Image: Guest performer Neelam Kler with Stacey Sproule

Click below to see more [...]]]> The closing weekend of Responsive Space was a full one- marked by a tarot reading by Neelam Kler and the closing tea party hosted by Stacey Sproule. Another warm thank you to all of the artists and guests involved in the show.

Image: Guest performer Neelam Kler with Stacey Sproule

Click below to see more pictures.

And the rabbit watched them all…

interactive piece Of Mice and Men Revisited by Laura Paolini

Images of Sunday afternoon tea party hosted by Stacey Sproule

Previous Work: can be viewed at: http://webspace.ocad.ca/~nk05ls

Neelam will be doing a tarot card reading for Stacey in [...]]]> Neelam Kler, born in Vernon, BC is an installation and new media artist currently based in Toronto. Her work investigates the social and universal paradox of wholeness/fragmentation along with her anticipation for an entirely new world order.

Previous Work: can be viewed at: http://webspace.ocad.ca/~nk05ls

Neelam will be doing a tarot card reading for Stacey in the gallery at 3pm on Saturday.

Image credit: Neelam Kler, still of Hallelujah, Anyways, 2006, video collection of 9 shorts

Image: Stanzie Tooth, Floating, 2008, acrylic and oil on canvas

Unity is both the internal and external focus as [...]]]> Isla Craig is a song crafter of smooth sailing melody and trance like meanderings. Inspiration comes to her in the form of afghan geometry, early vocal music and R &B listening/imitation, and an all encompassing habitation within a world wraught in textile wizardry and colour explosion.

Unity is both the internal and external focus as one seeks the truth about oneself, one’s relationship to others and reality (both the world at large and the unseen realm). The mystic’s motivation for such an arduous endeavor appears to be unique to the individual and culture, and sometimes a new religion, order or sect may be the legacy.

Isla collaborates regularly with the Muskox (www.myspace.com/muskoxmuskoxmuskoxmuskox) and the Element Choir (www.myspace.com/elementchoir).

Please see the below post for the Stacey [...]]]> Thank you to everyone who made it out to the Gala Performance for Responsive Space on Thursday, April 2nd. A big highlight of the night was the Toronto F. Morris Men, (visit www.tfmm.ca for more information) who entertained us with their traditional song and dance routines.

Please see the below post for the Stacey Sproule’s performance schedule, complete with a listing of guest artists and performers.

ALL OVER AGAIN
an installation by Stacey Sproule

Stacey Sproule incorporates herself as an active component to her installations. As part of Responsive Space, Sproule will create a complete living environment within the gallery space. Through this installation she will inhabit the gallery [...]]]> image credit: Alex McLeod, Building Test Fire #4, digital print, 2009

ALL OVER AGAIN
an installation by Stacey Sproule

Stacey Sproule incorporates herself as an active component to her installations. As part of Responsive Space, Sproule will create a complete living environment within the gallery space. Through this installation she will inhabit the gallery as a creature emerging from hibernation. Sproule will create a series of handmade objects using obscure or obsolete technologies. Knitting garments for spring, nourishing herself with homemade preserves, resetting clocks, napping and indexing memories, all as a preparation for re-entering the world. This piece is meant as a period not only of preparation but also of contemplation for what the next season will bring. Through this interior space, Sproule addresses the symbiotic relationship of our human life cycles to the cycles of nature. The use of obsolete technologies speaks to a time when we as animals were still intrinsically bound to the changing of the seasons, as opposed to our modern condition in which we use technology to combat them.

Click below for more information and for a schedule of performances

As an added component to her installation, Sproule has invited arts professionals and performers to sit with her on various days during her occupation of the gallery to collaborate on specific elements of her installation.

The gala performance of All Over Again will take place during the opening reception for Responsive Space : Thursday, April 2 from 6-9pm.

Please see the following schedule of performances:

Wednesday, April 1
Sproule sitting gallery from 12 to 4pm

Thursday, April 2
GALA OPENING!
6 to 9pm
Featuring: Morris Men

Friday, April 3
Sproule sitting gallery from 12 to 4pm

Saturday, April 4
Featuring: Isla Craig and her Minstrel at 1pm
Sproule sitting gallery from 12 to 5 pm

Sunday, April 5
Sproule sitting gallery from 12 to 5 pm

Monday, April 6 & Tuesday, April 7
Gallery CLOSED

Wednesday, April 8
Featuring: Michael Briand tattooing at 2pm
Sproule sitting gallery from 12 to 5 pm

Thursday, April 9
Sproule Away

Friday, April 10
Good Friday
Sproule Away

Saturday, April 11
Sproule sitting gallery from 12 to 5 pm

Sunday, April 12
Easter Sunday
Gallery CLOSED

Monday, April 13 & Tuesday, April 14
Gallery CLOSED

Wednesday, April 15
Featuring Randy Gagne remembering
Sproule sitting gallery from 12 to 5 pm

Thursday, April 16
Sproule Away

Friday, April 17
Sproule sitting gallery from 12 to 4 pm

Saturday, April 18
Featuring Neelam Kler tarot reading at 3pm
Sproule sitting gallery from 12 to 5 pm

Sunday, April 19
High Tea Potluck at 3pm
Celebration for Last Day of Show
Sproule sitting gallery from 12 to 5 pm

Stacey Sproule is a performance and installation artist with an interest in tactility. Graduated from OCAD in 2007, she has a BFA in drawing and painting and has exhibited locally for four years. Her installations have been exhibited at Wynick Tuck Gallery, Xpace, and Awkward Gallery. In 2007, Stacey Sproule and Diane Borsato collaborated on a piece for FADO. Stacey also collaborates frequently with Randy Gagne including a performance at the 2008 Toronto International Art Fair and one at 7a*11d International Festival of Performance Art.

Responsive Space

In the Critique of Judgment, philosopher Immanuel Kant described the vastness of nature as one of the few physical examples that illustrates ideas of the infinite. He believed that the forces of nature were powerful enough to display that which was beyond [...]]]> Image credit: Alex McLeod, Building Test Fire #4, digital print, 2009

Responsive Space

In the Critique of Judgment, philosopher Immanuel Kant described the vastness of nature as one of the few physical examples that illustrates ideas of the infinite. He believed that the forces of nature were powerful enough to display that which was beyond human reason.

We feel the effects of the sublime in the stories and legends that shape our culture. In fairytales or Romantic writing, the landscape is used like a character to describe the emotion or psychology of the scene. Added to this is the tradition of landscape as artist’s subject- attempts to capture the sublime through art.

Responsive Space calls to question these concepts by creating new ways to approach environments. Artists Alex McLeod, Laura Paolini, Stacey Sproule and Stanzie Tooth use landscape as an entry point to create their work, employing symbols and metaphors from the natural world as signifiers of the sublime in nature as well as our human reactions and affects on landscapes.

In an era where the human affects on the ecology of the planet are continually brought to question, we sometimes fail to stop and think about the majesty of nature. Responsive Space offers glimpses for new worlds beyond our everyday experience. Working in a variety of media, the common thread amongst these artists is an interest in the fragile connections shared between humans and nature. Like the stories from our childhoods, these artworks make sentiments about the sublime in our natural world. The morals of these pieces then, like fairytales, are dependent on our being drawn into the worlds they create.

Alex McLeod is an artist who is preoccupied with landscapes. His work is built in virtual space, using computer software generally used for film and advertising. In his digital worlds toy cabins and snowcapped mountains appear as if they could be leftovers from train sets. He has recently been included in the Magenta Foundation publication ‘Carte Blanche 2′. www.alxclub.com

Laura Paolini graduated from the Ontario College of Art and Design, holding a BFA with Distinction from the Sculpture/Installation Department in the Faculty of Art. Her theses on problematics in the history of art have appeared in arts based publications (both student and professional) and her artwork is succinct with the various responsibilities she holds professionally. Laura is the Intern and Projects Coordinator at Vtape, and she is the newest member on the Board of Governors for FADO Performance Art Inc. In Fall 2008, Laura joined the Media Lab at the Canadian Film Centre as an artist-in-residence. Produced with the support of the City of Toronto through the Toronto Arts Council
www.laurapaolini.com

Stacey Sproule is a performance and installation artist with an interest in tactility. Graduated from OCAD in 2007, she has a BFA in drawing and painting and has exhibited locally for four years. Her installations have been exhibited at Wynick Tuck Gallery, Xpace, and Awkward Gallery. In 2007, Stacey Sproule and Diane Borsato collaborated on a piece for FADO. Stacey also collaborates frequently with Randy Gagne including a performance at the 2008 Toronto International Art Fair and one at 7a*11d International Festival of Performance Art.
www.staceysproule.blogspot.com

Stanzie Tooth is a painter with an interest in landscapes and figuration. Stanzie graduated from OCAD in 2007 with a BFA in Drawing and Painting with an award of distinction for excellence in painting. Many of the narratives in her work have been shaped by her upbringing in rural Ontario and have been exhibited throughout Toronto. Most recently, her series, “Through the Woods” was featured at the Canadian Heritage Building.
www.stanzietooth.com

*concept design image. photo by unknown artist