Neil Cadger at the Black Box Theatre

Neil Cadger is a performer, director and Associate Professor, who teaches performance creation in the Department of Creative Studies at UBC Okanagan. This spring, he was recognized for his contributions to the performing arts as a recipient of the Dorothy Somerset Award for Performance Development in the Visual and Performing Arts.

Cadger’s current research focuses on two aspects of live performances: curatorial practices interrogating audience/performer interactivity, and non-verbal storytelling employing the human body, masks, puppets, and other objects, including musical instruments.

“In my art practice as a creator and performer, I frequently source mythic narratives and seek a language which resonates at a non-verbal level.”

As the curator and Artistic Director of the Living Things International Arts Festival, he explores the diverse genres of live performance: the theatre world and its use of theatrical objects, the languages inherent to the dance world, the conceptual potential of performance art, music or sound as an active agent, and of course digital technology and how we live with it.

Of the nomination, Guy Cools from the University of Ghent says: “I fully support the nomination of Neil Cadger for this award for his outstanding career as a performer and creator, and for his excellence as an educator and more specifically for his successful curating of the Living Things international Arts Festival, which is an exemplary role model for how artistic practice, vision and community building can support each other.”

Neil graduated from l’école Jacques Lecoq in Paris, France in 1984. He founded Wissel Theatre in Gent, Belgium in 1984 and created theatre performances which toured extensively in Europe; he then worked as an independent artist with various dance and theatre companies until beginning his university career at the University of Saskatchewan in 2000. In 2010, he co-founded Inner Fish Performance Company with Denise Kenney to provide an infrastructure for producing and touring devised performances.  In 2017 he founded the Living Things International Arts Festival which presents local, regional, national and international performances.

“In our current climate of social unrest, mired with uncertain economic forecasts, it is more important than ever that art and creative living be accessible to all – Neil’s contributions are forwarding that possibility.” Says Peter Balkwill, a theatre artist ( Old Trout Puppet Workshop) and Assistant Professor of Acting and Drama in the School of Creative and Performing Arts at the University of Calgary.

“ I am most excited about the uplifting moments of public art that remind us of our common humanity with all its beauty and tragedy.”

Cadger notes that his teaching changed ‘dramatically’ with online course delivery. “In these pandemic days I have been teaching classical dramaturgy for proscenium theatres through the use of toy theatres.”

He explains that the rules remain functionally the same; stage left/right, up/down, stage areas, timing, the use of illusion. Each student built their own cardboard theatre and used a laptop, and the results were interesting, including a charming, naïve use of scale. This shift in course delivery offered the opportunity to examine how stories are composed and importantly, which story to choose.

“Given that live theatre online cannot physically unite the audience, one of the primary components of the theatre transformation – the ‘us’ or ‘we’ who respond as a physical group in different ways – is impossible.” He says. “This introduces the potential for failure as a unifying condition.  We cannot be a real audience but we can laugh at attempts to convince us that we are.”

In this context he explored European theatre clown which is grounded in human frailty and ultimately in failure – despite our attempts to the contrary, we die. He says the results were interesting, and will contribute to his teaching when we are back in the studio.

Frances Greenslade, acclaimed Canadian author and English professor at Okanagan College, had the task of selecting the top stories for the 2021 Okanagan Short Story Contest. The 4 finalists were announced at a virtual event on Friday. April 16, with each of the writers reading a part of their story.

The annual contest, organized by the Creative Writing program in the Faculty of Creative and Critical Studies (FCCS), is a writing competition open to fiction writers in British Columbia’s Southern Interior. Writers submit their stories, which are then read, anonymously, by faculty, and the shortlisted stories are sent to a guest judge to choose the winners in the adult and high school categories.

Jorie Soames, who placed second in last year’s contest, took home the first-place prize this year with her story Storm Warning.

“The setting and character carry the reader along in this story,” says Greenslade. “The dialogue is realistic and revealing, and when I finished, the sense of place stayed with me.”

The runner-up this year, with her story Shelter These Hungry Animals, was UBCO MFA alumna, Kristin Burns.

“The sense of mystery, the dialogue, and her use of imagery immersed me in the story,” explains Greenslade.

Third place went to Kamloops writer, Cliff Hatcher, with his story Patty Cake.

“I had the desire to know more about what was going to happen; he hooked me right from the start,” says Greenslade.

This is the fourth year that the contest has had a high school category, with Courtney Westfall winning first-place with her story Demons.

“With skillful dialogue, Courtney has created a character that the reader cares about from the start,” comments Greenslade.

The first-place writer received $1,000 plus a one-week retreat at The Woodhaven Eco Culture Centre in Kelowna; second-place winner received $400 and third-place received $200. The top high school student received a $200 prize. Co-sponsors of the contest are FCCS, TD and the Central Okanagan Foundation.

View the full list of the shortlisted authors.

Jorie Soames

Kristin Burns

Cliff Hatcher

Courtney Westfall

On April 9, 2021, Professor Juliet Winters Carpenter discussed the challenges and rewards of translating between languages and cultures, including commonalities and differences in assumptions, approaches and expressions, and how works in translation open readers up to new perspectives and world-views.

Juliet Winters Carpenter has a long and distinguished career translating best-selling Japanese contemporary literature by such important authors as Abe Kobo, Enchi Fumiko, Miyabe Miyuki, Tawara Machi and Mizumura Minae. She has lived and taught in Japan for almost 50 years and has a deep understanding of Japanese culture and the place of literature within it.

View the recording of the talk in the link below.

Literary Translation form Abe to Zen Public Talk

This talk was organized by the Department of Languages and World literatures and sponsored by the Faculty of Creative and Critical Studies. 

The Faculty of Creative and Critical Studies along with alumni UBC are seeking art submissions for the UBC Okanagan Coloring Book. Art therapy is used for meditation and as a relaxation technique, and coloring books are a fun way to help adults destress and relax, and improve mental health and wellbeing.

UBC Okanagan student and alumni artists of all levels are invited to submit an original work for a colouring book page in any style within the UBCO Homecoming 2021 theme Spirit of Okanagan. Submissions may be a re-creation of an existing work, or a new piece for this book. From personal sketchbook drawings, pop art designs, portraits, landscapes, we want to see your creativity and what the Okanagan means to you.

Submission Details

• Must be created by a UBC Okanagan student or alumni from any program or degree
• Submissions from current staff or faculty members at UBC Okanagan will also be considered
• Size: 8.5”x11”
• File type: ai, eps, psd, tiff or jpg
• Resolution: vector or 300 DPI

If you do not have access to a high-resolution scanner, you can deliver or mail your artwork with a postage-paid return envelope to:

alumni UBC
Development and Alumni Engagement
1138 Alumni Avenue
Kelowna, BC  V1V 1V7

The coloring books will be launching as part of UBC Okanagan Homecoming (September 24-25, 2021) celebrations and will be available for sale with all proceeds benefiting the UBCO Alumni Bursary Fund supporting students. Final pieces will be selected by a Selection Committee. Featured artists will receive a complimentary copy of the colouring book.

Deadline for submissions: May 31, 2021

Submit Now

By submitting artwork, the submitter agrees they own the right to recreate or reproduce the piece.

Image: Melissa Dinwoodie, BFA ’01

Incoming Masters of Arts in English student, Jessica Beaudin. Photo credit: Angeline Simon Photography

Jessica Beaudin is an incoming student to the MA in English program for 2021. She completed her undergraduate degree in English Literature at the University of Lethbridge with a focus on Modernist and Contemporary literature. Upon returning from an exchange semester abroad in Magdeburg, Germany she adopted a Great Pyrenees Golden Retriever cross. Her relationship with her dog made her think more deeply about their connection and how they responded to one another when things got tough. This sparked an interest into discussions around posthumanism, critical animal studies, Holocaust theory, and fictional cloning ethics.

We asked Jessica about what led her to UBC Okanagan’s MA in English program.

What drew you to UBC Okanagan?

Kelowna was always a sun-bathed summer treat for us; my family trekked out every year for a full week of sandy showers and pool handstands. I kept returning as I got older for getaways with friends, bachelorettes, the like. I didn’t even think about UBCO as an option really, until I did, and it properly clicked. I researched the faculty and found that there was a great community of thinkers with massive experience in the area I want to pursue. It’s the city, the scholarly community, and Sprout Bread on Cannery Lane that really do it for me.

Why did you choose to apply to the MA in English program?

 I want to write something that matters to me. I see literary criticism as a magical hybrid form of academic and creative writing styles, and while I’ve flirted with the idea of other humanities, I think that by being deliberately unreal, literature is so much closer to an experience and to a truth that I understand. Dr. Jodey Castricano was gracious enough to agree to supervise me, I am so grateful and excited to work with them.

Tell us about your thesis topic and your plans for that research.

My thesis will examine the discontinuities of ethics and responsibility in regard to euthanasia practices for human and nonhuman animals. In particular, I ask how posthuman literature understands death of the nonhuman animal with the knowledge that for reasons economic, consumptive, and environmental, human animals are necessarily tied to the decision. While posthumanism is distinguished from the transcendent intentions of biomedical transhumanism beyond death as limit, its troubling of ontological boundaries and “will-they, won’t-they” departures from humanism leaves discussions of individual death vacant. How euthanasia practices bleed into notions of the mercy kill or ‘coup de grâce’ as well as non-interference methods of letting die highlight the disproportionate responsibilities human animals self-assign at the point of death as opposed to in life.

I want to research responsibility, and think about different ‘kinds’ of animals and the responsibilities we take on with regard to them. I have a lot of catching up to do in the critical animal studies area, as well as digging in deeper with the posthuman conversation. I also want to read and watch a lot of dystopian and science fiction! I hope to work significantly with Dr. Castricano and Dr. Garrard for starters, but have my eye on a few others as well.

Where do you hope this degree will lead you? 

This is always a complicated question for students of literature! To my parents’ dismay, I hold tight to a mantra of ‘I’ll figure it out’. Which is to say that I trust entirely that at the end of this program, I’ll know if I want to continue in academia and pursue my PhD. However, I’m also very comfortable with being much more than any one thing–I could be a nurse with a Masters in English, or perhaps co-run that pipe-dream coffee shop with a gallery space for my best friend. Most of all, I hope that this degree will lead me, perhaps feet dragging, into a healthier relationship with my writing.

On April 1, Dr. Kerrie Charnley gave a talk, Why we capitalize the ‘I’ in Indigenous: Guidance on writing with and about Indigenous Peoples. Dr. Charnley discussed writing with Indigenous Style, from land acknowledgement to land back and why we use the capital “I” in Indigenous.

What is the most respectful way to communicate with—and about—Indigenous Peoples and individuals? In this webinar, participants will be introduced to guiding insights from Gregory Younging’s Elements of Indigenous Style (2018).  These insights will help us to understand the Truth and Reconciliation of Canada’s 94 Calls to Action, and particularly, in educational contexts.

In the presentation link below, Dr. Charnley shares “cutting edge,” recently published resources on writing, curriculum and pedagogy, for indigenizing the academy, classroom and beyond.

WHY WE CAPITALIZE THE I IN INDIGENOUS SLIDE PRESENTATION

Augmented reality (AR) game and interactive historical guide developed by BMS student Chloe Chang

Chloe Chang is a student in her fourth year of the Bachelor of Media Studies program here at UBC Okanagan.

For her final capstone project, she has developed The Apple Box Exploratorium AR Tour, an augmented reality (AR) game and interactive historical guide, in collaboration with the Kelowna Museum Society.

This project will be up at the Laurel Square, outside of the Laurel Packinghouse, from April 7 to August 31, 2021.

Visitors to Laurel Square are invited to experience a virtual world full of multimedia information about the Okanagan apple industry. When visitors first approach the square, they should look for the big Apple crates/boxes where they will find a QR code to scan using their phone. The scanning will trigger a web AR tool or the option of download an app powered by Onirix.

The AR tour includes an apple game, as well as a glimpse into the Okanagan’s past – referencing historical imagery of the apple picking process. By using augmented technology, users can browse various multimedia information assets (audio narration, moving pictures), while seeing the site through the exciting lens of the AR world.

To make this project. Chloe Chang has created several 360 photos of the interior of the museum, scanned historical objects, and created promotional material (photo, video and posters).

This Capstone project forms the final part of the 4-year degree requirement of the Bachelor of Media Studies. Our 2021 Capstone students are the first graduates of our Okanagan campus program, they develop their projects for a full academic year, and they work with community partners to achieve their project goals.

Visit www.chloewhchang.com to find out more about Chloe and her other projects.

Project Team

• Chloe Chang. Experience Design and Technology Developer
• Amanda Snyder. Curatorial Manager, Kelowna Museum Society
• Shelley Weber. Narrator, Kelowna Museum Society

The images below show how participants interact with the Apple Boxes to learn more.

UBC Okanagan’s Faculty of Creative and Critical Studies (FCCS) is pleased to share the finalists of the 2021 Okanagan Short Story Contest.

The Okanagan Short Story Contest awards the best new short stories by fiction writers in the Southern Interior of British Columbia: east of Hope, west of the Alberta border, north of the US border and south of Williams Lake. Past winners have gone on to publish with Penguin Random House, Arsenal Pulp Press, and NeWest Press, as well as numerous magazines and journals nationally and internationally.

A total of 140 short story entries were submitted for the adult category, and 82 stories for the high school category.

“We were blown away by the number of submissions this year,” says FCCS professor Nancy Holmes. “It goes to show how many new and emerging writers we have in the region.”

Shortlisted authors: adult category

• Steven Defehr – Kelowna, B.C.
• William Arndt – Kelowna, B.C.
• Chris McMahen – Salmon Arm, B.C.
• Kathryn Gamble – Kelowna, B.C.
• Kelly Fosbery – Westbank, B.C.
• Carol Zuckerman – Kelowna, B.C.
• Jorie Soames – Kelowna, B.C.
• Cliff Hatcher – Kamloops, B.C.
• Cheyenne Bergenhenegouwen – Vernon, B.C.
• Kristin Burns – Vernon, B.C.
• Tressa Ford – Nelson, B.C.
• Daniel Tracy – Kelowna, B.C.

Shortlisted authors: high school category

• Alexandra Murphy – Vernon, B.C.
• Erika Vanderluys – Summerland, B.C.
• Gulbag Singh – West Kelowna, B.C.
• Paris Phillips – Kelowna, B.C.
• Courtney Westfall – Kelowna, B.C.
• Judy To – West Kelowna, B.C.
• Ainsley Dempsey – Kamloops, B.C.
• Sierra Pardoe – Nelson, B.C.

Fun facts about a few of our finalists: Chris McMahen won the contest in 2010. Kelly Fosbery is a current UBCO student. Carol Zuckerman is our 2020 winner and a UBCO MFA alumna. Jorie Soames took second place in our 2020 contest. Kristin Burns is a UBCO MFA alumna. Daniel Tracy is a UBCO alumni, and Sierra Pardoe is the sister of our 2018 high school winner, Bethany Pardoe.

FCCS is offering cash prizes to the top three stories—$1,000, $400 and $200; the first prize winner also wins a one-week retreat at The Woodhaven Eco Culture Centre in Kelowna. The top story by a high school student receives a cash prize of $200. Co-sponsors of the contest are FCCS, TD and the Central Okanagan Foundation.

The winners of the Okanagan Short Story Contest will be announced at a virtual event by our contest judge, Frances Greenslade, acclaimed Canadian author and English professor at Okanagan College. The event will take place on Friday, April 16, 2021 at 7 p.m. To register, go to fccs.ok.ubc.ca/short-story

Rachel Stubbs during her thesis defence in 2020

Rachel Stubbs completed her MA in English in June 2020 at UBC Okanagan. She came to UBC after completing a Bachelor’s degree in English and History at MacEwan University. Her thesis, titled, “Dear Mr. Dumbledore: Handwritten and Printed Intraliterary Texts in Lewis Carroll’s Alice Series and J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter Series,” examined Harry Potter as a serious contribution to contemporary children’s literature that is in conversation with Lewis Carroll’s Alice series.

“This thesis argues that Rowling and Carroll understand the texts within their series, such as the labels, signposts, letters, memorandums, diaries, and textbooks, as important and authoritative entities. This thesis addresses the readers within and outside of the series as figures whose participation is equally as important as the fictional characters. Ultimately, I show that Rowling and Carroll share an obsession with print, handwriting, and reading.”

Rachel is now pursuing an English Ph.D. at the University of Calgary where her research is focused on early twentieth-century Canadian women writers who depict and construct Indigenous girlhood.

We asked Rachel to discuss her experience at UBCO as a master’s student.

Tell us about the road to earning your UBC degree.

I chose UBC Okanagan mainly because I wanted the “big university” feel without living in a big city. Living with close access to nature is and has been a mainstay in my life, and I knew I needed to feed that in some way. When I was researching grad schools, UBCO was one of my top schools for that reason alone (I was not disappointed). I loved my experience at UBCO, but these were definitely some of the most difficult years in my personal life. Not only did I have some personal medical issues, but my father also became terminally ill while I was away. Being away from home and my support network was incredibly challenging. However, I was so fortunate to have the most wonderful and understanding supervisor, and a really close-knit cohort that truly walked through those moments with me. I would not have been able to complete my degree without leaning (sometimes falling) on them.

Tell us about your thesis.

I chose the subject for my thesis because I loved the idea of studying children’s literature at an academic level. Like many people from my generation, I had a borderline obsession with Harry Potter as a child and was so excited about the possibility of studying it as part of my graduate thesis. I also loved the strangeness of Alice and realized that very few people had read these texts together.

How did your professors support you throughout your degree?

The professors at UBCO are in my top favourite things about the university. Dr. Margaret Reeves was my supervisor during my Master’s degree and I cannot put into words how wonderful she was for me. She often reminded me to give myself grace when I needed it most and encouraged me when I felt insecure about my work. Dr. Reeves also believes in a holistic approach to supervising and was concerned about all aspects of my life during my degree, which was something I didn’t even know I needed at the time. Dr. Reeves was nothing short of irreplaceable.

Dr. Lisa Grekul was also a fundamental reason why I began to love teaching. Watching her work and then working with her as her TA was a real privilege. Dr. Grekul’s passion for the material comes through in her teaching which I believe is one of the many reasons her students adore her. She was always positive, always supportive, and always happy to hear from me.

Dr. Fransisco Peña was also a wonderful professor to work with. Dr. Peña allowed me to really grow and gave me so many opportunities to strengthen my experience and also trusted me, which was such a validating feeling as a graduate student. He was invested in my career and encouraged me to pursue PhD programs. Dr. Peña is also a wealth of knowledge, and many times we would get off track just talking about fascinating topics that arose in the classes he taught.

How did the campus community contributed to your experience?

The community at UBCO was one of my favourite parts. My cohort was fantastic. When my father was too sick to travel and my family was caring for him and could not come to my thesis defense, my entire cohort showed up in an overwhelming demonstration of their support and even filmed it for my family at home. My cohort and I became real friends and I was (and still am) so fortunate to have them.

The university library I also found was a great resource for me, especially because some of the articles I was looking for were really niche. What I loved about the library is that they are just as excited as I was about my project!

A highlight for me during my degree was attending and presenting at Congress in 2019, which was a terrifying but rewarding experience as a graduate student!

Photo from the 2018 Okanagan Print Triennial at the Kelowna Art Gallery

Briar Craig, a full professor teaching printmaking in the BFA program here at UBC Okanagan has been organizing international printmaking exhibitions since he started here in early 1991 (then Okanagan University College).  Briar worked with printmaking colleague Mary Smith McCulloch to organize exhibitions of print works from people outside of the local community.

“The initial idea was to bring work here that we would not normally get to see in person,” notes Briar.

Briar and Mary started by organizing a couple of invitational shows inviting Canadian artists to submit work, and then opened it up to include international artists for future years. They would set up the shows in the gallery at the K.L.O. campus with the intention of ramping up to something that resembles what is now The Okanagan Print Triennial (OPT).  The university gallery at the K.L.O. campus and at the UBCO campus are just not large enough to host an exhibition of this scope and ambition and it took a number of years to find an Okanagan gallery willing to be a partner for this project.  Lubos Culen the curator at the Vernon Public Art Gallery was the first to come on board followed by Liz Wiley at the Kelowna Art Gallery.  Without the support of those two galleries the OPT would never have been possible.

Since 2009, the OPT has involved showing the work every three years alternating between the Vernon Public Art Gallery and the Kelowna Art Gallery.

The works submitted for the OPT are juried by Briar and the curators at both galleries. Each year they have submissions from between 75 to 125 artists from around the world.  In order to create an exhibition that reflects the current ideas of participating artists, all submitted work needs to have been created in the last 3 years.

“One of the things that distinguishes the OPT from many other international print exhibitions is that we want to show bodies of peoples works rather than just one piece from each participating artist.  When seeing small bodies of an artist’s work you start to get a sense of what that artists ideas are.” He also adds, “we like to have about 25 artists each show, but to do that we do need a big space, and space is limited at both of the galleries.”

Many of the works we juried into the exhibition this year were made in 2020. In the midst of a pandemic, our lens for looking at that work ‘was quite flavoured’ by social isolation, he explains. “The work is timely in its content and what it is trying to say.”

This is something that is intrinsic to printmaking, the history of printmaking in general tends to come from advertising and the spreading of information. The printed word created literacy and artists that use printmaking mediums are creating a kind of literacy for their work in a broad sense.

“Artists continue to say things about their lives through their work and an exhibition like the OPT brings that work here for us to see and investigate. We get to see a snapshot of what is happening in South Korea, or Australia or Poland. It is pretty exciting.”

Since McCulloch retired, Briar is now the only print professor, and he says that the students get only one perspective. While his perspective and experience is pretty broad, it is not all encompassing.

“The OPT exhibition is a huge benefit for students in our classes.  They get to see world class and contemporary work in person”, he explains.   The influence of seeing other people’s work, and seeing the subtleties in those works in person expands what is possible to someone who is just starting out in their art practice.

“It is fun to go through the shows with a class.  Everyone gets excited about what they are seeing, and it is so much fun as it sparks curiosity.” He says, “seeing work from other artists can give students ideas on how to express themselves and how to make use of the materials that are unique to printmaking.”

The 2021 Okanagan Print Triennial is scheduled at the Vernon Public Art Gallery from March 18 to May 19 and has 28 printmakers from 15 countries around the world. The jury for this year’s show were Briar Craig, Lubos Cullen Curator for the VPAG, and FCCS professor emeritus and art historian, Carolyn MacHardy. A catalogue will accompany the exhibition, printed with financial support from the Faculty of Creative and Critical Studies.

There are two major awards given every year, a purchase prize, and the top artist prize. The winner of each Triennial is given a solo show at the gallery not hosting the show the third year following. This year we look forward to seeing the work of Ericka Walker who was in the show in 2018 at the Kelowna Art Gallery. Her exhibition, A decaying fort and lack of guidance, opens at the Kelowna Art Gallery on April 10.

For more information on the 2021 OPT, visit: www.vernonpublicartgallery.com/okanagan-print-triennial

Photo from the 2015 Okanagan Print Triennial at the Vernon Public Art Gallery

What is Printmaking?

The umbrella term printmaking involves a number of different methods of creating art works through the process of printing.  Typically, a print-artist creates an image, then takes that image and draws it onto a lithographic stone, or etches it with nitric acid into an etching plate or makes a stencil on a silkscreen, and then uses that process to transfer the imagery to another surface – usually paper or fabric.