Table of Contents

1. Words from Lisa Pijuan-Nomura
2. Interview with Tosca Teran of Nanopod Studios
3. Feature Festival: Summerworks
4. Read this Book: The Cake is for the Party by Sarah Selecky
5. Creativity Coaching with GirlCanCreate
6. Websites I Love
7. Calls for Entries
8. Photography by Dave Pijuan-Nomura
9. Last Thought

 

1. Words from Lisa Pijuan-Nomura

Hi there RED Letter readers!

First off, I would like to apologize for the long hiatus of 8 months.

Due to a challenging pregnancy, I haven’t had the energy to create and produce so much and so I took a well-deserved break to take care of myself and the baby within! And now, in this last month, I am feeling great, and full of energy before the little one comes.

The one great thing about break taking is that it reminds you of what is important, and what it is that you want to do with your life and work. I realized on this hiatus, that I

• love to tell stories and share them with others
• have a deep desire to take old bits of paper and make them magical
• gather artists and non artists in space of inspiration
• be part of a creative and supportive community
• help others bring more art into their lives and assist them in realizing their dreams
• take time to see the small magic of the world
• most importantly, find a balance between work and play in order to enjoy the most important thing, friends and my ever-growing family.

 

I look forward to sharing an exciting year with you all. Aside from the arrival of baby boy (Anywhere between August 11 and the 28th!), I will be working on a few exciting events this fall. I am proud to say that the 2nd Festival of Oral Literatures – FOOL will be happening late October. Dan Yashinsky and myself will be curating a fine line up of tellers, spoken word artists and storytellers from Toronto and beyond. I am also excited about the 2nd Movies and Makers that will feature some of our finest artisans selling their wares at the lovely Fox Theatre in the Beaches. Artistically I will be learning how to be a good mom, creating collages and expanding my repertoire of stories that I will be sharing in the future. And finally, of course, I have decided to open up my Creativity Coaching Practice to welcome 6 new clients.

I hope that this hasn’t overwhelmed, but inspired you all to take a break during these last few weeks of August. Sleep in when you can, take naps, each Ontario Peaches, dance out loud and play with people you love. Read sappy novels, do nothing, sing out loud and hang out with your best buddies. And then, when the time is right, figure out what is really important. I imagine it won’t be hard work, and it might just come and quietly whisper in your ear, loud and clear!

Looking forward to a great year, and if you want to hear more from me, check out my daily updates on my blog, or you can follow me on twitter @girlcancreate We also keep a facebook fan page at

Be well, and do drop a line to say hello! Always love hearing from you!

 

2. Interview with Tosca Teran of Nanopod Studios

This week’s Shine is the ever-inspiring Tosca Teran of Nanopod Studios. When I met Tosca a few years ago, I was impressed by her ability to create jewelry that seemed so biological, so organic, so from the earth! We soon started following her work and seeing her at different art and craft events around the city. Her work combined art and science in such an accessible way as she created jewelry and sculpture. A very shiny spirit, I think that the world should know more about her so I asked her about her inspirations and about her work with glass and metal.

Check out some of her work at her shop, website and blog! Enjoy!

www.nanopod.etsy.com 
nanopod.tv
nanopod.wordpress.com

Could you tell us about what inspires you? 

An uncle of mine was an undersea photographer in the 70’s. He worked for the US parks and services dept., and went out on the Calypso quite often. He would visit bringing stories, amazingly beautiful gigantic colour photographs of corals, sea anemones, and fish, interesting shells, etc., and share them with me. I was fascinated and wanted to dive with my uncle and Jacques Cousteau. I wanted to live in this undersea world I was learning about… As a child, pretending I was a scientist I would wade through local marshes and creek beds collecting tadpoles, frogs whatever I could find to bring home and watch grow (to my Mother’s dismay). I always had smelly Sea Monkey tanks on the go, and was super happy spending hours staring at water droplets, blades of grass, or whatever else I could literally dig up, under my microscope. 

 Later I would hitchhike to tide pools off of Bolinas, or Drake’s Beach (I grew up in the SF Bay Area) and spend hours observing the life forms. I was a full on nerd. I listened to music that was not popular with my friends; Tomita, Klaus Schulze, Synergy, later Brian Eno.. electronic, and ambient music of the 70’s. My father inspired this! I was a huge fan of sci-fi novels, and films. LOL! Several films that embedded themselves forever in my psyche are Fantastic Planet, Silent Running, and Logan’s Run. Yeah, well what can I say? Watch them and you will see how they’ve filled my work. I spent hours developing story boards, collecting sounds with my tape recorder, and drawing worlds I imagined and dreamed of.

How did you end up working with metal and glass? Is it something you set out to do? 

When I hit middle school and high school new mediums found their way into my hands for creative expression. “Jewelry” was taught at Redwood High School and although it wasn’t an elective for Freshmen (Seniors only) the teacher didn’t mind me cutting class in order to learn this ‘trade’. Mr. Lamante, was not the friendliest but he taught me how to cut stones & cab them, scrimshaw (basically tattooing ivory) how to make my own tools, set stones, fabricate, and lost wax casting. Meanwhile, my fav courses were still science, chemistry, and art. 

After high school I continued studying goldsmith and silversmith techniques through assisting and apprenticing professionals. Along side this passion for working with metal was a computer programming passion! 

Throughout the 80’s, and into the 90’s I worked with metal, selling and exhibiting my work through small boutiques, galleries, national shows, etc. 

In the late 80’s my brother worked for Arrowsprings in California building kilns/annealers for glass artists He desperately tried to get me into glass via flameworking. He made beads, and pipes and sold them at the Renaissance Fair. I was not interested (at the time) in what I thought of as craft (a four letter word). On top of that- Hippy craft! As a metalsmith I was often looked down upon by other ‘artists’ as a ‘jeweler’ due to its associations with craft, so I was not about to start making beads! 

Art vs. Craft. It wasn’t really until I moved to Toronto in 2001 that I heard the term, ‘Maker’. And met a community of people that weren’t afraid of the word- C R A F T. In fact, they embraced it! 

 Oh yeah, back to glass. It seems there has been many occasions where glass has found its way into my pieces, collaborations, and installations. Most of the time through found objects, or friends that worked with glass in some capacity. In 2004, glass artist Catherine Vamvakas-Laytraded her workshop in glass blowing for one of my 8-week courses. That was it! I was hooked and wanting to learn how to work with glass in any way possible. At the time I shared a studio with goldsmith, Catherine Allen known as the Fishbowl. Catherine left Toronto and I took over the Fishbowl turning it into Tank: fire + metal- the fire part had to do with me bringing in two flameworkers from a near-by studio of their own. 

I need a positive environment and the ability to create my own world to work out of so, I founded nanopod: Hybrid Studio aka nanotopia in 2005 and have been working with glass along side metal ever since. 

I’ve studied various glass techniques in Brooklyn with Anna Boothe, Corning NYwith Suellen Fowler, Jesse Kohl, and Loren Stump. 

I was a featured artist at SOFA, NY represented by Urban Glass Brooklyn in 2009 and was awarded three scholarship this year for glass studies at the Penland School of Crafts, The Studio at the Corning Museum of Glass, and the Pilchuck Glass School- which I am traveling to August 12th. 

I love the immediacy of glass, its sense of flow and movement. Colour is also an important component. Glass is an incredible medium I feel every artist should try on.

Advice to emerging makers?

Make stuff, express yourself! Don’t worry about current trends, and work that is salable. Read this book: Art & Fear!

Be happy, and make/create what you want to, what you feel – from your heart. This work will be appreciated. You are not alone.

 

 

 

3. Feature Festival: Summerworks

SUMMERWORKS THEATRE FESTIVAL
August 5-15, 2010
Artistic Producer Michael Rubenfeld

 

Toronto’s annual SummerWorks Theatre Festival proudly announces a powerhouse line-up for August 2010. The 20th installment of Canada’s largest juried theatre festival offers over 40 plays, offsite performances, concerts, workshops, youth activities, walking tours and a host of free events and happenings.

SummerWorks prides itself on producing work that represents Canada’s thriving cultural aesthetic. The festival pays special attention to work that is thoughtful, provocative and challenging. Over the last decade alone, over 25 SummerWorks shows have gone on to other major local, national and international productions.

This year’s theatrical highlights include: three remarkable solo shows performed by the authors, including: Ted Dykstra’s adaptation of Tolstoy’s The Kreutzer Sonata, Melody Johnson’s Miss Caledonia, and d'bi young’s word! sound! powah! Other highlights include: Two remounts of Canadian plays: The Emotionalists, by Sky Gilbert and Big Face, by Marion De Vries; I Was Barbie, by Nina Arsenault (creator of The Silicone Diaries), directed by Brendan Healey; Iphiginia at Aulis, adapted by Nicholas Billon (Greenland), directed by Alan Dilworth (The Middle Place, If We Were Birds) and starring Irene Poole; Biographies of the Dead and Dying, by Andrew Templeton, direction by Amiel Gladstone (Billy Nothin', The Wedding Pool, The Black Box).

Ecce Homo (Pastor Phelps Project, The Ecstacy of Mother Theresa) returns to SummerWorks with Loving the Stranger or How To Recognize an Invert.

Constantly evolving, SummerWorks introduces the inaugural Musical Works in Concert series. The Musical Works in Concert series presents Joni Loves Mitchell, script by Logan Medland, music and lyrics by Jason Chesworth, Kim Odine, and Logan Medland. As well as Prison Dancer: The Musical, music and lyrics by Romeo Candido, book by Romeo Candido and Carmen deJesus with the generous support of fuGEN Theatre Company.

SummerWorks Music Series, the Performance Gallery and the second annual SummerWalks return, rounding out the programming and defining SummerWorks as Canada’s great multi-disciplinary festival.

 

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Say Ginger Ale by Marcia Johnson

Say Ginger Ale is a comedy about being born in Jamaica, growing up in Canada, liking it in Canada and people having a problem with that. More simply, it's about identity and migration.

Director: Sue Miner
Designer: Melanie McNeill
Stage Manager: Kylah Thomson
Cast: Norma Clarke, Raven Dauda, Sharon Forrester, Andrew Moodie and Ordena.

Friday, August 6 10:30 pm;
Sunday, August 8 3:00pm
Tuesday, August 10 5:30pm;
Thursday, August 12 8:00pm
Saturday, August 14 5:30pm;
Sunday, August 15 10:00pm

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Wonderland

Written and Performed by Adam Lazarus
Directed and co-created by Melissa D'Agostino

Friday, August 6 - 10pm
Sunday, August 8 - 2:30pm
Tuesday, August 10 - 5pm
Thursday, August 12 - 7:30pm
Saturday, August 14 - 5pm
Sunday, August 15 - 10pm

From the heralded duo that keeps Toronto audiences laughing and squirming with their unique brand of satire, “Bouffon King” Adam Lazarus performs Eff under the direction of Comedian Comedy Award Nominee Melissa D’Agostino.

Five years ago, bouffon creature Eff wowed audiences with his retelling of the Myth of Eden, as only God’s Unchosen could. With Genesis out of the way, Eff is on to bigger topics: cookie recipes, welfare lines, the Beatles, and this city we call Wonderland.

http://effinwonderland.weebly.com/

 

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Anatomy of A Broken Love Affair

The Head. The Body. The Heart. The Spirit. What happens when a Gal and a Fella have good chemistry but questionable compatibility? The un-scientific exploration of a lust story.

Directed by Rae Ellen Bodie
Written by Celia McBride
Starring: Colin Doyle and Megan Dunlop

Performances every night (except no show Aug 6th) at 730pm.

Additional 915pm show Aug 7th, 8th and 14th.

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For more info and the full schedule please see
www.summerworks.ca
Arts Box Office 416-504-7529

 

 

4. Read this Book! Special Edition!

As many of you know, Sarah Selecky aka The Book Lady has been writing stunning book reviews for the RED Letter for quite some time. It is with great pleasure to tell you about her new book of short stories.

“The Cake is For the Party" has quickly become one of my most favourite reads. Sarah's stories are smart stunningly crafted stories that give us a glimpse into modern lives. The press has been really positive and I would suggest getting a copy at your local store or online!

Aside from writing, Sarah is a talented writing teacher who teaches classes and workshops at various locations in Toronto and beyond. She also keeps a great Twitter feed with daily writing prompts. If you are looking for some quick inspiration to kickstart your writing practice, I would highly recommend this!

For more about Sarah and all the magic that she creates, please have a look at www.sarahselecky.ca

 

 

5. Creativity Coaching with GirlCanCreate – Free Consultations!

Do you want more art in your life?
Are you a professional artist who has found yourself blocked while working on a specific project?
Do you need help setting realistic artistic goals?

Together with a Creativity Coach, you can get the assistance you need in making your dreams a reality. A creativity coach helps in every aspect of your creative journey, offering support, advice and assistance.

Lisa Pijuan- Nomura is an experienced creativity coach that has been working with clients for the past 5 years. Trained by Eric Maisel, the founder of creativity coaching, she has also had the opportunity to study with many international artists in the forms of theatre, dance, music and visual art. Aside from coaching Lisa is a multidisciplinary artist who lives and works in Toronto.

How it works: On a 45-minute phone or in person session, we identify, and address important aspects of your creative journey that need assistance. Together we set plans to make your ideas a reality.

For the month of August, Lisa will be offering 5 RED Letter Readers free 20-minute phone consultations. For more info please email lisa@girlcancreate.com

Lisa will be opening up her practice to include 6 more clients starting in late September. For more session and fee information please email lisa@girlcancreate.com.

 

 

6. Websites I Love

Kiss My Spatula – food + photography + stories – I saw this blog after looking for fig recipes, and came across the fig jam. I still haven’t made it, but wow, it looks amazing. What more could one as for than yummy grub, beautiful images, and stories shared?

Itsy Bitsy Spill – I found Magaly’s blog while surfing one day and was drawn to her use of colour and whimsy. I also love that Queen Latifah was an inspiration for one of her pieces!

Kottke.org – Part of Dave's daily reading, New York-based web designer Jason Kottke offers a broad selection of “fine hypertext products”

Daily Puglet – Some of you know that I once owned a dear pug named Beatrice. She passed away in March, and miss her, and pug presence in our life. So for now, Puglet is my daily fix of quirky, ugly animal. He’s perfect and a good reminder that Pugs aren’t really dogs, more like aliens who prefer humans to other dogs.

This is Live Art – Although a UK based site, it has opportunities for international artists as well. Thanks to Kelly Lovelady for the recommendation!

7. Calls for Entries

F.O.O.L. - Festival of Oral Literatures
Call for Submissions!

F.O.O.L. - Festival of Oral Literatures is a celebration of the mouth almighty, from storytelling to spoken word. F.O.O.L features experiments in oral narrative, traditional folktelling, collaborative performances, solo word-dancers, and a myth remix. FOOL welcomes listeners and performers into spaces where the performance of oral stories opens an intimate connection between artist and audience.

F.O.O.L. is being co-produced by GirlCanCreate and The Tellery, under the artistic direction of Lisa Pijuan-Nomura and Dan Yashinsky. It takes place October 21 to October 24, 2010 at various locations in Toronto. F.O.O.L. features a wide range of storytellers, spoken word artists, and performers who use voice, movement, music, and story to create mind-movies for their audiences. Performances take place in house concerts, at the Artscape Wychwood Barns, and in Kensington Market.

For the second year of the festival we are seeking both emerging and established artists of all disciplines who are creating exciting work with stories. We are currently accepting submissions for a variety of different venues. We are especially interested in Sassy, Interdisciplinary, Bright, Innovative, Experimental, Edgy, Sexy Brilliant Story Pieces that are from 10 to 25 minutes in length.

F.O.O.L. will offer all artists honorariums.

Please send:
Description of the piece
Length of the piece
Artist Bio
Support Material – Scripts, Video, CD, press clippings, etc. Please include links to websites where applicable.
Contact Person and Information

Deadline for submissions is August 25, 2010.

All applicants will be notified by September 3, 2010 via email.

Please send submissions to:
FOOL
c/o Lisa Pijuan-Nomura
to lisa@girlcancreate.com

We also accept snail mail applications at
FOOL
88 Hallam St.
Toronto. ON M6H 1W8

We look forward to hearing about your ideas and projects! If you have any questions please contact Lisa at lisa@girlcancreate.com

Generously supported by the
Canada Council for the Arts and Ontario Arts Council.

For last years fest see www.foolfestival.ca

 

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THE 32nd RHUBARB FESTIVAL
Toronto's Annual Convergence of Contemporary Performance
Feb 16-27, 2011, Festival Director Laura Nanni

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS 2011

Produced by Buddies in Bad Times Theatre for over 30 years, the Rhubarb Festival has offered artists a critic-free environment to experiment with new explorations in performance. Rhubarb continuously reconsiders the possibilities for performance – how we create it, how we present it and how we experience it. It is an invitation for artists to take risks, investigate new directions and challenge conventions. It is an opportunity for adventurous audiences to journey off predictable paths. Rhubarb provides artists with a rare opportunity to present work to a large and enthusiastic audience. Many Rhubarb shows have gone on to be further developed and presented in Toronto, across Canada and internationally.

GENERAL CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS DEADLINE:
5PM, Tuesday August 17, 2010

Rhubarb seeks proposals for new, not previously produced performances (30 minutes or less) for the 32nd Annual Rhubarb Festival. Submissions are encouraged from both established and emerging artists working in the areas of contemporary theatre, performance art, dance, music, interdisciplinary and hybrid forms. Of particular interest are projects, approaches and ideas that are new territory for the artist and the medium.

Selected projects will be featured during the festival (Feb. 16-27, 2011) and will receive technical, production, administrative, promotional and artistic support. Invited companies will have the opportunity to access free rehearsal space leading up to Rhubarb. In addition to an honorarium, festival artists also receive an unlimited artist pass, allowing them to see work for free by local, national and international artists over the course of two weeks.

NEW TO RHUBARB THIS YEAR! TWO SPECIAL PROJECT CALLS:

SET IT OFF DEADLINE: 5PM, Monday August 30, 2010

Building on the culture of club nights at Buddies, Rhubarb invites DJs and musicians who venture into new and experimental territory of music performance (especially those working in live mixing and sampling) to submit proposals. This may include DJs/ electronic artists collaborating with animators, new media artists, choreographers, etc. to create a short set. Other possibilities include musicians working with non-traditional equipment and instruments (i.e. kitchen appliances, video game consoles, found objects, bicycle powered amps, etc.). Of special interest are proposals that not only suggest experimentation with the instruments themselves, but also consider aspects of the music in relation to staging, conceptual meaning, story and/ or form.

MOBILE WORKS DEADLINE: 5PM, Monday August 30, 2010

Taking the Rhubarb experience outside the walls of Buddies, the festival invites proposals for works that begin elsewhere and converge at Buddies (12 Alexander Street, Toronto). Performance interventions, performances on the subway, flash mobs, etc. that eventually end at Buddies are encouraged. Participatory projects and online performances that are developed in the lead up to Rhubarb and culminate in another form of presentation at Buddies are also welcome. The proposal should take into consideration not only the festival audiences but also the general public, unsuspecting and accidental audiences who may stumble upon or intersect with the work.

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES

Only submissions delivered by or post-marked by the deadline dates will be accepted. Works submitted must be new and original. Submissions must be submitted in hard copy only and must be accompanied by the 2011 Rhubarb Festival Application Form (available online at www.buddiesinbadtimes.com) and the $20 non-refundable reading fee (payable to: Buddies in Bad Times Theatre). Fax or email submissions will not be accepted and late submissions will not be considered.

 

PLEASE MAIL OR DROP OFF SUBMISSIONS TO:
Laura Nanni, Rhubarb Festival Director,

Buddies in Bad Times Theatre
12 Alexander Street, Toronto ON M4Y 1B4

For further information please contact:
 Laura Nanni, laura@buddiesinbadtimes.com
or 416-975-9130 x58

 

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the CHOREOGRAPHIC MARATHON©
December 17, 18, 19, 2009
Toronto Canada

proposal deadline mid October 2010
for established and emerging dance artists of all genres

A weekend of dance development, feedback, mentoring, a production and video at the end of it all and later follow-up.

Question 1: how long is a marathon? 26.2 miles •
Question 2: how long is the choreographic marathon? 26.2 hours •
Question 3: why? to learn the Art of the Possible in a shared community pulling each other along not because it’s easy, but because it is hard, going deep inside yourself and drawing on inner creativity and strength that you might have never known even existed.

Take an idea & Run with it for 26 hours 385 seconds & beyond

Work within your own creative process. Break blocks. Move work forward. Build creative stamina. Hit the wall and find out what is at the other side.

Come with material to test, twist, develop, cut, reflect, refashion, reason, rescue and refine. Share feedback and take it immediately back into the studio. Wrestle with angels. Play with demons. End with a work unlike anything else you’ve created or performed before.

Across Oceans Maxine Heppner will mentor 4 groups of choreographers and their dancers over 26.2 hours of creative flow, discovery, creation and performance. Jessica Runge and Takako Segawa will assist as coaches.

INFORMATION, PROPOSAL CRITERIA AND APPLICATION INFO
< acrossoceansinfo (at) gmail.com >www.acrossoceans.org

Maxine Heppner has been a mentor and teacher of choreographic process for professionals and students for over 30 years in Canada and worldwide. “A fine fine choreographer and she goes for it” says the Globe and Mail. She developed the choreographic marathon to extend the modern dance quest to go beyond personal boundaries and boredoms to discover deep personal creative resources.

 

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Crafters wanted for the Sorauren Park Festival!
Saturday August 21st 2010.
10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Looking for local (Parkdale/ Roncesvalles / High Park) crafters to sell their awesome handmade goods at The Sorauren Park Festival. Very reasonable rates & great music, food & more!

If interested please email a description of your work,
contact info,
price range of goods and
3-5 photos of your work to:info@soraurenparkfestival.ca.

Submission deadline August 15th. Participants will be notified by August 17th

For more info see:
http://www.SoraurenParkFestival.ca/

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Movies & Makers

A Holiday Arts and Craft Show at the Fox Theatre Wants You!

When? Saturday December 4, 2010

What? A diverse mix of local makers of fine, cool, funky, sassy art and craft selling their wares at the stunning Fox Theatre in the Beaches. The sale is from 11am to 6pm.

Fox Theatre together with GirlCanCreate is looking for a variety of makers. Whether you make jewelry, clothes, art, stuffies, zines, buttons…we want you.

Please note that we cannot accept any makers of food or drink due to building health codes.

SUBMISSION PROCEDURES

The deadline for applications is midnight on September 27th, 2010. All applicants will be notified of participation by the first week of October.

Please email all applications to Lisa Pijuan-Nomura

Applicants must submit the following:

1. Information

Please note that some tables will be on a slight incline due to the nature of the theatre.

Extra lighting will be set up in the theatre. All vendors must bring one light to help better illuminate wares.

2. Acceptance

Upon receipt of your application you will receive an email confirmation. We will contact all applicants by email by October 8th.

If accepted to the show, all must submit payment within 14 days.

3. Payment

Once accepted all vendor payments must be submitted by October 22nd. If payment is not received by this date acceptance will be withdrawn. Payments can be made by cheque or money order to:

Fox Theatre
2236 Queen St. East
Toronto, ON
M4E 1G2

A fee of $30 will apply to any vendor whose cheque is returned NSF.

4. Cancellation

Once accepted into Movies & Makers and your payment has been submitted, your participation fee is non-refundable.

5. Questions/Contact Information

Contact Lisa Pijuan-Nomura with any questions.

 

 

8. Photography by Dave Pijuan-Nomura

Dave specializes in macro and live event photography.
Contact dave@nomuraphotography for more info.

 

9. Last Thought

Often when one works at a hard question, nothing good is accomplished at the first attack. Then one takes a rest, longer or shorter, and sits down anew to the work. During the first half-hour, as before, nothing is found, and then all of a sudden the decisive idea presents itself to the mind.
– Rollo May