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FOR
IMMEDIATE RELEASE La Raza Group Presents – CHE ARGENTINA! A Fund-Raiser for La Raza Group’ s Argentinean Mural and Orphan project in Buenos Aires. Canadian Art Collective La Raza Group requests your
attendance at their official Montreal-Argentina project launch on Friday, March
24, 2006. 5:00 pm - 9:00 pm. Please bring friends and guests. Featuring; Tango Performances by: Marjolayne Auger
and Elias Navas, plus music from Argentinean pianist Victor Simon and also
a premiere showing of the La Raza Group documentary film
"La Raza : Full Circle"
by director Tom Tobin. At The McAuslan Visitor Centre 5080
Rue St Ambroise, Montreal,
Quebec Directions
http://www.macleod9.com/contact.html International Art Collective La Raza Group
www.larazagroup.com have organized this fund-raiser for their public mural
and orphan outreach program. They have been invited to Buenos Aires this
October to create a series of outdoor murals and participate in a series
of street performances with Tango dancer Marjolayne Auger
www.tangoyalgomas.com to raise funds for Argentinean orphans. This
initiative is also designed to encourage art and music exchanges between
Montreal and Buenos Aires. So join us at the McAuslan Visitor Centre for a
night of Art from La Raza Group, Tango from Marjolayne and Elias, and
music by Argentinean pianist Victor Simon http://www.victor-simon.com/
and his band Ensemble Montreal Tango http://www.emontrealtango.com/.
Evenings Program 5:00 Introduction by Scott MacLeod - history of group and upcoming project in Argentina. 5:30 Marjolayne and Elias (Contemporary Tango
Dancers) will present three Tango vignettes. 6:00 Gallery tour of La Raza Group’s work 2nd
floor. 7:00 Film “La Raza – Full Circle”. *Filmmaker Tom Tobin will present his film on La Raza Group the following
night Saturday the 25th for a second screening at 7:00 p.m.
7:30 Cocktail with Argentinean food and wine
accompanied by Ensemble Montreal Tango. *For more information contact Scott MacLeod at 514
487 8766 or therace@larazagroup.com
BIOS La Raza Group Art collective - Francis Caprani, G. Scott MacLeod, & Gerald Pedros http://www.larazagroup.com/history_timeline.html
http://www.larazagroup.com/commitment.html “each
still adheres to the principles of artmaking they originally believed in.
Conformity, art programs, and museology have reduced the terrain of
independent art collectives like La Raza Group. They were
open-minded, exhibited wherever they could, even in pool halls, and
internationally. They had no agent or exclusive dealer. They
were free to organize activities independently, always with a public
mind.” - John K. Grande Marjolayne
Auger - Tango Dancer www.tangoyalgomas.com Mon
désir est de m'affranchir et de repousser mes limites personnelles. À
travers les voyages, l'apprentissage de nouvelles techniques de danse, je
me déstabilise, me sors des paramètres que j'ai d'abord connus, afin de
revisiter l'essence de la vie, de mes valeurs et de cerner le coeur de ma
recherche. Ainsi, j'espère maintenir le sentiment d'ouverture, de
curiosité de l'enfance et du débutant pour éviter de m'enliser dans un
cadre fermé. C'est pourquoi je renouvelle les défis.Optique de
recherche : en Asie, le même mot est utilisé pour les deux, c'est-à-dire
qu'un acteur est aussi danseur, il n'y a pas de séparation entre ses deux
professions. J'ose espérer qu'en plus, je deviendrai d'autant plus
humaine, accessible et ouverture d'esprit au fil des ans. Victor
Simon - Musician http://www.victor-simon.com/
http://www.emontrealtango.com/ Victor
commence à gratter la guitare à l'âge de cinq ans. Deux ans plus tard,
lors d'une visite chez des amis de son père, il découvre le piano.
Victor se souvient avoir commencé à pianoter nonchalamment et d'avoir
joué tout naturellement quelque chose qui pouvait ressembler à une
Chacarera (musique folklorique argentine) ; il était sans doute influencé
par le genre privilégié des musiciens de sa famille. Ce moment fut le départ
de sa passion pour le piano. Son bonheur d'enfant ne pouvait être complet
sans qu'un piano ne vienne garnir leur maison. Ce qui fut fait quelques
temps plus tard. Cet engouement pour la musique l'amènera à faire des études
dans cette discipline. A l'école, il étudie le répertoire classique.
Mais c'est en autodidacte qu'il acquiert et perfectionne ses connaissances
du folklore. TOM
TOBIN - Filmmaker
Growing
up in the small town of St. Thomas, Ontario, Tobin had several local
artists as mentors. While studying fine art and photography as a teenager,
he discovered foreign cinema, awakening his perception of the
potential of film as a medium. As Tobin's love of cinema grew, so did his
attraction to the unconventional and the surreal, influenced by filmmakers
Buñuel, Godard, Bergman, Jeunet and Gilliam. Tobin's works tend to deal
with issues of the subconscious, interconnectivity, dimension theory and
perspective. He has worked in film and television for over ten years and
has been fortunate to mentor under such talented Canadian directors as
Bruce McDonald (Hardcore Logo, Dance Me Outside) and David Wellington
(Long Day's Journey Into Night, I Love a Man in Uniform.) With a
feature-length surrealist/narrative film in development and several short
projects in production, Tobin continues to explore and experiment with the
medium. La Raza : Full Circle is Tobin's first documentary. La Raza : Full Circle candidly explores the working dynamic of a small, close-knit group of visual artists. It documents the group at work as well as the complex interactions between its members. The setting is Montreal 1995, where the impending vote on Quebec’s potential separation from Canada is mirrored by underlying questions of separation within the group. The voyeuristic, cinéma vérité style, captures these artists as they move from creators to promoters to salesmen in order to survive and succeed. |
|
Scott MacLeod The Sacred Feminine and Masculine: Labyrinthina by
John K Grande Scott MacLeod’s The Sacred Feminine and Masculine: Labyrinthina show deals with the
sacred and spiritual. While the sources may be ancient, as is the dual
yin-yang nature of masculine and feminine MacLeod captures, the exhibition
functions as a total environment. Multi-media effects include video
projection, and digitally manipulated photographs of men and women reflect
the stages of life from birth to old age. MacLeod reinvigorates our
interest in the symbolic sources for our own culture, long buried for
many. Inadvertently we are reminded of how our culture has lost its
sources, may not understand the sacred signs and symbols. As the
paintings, photo-works, and videos in this show suggest, our belief
systems are rooted in the world around us the cosmos and nature. Video projections of wave and
water patterns could reference the ancient belief that all life has its
origins in water (and it does), while labyrinth and mandala symbols
reference ancient views of the life process. A yin-yang symbol references
the animus-anima duality of our unconscious thought processes. As Carl
Jung has written: “Though the
effects of anima and animus can be made conscious,
they themselves are factors transcending
consciousness and beyond the reach of perception
and volition.” 1 A ceiling projection of the Big
Dipper at night, from which the yin-yang originally derived, in part due
to its prominence in the night sky, again draws allusions to the way our
cosmology is based in the real world, and responses over generations and
centuries to these effects. And so ultimately, MacLeod’s Sacred Feminine
and Masculine, is a homage to our place in the universe, which may be
precarious, as our ancestors were quite aware of. On either side, placed in the
upper sections of the walls, we see elongated ships that suggest a great
journey or the voyage of life itself. Ships are likewise symbolic of
emigration, and of a mid point between home and away. The images recall
the journey of life, how life builds upon life, seizes life only to
dissolve before new lives come into being. The life cycle is represented
in a variety of ways throughout this exhibition. We see two sets of six
vertical digitally manipulated photographs transferred to canvas of men
and of women. They are presented at various stages of life from childhood
to old age, and integrated within each tableau above and below are symbols
that indicate the cycle of life and death; a Douglas-fir tree, an acorn, a
maple seedling, the ancient sacred geometry, a raven, a dragonfly, a
butterfly. Seen as a whole Scott MacLeod’s
presentation combines aspects of human and natural history (of which we
are a part). As a totality, the piece is conceived like a hagiography or
theatre dedicated to life. The exhibition is a site that reifies a cosmic
vision of the world, with natural and human references. We live in a world
where our memory of the past is ironically vanishing at the same time as
we have advanced information and data storage systems. This presentation
has sources that are ancient, reflect our collective origins, the way our
various tribal and geo-specific identities all draw on unconscious stimuli
that links and builds its meaning with reference to nature. While the
techniques and multi-media approach Scott MacLeod uses are wholly
contemporary, this environment is about our origins and the fragile and
ongoing process of life, its mystery, the impossibility of decoding or
explaining it entirely. Footnote 1. C. G. Jung, Aspects of the Masculine / Aspects of the Feminine, trans. R.F.C.
Hull, MJF Books, New York, p. 177. - John K Grande |
PRESS
RELEASE
Three
Montreal painters exhibit at the MAA
[Laurie
Campbell], [Scott MacLeod], [Sharon
Ramsay
Opening-Vernissage
Thursday, September 25th
From
5:00 to 7:00 pm
At
Montreal Athletic Association,
2070
Peel
Montreal,
QC
H3A1W6
Tel:
514.845.2233
Exhibition
goes from September 25th to October 5th, 2003.
Laurie Campbell [top]
BIO
Laurie
Campbell was born in Montreal in 1969. She studied fine art at John Abbott
College and architectural illustration and design at Dawson College in
Montreal. In 1991, she pursued her interest in illustration at Toronto's
Ontario College of Art where she received the Herb McCarthy Award and the
Robin Cumine Scholarship for her work.
Upon
returning to Montreal in 1994, she began focusing on painting through which,
she depicts timeworn neighbourhoods in Montreal and abroad. Laurie has always
had a strong interest in portraying city life-corner stores, taverns, and all
that lends itself to the city's unique character. With every new year, modern
structures replace the neglected storefronts and landmarks ofyears past. Her
work documents these forgotten treasures and will remain historical reminders
of Montreal's former greatness and charm.
Laurie
has worked as a freelance illustrator for The Globe and Mail, Homemaker's
magazine and MacLean- Hunter Publications. She has also illustrated the book
Outsmarting your Karma by Barry Neil Kaufman and the cover of Des livres et
des coups de foudre by editions Lacombe. In 2002, Laurie became an elected
member of the Canadian Society of Painters in Watercolours (CSPWC).
The
artist continues to produce work in both watercolour and oil and is
represented by A.H, Campbell Gallery in Montreal and Roberts Gallery in
Toronto. Her paintings are in private collections in Canada, the U.S.,
Austria, France, Switzerland and England.
www.campbellpictureframing.com
G. Scott MacLeod [top]
BIO
Scott
MacLeod grew up in Montreal and has worked as a professional artist and
musician since 1987. MacLeod received his D.E.C. in Fine Arts at John Abbott
College and his BFA with a specialization in printmaking from Concordia
University. He has won awards to attend The Banff Centre for the Arts, The
Helene Wurlitzer Foundation of New Mexico on two occasions, also
Le
Symposium de la Nouvelle Peinture at Baie Saint Paul, La Socieda Mexicana de
Artes Plasticas in Mexico City to study muralism, The Uffizi Print and Drawing
room in Florence to study master drawings and the Atelier Realization Graphic
de Quebec. His experiences in these cultures gave him the opportunity to
witness great works of art and refine his own artistic
and
lyrical skills.
In
his music he write songs in both English and French that describe the history
of Canada, by illuminating men, women and events in our collective
multicultural heritage. He has performed this project, titled, A Brief
Canadian History in schools, theatres, community and cultural centers across
Canada.
He
actively promotes culture, education and activism, and has been involved in
projects involving fund-raising for the homeless, food banks, AIDS hospices,
Amnesty International, orphanages, the developing world and Dr. Jane Goodall.
His
current artwork on the Viking period was funded by The Canadian Scandinavian
Foundation and exhibited in Chicago at The Swedish American Museum and in
Seattle at the Nordic Heritage Museum. His earlier projects have dealt with
the Irish Famine of 1847, the decimation of the plains buffalo and landscapes
of the American Southwest and Eastern Townships.
His
work are in the collections of The National Gallery in Ottawa, Museo de la
Estampe in Mexico City, The Museé de Quebec, Claridge, Guinness Brewery, Air
Canada, Pratt and Whitney, Reader’s Digest, Royal Bank of Canada, London
Life, Lotto Quebec and CP Hotels.
“After
traveling and exhibiting in Europe, North American and Latin America, I sensed
feelings, sounds and images I wanted to portray both on the canvas and in
song... I felt that time was full of meaningful experiences and therefore an
invitation to art and music. I believe it is my responsibility as an artist
and human being to use art as a vehicle for change and
education.”
Sharon Ramsay [top]
BIO
Born
Edinburgh, Scotland 1970
EDUCATION:
Received BFA (Honours) 1993
Edinburgh
College of Art, Heriot Watt University, Edinburgh, Scotland
My
fascination with large ciites began in 1989 when my family immigrated to
Canada. I had grown up in Loanhead, a small coal mining village in Midlothian,
Scotland, surrounded by little other than hills, valleys and farmland. In 1988
I was accepted to study fine arts at Edinburgh College of
Art
and left Loanhead to move to Edinburgh, which at the time seemed a huge city;
so I was ill prepared for the skyscrapers that greeted me in North America the
following year. I visited my family during school vacations over the next four
years, eventually joining them in 1993 after gratuating. On each return to
Edinburgh I would dream of the huge cities I had visited in
both
Canada and the United States; becoming fixated on the never ending streets,
bumper to bumper traffic and hoards of people that were so far removed from my
life in Scotland.
Initially I found the cities both claustrophobic and overwhelming, yet I could never get enough of them. For years I worked in bars and nightclubs, often leaving work as the sun was coming up, and it was during these hours that I came to love living in the city. Walking home I would not