NAC Open House

The National Arts Centre (NAC) had an open house on the last Sunday in September. Today I'm starting a  series on the event, with an interruption or two for other posts. The Centre is home to the National Arts Centre Orchestra, Ottawa Symphony Orchestra, Opera Lyra, companies for English and French theatre, and hosts regular concerts and visiting shows.

A Steinway piano belonging to the late Canadian classical pianist Glenn Gould sits on the mezzanine level. It is still used on occasion when a solo pianist comes to perform here.

This sculpture hangs down among one of the staircases from the top floor all the way down. 

A view from the top level takes in lower floors. Gould's piano can be seen on the second floor.

This massive door has the look of something out of a science fiction movie, and I wanted to photograph a section of it. There's a room beyond it- I've been inside on occasion to give blood when there's a clinic at the NAC.

This bust is of the founding conductor and music director of the NAC Orchestra, the late Mario Bernardi. It was sculpted by the artist Ruth Abernethy.

Along one of the corridors are portraits of winners of the Governor General's Performing Arts Awards, given out each year to Canadians in the arts. Some of these faces will only be known to Canadians, and others much more widely. There are, by now, a lot of these portraits- here are two years worth. 

Art In The Rectory

Finishing off my series from Nuit Blanche 2015 today, this is the Rectory Art House, located next to St. Brigid's. Both buildings were involved in Nuit Blanche- the former church was closed down by the archdiocese and took on new life as St. Brigid's Centre For The Arts. This view is in daylight.

The rectory is now studio space for several artists, who were participating.

I photographed three of the installations here, and popped into the kitchen at the back of the rectory.

This first studio had an installation entitled Nocturne, by the artist Sharon Lafferty.

Lori Victor did this next work, entitled Object of Speculation. She mentioned that the idea grew out of last spring's run by the Ottawa Senators, and this explores hype through hockey culture.

This last room was put together by Karen Bailey, and is called When Guide Dogs Dance. I got there late in the evening- I'd heard the dog in question, a Lab named Stanley, had been present earlier in the evening, and I'd missed him by about twenty minutes. Karen filled this room with paintings of seeing eye dogs at work and at play, as well as a video screen with these dogs engaged in play. We're so used to guide dogs of whatever kind being stoic and professional that we don't see them just being dogs and having a ball.

The School Of Art

In yesterday's post I mentioned the Ottawa School Of Art. Here's the downtown building itself, the day after Nuit Blanche. During Nuit Blanche, it was a busy hub in the Market for visitors, with exhibits and activities on all four floors.

Clay pottery was being done in this workshop, with the artist speaking about the process while working. When one seriously gets to working on pottery art, he explained, it can take up the entire day. I spent a few minutes moulding clay in my hands, something I haven't done since high school art classes.

Another spot inside was occupied by visitors working on cartoon panels. Previous panels from earlier Nuit Blanche evenings were on one wall, while people were spread out at tables.

Downstairs on the ground floor, this small gallery space looking out on the street was a curiousity- the artist Claudio Ghirardo conceived the idea of spontaneous writings and drawings on the glass, changing throughout the night.

This was my favourite part of the various installations in the school. Artist Lilly Koltun created this art-performance piece entitled 'In My Other Job'. The walls in this room were covered with various sentences, some applying to men, others to women- things that visitors could at least find something they'd relate to (I really liked "in my other job, I'm the devil"). A mass of balloons with red ink had been offered up earlier in the evening to visitors who could throw darts (hence what looks like blood). Fans of Peanuts will recognize a familiar line in this set.

Playing The Game

If I'm around at all today, it might only be briefly, so I'll wish my fellow Canadians a very happy Thanksgiving, and my American readers a happy Columbus Day!

Outside the Ottawa School of Art, members of the school were engaged in large scale printmaking; there were similar works being put together inside the school during Nuit Blanche.

Nearby was something of a fashion show- Rent Frock Repeat, a shop here, had models wearing some of their dresses.

Wunderblume was the name of this light and hydraulics installation, a kinetic flower that certainly drew attention as the petals shifted while passersby moved along.

This peculiarity was devised by artist Leah Bartlett. A room was set up as an interactive performance- members of the public could sit in as part of a recreation of the painting dogs playing poker. The actors wearing the dog masks were even barking during the game. I found it highly amusing.

Creativity By Night

I got into the Byward Market during Nuit Blanche, another very busy spot, and came across artists in the midst of  work, something of a challenge given the winds that had picked up. This artist is Virginia Dupuis. She specializes in landscapes and floral art, and has in the last while moved her way of creative thinking into art telling a story. I'd met her last year during Nuit Blanche, as she was taking part in what is called the Human Library. She took part again this year, and we had a chat and looked over her work.

The Human Library is one of my favourite parts of Nuit Blanche (and here I didn't photograph anyone I spoke with!). The concept is to bring together artists, writers, photographers, and other creative minds. The public can book a half hour's time to chat with them, and I find the experience engaging and refreshing from the creative perspective. Aside from Virginia, I spoke with photographer Lois Siegel, whose work in the city is well established- she had a collection of her own work on hand, as well as samples of images she liked because of the light or the angle of the shot. We talked about the photographer's creative process. Katharine Fletcher was another creative spirit I spoke with. She's a writer and artist with specialties in travel, the environment, and nature. Katharine and I talked about changes in the creative life, and about her concept of artist's trading cards. And I sat down with Marie Bilodeau, a fantasy novelist. Marie and I chatted about the life of a writer and what goes into the genres we work in. All in all, the Human Library was such an enjoyable experience this year.

The artist working next to Virginia that evening was Maureen Rooney Mitchell. One of the enjoyable things about this evening is the chance to watch an artist at work. I see I wasn't the only one watching her brushstrokes.

There was another artist close by (I didn't get her name) working on a depiction of a shop across the sidewalk from here, which happens to be a new shoe store.

Something unusual to finish this post- Amelia Louis devised this concept, the Applause Choir. A small group of people cheering and applauding anyone passing by. The expressions on the faces of the choir and their passersby made the whole idea work.

Fantasia Or Pinata

One of the members of Ottawa Dance Directive had this large space at her disposal during Nuit Blanche. Allison Blakley was doing an audience participation act mixing together the pinata and classical music- a portion of Beethoven's Sixth Symphony- in a setting looking quite like a child's bedroom, with angels suspended from cables (and fabricated from Cabbage Patch dolls), and the pinatas themselves on cables that allowed them to be moved. The audience members, children and adults alike, were blindfolded and given a stick to take a swing. The result was delightfully fun to watch.

Once A Courthouse

Arts Court houses a collection of galleries and arts groups in an old courthouse downtown near the Byward Market, and for Nuit Blanche, it was one of the hubs of the festival. This is a view of the building in daylight the following day. The structure dates back to 1870, built in the Italianate style, and was previously known as the Carleton County Courthouse.

This art installation of DeHavilland Beaver planes was set up in the SAW Gallery downstairs. It's titled Beavers, by the artist Frank Shebageget.

The offices of Opera Lyra can be found here at Arts Court as well. The company regularly performs at the National Arts Centre- at the end of September, they were doing a production of The Barber Of Seville, which will factor into a series I'll be doing down the line from a visit to the NAC I made a week after Nuit Blanche.

In one of the corridors, this cabinet contains stage masks belonging to Odyssey Theatre, which has facilities here as well. The company does outdoor performances during the summer, and inside performances across the city at other times of the year.

This space had been given over for the evening as a lounge for the animation festival also taking part in various venues in the city.

One of the groups here is the Ottawa Dance Directive, which had dance artists on hand for Nuit Blanche. A couple of those acts were a bit risque; the Sisters of Little Or No Mercy would have been shocked. This space was left open, with music playing as I passed by- and a girl dancing to the music.

Nearby, a winding corridor led to three company members engaged in two different acts. I photographed the second act at the end of the corridor- where the act consisted of two people painting. 

I have more from Arts Court tomorrow, but I'll leave off with this exterior night view of the north entrance.