara is bilingual and inter-university, and Soliloquies focuses on creative writing, poetry and prose, bringing together creative English-speaking students across the university.
A new addition to this list is Scribbles which, unlike Yiara and the InArte Journal which accept submissions from all departments within the Faculty of Fine Arts, will accept creative work from students across the university.
The magazine’s executive team doesn’t follow the typical publication masthead, similar to The Concordian’s editor/assistant structure. Instead, they have a president and various VPs and coordinators, characteristic of clubs within the John Molson School of Business (JMSB). That being said, the executive team is not restricted to JMSB students. Communications, behavioural neuroscience, software engineering and creative writing are among the team’s majors.
“In addition to our publications, we have the goal of informing students about the creative world by holding conferences with actual writers, journalists, artists and so on,” said Scribbles President Sara Shafiei, BComm Marketing.
The launch of the first publication took place on Oct. 30. Attendees paid $15, giving the magazine a head start.
“Guests were able to get their hands on a copy before anyone else and simply enjoy some food and music while celebrating with the team and getting to talk with other creative students,” said Shafiei. “We are brand new, don’t have many sponsors and are still growing as a committee. We received a small amount of funds from CSU which was barely enough to get our first edition printed. The event itself had costs, as hospitality also charged us. The tickets helped us fund the event. However, our magazine itself [is] free.”
Throughout the first weeks of November, Scribbles’s first issue will be placed around campus for students to pick up.
Interdepartmental and cross-faculty pollination is what makes our projects stronger, making voices louder, as students stand in solidarity as young creators and entrepreneurs.
Projects like Concordi’art – which claims to create a space for both fine arts and business students – really just focus on commercializing and capitalizing on pre-existing ideas. The group’s recent Bob Ross paint night at Reggies, which was sponsored by Concordia Stores, charged students $15 to paint along with a projection. They did not collaborate with the Department of Art Education, who would have been more than thrilled to assist. Concordi’art did not respond to The Concordian for comment.
The VAV Gallery is looking to collaborate with other departments and fee-levy groups for their winter programming. Among these are plans to coordinate a special exhibition with the Fine Arts Reading Room, the InArte Journal, CUCCR, Art Matters and more.
Clara Micheau, FASA Finance Coordinator and representative of the Faculty of Fine Arts for la Planète s’invite à l’Université (LPSU) at Concordia, posted on the Concordia Fine Arts Student Network Facebook page on Nov. 5, urging students to vote against online opt-outs in the upcoming CSU by-election (Nov. 12-14).
“Art Matters is not the only fee-levy group we are talking about here,” wrote Micheau. “People’s Potato is one, as is Queer Concordia, Cinema Politica, Food Coalition, Centre for Gender Advocacy, The Concordian and more. They all provide life-saving services to you or your friends or that student you don’t know but who has found their support group in them. They are everywhere, supporting our community.”
Fee-levy groups can offer superb opportunities to enhance careers and build reputable references, in any faculty. For more information and to encourage fee-levy groups, visit the Vote No Facebook Event.
Stepping into the VA building’s Café X, guests have two options: turn immediately to the left and be greeted by a glass cylinder full of food, a smiling face, and a giant chalkboard of tasty options, or turn immediately to the right and be greeted by a topless, bald, androgynous monster-human spewing paper fortunes out its mouth.
That’s right. Art in Action is still happening.
Gallery X, which inhabits the walls of Café X, is hosting the works of seven of the 30 artists who contributed to the 2012 Art in Action exhibition that ended March 4. The gallery will continue to show the pieces until March 24.
For those who can’t go—or those who just want something to read—here’s the rundown.
As mentioned above, the gallery decided to place the most shocking and unappetizing work closest to the entrance and directly next to the food. Shaw Desjean’s La Logorrhee comprises three pieces: two square canvasses, and that alarmingly ugly (in a good way) human form, which is meant to represent man’s inadequacy in expressing feelings in words.
To the left is Naomi Large’s Our Boxes, a group of brightly painted squares with vague human forms. The pieces attempt to explore “the human form in its natural state,” and the societal boxes in which its sexuality is constrained.
Turning around, visitors can take a seat on what looks like one half of a 1980s family sofa. On the way there, it’s hard to miss Karen Boyles’ Lighten, a giant graphite drawing of a kind of patchwork parachute-tent attached to strings weighed down by bricks. The description states that the structure “suggests our capacity to construct new environments. Environments that are transient, nomadic, adaptive, inclusive: created from a diversity of materials from a diversity of perspectives.”
Across from the partial couch is the second half of the gallery, located inside a turquoise painted room. Here, as before, guests have two options. Turning to the left, one can peer out the wall of windows overlooking the construction on Bishop Street. Or, looking to the right, one can ungracefully lean over someone studying in an effort to examine Keara Yim’s selection of high-colour photos that illustrate Canadians’ relationships with the land they inhabit.
Although Yim’s bright outdoor-themed photos (one two three tree) mirror the openness created by the wall of windows, the feeling of a room wide enough to walk around in is just an illusion. The room is pretty narrow. All the artwork is on the walls, but all the seating is up against the walls, too, underneath the artwork. Therefore, visitors can’t really see anything if they choose to sit down.
Him, Her, Us by Bianca Hlywa offers an examination of subtleties in gender differences through the representation of similar androgynous figures. Opium Dreams by visual artist Emily Yun Ching Claire and literary artist Ryan Kai Cheng Thom has strong messages of diaspora, queer desire and gender fluidity, and requires a lot of looking-at time.
So while the student strike may last for another week, Art in Action proves that there is certainly room for art in the Concordia fine arts landscape, no matter how many students it takes to meet quorum.
Art in Action runs at Gallery X (VA building, second floor, room 229) until March 24. For more information, visit www.gallery-x.com/current.
